"The Western Expedition has not yet been launched, but it has been frustrated before Jiayuguan... Rixin, can this battle really go as smoothly as you said?" Zhu Yijun frowned and asked in Xinuan Pavilion.
"It is true that our army has attacked Jiayuguan today, but that just shows that Jiayuguan's city defense is strong and dangerous, which is a reflection of our Ming Dynasty's strength. As for the previous losses to the enemy, in the final analysis, it was because the border generals neglected their duties and were not always vigilant against incoming enemies.
Now our army is forced to attack this most formidable pass in the world. If we exchange blood and flesh at any cost... there is no doubt that we will suffer heavy losses, which will affect the morale of the Western Expedition army. However, if the 'Sky Thunder' is used to destroy the city in one fell swoop, the situation will be reversed.
Just imagine that such a majestic pass and fortified city was broken by our army's "Lightning Thunder". Wouldn't the enemy be frightened and our army not be inspired? Taking advantage of the situation to pursue the enemy, the enemy's morale was completely depleted and they could only flee all the way. Our army must think that God is protecting us. If we are united as one and work hard to kill the thieves, what enemy can we not defeat? "
"That's the truth, but you have said before that this battle is about logistics, and the actual number of soldiers fighting on the front line is only tens of thousands... As far as I know, General Liu Wei is more than brave, but not flexible enough. . If Nabu Rihatu had some ability, he could gather the defeated army while they were fleeing, and instead set up an ambush on the road, I'm afraid Liu Wei might fall into the trap."
Huh?
Gao Pragmatic was a little surprised. The emperor was actually starting to think about these tactical matters now. This was a rare situation before. In the past, the emperor never asked about how a battle would be fought. He had the air of being superior to someone else... Well, maybe it was because of my influence.
So what does it mean that he is now concerned about tactics? Is it just boredom, or is there another reason?
Ah, yes, the emperor was worried that the Western Expedition would be unfavorable and would affect the Zen Ceremony! The ceremony of conferring Zen was expected to show the power of God in the name of completely wiping out the residual Yuan after the victory of the Western Expedition. If the Western Expedition failed, wouldn't this ceremony of conferring Zen appear to be unjust and unjust?
After understanding the emperor's thoughts, Gao pragmatically said with a smile: "Your Majesty, don't worry. Although Liu Wei seems to be reckless, in fact, it is just his habit of personally rushing to kill in battle, which can easily be misunderstood. He is not reckless when using troops. This is true." I still have some observations."
"Really?" Zhu Yijun didn't seem to expect that Gao Jingshi would guarantee Liu Wei, but since Gao Jingshi said so, he couldn't question it anymore and had no choice but to nod: "Since you said so, then I also I feel relieved.”
After a pause, he asked again: "By the way, is the thunder you mentioned really so powerful?"
"Of course." Gao Pragmatic said with certainty: "There is no doubt about its power, but it is also troublesome. As I just introduced, this is an extremely explosive viscous liquid that is very difficult to transport. If you are not careful, you may destroy it." The whole team was blown to pieces..."
"The whole team?" The emperor obviously didn't believe it. This is not surprising. It is difficult to even imagine something that has not been seen before.
Gao pragmatic thought for a while, then suddenly pointed to the wine jug not far away and said, "I'm sorry, I just need to put a jug into it and detonate it here, and the entire Xinuang Pavilion will be gone."
Zhu Yijun was shocked. He looked at the wine bottle with something wrong in his eyes. After a long while, he took a breath and said, "I'm afraid something like this will harm Tianhe..."
"In any war, how can there be no harm to Tianhe?" Gao Pingshi shook his head and said: "It seems that there is a difference between killing with poison or Ling Chi, beheading or Bai Ling, but is there really a difference?"
Zhu Yijun was speechless and silent.
Gao pragmatic added: "However, what the emperor said is not unreasonable. This is one of the reasons why I have not used it again for many years after using it once."
This is just telling lies with open eyes. How could someone like him, who even knows about atomic bombs, care about mere explosives? The only reason why they dare not abuse nitroglycerine is that safety cannot be guaranteed, because they really do not have the ability to develop passivation technology.
In this era when black powder is still the mainstream gunpowder, nitroglycerin is completely black technology, and the power of the two is completely different. If Gao Wuzhi could really develop the passivation nitroglycerin technology and even produce the corresponding artillery, propellant, etc., he would not mind at all using this to gain enough space for the survival and development of Chinese civilization.
In the final analysis, it’s not that I don’t want to, it’s simply that I can’t do it. If he could do it, he wouldn't mind the Ming Dynasty's "Eldest Son's Expedition to the West".
