Chapter 897 Zheng Chenggong finally appears

(0897)

【Today's fourth update is delivered!】

In the spring of the tenth year of Chongzhen, the climate was still very cold.

In Qingdao in the first month of the year, gusts of cold wind kept passing by. The frozen sea surface was blown by the cold wind and wrinkles continued to spread around. The military flags of the naval base were all rolled on the flagpole by the cold wind. The sentries at each post were red and red by the cold wind, as if they were ripe apples.

In the bitter cold wind, the First Shipyard and Naval Base of the Huben Army were in full swing. In the First Shipyard, workers were working overtime to create warships of all kinds, big and small. Some workers were so busy that they were sweating all over, so they simply took off their cotton coats and only wore red short jackets to climb up and down the ships, which was amazing.

On the naval base, the sea test of the Dragon God Ship was also in full swing. On the high mast, the sailing hands of the Tiger Ben Navy kept changing the direction and height of the sails to test the adaptability of all links as much as possible. During the repeated debugging, they were also covered in sweat.

In this sea test, the navy dispatched the best captains and the best sailors. Huang Shijun, Mao Huihui, Zhang Xuehai, Zhang Shenggao, Wang Chenglin, Ling Sishou and other six captains were fortunate to be the first test captains of the Dragon God Ship. If there was no accident, they would also be the first generation captains of the Dragon God Ship.

When driving a giant like the Dragon God Ship to conduct a sea trial, the feelings are naturally self-evident. Especially Huang Shijun, who is burdened with a deep revenge on the sea of ​​blood, he is determined to kill back and avenge his relatives. Now, the Dragon God Ship of the Tiger Army Navy is launched, and he is one step closer to the goal of revenge.

In mid-February, Zhang Zhun came to the First Shipyard in a cold wind. After patrolling, he learned about the production of various warships and came to the naval base next to him. His purpose of coming was of course to preside over the service ceremony of the Dragon God Ship.

After a month of sea test, the performance of the Dragon God Ship basically meets the requirements and can be officially put into service. The reason why it basically meets the requirements is that they are the first batch of samples to be built and there are still many areas that need improvement.

Xue Zhidie's design is always gradually improved through continuous actual construction and actual use. The more you design it later, the better the performance of the warship built later. The sword-tooth ship is the best example. The sword-tooth ship that served first has many problems, especially the problems that only show in actual combat.

Most warships are a theory when designing. Whether it is really useful must go through the test of combat before they can be confirmed. Many unexpected problems will only arise in fierce battles. These problems have been perfectly solved in subsequent construction. The latest sword-tooth ships launched in the water are much easier to do than the first batch of those launched in the water.

These six Dragon God Ships have not yet experienced the test of combat, and obviously there are many shortcomings. However, compared with the Sword Tooth Ship, it is already quite powerful. The six Dragon God Ship docked in the port, and its huge body completely defeated the Sword Tooth Ship. Even fools can see that these two types of warships are not on the same level at all.

In fact, the most eye-catching thing about the Dragon God Ship is not its huge body, but the sixteen red-clothed cannons. This is the main force of the Dragon God Ship's naval battle and the most daunting place for the enemy. The red-clothed cannons are installed in the middle of the side of the two sides of the Dragon God Ship, and are recognized as the most flexible artillery position.

The three-masted gunship owned by the Zheng family fleet is also equipped with red-clothed cannons. However, due to structural reasons, the red-clothed cannons of the three-masted gunship are installed at the bow and stern. These two places are narrow and it is impossible to install too many artillery guns. Therefore, the three-masted gunship sounds majestic, but in fact, the number of red-clothed cannons is only four.

Moreover, due to angle reasons, red-clothed cannons and other cannons cannot shoot in the same direction. In other words, they cannot concentrate all firepower and strike the same target. This is the biggest fatal point of the three-masted gunship. The cannon hit rate in naval battles is very low. Only by concentrating all cannons and shooting at the same target can the hit rate be enhanced. If this cannot be achieved, there will be inherent shortcomings in hit rate.

The Dragon God Ship of the Hu Ben Army is different. All its artillery is on the side and can bombard the same target until it is eliminated. After several tests, Zhang Zhun can basically determine that if all the artillery of the Dragon God Ship uses grape bullets, it will be a devastating blow to targets within a distance of 500 meters.

In addition to the sixteen red cannons, each Dragon God Ship is also equipped with forty-eight flying dragon cannons, which makes its total number of cannons reach an astonishing number of sixty-four. Such number of cannons is definitely the best in warships in East Asia. The three-masted gunships of the Zheng family fleet, the total number of cannons did not reach sixty.

"Dongdongdongdongdongdong!"

