Chapter 714: Sharpening the knife and facing the iron mountain

Seviara said in confusion: "Brother General, you have such a powerful musket, why do you still need our cannon casting technology?"

Zhang Zhun said calmly: "There is a shortcoming of the ruler, and the strengths of the inch... I mean, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, and the same is true for the country. Our country does have certain advantages in making muskets. But in terms of casting cannons, we have encountered some problems and need your help to solve them."

Seviara still looked a little disbelief. Zhang Zhun's musket shooting just now had a deep impression on her. Such a long range, such high accuracy, and such great lethality were sharper than any musket she had ever seen. If the British had such a powerful musket, they would have beaten the Dutch in a human form on the sea.

Almost subconsciously, Seviara had a strong desire to obtain the casting technology of muskets from Zhang Zhun. As long as she masters the manufacturing technology of muskets, Seviara believed that she could make a fortune by selling patents, which was much more cost-effective and safer than being a pirate.

After thinking for a while, Seviara said cautiously: "Brother General, how should we give you the casting technology of cannons?"

Zhang Zhun said slowly: "In a few days, I will send someone to send you and Ferdinand to the cannon casting workshop. There, someone will ask for your assistance. You just need to reflect everything you know into actual research."

Seviara said with some anticipation: "Brother General, I will give you the casting technology of cannons. Should you also tell us about the manufacturing technology of muskets?"

Zhang Zhun said indifferently: "I save you because I want your cannon casting technology. This is equivalent exchange. If you want our musket technology, what do you use to exchange?"

Seviara thought about it and felt that she could not bring out anything decent. Now she has nothing to do because of her escape. All the wealth she robbed in the past was snatched back by the Dutch. Apart from the injured warship in front of her, they really had nothing.

Zhang Zhun said lightly: "When you have thought about it, come and find me again."

Seviara had no choice but to nod helplessly.

It turned out that Seviara had a bit of contempt for the Ming Kingdom. In her sense, everyone in the Ming Kingdom was a group of uncivilized people. They were noble and arrogant, greedy and vulgar. Their eyes were always staring at Jin Cancan's wealth. They didn't know how big the world was. They thought that the Ming Kingdom was the whole world, and all other countries and regions were people outside the world. However, Zhang Zhun's appearance seriously subverted his imagination.

She really couldn't have imagined that in Ming Dynasty, there were people like Zhang Zhun. Zhang Zhun not only knew many things around the world, had rich knowledge, but also had very powerful muskets. What the British valued most was Zhang Zhun's force. Because they needed to use Zhang Zhun's force to escape the Dutch's pursuit.

...

After settling down the British, Zhang Zhun returned to the military camp of the Tiger Ben Army Marines to prepare for the next military operation. General Zhang Zhun General Pi Island was assigned to the Marines as a fully closed training base. Now all the personnel of the Marines have been moved here. Many soldiers are stepping up their expansion of their camps.

In the next year, the Marine Corps will expand from the original five squads to five associations, with a total force of more than 1,500. In other words, the force will be expanded to five times the original. With more personnel, the camp will naturally expand a lot, and all kinds of equipment and facilities will be greatly increased.

Compared with the army, the Marine Corps has more combat skills and survival skills. Therefore, the pace of expanding the army is much slower than the pace of the army. All the soldiers of the Marine Corps are old soldiers drawn from other troops, without any new recruits, which is also one of the biggest characteristics of the Marine Corps.

Under Zhang Zhun's order, the next day, on the fourth day of the March, the Hu Ben Navy occupied the nearby Sinmi Island. There was a small number of Korean residents on Sinmi Island, which was the inherent territory of the Korean Kingdom. However, when the Tartars arrived, they were forced to move back to the mainland, and as a result, this place became an unmanned land. The area of ​​Sinmi Island was larger than that of Phi Island, with an area of ​​more than fifty square kilometers. Other troops of the Hu Ben Army happened to establish a base on Sinmi Island.

After controlling Pi Island and Sinmi Island, the next goal of the Hu Ben Army is naturally the Tie Mountain across the sea. Tie Mountain, as the name suggests, is a mountain with many iron. In fact, the iron ore contained in the Tie Mountain is very considerable in terms of quantity and quality. This is a useful supplement to the Hu Ben Army, which is in urgent need of iron ore.

