golden scales

Qin Liangyu is the only female general in Chinese history who was named a marquis by military exploits.It has been 27 years since the Bozhou Rebellion was put down in the 45th year of Wanli. During this period, he has experienced major life changes such as the loss of his husband and son, and he is still resisting bandits and guarding the soil at the age of seventy.After learning that the emperor was on the way, she immediately led troops to serve the king, and was utterly loyal to Daming.

The white-armed soldiers trained by him have made great achievements in the battles of Pingbo, Pingshe, Aiding Liao, Anti-Qing, King Qin, and suppressing bandits. They are truly a powerful army in the world.

As the only remaining famous player, Qin Liangyu's treatment is naturally very high.Zhu Cihong didn't dare to let the 71-year-old veteran enter and exit the battle again, but he couldn't leave him idle, otherwise it would give people the illusion that he doesn't need to be a seasoned general.Thinking about it this way, the position of the General Training Department is pretty good.

First of all, in terms of rank, the four headquarters of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion all have the title of governor, which is consistent with Qin Liangyu's former official.Because of Qin Liangyu's outstanding military exploits and outstanding qualifications, he was awarded the rank of general and ranked above all generals. No one dared to dissatisfy.

In this era, loyalty and sacrifice are still the mainstream thoughts. Even if the hearts of the people are scattered, and some people even think that Zhu Ming has lost his favor, no one dares to deny this mainstream thought.Let Qin Liangyu, the moral benchmark, be the ideological leader of the soldiers, which is indeed much better than the eunuch.What's more, Qin Liangyu's husband Ma Qiancheng was framed by eunuchs and died in prison unjustly. This appointment can be regarded as a spur to the trainer who was born as a middle official.

"The ceremony of conferring seals on the generals of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion will be held at a later date." After Zhu Cihong announced, he motioned for the end of the meeting.

The military generals present soon got the news that this ceremony was not prepared for Qin Liangyu alone, but by taking advantage of Qin Liangyu's status in Emperor Chongzhen's mind to completely let the emperor recognize the military system of the East Palace. Generals with military ranks will be sealed on the altar.

The news was quickly confirmed by the Ministry of Rites.

No matter how difficult the conditions are, the ceremony presided over by the emperor himself cannot be sloppy.All generals have to go to the Ministry of Rites to learn the etiquette of advancing and retreating, and they can only disperse if there is no hindrance in the rehearsal.

Zhu Cihong was most troubled by such a ceremony similar to a religious ceremony, so he personally participated in the preparation of the awarding ceremony to ensure that this newly created ceremony was solemn, simple and elegant.

Among them, "brevity" is the most important.

"Your Highness," Wu Tong, as Minister of Rituals, this matter is naturally his task, "Dare to ask: Do you ascend the altar according to the order of military rank, or according to the rank?"

Zhu Cihong stopped what he was doing: "The ranks are awarded in order of rank."

"Is that the four headquarters in front, or the chief officials of the towns in front?"

"The four headquarters are in front."

"Then, should the banquet be given with nine plays or five plays? Is it according to Hongwu's repertoire or Yongle repertoire? After conferring titles and worshiping generals, should we join the Grand Review? "Song of Pictures"?" Wu Yan asked repeatedly.

These issues are all debated by the ministers of the Ministry of Rites. No matter which one is used, some people can criticize it for various reasons.It is true that Zhu Cihong has worked hard on imperial laws and regulations, but he has never dabbled in such a high-end field as ritual and music.

He has lived in the palace for 15 years, and he has never recognized all the songs and dances played at meals every day.

"Mr. Wu has the final say on this." Zhu Cihong said: "I absolutely support you sir. Well, that, I will go to the governor's mansion for a meeting first, sir take care of your health."

Wu Tong still wanted to talk, but Zhu Cihong had already passed on someone to change his clothes with a haha.

Now, although the Five Armies Governor's Mansion has been changed to the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, the post of the Metropolitan Governor has not been clearly established.This position is too important and must have a high reputation in the army.Zhu Cihong himself has this ability, but he is afraid that once he assumes this position, according to tradition, the future governor can only be held by the prince.

Zhu Cihong is not happy to see such an important military post become a vase, and may even be vacant for a long time.All I can do is to not have a title and just be the actual master.

The topic of today's meeting of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion is to determine the strategic implementation plan for the winter offensive.

"Although our army's purpose is to recover and consolidate a place, this winter offensive is really a chestnut in the middle of the fire. The so-called one can't be repeated. If we stick to consolidation, I'm afraid it will be more troublesome to recover many places in the future." You Shiwei and others A veteran of the Ming army, he was very reluctant to see that the troops were strong enough to sweep, but he gave up because the administrative power could not keep up.

