Tens of thousands of people gathered along the Tonghui River to see the excitement.

The Son of Heaven sent people to reward the victorious master, which has not been seen for many years, and to be able to see such a fortunate event, in the future, it will be talked about when bragging and gossiping.

According to the Daming Huidian, there is a whole set of processes for such activities.

However, Shouhan did not do that.

All the officers and men of the Nanzhong Army were lined up inside and outside the camp gate, all dressed in polished armor as bright as new, lined with very crisp military uniforms, and stood proudly with their chests held high.

Looking at this group of strong and strong warriors, the onlookers in the capital kept pointing and discussing.

At about ten o'clock in the morning, the Shenji Battalion, the Fifth Army Battalion, and the 3,000 Battalion of soldiers and horses of the brigade poured out from Chaoyang Gate and lined up along the road, followed by a team of Jinyi Banner School horses rushing out.

I'm not afraid of not knowing the goods, I'm afraid of comparing goods. In the eyes of the onlookers, although the clothes and armor like the soldiers and horses of the Beijing camp are bright and burly, they are a little inferior in spirit, and they do not have that kind of majesty and murderous aura.

Surrounded by a team of brocade banner school horse teams were Wang Chengen, the eunuch who was ordered to reward the Southern Central Army, and Xue Guoguan, a representative sent by the cabinet.

There were already officials sent by the Shuntian Prefecture to maintain order on both sides of the road, and two officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Shuntian Prefecture taught the proper etiquette of Shouhan here.

"Master Li, the angel has arrived, and it should be time to play music and fire cannons."

"Good! Shoot! Played! ”

The artillery team had already prepared twenty large Buddha Lang machines and lined them up on the east and west sides of the ranks. The gunners uniformly stuffed the medicine bags into the chamber and lit the letter tube.

"Boom! Boom! Rumble! Twenty cannons rang out in unison. A series of artillery shots screamed in terror from the mounts of the 3,000 battalions and the Jinyi Banner School.

The cavalry of the 3,000 battalions worked hard to control the war horses under their crotches, and it took a lot of effort to not fall off the horses, but the momentum of galloping and jumping was wiped out by the sound of the cannons.

"Donkey dung eggs! Light on the outside, grass on the inside! ”

A few brave whispers disdainfully.

Hearing the sound of artillery three rounds, and seeing the incense table and other things in front of the Nanzhong army, two classes of fine music played on both sides of the incense case, Wang Chengen's face showed a rare smile, as if the whole person had become sunny.

"Father-in-law. The Nanzhong army has been in the barbarian land for a long time, and this cannon salute. It should be their highest standard of etiquette. Xue Guoguan also deliberately said good things for the South Central Army. News has already come out from the palace, because he defended the Nanzhong Army that day, which made the emperor's favor for him greatly increased, and maybe the matter of entering the cabinet to worship the prime minister is just around the corner.

"Minister! Li Shouhan. I would like to lead the Nanzhong Army into Beijing and all the soldiers of King Qin. Welcome Angels! ”

"Salute!"

Wang Bao shouted. He drew his saber from his waist and waved it in the wind, just like a lightning bolt in the air.

With this command. The pikemen on both sides raised their spears in unison, as if a forest of spears had grown out of the ground. The sword and shield soldier is holding a shield in his left hand and a long knife in his right hand, which is very majestic.

This strict and neat military formation made eunuchs like Wang Chengen, who had lived in the deep palace for a long time, and civil officials like Xue Guoguan, also know at a glance that this was an elite soldier, and it was definitely not those like those in the Beijing camp behind him.

Only the eight squares of the 800 firecrackers just raised the firearms in their hands and pointed diagonally into the air, not knowing what they were going to do.

Seeing this formation, the officers and men of the 3,000 battalion turned over and dismounted very familiarly, lest there would be another thing like Fang Cai's almost visible appearance.

Four soldiers of the Nanzhong Army trotted all the way to Wang Chengen and Xue Guoguan, and after kneeling down on one leg and saluting, they chanted loudly: "Mark the next and wait to meet the angel!" Lead the way for the angels! ”

Wang Chengen nodded slightly, and the four pro-soldiers trotted forward and grabbed the bridles of Wang Chengen and Xue Guoguan.

Facts have proved that Wang Chengen's move is very wise.