The primary goal of the Hu Ben Army was to build three-line-shaped bastions on the top of Tieshan. Then, with the three bastions as the core, they expanded their sphere of influence step by step, so as to achieve the purpose of controlling Tieshan and cutting off the road route between the Great Jin and the Kingdom of Korea.

According to Zhang Zhun's plan, on the morning of March 8, the entire Tiger Ben Army Marine Corps would dispatch its entire army, land on Tieshan under the cover of the navy, and establish a cordon. Then a large number of merchant ships would carry civilians, construction tools and materials to the ashore and start building the castle.

"Each troops are ready!"

"The attack began on the morning of March 8th!"

After checking all aspects of combat readiness, Zhang Zhun said decisively.

...

On the eighth day of the third lunar month, the capital, the Forbidden City.

The weather in March of the ninth year of Chongzhen was so dark. The entire capital seemed to be gray and there were few sunlights. The main reason for this situation was the influence of wind and sand. Since the beginning of the year, the wind and sand in the capital have become stronger and stronger, and the Forbidden City is often shrouded in wind and sand.

In Chongzhen's view, the capital this year is darker than ever. Every time Chongzhen went to court, he always heard some unpleasant and difficult-to-solve problems. These problems made him even more bored after retreating from court. A few days ago, when he went to court, Hou Xun wrote a letter to the Ministry of Revenue to report in detail that the situation of the government and army owed wages in various places was very serious. The documents that urged wages for daily wages continued to fly in, as anxious as sparks, but the national treasury was washed and could not cope with it. Chongzhen's own treasury had no money anymore, so he had to temporarily deduct the memorials.

There were several other departments, and the Taoist officials requested the Tartars to burn and loot the broken northern Zhili prefectures, and the counties quickly provided relief, replenished and exiled, so that the remaining people could live in good morning. Because of the rampage of the Tartars, the people in Northern Zhili suffered heavy losses. If they were not immediately relieved, mobs would definitely be produced. However, the military pay was not yet settled, so how could the relief funds start?

As a result, before Si, Chongzhen announced his retreat with a heavy heart. A group of ministers could not come up with a better way, so he had to retreat in a bad mood. After Chongzhen returned to the Ganqing Palace, he was still at a loss after thinking about it. A clever wife couldn't cook without rice. He could not do anything except sighing.

Because I was going to Nangong to burn incense today, Chongzhen had been vegetarian and fasting for three days. Now when he came back from court, he sighed helplessly, and while sending the orders to the Queen Hotan and Concubine Yuan to Ganqing Palace, he bathed all over again to show his piety. As soon as the concubines arrived, he took them out of Donghua Gate on a chariot. Except for the eunuchs in charge of the Sili Supervisor Wang Chengen and a large group of eunuchs and palace maids, there was no ceremonial guard, so as to prevent the ministers outside from knowing as much as possible.

"Hurry up!"

However, at this moment, the eunuch in the Wenshu room sent a 100,000-strong document to the office of the eunuch in the Zhengxin Hall of the eunuch in the seal and the eunuch in the court. The eunuch in the seal and the eunuch in the seal was not there, and several eunuchs in the Bingbi read the document, and they were all overjoyed and excited. Wang Dehua ranked first among the eunuchs in the rotating Bingbi, so he took the urgent document and chased out of Donghua Gate with the urgent document.

In recent years, Chongzhen has changed a lot. In the first few years after he ascended the throne, although the country had civil strife and external troubles, the overall situation had not yet been corrupted. He had a strong confidence and strong spirit in his hope of becoming a generation of "Zhongxing heroes". At that time, although he was also cautious about solar eclipse, star transformation, strange wind, Huo Yu and other abnormal phenomena in nature, he was not as scared as he had in recent years.

Five or six years ago, a court official sent a memorial to the government due to drought and flood, criticized the government affairs, and his words were too intense. Chongzhen was very annoyed and directly scolded him when he went to court, saying, "Yao had a flood for nine years and Tang had a drought for seven years. I don't know how evil Yao and Tang had a violation!"

