"Smoke! Smoke! Master, there is smoke coming from the beacon tower!"
Fan Chengmo, who transformed into the "Wangfu Stone", was "looking at his husband" when his neck hurt, when Goshiha's scream suddenly came to his ears.
He quickly raised his telescope and looked eastward - there were peak fire towers on Jintang Mountain, Cezi Mountain, and Daxie Mountain on the islands outside the Yongjiang River Estuary, and there were seven or eight peak fire towers on Zhoushan Island in Dinghai, which was farther away.
If the Ming army came from the sea and wanted to land near Dinghai or Ningbo, these beacon towers would light beacons and alert Ningbo.
But Fan Chengmo stared hard and looked hard, but he didn't see a wisp of smoke rising from the beacon towers.
"No, there's no smoke..." Fan Chengmo didn't find any smoke and was still asking.
"To the north," the Goshiha shouted back, "the peak fire tower in the north is smoking!"
north?
When Fan Chengmo heard this, he was so nervous that cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
It turns out that the Qing army set up a large number of beacon towers in the coastal areas of Zhejiang, Jiangnan, and Jiangbei. No matter where the Ming army invaded from, there would theoretically be a peak fire warning!
In addition, starting from the beginning of the 13th year of Kangxi's reign, the Qing army spent a lot of effort to transform and strengthen the forts in the coastal and coastal areas of Zhejiang, Jiangnan, Jiangbei and along the river. They built simple forts behind these forts and also built simple forts. These turrets are equipped with Weiyuan general cannons that can fire explosive shells and small-caliber mortars (that can fire super-caliber shells).
Although there is no sugar ammunition to issue to the artillery below, the black powder issued to them is much higher than the original level - the top student Kang Mazi is now personally grabbing the gunpowder firearms, and he can't produce enough white sugar now. , but he can play with black powder as he pleases. There are many natural saltpeter fields in northern China. Every year during the slack season, local farmers would dig up some saltpeter soil and boil it to make saltpeter and sell it for a small amount of money.
Kang Mazi also learned how to purify fire salt and make granular gunpowder from the Portuguese slaves who fled to Beijing. When he had nothing to do, he conducted experiments with a group of Taoist priests who knew how to make alchemy, Hanlin. After developing relatively powerful granular gunpowder, Emperor Kangxi personally took charge of the production... Of course, the servants of the Ministry of Internal Affairs would be upset when they met Daoguang, a foolish master, but they would not dare to deny it when they met Emperor Kangxi. Seriously be a slave.
After all, the current Kangxi is not even afraid of beheading, how can he cure a few dog slaves? Therefore, the products of the gun factories and gunpowder factories currently controlled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs are quite good.
It is no exaggeration to say that the current coastal defense level in the southeastern part of the Qing Dynasty is even better than the coastal defense level during the Opium War in history!
But what the Qing Dynasty is now encountering is the Ming Navy, which is "especially focused on riding and shooting" and is supported by the people along the coasts of Zhejiang and Jiangnan!
Fan Chengmo, governor of Zhejiang and governor of Nanyang Navy in the Qing Dynasty, knew all too well that his enemies not only came from the sea, but also from the countryside of Zhejiang, and even from the cities of Ningbo and Hangzhou.
Moreover, because Emperor Kangxi wanted to concentrate his forces to defend the Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps, he also transferred the flag army coefficient stationed in Zhejiang. Apart from the "Foreign Eight Banners Navy", Fan Chengmo was left with only a few green battalion soldiers and regiment drills...
He didn't dare to think about it anymore, but he still had to grit his teeth and turn his head to look north.
Sure enough, all the beacon towers built along Hangzhou Bay in the north have been lit!
"Hurry, go back to the mansion!" Fan Chengmo said in a trembling voice, "Hurry and call someone... call someone to come to the Governor's Mansion for a military meeting!"
"嗻!"
The Goshihars responded loudly, half of them went separately to call for help, and the other half gathered around the lost Fan Chengmo and headed towards the Governor's Yamen at the foot of Zhaobao Mountain.
When Fan Chengmo arrived at the Governor's Yamen, Yu Chenglong was already waiting there, sweating profusely and looking anxious. He knew at a glance that something was wrong.
"Yu Shan, what happened?" Fan Chengmo asked directly, ignoring the pleasantries.
Yu Chenglong shook his head repeatedly and said: "Rebellion! Rebellion!"
Fan Chengmo quickly asked: "Who rebelled?"
"It's all the opposite!" Yu Chenglong stamped his feet, "Didn't I go back to Hangzhou City the day before yesterday to handle Ling Chi and Yao Qisheng's errands?"
