For Tang Peiyu, the situation took a turn for the worse.
The sound of cannons coming from Yangmei Mountain subverted Tang Peiyu's cognition.
That's not flat land, that's a mountain!
At present, Gu Shilong's men have not actually attacked the city. The Changsha defenders still have a certain amount of room for movement within three to five miles outside the city wall, so they have been constantly scouting.
Tang Peiyu can be sure that the people on the Yangmei Mountain side were not there yesterday.
Regardless of whether it was Shenji Camp selecting forwards or Gu Shilong leading a powerful force southward, even if they were not really exhausted like the Nanchang Guards, how could they hastily transport that bowl of blunderbuss to the mountainside of Yangmei Mountain for use in field battles?
But those thousand elite soldiers had to be rescued.
Tang Peiyu had just led his troops out of the city, and Zhu Jianjun had already arrived at Liuyang Gate.
"Didn't I ask General Tang to guard the city?" He looked to the southwest in surprise, "How many people did General Tang bring out?"
The "loyal minister" of Prince Ji's Mansion, the former Jinyi Colonel of the Yiwei Department looked at the large group of figures rushing to the southeast and squinted his eyes: "I'm afraid it's over two thousand. Looking at the military appearance, there are more than half of them.
They are elite soldiers from the original Changsha Guards.”
"...Two thousand?" Zhu Jianjun's eyes darkened.
First there were a thousand elite soldiers, and now Tang Peiyu has brought more than a thousand elite soldiers from the original Changsha Guard out of the city. So isn't it true that the entire Changsha Guard's nearly 4,000 elite soldiers who were well-trained are only less than half left?
What if this is Gu Shilong's strategy of attacking from the east and attacking from the west? What if at this time, the north, east, and west all attack together?
Zhu Jianjun's guess was not wrong. At this moment, from the foot of Guifeng Mountain, five cavalrymen were rushing north along the Liuyang River at full speed.
They first arrived at the camp to the east of the siege, leaving one person behind, and then four others continued north.
The east-west wall of Changsha City is narrower, while the north-south wall is longer.
Gu Shilong's camp is located in the northeast corner of Changsha City.
There was only about ten miles of land in total. As soon as the news that the soldiers in Changsha City came out from Duanyang Gate reached Wuchang Guards, they set off.
These are all plans agreed upon in advance.
By the time the cannons sounded on Yangmei Mountain, the camp in the east had already received the news and immediately organized the army to prepare to advance.
When Tang Peiyu led his army into the valley between Yangmei Mountain and Fulong Mountain to the south, Gu Shilong also received the news.
It seems that there is no need to wait until the strategy to lure the enemy fails, and then wait until the agreed time to succeed in the plan.
He glanced at the clock and immediately ordered: "Send orders to Xiong Weiyang, and the naval warships allocated to Yuezhou Guards will immediately go up the Xiang River to intercept the escaping thieves from the four west gates of the city. Geng Yongfeng will not need to be wary of Zhan Huabi, and immediately go along the Xiang River.
Go south from the west bank and march towards Xiangtan!"
After saying that, he walked out of the door: "Send my military order, the army is approaching the city and prepare to attack the city!"
It's already August 27th, and in one month's time it will be His Majesty's Longevity Festival.
Gu Shilong's siege but not attack was not for stability, but for the sake of getting the arrangements in place first.
The armies in Huguang had not experienced war for a long time, and he could only truly boost their morale with a beautiful and timely victory.
In this case, whoever loses the first battle will lose the whole game. Even if the imperial army can win in the end, it will no longer be under the command of Gu Shilong, but it will take several months to reorganize the army and increase the number of troops to fight again.
On Yangmei Mountain now, Qu Zhinan, a member of the Qianhu family under Ji Weimin, only whispered: "Hurry, hurry, hurry! Brother Wei, you take your brothers to endure some hardships and try your best to move down. You don't need to be accurate later, let them
If chaos breaks out, I will take the remaining brothers to cover up and kill them!"
The thousand people were supposed to be headed by him, but this Wei Jigui was the one who captured Zhang Heling with Guo Xun.
