Chen Shuren inspected every day, rectified the internal affairs, and strengthened the troops.
The last period of April passed quickly in a busy manner. There were many new problems discovered. I encountered problems, solved them, and dismantled them one by one to come up with solutions.
The governor personally assigned the task, and the people below did not dare to neglect it. Several good governance reform measures were initially implemented in just half a month.
The production of double-barreled breech-loading nozzle and rotating nozzle pistols will continue at full speed after further running-in and optimization.
At the same time, the Daye iron yard also allocated manpower to make a batch of training guns that looked like the rear-mounted double-barreled nozzles, but were still front-loaded. They didn't need many, about a few dozen, which were enough for training.
That’s it.
Anyway, when training musket weapons, the utilization rate is still relatively low. There are 1,200 soldiers using new muskets. Even if there are only 60 training guns and twenty people share one, it is not a big problem. Anyway, the average number of guns fired every day is
With hundreds of guns, it's enough for each person to have a chance to fire dozens of guns.
The Shen family army originally had a certain amount of cavalry. When they wiped out the bandits of the fifth battalion of Gezuo, at least several hundred horses were captured for every family destroyed. In addition to the troops withdrawn from Liaodong this time, there were also a small number of cavalry horses.
Therefore, Chen Shuren had no pressure at all to organize a pure cavalry force of 2,000 people.
It can also provide about a thousand more war horses for the scout team and officers at all levels to use.
So after the inspection that day, as soon as the training guns were obtained, hundreds of people were assigned to take turns to hunt in the wild every day to practice waist shooting. This not only reduced the pressure on the army to keep herd horses in captivity, but also trained the team for subsequent attacks in mountainous and hilly areas.
In combat, you can also adapt in advance to a certain extent.
Due to the increase in musketry live ammunition training, the supply of steel in Daye Camp is still sufficient. After all, Daye Tieshan has been expanding production in the past few months and is operating very well under the management of Shen Shuren and the uncle and nephew of the Song family.
This amount of ammunition and iron sand consumption is nothing at all, not even the slag waste can be used up.
However, the supply of gunpowder is a bit tight. Shen Shuren has steadily expanded the production capacity of the black powder workshop in the past two years, but the supply of raw materials has always been through old methods and channels, and Shen Shuren has not personally supervised and optimized it.
This time I finally found a shortcoming, and Shen Shuren had to personally take care of it, and everyone worked together to think about it.
In the end, they all agreed that the production capacity of high-end and refined gunpowder should still be completely in the hands of the government. However, as the demand and production of gunpowder increase, and low-end gunpowder is now made by thieves and Tatars,
After all, it was the end of the Ming Dynasty. Gunpowder could still be considered a bit of a secret in the Southern Song Dynasty or the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, all forces were actually making it, and there was no technical confidentiality at all.
Therefore, with a stroke of his pen, Shen Shuren allowed low-end gunpowder to be operated by the private sector, but it must be subject to government control and obtain an authorization license from the governor's office. Then the merchants can contract and organize production on their own, and the government only needs to be responsible for inspecting the goods and reviewing them.
Safe production environment, no cutting corners or unsafe production.
In this way, the ship will be small, flexible and easy to turn around, and the production links without confidentiality and monopoly will be given to private capital, and the production efficiency will definitely be improved.
At the same time, among the main raw materials needed for gunpowder, it is impossible to control charcoal. It is available everywhere. Not to mention that charcoal cannot be controlled. Even the coke used in the new blast furnace ironmaking at Song Yingxing cannot be monopolized. There are too many supplies.
.
So the materials that can be controlled are saltpeter and sulfur.
The supply of saltpeter was relatively tight at one time, and Chen Shuren remembered the method of scraping saltpeter from the toilet soil that other time travelers often used. That is to scrape off the white, hair-like crystals that often appear on the wall of the toilet. That thing
It contains a considerable proportion of nitrates.
Sulfur was the easiest to control. At that time, the largest source of sulfur supply in East Asia was Japan.
Chen Shuren has now recruited Zheng Chenggong to serve as the prefect of Jiujiang. Of course, he must make some efforts from the Zheng family to please the eldest son's eldest brother and immediate boss.
So Shen Shuren just approved a note, and Zheng Chenggong obediently offered the Japanese sulfur that hundreds of ocean ships carry every year at a fair price. He only accepted the purchase price from Japan, plus the basic freight cost, which is the supply consumption and
The sailor's wages were not included in the profit, and even the depreciation of the ship was not confiscated. In fact, the Zheng family still suffered a slight loss, but it was not much and it was bearable.
In addition to military training and production and supply of equipment and consumables, the Shen Army is also busy in other aspects of logistics construction.
After further optimization and testing of the various new military rations that have just been developed, some key items have been selected to step up production and stockpiling. This will allow them to carry more military rations with the army during the upcoming mountainous operations, reduce the pressure on logistics and food routes, and facilitate operations.