As he marched towards the camp of the Southern Central Army, eight musketeers began to cast their fiery guns in turn. The continuous sound of firecrackers shocked the eyelids of the officers of the Beijing camp who came with him, and their faces turned pale. Everyone knows that Nanzhong's firearms are sharp, but they didn't expect it to be so sharp! Dare to cast an empty gun into the air when the angel comes, as a military salute.

If it weren't for the two personal soldiers who grabbed the horse under Wang Chengen's crotch, I am afraid that the prince, who is usually very docile, would also be frightened and scurry around.

"Li Shouhan! Pick it up! ”

Wang Chengen stood behind the incense case, and took a brocade box wrapped in yellow silk from the hands of a brocade guard beside him, and a vermilion lacquer painted gold plate dragon box in it, he carefully took out the holy decree with the yellow silk dark dragon envelope from the box, and sang loudly: "Fengtian carries the emperor, and the edict says: ...... Slaves and thieves bring disaster to the country, and the people are miserable. All my subjects are gnashing their teeth, and now Wenqing led King Qin's soldiers and horses to fight to kill the thief, and the victory in Hexi was very happy and comforting. Today, Li Shouhan was promoted to the second rank of Jinwu general, and Yin's eldest son, Jinyi Wei Qianhu. His wife Li Yan is the second-grade lady, and his wife Li Fu and Li Li are the third-grade ladies! He was rewarded with 30,000 taels of silver, and 50 horses and 500 servant horses for military use...... and sent the right deputy capital Yu Shi Xue Guoguan, the chief eunuch Wang Chengen to the three armies on behalf of me. ”

(The Li Fu sisters are Mei Shan and Shi Lin sisters, because they couldn't remember what their Han surnames were, so they picked one up.) Fortunately, the Fu family also has Han surnames, and Shou Han's doing this did not cause many doubts among the officials of the Ministry of Rites. On the contrary, he was a little envious because he was able to marry a pair of sisters as concubines. ）

After listening to him, Shouhan kowtowed and thanked him.

"Minister, Li Shouhan, thank you! Long live our emperor! Hooray! ”

"Hooray! Hooray! ”

Thunderous shouts erupted in the ranks.

In order to envelop the Han guard, Chongzhen also put a lot of thought into it, in addition to breaking the routine that there can only be two wives, and enshrined the order of the three-grade lady to Mei Shan, Shi Lin and Li Muhua, he also gave a python robe and jade belt, and the python suit has a five-clawed dragon pattern, which is very similar to the dragon gon suit worn by the emperor, which is also a great honor for a while.

After handing over the holy decree and all kinds of rewards, Shouhan stepped forward and grabbed the hands of Wang Chengen and Xue Guoguan. "The father-in-law and the adults have worked hard all the way, and the guards have set up a thin wine, and I hope the two of them will not refuse."

"General Jin Wu is polite, our family is about to get closer to the general."

"As an official, I want to be the ruling Jinwu, and this official is about to disturb General Jingo today with a glass of happy wine."

"Please go to the Shouhan tent to rest, and Shouhan will have another heart."

In the big tent of Shouhan, three tables of banquets have been set up, and they are still seafood banquets, but they are not much higher than the specifications of the military department and the celebrant supervisor.

Off-the-books. There was a burst of singing. and the noisy shouting and scolding of the soldiers in the Beijing camp, intertwined, it seems extremely discordant.

"Go! See what's going on? ”

Wang Chengen frowned and motioned to the powerful eunuch beside him to go and suppress it.

A moment later. The eunuch returned.

"Father-in-law. Outside are the soldiers of the Fifth Army Battalion, the Shenji Battalion, and the 3,000 Battalion. Because, because, "It turned out to be a momentary stopper."

"Because of what?"

"Because General Jingo rewarded him with wine, meat, and food. The crowd scrambled and cursed each other. ”

I see. The expressions of the people in the tent eased slightly.

"This group of useless things, after we go back, our family will take care of them!"

"The flag is fluttering, the horse is Xiao Xiao, the gun is on the shoulder, the knife is on the waist, the blood is like a frenzy, and a good man is serving the country in the present day.

Rise up quickly, don't be a coward; Quickly unite, don't be scattered. The countryside is broken, the woe is on the brows, and if you want to survive, you must throw your head away! Save the downfall, all up to my comrades. Why didn't Dai Tianqiu take revenge? If you don't kill the enemy, you won't hate it! ”

"Blue sky, clear river, alas, green farmland, this is my home, alas. The babbling waterwheel, the white sails, and you, my girl......"

