Chapter 149 Breaking out of the cocoon and turning into a butterfly
For more than a month after that, Chongzhen led more than 6,000 princes and scholars in circles in the Dabie Mountains, reaching as far south as the Yangtze River in Anqing Prefecture and as far west as Huangzhou Prefecture in Huguang.
At the beginning, many Qin Wang scholars could not figure it out.
There were also some Qin Wang scholars who deserted, and several more were killed for this reason.
But from beginning to end, Qin Wangshizi never rebelled.
There are two main reasons for this. First, Chongzhen and his son set an example.
Chongzhen, as the emperor, and Zhu Cijiong, as the prince and only thirteen years old, followed their diligent princes and scholars into ravines, walked through dense forests, and slept in the open and endured hardships. As citizens, what could they complain about?
In addition to the example set by Chongzhen and his son, there is another important reason, which is the improvement in the ideological level of the scholars.
For more than a month, the Qinwang scholars only did three things every day. They marched in the morning, conducted the most rigorous training with reference to the new performance book in the afternoon, and gathered around the campfire in the evening to discuss state affairs and criticize current ills.
Most young people are passionate, and when thousands of young people gather together, they are even more passionate.
This is actually similar to MLM brainwashing. Many people gather together and tell only one story every day. Over time, they all believe it to be true and believe it deeply.
However, the theoretical basis of MLM is to make money and benefit, and the foundation is not solid.
Therefore, once they leave the MLM organization, the members will regret it.
But the theoretical basis that Chongzhen provided to the Qinwang scholars was the family, the country, and the world, which was amazing.
Under Chongzhen's deliberate guidance, the topics discussed by Qin Wang's scholars never strayed away from the family, country, and world.
Today, we take the world as our responsibility; tomorrow, we sacrifice our lives to fight for the national calamity and regard death as a sudden return; then, we are fighting against the world, why should we avoid it due to misfortunes and fortunes; and then, if we are willing to serve our country with this life, why should we be born in Yumen Pass...
…
After more than a month of arduous marching, and after more than a month of heated discussions about the country, the country, and the world, more than 6,000 diligent scholars have established their life positioning from the depths of their thoughts: to follow the example of Zhuge Liang and work hard until death.
Follow Zhongyan's example and worry about the world's worries first, and rejoice after the world's happiness. Practice to live in sorrow and die in peace and happiness.
We, the scholars, will fight against the national calamity together, and we will have no regrets even if we die a hundred times!
All in all, in a specific atmosphere of public opinion, more than 6,000 Qinwang scholars have completed the sublimation of their personalities and developed a feeling similar to that of martyrs from the inside out.
This kind of sentiment occupies an extremely important position in Confucianism.
With the support of this kind of sentiment, rice soaked in water and vinegar cloth become a spiritual enjoyment.
With the support of this kind of sentiment, the dozens of miles of mountain road every day became a test of will.
With the blessing of this kind of emotion, boring training becomes more vivid.
With the blessing of this kind of sentiment, the Qinwang scholars no longer had any resistance to the training that Chongzhen brought to them. Instead, they actively participated in it and enthusiastically looked forward to going north to Xuzhou as soon as possible after completing their studies, and then passing the Xuzhou battlefield.
Fight with Jiannu to achieve the final transformation - the ultimate transformation like breaking out of a cocoon and turning into a butterfly.
The Qin princes thought that they would undergo the final transformation after reaching the Xuzhou battlefield.
But Chongzhen didn't want to do this, because it would be too cruel to throw these scholars directly into the army of Jiannu. Secondly, it would be too luxurious. These are seeds and cannot be wasted like this.
Chongzhen carefully prepared a big exam for Prince Qin.
An ultimate test similar to breaking out of a cocoon and turning into a butterfly.
…
At this time, he was at the Ningnan Hou Mansion in Wuchang.
Zuo Liangyu held two pieces of edict with a solemn expression.
These two edicts were just sent to the Ningnan Hou Mansion by the Zhongguan. One edict conferred the title of Duke of Chu on Zuo Liangyu, while the other secretly ordered Zuo Liangyu to appoint his only son Zuo Mengeng as the chief general, and the commander-in-chief Jin Shenghuan as the deputy general.
, led 20,000 troops to sneak into Anqing Mansion, disguised as bandits, and launched an attack on Taihu County and surrounding towns.
There is a saying that these two edicts from Chongzhen made Zuo Liangyu extremely uneasy.
Logically speaking, it was a good thing that Jin was granted the title of Duke of Chu. Zuo Liangyu should be happy, but for some reason, Zuo Liangyu felt inexplicably flustered because he knew in his heart that he had not made much contribution to the Ming Dynasty.
Being granted the title of Marquis of Ningnan before was already an excessive reward, but now that Jin was granted the title of Duke of Chu, it was even more difficult for him to sleep and eat well.
As for letting his only son Zuo Menggeng and general Jin Shenghuan lead 20,000 troops into Anqing Mansion to disturb the people, Zuo Liangyu was even more flustered, wondering if the Lord had discovered something?
When he led troops to chase down bandits, Zuo Liangyu often did bad things that disturbed the people.
So do these two edicts from Chongzhen mean that the court is going to kill Zuo Liangyu? If that is the case, he will not sit still and wait for death!
Zuo Liangyu was puzzled, so he sent someone to invite Liu Jingting over.
Liu Jingting was originally just a storyteller in Nanjing, but now he became Zuo Liangyu's military advisor.
Zuo Liangyu first showed Liu Jingting the two edicts from Chongzhen, and then asked: "Sir, please teach me, what is the purpose of these two edicts from Chongzhen? Do you want to reuse me, or do you want to destroy me?"
Zuo Liangyu's disloyalty was clearly revealed, and everyone directly praised Chongzhen.