The new artillery battalion in the Shenji Battalion was trained by Wei Jigui from the beginning.
Wei Jigui is also a member of the Qianhu family.
"Don't worry, Laoqu!" Wei Jigui turned around and greeted, "Be careful where you step, work in groups of three, and take turns lifting!"
For the composition of the Shenji Battalion's selected vanguard, Wei Jigui brought 400 men, while Qu Zhinan had a thousand gunmen under his command. The other 1,600 men were commanded by guerrilla general Ji Weimin, mixed with 200 cavalry and 800 cavalrymen.
Fire soldiers, two hundred chariot soldiers and the remaining two hundred craftsmen.
The new cannon brought by Wei Jigui was obtained after more than two years of testing, from the Portuguese cannon-making methods and other ingenuity from Huangming University.
His Majesty gave it the name "Tiger Crouching Cannon".
This new cannon has a pair of "tiger legs", which can stand firmly on the ground after being put down. It really looks like a tiger squatting on the ground and roaring at its opportunity.
The most important thing is that although the barrel of this squatting tiger gun is longer than that of a bowl-mouth gun, the muzzle is not as big as a bowl-mouth gun.
The whole cannon weighs less than 40 kilograms. If two people carry it and rotate it, it can be carried with the army. It can be used in the field with one tiger foot.
However, Huangming University, the War Bureau, and the Ordnance Supervisor have been using the new method requested by His Majesty to test gunpowder formulas, and there is a new word called quantitative loading.
Although Wei Jigui doesn't understand why these things have to be like this, there are now a set of rules for filling, loading and even measuring the distance of the squatting tiger cannon. Although the muzzle is smaller, the range is farther than the bowl-mouth blunderbuss.
Qu Zhinan led more than 700 people to the foot of the mountain. Wei Jigui led the 280 people along the mountainside of Yangmei Mountain closer to Changsha City. There were actually twenty tiger squatting cannons being used.
Carry it and walk slowly down the mountain.
Each artillery crew had five men, and Wei Jigui brought a total of twenty-five cannons. The remaining one hundred and fifty men were the reserve force and the swordsmen who protected the artillery.
The sword players in the Shenji Battalion are also different from the sword players in the local guards. They still have shields, but in addition to the waist sword, the other long-range weapons are short blunderbuss that are being improved by the handle.
There was movement on Yangmei Mountain on the side of the city wall, and Tang Peiyu also discovered this.
But he can't control that much.
The thousand elite soldiers from before are fighting and retreating, and they must be reunited first.
With five bowl-mouth guns, the firing interval is not short. As long as you take advantage of the gap to get out of the bombardment range, you will only have to face the elite soldiers of the Shenji Battalion who are forcing themselves down the mountain.
For the thousands of elite soldiers who had left the city earlier, the sudden shelling of Wankou Gun, the sudden appearance of the Shenji Battalion's banner, and the sudden noise and getting closer and closer from Guifeng Mountain all showed that this place was not
A place to stay for a long time.
The sound of drums and horse hooves coming from the direction of Changsha City also indicated that reinforcements were on the way.
The journey is not far, as long as we don't collapse, we will have hope.
"Steady! Steady! Use the Crab Ao Formation to retreat to the mouth of the valley. Reinforcements will arrive in an instant!"
The messengers used flags to command the remaining 800 people, and more than 100 of them had been slightly injured.
Ji Weimin was not in a hurry, and still just slowly pushed down the hillside.
Those five vehicles had all been scrapped. When passing by the rebels, there were dedicated personnel to cut off the owl's head and ears.
And in the area with a wide view at the back, there are still several people standing there with pens and papers in hand, looking at various places to write notes.
In the eyes of the "elite soldiers" of the Changsha Guards, how this new Shenji Battalion fought was completely different from their understanding, so they were even more frightened.
Seeing that the reinforcements led by Tang Peiyu were about to join the defeated Changsha Guards, Ji Weimin's eyes widened: "Drum beat! Charge!"
