Due to the huge external pressure, Zhong Xiang really didn't become corrupt and degenerate, and all he thought about all day long was how to raise military rations.

The final construction scale of the imperial palace in Changsha was more than half smaller than when it was designed.

It's not that he is sympathetic to the people, but the timber used to build the palace was transferred by the bell to build a warship.

Last year, Li Bao equipped the warship with a large number of firearms, and Zhong Xiang's sailors were beaten to heavy losses. He must restore the strength of the naval army as soon as possible, otherwise he will not dare to show his head in Dongting Lake at all.

"Your Majesty, the gunpowder can explode."

"Really? Take me to see it! ”

Zhong Xiang excitedly left the palace and came to the firearms experimental base outside the city.

When Zhu Ming was in Xiangyang, Zhong Xiang suffered a loss of firearms. In last year's Dongting Lake water battle, the pseudo-Chu water division was violently beaten with firearms.

After learning from the pain, Zhong Xiang kept sending people to inquire about the news.

After losing dozens of fine works, I finally found out that there were armory fields in Kuizhou and Yiling. But those two places are too closed, and if they want to sneak in, they will die if they go to one, and they will die if they go to two.

Last winter, Daye built a new armory yard.

Although nothing was found this time, I finally got more definite information that muskets and artillery were fired by gunpowder. And the barrel of the gun is hollow, open at one end and closed at the other.

Zhong Xiang immediately set about developing firearms, and soon discovered that conventional gunpowder could not explode.

Of course, he didn't have the concept of exploding, but the firearms of the Ming army were like thunder, and the firearms he made could only breathe fire.

Well, the firearms of the bell were hammered into a barrel with an iron sheet, sealed with a cold weld at one end, and a wooden handle was installed. Drill holes to plug in the lead, and fill the muzzle with gunpowder and projectiles.

When the fuse ignites the gunpowder, it does not explode smoothly, but burns violently and emits flames, and the projectile is ejected a little distance from the barrel.

"Long live Your Majesty!"

The craftsmen knelt down in unison.

Zhong Xiang seemed a little impatient: "Hurry up, where is the gunpowder that can be exploded?" ”

A craftsman holds up a clay bowl filled with gunpowder.

Zhong Xiang said: "How is it made? ”

The craftsman explained: "The amount of charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur is mixed every time, and it is stuffed into a bamboo tube and lit. The minister has adjusted it more than 100 times, and it can not only explode, but also burst the bamboo tube. ”

"Try it!" Zhong Xiang said happily.

The craftsmen stuffed the gunpowder into a finger-thick bamboo pipe, sealed the bamboo pipe, and drilled a small hole in it to put the lead.

It's probably what firecrackers look like.

"Bang!"

I heard a crisp sound, and green smoke rose from the ground.

By the time the smoke cleared, the bamboo pipe had been blown apart.

Zhong Xiang was overjoyed: "All are rewarded!" ”

Immediately, the "musket" was brought for experimentation, and this thing did not even have a medicine pool. Gunpowder was shaken in from the muzzle of the gun, and the inner wall of the barrel was sprinkled everywhere, and then the projectile was hard to be punched into it with a bamboo branch.

The craftsmen placed the barrels on the wooden forks, one holding the long wooden handle, another to light the fuse, and two others stood there with their shields.

The one who lit the flame quickly retreated behind the shield.

"Bang!"

This time it's louder.

When the smoke cleared, Zhong Xiang hurriedly stepped forward to check.

Not only did the projectile fly out of nowhere, but the entire barrel was blown up, and even the shield was embedded with some fragments of the barrel.

The experiment failed, but Zhong Xiang laughed instead of anger, and said in a loud voice: "Good, good, good, you have done an excellent job." The pipe of this firebolt will be hammered with wrought iron in the future, and it will be strong and unbreakable! ”

"Your Majesty Shengming!" The craftsmen shouted.

