Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 179: Loyal ministers emerge under intimidation!
The capital of Ming Dynasty,

The soldiers who were preparing to participate in the military exercise were training madly, shedding blood and sweat.

However, the Ming Times spread from the capital to the whole country, and the emperor made minor adjustments to the positions and titles of the five major camps.

Huang Degong served as the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty's Yongwei Group and concurrently held the title of governor.

Sun Yingyuan served as the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty's Loyal and Brave Camp Army Group and concurrently held the title of governor.

Zhang Shize served as the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp and concurrently held the title of Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.

Qin Liangyu served as the commander-in-chief of the White Spear Army and concurrently held the title of Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.

Qi Zhenzong was promoted to general...

Cao Huachun was the governor-general of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, in charge of the military affairs of Northern Zhili Province or Shandong and Liaodong, and his official rank was the second rank.

As soon as the decree was issued, a hurricane-like storm suddenly blew up in the court.

Governor!

In the past, the position was always held by the civil service group. Even Sun Chuanting was a Jinshi. Even though these people in the court disliked it extremely, they could still accept it.

But who is Cao Huachun?

He is just a eunuch without any eggs, what right does he have?
All the civil and military officials in the court were indignant, but no matter how furious they were, they could not stop the emperor in the slightest.

There was no other reason. Almost half of the civil servants in the court had been killed by the emperor.

Currently, one-third of the people in the court were promoted by the emperor, such as Xu Cifu, the director of the Anti-Corruption Department, or Liu Zhifeng, the Minister of Justice who defected to the emperor.

Without certainty, no one wants to be the one who stands out.

In addition, Zhu Changgan also planned to establish a 20,000-strong personal guard camp, which would be led by Cao Huachun himself.

The money and food of the Royal Guard Battalion are paid half from the emperor's treasury and half from the national treasury, so the treatment is the best. It is conceivable that a siphon effect will be formed by that time.

Zhu Changgan also issued an edict at the same time, that is, there would be two opportunities every year to select outstanding officers and soldiers from various border towns of the Ming Dynasty to join the Emperor's Personal Guard Camp.

It’s just like the old A troop in later generations, which only selected the best students.

Don't worry about not being able to form combat effectiveness.

After experiencing two battles, Cao Huachun, Li Banghua and others had higher requirements for logistics support, musketeers, and military medical soldiers. After listening to their opinions, Zhu Changgan and the Grand Council also made some adjustments.

Immediately afterwards, the five major camps quickly entered a period of expansion.

Many farmers' sons in northern Zhili, and even some sons of gentry and wealthy families, came to join the army, and the movement was in full swing for a while.

……

At the same time, the generals of the Ming Dynasty gathered in the capital.

They were ordered to participate in the first military performance of the Ming Dynasty.

July 25th, parade ground south of the city.

"Is His Majesty not here yet?"

"It seems like they haven't come yet. Our names are over there. Let's go and sit over there."

"Have you read the Ming Times? Huang Degong has been given the title of governor. This is the first time in history!"

"The wind has changed..."

"The wind direction has indeed changed. Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's not just to watch the martial arts performance that His Majesty asked us to come here this time, right?"

"Sigh~"

About twenty generals and deputy generals of the Ming Dynasty entered chatting and laughing. From the Wanli period to the Chongzhen period, there were no more than twenty generals in the Ming Dynasty, and they were the highest-ranking generals among the military officers.

In addition to the military officers of the Ming Dynasty, civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty also came. The people from the Left and Right Guards guided them to their seats.

Civil officials and military generals were disgusted with each other.

Just as they were arguing with each other, everyone suddenly stood up because they saw the imperial procession and the emperor had arrived.

"Long live your Majesty, long live your Majesty!"

"My emperor is five years old, long live him..."

All the ministers greeted him and Zhu Changgan asked them to stand up and sit down.

Then, the Minister of the Grand Council and Minister of War Yang Sichang began to recite parallel prose aloud.

Hundreds of people present listened solemnly.

One of them was Wu Sangui, the deputy general of Ningyuan. Zu Dashou no longer dared to enter Beijing.

He looked around and saw that there were not many people present, no more than a thousand.

The emperor, nobles, the prime minister, the cabinet, officials from the six ministries... It can be said that this is the entire court of the Ming Dynasty. The bigwigs whom he normally couldn't even meet were all here now.

Wu Sangui was wondering, what would it feel like if his uncle and grandfather came to celebrate his birthday?
Anyway, at this moment he felt the blood in his body inexplicably speeding up a bit. Just as he was thinking about it, he suddenly realized that Yang Sichang had finished reading.

"Your Majesty, I request your permission!"

"start!"

Yang Sichang raised his hands and waved them violently, and eighteen cannons roared, deafening the ears.

Everyone present was shocked by the sound of the cannon.

But before they could react, they felt the entire ground shaking.

Bang~bang~bang~bang~…

As drums and trumpets sounded, a team of hundreds of infantrymen, carrying the Ming Dynasty's Sun and Moon flags and Star flags, marched towards them in unison.

mighty!

