weaving

In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign in the Ming Dynasty, on April 11th, Sishi, in the capital.

A group of brightly-armored cavalry slowly drove into the Anding Gate. Although there were only a thousand riders and horses, they were all full of energy and high-spirited. Each cavalryman held a bright tiger spear and looked menacing.

They were all wearing neat and uniform standard armor, all of them were smooth and shiny, and the tips of the tiger spears shone in the sunlight. From a distance, they looked like soldiers from heaven.

"Look... these are Uncle Yong Ning's soldiers and horses... so majestic!"

"They are truly worthy of being the officers and soldiers who defeated the Tatars..."

"If we have this large army in the capital, we won't be afraid of the Tatars coming again..."

Suddenly, there were waves of exclamations among the people talking on both sides of the street inside the city gate...

"Look...it's Uncle Yongning..."

"Where is it? Ah... I saw... the general riding the big horse..."

Zhang Cheng, the chief military officer of Xuanfu Town in the Ming Dynasty and Yongning Bo, is wearing a bright golden armor given by the emperor. The outer cloak has a piece of snow-white wool on the inside and a bright red suede on the outside. He rides a tall chrysanthemum war horse "Bi Congju" ", appeared in people's sight.

"Who is that father-in-law next to Uncle Yongning?"

"Tsk...you don't know this..."

"Isn't that the Eunuch Bian sent by the emperor to supervise the army!"

"Hmph. Anyway, he is not as powerful as Yong Ningbo..."

A female voice came over: "Yes. He's not as handsome as Uncle Ning!"

Junbian Yongqing, the director of the Yongyi Army, rode a pure white war horse and accompanied Zhang Cheng slowly into the city. Naturally, he could not hear the comments from the surrounding crowd.

Behind them were two lieutenant officers, Zhang Chengfang and Zhang Mingyuan, and behind them were twenty young knights, all of whom were brightly armored and full of energy.

They were all the thirty-eight adopted sons of Zhang Cheng at Xinzhuang Fort in Xuanfu. They ranged from ten to sixteen years old. The younger ones were all studying in schools and learning to work, and the twenty-three older ones were all adopted. He remained in the army.

Now, except for Zhang Jintai who first entered the Tiger Guard Camp and is now transferred to the Weiyuan Camp as a lieutenant general, the rest are all staying with Zhang Cheng as personal bodyguards. Zhang Chengfang and Zhang Mingyuan are their captains and deputy captains.

"Cannons...lots of cannons..."

"I'm a good boy...why don't you tell me how powerful Yong Ning's officers and soldiers are!"

"I heard that...at the gate of Jinzhou City last year...Yong Ningbo used these cannons...to knock down the slave chief Hong Tai's mount, causing him to fall seriously injured. He is still bedridden to this day..."

"You can pull them down. I didn't realize that these are all brand new. From what I see, the artillery that damaged the slave chieftain must have been collected by Yong Ningbo."

Brand-new artillery carriages painted bright red appeared in front of everyone's eyes, which immediately aroused a more intense discussion.

Each of the twenty gun carriages has two six-foot-seven-inch No. 2 Fran machine cannons. The black muzzles of the guns are wrapped with a piece of red cloth to show that they are not loaded with ammunition.

These tanks were newly built after the Battle of Jinzhou. They were also equipped with the newly finalized No. 2 Fran machine cannon, with a total length of six feet and seven inches, a bullet weight of ten liang, and a charge of eleven liang. Its power and The range is more than double that of the No. 4 gun used in the Battle of Jinzhou.

The newly finalized No. 2 Fran cannon is currently only equipped by the Weiyuan Battalion Tank Thousand Headquarters. Although both tank departments are stationed in Xuanfu, Zhang Cheng still allocated ten tanks from each department. Not only to test its power on the battlefield, but also to show off its appearance when entering Beijing.

After all, he had deducted more than two million taels of silver as military pay, so he had to come up with something to show to those jealous people!

Following closely behind were the thicker and stronger four-wheeled artillery carts, which looked extremely heavy. Each four-wheeled artillery cart was pulled by six tall and strong mules. Even the bluestone-paved streets seemed difficult to navigate. Bear its weight.

Of course, the weight of the four-wheeled cart alone is not enough to make the bluestone street creak!

Although there were only eight four-wheeled artillery carts in total, they slowly entered from outside the city gate one by one. Especially the thick and heavy cannon on the gun mount, which was a foot long, was even more intimidating in its bulk.

"Look...then...that's the Hongyi Cannon!"

"...It looks like...it's almost the same as the mighty general on top of our city..."

"Let me tell you...this guy is more powerful than our General Shenwei..."

"We think they are pretty much the same...how is this one more powerful than General Shenwei?"

"Bullshit...how can that be the same? Don't you look at who Uncle Yong Ning is? He is the man who chopped off the heads of two Tartar kings!"

