Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 296 Shanxi Merchants
A gust of warm wind blew, making the silent Dongyang River move, and the river banks were covered with a layer of green. This time is undoubtedly the best season for grazing.

But Yaruo could no longer come here to graze. She had to pick up her own lamb and looked at her husband Xiao Hong, holding back tears as she asked, "Brother Hong, you must remember to come to Xinghe to find me. I'm pregnant with your child!"

Xiao Hong nodded and kissed his wife on the forehead: "I know, I will come to find you!"

After saying this, Xiao Hong saw his wife off. As a clerk in the county government, he could not leave Kaesong with his wife.

However, at this moment, most of the people in Kaesong had to leave Kaesong and be escorted to Xinghe under the escort of County Magistrate Wang Long and Captain Li En. That place was a thousand-household station of the Ming Dynasty, where a brigade of the Ming Dynasty's imperial guards and 5,000 frontier troops were currently stationed. It was also close to the important town of Xuanfu.

According to the arrangement discussed by Gui Yong and Zhang Cong, relocating the people of Kaiping City, especially the Mongolian people, to Xinghe was undoubtedly the most appropriate arrangement. This was because there were more officers and soldiers stationed in Xinghe, who could provide these people with the safest shelter, and there was also enough power to prevent spies from causing chaos. Moreover, the relocated people lived outside the city and would not affect the city's defense.

Without a large number of civilians in Kaiping City, it would be easier for the defenders to defend and reduce food consumption.

All Mongolian people must leave the city, and those who resist will be treated as spies!

But the Han people were allowed to do so voluntarily. If they wanted to stay in the city because they were reluctant to give up their property and businesses, they also had to obey the arrangements of the garrison.

However, basically most of the people left Kaiping City.

At this time, there were only more than 2,000 border troops left in Kaiping City, and at this time, the Tatar cavalry had all gathered outside Kaiping City.

Kule rode his horse reluctantly towards the city. He was not afraid of being killed by the Ming army on the city wall. He just felt helpless. He did not understand why his tribal leader wanted to join forces with Hua Dang to attack Pingcheng. Obviously, everyone's business was doing well. The Mongols no longer had to worry about the mountains of meat rotting because they could not be sold. They could even exchange them for silver dollars from the Han people to get tea that could relieve greasiness and very cheap cloth.

But as a member of the tribe, he had to obey the orders of his tribal leader, mount his horse, pick up his sword, and fight for the Golden Family.

Just as the leaders of his tribe said, they, the Mongols, were born to rob. They either robbed other people's things or were robbed and killed or made slaves by others. They could not be like the Han people who only knew how to farm and do business.

But Kule accepted this view. He had to admit that he, the Mongols, was more suitable for looting and could not do business as well as the Han people. The Han people were also cowardly and most of them would not unite, making them the easiest race to loot. If he really captured Kaiping City, he also looked forward to looting the prosperous Kaiping City, because he had been to Kaiping City and knew that there were Han women in Kaiping City who were more tender than his own Mongols, a lot of gold and silver, and the most hardworking and lower-class Mongols who were also suitable to be his slaves.

"Captain Tian, ​​please tell your general that the son of Hua Dang, the governor of Duoyan Guard, is leading his co-governor, Baer Sun, and Alans, the left governor of Tumed, to lead 100,000 cavalry. Kaiping City is a small city that cannot stop our army. But Lord Hua Dang knows that you are all heroes, and he is willing to swear to Changshengtian that as long as you are willing to surrender, the lord will allow you to join us and become our brothers!"

Kule was a Tumed nobleman and a big businessman of the Tumed tribe. He was familiar with many Ming troops in Kaiping City. Therefore, he was sent to persuade the border garrison of Kaiping City to surrender. After all, Hua Dang also knew that Kaiping City was a strong city, and the firearms of the Ming army had always been very sharp, so naturally he would persuade them to surrender if possible.

“Kule, Shan Tai and the others are all your friends. They help you load the goods and even do business for you, so that you won’t be cheated because you don’t know arithmetic. But how do you treat them? Do you treat your friends like this when you deceive others?!

