In May of the 18th year of Chongzhen's reign in the Ming Dynasty, Anqing City.
This Fucheng, located at the intersection of the Wan River and the Yangtze River, is now the most prosperous port city in the western part of the Jianghuai Plain. It is not only a passage connecting the Jianghuai Plain and the fertile land in the south of the Yangtze River, but also connects the edge of the Dabie Mountains through the Wanhe River with many tributaries. Rice, tung oil, bamboo, and tea produced in Anqing and nearby Luzhou Prefecture, wood and various mountain products from the Dabie Mountains, from Huguang and Sichuan in the upper reaches and Jiangnan in the lower reaches, as well as various products from the Wannan Mountains on the other side, are all here intersection. There are even some objects from the East, South, and West that have been sold here after traveling thousands of miles.
The whole city is noisy and noisy, business is prosperous, the people are happy, and there is a gathering of humanities. Although it cannot compare with Hankou Town in Huguang and those commercial metropolises in Jiangnan, in the view of Chen Yongxi from Taiyuan Prefecture, Shanxi, Anqing City is prosperous and rich. , but it is incomparable to those Shanxi towns where Shanxi merchants gather.
However, what surprised Chen Yongxi who came from afar was not the prosperity of Anqing, but the fact that the entire city was enveloped in a weird and chilling atmosphere.
The merchant ship at the Mi Shang Yao Bridge in Hankou was berthed at the Yicheng Du Customs Wharf in the south of Anqing City. When waiting in line to pay the tax, Chen Yongxi, who was feeling a little dizzy after sitting on the boat for several days, took a Yao family member with him. The guys got off the boat and walked around. As soon as they left the Anqingguan Pier, they saw Ming soldiers lined up in four neat columns, trotting over from somewhere outside Anqing City, and then entered the south gate of Anqing City.
These soldiers were all fully armed, wearing battle hats on their heads and red cloth armor on their bodies. Some of them carried long spears as long as eighty-nine feet long, some carried swords and javelins, and some carried long spears on their backs. of walking bow.
This is not what surprises Chen Yongxi the most. What surprises him most is that the weather today is a bit sultry. It is now noon, and the sun above his head is at its hottest.
"Is this the Crown Prince's new army to overcome difficulties?" Chen Yongxi asked with a frown.
"Yes," the guy from the Yao family who accompanied Chen Yongxi had obviously been to Anqing Fucheng several times and was familiar with the situation, "They are the Anqing Guards of the New Army."
"Anqingwei?" Chen Yongxi was stunned, "Is it Ban Jun?"
"It's the Ban Army," the guy said, "but it's different from the Anqing Guards in the past. They have been reorganized... I heard that Uncle Xiangcheng personally presided over the reorganization. Those who can eat but not be beaten All of them were opened, and mountain people who could endure hardships and were not afraid of death were recruited from the Dabie Mountains. Each person was given fifty acres of paddy fields, so we started practicing day and night."
Nowadays, the number of lands granted to the guards of the New Army is not uniform. It depends on the quality of the land where the guards are located, and how far away from the front line it is?
Anqing's land is fertile, with many paddy fields, and it is far from the front line, so there are fewer farmland grants.
"Mountain people can indeed endure hardships," Chen Yongxi nodded and said, "Poor mountains and harsh waters produce elite soldiers... But to be able to train soldiers like this in such a short time, Uncle Xiangcheng is still capable."
The guy laughed and said: "How can the prince's fifty acres of paddy field be so easy to get? There is a elimination system for the last place, and there is a quota for elimination every year. Even if everyone has practiced well, they still have to find the worst one. People are eliminated, and as soon as they leave, the jobs assigned to them are taken back! Do you think the people below can do their jobs well?"
Chen Yongxi was stunned, "What? Such a elimination method?"
"The last one will be eliminated, Chen Jishan. You will know when you become the Crown Prince's official...Officials must also be eliminated from the last position. This is Mr. Wei Ge's way of rectifying the officialdom."
ah? Even when he became an official, he behaved like this...Zhang Juzheng was not like this! Chen Yongxi thought to himself: Isn't this Wei Zaode too cruel? Aren't you afraid of offending the officialdom? Aren't you afraid that the official and censor will impeach him every day?
Thinking of this, Chen Yongxi was not in the mood to visit Anqing City anymore. He turned around and was about to return to the Yao family's merchant ship. When he walked outside the Anqing Pass pier, he was stopped by a small group of also fully armed customs guards.
