My life skills in Daming Liver.

Chapter 322 Shocked!

Zeng Guangtai, the prefect of Jiujiang, is inspecting the city defense.

Zeng Guangtai was a man who promoted his career and carefully worked his way up to the position of prefect.

After receiving Zhang Juzheng's letter, Zeng Guangtai began to rectify Jiujiang's military affairs, and finally created a group of troops capable of defending.

Zeng Guangtai climbed to the outer city wall of Jiujiang, and craftsmen were installing Folan cannons.

"Master Futai!"

Zeng Guangtai waved his hand, called the craftsman in charge of the installation to the side and asked:
"Can these guns work?"

"Master Futai, don't worry, I tested three guns yesterday, and only one has a problem. These guns can still be used!"

Zeng Guangtai felt that it was a bit outrageous. These cannons were cast by Wang Yangming, the governor of Southern Jiangxi, during the Ningwang Rebellion 40 years ago.

After 40 years, it was taken out, and a batch of usable Franc machine guns could still be picked out.

However, no soldiers were willing to use the bird guns issued by the Ministry of War last month.

Ten muskets were tested and five of them had problems.

Three duds, two exploded, and the most serious one almost blinded the soldier who was testing it.

The soldiers naturally refused to use such bird cannons. Zeng Guangtai even felt that these bird cannons were more lethal to his own side than to the enemy.

The artillery 40 years ago can be used, but the newly-made blunderbuss can't be used. Zeng Guangtai doesn't know what happened to the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War in the Ming Dynasty in the past 40 years.

The city wall under Zeng Guangtai's feet was built by Chen Youliang 200 years ago.

Relying on the city wall built by Emperor Taizu's lifelong enemy 200 years ago, and relying on the cannon cast by Wang Yangming 40 years ago to resist Su Ze, Zeng Guangtai felt a sense of disobedience.

Forget it, as long as Jiujiang City can be defended.

Zeng Guangtai continued to patrol along the city wall. In addition to checking the installation progress of the Folan cannon, he also called a meeting of the Jiujiang Navy, which had retreated into the water wall, to discuss strategies to defend against the enemy.

After the discussion, Zeng Guangtai's nose almost became angry. The Jiujiang Navy only agreed to send small boats to patrol along the water wall during the day and refused to perform night patrols.

But Zeng Guangtai had nothing to do with the commander of the Jiujiang Navy. Who would let him be a hereditary military officer with a higher rank than himself?

It was a peacetime thing for civilian officials to suppress military officials. Now that there are continuous wars, Zeng Guangtai can only coax.

The navy refused to send boats to patrol at night, so the army of Jiujiangwei could only patrol the city walls at night. By the time Zeng Guangtai dragged his exhausted body back to Jiujiang City, it was already a bright moon.

Zeng Guangtai raised his head, the moon was already gibbous on September [-]th, looking at the night sky with few stars and a few black magpies flying south, Zeng Guangtai also felt a little desolate.

If you can drive away the traitors, then resign and return home.

As soon as this thought came to mind, Zeng Guangtai heard a loud bang, and even the ground shook.

This is?The ground moved?

Zeng Guangtai's face was pale, but his followers shouted in horror: "Outer wall!"

Zeng Guangtai turned his head, only to see the flames bursting into the sky from the direction of the outer wall of Jiujiang that he had just returned, and recalled that the huge movement just now came from the direction of the outer wall!

Zeng Guangtai looked again and saw that none of the surrounding houses had collapsed. This was not an earthquake!
What is it if it's not an earthquake?Zeng Guangtai forced himself to calm down and said to his entourage: "Go to the outer wall!"

As Zeng Guangtai and his entourage walked towards the outer wall, they heard various fleeing soldiers shouting:
"The outer wall has collapsed!"

"The thief army has entered the city!"

"The thieves know how to thunder! Run away!"

"Su Ze is the reincarnation of Luo Zu! Come down soon!"

Zeng Guangtai could no longer care about the Luo Jiao believers hiding in the army, but as soon as he walked out of the inner city wall, he saw the naval dock between the inner city and the outer city blazing into the sky!

Looking at the thick smoke billowing in the direction of the outer city, Zeng Guangtai sat on the ground in despair, it was over, his carefully arranged defense of the outer city collapsed, and Jiujiang's troops and morale could not resist Su Ze's army at all.

On September [-], Lin Liangjun conquered Jiujiang, an important town on the Yangtze River.

Jiujiang Guards and Jiujiang Navy surrendered. Zeng Guangtai, the prefect of Jiujiang, was about to commit suicide but was saved by his men and tied up and sent to Lin Liangjun's tent.

After entering Jiujiang, the first thing Lin Liangjun did was not to enter the city, but to take the soldiers to check the Franc cannon on the outer wall.