Now you still want to persuade us to surrender, I, Tian, ​​put my words here, unless all my brothers in Kaiping City are dead, you can't even think of setting foot in my Kaiping City!"

Tian Deng did not convey Kule's words of persuasion to surrender to Gui Yong, but directly cursed Kule on the city wall.

Kule did not retort, nor was he angry. Instead, he lowered his head in shame and rode back. He did admit that the Han people like Shan Tai who were killed by his own people in front of him were his friends. He even intended to marry his daughter to Shan Tai. He also invited Shan Tai to his home to drink milk wine countless times.

But he had to admit that he was a Mongolian and his ancestors had long been guards fighting for the Golden Family. He was no exception. Even if these Han people were his friends, he could not betray his master because of his friends.

Kule was in great pain and helplessness. He did not want to face the situation where people had to fight each other because of their ethnic differences. He would rather everyone do business together on the grassland. However, the lords liked to plunder because it was easier and more profitable than doing business, and the Han people basically would not retaliate.

"Chief, they are unwilling to surrender!"

Kule reported his attempt to persuade his leader Alans to surrender, and Alans looked at his sons and grandsons, the commander who had attacked Kaiping City.

"Since they refuse to surrender, after we attack the city, leave no one alive. Tell all the warriors who gave me the Yuan Dynasty that all the property and women in the city belong to them!"

As he was talking about his children and grandchildren, he looked at Jiang Han, a Han Chinese man in a Confucian robe and said, "Mr. Jiang, are you sure that the cannons you cast can capture Kaiping City?"

"Young Master, rest assured. This cannon I have forged weighs three thousand pounds and can shoot two miles away. We will definitely be able to capture Kaiping City!"

Jiang Han was originally a juren, and was born into a bureaucratic family. His father had even been a Hanlin official. However, he was dissatisfied with the new policies of the court and was dissatisfied with the court's demand for his life after he had beaten a servant to death, so he fled to the frontier. He did not expect that he would be caught by the Tartars of Doyanwei.

Moreover, because Hua Dang thought that he was a Han Chinese and a scholar, he believed that he could cast cannons, so he kept him and forced him to cast cannons for him. In order to survive, Jiang Han had no choice but to agree. It happened that he had been to Nanjing Central University and had quite a bit of exposure to cannon casting, so he cast a live ammunition cannon capable of long-range firing according to his own understanding.

Hua Dang was extremely satisfied with this, and promoted Jiang Han to be his commander, who accompanied his son and grandchildren to attack Kaiping City, and also took charge of the artillery for his Doyan Guard.

Jiang Han had never expected that he would have such good fortune. He was grateful to Hua Dang for using him, and even began to hope that Hua Dang could destroy the Ming Dynasty and restore the status of Confucianism in governing the country.

But his grandchildren did not think as highly of Jiang Han as his father did. He despised this man who betrayed his clan, but he also knew that he needed this man if he wanted to help his father break through Kaiping City. So although his face was dull, he still said politely: "That's great. Then, Mr. Jiang will fire the cannon to break through Kaiping City first!"

boom!
Suddenly there was a loud bang!

The whole earth seemed to shake! The powerful wind wave even knocked the Tartars to the ground!
"Master, be careful!"

A Tartar guard hurriedly protected the grandson and fell to the ground with him.

When he pushed away his children and grandchildren and the dead guards who were pressing on him, and stood up, he saw a three-foot-wide bomb crater in front of him, and no less than ten Mongolian cavalrymen had been killed on the spot, and even more than a dozen Mongolian cavalrymen who were not killed had half of their bodies broken and were lying on the ground wailing in pain.

Bloody and bloody!
The body is torn into pieces!

There was also a warhorse struggling on the ground in pain to stand up, covered in blood!

……

This is the power of the Ming Dynasty city defense long-range artillery!

Although there were only five guns, after steam power was also applied to the Ordnance Bureau, the Ming Dynasty's artillery boring machine technology had matured. They could directly use steam-powered boring machines to bore out giant cannons with rifling threads. Coupled with the use of quasi-square and conical shells, they could naturally cause great damage to the enemy with a single shot. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty's shells were now shrapnel shells!

