Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 196 The Celestial Masters' Rebellion Sparks a Prairie Fire (Part 1)

In early November, the capital was already covered in heavy snow, turning the world into a frozen wasteland, and a chill was also in the air in Hanzhong Prefecture.

During the Little Ice Age, while the Han River, like the Yangtze River, was unlikely to freeze, smaller rivers and ponds might still freeze.

This kind of weather is nothing compared to the severe cold in the north.

Therefore, even though the north was already frozen over, disaster victims from Guanzhong, Huguang and the Central Plains continued to pour into Hanzhong.

Even if they didn't come here just to have enough to eat, the weather here is much warmer than in the north, and besides, they can get enough to eat as soon as they arrive.

The number of disaster victims pouring into Hanzhong Prefecture was increasing rapidly, and soon the number of households exceeded 500,000.

Little Celestial Master Zhang Yun also seemed a bit restless.

He has already summoned his disciples to begin the selection process.

This selection process was actually a grading system for disciples. The original two levels of the Celestial Masters sect, the Chief Priest and the Ghost Soldier, were not enough. He also had to divide the disciples into several more levels based on their loyalty and abilities.

Otherwise, once a war breaks out, he would have to command thousands or even tens of thousands of disciples by himself, which would definitely be impossible for him to manage.

Many military books say that a regular army must first be organized into units. The so-called organization means that the most basic unit starts with five people, that command must be hierarchical, and that each person should ideally command about five people in order to fully unleash combat power.

However, the rebels were not a regular army, and he did not intend to train hundreds of thousands or even millions of rebels into a regular army. Therefore, he directly divided his tens of thousands of disciples into five levels based on their loyalty and ability.

Ghost soldiers are the lowest rank, with each ghost soldier leading ten smaller soldiers.

The chief priest is the fourth rank, and each chief priest is accompanied by ten ghost soldiers, which is a hundred men.

The deacon is the third rank, and each deacon leads ten libationers, which is equivalent to a thousand men.

The "Master" is the second rank, and each Master leads ten stewards, which is equivalent to ten thousand men.

The highest-ranking disciple is the True Person, and each True Person leads ten Masters, which is equivalent to 100,000 troops.

With this division of responsibilities, he only needs to manage a few loyal and devoted individuals.

Next, he began to gather his men and distribute weapons and equipment.

He distributed five types of weapons and equipment: a steel sword, a monk's knife, a spear, a lance, and a bow and arrow.

These were not made from pig iron brought by his elder brother Pan Guozhong, but were made by Zhu Jue directly on Zhu Jue's orders.

Zhu Jue originally intended to recruit blacksmiths to forge the equipment himself, but the blacksmiths he recruited had difficulty forging hoes, shovels, and spades. It would probably take several years to forge enough equipment for hundreds of thousands of people.

Therefore, Zhu Jue simply ordered people to forge hundreds of thousands of sets of weapons and equipment for them using steel.

These weapons and equipment can be described as crudely made.

For example, the Qinggang sword is made by cutting steel plates into long strips, heating them until they are red-hot, stamping them with a pre-made mold, and then quenching them in a quenching liquid.

For example, the monk's knife, just like the watermelon knife of later generations, had no curve at all. This thing was made by cutting steel plates into long strips, heating them red-hot, stamping them with a pre-made mold, and then quenching them in quenching liquid.

As for spearheads, lances, and arrowheads, they were made by simply heating cast iron lumps until they were red-hot, stamping them with pre-made molds, and then quenching them in quenching liquid.

The stamping speed of this mold is simply too fast. With two people working in shifts on one machine, at least a thousand swords can be made a day. Several thousand spearheads and lances can be stamped a day on one machine, and tens of thousands of arrowheads can be stamped a day on one machine. The weapons and equipment for 400,000 people can be made in just about 20 days with about 20 machine tools and 40 craftsmen in one machine tool workshop.

In any case, neither the soldiers of the Beijing garrison nor the border troops used such crudely made weapons, so Zhu Jue wasn't afraid that anyone would associate them with the fact that they were made in a machine tool factory.

To ensure that no one would make the connection, Zhu Jue even had a Chinese character carved on all the weapon molds.

Even after the weapons and equipment were distributed, Pan Yunteng was still in no hurry to rebel.

He actually started teaching his disciples military strategy, and even personally taught them how to drill their troops!

