Chapter 727: The sound of the White Tower Cannon moves nine doors (2)
Almost at the same time as the nine gates fired cannons and raised flags, a gray smoke column rose from the direction of Chongwen Gate. It was like someone was constantly adding firewood and pouring oil. After a while, it turned into black smoke and was blown by the wind.
As soon as it blew, it quickly covered the southern sky, like a layer of black veil.
A servant guarding the gate shouted in surprise: "There's a fire! It seems to be outside Chongwen Gate!"
At this time, pedestrians on the street also pointed to the east and shouted loudly: "Look! There's a fire in the east too!" Everyone at the gate of the palace heard the sound and took a look, but no, a thick smoke also rose outside Qihua Gate.
If the huge fire outside the city was just a surprise, the fierce gunshots coming from the south immediately shocked everyone in front of the palace. This is the capital, the center of the world! What happened?
What happened? Could it be that the damned North Sea pirates are attacking Tianjin again?
Time goes back half an hour.
Under the Baita Mountain fort located in Qiongdao, Amurta, the chief of communications and artillery, was drinking tea leisurely in the house. The arrival of several uninvited guests suddenly ruined his good mood for the day. The visitors were five officers wearing yellow jackets.
The guards were all big and thick-waisted, armed with sabers, and had sharp eyes. Before the announcement was made, the leader shouted in a loud voice: "Where is Amurta? Come out to receive the order!"
In the official room, Amurta didn't take a mouthful of hot tea and squirted it out. You should know that no one came to deliver the order in his place. It would be no big deal if he came. He didn't bother to wipe the tea on his chest and ran away in a hurry.
Go outside the house, kneel down in the tunnel and say: "Slave Amurta accepts the order!"
"I'm sending you an edict that the pirates from the North Sea are attacking the capital in large numbers. Thousands of troops in the vanguard are besieging Miyun County. Fire artillery warning from the Baita Mountain fort and the nine gates are under martial law!"
After the leading guard finished reading, he first handed over the edict in his hand, and then took out a gold medal from his arms and said: "This is the gold medal, please inspect it."
Amurta first took the edict with his hands raised high, and then took the gold medal. On the front were engraved from top to bottom the four characters "In order to fire the cannon". He calmed down, then raised his hands and said: "Please wait a moment.
Where the regulations are, I must verify them before firing."
The leading guard nodded and said, "Your Excellency, you can call the gunnery officer on duty to inspect together to avoid delays."
"As it should be!"
Amurta stood up in a hurry, asked his men to go to the fort to call for help, and then returned to the official room to wait. Several guards also came in. After a while, the officer on duty ran out panting, and was about to salute after entering the room.
, then I heard the guard who had delivered the order say: "The military situation is urgent! No need for false courtesy!"
The leader failed to flatter him, so he had to stand at the bottom. When Amurta saw someone coming, he took off the brass key tied with a red rope from his waist, and tremblingly opened a boxwood box on the table.
, took out a booklet, quickly flipped through a few pages, and then began to check it with the token in his hand.
He first checked that the imperial edict, the paper, the text, and the seal of the "Emperor's Treasure" were all correct; but when he checked the gold medal, he couldn't help but look stunned, and there was a trace of doubt in his eyebrows. He was silent for a moment, then looked up
The guard who rushed to convey the order cupped his hands and said: "Your Excellency is very anxious to have a baby. May I ask your name?"
"My name is Ushba, and I am now the second-class imperial guard. What do you mean by this? Have you finished the verification? You can give the order to fire. We have to go back and deliver the report later."
"I can't fire this cannon!"
"You dare to resist the order?!"
"As the Chief of Information and Artillery appointed by the Emperor, how can I resist the order? In fact, this gold..."
Before Amurta finished speaking, Ushba suddenly rushed forward, raised his hand and punched the opponent in the face. Although Amurta was a martial artist, he had not practiced the bow mabuku for many years, so he was caught off guard and was He fell to the ground, stars were appearing in front of his eyes, the world was spinning, and even the official hat on his head fell off.