Tang Peiyu didn't understand why the Shenji Battalion, which had already raised its flag, suddenly became excited. When the elite vanguard soldiers who had just received the call relaxed a little, the next moment they heard a sound that made them suspect that their ears were broken.
"boom!"
"boom!"
"boom!"
The sound of cannon fire was endless, as if from the mountainside of Yangmei Mountain close to the city wall to the position where Shenji Camp was just now, the forest was full of cannons.
How many cannons are there?
As we all know, under normal circumstances, the number of cannons corresponds to a large proportion of the number of soldiers. How could it be possible to prepare so many cannons without setting up camp for several days to prepare?
Now that the artillery fire is so intensive, how many people are still ambushed on Yangmei Mountain?
"kill!"
Tang Peiyu was frightened when he saw an endless stream of people rushing down Yangmei Mountain on the way.
The frequency of Shenji Battalion's cannon firing also exceeded Tang Peiyu's knowledge.
What he didn't know was that the artillery on the mountain was just firing in the direction of their soldiers.
There is a special gun for accurately charging the gun, and the gun body is also different from the original bowl-mouthed blunderbuss that was cast in one piece. This is a technique learned from the Portuguese guns - there are sub-guns on the gun body, and the gunpowder and projectiles are first loaded on it.
into the sub-cannon, and then load the sub-cannon into the belly of the cannon.
In this way, a gun crew of five people can take turns loading the sub-cannons and firing them.
The projectiles have also been improved. During the Hongzhi period, there were poisonous fire cannons, and now the projectiles that can explode are more powerful.
Seeing the rebels falling to pieces after being hit, Wei Jigui felt that the name "explosive bombs" was very realistic.
"Ten more steps down!"
While the two sub-cannons were being loaded, Wei Jigui ordered the artillery line to be pushed forward.
This is the advantage of the Tiger Crouching Cannon, a new cannon that is very suitable for field battles!
Tang Peiyu was going crazy: Why didn't he blast all the cannons at once with so many cannons?
Of course it was for fishing, Tang Peiyu knew this.
The Changsha Guards have limited strength and cannot afford casualties. If they lose the first battle, their morale will plummet.
But he really didn't expect to run into so many cannons in the wild.
Fortunately, although there are a lot of cannons, their lethality is not necessarily that terrifying.
"The rear army turns to the front army and fights back to the city!"
Tang Peiyu, the person who came to intercept him, had already seen it, and it was less than a thousand.
How tiring is it to walk through the mountains? Tang Peiyu didn't believe that his more than 2,000 men could not disperse these hundreds of people.
Then, before engaging the enemy, he suddenly saw hundreds of people on the opposite side stop first, and then all throw something at them.
Earthquake... thunder?
No...it's a little different.
In the Song Dynasty, firearms such as thunderbolts and fireballs that exploded after being thrown appeared. Two hundred years ago, iron-shelled thunderbolts appeared.
Now, these things being thrown out all have handles, which Tang Peiyu has never seen before.
But he knew it was broken.
Sure enough, the temporarily recruited soldiers who had just become the front army and were originally just the rear army fell down unprepared.
Qu Zhinan was overjoyed: "While he is sick and you want to kill him, if you raise your hand and pretend to throw it, go for it!"
They are a new type of fire gun soldiers, and each of them carries an improved version of the thunderbolt called a "grenade".
After one round of throwing, the enemy was already frightened.
Obviously there were no more grenades, but hundreds of people were groping from their waists and running towards that direction, which only made the Changsha Guards think that there would be a new round of thunderbolts thrown at them, and they were dodging in confusion and acting randomly.
A ball.
At this time, Wei Jigui on the flanking mountainside came closer again. The loaded sub-cannon was stuffed into the belly of the Tiger Crouching Cannon, and a new round of shelling began.
Tang Peiyu, with a face ashen as dust, looked at Shenji Camp to the east and west, Yangmei Mountain to the north, and finally Changsha City to the northwest.
It was hopeless, the Shenji Battalion was using very new things, and his subordinates were caught off guard and collapsed at the first touch.
