May of the eighth year of the Great Tomorrow Apocalypse.

Outside Zhangjiawan City.

"Stand back, all step back!"

Liu Zongmin swore on horseback and scolded the idlers who crossed the line on the side of the road.

Because of his outstanding performance in the interrogation of the opposition party last year, and made outstanding contributions to the increase of more than 20 million taels of silver reserves in the inner treasury, he has been promoted to Jinyi Wei Qianhu, and is currently the number one thug under Xu Xianchun.

Even the king of Zhennan praised the stick.

At this moment, in front of him was the road leading directly to the wharf in the east of the city, and hundreds of people crowded on both sides of this road built with new road construction technology, and the soldiers facing them looked at the city gate behind Liu Zongmin expectantly. Many people squeezed out of the crowd and ran onto the road, but the Jinyi Guard soldiers who followed Liu Zongmin immediately stepped forward and pulled back with rattans, and in their screams of pain, the people who watched the excitement burst into joyful laughter.

At this moment, a figure with a full body of golden armor riding a giant war horse walked out of the city gate.

"King Zhennan!"

"The King of Zhennan is nine thousand nine hundred years old!"

……

Cheers erupted on both sides.

King Zhennan, who rode a shire horse, raised his hand on the back of the horse and greeted both sides.

By this time, he had truly taken control of this vast empire.

The official army led by Hong Chengchou began to conquer Shaanzhou in one fell swoop after crossing the Kunshan Mountains in October last year, but on the way from Shaanzhou to Tongguan, Zu Dashou, as the vanguard, was ambushed by the warriors of the new army at the old pass of Hangu because he was too light, and was killed by the latter with gunpowder bundled with his body. The ancestor who succeeded him was full of grief and indignation, and led his troops to run two hundred miles in a day and night to reach Tongguan, and with the help of Tongguan and the nearby people, with the heavy price of nearly 500 ancestral elite deaths, he forcibly attacked and opened Tongguan.

Wang Zhicai committed suicide in defeat.

The 40,000 new troops of the department fled, but they were blocked by the guerrilla army of Gao Yingxiang's department, and were caught up by You Shiwei and Wu Xiang and other troops who pursued later, and the two sides finally launched a decisive battle.

Although the new army is also brave, it is impossible to defeat the Liaodong Iron Cavalry after all.

After nearly 10,000 casualties, the 40,000 new troops finally chose to lay down their arms and surrender because Hong Chengchou promised not to kill, but they didn't expect that Hong Chengchou, a sinister and cunning guy, actually broke his promise, and more than 20,000 new troops were killed by Hong Chengchou on the bank of the Wei River, and their blood even melted the ice of the Wei River. However, this move also received excellent results, and no one dared to resist any further, and finally You Shiwei was the first to reach Xi'an, and Hongguang and his son and the King of Qin surrendered.

Previously, Zhang Xianzhong also completed his task.

Moreover, he and the Gansu General Yang Jiamo Department conquered Guyuan, and Shaanxi was pacified.

As for the northern route, Lu Xiangsheng's commander Luo Yiyi, Zhou Yuji and other troops also easily broke through Niangzi Pass, and Jiang Hao's brothers killed Zhang Xiao and surrendered to the official army.

However, they did not conquer Taiyuan.

Because Li Zicheng's troops cut off Hu, he led his headquarters and the new army recruited in Yan'an, plus the coalition army of Yansui Jiangmen, crossed Luliang Mountain and entered Shanxi, this cavalry riding horses, mules and even donkeys, rushed to Taiyuan in front of Lu Xiangsheng's department, and with the cooperation of the people in the city, conquered Taiyuan in one fell swoop. However, his ragtag army discipline is not strict, after all, the ragtag is like this, Yansui Jiangmen is not a good boy, they carried out a large-scale looting in Taiyuan and the surrounding counties, including those Diao people also took the opportunity to join this carnival, and none of the famous Jin merchant families were spared......

Of course, it's not worth mentioning.

This belongs to the tragedy of the times, besides, these guys were originally going to raid their homes, and the angry denunciations of Lu Xiangsheng's generals were actually just because they were cut off.

In short, the war of the Ming Dynasty ended completely before the arrival of spring.

Even on the distant battlefield of the Japanese Kingdom, Huang Taiji has already completed his important task, and the second battle of Sekigahara that Yang Xin is looking forward to is still staged after all, and Huang Taiji led a group of Japanese traitors to complete his journey to Shangluo like a bamboo. After he arrived in Kyoto, Emperor Gomizuo of Kyoto learned that Tokugawa Iemitsu had killed his father, so he was equally indignant and stripped him of all official positions, and then named this Tokugawa Hidetada's son-in-law as the shogun of Seiyi.

