Admiral Swallow Rock.

When Liu Qingyan was sorting out the information based on the case, the door of the false room was suddenly gently pushed open, and a slender figure had already stepped on the breeze to escape, just listening to the footsteps, Liu Qingyan knew that Wang Pu was coming, and looking at the entire admiral camp, only Wang Pu could enter her courtyard.

Liu Qingyan got up, looked back and smiled: "Master Horse, are you here?" ”

Wang Pu snorted, walked to Liu Qingyan and sat down, and said, "Your intelligence work is very ineffective. ”

"Yo." Liu Qingyan glanced at Wang Pu and said angrily, "Is it the Tangbao that Jingshi transferred has arrived?" ”

"Okay." Wang Pu said angrily, "It seems that your news is only a little slower than the eight hundred miles of Jingshi." ”

"Yo, that's a wrongful death for my sister." Liu Qingyan walked up to Wang Pu with a spring breeze, stretched out his finger and poked Wang Pu's forehead, and said coquettishly, "Do you think the people of the Holy Sect are the confidants of the thieves and Jiannu?" So, the rogue and Jiannu's every move sister can know right away? If this is the case, it will save trouble, Yu'er can kill the thieves and slave chiefs with her mouth, won't the Ming Dynasty be peaceful in the world? ”

Wang Pu was dumbfounded, but if you think about it carefully, it's really like this.

Liu Qingyan turned behind Wang Pu, stretched out his slender jade finger and inserted it into Wang Pu's hairline, while gently massaging the man's scalp, he said in a flattering voice: "The Holy Sect has halls in all provinces, including people from the Holy Sect outside the gates, but most of them are just ordinary people, like the Zhujiang Dragon under Gu San Mazi's hands are only a very few, therefore, the news presented by the halls in various places can be said to be varied and all-encompassing, and my sister has to spend a lot of time collecting useful information from it, and then analyze it to get the information you want, It's not an easy task. ”

Wang Pu said: "It seems that you have to find a few smart and clever little girls to help you." ”

Liu Qingyan lowered her head, blew on Wang Pu's ear holes, and said with a smile: "Why don't you find a few handsome guys for your sister?" ”

"That's not going to work."

Wang Pu reversed his hands, touched up along Liu Qingyan's thighs, and went straight to the square inch, but unfortunately, before Wang Pu could get his hand, Liu Qingyan had already slapped his paws away honestly and unceremoniously, Wang Pu smiled and said, "If you really find a few handsome guys to help you, then you won't be fascinated?" I'm afraid I'm going to help more and more. ”

"Really? It's like the truth. Liu smiled lightly, "Why don't you see you faint?" ”

"Don't provoke me." Wang Pu swallowed his saliva and said in a muffled voice, "Be careful that I put medicine in your tea, first stun you, and then ...... Hum. ”

Liu Qingyan's little hand suddenly stroked all the way down Wang Pu's chest and abdomen, and finally stopped at Wang Pu's vital point, and the ten slender jade fingers were just rubbed so lightly a few times, and Wang Pu immediately had a strong reaction.

It is unknown whether this demon girl is a virgin queen, but one thing is certain, this demon girl must have received special training in male and female love, know what expressions, what techniques can best provoke men's **, the legend in the world is that the White Lotus Sect evolved from the Joy Zen Buddhism in Buddhism, it seems that it is not groundless, otherwise how could Liu Qingyan, the demon girl, be so sultry?

Straight to Wang Pu teased him horny, Liu Qingyan leaned into Wang Pu's ear, ate and laughed: "Master Horse, when will you become Cao Gong, when will my sister let you be a real **, let you taste the most ** male and female taste in the world, let you know what is the real desire to die, giggle......"

"Whew." Wang Pu took a breath, didn't dare to entangle with this demon girl anymore, and hurriedly changed the topic, "Estimate, when will the thieves hit Yanjing?" ”

Liu Qingyan said in a charming voice: "Judging from all kinds of signs, the general soldier of Datong, Jiang Ping, has surrendered to the thieves, once the barrier of Datong is lost, according to my sister's estimate, at the latest in early October, at the earliest in early September, Li Zicheng's army on the North Road will be able to kill under Yanjing City, and Liu Zongmin's middle road and Li Guo's South Road thieves will almost be able to hit Yanjing in mid-September." ”

■■■

The next morning, Wang Pu led the guards straight to the Purple Mountain Foothills Arsenal.

