After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

The surrounding villages were either requisitioned or relocated by the government, or they were ravaged by the soldiers and officials, leaving them with no choice but to become refugees or seek refuge with relatives and friends, though the latter were of course a minority.

If someone is suspected of having joined a religion through burning incense, it would be a devastating disaster for the family.

Although they also stirred up some village rebellions in the surrounding area, with so many government troops around, a direct confrontation would be suicidal.

Some disobedient men, unable to endure the hardship of trekking through the mountains and lacking armor and weapons, gathered others to charge into the enemy lines, resulting in the deaths and injuries of most of them.

Ningnan had no choice but to strengthen its disciplinary requirements.

In a short period of time, the army formed by the Heavenly Principle Sect was reorganized into the Heavenly Principle Army, and arranged in the order of division, regiment, company, and platoon.

The 4,000 men were reorganized into four regiments, each regiment into ten companies, each company into ten platoons, and each platoon into ten men. This was how the framework was hastily set up.

In addition to the company commander, each company was assigned a "fortune leader" who was responsible for teaching them to read and writing and managing military discipline.

You must not act without authorization, you must not rob, you must not steal, you must not bully women... and so on.

For minor offenses, the punishment is a beating; for serious offenses, the punishment is beheading.

In addition to the regimental commander who knows the troops, each regiment also has an altar master, called the regimental altar master, who manages the incense masters of the regiment.

After this, the entire Tianli Army finally became more obedient, and they were able to hold out against Ortai for a little longer.

Unlike the uprisings of the White Lotus Sect in the past, which were easily defeated by government troops and barely escaped with their lives, no matter how great their momentum was, it was useless. They would waste manpower and have to lie low for several years before starting all over again.

Jia Shi'an, a proper and accomplished Vice Minister of War from the Southern Dynasty who had passed the imperial examinations, was appointed as the Chief of Staff. Chief of Staff Jia frowned and asked, "What is a Chief of Staff?"

Ning Nan casually replied, "He's the strategist."

Only then did Strategist Jia understand.

Ning Nan himself was not the division commander; he gave the position of division commander of the First Division to Su Lang.

Su Lang is a talented general. He was able to start an uprising in Zhuolu County on his own and capture the county seat. His abilities are extraordinary. If Su Lang and Huang Zhongcai were of equal strength and equipment, the latter would not be a match for him.

Even if Su Lang only had half the strength of Huang Zhongcai's troops, as long as they were all armored and their weaponry was comparable, he would be able to defeat Huang Zhongcai in a very short time.

It's just a pity...

The troops they led were far inferior to those of Huang Zhongcai.

Talented generals like Su Lang often die in a hopeless charge, never having the chance to grow into commanders...

The aroma wafted from the village where thirty or forty people lived.

Amidst a cacophony of titles like "Master" and "Big Boss," Ning Nan sat down at a stone table.

Erlaizi brought Ningnan a plate of stir-fried lamb liver and a pot of warm yellow wine.

"The mutton is still cooking," Erlaizi said with a smile. "Brother, have some to eat first."

Ning Nan flicked his chopsticks, picked up a thinly sliced ​​piece of lamb liver, and put it in his mouth. It was fresh, tender, and not gamey, with a delicate fragrance. It was well-made.

We had a short meal.

Erlai rubbed his face and led his older brother to see the finished gunpowder.

The gunpowder was stored in individual jars, which were covered with tung oil paper to prevent water from seeping in.

Inside the cave, there were dozens of large earthenware jars, each capable of holding twenty or thirty kilograms of gunpowder.

"So many?"

Ning Nan exclaimed "Huh?" somewhat surprised. He opened a jar, looked inside, and rubbed it. The quality seemed pretty good.

"Old Peng and I conquered seven or eight villages in the surrounding area."

Erlai said,

"Those who are willing to surrender will be assigned to work for us, and those who are unwilling will be released."

Ning Nan rubbed the black gunpowder off his hand and stood up.

