"It's a real concern. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info" Xiao Yifu said, "This time the general has really made a great contribution. Can you take a look at those cannons? And those North Koreans, can they be handed over to this official for interrogation? ”

"The lower official knew that the governor might want to see the cannon, so he brought one over, and now it has been sent to the school field outside the city, if the governor wants to test the cannon, he needs to move to the school field outside the city. As for those North Koreans...... Zheng Zhilong smiled embarrassedly, "Governor Xiao, when the sons and daughters under the command of Xia Guan intercepted the boat, they didn't attack lightly or severely, and now the remaining North Koreans are all injured, and I am afraid that it is not easy to move for the time being, so they are still in peace for the time being." Xia Guan now called a doctor, and the doctor said that although the injury was serious, there was no need to worry about his life, and he would be able to take a boat in another month or two. However, Xia Guan has already brought the confessions of these North Koreans. Do you want to see it? ”

"General Feihuang is really meticulous in doing things." Xiao Yifu praised again, "This confession general will put a copy here first, and now, let's go and see the cannon first." ”

……

Outside Quanzhou City, school field.

A mighty bronze cannon was being placed on the school grounds, and the new governors, Xiao Yifu and Zheng Zhilong, were surrounding it.

"Look, Lord Governor, this cannon is of excellent workmanship, and it is by no means comparable to the waste products made by our Ministry of Works. My lord, please look at the inner wall of this cannon, it has been finely polished, and it is really as smooth as a mirror. It's not like the stuff I made to the Ministry of Works, which is full of holes and holes. Zheng Zhilong pulled his hand out of the barrel of the gun and said to Xiao Yifu.

Xiao Yifu also leaned over with great interest, although he didn't put his hand directly into the barrel like Zheng Zhilong, but he also squinted his eyes, looked inside the barrel, and then said: "But it is finely done, not comparable to the things I made to the Ministry of Industry." ”

The management of the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty is chaotic, and the quality of the weapons and other weapons has always been not very reliable. For example, if you use half of the charge, you can probably ensure that the probability of exploding is not too high. But if it is loaded with 100% of the amount of medicine according to the design index, if it can not be blown up, it is almost the luck of the green smoke on the ancestral tomb.

But to be honest, even if my Ming Ministry of Industry made the musket qualified, it was actually useless, because after it was sent to various warehouses, it was a mess of maintenance. Even if it was originally qualified, after a few years of rust in the warehouse, it will also become a tattered that will blow up in a dozen.

So the most common firearm I use in Daming is actually a very funny three-eyed firearm. Because although the power of this thing is average, because the wall of the pipe is relatively thick, it is not easy to blow up, and there is a long handle, even if it is fried, it is far away from people, and it is not easy to blow up people.

Xiao Yifu had never seen such a big cannon before, but he had also seen some smaller cannons. Although the cannon is much smaller, the workmanship is far from perfect.

"I wonder how powerful this cannon is?" Xiao Yifu stood up straight and asked.

"We'll find out if we try it." Zheng Zhilong said, "My lord, this cannon is specially used to siege the city, and it is best to have a section of the city wall to test the power." Just in a hurry, where to find the city walls? You can't use it to fire at the city wall of Quanzhou. My lord, please look over there, in a short period of time, the lower officials can't build a wall here, so they can only let the sons and daughters pile a mound here. The mound was not compacted, but it was not too thick, and its power could probably be seen. The Governor wants to try it? ”

Xiao Yifu also came with interest and said: "The old man has never seen such a big cannon fired, and he is about to see it." ”

Zheng Zhilong then ordered to be reloaded and shot.

Several soldiers stepped forward, poured gunpowder, then pressed it tightly, and loaded it with another iron ball.

"How much does this iron ball weigh?" Xiao Yifu asked.

"It's almost twenty pounds." Zheng Zhilong replied.

Xiao Yifu nodded. At this time, the loading over there had been completed, and the officer who was operating the cannon raised the flag to Zheng Zhilong.

"Your Excellency, it's ready over there. Do you want them to shoot? Zheng Zhilong said.

"Well, let's shoot!" Xiao Yifu said.

Another officer standing on the side glanced at Zheng Zhilong, and when he saw Zheng Zhilong nodding slightly, he waved a red flag.

The cannon immediately emitted a puff of smoke, and then the dull sound of the cannon came, and Xiao Yifu felt that the entire platform was swaying with the sound of the cannon.

"Your Excellency, please take a look." Zheng Zhilong handed a telescope to Xiao Yifu. Xiao Yifu raised the telescope and saw a large section of the mound in the distance that had collapsed. Xiao Yifu knew that these soils were not the kind of solid rammed earth in the real city wall, but it was completely beyond his expectations that just one shot could have such an effect. If such a large mound of earth can only withstand one shot, then how many hits can an ordinary city wall withstand?

