Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 33: Ready to stop the exchange?

Chongzhen walked quickly to the front of the artillery, staring at the French cannon, looking at it constantly and touching it from time to time.

Except for Wang Chengen, all the ministers looked at the emperor in confusion, not understanding what was wrong with him.
Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "General Huang, come here and shoot me again."

Huang Degong didn't understand why, but he still cleaned the barrel himself and loaded the gunpowder... Finally, with a loud "bang", it fired violently.

Before the smoke and dust had cleared, Chongzhen rushed over to check the power.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty...please slow down." Wang Cheng'en was behind and could not catch up no matter how fast he hurried.

Chongzhen touched the hole on the target wall, and his Adam's apple kept rolling.

Chongzhen had said before that he had high hopes for artillery, so he had a relatively good understanding of artillery.

He had seen the power of the Francois cannon before. Because of its sub-cluster gun structure, the power of the Francois cannon was not as great as that of the Red Cannon.

But at the moment, what he saw was that the difference between the two was not that big.

The key is that it’s only been a few days?

Then, Chongzhen asked Song Yingxing and others to test-fire the flintlock rifle. Looking at this musket that could be fired without a fuse at all, he remained silent for a long time.

"Your Majesty..." Wang Chengen wanted to say something, but Chongzhen sighed and said, "Return to the palace."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The people who stayed in the Armory looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Your Majesty, what does this mean?" Huang Degong touched his big head, not understanding what was wrong with the emperor?
Song Yingxing also shook his head and said, "I don't know. He was fine just now and said he wanted to say something... Paper shell fixed bullets, how could he suddenly leave?"

Wang Hui's eyes flickered, and he whispered, "I heard that His Majesty has been ill recently, but I don't know if it's true?"

"fall ill?"

Wang Hui nodded and said, "My uncle is an official in the capital. I went to visit him yesterday when I arrived in the capital. I overheard him mention this matter. He said that the emperor would have an attack at night."

He pointed at the setting sun and said, "I guess it's time."

……

Chongzhen sat in the sedan chair, clenching his fingers with a gleam in his eyes.

"Can we really turn the tables by relying on firearms?"

But then he shook his head and said, "No, the Later Jin also had firearms, but their strongest weapon was their cavalry. The Ming Dynasty was weak in cavalry, not firearms."

Although he admitted that Zhu Changgan had improved firearms, he still lacked confidence.

Without him,

The maximum range of the musket was 140 steps (more than 200 meters), but the effective killing range was less than 40 steps (60 meters). At such a close distance, even if there were thousands of people holding flintlock rifles, they would not be able to fire more than a few shots before the Later Jin cavalry would rush to their side.

The cavalry charged into the ranks of the infantry, and a massacre ensued.

"Impossible!" Chongzhen shook his head again, as if to cheer himself up.

Just as he was thinking about it, Wang Chengen's voice came from outside, "Your Majesty, we're here."

Chongzhen walked out of the sedan chair and suddenly thought of something, "Wang Chengen, how is the selection going?"

"Your Majesty, the Qingming Festival has just passed, and the Empress has already started working on this matter."

Chongzhen patted his head and said, "Oh, I forgot about it. Never mind. Tell the Queen that I don't need it anymore."

"Ah?" Wang Chengen couldn't help but be a little confused. He was urging so close the day before yesterday.

Today, because of Zhu Changgan's banquet for wealthy businessmen, Chongzhen roared and roared in Prince Xiang's Mansion... and said bluntly that today was the last day, and he would never exchange bodies with Zhu Changgan again.

He is not just talking and letting it go.

In addition, during the day, he not only heard the voice of Concubine Yuan, but also seemed to hear the voice of the Emperor's sister-in-law.

How can this happen?
Chongzhen admitted that Zhu Changgan was better than himself in making money and improving firearms, but he could not hide his flaws. No matter what time, the ancestral etiquette and laws should not be ignored.

He was prepared to temporarily call off the exchange with Zhu Changgan.

……

When Chongzhen returned to the Qianqing Palace again, he looked at the memorials on the desk.

The whole person fell silent again.

The top one is a memorial from the Criminal Department’s Censor.

Chongzhen unfolds,

"Today's drought is no ordinary disaster. Half of the land under heaven's tax revenue has been emptied. Add to that the scorching sun and the extreme drought. The land between Wu, Yue, Chu, Yu, Yan, and Qi is tens of millions of miles long. Those that have not been completely emptied will soon be completely emptied."

The second letter was a memorial from the Governor of Henan.

"The ice and snow in Shandong and Henan have not yet melted, so farmers have missed the season and are unable to plant crops, so the autumn harvest will inevitably be reduced."

The third letter was a battle report sent by Chen Hongfan, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong coastal area.

"Huang Taiji sent his brother, Wuying County Prince Ajige, to join forces with Korea to attack Pi Island..."

In the fourth letter, Hong Chengchou reported on the bandit suppression in Henan.

The fifth letter...

There are draft documents behind these memorials. For example, the memorial submitted by Chen Hongfan, the general of Liaodong coastal area, has the written comments of Yang Sichang, the Minister of War, on the back.

Yang Sichang said bluntly: "Although Chen Hongfan and Shen Shikui are not enough to help Korea, they are more than enough to hold Pi Island. We should quickly deploy troops to key points to block their invasion routes. If there is any news of crossing the sea, we should treat them as hostile guests and take surprise measures to deal with them, and we will be able to achieve our goal."

Chongzhen agreed with Yang Sichang's statement.

Shen Shikui, the general of Dongjiang, had more than 12000 soldiers on Pi Island, plus the 8000 soldiers brought by Chen Hongfan for support, a total of more than soldiers.

In addition, the island was equipped with a large number of firearms, including more than 360 kilograms of gunpowder, more than 900 fire pots, more than rockets, and hundreds of muskets and fire bottles. In addition, Pi Island was surrounded by the sea due to its geographical location.

There will be no problem in defending Pi Island.

But when Chongzhen turned it over again, he found that Zhu Changgan had drawn an "X" on the front of the memorial. He could not help but shake his head and snorted coldly.

"After all, you are still young. How can you handle military affairs in a day or a night?"

Chongzhen read a few more memorials and made some comments on them.

Before I knew it, it was already late, and the eunuch's voice could be heard from afar, "It's dry, be careful with fire!... It's the third watch!"

Chongzhen stretched his waist and felt that he had not handled state affairs in this way for a long time.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."

Suddenly, a eunuch stumbled in from outside, "Urgent news from Liaodong!"

Wang Chengen hurried over to take it, unfolded it and placed it in front of Chongzhen.

Chongzhen stood up suddenly, his eyes wide open, "How is this possible?"

Wang Chengen glanced over and saw the following words written on the memorial:

"On the night of April 4, the Qing army launched a surprise attack on Pi Island. Qing general Samushka led the elite troops of the Eight Banners together with the Korean soldiers to break through the Ming army's defense line.

Although the Ming soldiers fought desperately, they were unable to reverse the defeat. More than 10,000 people were killed. Generals such as Jin Riguan and Chu Jigong died in battle. Shen Shikui was captured by Geng Zhongming's men. All the men on Pi Island were massacred..."

……

　In the Ming Dynasty, one foot was one step, two feet were one step, and one step was about 1.5 meters.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)