Erlai stood beside him, his face solemn, and said:

"Several villages nearby also have them, and Old Man Peng is still having people continue to work on them."

"Well done." Ning Nan nodded, glanced around, and was very satisfied.

It could even be said that the amount was somewhat beyond his expectations.

After a few breaths, he rolled up his sleeves, his expression becoming calm:

"Bring in a few skilled craftsmen."

He said softly:

"This kind of explosive can detonate, but it's not suitable for use in a musket; it's prone to causing the barrel to explode."

They had previously captured dozens of flintlock muskets from the Northern Dynasty, and later seized a batch of military equipment that the Northern Dynasty was sending south, as well as a thousand horses, from Taiyuan.

The horses were used to restrain Ortai for a while, but a large number of them were sold off later, since they needed to go into the mountains.

Among this batch of weapons, besides the fine swords, there were also more than 300 matchlock guns made by the Taiyuan Arsenal, but they were missing gunpowder.

"I……"

Ning Nan sighed deeply, revealing two sections of his arm:

"Teach them how to process the gunpowder so that it can be ground into a finer powder..."

……

……

He personally blew up the embassy in the South...

The blame was pinned on the Heavenly Principles Sect, causing chaos in Beijing.

They tricked the North Koreans into entering the embassy to put out a fire, and then ambushed them.

Yue Le entered the embassy and followed him closely... so he killed Yue Le with his own hands...

He even carried Yue Le's head...and personally went to the sticky pole office...

How dare they?

then……

He forged a letter from Han Qing, the leader of the Heavenly Principle Sect. Fearing that the Northern Emperor would suspect him, he wrote the fake letter in Chinese and wrote "true" in Manchu on the back.

When everyone heard this, they felt a chill in their hearts, realizing that even they themselves would probably find it hard not to believe it.

They actually... used Manchu?

And so it goes.

On a night when the curfew was extremely strict, he tricked the Northern Dynasty into opening the tightly closed city gates...

Alin followed him.

Three hundred cavalrymen from the Northern Dynasty's Protectorate followed him, eyeing him menacingly.

There is no escape.

In any case, logically speaking, there should be no way to escape or avoid this.

The Northern Emperor did nothing wrong, nor did the Sticky Rod Office. They were able to capture Han Qing while ensuring he couldn't pull any tricks.

But who could have predicted that he would use the Jinyiwei spies in Beijing, whose allegiance was unclear, and the meager number of cavalry in the mission, to lure two different cavalry units of the Northern Dynasty into charging each other in the dark of night!

"Shangguan Xiu?" someone asked in surprise.

This spoiled brat actually managed to personally lead cavalry to lure the enemy into a trap?

When Madam Jia came to the scene from the side and heard the news about her son, she felt a chill run down her spine as she worried about him, but at the same time, her eyes lit up with admiration as she cheered for her son.

Meanwhile, the diplomatic mission at the Siamese embassy was also taken away by his men using a decoy tactic after the explosion and fire...

The sky outside was gradually darkening.

Lu Chong's letter actually stated that it was Hong Feng who took the delegation away, but Yan Yuqing omitted some similar details.

Since Hongfeng could be threatened once, he could be threatened a second time.

If some details were leaked, it might render one of the prince consort's pawns useless.

This matter can only be reported to the Queen privately.

After hearing what Yan Yuqing said, everyone was stunned and couldn't believe it.

But as this old woman analyzed, if the Northern Dynasty still had a Southern envoy, why not have Yue Zhongqi take him south to threaten or humiliate our Great Liang?

Second Grand Secretary Gao Congzhe slightly opened his mouth, suppressing the complex, shocking, and even unbelievable feelings in his heart, and asked:

"So, in other words, our Liang envoy is currently en route south?"

Yan Yuqing said in a deep voice, "That's right."

She did not reveal what methods the Grand Prince Consort had prepared to receive the Southern Dynasty delegation as they traveled south, nor did she mention which route the delegation would take, lest the news leak out.