"Good guys!" Xiao Yifu was taken aback.

"Your Excellency, you see, this cannon has such an accuracy and such power at such a long distance. If Jian Yan already has a lot of these cannons in his hands, can the wall of my Daming still be able to stop them? Zheng Zhilong said with a frown.

In fact, in the eyes of the two, the threat of the Manchus in the north was still far away for them. However, from the perspective of their interests, they all have the need to make the matter more serious.

For Zheng Zhilong, the more serious the situation, the greater his credit. Of course, as a military general, he has now been promoted to the chief soldier, and in terms of rank, he has also reached the end. But there's also a knighthood ahead. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the status of military generals was significantly lower than that of Wenchen, but it was easier for military generals to obtain knighthoods than Wenchen. Besides, after learning the news, there are not many measures that the imperial court can take, and there are only two things that can be predicted: first, also ask the Taixi people. Buy such a powerful cannon to balance the pressure from the Jangis. Second, intensify patrols on sea routes to prevent the construction of artillery from continuing to be purchased. And no matter which move it takes, it will not be able to bypass the Zheng family, and it will greatly increase the weight of the Zheng family.

For Xiao Yifu, Fujian is quite peaceful now, and he didn't expect to get any side credit. But now, the credit has suddenly fallen from the sky. The more serious this matter is, the greater the credit for oneself. So although he didn't like Zheng Zhilong very much before, now that people have put a big credit in front of him, he naturally has to change his attitude.

"That's what General Feihuang said. The official also thinks so. Why don't you sign a concert with the official and the general, and give this matter to tomorrow? Xiao Yifu said, "In addition, these cannons, as well as those North Koreans, if you can't say that the imperial court wants to take a look, you have to inquire carefully." Especially these North Koreans, we must take good care of them. ”

Zheng Zhilong clasped his hands into fists and said, "The last general will obey the order." ”

The two of them got off the high platform together, took the carriage to the mound a few hundred paces away, and then went all the way back to the governor's yamen.

"General Feihuang will have a light meal at the old man's place tonight." Xiao Yifu said.

When Zheng Zhilong heard this, he hurriedly said flatteredly: "How dare the young general disturb the governor?" ”

"It's okay, it's okay, I have something to ask you, otherwise, how can this piece be written?"

……

The 800-mile expedited movement issued by Fujian was originally to reach Jingshi in a few days, but since Chongzhen, the post road has collapsed, and even the speed of the 800-mile expedited has dropped greatly. So it took nearly a month for this recital to be sent to the capital and placed on the desk of Emperor Chongzhen.

It was already quite cold in Beijing in November, and the houses in the imperial palace were generally large, and in the huge palace, there were only two candles lit on the bookcase of Emperor Chongzhen, which made it seem more and more empty and dark.

In order to cope with the situation of more and more military expenditures and less and less taxes, Emperor Chongzhen greatly reduced the expenses in the palace, many years ago, the palace was lit with bright candles everywhere at night, especially the palace where the emperor was located was as bright as day The situation has not appeared for a long time. Now it has even reached the point where only the emperor has two candles lit. Even Empress Zhou, only when the emperor goes, will light candles, and on weekdays, at night, when Empress Zhou spins and weaves cloth by herself, she just lights a dim vegetable oil lamp.

Yes, the No. 1 lady of the Ming Empire, the queen of the Great Tomorrow, is already going to spin and weave by herself. Zhang Dai described Empress Zhou in "The Later Collection of Shikui Books" as follows: In the harem, she often wore cloth clothes, ate vegetarian food, advocated thrift with the emperor, and did all matters such as women's red textiles by herself. Zhang Dai's words are not groundless flattery, which can be confirmed by the fact that the Zhou family set up twenty-four spinning wheels in the harem and taught the palace maids to spin. "Chongzhen Palace Ci" praised her for "having the virtue of frugality", personally handling housework, wearing old clothes, and managing the harem in an orderly manner. The staff is divided into 102 leaders of the Xuan Palace, and the teaching skills of the Xianzi are austere. Three sprinkled silkworms heavy clothes, planning to be frugal praise Wang Feng. The so-called personal housework also includes cooking by yourself. Except for the festival ceremony, Empress Zhou and Emperor Chongzhen never wore silk or anything in the palace, and the cloth clothes they worn, from spinning and weaving to tailoring clothes, were all completed by Empress Zhou herself.

