Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 170 The opportunity for metal fixed ammunition!

"Your Majesty, I am guilty!" Cao Huachun bowed deeply when he saw the emperor for the first time, "I beg to retire and return home!"

"I already know what happened. It's not your fault." Zhu Changgan helped Cao Huachun up. "I will use the army against the Qing Dynasty next. I need you to take on more responsibilities."

"Your Majesty, I feel guilty!" Cao Huachun's eyes were red, "If I betray the royal family, I will be demoted three levels according to the law."

"Level 3... Previously you held the title of Minister of War, so... you will hold the title of Vice Minister of War."

"Your Majesty, this is inappropriate, isn't it? The demotion is less than three levels..."

"If I say you should be given the title of Vice Minister of War, then you should be given the title. If anyone has any objection, let them come to me." Zhu Changgan asked Wang Chengen to bring a stool over for Cao Huachun.

He is over sixty years old. He just came back from a victorious battle and it was really hard to bear to see him kneeling on the ground like this.

The two talked for a while, and Zhu Changgan personally saw him off. When he returned to the Qianqing Palace, he happened to meet Ma Shiwei who came to meet him.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!"

Zhu Changgan paused, "How is the matter going?"

"Your Majesty, Ezhe's handwritten letter has been delivered to Liaodong, and the Jinyiwei is working on it. Whether it will succeed or not will depend on the next few days." Ma Shiwei said with a bow.

Operation, this word is exactly what Ma Shiwei learned from the emperor.

"Don't put all your hopes on Su Tai alone. I heard that Geng Zhongming's first wife and son are still in Ming Dynasty..."

……

Liaodong, the residence of Prince Zheng.

A woman in her thirties was wearing a long skirt. Her long, slender, and well-proportioned legs made her look taller. Her black hair hung on her shoulders, outlining her delicate facial features and sexy lips.

This person is now Jirgalang's third wife, Su Tai.

But at this moment, she was pacing back and forth in the mansion, holding a piece of silk in her hand, with a hint of urgency and worry in her eyes. She asked the maid, "Did you see who brought it in?"

The maid shook her head and said, "I didn't see it."

Su Tai couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. How terrifying it was that the Ming court could have reached into Prince Zheng's mansion without him noticing, while the Qing court was completely unaware.

Although she knew it now, she didn't dare to say it out loud, because the letter written on the brocade was from her son Ezhe.

Su Tai was Prince Zheng's woman, but before that, she was the woman of Ligdan Khan of the Chahar tribe of Mongolia south of the desert.

Two years ago, Lindan Khan contracted smallpox and died tragically on the grassland.

The twelve-year-old eldest son Ezhe ascended the throne with the support of his biological mother, Queen Mother Sutai, the most beautiful woman in the Yehe tribe of the Jurchens and the Queen Mother of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Upon hearing the news, Huang Taiji decided to kill all of Ligdan Khan Yubu.

Dorgon, Yuetuo, Jirgalang and Hauge led 20,000 Eight Banners soldiers from Shengjing, marched day and night, and arrived at the Qinghai grassland in two months, and surrounded the Northern Yuan Khanate.

Dorgon sent Su Tai's brother to persuade the Later Jin to surrender. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Su Tai did not dare to fight against the enemy with an egg, so he surrendered to the Later Jin.

The imperial seal of the Yuan Dynasty also fell into Dorgon's hands.

The 429-year-long Mongolian Empire, the 364-year-long Yuan Dynasty, and the 267-year-long Northern Yuan Dynasty came to an end.

Lin Danhan's eight beautiful wives had become widows at this time, but their charm was still as great as before, and each represented a different Mongolian tribe.

It was spotted by the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty and snatched away.

It was at this time that Su Tai became Jirgalang's third wife.

But although she married him, she did not give birth to another son for Jirgalang. His only son was Ezhe, Prince of Chahar.

Now that she suddenly heard that her son was captured by the Ming court, how could she not be anxious?
Su Tai asked the maid again, "Has Prince Zheng returned?"

"I came back, but I heard that the emperor summoned me, so I went out again."

"You go down first!" Su Tai's face looked ugly. Her son was captured, such a big thing, but Jirgalang didn't even tell her. This made her feel even more resentful.

After the maid left, she opened the silk again and read it again. Her eyes became red, "My son is so miserable!"

When his son was twelve years old, Su Tai was abducted by Jirgalang to be his third wife. Not only had she not seen her son for so many years, but now that something happened, he didn't even notify her. How could Su Tai remain calm?

What did Ezhe write to his mother?
Naturally, he wrote whatever Ma Shiwei asked him to write.