Long-distance surprise attack, running attack.
After all, Zhang Xianzhong's current territory is a vast and sparsely populated place. The total length of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River is nearly a thousand miles. "A thousand miles of rivers and mausoleums can be returned in a day." If the transportation of military supplies is slow, a quick sneak attack by a large army will also be delayed.
It can't be realized.
…
The time soon came to early May, and the publicity war and smoke bombs that Shen Shuren had arranged before finally came to bear fruit.
Around the beginning of May, the fan works created by Fang Ziling and Bian Yujing based on Shen Shuren's "Continuation of the Thieves" had penetrated into the Henan area and began to perform among the people. Behind them, there were secret subsidies from the forces in Huguang.
Money, at least the albums are distributed for free.
After another ten days of fermentation, around the tenth day of May, these discordant sounds finally reached Li Zicheng's ears.
And it has to be said that the wisdom of the people is infinite.
Especially in the process of spreading rumors and jokes, there will naturally be the version with the most transformation and the most tenacious propagation power, which will win in the natural selection of natural laws.
After all, the more thrilling and novel a joke is, the easier it is for the listener to remember it, leave a deep impression on it, and then trigger reposting. This phenomenon of shocking people has been unavoidable since ancient times.
So, when the news reached Li Zicheng's ears, he almost immediately became furious.
"The reason why Li Zicheng was able to kill Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying in the first place was because he was inspired after reading Governor Shen's "On Thieves" and shamelessly told several of Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying's subordinates that he was a god.
An eunuch who is eunuch cannot give birth to a son.
In order to prove this point, Li Zicheng also took the initiative to disclose that the reason why his wife Xing followed Gao Jie to He Renlong six years ago was because he was not good enough! His wife had been a widow for half her life!
So he can only accept his adopted son! If he wins the world in the future, he will also pass it on to his adopted son! If anyone brings the main force of Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying to join him today, he will accept them as his adopted son. Whoever has made more merit in the future will be able to
Pass all the status to him! That’s why Luo and Ma Buqu rebelled! Li Zicheng was copying the answers according to Governor Shen’s "On Thieves" to punish dissenters!"
Of course, these words could not have been expressed in the form of declarative sentences at first, but they were all displayed as plots in operas, or at least in the form of folk storytelling, which was very lifelike.
In addition to these scenes of "the inside story of Li Zicheng's murder of his comrades", the other two most popular scenes recently are about "Mr. Yang Ge is eager to go north for reinforcements and seeks Li Zicheng for a decisive battle. Governor Shen is strategizing and dissuades Mr. Yang that there is no need to rush."
The image of Shen Shuren in the play directly copied Zhuge Liang's appearance, with feather fan and silk scarf. When Yang Sichang urgently urged Zuo Liangyu and Liu Guoneng to go north together for the decisive battle, Shen Shuren was very sure that he had the wisdom to advise:
"You don't have to worry too much, Mr. Pavilion. The intruder may seem to have doubled his army, but in fact there are many internal faction conflicts. He just relies on the gods to win over more people to work for their lives. The newly attached people have different intentions, but there is nothing to be afraid of even though they are numerous.
With the current strength of the thieves, they will continue to roam around, looting and maintaining, and they will never dare to attack the fortress of the official army! The most beneficial situation for our army is that he is arrogant and has no self-awareness when his brain is hot.
, whether it is to attack Tongguan in the west or Kaifeng in the east, it will inevitably lead to a fortification of the city in the end.
We can definitely wait for the intruders to attack for more than half a year and three months, and the division veterans are exhausted, and then support the attacked fortified city. By then, we will definitely be able to severely damage the intruders under the city!"
After these two jokes that humiliated and despised Li Zicheng were widely circulated, he was almost furious.
At that time, Li Zicheng was stationed in Zhengzhou County within the Kaifeng Prefecture. He immediately ordered that all those in the surrounding counties of Zhengzhou who spoke such books and performed such plays were arrested and killed——
In fact, no one in Zhengzhou County dared to act like this at that time. After all, this was Li Zichen's residence, and the people who ate this bowl of rice knew how to avoid danger and would not be so stupid as to deliberately give away their lives in vain. Therefore, people in Zhengzhou County
The news is spread by word of mouth among the people and comes from other places.
Li Zicheng searched and killed not a single storyteller or opera singer that day. In the end, he only searched a few gossip soldiers who had no control over the gossip, tied them up and chopped them. In the following days, he searched and killed several other soldiers in the occupied areas of Kaifeng Prefecture.
The county has just caught a few typical people and cut them down.
After the chop, Li Zicheng was still not relieved. He originally killed Luo and Ma in March, but he was still busy integrating the team for more than a month. He had no immediate plan to attack the enemy. He just asked the troops to feed themselves and pick weak persimmons everywhere.
Murder and robbery.