Some time ago, there was a very cheap, but very burn-resistant, and bright lamp oil on the market. When Empress Zhou heard about it, she asked her to buy some and light them up, but they were no less than candles, so the emperor once planned to replace all the candles in the palace, including the candles used in his own review, with this kind of oil lamp. It is better to save a little money as much as possible to maintain this crumbling court. It's just that this plan has just started, but this lamp oil is out of stock.

To be honest, Emperor Chongzhen is really a bitter child. Ever since he ascended to this supreme position, he probably hasn't had a good day. Natural disasters continue to occur, and domestic and foreign difficulties are difficult. The emperor tried all means, but the world still did not improve. In the past, he felt that it was the dictatorship of eunuchs and the chaos of the world, so he disposed of Wei Zhongxian and his eunuchs, so that the court was full of Donglin gentlemen. However, this didn't do much. The situation in the world is still getting worse day by day. So he felt that he had been deceived, and he was replaced by Wen Tiren, who was not from the Donglin Party, but no matter who it was, there was nothing he could do in the face of the predicament in front of him. Today's Daming is like a rusted bucket full of holes, no matter how much money and energy you put into it, in the blink of an eye, it will leak through those holes.

For example, the military salary in Liaodong. The entire Ming Dynasty has now fallen to such a point, and it is largely dragged down by it. The imperial court spends millions of taels of silver here every year, if it was still in the Hongwu period, or in the Yongle period, so much silver was smashed, even if the power of Jianxuan was expanded several times, it would have been smashed flat without any suspense. And now, why is it that so much silver has been smashed, but not even a bubble has come out? The reason is very simple, because Emperor Chongzhen tried every means to deduct himself and the people of the world, and the money deducted was not spent where it should have been. Every year, after the hundreds of salaries are allocated from the household department, they are not immediately sent to Liaodong and become weapons and armor for soldiers, and become funds for training and combat, but more than half of them will stay directly in Beijing and be divided up by officials large and small. The remaining small half, after being sent to Liaodong, will not really be used to prepare for war, but will be put into the pockets of those guys in Liaodong Jiangmen. In a sense, the war in Liaodong has become a way for many civil and military officials to make a fortune. Imagine that if there were no Jianzhi and no rebellion in Liaodong, then naturally there would be no more millions of Liaoyuan a year, and this large number of people would lose a huge source of wealth. It can be said that now in the Ming court, in addition to the emperor himself, how many officials and generals are there who really want to pacify Liaodong, it is really unknown. Even if there is, when he is alone, in front of this huge chain of interests, what other results may there be besides being shattered?

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was not a strategist without foresight, such as Hong Chengchou, although in terms of character, this person is not worth mentioning. But when it comes to vision and skill, it's absolutely top-notch. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were not no loyal and brave generals, and Lu Xiangsheng and Cao Wenzhao were rare talents with both loyalty and bravery. If they were born in the era of Emperor Hongwu and followed Emperor Hongwu, their achievements may not be under Kaiping Zhongshan. But it's a pity that they were born at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and behind them is a court that has the problem of dying if they don't pit their own people.

What's even more terrifying is that the court's problem of not pit itself and its own people will die is not at least not entirely because of the so-called "villain in the court", what "traitorous ministers are in power, and they kill the loyal and good". Those people in the court are actually just doing what is best for them.

It is said that later King Li Chuang besieged Luoyang. The richest person in Luoyang City is King Fu. So the defenders found King Fu and said, the army of Liukou is pressing the border, and you want to defend the city, and your old man needs to take some money out. As a result, King Fu refused, and in the end he only took out more than 1,000 taels of silver, and then the defenders in the city mutinied, Li Zicheng conquered Luoyang, and then slaughtered King Fu and drank wine (some studies say that drinking with King Fu's meat is fiction). In this story, is King Fu's actions super ridiculous? In fact, it is really not, because King Fu knows very well that no matter how much silver is taken out to labor the army, as long as it flows through the hands of officials at all levels, not a single son will fall into the hands of the soldiers in the end. And don't those officials know that Li Zicheng has entered the city, and they have no good fruit? Of course they know, but they also know their colleagues too well, and they know that even if they don't take it, they will take it, and they will take more. Anyway, the soldiers still can't get any of them, and Li Zicheng can still enter the city when he should go. When the time comes, with a little more money in hand, you can also use the money to walk the door, maybe the way to live is a little bigger. The entire imperial court, from the central to the local, were such officials, and most of them made such a choice that was most loyal to their own interests. And such a choice is the worst choice for the entire Ming court. In this system, anyone who does not harm the public and private interests, and anyone who is willing to sacrifice himself for the country, will try to prevent everyone from getting rich because he has too little money and too few resources, and the final result can only be crushed by "his own people"!