Xue Guoguan listened to the lyrics sung by the Nanzhong Army for a while, and couldn't help but praise it, "That's it!" The priests can sing such heroic ballads to inform the loyal monarch and patriotism. General Jinwu's move is in line with the principle of the sage's education! ”

Shouhan smiled, "It's nothing, compiling a song for a while and ordering the soldiers to sing it, firstly, it can boost morale, and secondly, it can make them understand some truth." ”

While speaking, several pro-soldiers came to Wang Chengen and Xue Guoguan table with red wooden plates in their hands.

"Nanzhong is deserted, the products are not abundant, there is nothing else to give, just some local products, talk about the heart. I hope you don't want to shirk. ”

Wang Chengen and Xue Guoguan secretly sneered in their hearts, you are a dirt bun! Don't look at the fact that you can defeat Jiannu, if you want to talk about the world's rare treasures, rare gold and silver, we can still be compared to you? However, it is good to have this heart!

A little eunuch reached out and took the wooden plate, and immediately sighed, almost raising the wooden plate out of his hand.

Someone took the wooden plate and glared at the little eunuch fiercely, expressing strong dissatisfaction with his gaffe. In the wooden plate, in addition to a gift list, there are a few other tips.

"Ten rubies, ten jadeites, ten emeralds. Two pairs of three-foot long ivory. Twenty gold coins. ”

Wang Chengen casually took a brocade bag, and felt quite heavy when he started it, untied the silk silk on the mouth of the brocade bag, and several gold coins slipped out of the mouth of the bag. I took one in my hand and checked it, although it is not the best red gold, but from the point of view of fineness, there should be seven or eight percent, one is afraid that there are not more than one or two? These twenty pieces will have nearly thirty taels of gold, and these gold coins alone are worth three or four hundred taels of silver, and those precious stones and the like cannot be estimated.

Also included in the gift list is a beautifully printed paper ticket. "See the ticket and pay 1,000 stone of high-quality japonica rice." It is the rice ticket issued by Longsheng.

Rao is Wang Chengen and Xue Guoguan are both figures who have seen the world, but this gift also surprised them. Xue Guoguan, in history, has the reputation of greedy for money and good goods, and he is quite clear about the price and market value of all kinds of property. This rice ticket alone is worth thousands of taels!

"This? General Jin Wu's good intentions, our family will be ashamed! ”

"In the future, there will be a Gonggong Lao!"

"Well said! Say! ”

Xue Guoguan over there also raised his glass, and the three of them talked about the wine, and they had to push the glass and change the lamp during the banquet.

After the banquet, Wang Chengen took advantage of a little wine to see the drills of the Nanzhong Army, and repeatedly stated that our family only looks at firearms.

"Then ask my father-in-law to watch the artillery team's drills!"

“…… Head-on slashing with the wind, the pursuit must be sliding, and the peers will be stabbed. Horses can't be stopped. Hedge in the waist, people to the knife to be smooth, not out of the group, to be close to the waist. Riding a horse should look to the left, stop the horse to look at the last. The power of the spear is empty, the head of the spear should be relied on, and the unloading force should be turned in the blink of an eye, and it is all dependent on the wrist to turn. Draw the knife on the back. Do not collapse the waist, obliquely hold the tail of the spear, charge the battle by the spear, break the enemy and draw the sword first. ”

Dozens of cavalrymen led two or three hundred volunteers to lead the horses rewarded by Chongzhen. The horses were happily brought to the stables to be settled. He was still reciting the essentials of cavalry combat and training horses. lest these righteous men do not know how to deal with horses, and they will be injured by horses.

"Sure enough, it's a good soldier!"

Wang Chengen looked at the hundreds of soldiers who had straightened their backs, and his face was full of the arrogance that had gone through the battle array and the bloody battle. But it is completely different from the arrogance of the three battalions of the Beijing Division. Praise without a mouth.

"That's what the book says!"

"My father-in-law praised it."

Shouhan was polite in his mouth, but he secretly smiled in his heart, most of these people were the first batch of plundered refugees rescued from the hands of Zhengbai Banner, and they were used as civilian and auxiliary forces during the Battle of Hexi, and now they are receiving some basic military training in the battalion. However, compared with those veteran soldiers in the Beijing camp, these people have to practice every day, and their personal skills may not be as good as the military horses in the Beijing camp, but when it comes to queue discipline and other items, they are much better.