Half a year ago, Wang Pu integrated the weapons workshop and the gunpowder bureau and officially changed its name to the arsenal.

The Purple Mountain Arsenal was newly built in April, although the scale is not large, but the status is extraordinary, because it is the first arsenal in the Ming Dynasty with mechanical processing capabilities, it is actually a bit exaggerated to say that it is machining, and the Purple Mountain Arsenal is only two hydraulic drilling machines.

Moreover, the altitude of the Purple Mountain is not high, and the water in the mountain stream is insufficient, and only in the wet season from April to June every year can these two hydraulic drilling machines be used, but fortunately, this is only a test surname, Wang Pu does not care so much, once the test is successful, it is not too late to find a place with sufficient water resources to build a large arsenal.

In the drilling machine workshop, the spindles of the two hydraulic drilling machines and the drill bits fixed on the spindle are rotating rapidly under the drive of the winch, because there is no bearing, only the spindle and the fixed base can be sliding and rubbing, and the sound is very harsh!

The spindle and drill bit of the hydraulic drilling machine are installed from the bottom to the top, and the winch wheel connected with the water flow is hidden below the ground, and a triangular bracket is erected above the drilling machine, and the guide rail perpendicular to the ground is installed on the bracket, which can drive the slide to slide up and down, and the barrel that needs to be drilled is fixed on the slide.

Two pounds of round waist craftsmen grabbed the handles that stretched out on both sides of the slide, and pulled down with the weight of their whole bodies, and the rapidly rotating drill bit was screwed into the barrel fixed on the slide little by little, and the grinding sound between the drill bit and the inner wall of the barrel became more harsh, and the pungent smell of scorched iron filled the air.

Another craftsman was constantly pouring water on the drill bit and barrel to prevent the drill bit and barrel from being scorched.

These two hydraulic drilling machines are designed by Song Yingxing according to Wang Pu's prompts, and personally supervised the manufacture, so far it has been tried for more than two months, the processing speed is indeed many times faster than manual drilling, manual drilling takes a month to drill a barrel, but a hydraulic drilling machine can drill a barrel in one day, and the processing speed has increased by 30 times!

Moreover, the chamber drilled by the hydraulic drilling machine is obviously straighter than the chamber drilled manually!

However, Wang Pu came to the Purple Mountain Arsenal this time not for the hydraulic drilling machine, but for the breech gun that Song Yingxing had just successfully developed.

The so-called breech gun is the opposite of the breech gun.

The gunpowder and lead bullet of the breech gun had to be stuffed into the chamber from the front end of the barrel and then pressed to the bottom with a strip, which was a very time-consuming technical task, and before the invention of the paper shell bullet, the most skilled veteran could only fire two shots per minute, and with the paper shell bullet, the speed was greatly improved.

The paper shell of the breech gun is no longer loaded from the front end of the barrel, but from the rear end of the barrel, the advantage is that the loading is more rapid, and there is no need to stand up and press the ammunition into the chamber with a strip, so that the soldier can lie on the ground and reload, continue to shoot, which greatly improves the survivability of the musketeer in the musket fire.

Compared to breech-loading guns, breech-loading guns have an overwhelming advantage.

[Literacy: In 1545 A.D. (the twenty-seventh year of Jiajing), the Ming army captured some people who were good at making arquebuses and guns in the battle to recover Shuangyu, which was occupied by the Portuguese, and Ma Xian, Li Huai and others learned the method of making muskets, and on this basis, they studied and improved, and in the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing, they made the arquebus that was "more exquisite than the West Fan", which was called "bird's beak gun", that is, bird gun or bird gun.

The barrel of the bird gun is made of wrought iron, weighs about 12 pounds, has a crosshair, a door, and is installed on a wooden support, the caliber of the bird gun is between 9 ~ 13 mm, the length of the barrel is between 90 cm ~ 150 cm, the maximum firing range can reach 300 meters, and the effective firing range is more than 100 meters.

