King Xin heard Ni Yuanlu say that the newly made cannon was not easy to use, and said to Ni Yuanlu in shock: "Why is it not easy to use? Is it the Tessie people who are ghosts in there? ”

Ni Yuanlu said: "The biggest problem of making iron cannons is that they can't make the barrel extremely round, and the lower officials have discussed and tested many materials with them, and found that copper is easier to process, so they use copper to make cannons. After making it, use hard iron to process the inside round, and it is really good to send out a smooth and accurate shell, but it is a pity that the copper barrel will be deformed when you hit a few guns. ”

King Xin thought for a while and said: "The new type of cannon is a big deal, this king doesn't dare to be the master, Lord Ni still has a good talk with ♀ my imperial brother, it seems that these Taixi people are discounted in doing things, then their affairs should also be discounted, that is to say, they were originally allowed to build churches in various counties, but now they are only allowed to build churches in various provinces first." As for when it will be able to develop to various prefectures and counties, it depends on their future performance, what does Lord Xu think? ”

Xu Guangqi said: "This is natural, and the lower officials will go to announce the decision of the Government Council to them." ”

Xu Guangqi went back and said what King Xin said, thinking that Long Huamin, Deng Yuhan and others would be unhappy, but who knew that they nodded to each other, thinking that the gradual promotion of Catholicism was a safe attitude, and it was also a respect for Jesus and his father, Jehovah.

Ni Yuanlu returned to the Military Affairs Yuan and told Sun Chengzong what had happened, and Sun Chengzong immediately called someone to report to the Apocalypse, believing that this was related to the next step of the Military Affairs Yuan's counterinsurgency action.

As early as the first year of the Apocalypse and the second year of the Apocalypse, there were two rebellions at the junction of Sichuan and Guizhou, namely Xuan Chongming and An Bangyan, the most ferocious time was to occupy Chongqing, besiege Chengdu, and attack Guiyang several times. Thanks to the then Sichuan political envoy Zhu Xieyuan and Shi Zhu Xuanwei, Qin Liangyu was loyal to the imperial court and brave and good at fighting.

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of the sixth year of the Apocalypse, and many people in the Military Affairs Yuan wanted to put down the rebellion in the south while there was no war in the north, but the apocalypse never agreed, because he wanted to act with absolute certainty. Now the Jurchens and the Mongols are fighting openly and secretly, and although they have had several major frictions with each other, they have not yet reached the point of fighting to the death, and if they cannot achieve a one-hit success when conquering the south, it will be unfavorable to drag the people from the north to the south and delay the rebellion. Of course, if there are a few more troops that can fight well, then nothing will be considered, but now except for the troops around Shanhaiguan, there are not many that can be fought.

Tianqi's consideration is that Qin Liangyu and Zhu Xieyuan just keep it like this, just don't seek merit but no fault, and wait for the court to free up their hands and then slowly clean up the chaos, Sun Chengzong and others also think that they can't take risks. However, after Hong Chengchou and Hou Sui returned from inspecting the border army to the west a while ago, Tianqi's attitude changed, and he believed that it was now possible to take troops from all over the country to the south to train in battle, which might be more effective than a single training.

After analysis, the Military Affairs Yuan believed that the method of replacing training with combat as mentioned by the Apocalypse was feasible, and for the sake of safety, it wanted to wait for the new type of artillery to be built before counterinsurgency. Who knows that the copper cannon that is being made now is close to a primary product, although it will not explode but will be deformed, which is very disappointing, and it will be up to the apocalypse to make an idea whether it will be fought or not.

After receiving Sun Chengzong's report, Tianqi thought about it all night, and came to the Military Affairs Yuan early the next day to listen to everyone's opinions. After coming to the Military Affairs Yuan, I saw that everyone was there, and it was estimated that everyone knew that the Apocalypse would come to ask about it in person, and everyone had prepared a statement in case the Apocalypse couldn't answer the question.

After everyone sat down, Tianqi asked Sun Chengzong: "Mr. Sun, how many rebels are there now?" How many officers and soldiers were there besieging them? ”

Sun Chengzong said: "There are not many main rebels, and the combined number of people and horses of Xuan Chongming and An Bangyan is less than 50,000, but they are very supported by the local people. There were about 100,000 officers and soldiers, but most of them were garrison troops, and they could still do it in strong fortifications, so it was difficult for them to attack the city. There are also officers and soldiers who can fight, but the total is more than 40,000 people. ”

Tianqi thought for a while and asked, "How are the several side walls repaired in the Northern Duoyan Department from the mouth of the two rivers to the mouth of the Xifeng?" If the men and horses who repaired the border wall and Zhang Jing'an's mountain infantry battalion were removed, would the defending army be able to withstand the attack of the enemy outside? ”

Sun Chengzong frowned and said, "The side wall of Duoyan is a hundred miles, and it is a little difficult to completely defend it. If the emperor wants to draw Zhang Jing'an's 30,000 mountain infantry battalion to the south to attack Hao Chongming and An Bangyan, then the only way to defend is to transfer Ma Shilong's troops, although Cao Wenzhao's cavalry and Zuo Liangyu's car and artillery battalion have been increased to full strength, but mountain combat and defense are not their fortifications. ”

