Jizhou was called Yuyang in ancient times, and it was called Wuzhongzi in the Spring and Autumn Period, and it was called Wuzhongyi in the Warring States Period. In the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, Jizhou was set up, under the jurisdiction of Yuyang, Sanhe, Yutian three counties, Yuyang County. During the Yuan Dynasty, Jizhou was subordinate to Dadu Road, under the jurisdiction of Yuyang, Pinggu, Yutian, Zunhua, Fengrun five counties, the state is still in Yuyang County.

During the Ming Dynasty, the location of Jizhou urban area is roughly the Jizhou District of Tianjin City today, after the founding of Zhu Yuanzhang, at the beginning of Hongwu, Yuyang County was withdrawn into Jizhou, so that Jizhou will be under the jurisdiction of Yutian, Zunhua, Fengrun, Pinggu four counties, belonging to Beiping Mansion. In the nineteenth year of Yongle, Zhu Di moved the capital from Nanjing Yingtianfu to Beiping Mansion, changed Beiping Mansion to Jingshi Shuntianfu, and Jizhou was subordinate to Beizhili Shuntianfu.

Zhong Nan is now a high-ranking general of the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial court provided him with a residence in the station, and the so-called provision of accommodation is that the court pays for it and buys it himself. The silver taels provided by different grades are different, it stands to reason that the generals of the general army level live in a two-entry or three-entry house and do not exceed the system, but because Zhong Nan came to Jizhou, he did not find a suitable house for a while, he did not want to live in the post station with Qiuxiang for a long time, and just happened to meet an old mansion with a single entry, located in Santun Camp, Zunhua County, and many colleagues in the army also lived in Santun Camp, so he spent money to buy it.

Zhong Nan thought this was very good, he didn't want to be too ostentatious about the house, and he didn't think that he would stay in Jizhou for ten or eight years, so there was no need to buy too big a house. Although there are some dignitaries and dignitaries in Jizhou, who openly or implicitly say that they can provide mansions for the deputy commander-in-chief, Zhong Nan does not want to "accept the blame for nothing", so he is too involved with them too early.

General Wu Weizhong's mansion is also in Santun Camp, which is very close to Zhong Nan's mansion, only a few minutes' walk away, which is also one of the important factors for Zhong Nan to buy that mansion in the first place.

The old general fell into a coma again after Zhong Nan returned to Jizhou, and the doctor bluntly said that time was running out. The military doctor of the Jizhou military camp is Li Shizhen, who once served in the Tai Hospital, and then came to the border for various reasons. Everyone was very convinced of Li Shizhen's diagnosis, so the old general's family strongly asked him to recuperate at home, thinking that the current Jizhou military camp has been well cleaned up by Zhong Nan, and the old general is no longer stubborn, and he recuperates in the house.

During the old general's recuperation, Zhong Nan arranged for the generals in the army to take turns to take care of him, and he also visited Wu's house every once in a while. Seeing that the old general's condition is getting worse day by day, everyone is also sad.

More than ten days later, Wu Weizhong passed away quietly on the bed at home, and the Jizhou generals who rushed to hear the news deeply regretted that most of them could not see the last face of the old general. Zhong Nan was mentally prepared for Wu Weizhong's death, but when this day really came, he was still grieved.

Wu Weizhong was born in a poor family in Jinhua Mansion, Zhejiang, and was intelligent by nature since he was a child, with a strong personality, he loved to read history books and the art of war, and became the general as a martial artist. Because of the accumulation of military achievements, he was later awarded the position of Haimen Guard and Songmen Guard.

In the fortieth year of Jiajing (1561), Wu Weizhong followed Qi Jiguang to fight in Taizhou for the first time, and in a few years he moved to various coastal areas, winning several battles in Huajie, Baishuiyang, and Xiaotengling, and also made the first contribution in the battle of Aiding Fujian and Hengyu. In the second year of Longqing (1568), he was ordered to be transferred to Jizhou, and later because of his meritorious service in repairing the city, he was promoted to the guerrilla general of the right battalion under the standard, and then promoted to the guerrilla general of the left battalion under the standard of the Chao battalion. In the fourth year of Wanli (1576), he was promoted to the general of sea cucumber, and was transferred to the general of coastal defense during the war of aid to Korea.

Recalling the life of the old general, Zhong Nan sighed: this old man who is also his father and teacher has dedicated his life to the Ming Dynasty. In order to protect his home and defend the country, he did not hesitate to lead his troops to Korea at the age of more than 60 years, and even fought bravely to kill the enemy in the war to aid Korea, leaving serious injuries for this. Such a strong iron backbone, the soul of the brave army is the backbone of the Ming Dynasty!

After the news of the old general's death reached Jingshi, the imperial court sent a special letter of condolence, and together with another holy decree, it was delivered to Jizhou by Wang Zhong, the eunuch of the inner court. The letter of condolence was addressed to the old general's only descendant, his daughter Wu Fang, and the holy decree was to be received by Zhong Nan on his knees.

It turned out that Emperor Wanli saw that the old general was gone, so he removed the sub-word before the post of Zhong Nan's chief soldier, and in this way, he became the rightful leader of the Jizhou army. After Zhong Nan received the order to thank him, he entertained Wang Zhong well, but he didn't dare to slack off on the eunuchs, in case he accidentally offended, he would be a * annoyance in the future. This Wang Zhong is the henchman of Zhang Whale, the current great eunuch of Dongchang, and he knows that Zhong Nansheng is strong, and he also intends to make friends, "Congratulations to Chief Soldier Zhong, congratulations to Chief Soldier Zhong!" ”

"There is a prince of Lao!" Zhong Nan handed over the silver that had been prepared a long time ago.