If you want to survive, you have to find a Ming Dynasty surrendered general of the same rank as you to exchange for him. Given Prince Ezhe Chahar's status, the surrendered general of the Ming Dynasty is at least at the rank of a general.

But until now, there is only one general who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and that was Chao Pichang last year.

However, as the first general-level general of the Ming army to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, Chao Pichang had a huge influence within the Ming Dynasty.

When Ming Dynasty officials discussed the rebel generals later, they would always put Chao Pichang's name before Kong Youde, who was made a king by the Qing Dynasty. "Chao Pichang and Kong Youde were plotting against each other. Shouldn't they have stopped it earlier?"

However, in the Han Eight Banners sequence of the Qing army, Kong Youde was the number one general and the leader of the Three Shun Kings, but Chao Pichang surrendered to the enemy as a general. Within the Ming Dynasty, he was valued more than Kong Youde.

But Chao Pichang had already been exchanged with Haoge, and his body is now in a different place and included in the "Bi Chen Zhuan" of the Ming Dynasty.

"He's not his own son, so naturally he doesn't want to save him. But as a mother, I have no choice but to save him!"

"A Ming general who surrendered... a Ming general who surrendered... and a Ming general who surrendered of the same rank as Prince Chahar." Su Tai murmured, "Except for Prince Sanshun, there seems to be no one else."

Su Tai thought for a long time and finally made up his mind. He went to the kitchen and threw the brocade into the stove.

"Fujin, you..." The maid who came in from outside changed her expression when she saw this scene.

If Su Tai kept the silk, it meant that she was going to give it to Jirgalang, but if she burned it, then...

Su Tai looked at the maid and said, "You followed me from the grassland. I gave you two ingots of gold to save your mother. Now it's time for you to pay it back."

The maid was stunned for a moment, then lowered her head, "It's up to the Queen Mother to order."

"Remember Geng Zhongming in The Three Shun Kings?"

"Of course I remember that old pervert. Almost everyone in Shengjing knows that he stays in Zuichunlou for a long time and likes other people's wives the most. I heard that he tried his best to find a Manchu woman. The first two times he came to Prince Zheng's mansion, his eyes fell on you."

Su Tai gritted his teeth and said, "I want you to be a middleman and bring Geng Zhongming here."

"Queen Mother, you..."

"Don't ask so many questions, just do as I say." Su Tai said coldly.

According to what his son Ezhe wrote, he only needed to provide an opportunity and did not have to do it himself. Among the surrendered generals of the Ming Dynasty who met the conditions, the only one who met the conditions was Geng Zhongming, one of the Three Shun Kings.

This man was extremely lustful, and the look he gave her before was as fiery as fire, which made her extremely unhappy.

Unexpectedly, now is an opportunity. She wants to use herself as a bargaining chip to lure Geng Zhongming over.

After giving all the instructions, Su Tai hung a red lantern on the tallest tree in Prince Zheng's Palace according to what was written on the brocade.

…As the red lanterns were hung up, a man stood up from a restaurant across the street from Prince Zheng’s Palace. “I don’t want to drink anymore. Something happened at home. Let me pay the bill!”

Not long after the man left, he went into a brothel, and the madam came out to greet him, "Still the same old rules?"

"Old rules!"

Throwing two ingots of silver to the other party, the madam smiled brightly and said, "As long as you have the money, you can play however you want!"

"Call Chun-Li over here."

Soon, a woman came upstairs and entered the room. The floor creaked as she stepped on it. The woman was very fat, with broad shoulders and a thick waist. "Two brothers, have you eaten yet? I'll make you some food."

"Okay, go ahead and come back in later."

"Okay!" The woman turned and left, but not long after she left, another man came in and locked the door.

"No one noticed?"

"no!"

This woman was carefully selected by them, but she doesn't even get a single customer in a month and it's hard for her to make a living.

The two of them gave her double the money, so she was naturally very happy and did whatever they asked her to do.

The Jinyiwei who came in first said, "The fish has taken the bait, but we don't know if she really took the bait or just lured us over to catch us all in one fell swoop. To be on the safe side, after this meeting, we won't meet again until the final action."

"it is good!"

"From now on, I will be in charge of Prince Zheng's Mansion, and you will be in charge of the operation..." Then the two of them started to discuss.

When the woman pushed the door open, she found that the two men had just finished playing chess.

"My Lords, these drinks and food also cost money."

"Don't worry, you won't be short."

After the two men finished eating and drinking, they let the woman knead them for a long time before they left leisurely. The fat woman was sweating and angrily cursed: "This is a brothel, not a clinic. Ouch, I'm so tired..."

……

Geng Zhongming was so frightened by Chao Pichang's incident a few days ago that he never left the house. Even if he went out, he would only go to the homes of his acquaintances.

