Once his Majesty ascended the throne, the murmurs would not be as loud.
No matter how much Huang Chunyao thought about it, something didn't seem right. Could a hundred or so people really supply an entire fleet?
He thought about it for a while and wrote a letter to Gu Rouqian. Gu Rouqian's reply was extremely excited: "You have no idea how incredible the spinning machines and looms improved by His Majesty are!"
Especially that hydraulic loom; after the onset of summer, its speed has become incredibly fast. During the low-water season in winter, a significant number of spindles were kept in stock, but once the high-water season arrived and the hydraulic loom was put into operation, not only could the current production speed not keep up, but the original inventory was barely even touched.
Under these circumstances, the girl specifically in charge of the weaving workshop began to acquire large quantities of spindles, maintaining stable trade with both the Weng and Xi families now.
After seeing this, Huang Chunyao was truly a bit stunned.
His Majesty.. can also improve spinning machines and looms? How on earth did he grow up?
Huang Chunyao looked at the tax situation for the first half of the year disclosed by the Ministry of Revenue. After seeing that the tax revenue from Suzhou was significantly higher than before, he felt like writing a letter to the Emperor: Stop fighting and hurry back to make money; the imperial court is short on funds!
Zhu Ci was also very satisfied after receiving the news, but since most of Zhu Ying and his subordinates were illiterate, the specific details of this voyage were not written in detail; he would likely have to wait until he returned to ask about them.
However, being able to transport the silver back smoothly means no loss was incurred, which is excellent!
Just as Zhu Ci finished putting the letter away, he saw Jiang Xueyan rush in, cupping her hands in salute, say, "Your Majesty, there seems to be unusual movement in the direction of Luzhou."
Luzhou?
Ajige?
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Why are you bothering me while I'm counting my money again? So annoying! *Cat rubs against a gold ingot. jpg*
Next update at 12:00 PM~
Chapter 118
Luzhou is located northwest of Fengyang and belongs to the Huguang region. That area was originally the territory of the Hongguang Era, but later, under the leadership of Zhu Yousong, the Hongguang Era splintered, leaving Luzhou in an ungoverned zone.
Naturally, as Zhu Ci traveled north, he reclaimed Luzhou.
Under these circumstances, any unusual movement in the direction of Luzhou certainly isn't a problem with Luzhou itself; it is very likely a threat brought by Huangzhou or even Wuchang.
Wuchang was originally the territory guarded by Zuo Liangyu, but instead, Zuo Liangyu launched an uprising under the banner of "Clear the Emperor's side," looting Wuchang City and then setting it ablaze before leaving.
Immediately after, Wuchang was occupied by Li Zicheng and the Dashun Army. By my calculations, he should currently be fighting against the Qing's Heshuo Prince Ying and General Jingyuan Ajige.
Regarding Li Zicheng's fate, the book originally stated that Alna would personally breach Wuchang City and behead Li Zicheng in May.
Nowadays, although Alna's whereabouts are unknown, it is clear that he will not have the opportunity to lead troops to break through the city in the short term.
After all, by the time he killed Li Zicheng, he was already a Gushan E Zhen, which was equivalent to a high-ranking official in the later Qing Dynasty, a member of the true aristocracy.
Whether his Niu Lu E Zhen can be held onto remains to be seen.
Because of this, Zhu Ci only arranged scouts in that direction but did not pay much attention to it.
Whether he and Li Zicheng are friends or foes is hard to say, but Li Zicheng and the Qing Army are definitely enemies, which means
Any unusual movement from the direction of Luzhou now would mean that either Ajige has defeated Li Zicheng, or it is also possible that he has given up on Li Zicheng and turned to support Dodo instead.
Li Zicheng, are you even capable or not!
How can he not even be able to handle Ajige!
Zhu Ci also did not know whether Li Zicheng or Ajige was more formidable in history, but analyzing the current situation, Li Zicheng's Dashun Army was clearly no match for Ajige.
