serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 230 Drilling
On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month in the third year of Jianwu, Guang'anmen.

The city wall of Guang'anmen is full of officials watching the ceremony. In front of the city tower are the children of the clan headed by King Zhongshun and King Yizhongjun. Clans, Manchus, Mongols, envoys from various vassal states, and countless gentry who were allowed to watch the ceremony.

The military parade was originally scheduled to be held at Andingmen, but it was changed to Guang'anmen at the suggestion of Chief Assistant Song Chengliang. One is because Andingmen is a popular place, and the other is to reduce the marching distance of the Yongwei Battalion so that it will not be so hard.

The biting cold wind blew on everyone's faces like knives, but they all stood awe-inspiring, silent.

The deputy head of the Qianqing Palace directed the officials of the Criminal Division to place chairs in front of the battlements and line them up in a row.

Since the emperor wanted to inspect the army in person, the infantry commanded the yamen to put martial law inside and outside Guang'anmen, and both sides of Guang'anmen Street were densely packed with soldiers with guns and knives.

The people in the capital, who could come, came, and the snow field under the city wall was crowded with people, standing there talking, chirping, and it was very lively.

King Yizhong took out his pocket watch from his pocket and took a look. The pointer had already pointed to the time between the end of the day and the beginning of the day. He snorted in his heart, what a big rule!
Suddenly, King Zhongshun coughed violently.

A gleam of light flashed in Yizhong County King's eyes, then he turned to look, with a concerned expression on his face: "Are you all right?"

"It doesn't matter." King Zhongshun glanced at him, then coughed again.

Someone whispered, "Here we come!"

It is said that the Ti Xing Si Fanzi and the Imperial Army who were guarding the steps of the city wall had already knelt down.

The footsteps on the stairs were getting louder.

After a while, Emperor Jianwu appeared, and everyone was startled, because the emperor was wearing armor and a sword was hanging from his waist.

Behind them are Song Chengliang, Yang Gelao, Zhao Zixun and Qian Shangshu in scarlet auspicious clothes.

King Zhongshun, King Yizhongjun and others bowed and saluted: "See the emperor."

Emperor Jianwu was obviously in a good mood, and kept nodding with a smile: "Don't be too polite, don't be too polite." After speaking, he walked to the chair in the middle and sat down, and said to Song Chengliang and the others: "Sit down."

Song Chengliang, Mr. Yang Ge, Zhao Zixun, and Qian Shangshu looked at each other, walked over and moved the chairs back, and then sat down on both sides.

At this time, King Zhongshun coughed violently again.

Emperor Jianwu turned his head to look at King Zhongshun, and deliberately asked, "What's wrong?"

King Zhongshun bowed and replied, "It doesn't matter if you get a little wind."

Emperor Jianwu nodded, and said to Dai Quan, "Bring a chair to King Zhongshun and put it beside me."

Dai Quan replied: "Yes." With a wave of his hand, a senior eunuch carrying a chair hurried over and placed the chair beside the emperor, just blocking the wind for the emperor.

King Zhongshun was startled, and suddenly coughed violently.

Emperor Jianwu said calmly, "Sit down. When the rehearsal is over, ask the imperial physician to take a look."

King Zhongshun: "Yes."

Dai Quan smiled all over his face: "My lord, please sit down." Then, he took a step forward and helped King Zhongshun to sit down on the chair.

There was a trace of a smile on the corner of Yizhong County King's mouth.

Niu Jizong, the Minister of War in armor, came over and asked Emperor Jianwu, "Your Majesty, shall we begin?"

Emperor Jianwu: "Let's begin."

Niu Jizong shouted loudly: "Fire the gun salute!"

The nine general cannons on the city wall fired in unison, nine times in a row, shaking the city wall.

Immediately afterwards, the heavy drum sounded.

At this moment, a low-pitched horn sounded from the southwest, and then a red ocean appeared at the end of the sky and the earth.

The drums got louder and louder.

Four thousand musketeers selected from each battalion, carrying bayonet-mounted Xiyi muskets, lined up in a neat square formation, and walked slowly towards Guang'anmen with neat steps.

Three drums.

The army formation stopped at a distance of one mile from the moat, and all four thousand firecrackers were powerful, with sharp eyes, and everyone felt a chilling air rushing toward their faces.

Looking from the city wall, densely packed firecrackers stand up like a forest, and the shining bayonets make one's scalp tingle.

No extra pomp, just get straight to the point.

Yang Dayong, who was wearing a half-worn armor, walked to the suspension bridge, gave a military salute, and shouted loudly: "Please review the emperor!"