The entire Ming Dynasty was like a broken ship at this time, which could capsize in the wind and waves at any time. But what are the people on this ship doing? They are all doing what is in their best interest - to remove the planks from the ship and keep it for themselves, so that when the ship sinks, they will have a piece of wood that they can use to save their lives. And every rectification measure of Emperor Chongzhen, who was bent on saving the ship, gave those people the opportunity to move the boat and pry more planks off the ship. The result is that the harder Chongzhen works, the more the Ming Dynasty is a pill.

Therefore, if you want to make a mistake and pass on to the comrades who want to reach the end of the Ming Dynasty, you must keep your eyes open, dress as anyone, and don't dress as a poor bitter child Chongzhen. In terms of the difficulty of turning the tide, dressing as Chongzhen is much greater than dressing as Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Wang Ziyong, and even Liu Xiang. Because they only need to deal with one or two divine opponents, even if the Manchu Qing who entered the customs later, in fact, if you study it carefully, it is not too strong. The overall difficulty is also manageable. But crossing Cheng Chongzhen is different, from the moment you enter, you are surrounded by a group of pig teammates with ulterior motives, full of dead teammates and immortal poor ways. These pig teammates are not one or two, not a group of two, but the entire court, most of them. Although the emperor is in a high position, can you still purge the entire bureaucratic system all over again? Do you think you are Stalin, the loving father of steel? Later generations often accuse Chongzhen of being impatient and mean with Chongzhen's fifty phases, but to be honest, which of these fifty phases is not a pig teammate, and how can they not be pig teammates? When the poor bitter boy Chongzhen went up the coal mountain, he left these words: "I am not the king of the dead country, and the ministers are all the ministers of the dead country." "Wen Chen should be killed one by one!" This is not unreasonable.

Therefore, a traveler with a little brain, a traveler with a little ambition, will not stupidly jump into the court to assist this court full of holes, it is simply a useless effort to spend all his energy. Even if you are powerful and full of sacrifice, how many seconds can you continue to serve such a court? Therefore, a slightly normal traverser, a truly loyal traverser to China, has no reason to spend his energy in such a place, he must be full of ambition and deep malice for such a court, and full of pride to sweep this court into the garbage heap of history, and then create a more modern, more scientific, and more able to bring benefits and glory to the Chinese nation. From this point of view, what the traversers really want to make up for is not Chongzhen's regret, but Li Zicheng's regret in a stone. The resentment of the late Ming Dynasty and the resentment of Huaxia are not in the coal mountain, but in the stone in Shanhaiguan!

It's late at night now, and the bitter boy Chongzhen doesn't know how many twists and turns he has handled, and the two long candles have been ordered, and the eunuch Wang Chengen hurriedly came up to help Chongzhen put on new candles.

"What time is it now?" Taking advantage of the time to change the candles, Emperor Chongzhen stood up and moved his legs.

"Long live the Lord, it's already three o'clock in the morning. The queen mother and Yuan Guifei came to see Your Majesty just now, and when they saw that Your Majesty was busy, they didn't let the slaves and maids disturb the emperor, and the mother also sent a ginseng soup to Your Majesty, and Your Majesty drank it, and it was good to replenish your body. Wang Chengen hurriedly said.

"Ah, it's been three shifts." Chongzhen said, "I'm afraid it's frost on the tiles outside." ”

"If you go back to Your Majesty, there will already be frost on the tiles outside." Wang Chengen said, and after a while, he said again: "The emperor wants to drink ginseng soup?" ”

"Well, you go and bring it over. Thank you for your hard work. Chongzhen shook his arm and said to Wang Chengen.

"The slave maid can't afford Your Majesty's condolences, but Your Majesty also has to take care of the dragon body, which is busy until three watches every day, don't say that it is a few mothers, even the slave and maid are distressed when they see it." Wang Chengen said as he brought over the ginseng soup that had been kept warm in the soup basin on the side.

Emperor Chongzhen took it, drank it in one gulp, and then sighed and said, "I don't want to rest early, it's just ...... Alas......"

"The emperor has lost weight recently." Wang Chengen said.

At this time, the candles had also been changed, and Emperor Chongzhen walked back to the imperial case, ready to sit down and continue, when suddenly he sighed again and said: "When Tang Xuanzong used Han Xiu as his appearance, he also lost weight. Emperor Xuanzong said: 'Although I look thin, the world will be fat. Today, I asked me to find a Han Xiu somewhere. ”

"Your Majesty is so concerned with state affairs, and the world will definitely be able to rule greatly." Wang Chengen hurriedly said.

Chongzhen listened to it and smiled: "You, say everything good." He shook his head as he spoke. Then he bowed his head and picked up the next piece.

"Hey, it's a good news? How is it from Fujian? Chongzhen said in a low voice.