Some readers always like to take ignorance as the truth, saying that the range of the arquebus is only 45 meters, in fact, the Ming Dynasty's gun-making technology is quite sophisticated, far from the later Manchu Qing Dynasty can be compared, after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, the Ming Dynasty's gun-making, cannon casting, shipbuilding process was completely interrupted, and science and technology regressed for a full three hundred years!

As for the bird guns and fire guns used by the border army of the Ming Dynasty, the power is small, and it is easy to blow up the hall, and the bows and arrows of Jiannu cannot be suppressed at all in actual combat, it is completely because of the officialdom [***], and the officials of the Ministry of Industry in order to fill their own pockets, shoddy, make the pipe wall of the bird gun extremely thin, can it not be blown up?

But this has nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty's gun-making process! 】

The caliber of the breech gun developed by Song Yingxing is only 10 mm, which is 2 mm smaller than the caliber of the breech gun used by the musket team, and the barrel length is still 120 cm, which looks more slender and lightweight.

Although the caliber of this breech gun is smaller, the charge of the paper shell bullet has not been reduced, so it appears more slender than the paper case bullet of the breech gun, and the bullet has also been replaced by a cylindrical iron bullet with a sharp tip.

Wang Pu asked Lu Liu to test shoot more than a dozen shots, and found that the firing speed of the breech gun had really increased greatly, almost twice that of the breech gun! The firing range and accuracy are also significantly improved compared with the breech gun, and the firing range has reached more than 300 meters, and a veteran like Lu Liu can accurately hit a target the size of a human body from 200 meters away.

"Okay." After watching Lu Liu's demonstration, Wang Pu said happily, "Great! ”

Seeing Wang Pu's ecstatic appearance, Song Yingxing couldn't help but feel a little proud, and hugged his fists and said: "I am fortunate to be humble and not disgraced." ”

"Haha, Mr. Song has worked hard." Wang Pu said this, and then asked, "Mr. Song, how many breech flintlock pistols can be made in a month?" ”

Song Yingxing said: "As long as the hydraulic power is sufficient, two hydraulic drilling machines can drill 60 barrels a month. ”

"Only sixty?" Wang Pu was inevitably a little disappointed when he heard this, but after thinking about it, it was better than nothing, so he said, "It's okay, sixty will be sixty, and this general will send someone to pick it up on time at this time next month." ”

■■■

Forbidden City, the front hall of the Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Chongzhen was convening Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the cabinet, and He Fengsheng, Chen Yan, Wei Zhaocheng, Fan Jingwen, Li Banghua and others to discuss the matter, and Zhang Jinyan, the secretary of the military department, was also called to attend.

The power of the Ming Dynasty is under the river, and the army of thieves is sweeping through Shanxi and Jingshi provinces with the momentum of destroying and decaying.

On the seventh day of the seventh month, Li Zicheng swore an oath from Xi'an to the east.

On July 19, Binh Duong was captured.

On July 26, they entered Fenzhou.

On the third day of August, Taiyuan was captured, and Wang Qiao, the governor of Shanxi, died in the new year.

On the ninth day of August, he went north from Taiyuan, and was resisted by Zhou Yuji, the chief soldier of Shanxi, at Wuning Pass, who sent people to ask Jiang Pai, the general soldier of Datong, for help, but Jiang Pai not only did not send troops to rescue, but secretly took refuge in the thieves and attacked Wuning Pass from behind.

On August 15, Wuning Pass was lost, and the Shanxi General Soldier Zhou Yu Ji died.

On August 23, the thieves entered Yanghe, and Jiang Xuan, the deputy chief soldier of Datong, defected and surrendered to the thieves.

On the sixth day of the ninth month, the thieves entered the Xuanfu, and the governor of the Xuanfu, Zhu Zhifeng, and the general soldier Wang Chengyin defected and surrendered to the thieves.

