On the afternoon of the 10th day of the third month of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen, accompanied by Sun Chengzong, the minister of military aircraft, Bi Maokang, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Sun Yuanhua, the director of the Military Armament Academy, and a kind of attendant military attache and close courtiers around him, took a carriage to the Third Gun Factory of the Armament Institute outside the south gate of Baiye City.

Baiye City, as another main cement producing area in the north of the Ming Dynasty in addition to Tongzhou, is now not only the main road of the cross street in the city paved with cement roads, but also the avenues leading to various important factories outside the city, which are also paved with wide and flat cement roads.

Including the newly built factories inside and outside the city and the rows of neatly planned factories where the workers live, almost all of them are red brick houses with cement, which looks a little bit like the new countryside in the future.

Coming out of the south gate of Baiye City, the official road leading to the Third Gun Factory of the Armed Forces Academy, as well as both sides of the official road, were cleaned cleanly.

However, on closer inspection, the traces of black soot and soot still exist, and the water in the ditch not far away is also black and black.

The tall and low chimneys that stood in the distance still released puffs of gray-black smoke towards the gray sky.

At this time, it was already March, and it was the season for spring flowers to bloom and plants to sprout, and on the hillside where the emperor's carriage passed, a poplar forest was full of green.

Emperor Chongzhen sat in the carriage in silence, looking at such a scene through the window of the carriage, his heart was really mixed.

The No. 3 Gun Factory of the Armament Institute is not far from the south gate of Baiye City, about three miles away.

The royal four-wheeled carriage with six horses driving side by side was only a matter of moments after such a journey.

Soon, the emperor's carriage arrived outside the gate of the Third Gun Factory of the Armament Academy.

As with the previous rules, under the guidance of Sun Heding and others, who had been waiting outside the gate of the Third Gun Factory, the emperor's carriage did not stop, but drove straight in, along the flat and straight avenue in the middle of the factory, through patches and rows of huge factories, and finally stopped slowly at the end of the deepest avenue in the factory.

Today, Chen Zuoting, the oldest of the military attachés in the imperial chamberlain, acts as the coachman of the imperial carriage when Emperor Chongzhen leaves the palace.

An internal kung fu master like Chen Zuoting is not suitable for rushing and killing above the battle array.

Especially after the musketeers became the absolute main force in the Guards, Chen Zuoting, who was known for his fists and feet, and martial artists like Chen Zuoting, who relied on martial arts and Chinese style, lost their former usefulness.

Not only Emperor Chongzhen knew this, but Chen Zuoting himself now recognized this.

There was a time when he saw the lieutenant generals and colonels who served as military attachés with him go to the front line one by one and became high-ranking generals, while he always stayed by the emperor's side and became a pure inner guard, Chen Songting's heart was very uncomfortable.

In addition to Chen Zuoting's request to serve in the Liaodong or Northwest Frontier Army when the emperor asked him for his future appointment, he also euphemistically expressed the idea of leaving the palace to the emperor through the channel of Chu Xianzhang, the eunuch in charge of the military attache of the imperial chamberlain.

However, Emperor Chongzhen did not agree.

It's not that the current Emperor Chongzhen doesn't trust him, but the emperor knows that such a person is actually not of much use in the army.

Now he doesn't need a martial artist like Chen Zuoting or Yan Yingyuan to personally carry a knife into battle and charge to kill the enemy.

At the same time, it would be too wasteful to put him in the Zhuozhou New Army Training Camp under the supervision of the Governor's Office of the Reserve Army, and to be the head of a bow horse, fist and foot, or gun and stick instructor.

In this way, Chen Zuoting's arrangement was delayed.

However, after such a delay of two or three years, Chen Zuoting himself gradually recognized his preferences from his cousin Li Xin and his fellow military attachés who were appointed as foreign advisers and dispelled the idea of leaving Beijing for foreign posts.

In the following days, Chen Zuoting studied his favorite internal boxing method with excellence, and served as the governor of the military attache of the imperial attendant, followed the emperor's side steadily, and served as his Zhengliupin imperial guard with peace of mind.

In this way, whether it is good or bad, this Chen Zuoting does not have all the ups and downs and tribulations in the original history, and in the end, whether he can make the Chen Taijiquan created by him, even Emperor Chongzhen himself can't say.

This time, Emperor Chongzhen left Beijing again, and Chen Zuoting, who was quite good at driving the carriage, personally acted as the handlebar of the imperial carriage, guarding the emperor's safety anytime and anywhere.

Let's say that Chen Zuoting sat in front of the car, accurately controlled the reins of the first horse among the six horses, and stopped the luxurious four-wheeled carriage in which Emperor Chongzhen was riding at the door of the deepest part of the Third Gun Factory that had been taken over by Tian Cewei, and then turned back and whispered to the emperor in the carriage:

"Emperor! The shooting range has arrived! ”

There were not many words, and the voice was not loud, but it reached the emperor's ears clearly.

