Wang Chengen waved his hand and a table was placed in front of Chongzhen.
The eunuchs and maids began to pass around the meal, and Chongzhen was accustomed to eating breakfast while listening to intelligence reports.
At this time, the emperor generally did not speak.
He just ate quietly while being served by Wang Chengen.
The intelligence officer reporting the report reads the information aloud in order.
When the emperor hears someone who is interested, he will interrupt and then ask about the specific situation.
The reporting time is half an hour, and the time is limited because the emperor will go to court later.
Intelligence officers should prepare an outline in advance, and then pick up important information based on the actual situation and the emperor's concerns.
Chongzhen's habit of eating breakfast was developed when Yang Fan led a group to defend the Forbidden City.
The emperor and the people of the Ming Dynasty all had two meals a day.
The so-called breakfast is not eaten until almost noon. After finishing it, it is already noon. After lunch, it is time to light the lamp.
People in the Ming Dynasty did not have the habit of eating breakfast.
Since Yang Fan came, he has brought many of his habits to the court.
Emperor Chongzhen was a little overwhelmed when he saw the breakfast delivered by Yang Fan himself for the first time.
But these things look very delicious.
Lin Liang's eyes were full of breakfast, and the visual impact was very strong. He wanted to eat it when he smelled it, so he couldn't help but accepted it.
Breakfast is something that once you eat it, you can't stop eating it. If you don't eat it in the future, you won't get used to it. If you don't eat for one meal, you will feel hungry in your stomach.
And Yang Fan's breakfast, with its rich variety, is simply a sin compared to this era.
There are Cantonese-style morning tea, various breakfast noodles from Hunan, hot dry noodles, Zhenjiang soup dumplings, Yangchun noodles, donkey meat steamed dumplings, pot stickers, fried dough sticks with tofu, fried cakes, egg soup, fried liver, and fried tofu soup.
etc,
There were hundreds of kinds of food, and there was nothing the same every day. The emperor and the two noble concubines were dumbfounded.
Empress Zhou, Concubine Yuan Guifei and Concubine Tian Guifei were all considered to be from wealthy businessmen's families. They kept lamenting that their sixteen years of life had been in vain and they did not have as much food as Yang Fan.
Not only the royal family has become accustomed to breakfast. Even the eunuchs and maids who are not on duty in the morning can go to the Qianqing Palace Square and the cooking class to have breakfast.
These are popular ingredients and not expensive. Everyone can buy them.
From then on, Chongzhen had breakfast every morning.
Chongzhen’s breakfast is very simple.
Sometimes, a bowl of shrimp meat, a few siomai, and a few plates of pickles.
Sometimes, a bowl of millet porridge and a cage of crab roe buns.
Sometimes, a bowl of Yangchun noodles is added with a few small plates of sugared garlic, platycodon, kimchi, radish strips and the like.
He likes something lighter and doesn't like fried liver, fried dough sticks and the like.
At this time, Luo Yangxing walked in quickly.
When Chongzhen saw Luo Yangxing coming, he frowned. Luo Yangxing would not come in person unless there was an important matter. Generally, fixed personnel are responsible for these intelligence gathering matters. Luo Yangxing needs to be in charge of the Jinyiwei Yamen.
If it wasn't a big deal, he wouldn't report it in person.
"Your Majesty, there is news on the grassland." Luo Yangxing said.
"Well, how's the war going?" Chongzhen asked indifferently, but he was a little worried in his heart.
On the one hand, he was tempted by the money scene of the woolen textile industry described by Yang Fan, but on the other hand, he was unwilling to join the army. After all, the finances are so difficult now. The ministers would not agree to a foreign war.
This time he sent Yang Fan out under pressure and in the name of patrolling the border. He was very worried when news came that Yang Fan's entire army had been wiped out.
After all, where does Yang Fan's strength lie? I heard that there are many Mongolians besieging him.
Yang Fan has stung a hornet's nest this time. He went to the heart of others to engage in farming. It would be strange if they didn't fight with him.
In fact, looking at the map, he could understand Yang Fan's intention. Beyond the Great Wall in Ji Town were mountainous areas, and only in Duolun could there be good pasture.
He knew that Yang Fan was a powerful general with unparalleled courage and perseverance.
No matter how many Mongols there are, they can't scare him.
What he sets his sights on must be done.
"Your Majesty, Duolun has won a great victory." Luo Yangxing said.
"What, I really won." The spoon in Chongzhen's hand fell into the millet porridge. With a clang, the rice porridge almost splashed onto the dragon robe.
The little eunuch quickly wiped the spilled porridge on the table with a cloth.
Wang Chengen also felt nervous. Now that Yang Fan was his foreign aid, he didn't want Yang Fan to be defeated.
Although the Ming Dynasty prohibited internal servants from colluding with foreign ministers.
However, the powerful eunuch did not cooperate with the forces outside the court. It would be difficult to do things without anyone outside.
"Why didn't Yang Fan submit a memorial? What happened specifically?" Chongzhen asked hurriedly.
"Your Majesty, the battle on the grassland is not completely over yet. Maybe Mr. Yang wants to end it completely before going on." Luo Yangxing said carefully.
