Zhenjiang Prefecture, Gaozi Town.
This small town located near the border of Zhenjiang and Jiangning has now become a sea of "killing people and Confucianism". Tens of thousands of "armed Confucian scholars" in red robes and red turbans or red robes and yellow turbans have arrived here one after another since August 18th.
However, they did not immediately go west to Jiangning Mansion to save the tomb of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty who was "kidnapped" by Sun Sike. Instead, they deployed defenses in Gaozi Town and waited patiently for the arrival of follow-up troops.
It was not until August 28 that the flag of the "Ming Dynasty Supervisor", which symbolized the highest power of the new Ming Dynasty, marched into Gaozi Town under the escort of thousands of cuirassiers.
These thousands of cuirassiers cannot be purchased casually. They are the "black technology" troops of the 17th century!
First of all, the thousands of pairs of breastplates equipped by these cavalrymen are not available to everyone - they are made of graphite crucible steel and repeatedly hammered with water hammers and hands!
It can be said that it is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and material-intensive, but it has extremely strong defensive power. It can even withstand shotgun fire at a distance of twenty or thirty steps.
Before Zhu Heji led his troops to leave Guangzhou, the new Ming Dynasty, which had the strongest iron smelting industry in East Asia, could not produce a thousand pairs of breastplates like this! After all, Foshan Iron Industry had just begun to build blast furnaces with dolomite bricks at that time, and tried to make coke and graphite crucible steel. The production capacity has not yet been formed, and a small amount of crucible steel is still used for the production of flintlock guns. Therefore, when Zhu Heji sent out troops, the entire army had less than 300 pairs of steel breastplates.
However, in late August, with the continuous arrival of steel breastplates, Zhu Heji was finally able to equip all the thousand cavalrymen in the two towns with strong breastplates!
In addition to the breastplate made of graphite crucible steel, this elite cavalry also possesses another weapon that also uses graphite crucible steel extensively - a flintlock gun!
In fact, Zhu Heji's army had already begun to equip a small amount of flintlock muskets. After he captured Foshan Town, he began to issue orders for flintlock muskets to the furnace households in Foshan. Although at the beginning, the flintlock muskets produced by furnace owners were of poor quality, with a one-time ignition rate of less than 30%, far inferior to the turtle-dove-foot muskets lit with match ropes. Moreover, due to the poor quality of the iron material, the manufactured flintlock gun was heavier than the original Western product. So much so that the musketeers of the Xinming Army refused to have these flintlock rifles, preferring to use turtle-dove-foot muskets.
So at that time, Zhu Heji could only equip officers and cavalry with flintlock pistols. Among them, officers were equipped with flintlock pistols. The cavalry also did not rely on flintlock guns to conquer the world. They were soldiers who rode on horseback and threw grenades.
However, with the emergence of graphite crucible steel and Foshan Iron Industry gradually mastering the key to manufacturing flintlock muskets...a batch of flintlock muskets sent to the Jiangnan front line in August finally passed the test!
Because the flintlock guns produced by the New Ming Dynasty were all pistol and short-barreled cavalry rifle types at the beginning.
Therefore, the flintlock guns sent to Jiangnan in August were still pistols and rifles.
New Iron Fist rocket launchers are also being sent to the Jiangnan front line one after another. This new rocket launcher was designed by Leibniz with the help of Zhu Heji. He repeatedly calculated the amount of black powder and the weight of the warhead, and finally came up with a "long-range iron fist" that could reach a range of about thirty-five steps.
The "bombs" equipped by the cuirassiers who escorted Zhu Heji to the front line of Gaozi Town were the latest Iron Fist rocket launchers!
In addition, this cavalry is also equipped with a "low-tech" but very effective weapon-a hollow wooden spear.
This kind of mounted spear, which was popular on the battlefields of Eastern Europe, was also "brought" to Zhu Heji by Leibniz. This signature weapon of the Polish Hussars is hollow, so it is lighter and can be made longer. Moreover, this kind of wooden spear will break by itself when it stabs the enemy, thus achieving the purpose of releasing the force, so there is no need to let go and no wrist injuries will be caused. The disadvantage is of course that it is more expensive and not very durable.
However, the number of Zhu Heji's cavalry is limited. Typical "special warfare elites" can of course use equipment regardless of cost.
And this time the battle of "rescuing Zhu Yuanzhang" will have to be fought by these cuirassiers in "rich attire"!
"Look forward to the Ming Dynasty, welcome the Ming Dynasty, open the city gates and surrender to the Ming Dynasty, don't be slaves when the Ming Dynasty comes..."
When the Ming Dynasty's "local tyrant cavalry" arrived in Gaozi Town, the traditional "singing and welcoming" ceremony was performed again.
