The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 197 Magical reality, ridiculous

Yang Wenyue stared down sharply.

Several officers from Wuyang and Ruyang Township did not dare to lie and told their own stories.

"Supervisor, Liu Thief did attack Wuyang with Hongyi cannon. I saw it with my own eyes!"

"The rebel artillery is nearly one foot long. Although it is silver-gray, it is thin at the front and thick at the back. It can hit two miles away. It is indeed a Hongyi cannon!"

"I once conducted a reconnaissance after the bandits marched, and there were many tracks that looked like gun carriages. Judging from the number, there must be more than ten!"

"···"

After hearing the conclusive words of these rural soldiers and officers, Yang Wenyue was shaken.

As the governor of Baoding, he knew a lot about Hongyi cannons and even supervised the production of several Hongyi cannons.

The Ming Dynasty began to imitate Western artillery as early as the Zhengde period. Especially during the Jiajing period, many French cannons were imitated and even sold to Southeast Asia and the West.

Even the General Cannon and the Crouching Tiger Cannon have the shadow of Western artillery.

Learning advanced foreign technology is not shabby.

Knowing that people's skills are much higher than yours, but still closing yourself off to the country and not learning, bewildering the people, and even ultimately deceiving yourself, is a fool's errand.

As for the earliest Hongyi cannons obtained by the Ming Dynasty, they were obtained by salvaging a sunken Hongyi (Dutch) ship in Zhaoqing in the 48th year of Wanli, with a total of 22 cannons!

Later, in order to deal with the Jiannu, four were first purchased during the Tianqi period, and then ten were purchased during the early Chongzhen years, and then the road to counterfeiting began.

However, not only does a Hongyi cannon consume thousands of kilograms of iron, it is also not that easy to cast.

It often takes several months to build a batch of Hongyi cannons, and after completion, there are still many unqualified and defective products.

In addition, the Hongyi cannon was too heavy to be used in field battles, so most of the time it was used to defend cities.

Therefore, from the early years of Chongzhen to the present, there are only a few dozen Hongyi cannons imitated by the imperial court, and they are basically located in Beizhili, Xuanfu, Shanhaiguan, and Ningyuan, Jinzhou and other important military cities outside the pass.

Governors and prefects in various places or those who occasionally cast red barbarian cannons generally did not exceed five, and they were all red barbarian cannons with smaller calibers.

Of course, the exception was Sun Yuanhua, the former governor of Denglai - Sun Yuanhua had cast more than 300 red cannons, more than [-] furlong machine guns, and thousands of blunderbuss in Dengzhou for three and four years in Chongzhen!

He also used Western methods to train an elite force that was good at using guns and artillery.

It is a pity that Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and others rebelled and became slaves.

After that, the imperial court strictly prohibited local governors from casting large quantities of guns.

Based on the above knowledge, Yang Wenyue felt that it was impossible for the Runing bandit army to possess at least ten Hongyi cannons.

However, he felt that Gao Douyuan and the few rural soldiers officers in front of him had no reason or courage to deceive him.

If this matter was true, he could understand why the court had not received any relevant information before.

Presumably the local officials who got the news also thought it was ridiculous that the rebels had several or even dozens of Hongyi cannons, so they dismissed the matter as a local rumor or rumor.

But... there were still some points he didn't quite understand in what these people said.

"You said that the cannons of the traitorous Hongyi army are all silver-gray? Can they be pulled by carriages to attack the city?"

Several people nodded, "That's true."

"Those cannons can really hit two miles away?"

"When we attacked Ruyang, we fired artillery two miles away!"

After listening, Yang Wenyue stroked his beard and said: "As far as this court knows, most of the Hongyi cannons are made of pig iron and are gray-black; a few are made of bronze and are green-black; I have never heard of silver-gray cannons.

A Hongyi cannon that can shoot two to three miles weighs at least five thousand kilograms, and it will be even heavier with the cannon carriage.