"Retreat to Funiu Mountain! Quick, retreat to Funiu Mountain!"
As this order came out, the potential for defeat became apparent.
But for Tang Peiyu, this is the best choice: after defeating this group, even if he escapes back to Changsha City, he will be surrounded from all sides. With the various new gadgets displayed by the Shenji Battalion today, Changsha City is really easy to defend.
?
And if we can retreat into the mountains south of Changsha, there will be a glimmer of hope.
On the Liuyang Gate, Zhu Jianjun's face turned pale as he listened to the continuous gunfire in the southeast.
He couldn't see what the fighting was like over there, but Fu Rongzhong suddenly rushed over: "Gu Shilong's camp has moved, and they are about to start attacking the city! Where is General Tang?"
Zhu Jianjun slapped the battlements on the city wall fiercely: "You all deserve to die!"
Tang Peiyu really wanted to take the opportunity to escape from the city, but Pu Zitong even refused to comply and came to guard Changsha first!
…
Amid the "fierce battle" in Changsha, Qufu, Shandong Province, held a grand memorial ceremony for Confucius today.
Different from the originally determined process, Yan Shenggong Kong Wenshao and Qufu County Magistrate Kong Wenfang are both gone.
Qi Jingtong led the model battalion and directly took over Qufu County.
In Jinan Prefecture, the selected frontmen of the Fifth Military Camp who had just arrived from the suburbs of Beijing were led by Zhuo Zhitian, who was instrumental in suppressing the Fifth Military Camp uprising. Together with Gao Zhong, they were firmly in control of Jinan City.
This time to commemorate Confucius, Zhang Fuking acted on behalf of the emperor.
Although the specifications are high, the sacrificial ritual system has been changed to be much simpler.
The statue of Master Wenxuan of Dacheng is no longer there, and the new one cannot smile.
The main officials of the Three Divisions of Shandong and the chief officials of various prefectures and counties in Shandong came to the Dacheng Wenxuan Master Temple upon request. No one felt relaxed at the moment.
Following the rebellions of King Anhua and King Ning, the Ming vassals rebelled three times within twenty years.
But this time, it was the loudest.
King Ji served King Rui as the orthodox king, and King Yi sent his heirs to flee to Beijing. King Chu and King Liao died successively, and King Lu of Yanzhou in Shandong, King De of Dezhou, and King Heng of Qingzhou were already vassalized as soon as the news of the rebellion came.
They hurriedly set off for Beijing - although given the distance from Shandong to Beijing, they could wait until early September before setting off.
That's because Zhang Fujing is here. After Zhang Fujing arrived in Shandong on the ninth day of August, he personally led the pacesetter battalion to capture the brothers Kong Wenshao and Kong Wenfang.
Now, Kong Wenshao has been escorted to Beijing, and Kong Wenfang is being held in the Shandong Provincial Prison.
Behind Zhang Fuking were the Kong family, Yan, Meng and other clan chiefs who were temporarily safe.
After the ceremony to commemorate Confucius, Zhang Fujing "pacified" them with a smile: "The crime of Duke Yan Sheng has nothing to do with the Confucius clan leader. It involves the reputation of Master Wenxuan of Dacheng. The special envoys sent by the Ministry of Punishment, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Dali Temple and Beizhen Fusi are on the way.
When the imperial envoy arrives in Shandong, Patriarch Kong will answer the questions truthfully. If nothing happens, Your Majesty will never punish him."
"...Yes, yes, I will answer the question truthfully."
Zhang Fuking left the Confucius Temple, followed by officials from Shandong.
The Confucius Memorial Ceremony is a very good occasion, and it is an occasion where they all have to gather.
And now the Qufu County Magistrate has also been convicted, and the entire Qufu County is under the control of Zhang Fu Jingbiao Barracks.
Looking at the back of Zhang Shatou walking steadily forward in front of him, and thinking of his "impressive power" in Guangdong, the officials in Shandong just felt suffocated.
Now is the time when Huguang is in chaos, and there are people in the world who are plotting rebellion.