However, in recent years, he has considered any abnormal natural phenomenon to be a disaster of the five elements, which is the warning given to him by God and the ominous sign of the country. He was frightened and wandered in a daze. At the beginning of his ascension, he was not very superstitious about Buddhism and Taoism. Instead, he was influenced by Xu Guangqi, the Minister of Rites at that time, and was somewhat similar to Catholicism. In the past two or three years, he has become increasingly superstitious about Buddhism, Taoism, ghosts, and gods.

On the fifth day of the second month, when the Tartars were still tangling with the Hu Ben Army in the southern part of the capital, an earthquake occurred in Beijing. Earthquakes were a common natural phenomenon. There were many earthquakes in the Ming Dynasty in Beijing, which was not surprising. The Yongle period was the heyday of the Ming Dynasty's national strength. In just 18 years, Nanjing shook six times and Beijing shook twice, and the five earthquakes in Nanjing were all before Emperor Yongle moved the capital.

Helplessly, since the Western Han Dynasty, Confucianism represented by Dong Zhongshu has linked earthquakes with human affairs, and this superstitious thought has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and the hearts of Chongzhen. Especially what has happened in recent years has made Chongzhen very sensitive to everything around him. No matter what happened, he felt it was related to him. This earthquake also made Chongzhen feel great ideological pressure.

Chongzhen believed that Beijing was the capital of the Ming Empire, and at the feet of the emperor, there had been two major earthquakes since he ascended to the extreme. Doesn’t it mean that his country was unstable? The eunuch in charge of the Sili Supervisor often reported the astrological signs and cloud variations observed by the eunuch of Lingtai were mostly unlucky. This increased his sorrow. Although he verbally said that he was the "Zhongxing Master", he gradually understood in his heart that there was no hope of "Zhongxing" and that there was often a premonition that the country might be destroyed.

The Tartars' rampant actions in Northern Zhili have never been effectively controlled. No one knows when the Tartars will leave and when they will be willing to leave. Sun Chengzong was killed, Gao Qiqian was defeated by the Tartars, and countless counties and people were killed by the Tartars. A minister reported that the Northern Zhili had turned into a white land, which made him feel very sad.

The matter of the canal transport also made Chongzhen very depressed. Yang Yipeng, the governor of the canal transport, reported that it had been three months since the canal transport was cut off by the Tartars. The taxes and grain in Jiangnan could not be transported to the capital in time, resulting in short supply of materials in the capital, soaring prices and panic. Yang Yipeng reported that it was a steamed bun in the capital, which had risen to five cents. Before the canal transport was cut off, at least two steamed buns could be bought for one cent.

The shortage of materials and soaring prices have caused great survival pressure to the people in the capital and refugees who have escaped from all sides. Not many people feel that they cannot continue to survive in the capital. People with courage escaped from Beijing overnight. In order to alleviate the pressure on food, the five cities' military personnel and the three camps of the capital have all taken measures to release the people who fled from Beijing. However, if people outside want to come in, they will definitely not do it.

Behind the soaring prices, all kinds of incredible things happened. The darkness and ugliness of human nature were exposed to the fullest in the face of hunger. Even Shuntian Mansion received a report that a group of refugees killed more than 20 people in order to fight for a steamed bun. It was really a bloody incident caused by a steamed bun. The corpses that died inexplicably suddenly became popular. Even the buried corpses were dug out. As for how they were dealt with, no one dared to ask about it.

Because of the rampage of the Tartars, Hong Chengchou and Yang Sichang's army were unable to return to Henan, Shaanxi and other places for a long time, resulting in the bandits in Shaanxi being gathered again. The bandits such as Li Zicheng, who had greatly reduced the pressure, entered Henan from Shaanxi, seeking greater development. King Fu, who was far away in Luoyang, came to report every few days, saying that Henan's troops were empty. If the bandits came again, the Henan prefectures would be afraid that they would not be able to resist. King Fu's memorials made Chongzhen very conflicted.

In terms of seniority, the Fu King of Luoyang was Chongzhen's uncle. Chongzhen has always claimed to be pure filial piety. Of course, he could not ignore his uncle. However, the Tartars were in northern Zhili, and there seemed to be no sign of retreat. Under such circumstances, it would be unrealistic to let Hong Chengchou and Yang Sichang go south. There was no way, so Chongzhen had to drag it for the time being.

"Go away!"

"Go away!"