Ushba took out his sword from his waist, pointed at Amurta on the ground and shouted angrily: "What's the point of delaying this? It's obvious that you are colluding with the pirates! The emperor has an order before you come, and those who resist the order and don't obey it will be punished. Kill with the ground!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he grabbed the opponent's braid, forced him to raise his head, and then used the sharp blade to cut the carotid artery hard. The blood in Amurta's neck was shot straight like a sharp arrow. It shot out and splashed onto the wall a few meters away; while he himself groaned, rolled on the ground a few times, his legs twitched, and his whole body trembled violently. After just a moment, he kicked his feet and stopped. Moved.
With a ferocious look on his face, Ushba turned around and pointed the bloody Yan Fei Dao at the stunned counselor leader and said, "Do you dare to resist the order?!"
The already frightened Shenling's legs went weak, he knelt on the ground, his upper and lower teeth chattered and said: "I, I, your official, I don't dare."
"This is where the gold medal holy decree comes from. Let's fire off the cannon immediately! If you delay a big event, you will end up like this!"
"Come here, go, go, go."
Ushba nodded and said: "You know what's going on, lead the way! If you dare to have different ideas, be careful!"
As the counselor walked, he kept turning around and said, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. My ancestors followed the dragon outside the pass, followed Emperor Taizong to conquer east and west, and followed Lord Shizu in." close."
Ushba sneered and said: "How many of the pirates in the North are full of rebellious people?! None of the people outside the customs are good!"
The counselor hurriedly said: "Xiaguan is different. The whole family is in the capital. I dare to swear to God that I will be loyal to the court and the emperor!"
Several people climbed up the steps and soon arrived at the foot of the Beihai White Pagoda. Ushba and a few of his men had never been here before, and saw that there were granite towers more than half a foot high on the north, east, and west sides of the tower. There are two forts on the south-facing side; five black straight-cylinder iron cannons are mounted on them, no more than one foot eight inches long. There are five bare flagpoles standing in the four directions of the fort and near the middle.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! This is the famous Baitashan Xin Fort!
It is said that when the Manchu Qing Dynasty first entered the customs and occupied Beijing, because they knew that their foundation was unstable, in order to ensure the security of the capital, they were afraid that if there was a police force, they would not be able to gather the crowd, so they imitated the Shengjing system of beating drums to gather the crowd, and set up on Meishan Mountain. Signal cannons for military alarm were provided so that the Eight Banners stationed in Beijing could quickly gather to defend against the enemy.
Later, in the 10th year of Shunzhi, at the request of Gadahun, Minister of the Ministry of War, Prince Zheng Jierhalang seconded the proposal to move the fort to the top of Baita Mountain in Qiongdao, Beihai. At the same time, five signal cannons and five flagpoles were set up at the nine gates in the inner city. If something happens, the yellow dragon flag will be hung during the day and the lantern will be hung at night.
The garrison of Baitashan Xin Fortress is composed of the left and right wings of the Eight Banners Han Army. According to the requirements of two shifts every day, there are 2 signal artillery officers at the rank of staff, 2 leaders and 16 knights to guard and guard. As for the letters on the nine gates of the inner city, The artillery was manned by the infantry commander's office.
In the early years of Yongzheng's reign, in order to secure the throne and prevent the danger of a coup within the Eight Banners, Longkodo, then the governor of the Nine Gates, codified the early warning system and made it a law; at the same time, in order to keep it confidential, all contents were written in full Written in Chinese. This can be regarded as the most complete urban early warning and citizen mobilization system in classical China.
Although there were basically no wars in the Gyeongsang region in the early Manchu and Qing dynasties, and there were few opportunities for cannons to play a role, the three generations of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong attached great importance to the management of cannons. For example, in the eighth year of Qianlong's reign, some eunuchs in the palace spread gossip. It was said that someone had taken something from the Xin Fort. As a result, the day after the incident, Qianlong severely punished the two eunuchs for leaking Eight Banners military secrets.