"Dongdongdongdongdongdong!"

"Dongdongdongdongdongdong!"

When demonstrating the power of the cannons, all the cannons fired together, and a large number of shells were thrown out like raindrops, and then fell hard around the target. It was indeed very fierce. Under the shooting of the red cannon, the stones used as the target were cracked.

After field tests, the maximum range of these red-clothed cannons exceeded 5,000 meters, and when they fired grape bombs, the range was about 1,500 meters. Compared with ordinary red-clothed cannons, its data does not seem very good. However, its rate of fire has been greatly improved, reaching the level of 1 round per minute.

Such a fire rate was quite fast for the cannons at that time. It took almost two minutes for a normal red-clothed cannon to fire a shell. It is conceivable what kind of performance will the red-clothed cannon have after doubled its fire rate. In naval battles, generally speaking, whoever can pour the most shells onto the opponent's ship is most likely to be the final winner.

Basically, in the fierce naval battle, the distance between the two sides' artillery is within 500 meters. The range and rate of fire of the red-clothed cannon can ensure that it can cause certain trauma to the enemy ship and have a certain impact on the enemy's morale before entering the range of 500 meters. This is very important. The warships entering the warships with bruises and wounds must not have much combat effectiveness, and may also affect the morale of other companions' warships.

These red-clothed cannons installed on the Dragon God Ship are the latest craftsmanship of the cannon factory, and are the latest achievements after combining the technology provided by the British. In order to get the secret of the production of the Hub Bon as soon as possible, Saiviara finally gave in and told Sun Qinkai the technical key points of the new cannon.

While observing the cannon shooting, Saiviara stood beside Zhang Zhun and said proudly: "Brother General, I have given you all the most advanced cannon technology in Britain. When will your Tiger Bend bell manufacturing technology be given to me?"

Zhang Zhun said calmly: "I know, I will repay you."

Sevia said with a smile: "This is almost the same."

Zhang Zhun subconsciously looked at Xu Zhengming beside him. To tell the British about the manufacturing technology of the Hu Ben gun, the Hu Ben army must master the manufacturing technology of the breech gun. To make the breech gun, it must invent thunder and mercury. Xu Zhengming's mission is really a long way to go!

In fact, Xu Zhengming's work has made some progress. He found many alchemy Taoists from different ways, gathered together to discuss, and then conducted repeated experiments according to Zhang Zhun's tips. After unremitting efforts, they seemed to have touched the periphery of a little bit of thunder and mercury.

However, it is not easy to tinker with real mercury. However, Zhang Zhun suddenly discovered that it is not ruled out that the possibility of finding a replacement product could be found. Originally, mercury was not the only item that could be used to make breech guns. There are many items that can replace it. It is just because it was first invented and has low cost, so it will be widely promoted and used.

If something else was made before the invention of mercury, and had similar properties to mercury, it would definitely be used to make breech guns. If Xu Zhengming and others really found a replacement, Zhang Zhun would not mind the price, and would have to make a batch of breech guns to try it out.

It's a long way to go...

According to Zhang Zhun's arrangement, the arrangement of the six Dragon God Ships is for two ships in each fleet, used as the main battleship. The fleet composed of two Dragon God Ships, plus more than ten sword-tooth ships, can basically perform more important combat tasks. If three to five large merchant ships are equipped with specialized in carrying strategic materials, they can float on the sea surface for at least half a year.

"In half a year..."

Zhang Zhun calculated silently and nodded thoughtfully.

The naval fleet has been wandering on the sea for half a year and can do a lot of things. At least, there is no problem with going back and forth, no problem with going back and forth in Taiwan, and no problem with going back and forth in the South China Sea. This means that from now on, the Navy Fleet of the Tiger Ben Army has already had the ability to go forward to the South China Sea. This is definitely a qualitative leap for the Tiger Ben Army Navy.

A major prerequisite for the Hu Ben Army to occupy Taiwan is that there is a large enough naval fleet to fight the enemy fleet for a long time around Taiwan, consume the main force of the enemy fleet, and then protect the Hu Ben Army Marine Corps from the landing. According to Zhang Zhun's estimate, this would not be possible in less than two or three years.

Apart from the launch of the six Dragon God Ships, there was nothing special about the Hu Ben Army in the first lunar month. The time soon came February. The weather in February was still quite cold, the north wind was still whistling, and snowflakes were falling. However, compared with the first lunar month, it has improved a lot. This means that everything that was originally frozen will begin to melt slowly.

The first one to take action was of course Li Yan's army. In order to conquer Kaifeng City, Li Yan had no idea how long it had been planned. Under Li Yan's command, Li Yan's army tried to attack Kaifeng City. After being trapped for a winter, the morale of Kaifeng City had been greatly reduced and the combat effectiveness was greatly weakened. On the contrary, Li Yan's army had reached 100,000 people.