Arriving at the Qufu County Government Office, Zhang Fu was sitting in the main seat in the lobby, with Qi Jingtong standing beside him.
In the hall, the officials of the three divisions and the prefectures and prefectures were seated. Outside the hall, the magistrates of Shandong counties could only stand.
Zhang Fujing spoke slowly: "Southern Zhili, Huguang, Henan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and other provinces are more or less affected by disasters. Your Majesty has ordered that grain transportation from Shandong will be halved from this year, and the rest will be transferred to the south for disaster relief. The ceremony to commemorate Confucius has been completed. This is
The next thing the governor will do is to supervise the grain distribution for this year. I also ask you all to be loyal to the emperor and do not take the opportunity to harm the people. In addition to the sacrificial fields, Yan Shenggong's mansion actually has thousands of hectares of fertile land that does not receive grain. This alone,
Shandong does not need to send additional troops to the people for disaster relief. In addition to the governor, there are patrol inspectors and disaster patrol censors. Please keep this in mind."
"...Yes." For some reason, everyone from Shandong Sansi breathed a sigh of relief.
After taking care of the following things, the previous issues should be easier to deal with. At this moment, the position is more important. As long as you are careless, it may be a crime of treachery.
But Zhang Fujing said that he only supervised the grain tax, so the case of Yan Shenggong being impeached was completely investigated and interrogated by people from the Third Division of the Imperial Court and the Beizhen Fu Division?
Zhang Fuking then let these Shandong officials leave the city and return to their respective places of office, but he was still sitting in the lobby of the Qufu County Government Office.
"Post a notice that I will temporarily take over the post of Qufu County Magistrate, and a court session will be held to investigate the case from now on."
The magistrate of Qufu, which has always been essentially a hereditary position of the Kong family, is now even convicted of the crime. Who will recommend him?
Zhang Fujing temporarily took over the post of Qufu County Magistrate with the honor of governor and opened a court to investigate the case. Obviously, the matter in Yanshenggong Mansion will not end so simply.
But Zhang Fuking also knew that these small crimes against the people by Kong would not be enough to achieve the desired goal.
Now, they have to wait for the Huguang side to break through Changsha City and wait for them to get more evidence of Yan Shenggong's treason or even conspiracy.
Only this is the sin of the Nine Clans!
In the Forbidden City, Kong Wenshao finally met his new king.
Zhu Houcong looked at him quietly: "Since you are a descendant of your ancestor, why did you forget the teachings of your ancestor?"
In Qufu, Kong Wenshao was close to the sky.
In front of the emperor, he knelt on the ground and trembled, not daring to scold or argue.
Because he already knew very well that if he said the wrong thing now, he would be charged with treason and conspiracy.
"...I am aware of my guilt."
Now he only hates that Shandong is too close to Beijing, hates that the emperor is too ruthless, and hates that the scholars in the world are too soft-boned. Why aren't there more Fu Rongzhongs?
He was also a little surprised. Why did the emperor still not look anxious when faced with a rebellion and a severe drought in the south?
"Now that you know the crime, confess truthfully in front of the Third Division. If you wait until it is found out, the crime will be increased. Go down."
Meeting him was just a formality.
In Zhu Houcong's eyes, Kong Wenshao was already a dead man.
After Zhang Fujing went to Shandong, under the pressure of Zhang Beheading, many letters were sent to various places by Yanshenggong Mansion. These letters were not intercepted by Jinyiwei people in various places. However, after the letters were delivered, the person who sent them was detained.
Downloaded many.
It doesn't matter whether the letters were destroyed or not. When the counter-rebellion is over, some people can always be captured and the messengers can be recognized.
Under torture, there was plenty of irrefutable evidence.
Now he is concerned about another thing: "Where is Luo An?"
Wang Zuo immediately replied: "Your Majesty, Commander Luo has joined General Lei Shen in Anhua and set off for Hengzhou Mansion."
"Where's Zhu Qi?"
"We have arrived at Shaozhou Prefecture."