"It's just... I think this cannon... is much more powerful than the mighty General on top of our city..."

"As expected of Uncle Yong Ning's cannon...it's so big...it's so thick!"

Zhang Cheng changed the name of Hongyi Cannon to Hongyi Cannon!

The Yi-Hun cannon had been successfully trial-produced before Zhang Cheng led troops to aid the Liao Dynasty. After continuing to test and finalize the model according to Zhang Cheng's instructions, mass production began.

This big killing weapon looks very big and bulky, but it actually consumes a lot of materials. It is indeed a veritable cannon. Its total weight is 2,400 kilograms. It is made of iron and has a copper core. Its caliber is three inches and seven cents, and it can hold eight to eight charges. Ten kilograms, shooting iron cannons weighing twenty to thirty kilograms.

Although, how powerful are these homemade barbarian cannons from the Yunzhou Craftsman Camp?

At present, no one dares to make a guarantee. There is naturally no problem with the credibility of the Yunzhou Craftsman Camp, and everyone can still trust it, but after all, these cannons have not been tested on the battlefield.

Not to mention other people, even Yongning Bo and Zhang Cheng were secretly thinking about it!

Because the barbarian cannon is too thick, it consumes a lot of iron and copper, and the process is very complicated. Casting is time-consuming and expensive, but its performance on the battlefield has not been tested in actual combat.

Although Zhang Cheng is now considered wealthy, he does not dare to waste too much, because he knows that the real use of money is still behind, and this is just the beginning.

Amid the exclamations and discussions from the crowds on both sides of the street, eight four-wheeled artillery carts were followed by another large baggage truck slowly driving in from the city gate. Two No. 4 Franco machine guns were also placed on the truck. .

"This cannon doesn't work...it's too small..."

"Compared with the big guy who just passed by, doesn't this look like a small toothpick?"

"Look...this big cart pulls a small cannon...the ruts are so deep..." A hundred large baggage trucks came slowly in, followed by a thousand capable infantrymen, who were also wearing armor. , in front were two hundred soldiers with swords and shields, marching in neat steps with shields raised.

Then people saw a forest of spears, and four hundred similarly armored spearmen stepped forward. Five of them lined up. Whether viewed from the front or the side, the spears were uniform and always maintained. into a straight line.

"Hey, boom, boom... it's so shocking..."

"Look...it must be Uncle Yongning's soldiers!"

"It's so majestic..."

"Look...are they carrying fire guns?"

An exclamation came from the crowd watching the excitement. The people around looked in the direction of his finger and saw that after the spearmen, another row of officers and soldiers stepped into the Anding Gate.

Although they were not wearing armor, each of them had a black cloth cover slung across his left shoulder, and jet-black iron pipes protruded from their shoulders, which seemed to indicate their identity - fire gun soldiers!

"Hey...if Yong Ningbo's officers and soldiers are stationed in the capital, why should we be afraid of killing the Tatars!"

"you do not say."

"Old King, are you bragging this time by saying that Yong Ningbo killed two Tartar kings in a row?"

…………

The officers and soldiers of the Yongyi Army marched slowly along Andingmen Street, heading straight to the Dong'anmen of the Imperial City in the south. There was also an endless stream of people watching the excitement along the street.

The capital city of Ming Dynasty has not been so lively for many years!

Every few feet along the entire Andingmen Street, there is an officer wearing a red military uniform, maintaining order on the street to facilitate the passage of the Yongyi Army's reviewing troops.

Amid bursts of discussion and cheers, Bian Yongqing, the eunuch of the Yongyi Army, drove his horse into Yong'an Gate, while Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng led the soldiers of the Yongyi Army who were reviewing and continued to move forward.

They were to turn westward at the intersection of East Chang'an Street and undergo a review by Emperor Chongzhen outside Chengtian Gate. This grand military parade was specially held by Zhang Cheng and Bian Yongqing after asking Emperor Chongzhen for permission. It had two purposes.

First, in order to transport the one million taels of silver and the treasures presented by Zhang Cheng into the palace, everyone's attention was on the marching warriors and convoys, and they did not pay attention to the fifty large baggage vehicles. He actually quietly turned into Yong'an Gate.

Secondly, they naturally want to use this military parade to boost the morale of the people in Gyeonggi Province.

The morale that had originally been boosted after the defeat of the slaves in the Battle of Jinzhou fell to the bottom again because two consecutive governors of the three sides were killed in the war in Henan. Bandits were rampant and no one could control it.

Of course, for Emperor Chongzhen, the one million taels of silver was the most important. As long as he had a small amount of money in his hand, he would not be like before, not to mention dispatching troops to suppress thieves and slaves, even King Qin would It’s a bit laborious!

