Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 194 The Boast of Claiming Kingship in Hanzhong (Part 2)

Little Celestial Master Zhang Yun has emerged from seclusion.

This guy actually boasted that anyone who followed him could eat their fill.

The disaster victims in Hanzhong Prefecture still believed his lies and flocked to Hanyin and Xing'an Prefecture.

This guy wasn't satisfied with that, so he even sent his disciples to Guanzhong and even the Central Plains to deceive people!
The story of the Celestial Master Dao Yi giving away meals for free in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is indeed true.

The problem is, that was during the Three Kingdoms period. The disaster in Hanzhong was not severe, and the population of Hanzhong at that time was not large, only a little over 100,000 households.

This is the Ming Dynasty now. The population of Hanzhong has reached more than 300,000 households, and the number of households affected by the disaster is more than 200,000. This alone is more than the total population of Hanzhong at that time. Yet he still sent his disciples to Guanzhong and even the Central Plains to deceive the disaster victims.

There are more than two million households of disaster victims in Guanzhong and the Central Plains, totaling at least tens of millions. Just drinking porridge alone would consume at least two to three million shi of grain per month, and at least thirty million shi per year!

Where did he get so much grain?
This guy seemed to be able to conjure up food. He even ordered his disciples to build charitable shelters along the Ziwu Valley and the Han River Valley, saying it was to facilitate the arrival of disaster victims from Guanzhong, Huguang, and even the Central Plains.

This is even more serious.

The disaster victims in Guanzhong immediately began to migrate there.

Originally, they dared not cross the Qinling Mountains through the Ziwu Valley to reach Guanzhong, because the Ziwu Valley was too difficult to traverse, and the journey was more than 800 li, which would take a month or two.

They already had no food to eat, and if they walked on an empty stomach for another month or two, wouldn't they starve to death on the road?

It's different now.

Young Celestial Master Zhang Yun was a true chosen one who built charitable shelters in the Ziwu Valley, with one every ten miles or so. Although they were just soup sheds with a few large pots, they were actually cooking porridge in those pots, and they were cooking it all the time.

They only need to go there to eat; they don't even need to bring their own bowls, as the restaurant provides them. In fact, it's all-you-can-eat, and everyone can drink as much as they want, regardless of who they are.

They didn't ask for much, just that they drink their fill and hurry to Hanzhong, and not to stay in Ziwu Valley, because transporting the grain from Hanzhong to the charitable houses in Ziwu Valley was quite troublesome.

These guys have energy once they've had their fill of porridge. Even on mountain paths, walking thirty or forty miles a day isn't a problem.

If they traveled more than 30 li a day, they could pass by three soup kitchens and have three meals of porridge. They were guaranteed to have enough to eat three times a day on the road, and it was no exaggeration to say that they would be guaranteed to have enough to eat when they arrived at their destination. Naturally, they rushed to Hanzhong as fast as they could.

Upon hearing the news, disaster victims from Hubei, Hunan, and the Central Plains began to migrate there one after another.

In fact, Huguang and the Central Plains are not as far from Hanzhong as Guanzhong is. If you travel from Yunyang Prefecture of Huguang Province to Hanzhong Prefecture, the distance is only three or four hundred li, and the distance is only a few dozen li along the mountain road.

The distance between Nanyang Prefecture in the Central Plains and Hanzhong Prefecture is only four or five hundred li. You can reach it by passing through Yunyang Prefecture.

The Ziwu Valley and the Han River Valley quickly formed two continuous streams of people, with countless disaster victims rushing towards Hanzhong Prefecture.

The urgent reports from Xi'an Prefecture, Yunyang Prefecture, and Nanyang Prefecture were also being sent to the capital.

At this time, the sixty medium-sized Weiyuan warships in the shipyard outside the eastern city of the capital had all been completed.

Around 9 a.m. that day, Zhu Jue hurriedly finished reviewing the memorials and then eagerly boarded a wheeled boat and headed straight for the shipyard.

He rarely rides out of the palace anymore, because the number of people in the inner city is increasing, making it more and more inconvenient to ride out of the palace.

More importantly, riding a horse through a crowd is dangerous. Who knows if the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou will find out that he often disguises himself to leave the palace and thus ambush assassins on the way? Besides, he can't keep his binoculars up while riding a horse. It would be much more convenient to leave the palace by boat, where he could look however he wanted.

Therefore, he rarely rides a horse out of the palace anymore; he usually leaves the palace by wheeled boat, which costs 800 liang (a unit of weight).

The speed of the wheeled boat on the river was much faster than riding a horse on the main street of the capital. In less than half an hour, he arrived at the shipyard.