However, Zhu Yijun agreed with Gao Pragmatic's answer and immediately nodded: "That's right. Although beheading and Bai Ling are both murders, as the saying goes, a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen and have compassion."
Gao pragmatic didn't want to answer, so he smiled. Zhu Yijun said again: "You just said that this thing may explode even if it receives some impact? How to transport it?"
"Naturally, fill it with bottles and put it into sandbags to ensure that it will not be affected by the force of impact... I am afraid that the Imperial Guards do not understand these details, so the Imperial Guards are only responsible for escorting this trip. The ones who are really responsible for transportation and storage I will draw those people from the gunpowder factory."
Zhu Yijun breathed a sigh of relief, nodded and asked: "How many guards will be mobilized?"
"It doesn't take too many people, just one man and horse is enough... There will never be anyone who dares to rob the Imperial Guards in the Ming Dynasty."
"One bid..." Zhu Yijun thought for a while. The Imperial Guard had 1,756 officers and soldiers per bid, and the Ma bid was slightly less, at 1,117. The horse tag that must be used in this trip must be a horse. Now that the world is at peace, more than a thousand mounted guards are indeed not afraid of being robbed when they go on the road.
"Okay, I'm sure. I'll send someone to send the tiger talisman to the Beijing North Camp to mobilize troops later."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Gao Pragmatic bowed his hands in salute.
Zhu Yijun waved his hand, indicating that Gao Pragmatic did not need to be polite, but then he pondered for a moment, and said slightly awkwardly: "Ahem, I heard... the Empress Dowager Cisheng had some misunderstandings with Mrs. Xian a few days ago?"
Gao Pragmatic was slightly startled. He did not expect that the emperor would directly ask about this matter. However, he quickly calmed down and said with a smile: "Why did the emperor say this? It was my concubine who misunderstood the Queen Mother's intentions that day, and I have already made it clear to her."
"Is that so? That's great." Zhu Yijun breathed a sigh of relief and sighed: "The Queen Mother is old and has lived in the palace for a long time. Sometimes it is inevitable that she will take some things too simply. I know your character and magnanimity, I'm just worried that Mrs. Xian will be unhappy because of this, but in short, I hope that Mr. and Mrs. Xian understand that the Queen Mother has no ill intentions."
"Yes, I understand." Gao Pingshi still smiled gently, and even added: "After all, Gao Luo still takes my surname. The Queen Mother's proposal is to cultivate him, how could I not know?"
"Okay, okay, okay, if you think so, I'll be relieved." After Zhu Yijun finished speaking, he sighed and said, "If this Western Expedition goes well, that's pretty much what I should do in this life. In the future, We have an explanation when we face our ancestors. As for the younger generation, we can only lay the foundation for them, just like the late emperor did to you and me, don't you think so?"
Now that the late emperor was mentioned, Gao Pragmatic had to look solemn, cupped his hands in the direction of Zhaoling in Tianshou Mountain and said, "I don't know how to repay the kindness of the late emperor."
Zhu Yijun stood up and patted his shoulder, saying: "You did a good enough job." He was pragmatic and humble without being too high, and suddenly said: "By the way, I promised the Queen to go to the theater with me today, so Rixin can follow me. Going together?"
Gao Pragmatic was not so discerning. He knew that this was not an invitation—nonsense. How could he, a foreign minister, watch a play with the Queen casually? Even the presence of the Emperor himself would have been inappropriate.
Therefore, he immediately declined and said: "I still need to arrange the transportation of the 'Tian Lei' quickly. I think it will be difficult to watch the show with peace of mind, so I won't disturb the emperor. If the emperor has no other instructions, please leave."
"Well, after you're done with this, I'll treat you to the show again."
"After thanking the emperor, I will take my leave first. I'm sorry."
After leaving Xinuang Pavilion, Gao Pingshi immediately returned to the cabinet and asked Zhou Yong to contact the Ministry of War to prepare for the escort assigned by the Imperial Guard. At the same time, they naturally immediately sent someone to notify the Nanning Marquis Mansion and issued an order to the gunpowder factory in Kaiping to activate nitroglycerine.
After finally getting through the next shift, as soon as I returned to the house, I immediately heard a report that Ji Feiji had another flying pigeon delivering a message. I wonder if Ji Feiji also learned that Liu Xin had gone south. This time Fei Ge sent the letter not to the secretariat, but directly to Gao Pangshi.
Since he didn't leave the secretariat, Gao Pragmatic simply opened it and looked at it for a while, then gradually fell into thinking.
Regarding Kaiji's mission in Japan, Gao Pragmatic only gave the target, and basically left it to Kaiji to arrange the specific operations. Of course, if she has any needs beyond the capabilities of Jinghua in Japan, she must report the application to Jinghua.