However, no matter how complete the early warning system is, it is based on the strong combat effectiveness of the army. The Eight Banners' combat effectiveness comes from the "banner people", a group of soldiers and civilians; once this group becomes corrupted, the information and artillery system can only become A big firecracker with light and sound.
In October of the 54th year of Qianlong's reign, after the Battle of Changxing Island, the Northern Navy's troops came to Dagukou, causing everyone in the Qing court to panic, thinking that Zhao Xin was going to attack the capital. Qianlong ordered the Baita Mountain signal cannon to be fired in preparation for the attack. He was a member of the Eight Banners mobilization team, but the result almost made him angry to death.
At that time, all the five cannons in Baita Mountain were fired, and the Yellow Dragon Flag was raised, but the nine forts showed no response. There was still a huge crowd of people and vehicles under the city gate. The banner men in the teahouse should be drinking tea and listening to the opera. Listen to the show. As for the princes and belles at home, they were all startled after the cannons were fired. Then they sent people to Shuntian Mansion to ask for an explanation. They must catch the stuffed guy...
Fortunately, Zhao Xin had no intention of attacking the capital at that time, and he was not even interested in Tianjin. When the Northern Navy left Dagokou with the signed and sealed agreement and the first batch of refugees, Qianlong got up from the hospital bed and became more and more angry. So he issued an edict, summoning all banner commanders, deputy commanders, and the king's ministers into the palace, scolding them and punishing them all with a year's salary. After that, he sent Heshen, Zongrenfu, and Mian En, who was still the king of Dingjun, and others formed a group to inspect the forts on Baita Mountain and the city gate, and even performed an unprecedented performance.
In the escape plan discussed by Heshen and Ma Baishan, the two of them had the idea of trusting the gun from the very beginning. You must know that the whole He family, plus their henchmen and minions, if they are not ordinary servants and slaves, they will be two or three. Hundreds of people. It is simply impossible for so many people to leave the capital at the same time without being noticed; the only way is to time the difference. Even if they find something wrong, the people will have already run away and they will be unable to catch up.
And our Lord He, as the Chief Military Minister and the Minister of Internal Security, the Minister of the Ministry of War, and the Admiral of the Nine Gates, is very familiar with the operating procedures of the Baitashan fort.
So he took advantage of Qianlong's stroke, first controlled the palace ban and the news in and out, and then obtained the jade seal. He could pass the forged edict, and then let his minions go to Baidu with the gold medal that was forged in advance and "fired according to the order".
Tashan ordered to fire cannons as a warning.
Immediately afterwards, he ordered Prince Yi and Prince Ding to enter the garden, detained them, and obtained the military talisman of the nine admirals. The commander of the infantry in the city could only listen to him. Now all the fools in the capital know that He Zhongtang
With the emperor at his back and overwhelming power, who dares to disobey his orders if he thinks he has a long life?!
The counselor took the previous edict and gold medal from Ushba's hand, raised his hands high, and shouted loudly to the eight defenders kneeling in front of him: "The emperor has an edict. The pirates from the North Sea have invaded the capital. Please call immediately."
Gun warning!"
"Long live my emperor! Long live!"
At the same moment, in the backyard of a silk flower shop on the east side of the Fire Temple outside Chongwen Gate, seven or eight men with their faces covered with cloths, their heads wrapped, and dressed in shorts were being killed by them.
The shopkeeper and his wife carried them into the side room; it was filled with tung grass and silk silk used to make silk flowers. Then these people poured the tung oil, gunpowder and other materials prepared in leather bags in various places in the house, and when they were almost ready
, these people gathered in the courtyard again, took out the revolvers made in Beihai Town from their back waists, and began to load them.
The masked man at the head lowered his voice and said to his subordinates: "Be careful for a while! Don't hit one of your own!"
"Don't worry, Boss Ma. It's not like our brothers have never fired this gun before."
"If you ask me, it's no wonder that the imperial court can't defeat the Northern Pirates. Look at this quick rifle. It's much more powerful than a shotgun carried by two people! It's just that the gun is a bit short."