More than ten big Buddha machines at Beiying Gate have been put in line.

"Father-in-law, Lord Xue, I should have ordered all the artillery to line up here, please give the two of you some advice, but at the moment, the hearts of the Jingshi are undecided, and once the cannon sound suddenly starts, I am afraid of disturbing the people of the capital. I only took these more than ten guns, and I said a little bit. ”

Wang Chengen didn't care about listening to the politeness of the guard, but just stared at the cannon body of the big Buddha machine.

On the cannon body, spots, and tentacles, are all undulating particles. However, the muzzle of the cannon is extremely smooth, and when you look inward, the inner wall of the barrel is extremely smooth under the light that faintly shines through the muzzle and the mouth of the mother.

Regarding the granular hemp surface of the gun body, Wang Chengen did not feel strange at all. From the eunuchs and supervisors of the Ministry of War and the management of firearms, he has also heard that when casting artillery, it is also a common thing that the cannon body is not smooth, and everyone doesn't think it's anything, the key is that the inner wall is so smooth, but it is really rare.

However, what Wang Chengen's father-in-law did not expect was that the hemp surface of the cannon body was deliberately done by the Nanzhong Army when casting the artillery. The purpose is to increase the heat dissipation area of the gun body. Although this increases the requirements for the daily maintenance of the gun, it can improve the heat dissipation efficiency of the smooth gun body a lot.

He took a cannon from the hand of a gunner, and the cannon was polished so smooth and so round and lovely that he threw it down the ground with a childlike heart, and bounced along the ground a few times, and rolled out on the ground for a long time.

It's much stronger than those potholes and honeycomb stagnation cannons in the Shenji Battalion!

Wang Chengen couldn't help but praise in his heart.

"Please father-in-law and this adult take shelter for the time being, let's start the drill!" The officers of the artillery team asked Wang Chengen and Xue Guoguan to withdraw from the artillery position first.

Xue Guoguan felt like a general feeling about these things of manipulating guns and cannons, and it was only in order to flatter Wang Chengen that he deliberately expressed his high interest, and as soon as he heard this, he immediately retreated to Shouhan's side and talked with him. But it was the princess, who looked at the big Buddha machine with a little reluctance, as if a child had lost his beloved toy.

"What is this guy thinking? Could it be that deep down, these cannons are regarded as their own masculine characteristics? ”

Looking at Wang Chengen's melancholy face, Shouhan had a bad guess in his heart.

"The lower officials are brave, I don't know what to call General Jinwu? There is only the name of the general on the documents, and the upper guard is the lower Han, I don't know what the general's table is? Or is it in words? ”

Yizixing means "to be in the world" and is a term for titles. The ancients generally had "name" and "word", and "word line" was for various reasons, and most of them only called the person's "word" and were not familiar with his "name". For example, Xiang Yu, Yu is his word. And the one we are most familiar with is a line of words, Chiang Kai-shek, and Kai-shek is his word.

"The man's twenty crowns and words, should have been given by his parents and teachers, but the family has already seen his back, and the guards preside over the housework before the weak crown, and they are busy with mundane affairs, so they delay this matter."

"Boom! Rumble! ”

Just as Shouhan and Xue Guoguan were talking, the gunners began to fire into the open space outside the north gate, and several battlements standing two hundred steps away fell in response!

The castration continued. Still rushing and jumping in the wilderness for a dozen times, he stopped more than twenty paces away.

"Good! Well played! ”

Wang Chengen jumped over, pushed the gunner away, and tried it with his hands on the muzzle, but the muzzle was only slightly hot.

"Well shot! The medicinal power is also excellent! It's white smoke, unlike your Shenji Battalion, which is filled with black smoke after a shot, and it's the same as his mother's pig Wuneng came! ”

While praising the gunners of the South Central Army, he reprimanded the adjutant general who led the escort of the Shenji Battalion.

"Yes! The father-in-law taught the lesson! The pair nodded incessantly, and fine sweat broke out on his forehead. But he didn't dare to wipe it.

"If your cannon still shoots like that grandma. We're going to ask a few fathers-in-law of the Imperial Horse Supervisor to stop your food!" ”

"Yes, yes, yes! My father-in-law taught me a lesson! ”

"General Jinwu, we want to try your army's artillery, I don't know if it's okay?"

Li Shouhan, who was discussing the issue of table characters with Xue Guoguan, almost dropped his jaw when he arrived!