The only empire in the world today that masters the technology of shrapnel bombs!

Note: Shrapnel bombs have appeared in history, and the research on weapons of the Ming Dynasty is still quite interesting. The appearance of shrapnel bombs here should not be considered advanced, after all, the Ming Dynasty's technology has been developed for many years in the novel.

Gui Yong couldn't help but smile coldly when he saw this scene. His advanced firearms gave him great confidence in defending Kaiping City. After seeing that the first round of shooting almost caused the entire Mongolian army to fall into chaos, he continued to order: "Change the guns and shoot again! Kill a few more of them before the Tartars retreat!"

……

boom!
boom!
boom!
A series of artillery shell explosions were heard again, like geraniums blooming on the grassland, directly blowing up the soil, stones and Tatar horses. The violent blast blew away more than a dozen Tatars, and the shrapnel turned into sharp blades under the action of powerful momentum, directly cutting the Tatars or horses in two!
A round of shelling is over!
silence!

Deathly silence!

Only the wailing of the Tartars and the miserable neighing of the war horses echoed!

His children and grandchildren were a little confused. He didn't expect that the Ming army's artillery had developed to such an extent that they could kill so many of their people with one shot!
The children and grandchildren hurriedly shouted: "Retreat! Retreat! Retreat one mile!"

Fortunately, these Tatar cavalrymen were well-trained soldiers, and they did not fall into chaos because their commander, Ersun, ordered a retreat. However, the Ming army's artillery bombardment also caused them a great shock. They all looked back in panic in the direction of Kaiping City to see if there were any artillery shells flying towards them.

……

Gui Yong looked at the hastily retreating Tartar army and only smiled coldly again. He ordered: "The artillery battalion should cool down the artillery, clean the barrels, and bring up the short-range artillery and the tiger squatting artillery. All the musketeers should load their ammunition and prepare to shoot! These Tartars will definitely disperse to attack the city later. After the long-range artillery has cooled down, you will be responsible for blowing up the Tartar artillery!"

Less than half an hour after Gui Yong finished speaking, the Tartars began to appear pushing huge cannons. Tian Deng, who was in charge of observing with a telescope, hurriedly reported to Gui Yong, who then ordered the artillerymen to prepare to bombard the Tartar artillery.

……

On the Tartar side, Jiang Han used a telescope given to him by Hua Dang to look at the Kaiping city wall. After making sure that his cannons were in the right position, he ordered: "Fire!"

boom!
The Tartars' huge cannons were armed with live ammunition, so they simply hit the thick cement concrete walls with a bang, creating only a few scraps of mud.

"How could this be possible? How could this be possible? The cement wall mentioned in the newspapers could be so strong?! Even cannons can't destroy it?!"

Jiang Han said in horror.

At this time, the Ming army, who had been hiding under the battlements to avoid the artillery fire, found that there was not even a speck of dust on their heads. They were all surprised and could not help but look up and burst into laughter.

"The artillery of these dogs Tartars is still stuck in the era of relying on iron balls and black gunpowder! They want to blast open my Kaiping City with this technology? It's simply wishful thinking!" Team leader Yan Heng said at this time. As the first graduate of the Ming Army Military Academy, he was naturally very clear about the development history of gunpowder and artillery in the Ming Dynasty. Now, seeing the effects of the Tartars' artillery shells and artillery bombardment, he couldn't help but laugh.

And this time.

The Ming Dynasty's long-range artillery also launched a counterattack. Within a few breaths, five artillery pieces fired ten shells accurately at the Tatar artillery positions.

boom!
boom!
boom!
All the Tartar artillery was blown into pieces, and all the Tartar artillerymen were killed. Jiang Han ran back desperately, then stumbled and fell to the ground, kowtowing and saying, "Don't blow me up, don't blow me up!"

……

Seeing that all his artillery had been destroyed and could not shake the city of Kaiping, his descendants had no choice but to order their cavalry to disperse and charge towards Kaiping. Using their cavalry's bows and arrows and their fearless spirit, they shot down the Ming army on the city walls.

then.