"Yes! Why are you back?" Fan Chengmo also remembered that the edict of Emperor Kangxi's disposal came down a few days ago.
Kangxi gave an instruction: "Since Yao Ni's son is dead, there is no need to surrender. According to the crime of treason, Ling Chi is guilty of treason." Kangxi originally loved talents and wanted to use high-ranking officials and generous salaries to recruit Yao Qisheng. However, there were too many things recently, so he decided to do this. He had forgotten about it, and he didn't remember it until he came to ask if he wanted to chop Yao Qisheng into pieces. However, Yu Chenglong's memorial said that Yao Qisheng's beloved son committed suicide in prison... At this time, Kangxi gave up all thoughts of surrendering and approved Yao Qisheng's execution in Lingchi, Hangzhou, to frighten Xiao Xiao.
Lingchi is a big event, and Zhejiang Inspector Yu Chenglong always has to preside over it.
So Yu Chenglong said goodbye to Fan Chengmo and went to Hangzhou on an official ship. Unexpectedly, he came back after only two or three days.
"Zhijun, we can't go to Hangzhou!" Yu Chenglong said, "I just arrived at Cao'e City and I can't go forward!"
"What's wrong? Did Zhu San's grandson's people land..."
"It's not Zhu San's grandson, it's a local traitor in Shaoxing!" Yu Chenglong wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, "Actually, they are a bunch of Shaoxing country people who are instigated by a group of league leaders with ulterior motives to rebel against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty."
"What?" Fan Chengmo's eyesight went dark and he almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, Goshiha beside him was smart and helped him up.
Yu Chenglong stamped his feet and said: "Your Majesty was deceived by that old thief Huang Zongxi. None of these regimental training leaders who spent money to buy officials are good! They heard from somewhere that the Nanyang Navy was wiped out and the Guangdong rebels landed on Songjiang, The news in Jiaxing is all contrary... The emperor still expects them to help suppress thieves!"
In fact, Emperor Kangxi never expected these regiment leaders to help fight the war - it is only the thirteenth year of Kangxi. Just more than ten years ago, Zheng Chenggong's army marched straight along the Yangtze River and fought all the way to the gates of Nanjing!
At that time, people all over Jiangnan overwhelmingly supported Zheng Chenggong!
It was only because of Zheng Chenggong's defeat at the gates of Nanjing that the Manchu rule in Jiangnan was consolidated.
But the generation of people who longed for Wang Shisi’s great Ming Dynasty are still there!
They did not agree with the Qing Dynasty from the bottom of their hearts. Kangxi handing over the Jiangnan local grassroots to them was tantamount to giving up.
But if he didn't hand it over to them, Kangxi didn't have enough troops to garrison, he didn't have an army, and he couldn't get the support of the local scholar-bureaucrats. In fact, he still gave up... So Kangxi could only use Huang Zongxi's strategy to extort a sum of money and food. .
Yu Chenglong said again at this time: "Although they are all a mob, they are powerful in numbers, and they are all indigenous people who are familiar with waterways. Moreover, the people of Yuyao, Shangyu, Kuaiji, Shanyin and other counties have also rebelled with them. We They were almost captured... Zhijun, please quickly mobilize your troops to put down the rebellion!"
Fan Chengmo still had a few soldiers on hand. He was the governor and had thousands of supervisory standards. Although they were green soldiers, these green soldiers were fed by Fan Chengmo with money and could still be used at critical times.
"Okay!" Fan Chengmo gritted his teeth, "If I can't beat Zhu Heji, why can't I beat a group of Shaoxing countrymen?"
As soon as he said this, one of his masters rushed in from outside, holding a notice in his hand, "Master, master, it's not good... the people of Wenzhou have rebelled!" "
"Wen, Wenzhou?" Fan Chengmo was surprised again, "Did Tian Futai send an envoy to ask for help?"
Wenzhou was on the front line against the Ming Dynasty, so Tian Fengji, the governor of Zhejiang, personally took Fu Biao to defend the city.
"No," the master shook his head, "Tian Futai has already died for his country! It was a notice from the Taizhou prefect (another name for the prefect). The notice said that five days ago, the traitor Zhu San Taisun personally led an army of 100,000 to invade Wenzhou. The state city of Ruian was besieged, and the thirteen regiments that entered the city that night to help defend the city rebelled, opened the city gates, and welcomed the rebels into the city. Tian Futai had no choice but to hang himself to die for his country..."
Fan Chengmo plopped down and sat on the ground, muttering to himself: "It's against me, it's against me, it's all against me!"