"Go away!"

When it was late at night, Chongzhen was almost praying to God.

He hoped to get God's favor and let the Tartars retreat quickly. Apart from God's blessing, Chongzhen did not think of any other way. Yang Sichang's commander had no money or food, and he was powerless to launch an attack on the Tartars. Gao Qiqian and Wang Kun were not good at it. Alas, Chongzhen really didn't know what to do.

The more Chongzhen felt that it was difficult to rely on the hard work of personnel, the more he wanted to rely on the gods to bless the country's destiny. This spring, he concealed the court officials and ordered the monk Taoist to secretly select dozens of Buddhists. The famous masters of Taoism and Taoism were held in Nangong. He also secretly sent an order to summon Zhang Zhenren from Longhu Mountain, Jiangxi to Beijing to hold a ceremony, but because the journey was long, he had not arrived yet. Since mid-February, he often took a break from his busy schedule and took Zhou Hou Hotan and Yuan to the Nangong to burn incense and pray.

But how can such a thing be hidden from the ministers? Some censors inevitably sent memorials to advise him not to believe in monks and Taoism, and do such useless things. He was very painful in his heart. Sometimes he thought that since he was a wise monarch, he should not believe in monks, Taoism, ghosts, and gods, which made future generations discuss. But he also thought that national affairs would be unsuccessful and irresponsible. Unless God sees mercy, there is any way to make the country safe? Once he said to himself: "Oh, build a ritual, build a ritual! How can these censors know my painstaking efforts! I am not a foolish lord, but I have no choice but to ask God for his mission for the people!"

Later, another censor wrote a memorial, which was very straightforward, saying that Nangong was close to Taimiao, and the sound of bells, drums, cymbals and cymbals made the ancestors uneasy. How could the ancestors pray for blessings and disasters? Chongzhen was not angry and raised his red pen and criticized: "I wish the Buddha, heaven, ancestors knew about it, but not people knew about it." After a night, when the memorial was about to be issued from the palace, he looked at the imperial criticism again, and consciously said indecent and inelegant words, which were not like the emperor's words, so he scribbled and changed the word "Liu Zhong" and stopped sending it out.

After March, Chongzhen was busy and never went to Nangong to burn incense again. A few days ago, he received a joint memorial from the governor of Shanxi and the governor of the government, saying that there was a rainy day in a certain place in Shanxi, and an earthquake occurred in a certain place, and many houses collapsed and many people and animals were crushed to death. He was very shocked and felt more and more wrong in his heart. He wrote this sentence: "The solar eclipse on New Year's Day the previous year, and this year the earthquake in the capital and Shanxi was terrible. The disaster was like this, which was really terrible."

Before he knew it, Chongzhen suddenly thought of a solar eclipse and an earthquake during the Western Han Dynasty. The ministers said that this was an unusual disaster, but it was indeed the Western Han Dynasty soon died. What's more, not only solar eclipse, earthquake, and the sky was bleeding! Thinking of this, thinking about the current situation, he felt cold sweat. Based on the imperial calendar, he chose a day and time suitable for fasting and praying for frivolity, and went to Nancheng to burn incense. After a good day, he ordered the Sili Supervisor to prepare the Qing Ci text for him, and sent a message to the monks in Nancheng in advance, and the Taoists knew about it.

Today is the eighth day of the March, which is the auspicious day chosen by Chongzhen. In the past three months, Beijing has been windy and sandy. Today is a rare weather, sunny and a slight south wind is refreshing. On the river bank, a long row of green willows reflect the water, and soft silk sways. Two yellow penis pass through the willow branches, making gentle and gentle calls. At the turn of the moat, there is a rockery made of Taihu stones, surrounded by locust willows on all sides, and the shade is lush. A few blooming pomegranate flowers lie on the Taihu stones, particularly bright red.

In the morning, Chongzhen and Empress Zhou, Concubine Tian and Concubine Yuan took a small chariot, passed through the west road of Wenhua Hall, left the Donghua Gate, and walked south along the bluestone imperial road east of the moat. From here, there was a stone road sandwiched by pine and cypress leading to the back corner gate of the Taimiao; to the south, not far away, there was a high red wall covered with yellow glazed tiles, revealing the towering palace and tall ancient pine trees from the red wall, and the sound of bells, cypresses and Buddhist chants came out.

