"But what?!"

Huang Taiji suddenly heard that the number of artillery collected by Kong and Geng from Hening State was as many as 1,244, and he was very happy.

However, just when he was happy to hear it, he saw that Kong Youde stopped abruptly, and there was obviously something wrong in his words. He immediately became very unhappy and shouted at him sharply.

"However, there are still only twenty-eight heavy artillery pieces under the command of the slaves and others to support the general. As for the various artillery pieces collected from the Hening Kingdom, although they are large in number, most of them are from the Wanli period of the Southern Dynasty.

Building small cannons is actually not very useful for storming a strong city like Zhenjiang Fort. And-"

Although Kong Youde didn't want to say these words, Huang Taiji directly asked him how many days it would take to break the wall of Zhenjiang Fort. At this time, he didn't dare to lie at all and could only tell the truth.

When he said this, he was lying on the ground and glanced up at Huang Taiji. Seeing the master clenching his molars and staring at him with a gloomy expression, he had to quickly lower his head and continue:

"Moreover, the slaves and King Huaishun's army have very little gunpowder and cannons left. The cannons are easy to say. This time the slaves have collected a large number of iron tools, which can be melted in the army. However, the shortage of gunpowder will soon

It’s not easy to add.

"The minions replenished a batch of gunpowder in Hanyang City, but when they attacked Chungju City, more than half of it had been consumed. King Huaishun knew this situation better than the minions. Therefore, the minions really did not dare to guarantee that the city could be broken within a few days.

"

When they first arrived at Zhenjiang Fort in October, the gunpowder reserves in the heavy artillery teams of Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming were of course very abundant.

But after arriving at Zhenjiang Fort, they fought an artillery battle for such a long time, mainly because they fought day and night. On the contrary, Yang Zhenyan in Zhenjiang Fort refused to use heavy artillery.

Therefore, the ammunition of King Kong and Geng's heavy artillery team was consumed very quickly, and by the end of October, they had already begun to use sparingly.

Fortunately, they later captured a large amount of gunpowder when they captured Uiju Fucheng, and were able to continue to use their heavy artillery to kill the Koreans who did not have heavy artillery.

They fought like this all the way, plundering and replenishing gunpowder from the broken cities along the way, and then persisted until they reached Hanyang City.

Hanyang City, especially Namhansan City, had a large amount of gunpowder prepared by the imperial court. However, during the Chungju Incident that followed, Kong and Geng launched heavy artillery and once again consumed a large amount of gunpowder.

When it was time to withdraw their troops, Kong and Geng were determined to clear out the military supplies in Nanhan Mountain City and replenish some gunpowder.

However, at that time, Nanhan Mountain City had become the yamen residence of Jingjin Belenikan, the Minister of Supervision of the Kingdom in Korea, and Nikan's troops also needed military supplies such as gunpowder and projectiles.

It is true that the two of them are princes, but in front of Nikan, a Baile born in a clan, they are just slaves.

Although the people of Nanhanshan City originally stored a lot of gunpowder projectiles and grain and military supplies, they did not dare to touch them at all.

As a result, they had a strange situation where although they had many large and small artillery pieces, they were seriously short of gunpowder.

"King Huaishun, is this true? Is the gunpowder in your army enough to break the wall of Zhenjiang Fort?"

Faced with what Kong Youde said, Huang Taiji was very unhappy, but if this was the truth, he had to accept it.

Therefore, in order to confirm what Kong Youde said, Huang Taiji placed his last hope on Huaishun King Geng Zhongming. While talking to him, he looked at him with doubts.

"This, what Prince Gongshun said is true. Although there is still some gunpowder in the army of the slaves and Prince Gongshun, the gunpowder made by the court is quite inferior. Therefore, the amount of gunpowder used in each of the slaves and the army is also large."

Geng Zhongming was so angry that he cursed his mother for being the obedient king Kong Youde who threw such a difficult problem on himself at a critical moment.

But when faced with Huang Taiji's question, he had to answer it.

After all, Kong Youde did not push these problems onto him for no reason.

Because since he added the title of Batulu, the first of the Eight Banners Han Army, Huang Taiji has unified all the Han Army's heavy artillery units in this army under his control.

The status of the obedient King Kong Youde was actually below him.

Therefore, although he was annoyed, he had no choice but to further explain to Huang Taiji after acknowledging what Kong Youde said.

"As for whether it is enough to break the wall of Zhenjiang Fort? Well, if all the twenty-eight heavy artillery pieces of Tianyou's support in the army of slaves and obedient kings are put into use, the gunpowder in the army may be able to last for three to five days at most.

"If all the heavy artillery is focused on one place, and we try to get close to the bombardment, it may not be impossible to break through the city wall again. Although I don't dare to ensure that the city is broken, I will definitely try my best."

"you--"

Huang Taiji was extremely disappointed after hearing Geng Zhongming's explanation. He had waited for a few more days at the gate of Zhenjiang Fort, but the result was that the heavy artillery team, which he had high hopes for, was in this situation.

But other than sighing, he didn't know what to say.

After all, what Kong Youde said and what Geng Zhongming said may sound a bit unexpected at first, but if you think about it carefully, it makes perfect sense.

It has been almost three months since I took them away from Shengjing City. During this period, I have not received any additional supplies of food, grass, ammunition, ordnance from the direction of Shengjing.