Wang Zheng, Lu Xiangshan, Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Hongkui, and others were already waiting in the shipyard, and the giant ships were fully equipped with soldiers from the Beijing garrison and ready to set sail.

Zhu Jue stepped off the ship from the scaffolding beside the waterway, glanced around briefly, and then asked, "How is it, Liangfu? Are these warships ready to be sent out for test firing?"

That's not the case.

If it weren't for the large number of factories and craftsmen working on both sides of the Tonghui River, I would have ordered people to test the cannons in the Tonghui River directly.

Wang Zheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, everything is ready. We can test the cannons once we reach the inland sea." The inland sea is not far from here. If we sail there now, we should be able to finish testing the cannons and return around dusk.

However, if he went with the fleet to test the cannons and returned to the palace after dark, he would not be able to have dinner with Empress Zhou and Empress Zhang.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then waved his hand and said, "Let's go up and take a look."

Getting on the ship here couldn't be easier. The scaffolding is divided into many layers, some level with the deck and some with the top of the cabin, making it very convenient to get on.

Soon, they arrived at the bow deck of the first floor of the warship.

The bow of the ship was still empty, with only one step leading up to a platform about half a meter higher than the deck. There were no cannons mounted there at all.

As for why there are no cannons mounted on the bow, it's for the convenience of lookout and command.

There were no pagers, no telephones, no microphones or loudspeakers back then; we were still in the stage where communication basically relied on shouting.

Therefore, the cabins of these gunboats were all open, and one could see clearly from the bow to the stern. If you shouted from the bow, the stern could hear you. There was also a messenger standing by the steps leading down to the lower deck, who was specifically there to relay messages to the lower deck, or rather, to shout at the lower deck.

Seeing this, Zhu Jue didn't say anything.

As I said before, we need to have this thing first before we can make improvements. Since we can only communicate by shouting right now, let's leave it at that for now.

He stood at the bow of the ship and looked around, then led everyone into the cabin.

The ship's cabin was quite spacious, with only eight gun carriages on each side, some supports and ammunition boxes, and nothing else.

The gun carriage and its support were only about half a zhang tall, and the deck they occupied fore and aft was only a little over a zhang. The cabin, however, was over a zhang high and over five zhang wide. Therefore, less than 30% of the cabin was filled with things. There was a passageway in the middle that was over two zhang wide, and the top was completely empty.

There were quite a few soldiers from the Beijing garrison here, with more than two hundred people lined up neatly on both sides.

Zhu Jue carefully examined it and then asked, "How many soldiers are on board this small Weiyuan warship?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Zheng looked directly at Lu Xiang Sheng.

Lu Xiang-sheng quickly explained in detail: "Your Majesty, the standard configuration of this small Weiyuan warship is 250 soldiers from the Beijing Garrison, including 100 musketeers, 80 artillerymen, 50 boatmen who take turns navigating, plus 20 lookouts, commanders, and messengers."

250?
Alright, the staff is quite well-equipped.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "What about their food and water? Also, there isn't a single bed in this cabin. How do they rest?"

Lu Xiang-sheng then explained in detail: "Your Majesty, their food and water are all at the bottom level. As for beds, they cannot be placed in the middle because many soldiers will be running around during the battle, so it is necessary to keep the passageway clear."

If this doesn't work, you can try to find a solution up here.

Zhu Jue pointed to the top of the cabin and said, "This cabin is about ten feet high, while the tallest soldier is only about six feet tall. The top four feet can be separated into a separate layer for the soldiers to rest, and even to store food and fresh water, so that more ammunition can be carried."

As they were discussing, Fang Zhenghua suddenly rushed in carrying two memorials, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, urgent reports from Xi'an Prefecture and Nanyang Prefecture."

The urgent reports from Nanyang Prefecture and Xi'an Prefecture arrived at the same time.

Although these two places are about the same distance from the capital, they are actually more than a thousand miles apart.

What did they report together?

Zhu Jue took the memorial and glanced at it, a smile involuntarily appearing on his face.

The reports from Nanyang Prefecture and Xi'an Prefecture were the same: the disaster victims in both places had been misled by the Celestial Masters sect and were rushing to Hanzhong Prefecture with their families.

Pan Yunteng is quite something. It's not even winter yet, and he's already managed to fool all the disaster victims in Guanzhong and the Central Plains!

He thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "Ruoyu, approve them all the same way. If you have money and grain to relieve the disaster victims, then leave the disaster victims behind."

This means that the disaster victims are allowed to go to Hanzhong without any intervention!

(End of this chapter)