Tianqi said: "What I mean is this, the two estuaries are support points, and they must not be lost, the mountains there are steep, easy to defend and difficult to attack, there should not be a big problem, in order to ensure that the two estuaries are foolproof, I am ready to let Ni Yuanlu bring enough grenades to hold the estuary in person, and the biggest danger is to be cut off from the grain route and then besieged, Cao Wenzhao's 30,000 cavalry is guarded along the ancient road of the Daling River to ensure that the ancient road is unimpeded." As for saying that the three side walls are easy to be breached, it is not considered as a content, the side wall is built along the mountain, and it is not easy to rush down quickly if it is attacked, and the side wall only plays an early warning role. ”

Sun Chengzong asked: "The emperor only uses the ancient road of the Ben River Estuary and the Daling River, and uses the border wall as an early warning line, is he going to let the Mongols come in to fight when they attack?" If they really came in, with only Zuo Liangyu's 30,000 cart and artillery battalion and 20,000 city repair troops recruited from the immigrants, no one dared to guarantee whether they could stop the tens of thousands of cavalry. Ma Shilong's more than 10,000 people guarded the Shanhaiguan, and the men and horses of the Liaodong Military Region wanted to defend the Jurchens in the direction of Ningyuan, but it was difficult to pull them over to support. ”

Tianqi said: "I know about these situations, I originally heard that the new type of cannon has been built, and I think that no one can attack it along the Great Wall, so I want to draw 70,000 or 80,000 main forces in the north to go to the south to quell the rebellion, and the garrison and the city repair troops are enough to go to the Great Wall." Now the situation has changed, the three main mobile forces can only move Zhang Jing'an's 30,000 people, and the other 60,000 people should have no problem as mobile forces to kill the sporadic enemy who has come over by surprise, and the main battle should still be on the edge of the Great Wall. ”

Sun Chengzong asked: "Zhang Jing'an's 30,000 people don't leave, it can be said that the garrison of the Jizhou Military Region is only 20,000 now, Zuo Liangyu's car and artillery battalion can't go to the Great Wall, and there are not enough people to fight a decisive battle on the Great Wall, unless there are enough grenades." ”

Apocalypse said: "The grenade can't be produced in large quantities yet, and the current grenade is only enough to hold the mouth of the two rivers, but I heard yesterday that although the cannon made by Ni Yuanlu and the Taixi people is not ideal, they have made a new weapon, I don't know if there is such a thing?" ”

Hearing Tianqi say this, everyone looked at Ni Yuanlu, Ni Yuanlu was inexplicably panicked, scratched his head a few times with his hand, and didn't know what Tianqi's words meant, he asked, "Who did the emperor listen to?" Why didn't the minister know that there was such a thing? ”

Apocalypse smiled and said, "All your conversations are supervised and recorded by internal guards, and I carefully flipped through the records marked as valuable last night, and found that there is one technique that you don't pay attention to, and that is to smash the ignition device. ”

Ni Yuanlu thought for a while and said: "The minister remembered, at that time, the minister told that Deng Yuhan that he would put the grenade into the cannon and launch it, but the barrel of the cannon was not round and it was easy to blow up the chamber artificially. Once, a soldier accidentally dropped the hard iron used to process the copper cannon barrel on the ground and splashed a big spark, and that Deng Yuhan said at the time that he could use this principle to make a grenade, and after firing it, he used the impact force to make the hard iron and black stone in it spark and ignite the gunpowder. The minister thinks that the problem of the cannon barrel is not round has not been solved, so this idea will be put here first. ”

Tianqi said: "In those days, Mao Wenlong was good at burying gunpowder in farmers' homes, and the Jurchens ignited and exploded as soon as they arrived, which was called a landmine. The disadvantage of what he did was that he couldn't leave people for a long time, and if he put a device for impact ignition or friction ignition on a mine, and buried hundreds or thousands of them along the line outside the Great Wall, what kind of Mongols would he be afraid of? Besides, we say that the Mongols attacked only hypothetically, and Lin Dan Khan would not be so brainless. ”

Ni Yuanlu was still thinking, and Hong Chengchou next to him asked: "This mine is really so buried outside the Great Wall, won't our own people go out and be bombed?" Even if we do a good job of marking, in case a rain blows gusts of wind and breaks the mark, don't we dare to go out of the Great Wall since then? ”

Ni Yuanlu thought for a while and said: "The emperor's suggestion is reasonable, the minister will go to someone to discuss immediately, this thing will not be too complicated, I believe it will be completed in a few days." What Master Hong said is also reasonable, but we can use a combination of landmines and traps instead of relying on landmines to blow up people. ”

Hong Chengchou asked: "How can Master Ni combine them?" ”

Ni Yuanlu said: "Dig a lot of traps and pits on the main roads outside the Great Wall, cover them with wood and soil, and then bury mines on them that will explode when they step on them, the power of this kind of mine is not high, and it will not directly kill the people and horses walking on it, but the wood covered on the pit can be blown up ♀, so that the enemy can mainly kill the enemy by the trap pit, and his own people who fall into the pit will get up, and the enemy will let him taste the taste of not being able to move." ”

Ni Yuanlu's words were agreed by everyone, but Zhang Xiangan did not agree very much, he said: "The power of the mine is not enough to find a way to increase, relying on the trap pit to cooperate can only be a temporary consideration, what if there are many stones on some mountains, what if you can't dig a pit?" As for the problem of killing and injuring one's own people, you can mark the number, but if you can't see the mark, you can find a way to find it yourself. ”

Hong Chengchou knew that Zhang Xiang'an's words were said to himself, and asked, "How is Master Zhang going to explore the mines?" ”