Obviously, Emperor Gomizuo couldn't help it.

So the newly released general Huang Taiji led his army to Osaka, and when the Tokugawa family was defending Osaka, Tokugawa Hidetada personally led an army of 100,000 to reinforce Osaka......

He already has the Eight Banners Japanese Army.

The coalition of 50,000 Eight Banners of Manchuria, Eight Banners of Korea, and the Eight Banners of the Japanese Army, fought a decisive battle with the 100,000 troops of Tokugawa Hidetada who went south in Sekigahara, although Tokugawa Hidetada personally came forward on the battlefield and told the Japanese army on the opposite side that he was still alive and was not killed by his son at all, but after all, it was still useless, and he could not prove that he was still alive now. In this way, the two sides staged the second battle of Sekigahara, and this time Tokugawa Hidetada did not have the good luck of his father, and his descendants who had not fought for many years were completely vulnerable in front of the elite of the Eight Banners of Manchuria, which could be called a hundred battles.

Completely driven ducks.

At this time, the main heavy artillery of the Japanese army was the Franco, and their iron cannons and bird guns were of the same level, although there were also similar turtledoves, but the number was very small.

The elite of the Eight Banners Manchuria and the Ming army have been fighting for almost ten years, and they have never seen any firearms.

This musket was completely scum in front of them, and the elite of the Tokugawa family was defeated on the battlefield, and Tokugawa Hidetada finally died as his son-in-law said, and in order to cover up the facts, his son-in-law simply burned him to ashes, and then his son-in-law could continue to say that he had been killed by his son a long time ago.

However, the war there continued, and Huang Taiji only conquered Osaka and opened the passage to the Kanto region, but because of the lack of food, he also had to stop, so the Wa Kingdom has now begun to enter the mode of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

As for the feudal domains on the island of Kyushu......

They are preparing to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

These daimyo of Kyushu Island, led by the Shimazu family, knew very well that the Tokugawa family was out of play, but they also did not want to surrender to Huang Taiji, they knew very well that Huang Taiji was hostile to the Ming Dynasty, and once the Ming Dynasty sent troops to intervene, then they would definitely land on Kyushu Island. These guys have been trading with the Ming Dynasty for many years, and there are more than 30,000 merchants in Nagasaki, Hirado, Satsuma and other places, and countless merchant ships come and go every year, and they know very well what the result will be if this kind of thing happens.

Then it is the best choice to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, the envoy had arrived in Nanjing.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that they are still allowed to be called vassals, after all, the Japanese people are poisoned by the construction of slaves, and it is also sincere to lose sincerity for thousands of miles, and if we want to open up the Americas in the future, it is indispensable to take their route, just allow them to return to obedience, and each of them will be knighted according to their land, and since Nagasaki and the like are owned by the Tokugawa family, they should naturally be collected by the imperial court, and a port can be built there in the future."

Yang Xin bowed his head and said,

Beside him was a huge four-wheeled carriage, drawn by four charles.

This is the special carriage of the Apocalypse, not only is the outside of the bulletproof steel plate, but also equipped with heating, manpower ventilation system, the carriage is surrounded by a brocade guard, on the back pedal, Cao Bianjiao, who has been promoted to the head of the palace guard, has a short gun in one hand and an iron whip in the other.

"Then be it!"

His Majesty the Emperor nodded casually.

King Zhennan no longer spoke, in fact, the relationship between the monarch and the minister is very delicate at present, after all, everyone knows that the king of Zhennan at this time is already Cao Cao, and Tianqi has become Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty.

But His Majesty the Emperor knew that he couldn't change anything, and secondly, he couldn't lift his spirits.

After all, he is also busy.

Just engaging in scientific research has made him very fulfilling, leaving little time to think about this kind of thing, basically as soon as he thinks about how to face this relationship between Cao Cao and Emperor Han Xian, he suddenly remembered that he still has a very important experiment that has not been completed, and then His Majesty the Emperor immediately left this behind.

It's just a plaything!

In the cheers of Banzai and 9,900 years old on both sides, the king of Zhennan personally escorted the chariot of His Majesty the Emperor and drove slowly forward, and soon arrived at the dock in front. This is His Majesty's dragon boat, the seventh steamship he built, and the first perfect version of the one that can sail sustainably and steadily.

Because the new hydraulic boring machine was officially put into use last year.