Don't you think it's ridiculous to say that the bandit army used horse-drawn carriages to pull a dozen Hongyi cannons to attack the city? "

When he said this, Yang Wenyue was already considering another possibility - Gao Douyuan and these rural soldiers officers were all in league with thieves and were working together to deceive him.

At this time, Hu Dawei, who had been listening for a long time, also said in a voice like thunder: "Isn't it that you are having an affair with the thieves and deliberately exaggerating the strength of the thieves' army to scare us into retreating?"

"I waited wronged!"

Several rural soldiers were so frightened that they knelt down.

Gao Douyuan turned red with anger and said angrily: "I am also an official of the imperial court, how can you arbitrarily taint my innocence?!"

Hu Dawei glared and said: "Then the Queshan County magistrate surrendered the bandits. You, Xiping, are right under the noses of the bandits, but you are safe and sound. So what if I suspect that you are having an affair with the bandits?"

At this time, Zhang Dechang couldn't help but help: "Magistrate Gao, you said that the rebel army has more than a dozen Hongyi cannons. It is indeed ridiculous. It is suspected of deterring us from going south to suppress the bandits."

Gao Douyuan never expected that in the face of the rampant thieves, he guarded Xiping cautiously and actively collected intelligence on the thieves, but in exchange he would be suspicious of the superior officials and generals.

I was so sad and angry that I wanted to die.

He didn't bother to talk to the two generals Hu Dawei and Zhang Dechang. He faced Yang Wenyue directly, raised his hands with red eyes and said, "Please supervise the officer to show his innocence!"

Yang Wenyue remained silent.

He was originally suspicious of the information provided by Gao Douyuan, but after listening to Hu Dawei's analysis just now, he felt that Gao Douyuan was even more suspicious.

Seeing this, Gao Douyuan didn't understand what Yang Wenye was thinking?
He was even more sad and angry in his heart, and shouted: "It seems that the official has to die today to prove his innocence!" After saying that, he turned around and walked out of the tent - there was not a single pillar in the tent of Yang Wenyue's Chinese army, and he didn't have any Wearing weapons makes it impossible to commit suicide.

He was going to jump from the North Gate Tower of Xiping to prove himself!
Unexpectedly, before he walked out of the tent, he heard a long and urgent shout from outside.

“Report—it’s urgent to transfer six hundred miles from the capital!”

Soon, the messenger was brought in and delivered an urgent report to Yang Wenyue.

Gao Douyuan was curious, but he was in no hurry to leave.

After reading the emergency report, Yang Wenyue's expression changed drastically. He slapped the desk and stood up, saying angrily: "Gao Douguang is incapable of harming the country!"

As he continued to read, his expression changed again, and he shook his head in disbelief: "The rebel army has hundreds of red cannons? Ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous! Gao Douguang and others must be trying to shirk the blame!"

Hundreds of red barbarian cannons?
Hearing this, not to mention Hu Dawei and Zhang Dechang, even Gao Douyuan, who had previously provided the rebels with at least ten Hongyi cannons, were shocked.

My first thought was that it was impossible.

"Supervisor, what happened?" Hu Dawei was the first to ask.

At this time, Yang Wenyue also read all the contents of the emergency report, frowned and sat down, saying: "On the ninth day of April, Gao Douguang was defeated in Gucheng and Zhugao Town. Huang Degong, the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp, died in front of the rebel artillery. 3 Most of the officers and soldiers were lost.

Afterwards, the rebel army pursued the defeated troops, went down the Huaihe River, captured Huoqiu and Yingshang, and advanced to Yingzhou.

In order to prevent the bandits from attacking Fengyang, Gao Douguang, Wang Xian and others had no choice but to retreat to Shouzhou.Now Yingzhou and other places are probably lost. "

"All the more than 3 officers and soldiers were defeated?" Hu Dawei looked in disbelief when he heard this.

Based on his previous experience in suppressing bandits, he believed that a few thousand officers and soldiers could chase tens of thousands of bandits.

Even with more than 3 officers and soldiers, there is no need to be intimidated by Li Zicheng who has more than 30 supporters. How could he lose to the Runing bandits?