He called over Liu Zhaoji and He Gang, pointed at the map to explain his guesses, then Liu Zhaoji said with a very serious expression, "If Ajige sends reinforcements, Luzhou will be in danger."
“Li Zicheng can't tie down Ajige?” He Gang asked, somewhat surprised.
Previously, they had all judged that Li Zicheng would be able to tie down Ajige for at least a while; why was he unable to do so now?
Zhu Ci tapped the map with his index finger and said, "Li Zicheng might not have much strength left after fleeing all the way to Wuchang, Dodo has been fighting passively lately, clearly waiting for Ajige's reinforcements."
He fell silent for a long while before saying, "I will lead the troops to Luzhou."
"Your Majesty, you absolutely must not." Liu Zhaoji and He Gang said in unison.
Zhu Ci felt that since his ascension to the throne, this was the phrase he had heard most often.
Before he could say anything, He Gang cupped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, more men should indeed be sent to the direction of Luzhou; I personally request to go there."
Zhu Ci sat down and said languidly, "You can't do it."
He Gang was momentarily stunned, not expecting His Majesty to be so blunt.
In the past, the Little Emperor had been quite lenient toward military officers like them, mostly offering encouragement, rarely denying them so bluntly.
He said somewhat shamefully, "My ability to command troops is indeed.."
He hadn't even finished speaking before Zhu Ci interrupted, "When I say you are inadequate, I don't mean you cannot defeat Ajige, but that you cannot handle Li Zicheng."
"Huh?" He Gang was stunned for a moment.
Zhu Ci said, "Ajige wants to support Dodo, Li Zicheng is not a blockhead; he won't simply let Ajige leave. Given Li Zicheng's personality, if Ajige tries to leave, he will certainly pursue and attack him. Ajige will either have to endure his harassment or split his forces. In any case, engaging with Ajige could lead to a confrontation with Li Zicheng. How do you plan to negotiate with Li Zicheng?"
Li Zicheng is an emperor after all; to have a dialogue with him, one would naturally have to be an emperor as well. It is true that his origins were humble and he is indeed in a state of decline now, but the common people support him.
Moreover, if you trace it back, the founding Emperor of Great Ming was also born a beggar; who is more noble than the other?
Zhu Ci himself actually quite appreciated Li Zicheng's initial policies; it was just that although this man had the ability to overthrow the old society, he lacked the skill to stabilize a new nation.
He is not a qualified emperor, but he would be very well-suited to lead an army.
He never expected that his Emperor would actually have the idea of recruiting Li Zicheng.
Strictly speaking, Great Ming was nearly destroyed by Li Zicheng. To the Emperor of Great Ming, Li Zicheng was his greatest enemy.
Liu Zhaoji said with great admiration, "Your Majesty possesses a magnanimous spirit that is one in ten thousand; we are all in awe of you."
Zhu Ci thought to himself, I am not truly a member of the imperial family, why should I hate him?
When he left, he took nearly ten thousand people with him. Between fighting their way through, absorbing others, the defections from the Qing Army, their numbers had long since exceeded thirty thousand.
However, it's not as if all thirty thousand soldiers could actually serve on the front lines; at least two-thirds of them were responsible for logistics.
Half of the ten thousand men taken by Zhu Ci were also responsible for logistics; the five thousand who could truly take to the battlefield were almost enough.
In any large-scale operation, only a minority are actually involved in the fighting.
Zhu Ci led his men on a forced march to reach Luzhou Huoshan, the scouts he had sent back news of Ajige: he had also arrived with his troops near Yingshan.
Oh, this news wasn't actually gathered by scouts, but was provided by the local commoners.
After taking over Luzhou, Zhu Ci took the opportunity to have the local authorities clearly survey the land in preparation for land redistribution.
At this stage, he no longer needed to assign specific personnel to keep watch, as it had already become national policy, even if the locals wanted to resist, they would be unable to do so.
