"Long live my emperor! Long live my emperor."
When the little pockmarked Emperor Kangxi led Fuquan, Chang Ning, Wang Zhongxiao and others on horseback to pass in front of the elite new Eight Banners army that had already deployed in a large formation, tens of thousands of Eight Banners soldiers suddenly erupted into a roar like a tsunami. The cry of long live shocked Wang Zhongxiao.
This group of Eight Banners soldiers look like elites!
No wonder this little pockmarked man was so confident when he punished Wu Sangui. It turned out that he really had a powerful Eight Banners force in his hands!
Well, at least these Eight Banners soldiers look like a powerful force in terms of their equipment, their morale looks like a powerful force, and their physiques also look like they are a powerful force - foreign medicine has not yet become popular in Beijing these days! Although these Eight Banners disciples don't play horseback riding much anymore, wrestling is still quite popular, so their physiques are still great. Compared with Wang Fuchen's little station soldiers, they are no weaker than them!
Just when Wang Zhongxiao was shocked by the strong appearance of the Eight Banners in front of him, Kangxi had already led him past the sixteen infantry and cavalry phalanxes, and then turned back to the position directly in front of the sixteen phalanxes.
A group of Eight Banners generals wearing various colors of cotton-padded armor and several civil servants wearing robes and coats had gathered there waiting to pick him up. This group of people seemed to be in good spirits. When they saw Kangxi stopping his horse in front of them, they immediately Together, they saluted Kang Mazi and shouted in unison: "The servants (minions) are waiting to welcome the Holy Emperor, long live our emperor, long live the emperor!"
Kangxi seemed very satisfied, nodded and said: "Pingshen!"
Today's "military parade" was a surprise military parade. There was no prior notice, and even Fuquan and Chang Ning didn't know about it. They were suddenly summoned by Kangxi's people. Wang Zhongxiao actually didn’t know that at that time, he was reporting to Fuquan, the Minister of Administration, in the Dongtangzi Yamen about the opening of the Guangdong branch of Ruixintang that he had just received. Now Wang Fuchen, Kong Sizhen, and Shang Zhixin were still marching slowly through Huguang. area, but a team of Ruixintang clerks sent by Yang Qilong, led by an advance team led by Wang An and Wang Quan, arrived in Zhaoqing in advance, where the governor's office of Guangdong and Guangxi is located, with a full 500,000 taels of cash.
In the middle of Wang Zhongxiao's report, the guard who conveyed Kangxi's oral instructions arrived, so he stopped the report and followed Fu Quan to explore the military situation of the Eight Banners New Army.
And after this exploration, I was really surprised!
"Okay, they are much more elite than when I came last time. The eighth battalion of infantry and the eighth battalion of cavalry are all in good shape. They are indeed my disciples of the Eight Banners! Okay, all of them will be rewarded!"
Kangxi was really honest. As soon as he came up, he gave rewards to the 16th Battalion and Eight Banners soldiers below. There were tens of thousands of people. If each person was rewarded with one tael, he would get tens of thousands of taels! He is really willing to give money to his Eight Banners soldiers!
It is no wonder that those Eight Banners disciples in Beijing, no matter whether they are Manchu banners, Mongolian banners, Han soldiers, or regular households, registered households, other household members, or cadres, as long as they have nothing to do, they all want to squeeze into this new Eight Banners army. military.
In fact, the life of these Eight Banners soldiers was not hard. According to Wang Zhongxiao's knowledge, although they did one exercise a day after entering the camp, the exercise lasted only two hours, and the rest of the time they stayed in the military camp. That's fine, you can do whatever you want, but you can't go out. In this way, when Kangxi came to inspect, Yue Le and the others could quickly gather a town's troops, that is, the eighth battalion of infantry and the eighth battalion of cavalry.
Unlike the New Army at the small station, the New Army of the Eight Banners does not have artillery teams, baggage teams, and engineering teams directly under it. Instead, it has sixteen battalions under these teams, and when needed, they will be transferred out to command the two wings (the New Army of the Eight Banners Each town is divided into left and right wings) or the jurisdiction of the president and ministers.
In addition, the Zhenghu, otherhu, and Kaihu bannermen in the Eight Banners New Army can also bring their domestic slaves into the camp! Ordinary soldiers can lead up to two people, that is, one soldier can be served by two slaves, and there will be more if you go up!
After these domestic slaves entered the camp, they also had to participate in military training so that they could serve as auxiliary soldiers and guards during battles, and even fill in after their masters died in battle.
Therefore, Kangxi's Eight Banners New Army had 30,000 soldiers on paper, but in fact they had to count their heads, and even 60,000 people could not stop them!