Liu Jingting thought for a while and then said: "Don't worry, my lord, Chongzhen is just a temptation."
"Testing?" Zuo Liangyu was stunned for a moment and then asked, "What do you mean, sir? What does Chongzhen want to test?"
"Chongzhen wants to test whether the Lord has the heart to support the army and be self-reliant." Liu Jingting said, "If the Lord refuses and refuses to let the young master and General Jin lead the troops into Anqing Mansion, it means that the Lord has the heart to be self-reliant.
, then Chongzhen is very likely to lead the 28 towns of Xuzhou to attack and kill the Lord before Jiannu marches south."
"This!" Zuo Liangyu suddenly took a breath of air after hearing this.
Although Zuo Liangyu claims to have 300,000 elite soldiers, in fact he only has about 100,000.
Moreover, most of these 100,000 people are rebel soldiers who have defected, and their equipment and training are very worrying. The only ones that can really fight are Zuo Liangyu's old 20,000-strong camp.
Therefore, if Chongzhen really led the elite soldiers from Xuzhou's Twenty-Eight Towns southward, Zuo Liangyu thought that he would be unable to stop him, and he would have no choice but to abandon Wuchang and escape.
But I can’t run or I don’t want to run.
It's not a good feeling to be bereft of a dog.
Liu Jingting said: "So the Lord should send troops according to the imperial edict."
Zuo Liangyu said: "But what if Chongzhen takes my son as a hostage?"
"What's the point?" Liu Jingting said with a chuckle, "Your Majesty, the Spring and Autumn Period is in full bloom, and you have many wives and concubines, so why worry about not having any heirs?"
Zuo Liangyu was right when he thought about it. Yes, he was only over forty now. Confucius' father was still able to give birth to a son at the age of eighty. There was no reason why Zuo Liangyu couldn't give birth to a son.
…
Two days later, Qianshan County, Anqing Prefecture.
The first batch of ordnance produced by the Daming Arsenal has been delivered to Qianshan County.
This batch of ordnance was agreed upon with Kang Baiwan before Chongzhen left Nanjing.
"Your Majesty, these are the weapons you want, a total of two thousand Rumi guns!" Zhan Yangzhi pointed to the nearly a thousand donkeys meandering behind him and said, "In addition, there are more than 4,000 spears and more than 6,000 waist knives.
There are more than six thousand pairs of cotton armor."
The spears, waist knives and cotton armor were nothing, but more than two thousand Rumi muskets surprised Chongzhen.
Because what he wanted was just a bird gun, but he didn't expect that the Ming Arsenal actually provided him with a Rumi gun.
After all, it only takes one and a half months for the Ming Dynasty Arsenal to complete integration and put into production. How can it produce more than two thousand Lumi guns in such a short time?
This is undoubtedly against common sense.
Chongzhen asked: "Where did these two thousand or so Rumi guns come from?"
Zhan Yangzhi said with a smile: "Replying to the Holy Spirit, the most difficult thing to process in Rumi guns is the barrel. It happened that there were more than two thousand barrels in the warehouse of the previous bird gun factory, so they were all used and changed into Rumi guns."
"That's what happened." Chongzhen was inevitably a little disappointed.
At that time, Chongzhen ordered Zhan Yangzhi to unload the weapons and then unpack them.
Chongzhen took out a Lumi gun from it. The entire gun body already had the prototype of a modern rifle, but the trigger was still a snake-bar mechanism holding a match rope, and it was not equipped with a bayonet.
Then I took out several Lumi guns for comparison.
It can be clearly seen that the wall thickness of Lumi gun tubes is uneven, and even the shape is irregular. Some are octagonal, some are quadrilateral with four chamfers, and some are hexagonal, not round.
There are no sighting mechanisms such as back sights, none at all.
Chongzhen's face became a little embarrassed: "Is this also called Lumi gun?"
There are also many Rumi guns in the border towns of Xuzhou, and there are obvious differences between the two.
"Uh..." Zhan Yangzhi was stunned for a moment and said, "The appearance is a little rough, but all the blunderbuss tubes have been re-forged, the inner walls of the blunderbuss tubes have been re-drilled, and the straightness has been re-calibrated. All processes are done according to Lumi.
The requirements for the gun were carried out, and finally a test firing was conducted, and the accuracy and range were similar to the Rumi gun."
"Okay." Chongzhen also felt helpless about this and had to eat the food one bite at a time.
After a pause, Chongzhen asked again: "When can three thousand sidecars be built?"
Zhan Yangzhi said softly: "Because the lumber was not delivered in time, it may take some time before the van factory can build three thousand side vans, about a month."
Chongzhen grunted and asked again: "Have the fifty gunnery engineers from the Macau Bugalao Artillery Factory arrived?"
"Not yet." Zhan Yangzhi shook his head, and then said, "But an urgent delivery has been sent from Guangzhou, and fifty gunnery engineers from the Bujialao Artillery Factory have already set off from Macau."
Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief and said again: "Zhan Weng, forget about this batch of Lumi guns, but the next batch of Lumi guns, as well as sidecars, squatting tiger cannons and Hongyi cannons, you must implement what I said before.
Standardization! If it is still like this batch, then I will reject it, and all losses will be borne by you."
"Yes, yes, there must be standardization, and standardization must be implemented. This batch of Lumi guns must be urgent, otherwise they must be standardized." After a pause, Zhan Yangzhi said again, "But the cost..."
"I told you, don't worry about the cost." Chongzhen said with enthusiasm, "As long as the goods are good, money is not an issue."
While he was talking, Zheng Sen and more than sixty sergeant chiefs had arrived, and Chongzhen immediately asked them to take Prince Qin to collect the ordnance and distribute it.