Lin Liangjun was overjoyed to find thirty Franco cannons capable of firing from the top of the wall, and hurriedly had the Franco cannons carefully dismantled.

It can only be said that the defenders in Jiujiang are really too tight. The Folang machine gun is not originally used to defend the city. This thing is best used for offense.

It was only the Jiujiang Navy's cowardice and refusal to even leave the city for night patrols that allowed Lin Liangjun to take such a huge advantage.

Lin Liangjun planned to install these artillery pieces on small boats. With thirty gunboats, Lin Liangjun was more confident in blocking the Yangtze River!

"Mr. Hu! You have really done a great job this time! I have already sent a summary of the military intelligence to the Governor's Mansion! You are the first to achieve this!"

Eunuch Hu looked at the collapsed city wall, but there was no happy expression on his face.

Who would have thought that ordinary glycerin, mixed with strong acid, could become such a terrifying weapon.

Seeing that Eunuch Hu's face was a little ugly, and Lin Liangjun was no longer that little kid, he immediately said:

"Hu Gong, if your new medicine hadn't broken the city wall, how many people would have died in this attack on Jiujiang?"

Eunuch Hu's face looked better now, and he said:
"If this material can be more stable, it can be used to open mountains, mines, build dams and rivers, which will also benefit the country and the people."

Lin Liangjun immediately said, "Yes, yes!"

In the city of Nanjing.

At dawn, the newsboys start their day's work.

In a workshop near Nanjing's city wall, with black cloth taped to the windows, Xiong Wu was checking a newly printed newspaper.

"Warning Times" was originally sold at night. After Xiong Wu sneaked into Nanjing, it was still too slow to deliver printed newspapers from Suzhou. Xiong Wu simply built an underground printing workshop in Nanjing and printed newspapers directly in Nanjing.

In this way, Suzhou Prefecture only needs to send a person riding a fast horse in the middle of the night to deliver the formatted sample to the outside of Nanjing. Xiong Wu can get the sample through the underground passage under the printing workshop, and then typeset and print it immediately.

In this way, the "Jingshi News" in Nanjing City can be published only half an hour later than the newspaper in Suzhou City.

In addition to printing newspapers, they also need to be sold immediately.

Today, there are more than 20 newsboy organizations, large and small, in Nanjing.

How to sell newspapers, how to establish a newsboy organization, and how to compete for territory with other gray forces on the street, most of this was brought out by Xiong Wu himself.

Newspapers also supported the orphans in these cities, and Xiong Wu designated them their own streets and activity areas.

There was still an hour before dawn, Xiong Wu said to more than 20 newsboy leaders:

"Today's newspaper is free!"

"But how many newspapers you send out, how much will we pay!"

The leader of the newsboys' eyes lit up, there was such a good thing?
Xiong Wu said: "However, the content of today's newspaper is sensitive. If the newspaper is sold out today, you should take people to hide in the city, and be careful of the government's arrest!"

The newsboys nodded one after another. Avoiding the government was also their specialty. The government also wanted to raid these newsboys, and even wanted to arrest them for labor service or arrest. Therefore, every newsboy had his own stronghold in the city, and the news was tight. time to hide.

"Let's go then!"

The newspaper, which had just been printed and was filled with the scent of ink, was loaded onto a cart, covered with a tarpaulin and quickly transported out of the alley.

Then the newspapers were distributed to each newsboy, who began to distribute newspapers on familiar streets.

Most of the newsboys in Nanjing have their own streets. Which ones do what, which ones like to read newspapers, which ones have moved in, and which ones have moved away. In their eyes, they can be said to be well aware of the situation on this street.

Even some residents with good credit have reached long-term agreements with newsboys, who will deliver newspapers directly to their homes.

Since today's newspapers are free, the newsboys put all the newspapers in the homes of those literate people.

In the small courtyard that Tan Lun rented, Gao Hanwen rubbed his eyes and walked out of the room. He didn't sleep all night last night, and he finally composed the music, and he should be able to get a finishing fee for handing it in today.

Gao Hanwen experienced ups and downs. He could no longer tell whether he felt more comfortable working as a scholar in the Hanlin Academy, or whether he felt more comfortable working as a magistrate in Hangzhou, or whether he felt more secure when he established himself in this small courtyard.

Just when Gao Hanwen was thinking wildly, he suddenly heard a whistle, and then a stack of things was thrown in from outside the wall.

Sent?
Tan Lun subscribes to every issue of the newspaper, and has reached a long-term agreement with the newsboy in this alley, so Gao Hanwen no longer needs to go out to buy newspapers.

I didn't expect these newspaper boys to deliver it so early. In the past, Gao Hanwen would receive the newspaper when he went out to buy breakfast, and it was already broad daylight at that time.