Countless Tatars rushed over all over the place.

But as soon as these Tartars drew their bows and arrows, howling and rushing forward, the Ming army's short-range artillery and tiger squat cannon opened fire. Continuous shells exploded among these Tartars, directly blowing them up one by one. Corpses were flying everywhere, and blood was dripping on the grassland like rain.

The Ming army kept changing their guns, using continuous shells and gunpowder to harvest the lives of these Tartars.

These Tartars were not afraid of death and continued to rush towards the city wall.

In the worldview of these Tartars, there are only warriors who die in battle, but no warriors who retreat. They believe in the protection of Eternal Heaven, so they charge forward with only their brute force.

The musketeers on the Ming army side have already started firing their muskets!
Three hundred steps!
Two hundred steps!
One hundred steps!

Crack, crackle!

The Ming army pulled the trigger and fired the bullets from the rifled guns. The primer produced by the guncotton directly ignited the propellant, causing the conical bullets to pierce the air and penetrate directly into the brains or chests of these Tartars, and continue to rotate in their bodies, causing secondary casualties.

The Tartar who was shot fell off his horse.

Or a shot warhorse would fall directly to the ground, tripping its owner or even crushing him to death!

The dense gunfire formed a dense rain of bullets, and the Tatar cavalry fell down one after another.

The Ming army's rifled gun ejected a bullet each time the trigger was pulled, and then the bullet in the magazine was directly loaded into the bolt under the action of the spring, and the bolt continued to shoot. The whole process was very fast, and the dense rain of bullets continued. The entire 100-step area of ​​the city wall was littered with corpses! Wailing!
The Tartar cavalry had to retreat. The Kaiping City, defended by only 2,000 people, did not allow the 100,000 Tartar army to gain any advantage at all!

……

Guangzhou Prefecture of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Although the weather is getting hotter, the teahouse opposite the Daming Stock Exchange is still packed with guests.

The Tea Doctor was shuttling back and forth between the tables, accompanying Xiaoxin while serving tea and snacks to the gentry and dignitaries.

Now, with the development of the empire's industry, you can not only drink hot tea in the teahouse, but also iced black plums, iced double skin milk, and even iced sliced ​​fruits.

In this hot season, the people of Guangdong and Guangxi naturally prefer the latter. A sip of iced watermelon juice can dissipate the heat from the body. However, when the stock prices are announced after the stock exchange opens, the cool pleasure disappears completely. The excited people pull their clothes and slap the table, looking out the window: "Oh my God, it's up again!"

"In just a few days, Shanxi Commercial Bank's stock price has tripled!"

"That's right, don't you see those people outside lining up to buy in such a hot day? Isn't it because the market is so good?"

"But why do I always feel like something is wrong? Even if the price is going up, it can't be this way!"

"What's wrong? Those teachers from Imperial University said a few months ago that the stock market was abnormal and would plummet. It's been almost half a year, and there's no drop! Buy now if you have money. Recently, a Liaomeng trading company went public. They specialize in big business outside the Great Wall, and they are all looking for ways to buy original shares!"

People in the teahouse were talking at once, all excited about the soaring stock prices.

In a quiet garden in the backyard of the teahouse, Fan Yonghe from Shanxi was not as excited as the people outside. He just calmly played chess with his housekeeper Yang Feng. After the game was over, he asked, "How is the stock price going?"

"Today, the stock price has increased by nearly 70%. We should have drained all the money in Guangzhou. Now some retail investors have started to borrow money from banks and gentry to invest in stocks. Even people from Zhaoqing and Chaozhou are buying stocks! When will we stop them?"

Yang Feng asked.

"Don't worry, wait until Liaomeng Commercial Bank goes public and makes a sum of money, then stop. Tell Ke Teduo to remember to continue investing money. Their leader Hua Dang has the hope of making more than 3 million silver dollars in Guangdong and Guangxi this time! But he must first advance our Shanxi Commercial Bank 500,000 silver dollars! Otherwise, Fan will make them lose all their money!"

Fan Yonghe continued to ask, "When will Xia Butang return to Guangzhou?"