However, after the battle was launched, the situation was not as optimistic as Li Yan had imagined. During the battle for several consecutive days, Li Yan's army's attack was repelled by the defenders of Kaifeng, and there were still relatively large casualties, with two or three thousand people killed. Such a battle situation was unexpected by Li Yan, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and others.

The defeat in the battle gave Li Yan a great blow and also taught Li Yan a great lesson. He began to realize clearly that it was not very difficult to pull up a team by himself. However, it was quite difficult to form combat power by the team he was pulled up.

There were a lot of 100,000 people, but in fact, most of them were defeated without fighting and were about to break out. When fighting a tough battle, the soldiers could not hold on to the end and they would collapse first. Especially in the unfavorable situation, most of the soldiers followed the others back stupidly, and the officer could not control it, and in the end even the officer ran away.

Faced with such a situation, Li Yan had to humbly ask Zhang Zhun for advice. Now he already knew very well that the rise of the Hu Ben Army was really not easy. He was indeed far from Zhang Zhun in leading troops. His method of leading troops was a bit similar to that of the Shaanxi Uprising Army. There were many people, but it was not useful.

"One hundred thousand people..."

Zhang Zhun couldn't help but shake his head.

In just three or four months, Li Yan's army actually raised 100,000 people. Such a number really made Zhang Zhun speechless. It is really easy to attract men these days. The hungry people everywhere and the refugees everywhere, as long as they raise their arms and provide food, countless people will come to join us.

However, the combat effectiveness of these people is really worrying. Men, women, young and old are crowded together. What combat effectiveness can you expect? The lessons of the Scented Sect are first and the lessons of the Shaanxi Uprising Army are later. Facts have repeatedly proved that the mobs will never have combat effectiveness. The sword must be repeatedly forged before it can become a sword, and the army can be truly powerful.

Zhang Zhun had to tell Li Yan that soldiers are more important than elites, and recruiting so many people is of no use except for consuming food in vain. He suggested that Li Yan would let go of a large number of soldiers with the best small group of people.

To this end, Li Yan finally decided to reduce his troops to about 5,000, as long as the most elite and most capable of fighting, the remaining people were put to farm and develop production. After a complete transformation, the number of Li Yan's army was greatly reduced, but its combat effectiveness was improved, and he began to compete with the official army for Kaifeng again.

The imperial army also operated at the same time as Li Yan's army. In early February, Hong Chengchou led his army into Shanxi, stationed in Taiyuan and Jingxing Pass, and some of the troops even went forward to Linfen and Yuncheng. Some of the officials entered Sichuan, then went south to Huguang and Xiangyang. In Guanzhong, Shaanxi, the troops left quite a few.

In the eyes of the Hu Ben Army, there are only two purposes for the official army to enter Shanxi. The first is to threaten Luoyang from the north, restrain the Hu Ben Army cavalry in Luoyang, and prevent them from running around. The second is to prevent the Hu Ben Army from entering Shanxi. If the Hu Ben Army enters Shaanxi and the court wants to retreat, there is no way to retreat.

By the way, if the imperial court retreated, it would have to retreat through the roads of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Huguang, and eventually retreat to Nanjing, or directly retreat to Lingnan. The roads of Shandong, Henan, and North Zhili have been completely blocked by the Hu Ben Army and are not working at all. Currently, Shandong, Henan, and North Zhili are all members of the Hu Ben Army, and the canal has been completely cut off by the Hu Ben Army. The ships walking on the canal are all hung with the Hu Ben Army flags.

By February of the tenth year of Chongzhen, the maintenance of the official army in the capital was already quite difficult. Due to the relationship between the Hu Ben Army, the capital could not receive any grain transport from Jiangnan, and all the supplies of materials were almost cut off. The only way to obtain materials was to purchase them at a high price. Without the high-rise and potential transit, the Hu Ben Army directly sold food and food supplies to the capital, and directly obtained huge profits.

It can be said that the food, clothing and food in the capital are all from the Hu Ben Army. The grain reserves of the three major camps of the capital have long been consumed. As long as the Hu Ben Army stops supplying supplies, the capital will not be able to bear it in less than half a month. Therefore, for the Hu Ben Army, it is really not very difficult to capture the capital.

The reason why the Hu Ben Army has not stopped supplying materials to the capital is mainly due to high profits. One hundred kilograms of sweet potatoes are sold for up to 50 cents in Shandong, but when they arrive at the capital, they can be sold for five taels of silver. Who is willing to let go of such profits? I don’t know if others are willing, but Zhang Zhun himself is absolutely unwilling to do so.