After picking up the newspaper on the ground, Gao Hanwen didn't feel sleepy. He took the newspaper back to the room and started reading under the whale oil lamp.

Just after reading the news on the front page, Gao Hanwen jumped up immediately, and rushed to Tan Lun's room with the newspaper.

"Brother Zili! Something big happened to brother Zili!"

When the drowsy Tan Lun finished reading the title and then read the content, his face turned pale.

I only saw the headline of the news was "Shocked!The former Zhejiang governor Tan Lun made seven strategies to die, and the faint court has sent Tiqi thousands of miles to arrest."

This article listed in detail the contents of the memorial written by Tan Lun, and also attached the results of the treatment from the capital. The Jin Yiwei went south to arrest Tan Lun and entered the capital, and Zhejiang released all the officials to arrest and interrogate him!

Gao Hanwen still didn't believe it and said, "Brother Zili, isn't this a plan by the thief Su?"

Tan Lun calmed down and said, "No, the front page of "Jingshi News" is full of real news. Su Ze will not ruin the credibility of this newspaper for the sake of us."

Gao Hanwen thought for a while and nodded.

It is true that since the publication of "Jing Shi Bao", there has never been any fake news published on the front page. Now the entire South Zhili is reading news from "Jing Shi Bao". The trust established through repeated publications cannot be used to alienate Tan Lun. These were released to the officials.

Tan Lun stood up and said: "My memorial is the test book for me. Six subjects and thirteen courses were copied to the Shizhonghui. This news should come from the capital. There must be some officials who complained about our injustice, so the content of the memorial will be copied." The results of the handling with the imperial court will be released."

Tan Lun also said: "There is a fast boat between Dengzhou and Shanghai, and "Jing Shi Bao" has published news about the capital before, which is half a month faster than the channel of the imperial court."

Gao Hanwen sat paralyzed on the ground and said, "Does that mean the news is true?"

Tan Lun nodded, and Gao Hanwen said desperately: "What should we do?"

Tan Lun said without hesitation: "Let's go to Suzhou Mansion."

Gao Hanwen asked desperately: "Can you leave?"

Tan Lun said: "Of course! The official documents of the imperial court and the Jinyiwei are still on the way. How can we be arrested in Nanjing?"

Gao Hanwen's eyes lit up, that's right, the official document to arrest him is still on the way, how could Nanjing arrest people based on the information in a thief's newspaper?

Back in the study, Tan Lun looked at the things he had written during this period, including the analysis of the Fujian-Zhejiang Allied Forces, his evaluation of Su Ze's governance, the direction of the people's hearts and customs in the southeast, and the Zhejiang province that Tan Lun drew from his memory. Bingtu, the battle formation and tactics of the Zhejiang New Army.

He originally wanted to give these to the court, or directly give them to Zhang Juzheng and Zhao Zhenji.

But now it seems that all this is a joke, Tan Lun directly took out the brazier and burned all the manuscripts he wrote.

The two immediately packed up their things, and sure enough, no one stopped them from leaving the city.

Gao Hanwen drove, Tan Lun identified the direction, and headed towards Suzhou Mansion along the way.

Among the officials released from Zhejiang, most of them believed the article in "Jing Shi Bao" and left Nanjing immediately.

But there are also a few who don't believe it. They still feel that the imperial court will not forget these heroes, and they are determined to stay in Nanjing.

And the yamen of various ministries in Nanjing have also encountered difficulties. The official documents from the court have not yet arrived, so they can't arrest people based on the newspapers of the bandit army, can they?

But the newspaper was full of truth, even the contents of Tan Lun's memorial were published, so the court's opinions on how to deal with it didn't seem to be fake, right?
The Six Ministries of Nanjing held an emergency meeting. Although Zhao Zhenji, the Minister of the Household Department of Nanzhili Civil Affairs, knew best in his heart that this report was absolutely true, and the court orders in the newspapers were also in line with each other, but he said nothing during the whole meeting. Not sent.

Waiting until the officials came to report that Tan Lun and Gao Hanwen had left Nanjing, the six departments still did not reach any conclusions.

When the discussion reached dark, a result was finally reached. First, those Zhejiang officials who had not yet left Nanjing City were brought under control. If the contents of the newspaper were true, at least there would be an explanation.

Tan Lun and Gao Hanwen's journey to Suzhou was also very smooth.

Their official status is still there, and they spent some money to manage it, and they passed the checkpoint of the Ming army smoothly.

Even later, both of them discovered that these checkpoints were useless at all, and they didn't need to reveal their identities, as long as they took money, they could pass.

Tan Lun finally understood why the newspapers in Suzhou and Nanjing were published at the same time, and why the popular goods in Suzhou could appear on the shelves in Nanjing within three days.

(End of this chapter)