And these 60,000 people are only part of the force of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty - although there are only 50,000 full-time Manchurian bannermen, but counting the Han army, Mongolia, Kaihu, other households, coated people, domestic slaves, etc., now the entire Eight Banners group The total number of Dingkou from top to bottom is four to five million!
Without this number, Kangxi would not dare to think of annihilating the four feudal lords now!
"Long live Long live Long live"
After Emperor Kangxi announced the reward, the tens of thousands of Eight Banners soldiers outside the Fengtai camp once again cheered like a mountain roar and a tsunami. It took a while before they became quiet again.
At this time, the group of officials wearing cotton armor and robes had already stood in a row in front of Kangxi's horse, bowing and lowering their hands. Of course, standing in the middle were the three presidential ministers Yue Le, Ezha, and Leerjin. However, Kangxi was not here to see them today, so he raised his whip and pointed at a tall man standing beside him. , a "foreign slave" with a big brown beard and a small brown braid on the back of his head, smiled and said: "Master Nan, come here!"
Master Nan is Nan Huairen, the math teacher of Emperor Kangxi and the "chief engineer" of the arsenal of the Manufacturing Office!
Hearing this, Nan Huairen quickly picked up his robe, ran to Kangxi in a hurry, then fluttered his sleeves and gave another standard greeting, "Your Majesty, Nan Huairen, respectfully greets you!"
"Pingshen." Kangxi smiled.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Nan Huairen stood up and bowed.
Kangxi smiled and asked: "Master Nan, I'm here today to see General Weiyuan's cannon. Is it ready for use?"
Nan Huairen replied proudly: "Reporting to your Majesty, I have just led people to try out the Weiyuan General Cannon. The cannon weighs 560 kilograms, is quite light, and is extremely powerful. It can fire 30 kilograms of explosive shells. It can be called a magical weapon to defeat thieves and defeat rebellion!”
Kangxi was overjoyed when he heard this: "Okay! Push it over here and show me!"
"Hey!" Nan Huairen waved his hand and shouted: "Push General Weiyuan's cannon over and let the emperor see how powerful it is!"
Someone from below immediately responded, and then they saw a mortar that looked like a bronze bell being pushed up by several Eight Banners soldiers on a four-wheeled vehicle.
This mortar was cast very large, much larger than the mortar cast by Wang Zhongxiao that fired twelve-pound shells. The twelve-pound mortar used in Suzhou was very light and did not count as a gun carriage (cannon). The frame weighs just over a hundred pounds and can be carried by two strong men.
The Weiyuan General Cannon cast by Nan Huairen for Kangxi seemed to weigh five to six hundred kilograms, making it inconvenient to move.
At the same time that the cannon was pushed up, another group of people followed with a wooden frame. Then they found a piece of flat ground where Kangxi could see clearly, put the wooden frame in place, and then placed the door on the four sides. The cannon on the wheel truck was pushed to the edge of the wooden frame. Then a dozen strong men tied the cannon with ropes, and then inserted seven or eight poles into the ropes. Under the command of Nan Huairen, they worked together to tie the cannon up. This five to six hundred kilogram mortar cannon was lifted off the cart and then placed on the wooden frame. It was hard to watch!
Obviously, this cannon has little mobility on the battlefield.
Although this gun has little maneuverability, the thirty kilograms of explosive shells look quite scary!
A 20-year-old, white-faced eighth-grade civil servant commanded several Eight Banners soldiers wearing cotton armor to skillfully stuff gunpowder and a blooming bomb into the thick and short barrel of the cannon, and then pressed it with a push rod. Then I saw one of them taking out the fire breaker, first lighting the fuse of the explosive bomb inserted into the muzzle, and then lighting the fuse at the fire door at the rear of the gun.
After lighting the fire, these artillerymen did not move away, but stood very firmly next to the artillery, covering their ears with their hands. It was obvious that they were very confident in the quality of the artillery, at least it would not explode. .
Nan Huairen didn't even cover his ears, he just stood there "doing it", making crosses in the air with one hand, and chanting incantations. Wang Zhongxiao stretched out his ears and listened, and it seemed like "Hallelujah" .”
"boom"
Just as Nan Huairen was chanting the curse, a dull roar came! The artillery, which was like a "black cauldron", trembled for a moment, and then saw a stream of white smoke erupting from the muzzle. A black thing spurted out from the muzzle like lightning, and then spewed out from the muzzle at extremely high speed. It flew over Xiao Er's land at an incredible speed and slammed into an open space. It didn't explode immediately - it didn't trigger the fuse!
"Hallelujah! Hallelujah" Nan Huairen chanted the "mantra" louder, and the Eight Banners soldiers who followed him to learn how to fire cannons also chanted the mantra together: "Hallelujah! Hallelujah"
"boom!"