This time, Kaiji reported the latest situation in Japan to Gao Pragmatic first. It was roughly the same as in the previous article, but some details that were originally hidden in the fog were now explained by her in the letter.
For example, Tokugawa Ieyasu wholeheartedly hoped to stabilize the internal affairs and tried to nip the bud of civil war. However, Kaiji had been secretly promoting the outbreak of civil war because she followed Gao Pangji's instructions - because Gao Pangshi and Liu Xin had arranged it a long time ago. A group of agents sneaked into Japan, so now there are agents from Jinghua on both sides of the conflict, and some people have even reached higher or more important positions.
For example, Ishida Mitsunari's party and Kyoka Hosaku Tatsuzawa Miyo were active as close associates of the Chosuke Masa family, helping Ishida Mitsunari secretly spread rumors and win over daimyo and generals from various places;
On Tokugawa Ieyasu's side, Kyoka Hosaku Shingu Yoshikatsu has also been promoted from the previous ashigaru general, and has now joined Ieyasu's elite pro-army "Hata Honshou". Relying on the technology of "mastering the Tang army's firearms formation", he became one of the generals of the "Hatata Senshou", teaming up with famous Tokugawa generals such as Sakakibara Yasumasa, Honda Tadakatsu, and Torii Motada.
According to Kafihime, everything is ready for the outbreak of the Japanese Civil War. All it needs is the east wind. Now it depends on when a spark can spark - as long as there is a small spark, the war will definitely break out.
Kaiji said in the letter that she made vague promises to both parties - this sentence is not contradictory, because Japanese is a very ambiguous language, and many words are ambiguous. What do you want to do? It’s okay to understand.
In other words, now both the dogmatic and observant factions have received a vague guarantee from Kaiji: As long as the war starts, I - or Jinghua - will support your side.
As for Tokugawa Ieyasu, Kaiji's statement was even more vague. Ieyasu can either understand that Kyoka will fully support his "great cause of peace", or that Kyoka supports him in putting down all "rebellions" by force, but at the same time, it can also be understood that Kyoka believes that he can "pacify the world" by relying on himself - as for How to settle down, I didn’t say.
"Japanese is indeed an 'invalid language', it's as if it's not spoken." Gao pragmatically muttered angrily when he saw this.
Gao Pragmatic continued to read, and had to become serious, because Ji Feiji carefully analyzed the strength of both sides below.
On Tokugawa Ieyasu's side, he himself is 2.5 million stone tall, and with the likes of Sakakibara Yasumasa, his base is about 3.2 million stone tall.
No one on Ishida Mitsunari's side can compete with Ieyasu alone, and the three strongest Mori families (Mori, Kobayakawa, and Yoshikawa) only have over two million.
In addition, Ishida Sansei and 250,000 koku; Masuda Chomori 200,000 koku; Chosuke Masaike 60,000 koku; Maeda Gen 50,000 koku; Konishi Yukino 180,000 koku; Ukita Hideie 480,000 koku. A total of 1.22 million stones.
In this case, the strength of Mitsunari's side is basically the same as that of Ieyasu, but if you add Sugi Kagekatsu's 1.2 million stone, it will be a sure win.
However, Kaiji also mentioned that the above strength analysis does not include many daimyo who currently appear to be relatively neutral. Before the war breaks out, both sides will definitely try to win over these people, so it will be these people who ultimately determine the balance of power.
Kaihime analyzed that Ieyasu may have a smoother process in wooing these neutral daimyo, because since Ishida San doubled out of Osaka and returned to his roots, the Toyotomi regime has actually been dominated by Ieyasu - in other words, Ieyasu can Relying on the Toyotomi regime to reward these daimyo, and then win them over to his side.
Gao Pragmatic strongly agrees with this point, because this is what Ieyasu did in the original history. He took out many of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's hiding places and rewarded them under various names. Although these rewards seemed to be in the name of the young master Toyotomi Hideyori, no one knew that they should be grateful to Ieyasu, so this caused two changes:
One is that Hideyori's direct subordinates are decreasing day by day; the other is that Ieyasu's popularity is getting better and better.
It feels so good to be generous to others.
In short, the main purpose of Kaiji's letter is to tell Gao Pragmatic: The probability of Ieyasu winning is much greater than 30%, but if Ieyasu wins too easily, it may violate the husband's purpose of causing Japan to suffer internal conflicts.
Therefore, she proposed that the Shimazu family join the Mitsunari party and help Mitsunari fight this battle seriously.
Gao Pragmatic fell into thinking: Let the Shimazu family completely side with the Western Army? ——
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(End of chapter)