The water in the moat was clear and clear. The golden sun shone on the microwave. Three or four white clouds rippled under the water. Chongzhen had not left the Forbidden City for many days. At this time, he couldn't help feeling happy and a smile appeared in his eyes. It seemed that all kinds of distress had temporarily left his heart.

The Sancheng Chariot continued to travel south, and after a while, he came to the outside of the main gate of Nangong. Most of the Nangong were buildings from the Yingzong era. For 170 years, it was constantly repaired, painted, and added, which was very beautiful. There were many tall white pine trees outside the Nangong gate, covering the sky and the sun. The Sancheng Chariot stopped on the white marble corridor among the white pine trees. A group of monks, Taoists and eunuchs knelt on the side of the road.

Chongzhen took the queen and two concubines to slowly walk up the dragon jade steps, enter the palace gate, linger under a pine tree for a while, and then walk into the Nanfeng Gate. There are many flowers and trees here, and there are three treasure halls side by side: the Longde Hall in the middle, the Chongren Hall on the left, and the Guangzhi Hall on the right. They rested in the Longde Hall, received worship from monks and Taoists, ate a cup of tea, and then led by the deacon monks, Taoists and eunuchs, and walked inward.

At this moment, Wang De transformed into a saccharin gauze sticker without a patch, wearing a cigarette pole hat woven with a ponytail, and a pearl, holding a blue silk-spreading fan for sun protection in his right hand, and hurriedly came from the Forbidden City with a confidential document that had been urgently placed on his left hand. According to the regulations, he had to report to the eunuch Wang Chengen, the eunuch who was in charge of the seal, before he dared to report to the emperor.

However, Wang Chengen was leading the emperor and the empresses inside, and he didn't notice Wang Dehua's arrival at all. Seeing that Wang Chengen was busy, Wang Dehua didn't dare to rush to speak rashly. He was very anxious, and beads of sweat as big as beans appeared on his temples, so he had to wander next to Longde Hall, watching the emperor's expression leisurely pass through the Feihong Archway, and slowly step onto the Feihong Bridge.

Chongzhen rarely had a little leisurely today. He stood on the bow-shaped Feihong Bridge and admired the exquisite carvings on the white jade railings and railings, and pointed to the lifelike aquatic animals for the queen to admire. After a while, he led his concubines down the bridge, passed through the Daiao Archway, looked at the skylight and Yunying Pavilion on the left and right, and climbed a beautiful rockery with exquisite piles of towers.

There is a round hall on the mountain called Qianyun Hall, with Lingyun Pavilion to the east and Yufeng Pavilion to the west. He lingered on the mountain for a while, thinking that the round hall and pavilions on the mountain were built after the restoration of the Yingzong. Although there were troubles of Yesen at that time, after the changes of civil and industrial circles, the roots of the country were still strong and were not as swaying as they are now. Thinking of this, Chongzhen couldn't help but feel full of guns and had no intention of looking at the scenery anymore, and even the Qianyun Hall was too lazy to enter.

He and his concubines walked around Qianyun Hall, went down Xiuli Mountain, and came to Jiali Gate. All monks and Taoist officials and Master Mingde knelt on both sides of the corridor. Chongzhen and his concubines walked through them, walked into Jiali Gate, stepped on the white jade carved dragon steps, and burst into the Yongming Hall to sit down. The monks bowed and folded their hands together. From the left of Yongming Hall, the Taoist priests walked from the right to the place where the ceremony was held, and they did not dare to make any footsteps. After a while, the sound of bells, drums, drums, wooden fish, cloud boards, bronze flutes, etc. came from behind Yongming Hall, and the sound of monks and Taoists, forming a solemn and solemn musical ensemble.

Wang Chengen walked up to Chongzhen and bowed and said, "Emperor, the ceremony has begun."