This "cannon curse" was quite effective. The exploding bomb suddenly made a loud noise and turned into a ball of black smoke, covering a large area of land.
"Long live! The cannon is invincible"
The Eight Banners soldiers shouted together again.
Kangxi saw that with a smile on his face, and turned around and boasted to Fu Quan and Chang Ning: "Look, even if Obai is hit by this shot, he can't withstand it!"
Not always! Wang Zhong said filially: Now Obai is not afraid of cannons, but I don't know if Wu Sangui, Wu Yingqi, and my father-in-law Wu Guogui can withstand it!
"Brother Imperial, we have such powerful artillery, can we send troops to pacify Yunnan immediately?" Prince Gong Chang Ning was already a little eager to try. If he hadn't been underage, he would have wanted to ask his brother for a job to go south to pacify Wu and fight. How interesting! There is no need to read, practice calligraphy, or write articles all day long, let alone do the arithmetic problems assigned by his brother - how difficult that is!
Kangxi turned around and asked Nan Huairen, who looked relaxed: "Master Nan, how many Divine Power Cannons do we have now?"
"Reporting to your Majesty, I have now led my men to forge sixteen Weiyuan general cannons!"
Kangxi nodded, "Will everyone below use it?"
"This needs to be learned," Nan Huairen said, "but it's not too difficult. I can send the ministers from Qin Tianjian to teach me."
Kangxi thought for a while and said: "With sixteen Weiyuan general cannons, we can use them for a town first. Let the masters from Qintianjian go south with the team and teach them along the way. Is that possible?"
Kangxi was obviously a little anxious - because there were less and less news coming from Yunnan during this period, Kangxi estimated that Wu Yingqi's power was probably becoming more and more stable!
If Wu Yingxiong cannot be sent over as soon as possible, the battle between Pingyun and Guizhou will be difficult to fight!
Nan Huairen was unsure, so he turned around and shouted: "Wen Kai!"
The eighth-grade civil servant who had just commanded several Eight Banners artillerymen to fire artillery heard this and trotted all the way to Kangxi. He also shook his sleeves and made a thousand salute: "Your Majesty, Dai Zi, respectfully greets you."
"The belt?" Kangxi was stunned, "What belt? Is it in the flag?"
"Chen's surname is Dai, and the one wearing a hat is Dai. Zi is the character for wood with a xin next to it. I am not in the flag. I am from Renhe, Hangzhou, Zhejiang."
Dai Zi?
Wang Zhongxiao immediately remembered who this person was? Isn't this the firearms expert from the early Qing Dynasty? Last time he was in Zhejiang, he was asking people about it, but no one knew about his existence. How could he sneak out to Beijing and sneak into the Qintian Prison in the blink of an eye?
Kangxi asked: "How did you come to Beijing?"
"Chen's father, Dai Cang, had an old relationship with Duolong, the governor of Liangjiang, so he recommended me to the Duozhi Army. The Duozhi Army knew that I liked playing with firearms and gunpowder, so they recommended me to Master Nan."
It turns out that it was Duolong who did it!
Wang Zhongxiao thought to himself: Duolong became the governor of Liangjiang because of me. This really shot Wu Sangui in the foot!
"Oh," Kangxi thought for a moment, "then can you teach the gunners below to use this kind of cannon?"
"Your Majesty, I can take them with you."
"Bring it?" Kangxi was stunned, "How to bring it?"
Dai Zi said: "Your Majesty, this kind of artillery is fired into the sky and cannot be aimed directly. You must first measure the distance, then calculate the gun angle, and then calculate the charge pack. Measuring the range, calculating the gun angle, and calculating the charge pack are the most difficult. But as long as the ten The six cannons were put together for use, and I measured the distance, calculated the gun angles and charge packs, and let each cannon fire according to the gun angles given by me, then there would be no difficulty."
You are deceiving me! Wang Zhongxiaoxin said: Measuring the distance, calculating the angle of the gun, and adding the powder pack are so difficult. There is no need to calculate on the spot. Just calculate in advance the distance and the angle to add the gunpowder, and then write it down in a notebook for the artilleryman to carry with him. ! No, I have to frame you for such a deceitful traitor!
"Wang Datou!"
When Wang Zhongxiao was thinking about framing the traitor, Kangxi suddenly called him.
"The slave is here!"
Wang Zhongxiao quickly got off his horse, ran to Kangxi and bowed to Kangxi.
Kangxi said: "Take this Dai Zi with you. Remember, if you really want to go to the battlefield, you must protect him!"
"This slave accepts the order!"