Zhong Xiang asked people to take out the reward money and said, "When the fire is caused, I have another reward!" ”

Amid the cheers of the craftsmen, Zhong Xiang rode back to the city and brought in more soldiers to guard the firearms test base.

A clipper boat came from the south, and it didn't stop until it reached the water gate, but it showed its waist card from afar: "Hurry up the military situation, open the water gate quickly!" ”

The water gate was quickly pulled up, and the messenger drove the clipper all the way to the palace.

Not long after, Zhong Xiang received the military information, and after he read it, the whole person trembled with anger.

Cao Cheng rebelled!

Cao Cheng may have been Han Chinese, or he could have been a Sinicized Yao. Anyway, he lives in the border zone between Han and Barbarians, and is located on the border of Guangxi, Guangdong and Hunan.

The Yao, Dong, and Miao people here were forced to rebel by the Song Dynasty as early as when Zhu Ming had not yet raised troops. It was the officers and soldiers of Jinghu and Guangxi who joined forces to repel it, but they did not exterminate it, but retreated to the mountainous areas.

After Zhong Xiang raised troops, they also continued to make trouble, and contained the Song Dynasty's troops, making great contributions to Zhong Xiang's expansion.

Last year, Zhong Xiang took advantage of Li Heng's retreat to Guizhou and immediately let the southern front troops enter Guangxi.

Cao Cheng was made a duke and led his troops to garrison Hezhou.

Now, Cao Cheng killed the altar master (Zhizhou) and the envoy (supervising the army) in Hezhou, and smashed the altar in Hezhou everywhere.

Changed the flag and took refuge in the Ming Dynasty!

Zhong Xiang held the military emergency report and sat on the dragon chair dejectedly.

He didn't understand why Cao Cheng was opposed, and he treated Cao Cheng well. has already canonized him as the founding father, does he have to be crowned king to make him return to his heart?

Cao Cheng rebelled, and it is estimated that the barbarians in Daozhou, Quanzhou, and Guiyang will also rebel one after another.

Zhong Xiang asked his younger brother Zhong Yi to stay in Changsha, and he immediately went south with his own army.

When he traveled to Hengyang, he met Huang Cheng, a missionary who went north by boat.

"Master, Daozhou is gone!" Huang Cheng knelt down with a puff.

Zhong Xiang was shocked and asked, "Why didn't Daozhou get so fast?" ”

Huang Cheng said: "Not only did the Yao and Dong people rebel in Daozhou, but even the Han people rebelled together......

Zhong Xiang was so angry that he grabbed the placket of this person's clothes and shouted angrily: "I ask you, why are all the tribes rebelling!" ”

Huang Cheng said in frustration: "Master, the minister has already been dismissed many times. The altar owners of the large and small altars in the south are all opportunistic. They used to be landlords and gentry, pretending to believe in our religion and pretending to give their possessions. In fact, all of them are wolf ambitions, and with the help of the prestige of the lord, they have expropriated in the city and the countryside, and have forced the people to be cornered......"

Zhong Xiang slowly let go of his hand and pulled Huang Cheng up.

At the beginning, he confronted Zhu Ming on the Yangtze River, and the elite were transferred to the Yangtze River, and it was difficult to continue to expand southward.

It just so happened that the officers and soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty there couldn't bear it, rich merchants, gentry, ruffians, and monks...... They all converted to Manichaeism and conquered the prefectures and counties to take refuge in Zhong Xiang. In order to show their loyalty, some people even donated the property saved by their ancestors as teaching property.

Faced with such a situation, what else can Zhong Xiang do?

I can only accept it, is it difficult to use the knife?

In order to control the newly acquired territory, he also sent many henchmen and disciples over. But he was soon corrupted by speculators, and on the surface he was extremely respectful, but in fact he was in violation.

As a result, the territory of Zhongxiang is polarized.

In the area around Dongting Lake, Zhong Xiang is very popular with the people, and the civil and military generals are relatively honest, and there are even many people who maintain their original intentions.

And a few states far to the south have already made a miasma!