……

Rushed to Beijing like a snowflake of official documents, Sun Chuanting and Wang Pu still stood still, posing to protect half of the south of the Yangtze River, although Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Shandong, and Wu Sangui, the general soldier of Ningqian, promised to raise the army to Qin Wang, but they did not take action for a long time, only Cao Bianjiao, the chief soldier of Yutian, and Bai Guangen, the chief soldier of Jizhen, had already led the army to Yanjing Qinwang, but unfortunately the soldiers and horses under the two of them added up to only 8,000 people, how to resist the army of nearly one million thieves?

The thieves are like a bamboo, but Zhou Yanru and other cabinet ministers are helpless.

In the face of the impending catastrophe, Emperor Chongzhen felt both sad and helpless, and said to Zhou Yanru and other cabinet ministers with great emotion: "I am not the king of the dead country, everything is the image of the dead country, the ancestors are in the wind and rain in the world, once lost, what face will be seen underground?" ”

The ministers were relatively gloomy, and they were all ashamed.

Emperor Chongzhen since the imperial pole, night and night, reigning for 16 years, quiet, diligent, diligent, dedicated governance, completely a good emperor who works ability, may not be enough to compare with Emperor Taizu Hongwu and Emperor Yongle of Chengzu, but on the diligent government, but the crown of the Ming Dynasty 16 Emperors!

It's a pity that Emperor Chongzhen's luck is not good, what he inherited from his father and brother is a rotten mess to the bones, the Central Plains thieves are swarming, the construction of slaves outside the customs is rampant, coupled with the continuous natural disasters, [***] rampant, so that the people are not happy, the national strength is exhausted, and the stall is such an unlucky year, even if it is the reincarnation of Tang Taizong, it is also a lack of skills to return to heaven.

After a long time, Emperor Chongzhen resolutely said: "Wen dies, martial arts fights, the monarch dies, I am determined to live and die with the Zongmiao Society, with the ancestral mausoleum, and with the millions of living beings in Beijing!" You Aiqing can quickly return to the mansion, gather the family to protect the home, distribute equipment, and fight the thief to the death! ”

Emperor Chongzhen was determined to make a decision, and ordered Zhang Jinyan, the secretary of the military department, to recruit the strong men of the Beijing division to organize the Qinwang army, distribute equipment to defend the Beijing division, and issued a holy decree, hoping that the emperor's relatives and relatives and hundreds of officials in Beijing would take state affairs as their thoughts and donate family resources to help the army's salary, but unfortunately not many people responded to Emperor Chongzhen's call at all.

Only the great eunuchs Wang Yongzuo, Wang Chengen, and Wang Dehua each donated 50,000 taels out of affection, and the rest of the imperial relatives and rich bureaucrats were all like iron roosters, not pulling out a dime.

Chen Yan, the second assistant of the cabinet, donated it, but he donated ten taels of silver, and said that he was an honest official, never accepted bribes, and only had ten taels of silver left at home, but in the end, the thieves entered Beijing, and when Liu Zongmin chased the dirty salary, he actually found more than 200,000 taels of silver from his house!

The heart of the eunuch Wang is a famous rich man in the capital, Emperor Chongzhen gave up the dignity of the emperor to collect donations from him in person, he donated 10,000 taels of silver, but in the end the thieves entered the capital, but copied more than 500,000 taels of silver from his home, which is not counting jewelry and antiques, as well as manor property.

There is also the national abbot - Jiading Bo Zhou Kui, Emperor Chongzhen sent the great eunuch Wang Chengen to personally come to the door to raise donations, but let Wang Chengen say it out, Zhou Kui just didn't let go, and finally Wang Chengen was so angry that he brushed his sleeves away, and left a sentence before leaving: "The old emperor is so stingy, the general trend is gone!" ”

In the end, the thieves entered Beijing, and Liu Zongmin chased after the dirty salary and copied more than one million taels of silver from Zhou Kui's house!

If there is no silver, you can't buy food, and if you don't have food, the soldiers of the Beijing camp and the Qinwang army from all walks of life can only starve and defend Yanjing, after all, Emperor Chongzhen is the Ming Emperor, and he can't rob the people of Beijing like Zuo Liangyu! The army of thieves is menacing, and the Ming officials and soldiers are hungry and tired, and the result can be imagined.