Today, when I heard that Prince Zheng had invited me, I naturally did not dare to neglect him.

Although he was also conferred the title of king, he could still distinguish between the big and small kings. He was a Manchu prince, while he was at best a man given a title by the Qing emperor, which was good-looking but useless.

So he quickly asked the butler to harness the horse, and got on the carriage to Prince Zheng's mansion.

But when he arrived at the place, he found out that it was not Prince Zheng who came to see him, but the Third Lady. He was confused and asked, "I wonder why the Third Lady came to see me?"

Su Tai twisted his waist and poured a cup of tea for Geng Zhongming, which made Geng Zhongming's eyes widen and stare at Su Tai's buttocks.

"I want to know the whereabouts of my son in the battle of Mo Nan." Su Tai asked with a smile, suppressing his nausea.

"This..." Geng Zhongming naturally knew Ezhe's whereabouts, but Prince Zheng had not told him. Now that he said it out loud, he was afraid that Prince Zheng would come after him.

Su Tai pulled out his handkerchief and said, "Prince Huaishun, what is there to hide? I already know what happened. Wasn't he abducted by the Ming court?"

The muscles on Geng Zhongming's face twitched a few times. The fragrance from Su Tai's waving of her handkerchief just now made him distracted.

"Gulp!" Geng Zhongming's throat kept rolling. "Since the Third Lady already knows, it doesn't count as something I said. As far as I know, the Emperor was extremely furious about the battle in the south of the desert. Not only did Prince Zheng come to the palace, but Prince Gongshun also came to the palace to discuss how to deal with the Ming court..."

Geng Zhongming couldn't help but tell what he knew.

Su Tai didn't notice the confirmation at all. His eyes turned cold when he looked at Geng Zhongming, but then he smiled again. "Prince Huaishun, I can't reach your back. Can you help me see if there is anything here?"

"Ah? Oh... let me see..."

……

Qianqing Palace, after the last bloodbath in the court, the voices in the court became much more unified.

Zhu Changgan finally had another happy event: sulfuric acid was produced by the Military Equipment Bureau.

"Let's go and have a look with me."

"Your Majesty, please slow down, slow down..." Before Wang Chengen could react, he saw the emperor running out. He hurriedly ran behind him with the teapot in his hand, shouting at the emperor to slow down and watch his step.

"You don't understand. When this thing comes out, it's not just a small step forward for the Ming Dynasty, but a big step forward, the kind that can make people laugh..." Upon hearing the news, the excitement on Zhu Changgan's face was visible to the naked eye.

Sulfuric acid has existed as early as the Western Han Dynasty, but it was made using Lanfan as the raw material, with low output and was not widely used. Zhu Changgan asked them to use the contact method.

The Ming Dynasty had a large amount of sulfur, pyrite, and gypsum, which were all natural raw materials for making sulfuric acid. Zhu Changgan had previously provided an idea to the Armory, and now it has finally paid off.

With sulfuric acid, nitric acid is not far away, because nitric acid can be made from concentrated sulfuric acid and saltpeter.

Sulfuric acid and nitric acid are the mainstay of the modern inorganic industry.

Once these two things are made, won’t we have the primer mercuric fulminate and nitrocellulose?
With this thing, smokeless gunpowder is ready. Is the metal fixed-load bullet that Zhu Changgan has been dreaming of far away?

When Zhu Changgan saw the colorless, odorless viscous liquid appear in front of him, he was so excited that he could not express it in words. He awarded the great merit to all the people in the sulfuric acid department of the Military Equipment Department, and gave them a reward of 500 taels of silver and a promotion of three ranks.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness!"

The people in the Armory who were in charge of making sulfuric acid were all excited.

Zhu Changgan could not hide his excitement and said: "From now on, the security level of all of you will be raised to the highest level. I will build separate houses for you, and I will find Jinshi in the court to teach your children. In addition, there will be special subsidies."

At the beginning, none of them wanted to do this, because making ammunition, muskets, and cannons was the most popular and easiest. As long as they improved the craftsmanship and range, they could earn 100 taels.

But now it’s all worth it.

From now on, the emperor will take care of all their food, clothing, housing and transportation, and they will also receive money. The only thing is that they are not as free as before. They have to report in advance if they want to meet anyone, but for them, this is nothing.

Their wives and children have already been brought to live with His Majesty, and they don't socialize much. Their biggest hobby is to play with these bottles and jars.

Now that the emperor has bestowed grace on them, what else do they desire?

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Long live His Majesty, long live His Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, long live..."

Zhu Changgan quickly asked people to help them up and asked Wang Chengen to give them silver. Practicality is the most sincere, and only sincerity can move people's hearts.

……

(End of this chapter)