Otherwise, how could a poor man who was so poor that he begged for food on the streets and worked as a monk in a temple know anything about gunpowder, guns, and rockets?

Therefore, Chen Youliang immediately dispatched a large number of spies!

Disguised as traveling students and businessmen, he took a detour to the south of the Yangtze River, on the one hand to find out all the news about mysterious weapons, and on the other hand, to collect various Confucianism books and albums circulating in the market, etc.

Soon, baskets and baskets of Confucian books were secretly transported to the Hanyang Palace in Huguang.

Chen Youliang, Zou Pusheng and several other Han Red Scarf Army generals with literary talent began to learn from it.

It has to be said that this set of new Confucianism compiled by Zhu Han can be said to be comprehensive!

The content related to physics and chemistry in it not only perfectly explains the composition and principles of gunpowder, but also provides some rough explanations on how to improve the application of gunpowder, but some of the experimental principles are not just as simple as those in the book.

, but it’s almost enough.

The land of China has never lacked top talents. After Chen Youliang got these books, he immediately selected a group of talented reading seeds in Huguang and asked them to learn and study these new Confucian studies from Jiangnan.

These top talents in Huguang learned some rough conjectures about the new gunpowder from the Confucian New Learning textbooks. Although the experimental results were very poor, it was still a big improvement.

On the other hand, the spies sent by Chen Youliang also soon learned another news, that is, the artillery gunpowder workshop of the Zhu Yuanzhang brothers in Jiangnan purchased a large amount of sugar from outside every month and transported it to the gunpowder workshop.

This white sugar must be the raw material used to make those powerful gunpowder weapons!

Based on these factors, Chen Youliang immediately guessed the role of sugar in it.

But just thinking about the problem is of no use to Chen Youliang.

Because Huguang does not produce white sugar locally, the places that produce white sugar include Guangdong and Guangxi, and Sichuan.

These places are not under Chen Youliang's control. No matter how much he knows, he simply does not have the raw materials to start manufacturing.

The secrets that the spies finally found out were just wasted.

Therefore, Chen Youliang had no choice but to give up on his research on the secret weapon sugar, and instead aimed at the original target of bronze artillery.

Hubei is supposed to have unique advantages in the manufacturing of bronze artillery!

Because there are many copper mines with rich mineral deposits in the Daye area of ​​Hubei Province. These copper mines have traces of ancient ancestors mining copper mines since the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties in ancient times. However, after thousands of years of mining, many mineral deposits have now been discovered.

It has been completely excavated, and many of the remaining copper mines are located in mountains that are very difficult to mine.

Even if it is mined, it will be difficult to transport it!

Moreover, the density of mineral deposits is often very low, which is not conducive to large-scale mining.

Chen Youliang's huge demand for artillery also meant a huge demand for copper mines.

So Chen Youliang immediately sent people around to find out where there were convenient copper mines with huge output, and then wanted to seize them in one fell swoop.

Regarding how to find mineral deposits, Chen Youliang still has many capable people under his command!

Following Chen Youliang's instructions, they began to explore the Guizhou area in the southwest. The Guizhou area was an area controlled by barbarian chieftains, so they naturally had to be careful.

While Chen Youliang, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty who occupied Huguang, was searching for copper mines all over the world, Zhu Han was already living a good life in Jinling without worrying about copper mines!

Because according to the mineral distribution map provided by Zhu Han, the craftsmen found another open-pit copper mine with huge reserves in Jiangxi!

The burial depth of this copper mine is so shallow that as long as the ground is broken open, it won't take long to dig out rich copper deposits.

On the other hand, there are water and land transportation around, which is very convenient to transport copper mines. Therefore, the discovery of this batch of copper mines means that Zhu Han no longer has to worry about the shortage of copper raw materials for casting cannons.

As for the Japanese silver mines, there is no need to worry.

The output of the Iwami Fan silver mine in Japan can be said to be rising steadily!

The recruitment standards set in the local area attracted all the surrounding Japanese farmers. As laborers, these Japanese farmers could not only get a large amount of rice, but also get corresponding rewards. Their lords also had the trade of materials from the Central Plains.

share.

It can be said that everyone is happy!

The popularity of materials from the Central Plains was very high in Japan!

As long as you can own a certain share of Central Plains commodities, it is equivalent to having a huge source of wealth!

Therefore, with regard to the mining of silver mines, a large number of Japanese feudal lords have already made continuous profits from the surrounding areas.

Of course, if it weren't for the Imperial Alliance Army and some of the elite Red Scarf Army led by Lan Yu, these Japanese feudal lords would have been dissatisfied with the profits from trade and labor, and would have sent out troops to jointly rob the silver mines.

Understand.

Midsummer season.

Jinling is worthy of being the three big furnaces along the Yangtze River!

In Jinling in midsummer, it can be said to be so hot that your internal organs will boil!

Zhu Han was sitting in his hall, with three basins full of ice cubes placed around him. Several maids holding round fans were behind the ice cubes, fanning the ice cubes vigorously.

The cool air finally made Zhu Han feel comfortable. In front of Zhu Han, Lan Yu, who had just returned from Japan, was holding a document in his hand and was reporting to Zhu Han the situation in Japan.

"After the Japanese king of the Southern Dynasty succeeded to the throne, the Northern Dynasty immediately launched an attack. The two sides fought more than ten times in the Yoshino area. In the end, both sides lost thousands of people and then retreated."

The Japanese Kingdom is now in a situation of confrontation between the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The Japanese shogunate in the Northern Dynasties worships a distant clan as the Emperor of Japan. With the support of Zhu Han, the Japanese Emperor in the Southern Dynasties also has relatively strong military strength, enough to compete with the Northern Dynasties.