On September 13, the thieves captured Changping County, the last barrier of the northern effect of Gyeonggi, the chief military officer Cao Bianjiao and Bai Guangen died, and the whole army of 8,000 elite soldiers was wiped out.

■■■

In the dead of night, the Forbidden City, which has always been majestic and solemn, now shows a bleak scene, showing a deathly silence under the light of the moon.

Recently, there has been a mysterious rumor circulating in Yanjing City, it is said that pedestrians who walk through the main gate of the Forbidden City at night can hear the wailing of the ghosts of the soldiers who died in battle, unless they have to, no one is willing to take a step closer to the Forbidden City, and the hundreds of thousands of eunuchs and palace maids in the palace are almost all gone.

Under the cold and faint moonlight, Emperor Chongzhen, accompanied by Wang Chengen, approached Kunning Palace step by step.

Just a moment ago, Emperor Chongzhen had already received news that the eunuch Wang Xiangyao who guarded the Xuanwu Gate, Zhang Jinyan, the secretary of the military department who guarded the Zhengyang Gate, and Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo who guarded the Qihua Gate, had opened the city gate at the same time, and the army of thieves had entered the inner city of Yanjing, and it was only one step away from the Forbidden City!

The crown prince Zhu Cihong, Yongwang Zhu Cijiong and Dingwang Zhu Cijiong have asked Gao Qiqian to take more than a dozen little guardians to the palace of the prince Zhou Kui, in fact, Emperor Chongzhen also knows that Zhou Kui is unreliable, but he has no other choice now, Emperor Chongzhen originally wanted to entrust the prince to the cabinet ministers, but just now, he rang the bell in the front hall to summon the ministers, and none of them came to hear the news.

In desperation, Emperor Chongzhen could only let Gao Qiqian take the prince, King Yong and King Ding to defect to Zhou Kui, the prince is Zhou Kui's nephew after all, as the saying goes, tiger poison does not eat children, how can he escort the prince to Nanjing?

Emperor Chongzhen has been prepared for the psychological preparation of "the death of the monarch", the only thing he can't let go of is the concubines in the harem and Princess Changping and Princess Zhaoren, thieves entering Beijing is inevitable, as a generation of emperors, Emperor Chongzhen certainly can't tolerate his concubines and two princesses becoming thieves' dolls.

As soon as Emperor Chongzhen stepped into the main hall of Kunning Palace, he saw Queen Zhou sitting on the main hall.

It's so late, Queen Zhou hasn't slept yet, but is neatly dressed, sitting on the phoenix chair peacefully, it seems that she already knows everything, knows that the last moment of her life is coming, and meets the guilty and self-blaming eyes of Emperor Chongzhen, Queen Zhou smiled and said softly: "Long live Lord, the concubine has taken a step first." ”

After that, Empress Zhou calmly entered the Dongnuan Pavilion, and when Emperor Chongzhen chased into the Dongnuan Pavilion after a while, Empress Zhou had already hanged herself on the beams of the house.

"Ugh."

Emperor Chongzhen looked up to the sky and sighed, drew his long sword with his backhand, and sped up his pace and went straight to Chengqian Palace.

The Chengqian Palace was also brightly lit, Tian Guifei did not go to bed, and saw Emperor Chongzhen breaking in with a sword, Tian Guifei's face turned pale in an instant, Tian Guifei was beautiful, gentle and proficient in music and rhythm, she had always been cited by Emperor Chongzhen as a bosom friend, she never thought that one day she would die under the sword of Emperor Chongzhen.

"Concubine." Emperor Chongzhen looked up to the sky and sighed, and said sadly, "The country is ruined, and life is useless, so why don't you go with me?" ”

Tian Guifei stared at Emperor Chongzhen for a long time, before she knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times, and said sadly: "Long live the lord, the concubine has said goodbye to ......."

Emperor Chongzhen was ruthless, gritted his teeth, and stabbed a sword into Tian Guifei's throat, blood splashed, and a generation of concubines died.

After forcing Empress Zhou to death and killing Concubine Tian Guifei, Emperor Chongzhen came to the most important third woman in his life, this woman was Princess Changping, whom he loved like a pearl in his palm, that is, Wang Puwei's daughter-in-law.

……

(To be continued)