Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 706 The War Between the Rich and the Poor
With the recovery ability of the Ming army, in less than six days, the Storm, which had already been battered to the point of losing its skeleton, became plump again. It was used as the flagship, and it was equipped with seven sailing battleships including the Nautilus, Hangzhou, and Manila. Forming a fleet, they flocked wretchedly in front of Wu Sangui's water village.

The two-kiloton heavy rifled gun can hit four or five kilometers at the farthest, but the accuracy is only between 1000 and 4000 meters. However, the accuracy is the last thing Xu Haihouzi cares about. It seems that there is no use for shells. Just about [-] meters away, this group of battleships randomly projected towards Nanchang at the maximum elevation angle.

Just look at the cannonballs scrambling to be the first and landing in the water village like headless flies, most of them floated in the water, and 98 of the [-] cannonballs were empty.

But Wu Sangui's army couldn't stand the two hits, and they were going to die!Hundreds of thousands of Wu troops were in fear, and saw a certain cannon smashed on the watchtower, on the building ship, and entered the tent on the shore. Amidst the sawdust flying, four or five people met their ancestors in the bloody mess .

About 40 people were killed or injured a day. According to this number, Song Qingshu could send Wu Sangui's Huguang Chu army to hell after another [-] years of fighting. And every day, only the iron shells coated with lead would cost two to three thousand shells. , not to mention gunpowder, Song Qingshu will definitely suffer if the fight continues like this.

It's a pity that people are not machines. Wu Sangui, who was stationed under the city of Nanchang, only saw that he was passively beaten every day, and dozens of brothers died every day, and he was worried about shells falling on his head anytime and anywhere. This kind of unbearable mental pressure was particularly tormenting. , Since the Poyang Lake flood battle, in August, there have been three to 4000 soldiers who have deserted and fled, and the morale has dropped at an alarming rate.

As a last resort, Wu Sangui also had to order to fire back.

Regardless of whether we can hit the beggar warships such as the fly-sized storm ship 4000 meters away, our cannons are also firing anyway. The consequence is that Wu Jun's gunpowder reserves, which were already less than [-] tons, have been further reduced.

"No matter what, get gunpowder for this king, damn gunpowder, the more the better!"

His Excellency King Teng, who has a beautiful scenery in Nanchang, his cannibalistic roar reverberated in the ancient buildings, breaking all people's moods for the beautiful scenery. These days, Wu Sangui is amazingly old. He was only in his thirties and the number one in his prime Big traitor, his face is wrinkled as if he was 50 or [-] years old, his beard is a bit messy, and a new layer of hair has grown on his head, most of which are white, but the more he is like this, the more Wu Sangui looks like a wounded jackal In that way, it became more and more brutal.

In the past few days, the deserters who were caught were taken directly outside the camp to light the sky lanterns. The smell of burnt flesh is still in the air, and they dare not mention the matter of retreating. He could only kowtow and agree.

"Your Majesty, don't worry, you will definitely complete the task in the end!"

Half an hour later, more than 2000 cavalry rushed out of the camp, and under the envious eyes of many soldiers, they rushed all the way west, towards the direction of Chu.

These more than 2000 people, like the plague gods from hell, immediately plunged Huguang and half of Jiangxi into dire straits.

Wuchang.

In the middle of the night, people have fallen into a deep sleep. Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed on the stone pavement, a lot of torches were shaking in the streets and alleys, and the frightened dogs barked wildly. Suddenly, the century-old Jingmen Yaoguan The gate was kicked open violently, and before the old immortal Chu of the medical hall came forward with a few staffs in panic, some servants rushed in like wolves and smashed the medicine jar to the ground.

More than a dozen cans of sulfur and soil nitrate were put into sacks, and they were dragged away. Along the way, the rebels also looted most of the property in the hospital. Watching these guys retreat fiercely, they sat on the steps of their own house, more than 80 The old doctor patted his thigh and cried bitterly.

"A sin!"

This scene also happened in various medical clinics, even temples, and gymnasiums in Huguang, but in comparison, this old immortal Chu is considered lucky. The officers and officers of the Wu army in the Jingmen and Tianmen areas are also like ants, scurrying around. It's just that what they want is not sulfur, but people!
The tyranny is as fierce as a tiger. It really feels like Qin Shihuang is building a mausoleum. The men in nearby counties and counties are almost empty, and tens of thousands of people are forced into the pyrite mines in Jingmenshan, the soil nitrate mines in Tianmen Xiaoban, and 10+ people were pushed into Jingmen Mountain, almost cutting down the green forest in the mountain, and the charcoal used for gunpowder was smelted in the black smoke soaring into the sky.

The production environment is extremely harsh, and the daily labor load is astonishing. The absentees who are forced to put down their hoes and pick up their pickaxes are frantically whipped by the mine head with a whip in the dark and poisonous mine, and the food is still the best. Rough and moldy grain, every day, the corpses of sick and dead workers fill up mine pits one after another.