Chongzhen did not make a sound, and immediately stood up from the dragon throne and walked out with a pious mood. Zhou Hou, the two concubines, palace maids and eunuchs followed him quietly. Behind Yongming Palace was a small courtyard with white marble paving the ground, with more than a dozen embracing pine trees and green cypresses, with twisted branches across the sky. Among them, there was an ancient pine tree wrapped around the sky, and bright red flowers were dotted among the green pine leaves. A tall white silk shed was set in the middle of the yard, with flags floating; a lotus throne was placed on the throne with sandalwood carved statue of Sakyamuni Buddha. A yellow satin banner was hung outside the shed, with the title: "Imperial to build a Dharma Assembly to eliminate disasters, eliminate enemies, protect the country, protect the people, and save all living beings."

The concubines stayed outside the sutra shed. Emperor Chongzhen first entered the sutra shed, burned incense in front of Sakyamuni, bowed four times, knelt on the yellow satin mat and prayed silently, begging the Buddha to show great mercy, help him eliminate the "thieves" everywhere, punish Jianlu, and stop precipitation, drought, locusts, and plagues, and bless his country's prosperity.

When the silent prayer ended, Chongzhen felt that it was not enough, so he specially prayed a few more words, asking the Buddha to influence Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Zhang Zhun and others to refresh themselves and surrender to the truth. He prayed for the Buddha's blessing and let the Tatars in Northern Zhili leave quickly. He asked God for sincerity and was in evading the disaster. Although he did not speak, he could not help but choke his throat and burst into tears. After the prayer, he stood up and retreated aside, watching the queen and concubines come in to worship the Buddha one by one.

When Chongzhen knelt down in front of the Buddha and prayed devoutly, Wang Chengen stayed outside the sutra shed and stood up to serve. A eunuch came to him and leaned close to his ear and whispered: "Sect Master, Wang Bingbi has something to do."

Wang Chengen turned his head and saw Wang Dehua standing behind Yongming Palace with joy on his face, and his heart moved slightly. Could it be that at this time, some good news came? This is a great thing! What Chongzhen needs most now is good things. He winked his eyes and stopped Wang Dehua from coming to the front of the sutra shed. He quickly walked over on tiptoe and asked whisper: "What good news?"

Wang Dehua gave a bow with a smile, took out the document from his sleeve and handed it to him, and whispered: "Liaodong Gao Qiqian sent it, a great victory! Beheading one thousand levels!"

Wang Chengen took the memorial and glanced it over briefly, confirming that it was really good news. He felt a little relieved. He was about to turn to report to Chongzhen, but found that Chongzhen was no longer in the main hall. He hurriedly asked about the situation and then chased after him. Wang Dehua thought he could get Wang Chengen's praise, but unexpectedly, Wang Chengen said nothing, so he had to go there in a bad mood.

Chongzhen didn't know the good news yet. He went north from the courtyard where the Buddhist Dharma Assembly was built, bypassed the rockery, passed through the small white jade bridge with carved railings, and another round hall. The plaque of golden dragons was written with the words "Huanbi". Surrounded by green water, flowers and trees, several green pines, and thousands of green bamboos. This is the last and most quiet place of the Nangong. A few feet north is the red palace wall covered with yellow tiles.

The Taoist altar is located in Huanbi Hall, called "The Three Pure Land, the Three Pure Land, the Demons, the Demons, the Erassay Altar, the Erqi Temple." Chongzhen walked into Huanbi Hall, bowed to the Jade Emperor, burned the Qing Ci, prayed silently for a while, and then withdrew. The queen and two concubines burned incense in turn. They went to Yongming Hall to rest, had snacks, and announced that they would go back to the Forbidden City. Wang Chengen hurriedly seized the opportunity and came to Chongzhen's side.

"Big partner, what's the matter?"

When Chongzhen saw Wang Chengen walking towards him in a hurry, he seemed to have good news. He moved his heart slightly and asked hurriedly. Wang Chengen's guess was not wrong at all. What Chongzhen needs most now is good news.

"It's Gao Qiqian's memorial and a great victory."

Wang Chengen hurriedly said loudly.

Since it is a good thing, of course we must yell at our best so that everyone can know.

"What? A great victory? Are you sure?"

Sure enough, Chongzhen was in a state of excitement and asked repeatedly.

He had never expected that he had just prayed to the Buddha that the Buddha would appear so soon. It seemed that he was still blessed by God, still has the national destiny, and he could still be the leader of the rejuvenation.

"Read it!"

"Read it!"

"Read it!"

Chongzhen did not care about the emperor's reserve and shouted repeatedly.
To be continued...