On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, there was another heavy snowfall. The New Year of the fourth year of Zhengde came quietly amidst this heavy snow.
For many people, the past year was a year that they did not want to look back on. The Ming Dynasty experienced great chaos during this year. At the beginning of the year, there was the rebellion of King Anhua. For a time, people were panicked and everyone was uneasy.
Then came the floods in the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, severe drought in Hebei and other places, and the reform of land and horse administration, which caused even more complaints.
While the imperial court was in dire straits, the lives of the common people were getting worse and worse.
In the past year, Li Dongyang, the highly respected chief minister in the Ming Dynasty's outer court, died of illness in July. One of the pillars of the court was broken. Yang Tinghe, who came to the top, had a lackluster political performance in the past six months. Many people lamented that the foreign affairs department had no achievements.
Ting wanted to regain control of the government, but he was afraid that he would not be able to do so in the hands of Yang Tinghe.
In short, in the past year, everyone from the court to the people have experienced panic, pain and panic, and experienced some things they have not experienced in the past few decades.
On the banks of the Huai River, the sixteen-character prophecy engraved on the stone deer dug out, "If the sun and moon fail to shine, the deer will be lost, the whole world will chase it away, and the virtuous will gain it." This prophecy was quietly spread among the people.
Droughts, floods, rebellions, and even an earthquake in Xichuan in October all led people to believe that this was an omen. The so-called sage king is in power, the sky is clear and the earth is bright, the sea is clear and the rivers are clear. When the faint king is in power, this
The earth is shaking and the mountains are shaking, the world is in chaos, and the world is in chaos. All the absurd behaviors of the current Emperor Zhengde have been known to the world in the three years since he came to the throne. With such an emperor on the throne, they are worried and unable to see
hope for the future.
The only good thing is that the northern border of the Ming Dynasty was relatively peaceful. After the Battle of Xuanfu and the Battle of Dushicheng, the soldiers and horses of the little Tatar prince Batu Meng suffered heavy losses. Moreover, Zhang Yanling and others succeeded
A nail was inserted into his chest.
Asbas, the leader of the Duoyan Tribe, rebelled against Batu Meng. This successful differentiation operation also had an effect when King Anhua rebelled this spring. At that time, Batu Meng led his troops in the desert.
They gathered in the east and prepared to attack the Duoyan tribe. It was precisely because of this that they did not get involved in the rebellion in Ningxia. Otherwise, the counter-rebellion might not go so smoothly.
However, during Batu Meng's attack on Duoyan's three tribes in April, although Dushicheng General Zhao Yongsheng sent troops according to Zhang Yanling's deployment to deter him, Zhu Hui, the chief soldier of the Xuanfu, reported the matter
When the court was making a decision, Zhu Houzhao ordered no rescue due to strong opposition from Liu Jin and others.
The three Duoyan tribes originally received very little aid. Liu Jin also ordered the Ministry of Household Affairs to delay shipments. By the time Batu Meng attacked the Duoyan tribe, only 30% of the promised supplies, weapons, grain and grass had been given.
After more than a month of fighting, Asbas, the leader of the Duoyan Tribe, died in the battle. His son Jida had no choice but to lead his troops to surrender again. Zhao Yongsheng watched helplessly as the Duoyan Tribe was resurrected by Batu Monk.
Conquered, but due to the orders of the imperial court, he could not participate in the war to assist.
In this way, the huge strategic capital gained after the Battle of Dushi City was wasted.
At that time, Zhang Yanling was fighting a rebellion in Ningxia. When he returned to the capital and learned about this incident, he couldn't help but sigh. When he entered the palace to question Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houzhao also felt a little regretful, but it was already a done deal.
Thinking about it afterwards, Zhang Yanling could understand Zhu Houzhao's mentality at that time. King Anhua in the west rebelled in Ningxia, which made him panic. He obviously didn't want to get involved in the internal Tatar attack outside Xuanfu. After all, he was dead.
all
It's the Tatars. As long as nothing happens on the eastern border, thank God. There's no need to think about the overall strategic situation or dividing the Tatars. As for the promises I made to Asbath, just pretend that they never happened.
.
Although Batu Monk reconquered Modong, his strength is currently greatly damaged and it will take time to recover. In a short period of time, he is unable to detain the pass, and the most he can do is harass. Therefore, there is no need to worry about the safety of the northern border towns.
.
In the midst of the heavy snow, the rich live in a feast, while the poor can only look forward to the future in the severe cold. People's minds change, and everyone is holding back a fire and resentment in their hearts, like a buried volcano that may erupt at any time.
Zhang Yanling's New Year was full and busy. On the first day of the new year, the Queen Mother Zhang invited her whole family to the palace for dinner. What was rare was that Zhu Houzhao and Queen Xia were also present. Queen Xia had a round face, and she was blessed with many children.
Her appearance may be one of the reasons why she was chosen.