Especially since Zhu Ci had already become a monster with a green face and fangs in the mouths of the people, incredibly ferocious; although the local gentry and wealthy families were unwilling, they had no choice but to submit.
If they cooperate, they might be able to keep some of their family assets. Although the Emperor has ordered the distribution of land, he has no intention of seizing their homes, so they will only lose their fields; if they do not cooperate, they will lose their lives!
In this situation, the commoners who already possessed means of production or were waiting for the distribution of means of production naturally became Zhu Ci's eyes and ears.
After Zhu Ci learned of Ajige's movements, he said decisively, "Continue the march to Shangtu!"
Ajige traveled by water along the Yangtze River while pursuing Li Zicheng, Ajige also used the Yangtze River during the pursuit. In the original work, Alna led his men to strike Li Zicheng's navy with Red-coated Cannons, while simultaneously launching a cavalry raid on land, defeating Li Zicheng's Dashun Army through this two-pronged attack.
And the reason Li Zicheng was defeated so quickly and pursued so closely was because he had no time at all to regroup.
Zhu Ci decided to fight fire with fire.
Now his only weakness is that he lacks a navy, or rather, he hasn't had enough time to establish one.
But it didn't matter; since he had no navy, his naval forces naturally would not become a target for attack.
If Ajige's navy wants to land.. they should first ask his Hundred Tigers Sprinting Rocket Cars if they agree.
Zhu Ci had deployed Hundred-Tiger Galloping Rocket Cannons at all the important ports, but there weren't originally this many; however, what could he do when Fu sent several more carriages via his men?
When Zhu Ci heard that the new shipments of provisions included Hundred-Tiger Sprint Rockets, he felt like writing a letter to Fu immediately to praise him.
He is truly reliable.
According to his original arrangement, a hundred tigers charging with Single-shot Rockets would certainly not be enough. Not only were there insufficient rockets, but even the carts themselves would be insufficient; he had forgotten to account for the attrition.
There was no other way; he had never managed such a massive undertaking before, so most of the time he could only rely on the little knowledge he had learned to make judgments. Without practical experience, things would surely go wrong.
Fortunately, he had Fu to back him up.
He brought five rocket carts with him this time, two of which he does not intend to use for the time being, because there are currently no suitable waters for combat here in Yingshan. In other words, Ajige's navy will likely continue to pursue Li Zicheng.
This was also why Zhu Ci decisively chose to take the initiative to strike. If he didn't act while the enemy's water routes were inconvenient, what if they delayed, the enemy's navy landed to regroup?
If Ajige were to race south all the way to the Yangtze River basin, should he pursue him or not?
Ajige also did not expect the Great Ming army to be so proactive.
For a long time, whenever the Great Ming Army faced them, they would either flee in terror or surrender at the mere sight of them. To the Qing Army, the threat posed by the Great Ming Army was not even as great as that of Li Zicheng.
So when Ajige learned that Dodo had not only been defeated by the Great Ming army and forced to retreat, but was also reduced to a passive siege, he said with great disdain, "The General of State Stabilization is unworthy of his title!"
When Dodo suffered his first defeat and was demoted from General of State Stabilization to General of State Stabilization, he was already dissatisfied, or rather, he had been dissatisfied long before that.
Why is Dodo the General of State Stabilization while he is the General Jingyuan? Does Dodo possess his martial prowess?
Now is the time for the imperial court to see clearly who is truly worthy of the title of General of State Stabilization.
As a result, while he was still waiting for the Red-coated Cannon, he heard news of the Ming army's attack and immediately stood up, saying, "How audacious! Come, follow this Prince and capture the Pseudo-Ming Emperor alive!"
Then he was stunned by a devastating barrage of rockets.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: My fearsome reputation has already spread throughout the world. An evil kitty wearing a green-faced, fanged mask walking in all directions. jpg
Next update at 6:00 PM~
Chapter 119
Ajige had also previously heard Dodo report to the imperial court that the Ming army possessed many more firearms, which were extremely powerful and highly flexible.
At that time, he had scoffed at it.