Domineering!

The silver armor, reflecting the sunlight, was so dazzling that people couldn't open their eyes.

Thirty times thirty columns, nine hundred people, moved towards the crowd like a mountain.

Like a torrent...it gave people an irresistible momentum, but what was even more shocking was that their footsteps were actually in sync.

Exactly.

gorgeous!

Stunning!

When his footsteps stepped on the ground, they made exactly the same sound, which made all the officials and generals present look at him sideways and get goose bumps on their backs.

The steel torrent is overwhelming.

Compared with later generations, these are nothing but drizzle, but the civil servants who fight for power every day in the court have never seen such a scene.

Those who were training soldiers in the border town every day held their breath when they saw this scene, their eyes widened and their chests heaved. How could they be so uniform?

Because they are the generals and deputy generals, they know that everyone is flesh and blood, and it is impossible to do it...

The team approached step by step, and the ground seemed to tremble slightly under the footsteps.

When the footsteps reached the center, all the soldiers in the formation suddenly turned their heads and looked at the emperor sideways.

"Thank you for your hard work, soldiers!"

"Fight for Ming!"

The shouting made their eardrums vibrate. Everyone stood there in a daze, completely shocked.

Are these the emperor's left and right camps? !
They were still immersed in the scene just now, and the next moment, the ground began to shake violently again.

Rumble…

Teams of cavalry galloped towards this side.

Brave Guard Battalion!
Hundreds of military horses rushed towards a square in front of the emperor. It was not until then that everyone suddenly noticed something like wooden stakes tied in the middle of the venue.

The cavalry was still accelerating, moving quickly in everyone's sight as if charging.

"Kakaka..."

Wherever they passed, the heads of all the wooden stakes were chopped off. Not only that, the cavalry suddenly dispersed and then suddenly came together.

Sometimes it was in the shape of a straight line, sometimes in the shape of a cross, and the next moment it became a circle...

However, the speed of these cavalrymen did not slow down at all.

Such a magnificent scene made everyone present stunned.

Until the cavalry finally formed a square and passed by the emperor.

"Thank you for your hard work, soldiers."

"Fight for Ming!"

Then it swept away into the distance like a flood.

Next, soldiers carrying muskets appeared one after another. They were the same as the guards who carried the flags before, but this time they were carrying muskets on their backs.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on them, and then an even more astonishing scene appeared. Nearly a thousand musketeers suddenly dispersed and began shooting at the wooden stake where the cavalry had just chopped off their heads.

The shooting speed is extremely fast.

Although the distance was only a hundred steps away, everyone present was horrified to see that the belly of the wooden stakes was hit and wood chips were flying everywhere. Every wooden stake was hit, and scarlet blood was exposed at the parts where the stakes were hit.

The scene is shocking!

All the civil servants in the court were silent, but the generals and deputy generals had their chests heaving and their mouths dry.

Watching the scene in front of me in disbelief.

It’s so accurate?

Is this the fire gun of our Ming Dynasty? When did it become so powerful?

They knew about muskets, but it was good enough if the thing didn't explode. Even if it was fired, no one knew where the bullet would go. They could only hope it didn't fall on their own people.

But now... he can actually hit whatever he points at from a hundred steps away. The meaning behind this makes everyone's heart tremble with uncertainty.

Especially these twenty or so generals, their eyes looking at the muskets were burning like fire, and they wished they could hug them in their arms.

The civil servants' eyes were more fixed on the person firing the musket. Is this the Beijing Camp?

Is this still the Beijing Camp that was despised by all the officers and soldiers in the border towns and was specifically responsible for raising second-generation rich people?

At this moment, thousands of people present, including dukes, civil officials, and military generals, all stood there in a daze, with frozen expressions on their faces.

Everyone changed color... They had never expected such a martial arts performance.

It overturned their understanding of the Ming army.

Before, we only knew that the Ming army won a great victory in Tongzhou, then a great victory in Tianjin, a great victory in Miyun, a great victory in Mongolia south of the desert... and won the battle, but they had no idea how they won the battle.

But now... they seem to know.

In fact, it is very simple. The Jinyiwei hollowed out these wooden stakes and poured pig blood into them.

This is how we achieve the current results.

After the thousand men finished shooting, they checked their guns one by one, then formed into a square formation again and shouted that sentence to the emperor.

"Fight for Ming!"

However, just as they were shocked and trembling, the storm in their minds was brewing.

Yang Sichang whispered something in the emperor's ear, and the emperor nodded, "Yes!"

Then Yang Sichang shouted loudly: "Your Majesty has ordered everyone to move!"

Move?

Is there more?

Everyone followed the emperor to a high platform. At this time, a young eunuch came over with a telescope and handed it to everyone.

"Look over there, that's where the artillery shells will land." Yang Sichang pointed to everyone.

Everyone followed the direction Yang Sichang pointed and saw a slope with cross-shaped targets marked on it.

At this time, a flag bearer waved a flag towards the distance.

next moment,
The earth shook and an even more magnificent scene appeared.