And it was still a huge defeat, even Huang Degong and other warriors were involved. How is this possible? !
Could it be that Liu Thief also deployed hundreds of thousands of people in Zhu Gao?
Thinking of this, he asked: "How many soldiers and horses did Liu Thief participate in the battles of Gucheng and Zhu Gao?"

"The Gao Douguang Army Report forwarded by the capital stated that the Liu bandits only had more than 3 people, but they had hundreds of red cannons, thousands of squatting tiger cannons, and thousands of bird muskets. He also said that the bandit army was all elite. Lost to the army."

When he said this, Yang Wenyue's expression was very complicated, including disbelief, surprise, and fear.

Hu Dawei glared and said: "That's nonsense! Is the red barbarian cannon a big deal? I don't believe that there are more than a dozen rebels, let alone hundreds of them! It must be as the commander said, Gao Douguang's defeat Later I wanted to shirk the blame!”

Yang Wenyue nodded and wanted to answer, but Gao Douyuan below spoke first.

"I advise the Supervisor and General Tiger not to draw conclusions too early!" Gao Douyuan said, looking at Yang Wenyue, "I still have some information about Thief Liu, but because I couldn't prove the authenticity, I didn't report it before. Now I will tell you Come out, the supervisor may wish to refer to it."

Yang Wenyue frowned and said, "You tell me."

"Since the Liu bandits captured Queshan last year, they have behaved very differently from the rogue bandits such as Li, Zhang, and Luo in the past.

Rumor has it that after he conquered a place, he did not leave, but punished corrupt officials, evil gentry and bullies in the city - not only confiscated their property, but also publicly tried these people to win people's hearts.

In addition, Liu Thief has been helping refugees from all over the world, and he will not refuse anyone who comes.First make the young and strong people into brave men, and then select the strong ones to train as thieves and soldiers!
In addition, Liu thieves seized a lot of iron materials in Wuyang last year, and all the soldiers and craftsmen of the Wuyang Ordnance Bureau at that time also plundered them.

Therefore, the subordinate thinks that the idea of ​​the rebel army being well-armed and possessing many artillery sounds ridiculous, but it is not impossible. I hope the supervisor will think carefully about it! "

Yang Wenyue frowned even more after hearing this.

He also knew that there was an arms bureau in Wuyang, but he didn't think that such a small local arms bureau could have many weapons and armor.

However, the fact that Liu Thief obtained a lot of iron materials from Wuyang was beyond his expectation - speaking of it, it seemed that the imperial court could not obtain much iron materials from Wuyang, so how did Liu Thief obtain a lot of iron materials?
After thinking for a moment, he had the answer.

The government-run iron factories are corrupt, and there are many private iron factories.

If Liu Thief could capture all the government and civilian iron yards in Wuyang, he would really be able to obtain a lot of iron materials.

After all, Wuyang had iron officials during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and even the surrounding Xiping areas were famous for their forged weapons.

Thinking of this, he said: "I won't listen to Liu Thief's lies. Don't think too much about it. Just take your people back to the city."

"Yes."

When Gao Douyuan led several rural soldiers out of the camp, he couldn't help but look to the east with mixed emotions.

First, he was shocked by the defeat of more than 3 official troops by the Yibu rebel army at Zhu Gao.

Second, he thought that if the news of Zhu Gao's defeat had not come in time, he would have been impulsive today and jumped off the building to prove his innocence.

In a sense, Thief Liu actually saved his life, which is really ridiculous and ridiculous...

After a few days.

Yang Wenyue successively received news of the fall of Jieshou, Shenqiu, and Xiangcheng.

Suddenly he felt that it was no longer safe for his [-] troops to stay in Xiping, and he wanted to withdraw his troops.

　First more.

　　Looking at Sun Yuanhua's information, after the Wuqiao mutiny and the fall of Dengzhou, Sun Yuanhua persuaded Kong Youde and others to accept recruitment several times. However, they were all sabotaged due to party struggles in the Ming Dynasty and local officials competing for power. It's really funny.

　　The Ming Dynasty really died because of human affairs, not anything else.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)