Chapter seven hundred and eighty seventh Shu Kingdom monarchs and ministers
"Boom! Boom!"
The Shu Palace is located in Yedu Garden on the western outskirts of Chengdu. There are many generals standing there and flags fluttering. In order to prevent the news from leaking out, even the low-level generals who usually guard the royal gardens were expelled early.
Two smoothbore cannons were aimed at a stone house more than 200 steps away, and they fired at the same time. Amidst the deafening noise, black smoke and flames were ejected from the muzzles. In the blink of an eye, bricks and stones were flying everywhere, and the solid stone house was covered with fire.
A large gap was created, and the thick stone wall was crumbling in the dust and smoke.
Cao Zhe and Jing Qiongwen both looked at everything in front of them in silence, while the faces of other Shu generals turned pale.
Wang Yong sat on the gorgeous dragon chariot with a gloomy face.
At the end of February in Chengdu Prefecture, the ground was covered with a new layer of green, and there were many wild ducks in the nearby streams and rivers, which were frightened by the sound of cannons and flew up.
Cao Zhe set off from Luoyang back to Sichuan on the Lantern Festival, but he had to carry two heavy cannons with him, and the speed was much slower than when he left. He returned to Chengdu more than half a month later than expected. Even he was in
On the way, I heard the news that Shouzhou Army and Xu Si Army had surrendered to Luoyang.
Cao Zhe was not surprised at all when the Shouzhou Army and Xu Si Army surrendered. He just didn't know what the ruler and ministers were thinking.
"The main force of the Mongolian army was annihilated in southern Shanxi because it was intercepted south of Jinquan Mountain by the Taiyue Army with hundreds of heavy artillery bottles and unable to escape north. This is a smaller artillery piece I saw in Luoyang, and there is also a
This kind of heavy artillery can fire iron pellets at a distance of three thousand steps." Cao Zhe knew that everyone felt uncomfortable, but he had to tell many details of his mission to Luoyang. He said, "I took the road from Yongzhou to the south of Tanggu and returned to Sichuan.
, and also saw Liang Jun digging a hole in the dangerous valley of Tangluo Road, drilling in this black fire | medicine, twisting the medicine and igniting it to blow up a large stone wall - Liang Jun was already a
Use this black fire | medicine to open up mountains and clear roads..."
Cao Zhe's implication is that the scale of the black gunpowder produced in Luoyang is large enough and can be used to open up mountains and roads, and is not limited to military purposes; which means that the front slide gun in front of Luoyang
If necessary, three to five hundred or even thousands of them can be cast in a short time.
Although the artillery made by Liang Jun was mainly equipped with elites on the northern front in the early stage, with the end of the main battle on the northern front, a large number of the artillery previously cast will go south with the first and second central battalions. At the same time, the new artillery cast by Liang Guo
, will inevitably give priority to equipping troops and horses on the southern front.
If the Shu army really grits its teeth and perseveres, what it will have to face is a more powerful force than the main force of the Mongolian army, Liang Junnan's troops.
When the kings and ministers of Shu heard this, they felt even worse, but they could not blame Cao Zhe for trying to increase the prestige of others.
Wang Yong waved his hand with a heavy heart, and signaled with some lack of interest to drive back to the palace.
Even though everyone was whispering to each other in private, no one had anything to say to Wang Yong at this time.
What can they say?
Luoyang's conditions and offering of homage can no longer satisfy Luoyang's appetite. What can they say?
Although Luoyang has not yet expanded Liangzhou's military equipment on a large scale, with the end of the war in southern Shanxi, the soldiers and horses originally on guard on both sides of the Yu River moved south one after another, which also caused Liang Rang's garrison to
From two brigades before, it has been increased to three brigades.
It is not difficult to predict that if there is no response from their side, Liang Jun's troops in Liangzhou will continue to increase until one day Luoyang completely loses patience and sends a large army to invade Sichuan and Shu.
They escorted him back to the palace first, and then Cao Qian, Cao Zhe and his son left the palace and returned to the house, feeling heavy.
Both his father and son knew in their hearts what was the most correct choice to stay in front of the king and ministers of Shu.
However, the Cao family and his son have been deeply favored by the emperor over the years. Others can come forward to advise them, but they have to be shameless. If they want to avoid being scolded in the back by the world, they cannot come forward to advise them.
In the current situation, some generals and ministers still have illusions, some generals and ministers do not care about matters, or they have secretly had close contact with Luoyang, and some generals and ministers may have the same thoughts as Cao and his son, and want to save face. This heavy topic,
Didn't mention it today.
This trip to Luoyang has been more than three months. Cao Zhe has not been reunited with his wife, children and parents for a while. When he returned to his house with his father, it was getting dark. He sat down to drink some wine. Jing Qiongwen suddenly came to visit.
, and also brought an uninvited guest.
"Cao Shufu, if Ruogu comes to visit again, you won't see anyone outside, right?" Xue Ruogu bowed his hands and saluted.
Seeing Xue Ruogu, Cao Gan, Cao Zhe and his son were not surprised. They guessed that Jinling had learned about the Zezhou battle at the beginning of the year and urgently sent Xue Ruogu to Chengdu to find out the news.
Although the Cao family and his son had made up their minds not to pay attention to Xue Ruogu's intentions for this trip, it did not mean that they did not even have the courage to welcome Xue Ruogu into the house.
Several people sat down in the tea room on the west side of Mingtang.
The spring tea in Chengdu Prefecture has not yet been mined. A pot of clear spring is placed on the red clay stove and boiling. The old tea from last year is taken out and brewed. A few wisps of fragrance fill the quiet and elegant tea room.