At this time, he also wrote his first secret report and asked his elder brother, Pan Guozhong, to forward it to the capital.

The capital is frozen solid right now, so even urgent messages can't get through.

Even while the world was frozen over, Zhu Jue wasn't idle; he was preparing to start training the soldiers of the capital garrison.

However, his training methods are different from Pan Yunteng's.

Early that morning, around 7 a.m., before he had even begun reviewing the memorials, he summoned Wei Zhongxian. Wei Zhongxian, who hadn't been summoned by the emperor in a long time, rushed over, panting, and bowed deeply, saying, "This servant greets Your Majesty."

Is this guy afraid of falling out of favor?
It's good that you're afraid of losing favor.

Sometimes, it's a good idea to let people who are easily carried away by success cool off occasionally.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and asked in greeting, "Zhongxian, what have you been busy with lately?"

What else can I do? You don't ask me to do anything, so I can only help you with your business.

Wei Zhongxian said cautiously, "Your Majesty, I haven't been busy lately. I just go to Tianbao Hall every day."

Tianbaotang seems to have had a pretty good business these past few months. Although he hasn't been there, he still frequently asks the two empresses about the accounts of the Imperial Treasury.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and said, "Thank you for your hard work. Tianbaotang's business has been getting better and better these past few months."

That's not the case.

No, I can't say it's my achievement.

Wei Zhongxian's face had just shown a hint of smugness when he immediately changed his expression and fawned, "Yes, ever since His Majesty entrusted the silk and satin business to Tianbaotang, Tianbaotang's business has been getting better and better."

"Their monthly income is already over a million taels, and it's estimated that it could reach over two million taels in the month before the New Year. Ordinary people need to buy new clothes for the New Year, and corrupt officials also need to buy new clothes."

You are a very dedicated person; once you start doing something, you put a lot of effort into understanding and mastering it.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then solemnly said, "Zhongxian, I'll have to trouble you to take over the land this time. Take over all the land in the outer city of the capital that has been confiscated."

what?
You're going to take them all this time!
Does that mean I won't be able to do the land acquisition work anymore?

Wei Zhongxian was taken aback for a moment before quickly asking, "Your Majesty, how long would it take to harvest all this land?"

Zhu Jue pondered and said, "This is our plan for next year. It's not in a hurry. I'm just telling you in advance. I'm not asking you to take over all the land at once."

"We'll acquire the northern part of the city this year, and next year we'll acquire the northwest and southwest outer city areas, as well as the remaining scattered plots. The northern part isn't very big; we should be able to finish acquiring it in five days, right?"

Oh, I didn't collect them all at once.

Wei Zhongxian nodded repeatedly and said, "No problem. The grain has all been harvested now, and we can harvest the land in the north of the city in three days."

You don't need to be in such a hurry.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly and said, "Don't rush to send them away this time. It's freezing cold, and moving won't be easy. I will first order people to build houses for them. It's not too late for them to move after the houses are built."

How can one build a house in this freezing, snowy landscape?
Wei Zhongxian didn't dare to ask. He thought for a moment and then quickly nodded and said, "This servant understands."

Zhu Jue thought for a moment before slightly raising his hand and waving it.

Wei Zhongxian quickly bowed and took his leave.

Fang Zhenghua happened to be carrying a memorial and brushed past him. He strode in, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, this is a secret report sent by General Pan Guozhong."

The secret report that Pan Guozhong sent was most likely reported by Pan Yunteng.

This kid finally remembered to report it.

Although he had told Pan Guozhong to tell the kid to report as few secret reports as possible to avoid being exposed, he did not expect the kid to be so calm and only report the secret reports at this time.

Zhu Jue took the secret report and was secretly taken aback.

Good heavens, Pan Yunteng is actually going to gather 500,000 troops at once!
He prepared weapons and equipment for 400,000 men, which he originally thought would be enough for this year.

The kid also said that it didn't matter if there weren't enough weapons and equipment, since they needed to make a lot of wooden shields to fight the rebels, so they could just equip those who didn't have weapons with heavy shields.

Good guy, what a good guy.

If I hadn't personally nurtured you, I would have been quite taken aback by your sudden appearance of an army of 500,000.

It seems that Pan Yunteng is indeed a talented person. With 500,000 troops as his base, Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong would probably have to join forces to match him.

(End of this chapter)