"The fire will spread in a while, and there will be a big fire next to the Fire Temple, hehe~~"
The masked man known as Ma Boss cursed in a low voice: "Stop fucking talking nonsense! I'll say it again, after the shooting is finished, we will leave the city from Guangqumen! The boat at Zhangjiawan is not waiting for anyone, until the time
Just leave!"
At this time, a guy with a thin voice, perhaps out of nervousness, asked: "Boss Ma, how far is Yunnan from Beijing?"
Boss Ma thought for a while and said, "I'm afraid I won't be able to stop it for three thousand miles."
He curled his lips in a thin voice - he covered his face so that no one could see him, and said: "It's his grandma's! I don't know when I can come back after this is done!"
Boss Ma ignored him and urged his men to quickly load bullets and primers for the revolvers while listening to the noise outside. In the afternoon, the flower market street was full of people, and shops selling silk flowers and paper flowers were bustling with people.
.
Suddenly, these people heard the sound of a "boom" from a cannon in the distance to the north. After a while, there was another sound. Boss Ma's eyes immediately widened and he counted the cannons carefully. When the fifth cannon sounded,
He immediately ordered: "Do it!"
When various rooms were set on fire, several masked men quickly came to the closed door of the courtyard. They had already taken off the cloth towels on their faces and heads, then opened the door, and filed out with nonchalant expressions, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Arriving in the midst of a flurry of people.
Soon, a shrill voice sounded in the street: "It's not good! The pirates from the North Sea have entered the city! Li San's family has been killed! Everyone, run to the inner city!"
Immediately afterwards, three explosions of "bang bang bang" were heard, and then more gunshots rang out on the flower market street. The crowd immediately became chaotic, and hundreds of people rushed towards the direction of Chongwen Gate. Children's
There were cries and women's shouts, and there were fallen items everywhere on the ground.
At this moment, no one noticed that a raging fire was burning in the backyard of the silk flower shop, with tongues of flames and thick smoke rolling upwards along the eaves. There was only a "boom" sound, and as a fireball rose up, countless ignited
Broken silk fabrics and grass were blown into the air by the scorching air waves, and then fell into the yards of the two houses on the left and right. The fire quickly spread to the left and right sides of Shangertiao Hutong.
However, when the fleeing crowd came to the Chongwenmen Urn, they were shocked to find that the heavy city gate was slowly closing. So they ran forward desperately, trying to get into the gap before others, and soon the city gate was closed.
It became overcrowded. However, the more they became like this, the more frightened the defenders who were closing the city gate became.
"Go back! Go back! Damn it!"
"Come here and help close the door! If you don't come over, the city gate will be knocked open!"
"Master! Come on, okay, the pirates from the North Sea are coming outside the city, let's go in and take shelter!"
"You bastard! Send them all back!"
"Changshun, please let me in, I am your second uncle!"
"Hey! Second uncle, why are you here? Come in quickly!"
"Mr. Qi, I'm Liu San. We were listening to a show together the first few days! Please be kind and let me go!"
"Rolling ball! I don't know anyone!"
The gatekeeper of Chongwen City Gate stood at the crenellation of the city wall. When he saw more and more people below, he panicked like an ant on a hot pot. Just when he didn't know what to do, he saw a large group of infantry commanding the Yamen.
The officers and soldiers ran along the city wall from the direction of the front gate. A deputy commander in the lead said sternly: "Why hasn't the city gate been closed yet?! You've delayed a major event and are waiting to lose your head!"
He ignored the gatekeeper who came over to salute, turned around and led the next member of his team: "You! Take fifty people down. Anyone who dares to squeeze in the door will be stabbed with a gun!"
Not long after, exclamations and screams rang out from outside Chongwen Gate, and people kept falling in a pool of blood. As the crowd retreated in panic, the heavy gate was finally closed tightly, leaving countless people crying in the urn city.
Just as the officers and soldiers of the infantry commander's office took control of the city gates and walls, dull conch trumpets sounded throughout the city, and the general mobilization of the Eight Banners in the inner city began.