Only then did Xue Ruogu slowly reveal the purpose of his secret trip to Chengdu Mansion.
After the Battle of Fanchuan River, the Liang-Chu peace treaty was completely torn up. Even though the Chu court tried many times to repair the broken relationship with Liang, Liang Jun ignored them. Even the main envoys sent across the river were driven away by random arrows.
This also caused Liang and Chu to completely lose direct communication channels.
After receiving the news that the main force of the Mongolian army was annihilated by the Liang army in southern Shanxi, the Dachu generals were very clear about the next development of the situation - there were only some weak remnants of the Mongolian army on the northern front, and they could no longer contain many Liang army elites. Waiting for the Hehuai River
After the situation calms down, the main force of the Liang Army will inevitably move south and advance into Jianghuai.
Since the Liang-Shu peace treaty was actively sabotaged by the Chu court, Liang Jun sent his troops south and could not accuse Han Qian of betraying his faith and attacking his homeland.
Cao Zhe glanced at his father and saw that his father was just looking at the exquisite tea cup in his hand without opening his mouth to say anything, so he opened the lid of the tea cup, gently blew away the floating leaves, and drank the hot tea.
Will Shu and Chu form an alliance to fight against Qiang Liang at this time?
If this is the case, after Liang Jun regains Hehuai, he will not attack Jianghuai, but will first use troops against Sichuan and Shu.
Although there are hundreds of thousands of people in the new imperial army of Shu, they have not been tempered by the fire of war. Can they resist the brave soldiers of Daliang who have experienced hundreds of battles?
Not to mention the huge impact that the front slide cannon brought to the monarchs and ministers of Shu.
Shocked.
"I heard that General Cao was on an envoy to Luoyang and would come to Zezhou to watch the battle in person. Ruogu wanted to ask, is the Mongolian army really so vulnerable?" Xue Ruogu asked.
Cao Zhe glanced at Jing Qiongwen. He told the king everything he had learned during his trip to Luoyang as an envoy. Jing Qiongwen, as the left servant, was sitting next to the king.
Since Jing Qiongwen had no intention of telling Xue Ruogu in detail, there was really no need to elaborate. But since Xue Ruogu asked, how come Cao Zhe would respond and said with certainty: "The Mongolian army is indeed unbearable.
hit!"
"Where will the monarchs and ministers of Great Shu go? Duke Jing, Cao Shufu, and the commander of Cao Du are deeply favored by the Lord of Great Shu, and they are the most powerful ministers in Great Shu. Where will they go?" Xue Ruogu asked in hot pursuit.
road.
Hearing what Xue Ruogu said, Cao Zhe felt bored and said, "Mr. Xue, why don't you ask Mr. Zheng and Mr. Zhang in your country?"
After the Battle of Fanchuan River, the relationship between Liang and Chu was completely broken, and the border trade between the two sides seemed to be completely interrupted. However, the Langzhou and Huangzhou trading companies and shipping gangs controlled by the Zheng family and the Zhang family behind the scenes or were deeply involved with the Zheng family and the Zhang family, came from Yuzhou.
They successively purchased goods worth three to four million yuan - where did these goods really originate from? Zheng Yu and Zhang Chao, who would return to Langzhou to retire after a year, really had no idea at all.
Except for the transit trade from Yuzhou, as far as Cao Zhe knows, the smuggling of goods on both sides of the Yangtze River and Han River has never been interrupted for a day.
"Cao Zhe, Mr. Xue is a guest." Cao Gan raised his head and glanced at Cao Zhe, indicating that there was no need to argue with Xue Ruogu over trivial matters.
At this time, the sound of galloping horse hooves stopped at the gate of Cao Mansion.
Chengdu is the capital of Shu, and Cao Qian is the Privy Councilor. No one would dare to gallop in front of Cao's mansion unless there is something urgent.
Cao Qian and Cao Zhe were patient. After a while, they saw the steward leading a military officer from the Privy Council to come over and presented a letter, saying: "There is an urgent message from the Northern Front. Vice Envoy Chiang thinks it is necessary for the Privy Council to
Know it immediately - and also send people to Jingxiang's house, Jingxiang is the best here..."
Xue Ruogu didn't know any urgent news and needed to inform the two important civil and military officials of Shu immediately. When he saw Cao Gan's face suddenly became solemn after receiving the letter.
Cao Gan handed the letter to Jing Qiongwen, pondered for a while, and then said to Xue Ruogu: "Seven days ago, Zhu Rang ordered all the concubines and children to be driven into the Huangli Palace and set on fire. After that, he himself jumped into the sea of fire and committed suicide.
Then Bianliang was conquered by Liang Jun. When the city was breached, Liang Ren also wanted to set fire to his mansion, drive his few remaining family members into the sea of fire, and then jump into the sea of fire, but he himself was timid in the end.
Captured by Liang Jun..."
"Ah!" Xue Ruogu opened his mouth, but in the end he couldn't say a word.
He set out from Jinling in early February and came to Chengdu Prefecture. He took a boat all the way against the current. It was not until he arrived in Chengdu Prefecture that he learned that in mid-February, Han Yuanqi, Han Donghu, Lin Haizheng and others led 80,000 Liang troops to attack Bianliang City from three sides.
, but counting the time, it only took five days from the siege to the fall of Bianliang City.
Isn't this too fast?
Xue Ruogu was so shocked that he couldn't help but lament the fate of Zhu Rang and Liang Ren...