After being so humiliated, of course he wanted to prove himself, and immediately called his brother-in-law Gao Yigong and nephew Li Guo, and ordered them: "Immediately rectify your troops and horses from now on, gather the entire army in Kaifeng, and surround the city for me day and night.
Attack!
The Chenshu people are so deceitful! How dare you look down on me and say that I can't break Kaifeng? I will break it and show him! When the time comes, I kill the whole family of King Zhou and say that the Chenshu people provoked me to kill him! Let Chongzhen chop it down.
The head of Shen Shuren!"
Gao Yigong and Li Guo both felt that it was not impossible to attack Kaifeng now, but since the three armies were unified, it has become increasingly difficult to supply the troops in the past few months——
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
Because originally Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai, and Ma Shouying moved around a relatively wide area, each moving in their own way, and each government's robbed resources only needed to support a few tens of thousands of people.
Recently, the troops have been concentrated, and they only rely on robbing the people of Kaifeng Prefecture to supply military food. Except for Kaifeng City, all other places in Kaifeng Prefecture have been basically robbed. There is no human habitation for hundreds of miles, and even the common people have been killed to provide for the invading army.
eat human.
Gao Yigong then tactfully advised: "Your Majesty...it is right to attack Kaifeng, but 300,000 troops can never be stationed in one place for a long time. Otherwise, what will happen to the army and food? We have to divide our troops into various prefectures to plunder official warehouses."
.”
Li Zicheng snapped: "There is plenty of military rations in Kaifeng! Last year when we destroyed Luoyang, just dispersing all the property of Prince Fu's Mansion would be enough for the army until the end of the year! Now if you kill the King of Zhou, you can feed the entire army for several months! Don't get promoted.
Military spirit!
The current food reserves are enough to last for about a month! If we dig some wild vegetables and eat some people, we can survive for another half month. If we can't take Kaifeng even if we attack day and night for a month and a half? We will slaughter all of Kaifeng to establish our authority!"
Gao Yigong had nothing to say. He could still eat for a few days, so he couldn't force him to persuade him. If the attack didn't go well after the initial attack and the food was really not enough, he could try to persuade him slowly.
King Chuang was so angry that if the food was not going to be exhausted soon, he would never listen to the advice.
After Gao Yigong retreated, Li Guo thought of another problem. Although he didn't study, he was still a bit clever at figuring out the ways of the world, so he advised:
"Father, it is right to attack Kaifeng, but after my father hoped to defeat Kaifeng and kill the King of Zhou, he would blame Chen Shuren's aggressive general method and let Chongzhen kill him. I'm afraid it would be a bit difficult.
This Chen Shuren had no responsibility to assist in the defense of Henan. He was just a governor under Yang Sichang, helping to prevent thieves around the Dabie Mountains, Wuchang, and Jiujiang. It was none of his business if Kaifeng was massacred.
As for these rumors... there is no evidence that this is what Shen Shuren did. If it comes to the court in the capital, it will definitely be a mess. I'm afraid it will be a bit difficult to kill him with this method."
Li Zicheng was stunned for a moment, and then he thought about it. If these words of irritation were written in the text of "Continuation of the Theory of Flooding Thieves", if he was provoked and really went to Kaifeng to massacre, and the king of Zhou killed him, he could still be said to be Shen Shu.
People are self-defeating.
But these folk jokes, storytellers, plays, about Chen Shuren? They can't bite him at all.
"No matter what! Attack at all costs first! Massacre all of Kaifeng and then talk about it! Can we take the opportunity to kill the Shenshu people and then think about it in the long run? The worst is to massacre Kaifeng and then take advantage of the victory and go south, looking for opportunities to force a fight! If during the siege, Yang Sichang Shenshu
It would be even better if people take the initiative to come to our aid! I have an army of 300,000 men and I am not afraid of casualties at all!"
What Li Zicheng is not afraid of the most now is dead people, because soldiers have to be given food while they are alive, so it is better to use them as consumables. Anyway, as long as there is food, any living man can be a soldier.
Under Li Zicheng's arbitrary actions, the war machine of the Chuang Army quickly started operating step by step. In just two days of preparation, the troops continued to march eastward from Zhengzhou County, arrived in Kaifeng on May 13, and began to siege the city.
Gao Mingheng, the governor of Henan in the Ming Dynasty, did not flinch at all. Based on the successful experience of defending victory last year, he once again organized troops to defend and defend to the death, while asking Yang Sichang for help.
At the same time, the King of Zhou in the city, who had escaped disaster by distributing wealth last year, did not dare to be stingy with his property. He once again dispersed half of his wealth to reward the Ming army in the city. He could be regarded as a vassal king who was quite willing to spend money to reward the army in the late Ming Dynasty.
Already.
Except for Shen Shuren, no one in the world dared to underestimate Li Zicheng's offensive, and no one dared to be sure that Kaifeng could be defended.