It is through such a transaction that the silver in the pockets of the powerful people in the capital could flow continuously into the pockets of the Hu Ben Army. Through this trade, the Hu Ben Army had to extort more than 500,000 taels of silver from the powerful people in the capital every month. If it weren't for so much income, how could Zhang Zhun dare to build a second shipyard and prepare to build so many warships? How could he dare to start war in all directions?

Of course, the money of the powerful people in the capital is also limited. They will also be unable to bear the high prices. In fact, after this winter has passed, many powerful people can no longer bear it. When they cannot bear it, they can only let go. The meaning of letting go is to give up the capital and run to other places.

It is estimated that at this time, there are many powerful people who suggested that Emperor Chongzhen move the capital, or request to send the crown prince to Nanjing to supervise the country. If they don’t move the capital, they are very likely to die in the capital. Information shows that even the cabinet could not help but hold some informal discussions, but no resolution was formed.

In fact, the biggest difficulty of moving the capital came from Chongzhen. Emperor Chongzhen would not agree to move the capital. With his personality, he would definitely defend the capital and the country. His greatest possibility was to send the prince to Nanjing to supervise the country, and then live and die together with the capital.

The Tartars also made new moves in the direction of Guangning City. Information shows that after the snow slowly melted, the Tartar cavalry in Guangning City was very active, as if they were on the verge of counterattacking the Tiger Army. Yes, the Tartars did show signs of counterattacking.

However, Zhang Zhun didn't care about the counterattack of the Tartars at all. At this time, it was impossible for the Tartars to have an Arden counterattack. If the Tartars really launched a counterattack, Zhang Zhun would be very welcome!

The Hu Ben Army's troops in western Liaoning were quite powerful. Three cavalry battalions, one Qinglong Army, and the Xinzi Battalion stationed in Ningyuan City had more than 10,000 troops. If the Tatars wanted to counterattack, they had to think clearly what to do if the counterattack failed.

Without enough vital strength, the Tartars would definitely not be able to defend Guangning City. Therefore, Zhang Zhun estimated that the signs of the Tartars' counterattack were illusions. The Tartars, who were surviving, created such illusions in order to avoid the Tiger Army attacking Guangning City.

Since it is an illusion, the Hu Ben Army ignores it. There is no need to change what should be done or what to do. The plan and time to launch an attack on Guangning City. In short, the plan to recover Chenyang within two years cannot be changed.

In Phoenix City, the Sino-Korean coalition forces also set out early and attacked in the direction of Liaoyang. However, it is expected that the difficulty will be very high. The difficulty is mainly reflected in crossing the remnants of Changbai Mountain. In fact, it is not easy for the Tartars to cross the mountain pass of the remnants of Changbai Mountain every time. What's more, the number of the Sino-Korean coalition forces is quite large and the logistics pressure is relatively high.

In southern Liaoning, the Hu Ben Army continued to accumulate troops and confront the Tatars of the Gaizhou Guard. As the weather gradually warmed up, the number of floating ice in the Bohai Bay decreased, and the safety factor of ship traffic increased greatly. A large number of merchant ships traveled between Dengzhou City and Jinzhou Guards, transporting a large number of population and materials.

In fact, for the huge Liaonan region, military strength is not the most important. This is not the main attack direction for attacking the Tartars, just restrain Yuetuo. The main purpose of the Hu Ben Army is to develop production as soon as possible and stabilize this area.

In fact, under the attack of the two iron clamps of the Hu Ben Army, the Tartars were no longer able to launch a counterattack on southern Liaoning. No matter what the Hu Ben Army did here, Yue Tuo could only take a look. At this time, he would definitely not dare to leave the Gaizhou Guard.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Zhang Zhun officially appointed Yang Tinglin as the prefect of Liaoyang Prefecture and sent him to Fuzhou Wei to take charge of comprehensive internal affairs. At the same time, the special "Equal Land Order" on the Liaodong region was also officially announced on the same day. This special "Equal Land Order" raised the upper limit of land that people in Liaodong region can own to 100 acres.

In the spring of Chongzhen's tenth year, the sea was not very calm. In fact, the danger that Zhang Zhun was most worried about was still from the sea. In the past winter, Zheng Chenggong did not appear, which was definitely not a good thing. The later Zheng Chenggong appeared, the more sufficient his preparations were. Then, when he arrived, the stronger his combat effectiveness and the greater the pressure the Hu Ben Army Navy was under.

Sure enough, on February 25, Zhang Zhun received a report that Zheng Chenggong led a huge fleet to the north. The Hu Ben Army Navy was once again tested.
Chapter completed!