Wang Zhongxiao stood up, and Dai Zi saluted Wang Zhongxiao with a look of fear on his face - although Wang Zhongxiao was wearing a yellow mantle without patches, the warm hat on his head was wearing the coral top of a second-grade officer!
Can a second-grade official protect Dai Zi, an eighth-grade official, without fear?
Kangxi waved his hand to ask Wang Zhongxiao and Dai Zi to step back, and then shouted: "Prince An, Prince Shuncheng."
Then Yue Le and Eza came up.
Kangxi said: "Uncle, King Shuncheng, Sun Sike's green battalion troops are advancing very quickly. They have passed Langzhong and will arrive in Chengdu soon. In addition, the governor of Shanshan and Shaanxi, Moro Luo, has also mobilized more than ten thousand Gansu and Shaanxi green battalions and troops. A large amount of grain and grass have been transported to Hanzhong. They are ready to enter Sichuan at any time. You two should set off as soon as possible!
Just send troops in the name of escorting Wu Yingxiong south to join the vassal state. There is no need to march into Yunnan and Guizhou, as long as they press to the borders of Yunnan and Guizhou, forming a force of Mount Tai, and then wait for it to change! "
After listening to Kangxi's words, Wang Zhongxiao also took a deep breath.
Kangxi finally took action!
And he was very methodical and not impatient at all. Although Wu Sangui even used the trick of pretending to be sick and dead, Kangxi was still based on being trapped!
And once the army sent by Kangxi established a foothold in Sichuan, Wu Sangui would have to make the same mistake again. He could only march through Huguang, which is densely covered with water networks. Wu Sangui, are you ready?
The news that Kangxi sent Prince An Yue Le to escort Prince Pingxi Prince Wu Yingxiong to manage the vassal affairs, and at the same time sent Prince Eza of Shuncheng County to station in Chongqing in the name of wiping out Liu Yihu, the remnant of the Thirteen Kuidong families, was informed in the form of an imperial edict. The Quartet also told Wu Sangui and Wu Yingqi who were far away in Kunming.
This was of course Kangxi's conspiracy, and he told the world clearly that Wu Sangui was dead and Wu Yingxiong was going to take over. If Yunnan and Guizhou are not convinced, then the heavenly soldiers of the imperial court will not be polite!
On Wuhua Mountain, Wu Sangui, the "very good" king of Pingxi, was sitting in his study in Liecuixuan, holding in his hand a copy of Mingfa sent by Guizhou Admiral Li Benshen, turning over and over carefully.
And several people around him looked a little solemn.
After all, Wu Sangui has been pursuing the path of "supporting troops and loyal to the Qing Dynasty" in recent years. Now he is really going to rebel! He is still a little nervous!
Moreover, Wu Sangui's "pretending to be ill" also showed some disadvantages. Many co-conspirators who were not so close to him didn't know whether he was really incompetent or pretending to be incompetent. They also saw that Kangxi was pressing Yunnan step by step and was very methodical. They all began to retreat and stopped communicating with Wuhua Mountain.
Of course, there are exceptions! Guangxi general Sun Yanling is an exception. He has now left his base in Guilin and sneaked to Wuhua Mountain in Kunming to visit Wu Sangui's "condition". He felt relieved when he saw that Wu Sangui was in full swing. He was also in Wu Sangui's study at this time. in.
The Guangxi general, who was one size younger than Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao, gritted his teeth and said, "My lord, if you think we should start a war in Sichuan?" To be sure, it is better to wipe out the two provinces first. Now that Wang Fuchen, Kong Sizhen, and Shang Zhixin have not arrived, all the armies in Guangxi have listened to me and Ma Zhijun. In Guangdong, General Huanzu and General Liu can provide internal support. As soon as the prince's army arrives, Guangdong and Guangxi will definitely be prosperous. Don't ignore today's Guangdong and Guangxi. The north is in decline, Guangxi and Guangxi are still relatively well-off, and Hao'ao sea trade is very profitable, from where you can also buy Western guns and sharp weapons. If the prince takes possession of Guangdong and Guangxi and connects Yunnan and Guizhou , and then divide our troops to attack Huguang, Fujian and Zhejiang in the north, and finally attack the two rivers, half of the country will be at your fingertips!"
After listening to Sun Yanling's words, Wu Sangui just shook his head and said with a smile: "Sun Junmen, has anyone used Guangdong as a basis for the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains since ancient times? But don't worry. Kangxi sent troops to Sichuan, but it played into my hands. You go to Guangxi Work with Wang Fuchen for a while, and after I have defeated Sichuan and Shaanxi, I will come to Guangdong and Guangxi to help you!"
(End of chapter)