"Iwami-han's Imperial Alliance Army showed very high combat effectiveness in this North-South War. Relying only on their own strength, they repelled several times the number of Northern Dynasty shogunate troops and saved the Southern Dynasty Japanese Empire from about to collapse!" Lan Yu

continued.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After this battle, the Queen Mother Fujiwara, the regent of the Japanese Kingdom in the Southern Dynasties, immediately sent people to Jinling to pray for more military assistance.

After all, as long as the Japanese emperor's position is occupied by his own son, then Zhu Han is equivalent to the Japanese emperor's "godfather", so Princess Fujiwara still hopes that Zhu Han can win over her emperor's godson.

However, Zhu Han adheres to the principle of one code and one code, and it is impossible to solve a thousand worries in one sleep.

Zhu Han didn't show any kindness to the envoys sent by the Japanese Southern Dynasty. He gave them many rejections and did not even meet them.

This time Lan Yu came back from the Japanese country. Zhu Han said to Lan Yu: "You have full authority to handle all matters in the Japanese country. For the people of the Japanese country, there must be no kindness at all. They must be ruthless and extremely cruel."

Only ruthlessness will do! Only whips and swords can make them obedient and know who is the real master! You must always remember that Yi and Di are afraid of power and are not immoral."

After hearing this, Lan Yu immediately said:

"Please rest assured, Deputy Commander, the general will obey your orders carefully in Japan and will never let these little Japanese devils take any chances!"

After a long period of contact with the Japanese country, Lan Yu is already very familiar with the habits of the Japanese people. What Zhu Han said is completely in line with the nature of the Japanese people. They are all afraid of the powerful and will not be grateful!

Only by keeping one's strength strong can these Japanese people be kept obedient.

After arranging the affairs of the Japanese state, Zhu Han ordered the reinforcement of 2,000 people to the Japanese garrison. These 2,000 people were all new troops who had been trained in Jinling. Their combat effectiveness was very guaranteed. In this way, Lan Yu had more than 1,000 troops under his command.

More than 3,000 elite Red Turban Army members.

Zhu Han then told Lan Yu: "The Southern Dynasty of the Japanese Kingdom belongs to us, and the Southern Dynasty is our lackey. They can be allowed to occupy more territory, but don't let the Southern Dynasty of the Japanese Kingdom conquer the Northern Dynasty. Only one country will be divided and fall into chaos.

The Japanese country is the most beneficial to us now!"

The Japanese people on the island are just a bunch of ignorant white-eyed wolves.

Only when they fall into civil strife can they be better controlled.

When the world is settled in the future, Zhu Han will not even give them the chance of chaos. At that time, it will be time for Zhu Han to send out troops to devour the Japanese country in one fell swoop.

As for now, let Lan Yu maintain a strong garrison to maintain the chaotic situation on the Japanese islands so that the Red Army can profit from it.

After knowing Zhu Han's intention, Lan Yu said with a smile: "Please rest assured, deputy commander, I will definitely keep this in mind when I am in Japan!"

Under Zhu Han's order, Lan Yu replenished a large amount of military equipment, and then led the new army back to the Japanese Islands in a mighty battleship.

Not long after Lan Yu left, Zhu Han received a military report from Shandong.

"This is the good news from Qi Xiang, Shandong Province, to the King of Wu, Deputy Commander-in-Chief!" said a guard of the palace.

Brother Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Han looked at each other and smiled.

"So, did Qi Xiang capture Qufu?" Zhu Han said.

The task he assigned to Qi Xiang was to lead the rebel army to attack Qufu westward, connect with the local Liberation Army in Qufu, and drive away the Mongolian loyal minister Yan Shenggong Kong Kejian.

Sure enough, when my brother Zhu Yuanzhang saw the good news, he immediately laughed, "Qiwu, you guessed it right, it is indeed the good news from Qufu."

Brother Zhu Yuanzhang said that he handed the good news to Zhu Han.

Zhu Han opened the good news and took a look!

Sure enough, Qi Xiang, the right commander of the musketeers, led the local rebel army and captured Qufu. Kong Kejian, the Duke of Yansheng enthroned by the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, fled and abandoned the city with his family members and others.

The entire southern half of Shandong fell under the control of the rebels. As a result, Xuzhou, southwest of Jining, was still under the control of the Yuan army, but it was already about to be captured by the surrounding rebels at any time.

"This is really great. The Shandong Rebel Army lived up to expectations! It lived up to expectations!" Zhu Han said with a smile.

"Qi Xiang didn't have much credit before, but he did really well in Shandong this time." Brother Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said.

Zhu Han said with a smile, "Qi Xiang has made such a great contribution, so naturally he will receive a commendation. How about appointing Qi Xiang as the governor of Shandong and commanding all the rebels in Shandong. What do you think?"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in agreement and said: "Yes, but also ask Qi Xiang to guard Qufu to prevent Yan Shenggong Kong Kejian from joining forces with the Mongolian Tatars to counterattack!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's words were not without purpose. In this operation to capture Qufu, sneak attacks were mainly used. The local rebels in Qufu disguised themselves and entered Qufu City, and then deceived the city gates, causing the rebels outside to rush into the city.

, captured the city of Qufu.

The troops under Duke Yansheng dispersed without suffering much losses.

In this way, they indeed have the strength to counterattack, and according to the intelligence sent by Qi Xiang, Yanshenggong Kong Kejian fled to Jinan.
To be continued...