Therefore, when Zhang Cheng proposed in his secret report to use the military parade as a cover to secretly transport the one million taels of silver to the palace treasury, Emperor Chongzhen agreed without hesitation.

Soon the parade passed through East Chang'an Gate and arrived in front of Chengtian Gate.

On both sides of Chengtian Gate stood Han generals. Like the Yongyi Army soldiers, they all wore brand-new armor. They all had broad shoulders and round waists, tall postures, and held pumpkin hammers or big axes, like gods. Similar.

Compared with them, the warriors of the Yongyi Army, although less majestic, looked much more sturdy. The murderous aura emanating from their bodies was incomparable to those of the glorious Han generals.

Many courtiers and nobles were standing under the Chengtian Gate, and there were as many as one or two hundred people bustling there. The throne of Emperor Chongzhen was located on the Chengtian Gate, and the court elders and some nobles were accompanying the emperor. .

The cavalry, chariots, and infantry marched slowly past the Chengtian Gate in sequence, shouting "Long live, long live, long live" one after another, one wave after another, and finally disappeared outside the West Chang'an Gate.

The officers and soldiers of the Yongyi Army who were inspected by Emperor Chongzhen walked a short distance after leaving the West Chang'an Gate, then turned onto Deshengmen Street and headed north, leaving the capital and returning to the Changping Camp.

However, Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng was left behind by Emperor Chongzhen and was ordered to go to the palace to see his majesty. The only person who was recruited into the palace with him was Chen Xinjia, Minister of War.

…………

In the main hall of Qianqing Palace, Emperor Chongzhen sat high on the throne. Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng and Minister of War Chen Xinjia stood in front of the imperial case with their heads lowered and their eyebrows lowered.

"Give a seat!"

As soon as Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, four little eunuchs immediately carried two small stools to the imperial desk and put them down. Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng and Minister of War Chen Xinjia sat down together.

Unlike Zhang Cheng who sat carelessly on the stool, Chen Xinjia, the Minister of War, just like the former cabinet minister and supervisor Yang Sichang, only put a quarter of his buttocks on the stool and did not sit firmly.

"...Your Majesty, I am loyal to the king and do everything for the sake of the emperor."

Zhang Cheng knelt down and knelt down in admiration, and said repeatedly: "This was not done intentionally by my ministers, but by the soldiers under my command who fought bloody battles against slaves, but the profiteers from Shanyou secretly colluded with slaves and smuggled capital into slaves.

Although I am angry in my heart, I also know the laws of the imperial court. My original intention is to report to Your Majesty first, and then take action against the traitorous slave traders based on the decision of Your Majesty and the imperial court.

But this gang of profiteers and thieves could not wait. I heard that they had hoarded a large amount of materials in Zhangjiakou. They even hoarded large quantities of salt, iron, grain, gunpowder, and cloth that the court had repeatedly banned from border trade.

I believe that in the battle at Jinzhou last year, Governor Hong of Liaodong coordinated the battle well and took care of the lives of all the generals. Fortunately, he was not defeated. He also caused the Eastern captives to lose troops and generals, wasting money and food. It was actually a great victory against the captives that had not been seen in decades.

However, in order to make money, the unscrupulous businessmen secretly colluded with the captives, and wanted to use the name of Tumote Mongolia to transfuse blood to the eastern captives. This move will undoubtedly destroy the effectiveness of our military campaign.

After discussing with the generals under his command, in order to prevent the Donglu from regaining their strength and to frighten the younger generation, I decided not to use thunderous means and attacked decisively to capture all the traitors.

As a result, I gained millions of taels of ill-gotten gains from unscrupulous merchants and traitors. I asked for permission to reserve half of them as food aid for Henan, and the remaining amount was three million taels. It arrived in the capital the day before yesterday. After delivery, it went into the official treasury of the Ministry of Revenue.

In the treasury of the traitor merchants in Zhangjiakou, there are many more gold, silver, pearls and jade with blood. It is obvious that when the Eastern captives invaded the capital, they robbed our people's property. I also brought them all and handed them over to Eunuch Bian Yongqing to present to the emperor. . "

"Zhang Cheng, although you are committed to the country, loyal to the king's affairs, and anxious for my urgent needs. However, it is indeed too much for you to carry out arrests, killings and raids without being interrogated and convicted by the Three Laws Division!"

Emperor Chongzhen's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and he pointed to the mountain of memorials piled on the imperial court and said to Zhang Cheng: "Here are the memorials written by officials to impeach you Zhang Cheng."

"emperor……"

Zhang Cheng kept kowtowing to the ground like pounding garlic, and said hurriedly: "I have been favored by the emperor, and I have long pledged my loyalty to the country, and I am even more sincere to your majesty. However, this time I have indeed done a good job in hunting down the traitors and traitors. Zhang Cheng was too eager and was willing to be punished." (End of Chapter)