Although Zhu Heji has not yet entered the territory of Yingtian Mansion in Nanjing in the past, the gentry and common people singing "Welcome the Ming Dynasty" in Gaozi Town this time are all under the banner of "Nanjing Elders"!
Look, this is what people want!
The people of Nanjing couldn't wait any longer and rushed to the borders of Zhenjiang Prefecture to welcome Zhu Dajianguo!
"My rightful military advisor, Zuo Chunqiu, respectfully welcomes His Royal Highness the Grand Sun of the Supervisor Kingdom!"
"Your Majesty, the Qian Commander of the Liaodong Town Cavalry of the Ming Dynasty, respectfully welcomes His Royal Highness the Grand Sun of the Supervisor..."
It was a Tianjin man and a Liaodong man who led this group of Nanjing gentry and common people to Zhenjiang to welcome the Ming Dynasty.
That Tianjin man was Zuo Chunqiu who replaced Yang Qilong as the right military adviser after he went north to launch an armed uprising. The "Welcoming the Ming" activities in Zhejiang and Jiangnan were so successful. In addition to the people in Jiangnan really missing the Ming Dynasty, it was this leftist. The credit goes to the special agents of the Right Division of the Military Advisor's Office under the leadership of the military advisor.
When the "rebellion was wrong" incident occurred in Jiangning City, Zuo Dajun was lurking in Jiangning City with his men...More than 100,000 yuan had been scattered!
It's hard to say how much the people in Jiangning City love the Ming Dynasty, but those "heroes" who are comfortable in both black and white have already personally felt the heavy love of the Ming Dynasty Supervisor Grandson!
And Zu Da, who claimed to be the Qian Commander of the Liaodong Town Cavalry, didn’t necessarily love the Ming Dynasty very much, but he really hated the Qing Dynasty! The Qing Dynasty had always been ruthless in killing people, and the generals of the Liaodong ancestral family had been on the front line of resistance against the Qing for a long time. Naturally, many people died, some of them were killed on the battlefield, and some were family members massacred by the Qing army. .....Some people can forget this hatred, but old man Zu cannot!
So when the chaos broke out that day, he immediately seized the opportunity to incite the servants of his ancestral family to rebel, and coerced two brothers, Zu Yonglie and Zu Chenglie, to rebel against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty.
Then of course Zuo Chunqiu and Zu Da got in touch... With the national righteousness, the appointment of officials and the promise, plus the free money, not only Zu Da's loyalty to the Ming Dynasty gradually increased, but also Zu Yonglie, Zu Chenglie's two ancestral families who were held hostage also felt that the Ming Dynasty was better. Today, the two of them also came to Gaozi Town to welcome Ming Dynasty with Zu Da and Zuo Chunqiu.
After Zuo Chunqiu and Zu saluted and greeted him, the two ancestors in red robes and red scarves also strode forward and bowed to Zhu Heji.
Zhu Heji laughed and helped the two men up, and then said to them with a smile: "The two of you raised the flag of righteousness in Nanjing and regained the old capital of the Ming Dynasty in one fell swoop. You are the heroes of the country. After Jiangnan is settled, the court will definitely have Great reward!"
The father of these two people, Zu Kefa, followed Zu Dashou to the Qing Dynasty. After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, he was made a general soldier, but he died within a few days. But the two of them just took their jobs and lived their lives. They couldn't be said to be treacherous or evil, they were just people drifting with the tide in troubled times. This time the incident in Nanjing was actually coerced by others.
But Zhu Heji still wanted to set them up as examples, not for anything else, just to show those people in Beijing who were either forced or reincarnated to become the Eight Banners Han Army.
"I would like to express my gratitude to the great grandson of the Supervisor State for your great kindness!" Zu Yonglie saluted first, and then said: "Great grandson, now the traitor Sun Sike is still entrenched in Zijin Mountain and is holding the tomb of Emperor Taizu hostage. I am worried all day and night and am unable to save him. I’m really ashamed.”
Zu Chenglie also said: "Yes, that Sun Sikenan is the son of Sun Degong. He is stubborn and stubborn. He refuses to submit to the Ming Dynasty no matter what!"
Zhu Heji asked: "Have you sent someone to persuade you to surrender?"
Zuo Chunqiu said: "I have tried to persuade him...but Sun Sike is not even willing to talk!"
Zu Da gritted his teeth and said: "This kid is like a stone in a latrine, smelly and hard!"
"Where are his men? Are they all willing to die together?"
Zu Dadao: "His men are either Chen Baqi or the New Baqi, whose family members were detained as slaves. They are also unwilling to surrender."
Zhu Heji nodded and said seriously: "The Gu family came here to save Emperor Taizu's tomb. If they refuse to surrender, they are seeking death... Let's go, let's find a place to discuss it." Fan!"