Emperor Jianwu had already stood up, nodded and smiled and shouted: "Let's start!"

Yang Dayong shouted loudly: "The emperor has a decree, the firearms battalion will perform!"

In front of the army formation, a herald holding a red flag waved the flag.

"Long live my emperor, long live!" The four thousand gunfire soldiers roared like thunder.

Under the command of the general who led the team, the four thousand firecrackers quickly changed their formation and formed an attack formation. The imperial army had already set up a target on the left side of Guang'anmen, which is 150 paces to the south.

"First row, shoot!"

Following the order of the officers, the first row of firecrackers stepped forward in a neat formation and slammed the firecrackers in their hands. With the deafening sound of the firecrackers, bullets spewed out like raindrops , the people on the city wall saw the firecrackers lining up to shoot for the first time, it was so shocking!

Then everyone was stunned, and saw the Firearms Battalion advancing and shooting. After the second row fired, the third row stepped forward, followed by the fourth row, and then the first row that had already loaded the ammunition. During the alternate shooting, they quickly reached a distance of less than a hundred steps from the target.

The layman looks at the excitement and the insider looks at the doorway.

King Zhongshun, Niu Jizong and other generals all opened their eyes wide. This kind of warfare requires not only courage, but also the skillful operation of firearms, which is almost impossible.

The face of E Bi, the servant of the Ministry of Punishment of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, immediately turned gray, and he finally understood why the Forty Thousand Han Barracks had been destroyed.

Suddenly, the herald waved the flag.

A muffled horn sounded.

The firecrackers who were attacking stopped in unison, and then adjusted their formation. Under the surprised eyes of everyone, they clenched the firecrackers in their hands and stabbed forward. The word "kill" was like a thunderbolt in everyone's ears. edge rings.

Emperor Jianwu took two steps back uncomfortably, then came back to his senses and walked back.

The faces of the people on the city wall turned pale.

The army formation changed again, and the three firecrackers formed a stabbing formation one by one, and began the fighting drill, the shining bayonet in the rolling yellow dust, full of murderous aura.

The crowd watching under the city wall was silent and silent.

Everyone was stunned.

There was another low-pitched sound of horns, and when the drill was over, all the firecrackers knelt down and shouted in unison: "Wan Sheng, Great Zhou!"

Emperor Jianwu came back to his senses, slapped his palm on the city wall, and shouted: "Okay!" He looked at Dai Quan.

Dai Quan shouted in a high-pitched voice: "The emperor has a decree, all the soldiers have worked hard! Each will be rewarded with three months' military salary."

Yang Dayong responded loudly: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness!"

Four thousand gunfire soldiers responded in unison: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward!"

Emperor Jianwu nodded with a satisfied smile, and said to Dai Quan, "Let them go down and rest."

Dai Quan shouted loudly: "Your Majesty has an order, all the soldiers go back and rest!"

"Observe the order!" The four thousand gunfire soldiers roared in unison.

Next, Xie Qiong personally led a thousand cavalry to rehearse such events as raids, outflanking, and cavalry combined attacks.

Time soon came to the end of the end of time, and just when everyone thought the drill was over, the war drum on the tower rang again.

Then, there was a rush of hoofbeats, and everyone looked at it attentively.

The sound of horseshoes was loud and the dust was flying. Niu Ben and his team of more than twenty riders galloped towards this side. They steered their horses sharply less than a mile away from the moat. shooting.

E Bi raised his clairvoyant eyes to watch all this, and suddenly, his eyes widened.

Niu Ben and others loaded ammunition on the galloping horse!

O Bi's eyes flashed, and the Great Zhou Dynasty had a new type of firecracker.

Everyone stretched their necks and watched.

The people under the city wall let out a thunderous cry!

There were deep smile lines on Emperor Jianwu's mouth.

After five rounds of shooting, the horse team ran to the drawbridge and stopped. Niu Ben got off his horse, knelt down on one knee, and shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, the banquet is ready, please move your camp!"

Liu Xianglian, Jia Yun, Jia Heng and others shouted in unison: "Your Majesty please move!"

Emperor Jianwu stretched out his hand to help him up: "Be flat!" Then he said to everyone: "Mr. Ning Guo has prepared a banquet in the camp, let's all go there." After speaking, he turned and walked downstairs, passing by Niu Jizong , smiled and said: "Your son is not bad, he will be brought into the palace in two days."

Niu Jizong was taken aback for a moment, answered "yes" and was about to kneel down.

Emperor Jianwu waved his hand: "Don't keep the soldiers waiting for too long." He went straight to the city wall.

(End of this chapter)