However, Zhang Yanling knew that Zhu Houzhao had no heirs in the real historical space, and he did not know whether it would change in this time and space. Zhang Yanling thought that maybe to solve the situation he would face in the future, he might be able to change the future by changing this.
Zhu Houzhao's physiology is obviously normal, but I don't know why he has no children. I don't know what went wrong. If it is true that no children have been born for several years, maybe you can talk to him in private and ask a doctor to see if there is any problem.
Hidden disease. As long as there are children, there will be no problems in Jiajing.
Of course, this is just an idea. We haven't reached this point yet.
However, during the chat with Queen Mother Zhang after the banquet, Zhang Yanling learned something that left him speechless.
On the night of the wedding, the emperor only stayed in Kunning Palace for half a night before leaving. From the wedding to now, the emperor has never been to Kunning Palace again. Queen Xia was actually a widow during this period of her wedding.
No wonder there was a hint of sadness in Queen Xia's expression. Apart from being polite to her on the surface, Zhu Houzhao really didn't even want to look at her.
Zhang Yanling sighed in his heart. At first glance, it was clear that Queen Xia was a decent woman with a strict upbringing. She was taciturn and had a quiet manner. This was not exactly the type Zhu Houzhao liked. She didn’t know what happened on the night of the wedding. In short, she must have made Zhu Houzhao unhappy.
, so he rolled his sleeves and left. Perhaps compared to the women in the leopard room, the emperor was indeed incomparable in terms of appearance and popularity. This may be the reason.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, I went to the Duke Dingguo's Mansion to pay New Year greetings. After that, I spent two days with the young father-in-law and his subordinates. On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Zhang Yanling took a day to spend a day in Zhu Qingyi's newly bought house in Zhengnanfang. The two of them spent a day there.
After a day of unbridled tossing, it was a relief from the pain of lovesickness.
On the sixth day of the lunar month, Zhang Yanling set off for Wild Dog Ridge in Xishan Manor. Not only was it the occasion to pay homage to his two father-in-laws, Zhao Laoji and Xu Gao, but also because the imitation Fo Lang machine gun was being prepared for test firing. This was very important to Zhang Yanling.
It was an extremely important day. Naturally, he had to personally participate in this matter.
At noon on the sixth day of the lunar month, Zhang Yanling took Axiu, Xu Youtang and others to Xishan Manor. After the afternoon banquet, surrounded by Xu Gao, Zhang Laoji and others, the group went to the separately opened cannon-casting workshop at the foot of the mountain.
This is a place that was previously opened up separately. Two new and improved blast furnaces were built. There are also various auxiliary equipment such as cranes made of logs and chain slides. At first glance, it looks very much like a factory in later generations.
During the New Year holiday, the stove was not turned on, and there were not many young men working inside, only seven or eight.
Xu Gao led Zhang Yanling into the tall workshop, came to the open space in the middle, and greeted him loudly.
"Push out the newly minted cannon."
Seven or eight young men agreed loudly, pushing a flat-bed six-wheeler out from the shed at the back and pushing it to the open space in the middle.
The flatbed truck was covered with a huge felt cloth. Needless to say, what was covered was the cast new cannon.
"Please Yanling lift the felt cloth." Xu Gao said with a smile.
Zhang Yanling smiled and nodded, stepped forward, reached out and grabbed a corner of the felt cloth, and pulled hard. The felt cloth fell to the ground, and a stainless steel cannon with its muzzle raised appeared in front of Zhang Yanling.
Due to the different materials, this cannon exudes a dark, dark blue luster. The whole cannon is shiny and new, and exudes a cold air, as if it is spiritual and full of pressure.
"Wow, what a majestic cannon." Zhang Yanling praised loudly.
Xu Gao stroked his beard and smiled. This was his hard work for more than a month. After having the sample, it was actually not difficult for him to imitate. With the full assistance of Zhang Laoji's blacksmith workshop, the parts were forged and polished.
It’s not a problem. The difficulty is actually some improvement measures proposed by Zhang Yanling.
"Look, according to your requirements, a cast iron base is added below, which can be fixed to the ground with steel drills to reduce vibration. In addition, it is fixed on the vehicle to facilitate towing and transportation." Xu Gao introduced.
Zhang Yanling carefully observed around the cart, and he actually discovered many differences. For example, where the mother-child cannon fit together, a cover door was added to enhance the sealing. For example, two steel hoops were added to the barrel to further enhance the sealing properties of the barrel.
Strength. The connection under the gun body uses a rotating steel frame mechanism, which can freely adjust the up and down elevation angle of the muzzle, and can rotate left and right.
In all of these, the seven or eight improvement measures proposed previously seem to have been improved.
"Very good, very good. But I don't know how powerful it is. This is the most important thing." Zhang Yanling nodded in approval.
"How powerful it is, you can only know by trying it." Xu Gao said.
"Then what are you waiting for? Let's go and test the cannon!" Zhang Yanling shouted loudly.