"It is expected to be at the end of this month!" Yang Feng replied.

"Then I will try to return to Shanxi by the end of this month and let Xia Butang clean up the mess himself. Then I will say hello to Meng Butang. The cabinet cannot be without people from Shanxi!"

Fan Yonghe said.

"I understand. Minister Meng has just taken charge of the Ministry of Personnel. If the two provinces and Guangxi are in chaos, Xia Yan will be to blame. It will naturally not be his turn to join the cabinet! Apart from Xia Yan, no one has higher qualifications than Minister Meng," said Yang Feng.

"Of course you have, don't forget the Earl of Xinjian who commanded the troops in the border town!" Fan Yonghe said with a smile.

"I'm afraid the court still needs him to defend Xuanfu and fight against Hua Dang's 100,000 troops." Yang Feng said this, and Fan Yonghe just smiled faintly: "In the end, it's still up to us, the Jin Party, to clean up the mess!"

……

At the mouth of the Pearl River, the setting sun gradually fell into the sea. The afterglow dotted the turquoise water with sparkling waves, like gold hidden in the sea of ​​sand, attracting countless ships to dig for gold and make a fortune in the dangerous sea.

Xia Yan, who was in charge of all the routes and colonies in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, opened the glass window and looked at the city of Guangzhou with dozens of high-rise buildings in front of him. He couldn't help but sigh. He had never thought that in the past few years, Guangzhou City had developed so fast. Almost every wealthy family had a boat, filling up the entire Pearl River Estuary, and the fish stalls squeezed on the shore stretched for miles.

Xia Yan's wife Su took off the black veil on his head and leaned on his shoulder. Xia Yan put his arm around his wife's waist, enjoying her tenderness: "Is Yuan'er asleep?"

"He is asleep. He is the first child in our Xia family who was born on a boat. He can sleep soundly even when there are storms. I am afraid that he will have to toss and turn on the sea in the future just like you, my husband."

Su replied.

Xia Yan couldn't help but smile: "When you get to Guangzhou, take Yuan'er back to your hometown Guixi. When he grows up, let him go to a new school!"

"Master, why are you saying this all of a sudden?" Su couldn't help but hug Xia Yan tighter as she spoke: "I just want to be with you!"

Xia Yan sighed, "There are some things that I couldn't tell you, but now I have to let you know. You know my current position. Although I control the military and political power of the entire Nanyang, as the saying goes, "If you climb high, you will fall hard." I have killed so many smuggling dignitaries and tycoons. I am afraid that I have offended many people. I am afraid that I will inevitably end up being abandoned in the future. Have you noticed the recent stock price in Guangzhou? According to my experience of studying sacred learning in front of Your Majesty in my early years, the stock price in Guangzhou is very abnormal!"

"It has been rising all the time, and the people are very happy. They even boast that it is your credit, sir," Su replied.

"That's just a superficial phenomenon. Let's not talk about it anymore. Even if I end up with my head and body separated in the future, I have laid such a foundation for our Ming Dynasty and have been able to repay the grace of His Majesty. This is enough for Xia's life!"

Xia Yan couldn't help but hug his wife tighter as he spoke: "Let's go and see Yuan Er. I don't know when he will be able to call me daddy!"

Three days later, just as Xia Yan was about to land, Guangzhou prefect Wen Jinghua hurriedly found Xia Yan and said, "Minister, you are finally back. Something terrible has happened. Just two days ago, the stock price plummeted! The losses of listed companies have reached tens of millions of silver dollars, and are still falling. Nearly one hundred private companies have closed down, and six merchants could not accept it and jumped into the river to commit suicide! The people are panicking, and some gangsters are taking the opportunity to rob people. Look, what can we do now!"

Xia Yan was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then he asked, "Did you submit a petition?"

"I have already sent the letter to Beijing in 800 miles according to your request! I have just been transferred from Yunnan and am not familiar with these stock price controls and business management. Everything depends on you, sir, to save me!"

Guangzhou prefect Wen Jinghua bowed to Xia Yan again as he spoke. In fact, even Xia Yan himself was a little confused.

(End of this chapter)