Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 678 Good News Repeatedly
As the new year approaches, it seems that the heavens have begun to favor Daming, and good news has been delivered to Li Jing's desk one after another.

First, in the northwest, Cao Wenzhao, Hong Chengchou, and Lu Xiangsheng attacked in three directions, sweeping across the entire Hetao area with a devastating force. The Mongolian tribes entrenched in the Hetao area were either expelled or surrendered.

Hearing this news, Li Jing couldn't believe his ears.

How big is the Hetao area?That is thousands of miles away. Cao Wenzhao and others took less than two months to send troops, and it took nearly a month to march on the road. The rest of the time may not be enough to walk around the Hetao. How did Cao Wenzhao and the others do it? did it?
However, the memorial service sent by Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng dispelled Li Jing's doubts. They both wrote to Cao Wenzhao at the same time to ask for credit. Sun Hutou, Zu Dashou, and Wu Sangui each led an army, maintaining a distance of fifty miles between each department, and pushed westward from Guihua City all the way.

In the face of the sharp guns of the Ming army, the Mongolian ministries could only be beaten passively. Later, the Mongolian ministries could no longer organize troops to take the lead of the Ming army.

Since the Ming army marched in parallel, some Mongolian tribes with a large population near the Yellow River were defeated by the Ming army in the inner circle, and when they fled outward, they would inevitably encounter the Ming army in the outer circle.Moreover, after escaping this level, there is still the next level. When encountering the outermost Ming army, there are not many people and horses left in the various Mongolian tribes. At this time, let alone resistance, they will not be able to beat the Ming army.

Perhaps for the sake of fighting for merit, Li Dingguo, Sun Hutou, Zu Dashou, and Wu Sangui fought from Guihua to Ningxia Wei in only half a month at a speed of [-] miles per day.The attack speed was so fast that even Cao Wenzhao himself did not expect it.

When Cao Wenzhao wanted to tell the four to fight steadily, the four had already sent him a battle report from Ningxia Wei. The four had wiped out more than 20 enemies, captured nearly [-] people, and over a million cattle, sheep and horses.

The Mongol forces in the outer circle of the Yellow River were wiped out, and the Mongols in Hanoi had no way to escape. Seeing that the army of Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng was pressing hard, they had no choice but to abandon their weapons and surrender.Relying on the prestige of Cao Wenzhao's cavalry, Hong and Lu recovered the Hanoi area without bloodshed.So far, the Tatar tribes who had occupied the Hetao area for more than a hundred years were completely wiped out by the Ming army.

Although Hong and Lu didn't make much military exploits, they are far from comparable to Cao Wenzhao's ability to govern the local area. When Cao Wenzhao had a headache on how to deal with the 20 captives, Hong and Lu had already begun to put The Hanoi area was divided into farming areas, and then recruits were sent to escort the captives to these areas to prepare for spring farming.

Due to the capture of a large number of Mongolians, cattle and horses, the pressure on farming has been greatly reduced. Originally, Hong and Lu planned to send [-] recruits in the Hanoi area for farming, but now only [-] can basically complete the farming task.

In this way, 7 new recruits will be used to farm the outer reaches of the Yellow River, plus the captives. The number of people who can farm in the Hetao area in the coming year will far exceed Li Jing's expectations.

Hearing the news, Li Jing was overjoyed, and said that Chongzhen's 11-year final battle was well fought, and publicly bestowed Cao Wenzhao with the title of "Unparalleled Good General", and also bestowed on Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng the titles of "starting the army and dismounting to Anbang". No.

The Battle of Hetao went smoothly unexpectedly, and the military operations on the Luzon side also started to go smoothly. Sun Meng wrote in a letter saying that after struggling to bypass a large area of ​​forest and hilly areas, the army began to advance north of Luzon Island. The terrain is flat, and it is estimated that the entire territory of Luzon Island will be occupied within a few months.

Since a large area of ​​arable land was found in the north of Luzon, Sun Meng said in the letter that Zhang Li suggested that the use of troops be postponed in the coming year and that all efforts should be made to cultivate these lands. Feedback a large amount of food to the local Ming Dynasty.

Seeing this news, Li Jingshen took it for granted, and publicly praised Zhang Li for knowing his heart and what the ultimate goal of Ming's sending troops to Luzon was.

What surprised Li Jing even more was that Sun Chuanting sent a fleet to escort back more than ten ships of goods. Although most of them were local specialties such as spices, pepper, and coconuts, there was another ship loaded with precious materials such as jewelry, jade, gold, and silver.

It turned out that when Sun Meng's troops marched to the northern part of Luzon Island, they leveled all the small countries or tribes along the way, and confiscated a lot of money, and these money just solved Li Jing's urgent need.

Another piece of good news was sent back by Yuetuo from North Korea. After Yuetuo arrived in North Korea, he treated Han, Manchu, and North Korea as one, and quickly won the hearts of most Manchus and North Koreans.

In addition, Yue Tuo secretly communicated with Dorgon and others. Since Dorgon's troops are now isolated and helpless, food, cotton clothes and other daily necessities are becoming more and more scarce. surrender.However, Yue Tuo let Dorgon's troops still use the banner of the Qing Dynasty to suppress the various forces in North Korea that did not want to belong to the Ming Dynasty.