The war not only brought this bit of suffering, but in order to support the hundreds of thousands of absenteeism and the hundreds of thousands of Wu troops on the front line, Wu Sangui's army also reached a heinous level of plundering of food. In August and September, the harvest season of summer grain began , has always been known as Huguangshu, the Wu Sangui area of ​​Chu, which is full of the world, has caused an unprecedented famine. Even many landlords had to abandon the famine, and fled with their only little things. In order to support the war, Huguang's economy began to collapse.

But on the contrary, Jiangnan under the jurisdiction of Song Qingshu hardly felt it was also supporting the war.

The common people did not feel the hardships brought about by the war at all, and even the war brought many people opportunities to get rich and new jobs.

In the early morning, when they came from Japan, dozens of ships of sulfur arrived at Songjiang port amidst the bells of the ship. Immediately, groups of dock workers excitedly climbed onto the ship, carried them down, and loaded them on four or six wheels. On the wagon, they drove to the densely packed workshops in Songjiang, Changshu and other places.

After receiving the orders from the government, the newly emerging small industrialists led the hired workers to crush the sulfur, soil nitrate mines from Southeast Asia, and charcoal sent from Taiwan to synthesize gunpowder, even black powder. It is dangerous enough. In order to ensure the safe production of workers, these small workshop owners also provided enough salaries to stimulate production. The manpower of several state capitals was once again tight, but the pockets of the lower class citizens followed suit. drum.

Song Qingshu couldn't control how the Japanese worked so hard to mine sulfur. In short, after paying the money, the gunpowder that went to the front line of Poyang Lake every day was inexhaustible.

Similarly, not only the gunpowder industry, countless merchant ships brought rice from Southeast Asia to Songjiang and Hangzhou, and finally transported it to the dining table of the Ming army. Six days ago, a lively pheasant in Alishan, Tainan was chopped off its head and plucked its hair. Bloodletting, and finally thrown into a large pot to cook, put in various seasonings, the production of fragrant.

Nowadays, bamboo tube cans have been eliminated because they are too bulky. With the development of smelting technology, aluminum skin cans are now used. In the production workshop, workers wearing white cotton robes and masks put them into aluminum skin cans while they are hot. After heating and disinfection again, it is immediately sealed with a lid. Under the heat expansion and contraction of the air, the sealed cans form an oxygen-deficient environment, which curbs the growth of bacteria. Such cans can be stored for more than one year.

The workshops that also produce shells, the workshops that produce ropes, planks, rigging, and other related industries have all followed suit. The lower-level workers have money in their pockets, and their expenses are no longer so tight. The ready-made clothes on the market come from Various industries such as sugar, fruit, preserved fruit, candied fruit, and snacks in Southeast Asia also followed suit.

Finally, the owners of these related industries feed back wealth to the state through taxation, and continue to invest in orders, forming a virtuous circle.

Of course, this is not something that can be replicated by all countries. Thanks to Song Qingshu's rampant dominance, he almost monopolizes the vast Southeast Asia, and has opened up a huge market in India, supported by cheap raw materials and labor. The set really doesn't work.

The so-called industrialization does not necessarily refer to how miraculous the technological upgrading is. When the output value of the secondary and tertiary industries such as industry has surpassed that of agriculture, then it is the beginning of industrialization.

As Song Qingshu did not worry about the continuation of the war, the Battle of Poyang Lake had far surpassed the bloody fight between Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang, and spent August, September, October, and November without any surprise.

The southeast battalion, the third front army, and the heavy carts with boxes parked in the square where the legion was stationed, the orderly staff came forward with crowbars to pry open the boxes, immediately revealing thick cotton coats one after another. There are some exquisite embroidery on it. However, several divisions and soldiers of the Ming Army who were practicing did not even squint their eyes a few times. Song Qingshu issued clothes four times a year, and added several more times during the war. This is already the first distribution. It's been three times, and now they can't send the extra clothes home. Sending clothes is a bit numb to them.

On the contrary, the ringing of the dining hall’s bell is still a bit attractive to these soldiers. At noon, when the tinkling bell rings, a large group of hungry and crazy Ming soldiers rushed into the newly repaired cafeteria. Someone shouted excitedly.

"Pork with bamboo shoots! I finally don't have to eat fish today!"

At the mention of canned fish, Ming Jun even retched.

However, compared to the Ming army who ate fish and vomited, it is only a lake away, and the Wu army barracks on the opposite side is another scene.

Not to mention cotton clothes, many Wu Jun could not even afford single clothes. In the cold, they could only huddle in tents, not to mention drills, and it was rare to go out to the toilet. Under such circumstances, Wu Jun soldiers did not dare to practice at all.

"These young soldiers!"

Lying on the boat patrolling and spying, Wu Jun, who was swallowing hard, could only envy sourly as he watched the Ming army patrolmen take out the cans in their arms and eat white rice.

(End of this chapter)