Wang Zhong didn't refuse, put the silver ticket into his arms, and then the two of them walked into the inner hall, stayed quiet, and then said to Zhong Nan: "Chief Zhong, before the little one left Beijing, the saint specially asked me to bring you an edict. ”

"What does the Holy One command?"

"The Holy Lord asked you to guard Jizhou well, and when the Mongolian soldiers retreated, he should let you enter Beijing!"

"Please also ask the prince to reply to the saint, Zhong Nan will defend the country to the death, in order to repay the grace of the saint!"

Wang Zhong helped Zhong Nan up and said with a smile: "It seems that the saint has a lot of trust in General Soldier Zhong, and I hope that after the Lord General Soldier rises to the top, he can remember the little one and Gonggong Zhang!" ”

"If Zhong is lucky enough to have that day, he should have a good drink with his two fathers-in-law." Zhong Nan knew that what Wang Zhong said about Zhang Gonggong was Zhang Whale, and if he became an official in Beijing in the future, he would definitely have to deal with the other party.

"That little one is waiting for Mr. Zhong's meal with Grandpa Zhang!"

The two of them immediately laughed, as if they were old friends.

……

One day in early November, Zhong Nan lit the first *mine* in the open space outside the barracks, a project he started immediately after returning to Jizhou from Beijing in September. With a loud bang, the gravel and iron nails loaded in the *ground* mine scattered in all directions, hitting the nearby objects one after another, shocking Liu Hu and Jing Tianchu and other generals.

"Chief soldier, the power of your '*mine' is much more powerful than before!" Liu Hu recalled the earth-shattering explosion just now, and said excitedly.

"There is still room for improvement." Zhong Nam was not complacent.

According to historical records, in 1130 AD, the Song army used "* fire * medicine cannon" (that is, iron shell * ground * mine) to inflict major trauma on the Jin army attacking Shaanzhou. If you study the more accurate historical records and the appearance of the word "* mine", it was in the Ming Dynasty. There is the following record in the "Compilation of Military Strategies": once milled * mines, the hole is more than the ground, the cabinet medicine is in the middle, covered with stones, and covered with sand, so that the ground is flat, the fire is under the ambush, and the machine is on the ground. In the book "Heavenly Creations" written by Song Yingxing, a great scientific master of the Ming Dynasty, the *landmine* was also described in detail, and its structure was also drawn, as well as the production method and the shape of its explosion.

* * mine in the Ming Dynasty war is not widely used, the more famous is the Jiajing period of the military department Lang Zeng Mill, once in the governor of Shaanxi trilateral military affairs, organized personnel to create a large number of * mines. There is also Zhong Nan's predecessor Qi Jiguang, who once laid *mines* on various passes and arteries of the Eastern Great Wall under the jurisdiction of Jizhou, but for various reasons, it was not widely promoted. It was Zhong Nan's experiment this time, although several generals in Jizhou did not feel new, but everyone's enthusiasm for *land* mines was not as strong as Zhong Nan imagined.

"Chief soldier, do you really think that *mines* can play a big role on the battlefield?" Guerrilla Liang Wengen asked.

"Don't underestimate the role of firearms, now our firearms are not well-made, if we can really make high-quality guns and *mines*mines, not to mention the Mongols, even the cavalry that is several times more powerful than the Mongols can only rout and flee for their lives!" Zhong Nan said in his heart that he must let his generals realize the difference between the * era and the era of cold weapons.

"General Qi also once buried *mines* on the Great Wall of Jizhou, but the layout is cumbersome and the power is very ordinary." Jing Tianchu was also puzzled, "In that case, why do you still want to develop *mines* on a large scale, Lord Commander?" ”

"That didn't create the *mine* in my heart, if my idea can be realized, the Mongols will be killed and injured after triggering the *mine* array!" Zhong Nan saw that although his experiment had made progress this time, it was not successful, and there was still a way to go before his vision.

"Really?" Jing Tianchu thinks about everything.

"Of course, if you think about it, if you plant several powerful mines on the route of the Mongol cavalry's charge, they will definitely blow up people on their backs, and then greet them with firearms, and when their vitality is greatly damaged, we can boil them in a pot whether they are cavalry or infantry!" Zhong Nan imagined.

"If there are really powerful mines, it will really help us, but how to increase the power of the mines is a difficult one." Another guerrilla joined the discussion.

"Not only to increase the power of a single *mine*, but also to improve* the filling and firing links, I will be working on this in the near future!" Zhong Nan is determined to promote *land* mine warfare, after all, watching the movie of the same name has given him too many warnings and inspirations.

"Then I'll go find the craftsman who made thunder for General Qi at that time." Liu Hu is the living general in the entire Jizhou army, and he has followed Qi Jiguang for the longest time, and he knows the past of making thunder.

"Okay, if the rest of you have any good ideas, feel free to come to me!" Zhong Nan set the tone.

After the generals left, Zhong Nan was alone in the camp tent recalling the plot of "*Mine* Warfare", whether it was the whimsy of making thunder or the cleverness of Lay, he planned to learn from it. There is also the processing of gunpowder, in Zhong Nan's view, its quality and output need to be greatly improved, which is also an important thing to greatly enhance the lethality of firearms.