What the? Although you are the second best eunuch in the history of the Ming Dynasty after Zheng He, but. Cannon shooting is no joke.

"Out of the way. We'll do it! ”

Wang Chengen will indeed fire. It is recorded in historical sources. In March of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng attacked the Beijing Division, and Zhu Youzhen ordered Wang Chengen to supervise the Beijing camp. At that time, the general trend of the Ming Dynasty was gone. There were few guards in the capital, and they broke into the army and set up flying ladders to attack Xizhimen, Pingzemen and Deshengmen. Seeing that the enemy army was rampant, Wang Chengen personally carried out artillery bombardment, killing several people in a row. Therefore, this master is not so simple as accompanying Chongzhen to Jingshan.

"Wait for you!"

The gunners of the five big francs that had just not fired their guns became nervous.

Wang Chengen leaned down and adjusted the big Buddha machine according to the movements of the gunners, and then the torch in the gunner's hand ignited the letter tube on the gunner.

"Boom!"

Not to mention, his shooting skills are really good, but he actually hit two shots in five, and the two stacks fell in response.

"Look! If you have this method from our family, we won't scold you! ”

The prince triumphantly reprimanded the lieutenant general of the Shenji Battalion.

"General Jinwu, Xue Zongxian, how is our family fighting?"

With a bit of pride and showing off, Wang Chengen came to Shouhan and Xue Guoguan.

"The father-in-law shoots the gods, so that a certain person is ashamed!"

"Huh! General Jin Wu is polite, you are a great general, and this artillery shooting is just a small skill of carving insects. But," he paused, "I'm very curious, I don't know what secret techniques the gunners of the Nanzhong Army can operate the cannon so accurately." ”

"Our family knows, so let this group of monkey cubs do the same, and train a good artillery team for the emperor!"

"My father-in-law smiled." Shouhan secretly scolded in his heart, I will take my artillerymen who have learned the coordinate system, can memorize the number table, and calculate trigonometric functions? Simple multi-element calculations based on the distance of the target?!

"Where there is any secret art, it's just a matter of practice, practice makes perfect!"

"Oh! I see, it's the same as we think! ”

Wang Chengen's tone seemed to have some regret.

More practice? Skill comes from practice? Joke! What is the current tax and financial situation of the Ming Dynasty, others don't know, but he, the eunuch who is the master of ceremonies, will not know? More practice for the artillery team? That shell went out, and the cannon and gunpowder were all exchanged for silver money!

"Alas! Our family originally wanted to share the worries of the emperor, but the emperor has always wanted to practice internal exercises. I don't know how the soldiers and horses under General Jin Wu were trained? ”

Because the armies everywhere are unreliable, Chongzhen plans to organize the strong eunuchs in the palace and rely on his own domestic slaves to train into an army directly under him, which Shouhan has seen in various books, but he doesn't know how effective the war is.

"If the emperor plans to practice internal exercises, Shouhan has some humble opinions and can report a thing or two to the emperor. However, in military training, the first thing is to achieve sufficient food and salary, I wonder if the emperor's military salary has been settled? ”

Hearing Shouhan ask about military salaries and rations, Wang Chengen immediately said to him.

"I just saw that Xue Zongxian and General Jin Wu were talking quite deed, I don't know what they are talking about?"

"Father-in-law, the lower official is bold, and he plans to give General Jinwu a watchword, but he is afraid that General Jinwu will not like it, so he is hesitating."

"Oh?! Let's listen to it, and we can refer to it for you. ”

"General Jinwu's merits, one is to show that there is a lonely loyalty thousands of miles away from my Ming Dynasty, and the other is to wash the Liaodong Jiannu painfully to protect my Ming clothes. Therefore, the character that the students plan to give to General Jingo is the word Wei Ru. I wonder what my father-in-law thinks? ”

"Defend my Han family's clothes, defend my Confucian holy religion, this word, General Jinwu deserves it!"

Shouhan immediately bowed to Xie Xue Zongxian and Xue Guoguan to give him the virtue of the table, and he had to put wine to entertain one or two, needless to say.

After the guests and hosts were happy, Shouhan sent Wang Chengen and Xue Guoguan to Chaoyang Gate and said goodbye.

"Father-in-law, please turn it to the emperor, if you are worried about food and salary, Wei Ru is willing to share the worries of the monarch's father." (To be continued......)