Zhong Xiang also knew that there was a problem, so he sent his disciple Huang Cheng as a missionary envoy to inspect the south.

Huang Cheng was not corrupted, and he reported the situation truthfully.

But at this time, Zhong Xiang was surrounded by Hubei, Jiangxi, and Guangxi on three sides, and he did not dare to be ruthless against the southern states, otherwise it would inevitably lead to a large-scale rebellion.

"Why will Cao become opposed?" Zhong Xiang asked.

Huang Cheng explained: "The township where the Cao family is located was also expropriated this time. The reason is that the lord ordered the reinforcement of the pass, and the local altar owners took the opportunity to fish and eat the people. There may also be other reasons, Cao Cheng's military envoy (supervising the army), is the uncle of the prince's side concubine, and I heard that he gets along with Cao Cheng very badly. Yes...... It is rumored that he once asked Cao Cheng for a bribe but failed, so he threatened to sue Cao Cheng for conspiracy......"

"Bastard!"

Zhong Xiang was so angry that he scolded.

It was precisely because the southern states were gradually out of control that Zhong Xiang sent envoys to various armies, that is, to install cronies as supervisors.

The prison soldier beside Cao Cheng was a disciple who had followed Zhong Xiang for many years, and he also married his niece to Zhong Xiang's son as a side concubine.

Such a close person actually forced the front-line general to rebel!

Zhong Xiang slowed down for a while before ordering the march to speed up, and he tried to rely on his prestige to recruit the rebellious army.

But he only continued to advance for dozens of miles before he received another urgent military message.

The Dong and Miao people in Wugang Ninety Tuandong are all opposed. And the Han people in Wugang even joined the uprising.

In just half a month, Suining, Chengbu, Lingang, Wuyang and other walled cities were lost, and the rebel army had killed Wugang Military City.

Zhong Xiang was numb by these news, and could only lead his troops to speed up the march.

When he arrived in Qiyang County, he received an urgent report from the military again: Li Heng, a famous general who had recently returned to the Ming Dynasty, sent troops from Guilin to besiege Xing'an County. The defenders of Jeonju were waiting to go to the rescue, and the Sinicized Dong Su clan in Xixidong rebelled again. The Quanzhou army could only go to conquer the Su clan first, and Xing'an County had become an isolated city.

The Su clan is not easy to exterminate, and when the Song Dynasty was still there, they often went down the mountain to plunder the Han people, and even plundered the official ships.

A series of emergency military situations, Zhong Xiang no longer knows how to deal with it.

And that's just the beginning.

Only half a day later, news came from Guiyang Prison again. Due to the rebellion of the Yao people over there, the pseudo-Chu officers and soldiers went to conquer, and under the emptiness of the hinterland, the Han miners took the opportunity to rebel.

There are four large silver mines in Guiyang Prison, as well as many small silver mines, and the total number of silver smelters and miners is twenty or thirty thousand!

Zhong Xiang can only pray now that the Ming army in Hubei and Jiangxi will not send troops, and when he quells the rebellion in the south, everything will still have room for maneuver.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, a messenger from the north!"

As soon as Zhong Xiang heard this, he felt bad in his heart.

He forced himself to calmly open the military intelligence paperwork, only glanced at it and put it down, muttering in his mouth: "It's over, the general trend has gone." ”

Under the protection of the Daming Water Division, the Ming army in Hubei sent tens of thousands of troops south.

At the same time, the Jiangxi Ming army also crossed the mountains and mountains and was attacking Liling and Chaling.

Zhong Xiang led the pro-army to the south, if he didn't hurry back, he might be cut off by the Jiangxi Ming army.

Zhong Xiang looked up at the sky, his body swayed, and he already felt that all thoughts were lost.

He was not afraid of the rebellion of those ethnic minorities, and it was not surprising that he would be besieged by the Ming army. But the Han people in the southern states actually rebelled together, which was like poking a knife in the heart of Zhong Xiang.

(End of chapter)