In the past, when he led his troops to fight, most of the time he relied on the enemy for food. He captured all kinds of food, grass, ammunition, and weapons, which were almost inexhaustible.

But this time the situation is different. It can even be said that the entire situation has been different since the twelfth year of Chongzhen.

Not only was the passage of military supplies from the direction of Xuanda, passing through the grassland tribes, and trafficked into the Qing Dynasty interrupted, but they also did not break into any city in western Liaoning.

Gu Sui

Not to mention the many cities in the Southern Pass that were so wealthy that it was enviable. Ever since Yang Zhen emerged from Jinhai Town, the troops of the Qing Dynasty had not detoured southward and penetrated the Pass for a long time.

In the past two years, especially since the summer of the 13th year of Chongzhen, the Qing Dynasty has not only suffered from a shortage of gunpowder, but also a shortage of other military supplies, such as sulfur, saltpeter, ironware, copperware, grain, and cloth.

.

Even the salt that several households cannot live without has become increasingly expensive due to the rapid rise of Jinhai Town, which quickly occupied the salt-producing land on the east and west coasts of the Liaodong Peninsula.

The situation is indeed different.

Although Huang Taiji was no longer as sharp as in previous years after his stroke, he still sensed these changes from various memorials and clues about his concubines' diet, daily life, and daily speech.

Today, these changes were finally directly reflected in the current war, which made him think a lot at once.

"The General God Blessed and Encouraged is an important military weapon of our Qing Dynasty. However, if there are no gunpowder cannons, how are they different from a pile of scrap copper and iron? The problem of gunpowder must be solved!"

"The Emperor's Holy Ming!"

When Geng Zhongming and Kong Youde saw Huang Taiji's fierce request to solve the problem of gunpowder shortage, they naturally did not dare to do anything. They kowtowed to the ground together and shouted that Huang Taiji was wise.

As for how to solve it, of course they themselves still have no idea, and they can't say anything.

In the end, this problem will have to be solved by Huang Taiji himself or by instructing the officials from the Ministry of Industry and Government in Shengjing City to solve it in the future.

They lay on the ground and shouted these words that the Holy Spirit had not said. Of course Huang Taiji realized this when he saw it, so he could only sigh again in anger.

At this point, Huang Taiji didn't know what to say, and there was a strange silence between them and their minions.

The suggestions that Bao Chengxian once made to him involuntarily appeared in Huang Taiji's mind again.

Our own army lacks ammunition and does not have enough heavy artillery, and the opponent's army does not have its own internal response.

Under such circumstances, Huang Taiji was already a little confused about how to attack the fortified city.

For example, regarding the issue of gunpowder manufacturing, it is not that no one in the Qing Dynasty knows how to make gunpowder.

The formula of gunpowder is not complicated. Many soldiers and generals who surrendered in the Ming Dynasty knew how to prepare gunpowder.

But the problem is that the raw materials for making gunpowder are in short supply, especially sulfur and fire salt, which are not available everywhere.

In the past, the gunpowder used by the troops of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, especially the sulfur and fire salt which were indispensable in the preparation of gunpowder, generally came from three sources.

One is from seizures, including the proceeds from plunder, which has been the largest source for a long time.

The second is from trade, that is, from the trade with Shanyou merchants at various entrances along Xuanda, especially Zhangjiakou and Dushikou.

The third is self-control, and the amount of self-control is minimal, and it also relies on tribute payments from the court.

Nowadays, the trade along the grassland has been basically cut off.

Although Huang Taiji had long wanted to send people to Xuanda to re-open trade channels, but in the past two years he has been free.

At the same time, the largest source of gunpowder in the military in the past, that is, capture on the battlefield, is now basically cut off.

It has been almost two years since they broke into Nanchao Pass and plundered.

The supplies captured in previous plunders were almost exhausted in the battles with Yang Zhen and Jin Haizhen.

Although when they evacuated from Hanyang City this time, Huang Taiji had the foresight to order Nikan to supervise Li Zhu and his courtiers to send a caravan to the Wonu Kingdom as soon as possible to open up trade channels with the Wonu Kingdom as soon as possible.

But so far, all this is just words. If you want to see the results, I'm afraid it will take a year and a half.

In other words, even if everything goes well, it will take half a year before the first batch of sulfur and fire salt can be purchased from the Wonu Kingdom.

For the current war, it is obvious that water far away cannot save fire close by.

Just when Huang Taiji was thinking a lot and was indecisive, not knowing whether he should make a desperate move and attack Zhenjiang Fort City again, or continue to besiege without attacking and wait for the city to be destroyed without any food supplies, he suddenly heard a noise coming from outside the big tent.

There were scolds and exclamations mixed in among them.

"Gang Atai! Go and see which slave broke the rules in my camp and dared to make such a noise at night!"

Huang Taiji, who was already in a irritable mood and had no place to vent his anger, heard the noise outside the tent and immediately became furious and ordered Gang Atai to go out and check.

However, Gang Atai had just arrived at the door of the big tent after receiving the order, and the heavy cotton curtain had already been opened.

The person who came in first was Huang Taiji's newly appointed Baya Lahuzhang Jingzhuo Butai of Zhenghuang Banner not long ago.
Chapter completed!