"Well, Yang Qing has always been cautious, which is in line with his character."
"Early this morning, the Tiqi sent by Jin Yiwei outside Malan Pass came back. They brought back the latest news."
"On the third day of July, after Yang Tongzhi came out of the customs, the army marched by land and water. After marching for three days, they arrived at a place called Sandaowan and set up camp. They were immediately besieged by a large number of Mongolians."
Hearing this, Chongzhen asked: "How many people did Yang Fan bring out of the customs?"
"Yang Tongzhi led the Hexi Guard Qianhu Station with 3,600 soldiers and 600 sidecars. Each car carried a thousand-jin copper-haired cannon. There were five people on board, and they were equipped with five firecrackers, five long halberds, and five wild goose feather knives.
Kou. Three pack horses."
I was shocked when I heard that Yang Fan was so heartbroken that he equipped the Qianhu Station in Hexi Province with 600 copper cannons weighing more than 1,000 kilograms.
Oh my gosh, that's a lot of artillery. How much does it cost?
There aren't that many heavy artillery pieces on the city walls of the imperial capital.
Chongzhen's hands were trembling a little. Copper was money. While he was moved by the fact that Yang Fan spent his own money to equip the imperial army, he was also a little jealous of Yang Fan's wealth.
This guy is too rich, but it makes sense.
Xinghe Supermarket now has a net profit of 50,000 taels every month, which is 600,000 taels a year.
The queen is very happy when dividends are distributed at the end of each month. The internal treasury is also a lot fuller.
This is Yang Fan's style, killing those poor Tatars with money.
These are heavy cannons, and each shot is worth money. He has calculated in private that the value of one shot of shot is similar to that of replacing lead with copper coins of the same weight and firing one shot.
Luo Yangxing continued: "Except for the chariot camp, Yang Tongzhi's 3,600 servants and the 3,600 Xinghe regiment training men are all cavalry. They are well-equipped. They are all heavy-armored cavalry. They wear a kind of armor that we have never seen in the Ming Dynasty. This armor covers everything except the eyes. An arrow cannot be hurt by a sword."
"In addition to sabers, these cavalry also have bird guns and hand guns. They are very well-equipped. And the horses are more than a head taller than the Mongolian horses."
Hearing this, Chongzhen nodded.
He knew the specific situation of Xinghe Tuanlian.
When he first stayed in the Wei Palace, he knew it very clearly. Many of the officers and soldiers were familiar to him, and he could call them by name when he saw them.
After all, these people have stayed in the palace for more than a month.
Later, he was stationed in the capital for a long time. Wang Chengen became more familiar with them and took them many times to deal with some of the emperor's hostile forces.
At that time, he often stood on the Dan steps platform of Qianqing Palace to watch how Xinghe group training was performed.
He knew very well that an emperor could not do without a strong army.
He took advantage of every opportunity to personally observe and understand how Yang Fan trained.
The number of people and equipment at Xinghe Group Training meet the requirements, and no one can find fault with it.
As for Yang Fan raising 3,600 servants, this is within a reasonable range.
Nowadays, there are no generals in the Ming Dynasty who do not support their servants. Without servants, it is impossible to fight a war. How many servants you can support depends on your financial situation. This has been basically made public for more than a hundred years.
Yang Fan is rich, he can support 3,600 servants, and no one can say anything.
The money to support the family is obtained by various means.
It is basically invisible and no one dares to investigate.
On the Guan Ning Army side, the Zu Dashou family, the Wu Xiang family, etc. all have three to four thousand servants, or even more.
He had seen Yang Fan's horse before, and it was very strong.
Then it is not a Ming Dynasty horse.
Luo Yangxing rolled his eyes and continued: "Yang Fan has more than just servants. During this dispatch, we also found a baggage battalion, which mainly drives four-wheeled carriages to transport baggage. I don't know what a grenade battalion does. They don't have There were no swords, guns, or firearms, not even leather armor. They were just carrying an iron pipe, which is really strange. There are several such battalions, including machine gun battalions, etc., but no armored weapons were found."
Chongzhen was also a little confused as to what these people who were fighting with bare hands were doing.
Wang Chengen said: "Your Majesty, these may be the supplementary troops brought by Yang Fan. If the soldiers are injured or killed, they can be used to supplement them."
The emperor thought for a while and nodded. This analysis was very reasonable. After all, Yang Fan had few people, the soldiers were lost, and there was no place on the grassland to replenish them, so he established some supplementary barracks.
Luo Yangxing said: "Yang Tongzhi has an artillery battalion, equipped with thirty small cannons. It looks about the same thickness as a small general cannon, but it is very slender. It has its own wheels, which can be dragged by horses or pushed by soldiers. .The performance is unclear. They are all iron cannons."
Chongzhen thought for a while and said: "How many people did he bring out of the customs?"
"Your Majesty, we have more than a dozen regular soldiers and about 10,000 people. We have 50,000 oxen and horses, 1,500 chariots, 100 canoes, and 2,000 boatmen."
Chongzhen was a little shocked, silently, that Yang Fan actually had so many soldiers and horses in his hands.