"Martial law now! Release after an hour!" The one who loudly announced martial law was the eldest son, who was already darkened by the sun. He has survived Xiaolingwei's devilish training and has become a ferocious "tax policeman" of the Ming Dynasty.
"Why the martial law?" Chen Yongxi stepped forward and cupped his hands, "I am Ji Shan from the Prince's Palace, coming from Datong..."
"Stop talking nonsense and come back in an hour!" Zongzi interrupted Chen Yongxi's words with a wave of his hand.
why is it like this? Chen Yongxi said in his heart: Ji Shan is also an official, how dare you, a soldier... He was about to get angry, but the Yao family guy on the side pulled him and whispered: "Ji Shan, he is the eldest son." , Your Majesty Tianhuang!"
The eldest son? He was as tan as charcoal, but he still wore so many clothes on such a hot day... Chen Yongxi thought to himself: Prince, if you treat your brothers like this, Emperor Taizu Gao will be angry if he finds out!
Chen Yongxi didn't want to mess with the charcoal-looking eldest son, so he and the waiter stepped aside, found a tea stall and sat down, ordering a pot of tea and some snacks.
When the tea and food were served, the Yao family's waiter asked the tea stall owner: "Is there regular martial law at Anqingguan Pier recently?"
"It's not that often. Martial law was enforced three or four days ago. I don't know what was transported to Anqing. I saw many big boxes and asked people from Anqing Guard to carry them."
Three or four days ago, a batch of blunderbuss and gunpowder were shipped, all of which were used to equip the Anqing Guards!
Although Anqing Guard is not the front line, it is the key point guarding the Yangtze River. The south wall of the Anqing City Wall was built along the Yangtze River embankment. Outside the city are the docks and the Yangtze River. The river in this area is very narrow, only two miles wide. As long as cannons are mounted on the south wall of Anqing City, the river can be completely blocked - the south wall of Anqing City Wall is very long, and dozens of cannons can be mounted on it. If those artillery can be used correctly, Anqing City will be an insurmountable fortress on the Yangtze River.
Therefore, soon after Zhu Cixiang pacified Nanjing, he sent Xiangcheng Bo Li Guozhen to Anqing to serve as the general garrison of Anqing Prefecture. He also asked him to vigorously rectify the Anqing Guard and form a new Anqing Guard Army. He also allocated a sum of money to strengthen the Anqing City Wall - the Anqing City Wall is rectangular, so there is no need to worry about the side adjacent to the Yangtze River. However, the other three walls had to be strengthened and reconstructed so that the outward side of the wall had a certain inclination, and a prismatic gun platform was built at the same time.
Because the south wall of the Anqing City Wall did not need to be reconstructed, Chen Yongxi did not notice the Anqing City Wall reconstruction project. But he encountered a batch of artillery arriving from Nanjing!
What were pushed out from the dock today by the coolies and soldiers of the Anqing Guard were six brand-new copper-cast red barbarian cannons. They were products of the Nanjing Artillery Making Bureau under the Generalissimo's Mansion - the Nanjing Artillery Making Bureau was followed by the Tianjin Guard. The "Yicong Craftsmen", plus some craftsmen recruited from the southeast, were part of the government-run military factory. Through Alfonso Lopez, several foreign technicians from the Macau Bugalao Gun Factory were hired as engineers to supervise the production. artillery. There are only three types of products produced by the Artillery Bureau.
One is the standard 12-pound red barbarian copper cannon - not a self-improved product, but a standardized imitation, still cast from easy-to-process bronze. The field gun mount used was also designed by foreign technicians in Bugarao. The six 12-pound Hongyi bronze cannons that Chen Yongxi saw were the first batch of artillery produced by the Nanjing Artillery Factory.
The second is artillery shells, including solid shells, shotgun shells, and chain shells, all of which are standard imitations.
The third is gunpowder, which is also refined and processed in accordance with the specifications of the Bugalao Gun Factory.
In addition, Alfonso Lopez also purchased dozens of 3-pound regimental cannons for Zhu Cihong - most of these artillery pieces were products of the Bugalao Artillery Factory, and some were bought from Goa. They were also made of expensive copper. gun. They will be used as field guns for the artillery regiments of the Model Army.
And this three-pound regiment gun will also become a mass-produced weapon of the Nanjing Artillery Factory in the near future - according to Zhu Cixiang's plan, the Nanjing Artillery Factory will only produce two types of artillery for a long time in the future. They are 12-pound Hongyi cannon and 3-pound regimental cannon, and all of them are copper cannons that are relatively easy to produce.
