please make me king

Chapter 1173 The Curtain Opens
"His Royal Highness Qizuo, the current situation of military expansion is as follows!" Staff member Xu Ziyuan reported.

After Hong Chengchou, the former chief of staff, was released as the head coach of the Henan government, Zhang Shun transferred Xu Ziyuan to fill the same position.

It's just that Xu Ziyuan was appointed chief of staff because of his lack of qualifications and lack of ability to make plans for large-scale campaigns.

"Oh?" Zhang Shun stopped what he was doing, and couldn't help raising his head to listen carefully.

"Now Xu Quan's [-] gunners have been trained, but the output of the new guns is insufficient. Only half of them are equipped, and the remaining half are still using Lumi guns." Xu Ziyuan continued to report.

"Li You and Li Daliang's Second Battalion with [-] troops has completed training. Wang Sheng, Zhang Ding and Shen Jingbang's Third Battalion with [-] troops has been formed."

"Li Zicheng's two battalions, Li Guo and Liu Zongmin, have been expanded to [-] people, and the third battalion of Lu Xiangjin, Lu Xiangguan, and Zhang Rujing has been expanded to [-] people."

"The two battalions of Huang Chaoxuan and Zhang Xianbi have been expanded to [-] people; the two battalions of Dang Shousu and Zhang Rukui have been expanded."

"Wei Congyi's fire gun cavalry has been formed, Fei Yizai and Chen Jitai's two battalions have been formed, and the three battalions have a total of [-] people."

"A total of [-] military expansion tasks have been completed, and there is still a shortfall of [-] soldiers from the [-] military expansion target."

"Oh? How about the newly added armor, mules and horses? How about the combat effectiveness?" Zhang Shun didn't expect the military expansion mission to go so smoothly, so he couldn't help asking about the details.

As for the shortfall of [-], it is only two battalions, and it can be replenished at any time.

"There are a lot of armors stored in the three sides and four towns, regardless of whether they are new or old, basically more than [-]% of them are equipped." Xu Ziyuan quickly pulled out the corresponding materials and reported loudly.

"Except for Xu Quan's [-] musketeers, Li Guo, Liu Zongmin, Huang Chaoxuan, Zhang Xianbi, Wei Congyi, and Fei Yizai's seven battalions, the remaining eleven battalions are barely usable."

"Out of [-] battalions, seven battalions have guaranteed combat effectiveness, which is not bad!" Zhang Shun nodded upon hearing this.

The seven battalions with good combat effectiveness all have enough veterans as the backbone, so the combat effectiveness basically reaches the average level of the rebel army.

As for the remaining eleven battalions, Zhang Shun was already satisfied that they could barely be used due to the lack of backbone.

"That... that's one more thing, His Highness please make a decision." Xu Ziyuan hesitated for a moment, and couldn't help but ask for instructions.

"Let's talk, we're all old people, so don't be too restrained." Zhang Shun then lowered his head while writing and drawing on Xu Ziyuan's latest blueprint, and said words of relief.

"The party guard has always reported that Man Tianxing, the leader of the rebel army, is hiding in the Yichuan Mountains. There are about three or four thousand people. They are short of food and clothing, and are in a difficult situation. He asked King Shun to allow him to go and surrender." Xu Ziyuan couldn't help but respond.

"There is also Shetatian who entered Sichuan with Zhang Xianzhong, the eighth king. Now he has a conflict with Zhang Xianzhong and parted ways. Now he is hiding in the mountains to the north of Huguang, with nowhere to go."

"He has also sent envoys over the past two days, hoping that King Shun can accept them."

"Oh? This is a good thing!" Zhang Shun said in surprise.

He belongs to himself as a hero in the world, but unexpectedly there are so many rebel generals wandering elsewhere.

"It's just... I'm afraid we won't be able to support..." Xu Ziyuan hesitated.

"What are you afraid of, there must be a way for the car to reach the mountain!" Zhang Shun said with a half-crying, half-smiling look.

With this wave of studs going on, he still doesn't know how many people will die in Huangquan and how many corpses will fill the ravine.

What he worries about is how to exchange the blood of so many soldiers for a brilliant victory, how to use the blood of so many soldiers for a prosperous world, how to use the blood of so many soldiers for a peaceful and prosperous world.

As for the question of whether there will be enough food in the future, it is not a question for him to consider for the time being.

Because to be cruel, how many mouths will be needed to eat after this battle is probably still unknown.

Thinking of the imminent scene of corpses all over the field, Zhang Shun couldn't help feeling uncomfortable.

Although it is said that compassion does not control soldiers, they are each a living being after all.

How cruel it is to send them to the point of no return with his own hands now.

Must win!

Zhang Shun said something silently to himself, and then changed the subject: "How is the gunpowder prepared?"

The rebel army's "one-wave" warfare method is not afraid of anything, only fear that the enemy will hold the walls and clear the fields, and stick to the city, so that the rebel army will not be able to attack for a long time.

If it lasts for a long time and the troops are under the fortified city, the logistical pressure caused by the huge team will be great.

So from the beginning of the campaign planning, Zhang Shun paid great attention to the application of firearms.

However, the equipment of large-scale firearms caused the rebel army, which was relatively dependent on firearms, to consume an appalling amount of gunpowder.

For example, the [-]-jin Hongyi cannon has [-] catties of gunpowder. According to the Ming army’s usage of doubling the charge in the past, it would take [-] catties of gunpowder to fire it once.

The field guns commonly used by the rebels needed [-] catties, the gold cannons needed [-] catties, and even the flying blunderbuss with the least amount of medicine needed [-] catties of gunpowder for a single shot.

According to this standard, if the First Army of the Rebel Army is equipped with [-]-jin Hongyi cannons, [-] flying blunderbusses, [-] field cannons, and [-] flying blunderbusses, a salvo will consume [-] jins of gunpowder. .

For this reason, Zhang Shun specially ordered the gunners to test repeatedly to obtain the best standard of gunpowder dosage.

It was finally determined that the standard dosage of the ten-thousand-jin Hongyi cannon was one-third of the bullet weight, and the standard dosage of the field artillery and the golden cannon was one-half of the bullet weight. However, the Feibiao blunderbuss as a mortar still could not reduce the dosage, so it had to continue as usual.

After some tossing, the amount of gunpowder required for a salvo was reduced to [-] catties.

Not to mention the gunpowder and gunpowder of other colors, the soldiers and horses along the way might not have to be equipped with hundreds of thousands of catties of gunpowder to barely use it.

"Gunpowder is not a big problem." Xu Ziyuan heard the news and reported.

"Originally, two to three hundred thousand catties have been stored in the three sides and four towns. You can use [-] catties first, and the rest will gradually make up."

"As for making gunpowder materials, it is not surprising that the charcoal used in it can be found everywhere."

"The sulfur used comes from the mountains, both in Chengcheng and Lantian, Shaanxi. It is not a worry to refine thousands of catties a day."

"Only saltpeter, also known as fire salt, is the most rare. It needs to be boiled many times, so it is the most rare."

"After Zhang Dudu inspected various places, I learned that it was produced in Longxi and Qingyang."

"In winter, it grows like hoar frost everywhere. It is obtained by sweeping it with water and pouring juice, and it is made by decocting. Now it has been refined in the same way, and there is no danger of shortage."

"Now another [-] catties of gunpowder have been produced, and by March, there will be almost another [-] catties."

"Okay!" Zhang Shun nodded and said, "These gunpowder will be supplied to Henan Mansion first, and it doesn't matter if the other two roads are a little later."

"By the way, inform Cao Bianjiao and the others, let them save some money first, and don't make progress too fast!"

(End of this chapter)