Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 591 Conspiracy and trickery (adding more for the leader Bodhi)
Hou Fangyu smiled and said, "Does Hong Butang know how the Ten Kings' army was defeated in the battle of Shanyang?"

"The Battle of Shanyang?" Hong Chengchou said, "Although the Headquarters didn't participate in it personally, we have heard about it. It is said that it was because of Ming General Yan Yingyuan's many tricks, which made it impossible to guard against."

Hou Fangyu asked again: "Does Hong Butang know what schemes Yan Yingyuan used?"

"That's too much." Hong Chengchou frowned, "The main thing is the fire attack, and then there is the false surrender, oh yes, and the explosion of the canal ice, and I will reimburse thousands of elites of the Qing Dynasty..."

Speaking of this, Hong Chengchou's voice suddenly stopped.

Wang Fuchen, Geng Jimao and others who reacted quickly, also reacted immediately.

Into the mother thief!Geng Jimao cursed secretly in his heart, the surname Hou is really insidious enough, can you imagine this?
The expression on Hong Chengchou's face suddenly became serious: "Does Hou Canjun mean to blow up the ice layer? Bury gunpowder in advance, and wait until the Nanming army arrives, then blow up the ice layer and let him be buried in the sea?"

"Of course." Hou Fangyu asked with a dark smile, "Does Hong Butang think it's okay?"

Hong Chengchou was still seriously thinking about the feasibility of blasting the ice layer, but the generals couldn't bear it anymore.

There really is a chain of contempt between people. If the military generals of the Ming Dynasty are at the bottom of the chain of contempt, then on the Manchu side, the eunuchs are at the bottom of the chain of contempt.

So generals like Xia Longshan and Wang Fuchen rebutted instinctively.

"Blow up the ice? You said it lightly. How? How much? Did you blow up the entire North Sea?"

"That is, how much gunpowder do we have in total? How many acres of ice can be blown up? Do you know where the Ming army came from? You dare to say that hundreds of thousands of Nanming troops will be buried under the sea."

"My lord, don't listen to his nonsense."

Dorgon trusted Hou Fangyu, but these generals would not spoil him.

Hou Fangyu was so angry that he had nothing to do with the generals, because he could only monitor Hong Chengchou, but the generals of the Eight Banners Han Army and the Green Battalion were not under his control.

Hong Chengchou was seriously considering the feasibility of blasting the ice layer.

Not sure where the Ming army came from?This is not a problem at all.

If the Ming army really came on ice, they would not have much choice. They would be Weihe, Chaohe, Shahe and other rivers, because they could use ice sledges to transport heavy red-coated cannons and luggage when marching from the ice , can reduce food and fodder consumption very little while speeding up the marching speed.

So they just had to plant gunpowder in a few estuaries.

Moreover, the temperature this year is slightly higher than in previous years, and the ice in the North Sea is also thinner than in previous years. In addition, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Ming soldiers and horses are under heavy pressure, and there are hundreds or even thousands of red cannons In view of the above points, it does not need too much gunpowder to blow up the sea ice.

At most, two thousand explosive points and one hundred thousand catties of gunpowder are enough.

If you feel that it is not safe enough, it is no problem to add another [-] catties of gunpowder.

The Qing Dynasty can still afford 20 catties of gunpowder, and it will not affect the next battle. The musketeers of the Eight Banners Han Army and the artillery of the Green Battalion still have enough gunpowder to use.

The most critical issue is the time of the Ming army's invasion.

If the Ming army waited until after the beginning of spring to attack, then the gunpowder would be in vain.

Hou Fangyu seemed to have guessed what Hong Chengchou was thinking, and immediately continued: "Don't worry about Hong Butang, the officials dare to assert that Chongzhen will definitely launch the Northern Expedition before the year."

"Why is Hou Canjun so sure?" Hong Chengchou asked.

"Because Chongzhen is impatient." Hou Fangyu said, "If Nanming is really ready, Chongzhen will never delay launching the Northern Expedition until the beginning of next year, but will definitely launch the Northern Expedition immediately!"

After a short pause, he continued: "What's more, even if Chongzhen didn't launch the Northern Expedition years ago, it's okay. The big deal is to get the gunpowder back before the ice layer thaws in Kaichun. The hundreds of thousands of catties of gunpowder just need to be sealed in a wooden barrel and wrapped in oil paper. , it will never get wet, so it can still be used by our Qing soldiers."

Hearing this, Hong Chengchou no longer hesitated.

Indeed, as Hou Fangyu said, it is always possible to give it a try.

"Hou Canjun, you will personally supervise this matter." After Hong Chengchou finished speaking, he turned his gaze to Geng Zhongming, and said, "Prince Jingnan, you will lead the Eight Banners Han Army Right Battalion to co-organize it. It must be completed within half a month."

"Hey!" Hou Fangyu and Geng Zhongming came out at the same time, agreeing.

……

At this time, it is on the Baishui Ocean at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

A huge fleet almost covered Baishuiyang, sailing northward with full sails.

In this Northern Expedition, in addition to the more than 400 large and small warships from the Navy, the Great Ming General Chamber of Commerce also recruited more than 1000 sand ships or ocean-shading ships from maritime merchants.

With so many ships, three towns and all weapons and supplies can be transported away at one time.

Therefore, the first batch of Ming troops who went out with Chongzhen this time had a total of three towns.

It should be noted that all three towns have strengthened artillery units.