Not only can it be used to boring cylinders, but it can even be used to process the barrel of a cannon, and the barrel that has been processed is more accurate.

In the end, the boring wrought iron cylinder completely replaced the simple manual goods in the past, so that His Majesty's steam engine took the most crucial step, at this time the steam engine can no longer be regarded as an experimental type, although because of the limitation of the hydraulic boring machine itself, the high power is still impossible, but there is no problem to drive a small boat of dozens of tons like this.

"It's the first time I've left the capital!"

Apocalypse said with emotion.

His Majesty the Emperor looked at everything around him with some novelty.

It was indeed the first time he had left the capital, and although he had occasionally gone out of the city before, at most he had gone to the test base by the Yongding River, but it was the first time that he had been so far away from Zhangjiawan.

"Your Majesty, with this one, we can make a bigger one, then you can take a boat to the south to cruise the south of the Yangtze River, and even wait for us to solve the sealing of the propeller, and we can also make a steam-powered sea boat, then you can take it anywhere."

Yang Xin said.

There is no technical difficulty in paddle steamers, and they can be solved with a steam engine.

But propellers don't.

There is no problem in making propellers, at this time, the lost wax casting craftsmen of the Academy of Sciences are fully capable of spending some time casting small propellers, in fact, even wood can do, at most they cannot travel far across the ocean, and the earliest propeller ships are wooden propellers. But the problem is that the sealing is really difficult to solve, it is not a matter of sealing ring, it requires a complete set of special sealing devices, and it also needs a special wood, which is American, in short, it can only develop the paddle wheel at present.

The propeller is beyond the scope of the capacity.

His Majesty the Emperor nodded, and then the topic of the two quickly turned to the issue of the shaft seal of the propeller, and the carriage also arrived at the dock at this time, and Liu Zongmin, who had already completed the vigilance, led his subordinates to stand there with their heads held high......

No need to kneel anymore.

His Majesty the Emperor was also tired of these cumbersome rituals, mainly because he delayed his time, and sometimes he could not even speak properly, and after he had made a clear decree, he would not have to bow down in front of him unless he wore a crown, leather and other dresses.

After all, as soon as others knelt, he had to consider the majesty of the emperor.

Now His Majesty the Emperor considers every minute of his thinking to be precious, and it is simply unbearable for him to interrupt his train of thought every day for such trivial matters.

He and Yang Xin walked straight to the boat in front.

Next, they will take this paddle steamer along the canal of the open river all the way to Xincheng, and then visit the factories of the Yang family in Xincheng, which is also the first time that His Majesty the Emperor has visited the Wang's house in Zhennan, and there is also the fleet that personally greets Li Zhizao. Li Zhizao actually returned at the end of last year, but was ordered by King Zhennan to stay on a small island in the South Ocean for three full months......

Quarantine observation.

Who knows what germs they carry on them?

At this time, the plague in Europe has not completely ended, in fact, the plague will break out again in Milan next year, and then sweep through Italy, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths, after knowing that Li Zhizao had been to the HRE war zone, Yang Xin was ready to isolate them for observation, and no plague was found during the three-month quarantine period, so he ordered these people to continue to go north.

Just as Yang Xin and His Majesty the Emperor were about to step on the deck, the Jinyi Guard, who had caught up from behind, handed an official document to King Zhennan, who immediately opened it and looked at it.

"What?"

Apocalypse looked at King Zhennan, whose face had changed, and said.

"Your Majesty, our natural disasters have begun, the military rations in northern Shaanxi are in an emergency, last year's drought in Shaanxi, the grain production in Xi'an Prefecture was seriously reduced, and other places have also reduced the output to varying degrees, thanks to His Majesty's pardon of money and grain, plus the grain copied from the gentry's house to maintain until now. However, since the beginning of spring this year, there has not been a drop of rain, and the military rations of all units are running out, especially in northern Shaanxi. ”

Yang Xin said.

Daming's natural disaster mode has finally been opened.

This is already the first year of Chongzhen in the original history, it was in this year in the original history, Yan'an Mansion did not rain in the whole spring, and it was about to eat Guanyin soil in the summer. But this year, because of last year's fight against local tyrants and the tax exemption of the apocalypse, the famine that had already begun was greatly delayed, after all, the inventory in the homes of those gentry could support for a while.

But famine is famine after all.

The redistribution has been delayed for a few months, and what is supposed to come will still come.

The natural disaster mode of the Ming Dynasty has finally opened, not only in northern Shaanxi, but also in northern Zhili this year.

"Your Majesty, our true enemy has finally arrived."

Yang Xin said with a wry smile.