Zhu Houcong looked at the map with cold eyes: "Send orders to Luo An and capture Zhan Huabi alive as much as possible. There is also Pu Zitong, who is so courageous. Check to see if he is a descendant of the Pu family in Quanzhou. I heard that most of the Pu family now change their surnames to Fujian."
Several companies involved in the spice business should be investigated. An order was sent to Yan Song, ordering him not to worry about Jiangxi and to let Wang Hong and Guangdong Zhao Jun lead the coastal defense warships to clear the coast of Fujian. Prince Yi must have someone to support him when he enters Fujian.
After the clearing, the army went directly to Taiyuan."
On this map, the island east of Fujian once had a Penghu Inspection Department in the southwest corner. During the Hongwu period, it was withdrawn due to the maritime ban, and the people on Penghu Island moved to the interior.
For more than a hundred years, the island now known as Taiyuan, Jilong or Xiaoliuqiu has actually become a foreign land.
After the new law was tried out in Guangdong and the Zhejiang Shipping Department was abolished, people in many coastal companies in the past two years, including Jinyiwei and its internal factories in Zhejiang and Fujian, quietly watched.
Wang Shouren said that their intention was to establish a separatist regime in the mountainous areas at the junction of Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong and then consume them. But for rebellion, how could there be no real way out?
That big island across the sea is probably the real escape route.
If it can be delayed, the world will become chaotic. If it cannot be delayed, the biological father of Prince Yi and Prince Rui will probably take Prince Rui to establish a foothold there.
Attacking across the sea is a real drain on Ming Dynasty, and it can drag on for several years.
Once the memorandum was issued, Zhu Houcong must implement the new law. Fujian is protected by mountains, many wealthy families on the coast have maritime profits, and there are many ships for both commercial and war purposes. This is capital.
They even brought in the Portuguese from Southeast Asia and Japan, which had been cut off from paying tribute, as aid.
After thinking about it, Zhu Houcong said: "Instruct Wang Shouren and Yan Song to hand over the rebellion in Huguang to Sun Jiao, Gu Shilong, Zhu Qi, and Luo An, and ask him and Yan Song to cooperate with the Governor of Fujian to cut off the rebels' way to the sea. This
Suppress the rebellion and capture Taiyuan!"
The rebels have their own goals, and Zhu Houcong has his own goals.
"yes!"
Wang Zuo left in a hurry.
"Have the royalties and pensions of Wang Bangrui and others been arranged?"
Huang Jin heard this and replied: "I have already gone to announce the decree."
Zhu Houcong nodded: "Give Zhang Jin a decree to personally visit the various prefectures in Southern Zhili on my behalf to help Jiang Mian in disaster relief. Tell Guo Xun that it is his merit to stabilize Southern Zhili and there is no need to ask for orders to go to Huguang. Then give it to Wei Lin.
According to the decree, there is new chaos in Sichuan. Although Fei Hong wants to supervise the transportation of grain and tax to Huguang for disaster relief, he cannot harm the people."
"This slave takes the order."
During this period, a steady stream of decrees were sent out from the Forbidden City.
Rebellions, disasters, new laws, Duke Yansheng's conviction, the vassal king's relatives coming to Beijing, the upcoming Longevity Festival... Yang Tinghe and others have countless things to be busy with.
But everyone is waiting for the good news from Huguang.
When night fell, Changsha City was finally surrounded. The army was only one mile away from the city wall and could launch a general attack at any time.
wisps of smoke rose from behind the army camp. After a full meal, the defenders must have been exhausted from attacking the city at night.
Then the messengers came flying to report.
"Reporting to Lord Marquis, the defenders in the city sent envoys with the waistband of the Jinyi Guards School Lieutenant as evidence to request surrender! The rebel Tang Peiyu led his troops out of the city today and fled south after being defeated. The soldiers in the city were frightened and mutinied. They have been persuaded to surrender by the Jinyi Guards Hu Guangxing.
Kill King Ni and Fu Rongzhong!"
Gu Shilong put down his bowl and chopsticks and stood up: "Please ask Huang Xingxing to identify the waist badge. Where is the surrender letter?"