What's the meaning?This means that the artillery brigades under the jurisdiction of these three towns have changed from one to two.

In other words, the actual strength of each town is not only more than 25000 people, but more than 30000 people.

It was the first time for many new army officers and even scholars to go to sea, so they were all amazed that the sailboat could sail against the wind. How did it work?
Chongzhen then smiled and said to Zheng Zhilong who was beside him: "Duke Min, the soldiers are all praising you."

"What's there to show off about sailing against the wind, but who doesn't know how to make a living at sea?" Zheng Zhilong shook his head and said, "What's more, the soft sails of the Frangji are more suitable for sailing against the wind than our hard sails."

"Duke Min is saying that the sailboats of Frangji are faster than ours?" Zhang Huangyan asked in surprise.

"Yes, the warships of Folang Jiren and Hong Maofan are indeed faster than ours." Zheng Zhilong said with deep conviction, "We suffered a lot when we were in Nanyang."

"Zheng Qing, this will be changed soon." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "It won't take long for the warships of our Daming Navy to get rid of their sails and rely on steam engines to propel them. With the change of wind force, it can sail even in a windless area, and the speed is several times faster than that of a sailboat!"

Chongzhen is painting big cakes, and steam boats are faster than sailboats, that's for sure.

But it would be bragging to say that the early steam engine boats could go several times faster than sailboats, and it was impossible.

After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "In addition to being faster, the Ming warship equipped with steam engines can also install iron plates on both sides of the warship to strengthen the defense."

"In future naval battles, only our Daming warships will fight Xiyi warships."

"The naval guns of Xiyi may have a hard time piercing the side armor of my Ming warship. In a word, the date when our Daming navy will dominate the world again is not far away!"

"My lord, I can't wait!"

Even though Zheng Zhilong was already in his 40s and used to seeing big scenes, he couldn't help but be moved by these big cakes painted by Chongzhen at this moment, not to mention those scholars, who wished to join the navy immediately.

Lu Xiangguan, a scholar of Qin Wang, who was born as a Jinshi, asked: "My lord, is it too late for me to transfer to the Navy?"

Lu Xiangguan, Lu Xiangtong, and Lu Xiangsheng are all cousins ​​of the same clan. In another time and space, the two brothers led their clansmen to raise troops after the Qing soldiers went south to celebrate the National Day of Death.

It's just that Lu Xiangguan's ability to command troops is obviously not as good as his cousin Lu Xiangtong, and it is even more incomparable with his cousin Lu Xiangsheng.

Barely considered a middle-aged posture.

"Of course it's in time." Zheng Zhilong was overjoyed upon hearing this.

"People in the Shiziying, if you want to join the navy at any time, I welcome it."

Zheng Zhilong didn't think much of the Qin Wang Shizi in Shiziying before, but now he has changed 180 degrees.

The reason is also very simple. The group of King Qin scholars headed by Xu Yingwei and Yan Yingyuan are really good at fighting.

"Grandpa, it's too much." Xu Yingwei's face collapsed, "Who would poach a corner of our new army face to face? The scholars in the scholar camp are not enough for our new army."

The new army of Ming Dynasty formed 11 towns at once.

The chief town, brigade commander, battalion officer, general and even the staff of these towns and platforms must be filled by scholars from the scholar camp.

The 11 towns need a total of 33 people from the chief town and deputy chief town, 132 brigade commanders and deputy brigade commanders, 396 battalion officers and deputy battalion officers, and a total of 1980 general and deputy commanders.

This is already 2541 people, nearly half of the Shiziying.

In addition, each town headquarters, brigade headquarters, and battalion headquarters need a certain number of staff officers, and the town headquarters has as many as dozens of staff officers. Thanks to the fact that the first batch of students from the Imperial College have graduated before the end of the year, otherwise However, Chongzhen really couldn't find enough officers to form these 11 towns.

So, now the scholars in the scholar camp are really in short supply.

Even Huang Zongxi's Supervision Section and Zhang Huangyan's Secret Investigation Section dispatched a group.

So Xu Yingwei is really not talking about the scene with Zheng Zhilong, but really has an opinion on him.

Zheng Zhilong was also a little upset when he heard this, and said to himself, you, a junior who is as old as my son, what qualifications do you have to act as a garlic clove in front of your country?But anger is anger, and I don't want to quarrel with others.

At that moment Zheng Zhilong turned his face away and ignored Xu Yingwei.

Chongzhen couldn't laugh or cry when he saw this, thinking that Daming's navy and army would not become incompatible with each other, right?It would be so embarrassing if it turned into navy red deer and army red deer in the end.

In the future, when colonizing overseas, the army and navy will hold each other back, which may lead to tragedy.

At that moment, Chongzhen smiled and said to Xu Yingwei: "Youzhen, the Northern Expedition is coming soon, and the Scholars Camp will give priority to guaranteeing the new army, so you don't have to worry about the Fujian Association poaching the new army's corner."

Xu Yingwei felt a little embarrassed, and immediately scratched his head and said, "Your Majesty, just now, the talented minister was also rude, but in fact, it's okay to allocate a hundred or ten scholars to the navy."

"Let's talk about this matter after the Northern Expedition is over." Chongzhen waved his hand, then turned around and said to Zheng Zhilong, "Zheng Qing, this matter is due to my carelessness and neglect of your navy."

[Thanks Bodhi Boss for the [-] reward]

(End of this chapter)