Because the latter piece of news needs to be kept secret, not many people in the court know that Dorgon has surrendered, and then someone impeaches Yue Tuo, saying that Yue Tuo secretly funded Dorgon, colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country, and asked Li Jing to remove Yue Tuo from his post.

Li Jing was also extremely helpless about this, he could neither defend Yue Tuo, nor really remove Yue Tuo, so he could only ignore these impeachment memorials.

Just when Li Jing was thinking hard about how to solve this matter, news came from the North Korean side that Yue Tuo was ill, and he was very ill.

Li Jing was shocked when he heard the news, and hurriedly asked Yue Tuo the reason for his illness. He knew that Yue Tuo had learned that someone had impeached him, but Li Jing did not give him a clear answer. People are implicated by him, so their hearts are unavoidably anxious.Yue Tuo's physical condition was not very good in the first place, and after working hard in North Korea this year, his health became worse and worse. At this time, he suddenly fell ill due to anxiety.

Yue Tuo was a rare talent among the Manchus, and few Han Chinese could match his knowledge and talent. It was for this reason that Li Jing entrusted him with the important task of North Korea.

Hearing that Yue Tuo fell ill, Li Jing immediately ordered the Imperial Hospital to select the best doctor and send him to North Korea.

However, Li Jing also knew that Yuetuo's illness was mainly caused by worry, that is, heart disease. The so-called heart disease must be treated with heart medicine, so Li Jing wrote a letter to Yuetuo himself, explaining the reason why he did not express his position before, and then I found Zhu Youjian again, and asked Zhu Youjian to bestow Yuetuo with the title of First-Class Loyal Earl. Yin Yizi thought that after Yuetuo read the letter, his doubts would disappear, and the title of knighthood was even more important to his work this year. Affirmation of achievement.

Although Yue Tuo's illness made Li Jing very worried for a while, more good news came later: the steam engine of the Academy of Sciences was officially announced to be successfully developed.

Compared with the previous good news, this news made Li Jing even more excited.

We must know that the research on steam engines began when Li Jing asked Xu Guangqi to establish the Academy of Sciences in the fourth year of Chongzhen. Since then, basically all the talents Li Jing recruited have participated in this project.

So many people spent countless money, and it took seven full years to finally make meritorious deeds. How could it not inspire Li Jing.

Although the steam engine at this time could only perform the simplest reciprocating motion, and the fuel consumed was completely disproportionate to the power it generated, after the steam engine appeared, it could completely replace the hydraulic stamping machine, and armament manufacturing was no longer subject to seasons and climates.

You must know that the production of ordnance by hydraulic stamping machines depends entirely on hydraulic power. It is completely impossible to start work in winter, and there is not much time to start work in spring and autumn. Only when there is sufficient water during the summer rainy season can work be started at full capacity.

Because of the severe constraints of seasons and weather, the weapon production speed of military factories has not been able to increase. Only the main combat troops in charge of combat in the Ming Dynasty's nearly one million troops are equipped with new weapons, and recruits can only be eliminated by combat troops during training. weapons.

In addition, since the hydraulic stamping machine uses the power of water, the larger the drop, the more powerful the power. Therefore, the ordnance factory must be built under the reservoir, which will undoubtedly pose a great safety hazard. To eliminate the safety hazard, we must The investment in building drainage and flood discharge projects is even higher than building a military factory.

After the steam engine replaces the hydraulic stamping machine, there will be no such disadvantages. Although it needs to consume a lot of fuel, compared with the benefits generated by the steam engine, this consumption is nothing at all.

Because the steam engine can be used not only for military production, but also for civilian use. Li Jing knew that the steam engine was first used in the textile industry after its appearance. The original hand-woven textiles were gradually replaced by machines. This opened the prelude to the first industrial revolution. It can be said that The steam engine has epoch-making significance.

Although Li Jing can't remember the exact time of the first industrial revolution, Daming invented the steam engine now, at least 100 years ahead of Western countries.

The fly in the ointment is that Li Jing only understands the most basic principles of the steam engine, and can only provide everyone with a general idea. The people below have no specific theoretical basis until the development is successful.

This means that for a long time, Daming's steam engine technology cannot be improved.

However, Li Jing believed that as more and more foreign scientists came to Daming, and after a large number of scientific and technological talents in Daming mastered the knowledge of physics and mathematics, the steam engine technology would be improved.

After going to the Academy of Sciences to watch the test run of the steam engine, Li Jing immediately ordered a heavy reward for all the staff involved in the development of the steam engine. In addition to the national award, Li Jing personally gave out 10 taels of silver to reward everyone.

Subsequently, Li Jingling, who was responsible for the development of the steam engine, set up a steam engine manufacturing factory to produce steam engines with all his strength, and then replaced the hydraulic stamping machine with the steam engine.

At the same time, Li Jing asked people to study how to apply steam engine technology to the textile industry.

Obviously, this is another problem, because in order to apply steam engine technology to the textile industry, a new type of textile machine must be developed first. If the original hand-loom machine is used, the income will not be worth the value of the fuel consumed by the steam engine. .

There is a saying that there must be a brave man under a great reward, and there are examples of great rewards for the developers of steam engines. The researchers of the Academy of Sciences are full of motivation and promise that they will definitely develop a textile machine that can use the power of the steam engine.

(End of this chapter)