The officials, craftsmen and workers who were waiting inside and outside the shooting range and at the entrance had already knelt in a circle, and when they saw that Emperor Chongzhen's four-wheeled carriage was very stable, and there was no need for anyone to salute, they couldn't help but shout long live.

The military attachés of the imperial chamberlain and the generals of the Tiance Guard, who had been following closely behind the emperor's chariot, did not need to follow the command of the ministers, and directly stood on both sides of the road leading from the carriage door to the entrance of the shooting range, forming two human walls.

At this time, there were also accompanying ministers, who moved the carriage and horse stool and walked over quickly, and put it under the car door.

In the end, Sun Chengzong, the minister of military aircraft, personally stepped forward to help the emperor open the car door.

Emperor Chongzhen tidied up his clothes a little, got out of the car, first stood still and waved his hand to the crowd kneeling near and far, and then attracted a bigger sound of long live the mountain.

Then he followed Sun Chengzong, Bi Maokang, Sun Yuanhua and others into the shooting range where today's rifled gun test firing and rifled gun drill were arranged.

The shooting range of the Third Gun Factory is located at the northern foot of a mountain range, and it happens to be built in a dustpan-shaped col, and a ring of cement and red brick walls have been built around it according to the terrain.

Due to the low terrain, you can enter through the entrance gate of the shooting range, followed by a descending staircase.

Sun Yuanhua, the director of the Military Arsenal, who was specially arranged to be by the emperor's side as a commentator, said while walking inside:

"Your Majesty! This is the shooting range of the No. 3 Gun Factory in Baiye City, Armament Academy! This afternoon's test and drill will be held here! ”

Surrounded by a large number of ministers and military attachés, Emperor Chongzhen walked down the usual steps, strolled across an open red-brick ground, and ascended to a makeshift platform on the side of the shooting range.

On the opposite side of the platform, in the direction of the hillside in the distance, there are ten rectangular shields more than one person high!

The upper part of the giant red shield has a small circle in the big circle, and a circle of white ring markings is drawn, and in the middle is a black bullseye the size of a fist.

Although Emperor Chongzhen had never been to this shooting range in Baiye City, he also knew that there was a target for rifle shooting in the distance.

And in the middle of the unusually empty shooting range, a battalion of soldiers who were already kneeling neatly and looking at the rows horizontally and vertically.

"Your Majesty! This is one of the mine camps that Dongsheng Hou Li Ge organized and trained to guard Baiye City! Today, they will rehearse for His Majesty the single shot and queue salvo of the new rifled gun! ”

Emperor Chongzhen had just noticed the neat line kneeling in the center of the shooting range, and Sun Yuanhua, the director of the Military Arsenal who was closely following him, answered his questions.

"Excellent! So who is the general of the mine camp who is staying in Baiye City now? How many soldiers are there in the mine camp to guard Baiye City now? ”

In fact, there are many things, and after Emperor Chongzhen arranged it, he rarely paid attention to its progress.

After all, people's energy is limited and their time is limited, especially for a character like Emperor Chongzhen, if he can take care of everything, even if he has three heads and six arms, he can't manage it.

Baiye City is very important, in addition to defending Baiye City, an important iron-smelting town, there is also an important purpose, that is, in the future, once Jianyu breaks through the border from Jibei, in the place of Baiye City south of Zunhua, the imperial court can have a new army to call.

However, later, the border affairs of Jibei were greatly improved under the strong rectification of Sun Chengzong and others.

Moreover, Cao Wenzhao's martial arts battalion also gained a firm foothold in Rehebao, and the defense of the Jibei area has been fundamentally improved.

At the same time, Emperor Chongzhen needed ministers like Li Banghua to go to the northwest to supervise the encirclement and suppression of the thieves who fled to Jin, so that he could take away a number of main forces of the mining camp.

After such a back-and-forth transfer, Emperor Chongzhen gradually paid less attention to the generals and battalion leaders of the mining camp who stayed in Baiye City, so that he didn't know who was currently leading the mining camp and how many soldiers there were.

"Back to Your Majesty! At present, the staff of the pipe belt mine battalion is Liu Mu, the martial artist of Enke Wuju in the first year! The civil official who manages the camp with Liu Mu is Song Yingsheng, the top three jinshi of Enke in the first year!

"The establishment of the Baiye City Mine Camp was originally set by His Majesty at 5,000, but Li Ge Lao went to the northwest to supervise the division and suppress the thieves and took away the main force of the mine camp of 3,000 people, and now the mine battalion left behind in Bai Yecheng is exactly 2,000 full!"

Other ministers may not be clear about the team with a complex subordinate relationship to the Baiyecheng Mining Battalion, but for Bi Maokang, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, he is very clear.

Because the superior yamen of this team is the Ministry of Industry, which is directly dispatched and commanded by the Yamen, a branch of the Ministry of Industry in Baiye City.

Therefore, as soon as Emperor Chongzhen asked about this matter, Bi Maokang, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, who was also closely following the emperor, stood up and made a report without waiting for Sun Yuanhua to answer.