In their view, it is clear that the world can be pacified better and faster by recovering the lost ground first and then slowly rectifying it.However, they did not realize that Zhu Cihong's measures to consolidate the local area were not simply to stabilize the local security, but to tear down old buildings and establish a new order by taking advantage of the opportunity of recovery, screening, and purge.

This kind of work can be easily done by relying on the power of the army. Once the opportunity is missed, it will take several times the effort to make administrative changes.

but……

Zhu Cilang looked at Huangming Kunyu in front of him, feeling quite hesitant in his heart.Judging from the battle report in Shanxi, Niu Chenghu and Zuo Guang first completely defended the southeast of Shanxi and Taihang Xingdao, and the Qing army could not go south at all.From the perspective of the northern line, the Qing army was indeed huddled on the front line of Baoding and Tianjin, and the occasional attempt to go south would be hit head-on.

The whole of Henan is in the hands of local thieves, and the possibility of passing it on is even greater.

If they really rushed forward regardless, no matter whether it was Li Zicheng or Zuo Liangyu, they would always be able to solve one.

"Those who achieve great things must not be overwhelmed by small profits!" Zhu Cihong finally made up his mind: "The winter offensive should still be based on the established goal, and reach Tongguan in the west. Attack Jingmen and Suizhou in the southwest. Xiangyang must be captured before New Year's Day. Today's main Still arrange logistics and equipment."

After Wang Shiqin became the left governor of the General Armament Department, Li Changling also found an opportunity to become the left governor of the General Logistics Department, and adjusted grain and grass for the army governor.

This veteran is over sixty years old, although he himself intends to kill the thief, but Zhu Cihong is not willing to let him go into battle again.Between the lecture hall and the logistics department, he finally chose the logistics department, because the logistics department has a lot of civilians and auxiliary soldiers, and it can make him feel that he is still the leader of the army.

"I have already collected wheelbarrows in Shandong and dispatched them to Henan for military supplies." Li Changling said: "Now is the slack time for farming, and our army has enough civilians to collect and transport grain."

Wang Shiqin also reported the various types of gunpowder, flintlock and artillery collected and deployed over the past few months.

Among them, artillery is the most important thing. Before the appearance of Mini bombs, the range of firecrackers was only a hundred steps away, that is, 160 meters.In terms of the armor-piercing distance, it was only seventy steps.Under this range limit, the artillery that can hit 500 meters away is naturally the protagonist on the battlefield.

The bottleneck restricting the mass use of artillery is mainly the manufacturing cost.

In the first year of Tianqi, Xu Guangqi entrusted a friend to buy 1000 catties of red cannons from Macau, each priced at 100 taels of silver.However, based on two cents of silver per catty of good iron, five thousand catties of iron is only 300 taels, and with added value such as labor and technology, the cost of this cannon is almost [-] taels.

Is it because the Portuguese people are evil?

actually not.This price can definitely prove the sincerity of Jesus to Daming.

The fact is that the scrap rate of mud-cast cannons is too high.

In Europe, if the first pass rate reaches [-]% or [-]%, it is enough to be called a master of cannon casting.Therefore, the selling price of British guns is generally five times the cost.

Donggong Cannon Factory has a great advantage in this respect.Now that the gun factory uses iron molds and internal cooling technology, the first pass rate has reached 90.00%. If the internal water cooling can be further standardized, the pass rate will be even higher, so the cost of the gun is basically only materials and labor.

Moreover, the East Palace did not cast a heavy cannon that is inconvenient to move, but a four-pound cannon that was changed from the 50th style and the [-]th, and its self-weight was about a thousand catties.The cost of this kind of artillery is estimated to be only [-] taels, which can be described as high quality and low price.

Wang Shiqin said: "The [-]th Gai used a large amount of iron body and copper core, which is far superior to the [-]th Type, but the weight is lighter, but the copper material reserves are insufficient. And since the barrel was forged with a water hammer, fire The production of guns has greatly increased, but the supply of Sugang is gradually unable to meet its ambitions.”

China's iron ore is rich in sulfur, phosphorus and other impurities.This time the iron ore excavated from Changzhi is all pyrite, but the mining of high-quality iron ore in Shandong can only be done slowly because of limited technology.This kind of technical problem cannot be solved by Zhu Cihong. He can't even figure out whether to add charcoal or remove charcoal from the steel.

"Expand the scale of the iron factory." Zhu Cihong used the most stupid but also the most effective method.

"In addition, let the navy buy copper from Japan." Zhu Cihong said: "Even if it is more expensive, I can only accept it. Cannon-making must not stop!" (To be continued.)