The shells rained down on the hillside.

Boom boom boom~~~
After the shell landed on the slope, a secondary explosion occurred.

In an instant, the sky darkened, dust, rocks, and flames rose high, and smoke blocked out the sun...

The sound of artillery fire lasted for nearly an incense stick of time. The hands of all the civil servants and generals who were holding the telescopes were sore, but no one put them down.

Finally... the smoke cleared.

Everyone gasped again. The slope that was originally covered with trees and grass was now completely gone.

There's not a single tree left...it's full of holes.

Many people's Adam's apples rolled and they swallowed their saliva dryly. They looked at the emperor in disbelief and then looked towards the slope.

Refresh their minds again...

Zhu Changgan glanced at everyone meaningfully and said, "I am tired, so I will go back first."

He looked at the catalogue handed over by Cao Huachun.

The next thing should be to take them to visit the artillery, muskets, and logistics vehicles of the Yongwei Battalion, such as military dining vehicles, as well as grain transport vehicles, artillery vehicles and other equipment. I will not go there myself.

The purpose of this military exercise is to warn these civil officials and military commanders in the border towns. He wants to let these people know that the current Ming Dynasty is not the same as before where anyone can trample on it.

It is no longer the precarious Ming Dynasty.

We have a strong army with advanced equipment. We can defend against external attacks and deal with internal bandits. But if you want to attack us, we don't mind cleaning you out as well.

Now that the goal has been achieved, the right thing to do is to go back and enjoy myself. Should I stay here with them and enjoy the breeze?
The emperor left, but all the civil officials and military officers present were stunned by this martial arts performance.

Too shocking, too frightening.

The civil servants all had gloomy faces, and the generals also had extremely ugly faces. Among them, Zuo Liangyu, Wu Sangui and others had extremely bad faces.

They had never imagined that the five major camps had become so powerful that they stunned everyone present.

They were amazed by both the military strength and the equipment.

The purpose of the emperor's "invitation" to them to watch the martial arts performance is self-evident. What remains to be seen is what they will do next.

Under such circumstances,
Everyone's situation was a little delicate. The generals hoped to stay and show their loyalty to the emperor to see if they could get some cannons and muskets back.

People like Zu Dashou did not dare to enter the capital at all, for fear that the emperor would hold him accountable, so he only sent deputy generals.

At this moment, these deputy generals hope to leave quickly and return to pass the information back as soon as possible.

"Su Cun, do you want to leave now?"

Wu Sangui clenched his fingers and said, "I...will go back in a few days."

He also wanted to go back, but there was something on his mind that had not yet been resolved.

You have to ask clearly before doing that, otherwise you will feel unwilling to leave like this.

Before going to Beijing this time, Wu Sangui still had some confidence, but now he has no confidence at all.

……

Then everyone looked at the various types of weapons in the Armory.

The first is the chain fire gun (thunder gun).

The so-called chain fire gun was a machine gun-like fire gun improved by Zhao Shizhen, a fire expert in the Ming Dynasty.

There is a shield on it that can block the arrows of the Tartars. In addition, after all the projectiles are shot, there is also an axe on the back that can be used to chop people in close combat.

Now it has been improved again by the Armory Department and turned into a hand-cranked musket that can fire continuously and can be reloaded with ammunition after firing.

It became somewhat similar to the Gatling gun that was invented later.

"Bang bang bang..."

All the civil and military officials saw was flames gushing out, and a wooden house in front of them, along with its window frames, was hit and sawdust flew everywhere.

The fruits and vegetables on the table were beaten and the juice splashed everywhere...

When the sound of musketry died down and the smoke cleared up, everyone's Adam's apples rolled and their throats became very dry.

"Boom~~"

A palm-sized thunder directly blew the wood up into the sky.

Everyone was so frightened that they could not help but step back, but they heard a lecturer from the Brave Guard Battalion say with a smile: "Don't worry, this is just because there are no nails or stones added. It is not that powerful. If those things were added, we would probably have been injured even if we were standing here now."

Going further ahead, there are new artillery pieces, explosive packs...a wide variety of firearms that are too dazzling to look at.

The various and intensive shocks made everyone's brain unable to react.

I was completely stunned by these new and powerful firearms.

If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they really wouldn't believe that the firearms of the Ming Dynasty had actually developed to such an extent?!
When they came out of the Yongwei Camp, the civil servants and military generals looked at the sun and moon flags fluttering in the wind on the training ground with dull eyes, and no one knew what they were thinking.

They didn't notice at all that there was a eunuch staring at them, then turning around and recording something.

If you get closer, you can see the names of every general and deputy general written on it.

Behind each name, the person's expressions, actions, and words are recorded.

The reason why the Jinyiwei people recorded it was not because they were afraid that the information about the firearms would be exposed.

Since it has been equipped in the Yongwei Battalion, it means that this thing is no longer the most advanced one. The most advanced one has been trial-produced on a small scale in the Weaponry Department.

The target is these traitors.
……

The second update is here, thanks everyone, please vote!
(End of this chapter)