Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 272 Pointing East to Attack West, the Jurchens Fall into the Trap (Part 2)

More than ten days later, outside Liaozhou City.

In front of the vast Hanzhong army camp, rows of huge catapults had already been erected, and the Hanzhong soldiers had begun loading stones and hurling them at the city wall one by one. This was to adjust the accuracy; once the accuracy was adjusted, the stones would rain down on the city wall.

Those boulders, weighing tens or even hundreds of kilograms, fell from the sky with considerable force.

On the city walls of Liaozhou, the experienced border officers couldn't help but frown upon seeing this.

They were not afraid of ordinary siege equipment, and they were not afraid even if there were 300,000 Hanzhong troops outside the city.

The problem is, they have absolutely no way to deal with these catapults.

This is because the range of catapults is much greater than that of bows and arrows, so they couldn't reach them at all on the city walls, and firing rockets would be useless.

If they had enough troops, they could have stormed out of the city and burned the catapults.

The problem is that the number of troops in the city is less than half that of the Hanzhong army. Defending the city is not a problem, but going out of the city to fight the Hanzhong army is basically tantamount to suicide.

It seems Liaozhou City cannot be defended. What should they do?

They really didn't know what to do, because the secret order from above hadn't come through yet. Without the secret order, even if they knew they couldn't hold on, they still had to hold on for now. Otherwise, not only would they not get the money, but they might also be killed by their own people!

Just as they were at a loss, the Hanzhong army outside the city suddenly went berserk, abandoning their catapults and rushing towards the main camp.

Immediately afterwards, the vast expanse of tents disappeared one by one!
The tents wouldn't just disappear into thin air. Did the Hanzhong army dismantle the tents in preparation for their retreat?

What's going on here?

The rebels in the city, and even many border soldiers, were stunned and inexplicably impressed by what they saw.

The three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou would not gossip about their relationship with the Jurchens. Most of the rebels and border soldiers were unaware of their secret dealings with the Jurchens. Even the border soldiers who had been bribed by them were mostly unaware of the extent of their good relationship with the Jurchens. Only the rebel leaders and border generals knew the truth.

This must be the Jurchen reinforcements arriving.

The Hanzhong army fled at the first sign of trouble, taking off as fast as they could.

These guys are incredibly fast runners. The Jurchen cavalry had barely appeared in Liaozhou territory when they had already fled back to Lu'an Prefecture!
No one could have imagined that the battle would develop to such a bizarre degree.

While things were turbulent and unpredictable in Shanxi, the capital was already sweltering in the heat.

It's already June, and the weather in the capital is exceptionally hot.

Zhu Juena then began to think of ways to beat the summer heat.

Around 9 a.m. that day, he ordered someone to summon Song Yingxing to the main hall of the Yuxi Palace.

After the emperor and his subject exchanged greetings, he invited Song Yingxing to sit down in front of the cold fan and ordered a large stack of blank manuscript paper to be brought out. Then he solemnly said, "Chang Geng, I saw that you mentioned the method of making ice with saltpeter in your book 'Tiangong Kaiwu'. You should be very familiar with the method of making ice with saltpeter, right?"

Do you still want to make ice with saltpeter?

Song Yingxing looked at the cold fan blowing a chilly breeze and was puzzled.

At this time, there was no shortage of ice in the capital, because the soldiers of the Beijing garrison, their families, and even farmers in the surrounding area had dug many ice cellars, and the amount of ice they collected in winter was extraordinary.

He thought about it carefully before cautiously saying, "I have considered the method of making ice with saltpeter, but it uses too much saltpeter and is much more expensive than collecting ice in winter."

No saltpeter mines have been discovered in the Ming Dynasty yet; saltpeter was indeed very expensive in the past.

But things are different now.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly and said, "Chang Geng, don't worry about the cost. The nitrate mines in the Americas are inexhaustible, and we're even using Jurchen prisoners to mine them, so the mining cost is very low."

Nowadays, saltpeter is basically just a transportation cost for us. However, saltpeter can also be made into fertilizer. If we take the profits from fertilizer into account, the transportation cost is not much.

My consideration of using saltpeter to make ice is not for making ice in the capital. I want to make ice in Qiongzhou Prefecture and even in Southeast Asia. It is very hot there all year round, and there is no ice to collect. Transporting ice there is also very expensive. Therefore, I want to transport saltpeter there to make ice.

This way, not only will they have ice to cool off, but they'll also have fertilizer to increase production, making development incredibly convenient.

Oh, you don't want to make ice in the capital.

Upon hearing this, Song Yingxing nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. Now that Qiongzhou Prefecture has water-cooled fans, we just need to bring the saltpeter over there to make some ice and put it in the water-cooled fans, and the common people there will be able to live a comfortable and cool life."

Actually, my main concern isn't the development of Qiongzhou Prefecture. It's because Qiongzhou Prefecture is already pretty much developed.

Zhu Jue slowly shook his head, then solemnly said, "Chang Geng, my main concern is to develop Southeast Asia."

The South Seas are sparsely populated and rich in timber resources. Right now, we are short of timber for shipbuilding. It is too far to bring timber from the Americas, and there are too many raw materials to bring from the Americas. Hong Kui's fleet cannot spare too many Zhiyuan merchant ships to transport timber.

If we can develop Southeast Asia, the distance for transporting timber will be shortened by more than half, and the number of Zhiyuan merchant ships we need will only be about 30% of that required for the Americas route.

This is extremely important to us, because the number of Zhiyuan merchant ships deployed in the Americas is in the thousands, even tens of thousands, might not be enough. Saving 70% of our timber-hauling capacity there is equivalent to several thousand Zhiyuan merchant ships.”

Oh, so you want to bring timber from Southeast Asia.

Song Yingxing nodded slowly, then carefully reminded him, "Your Majesty, I have heard that things are very chaotic in the South Seas. It seems that European colonial bandits have seized many islands there, and they certainly won't allow us to harvest timber."

Furthermore, many large and small countries in Southeast Asia haven't paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty for decades or even centuries; they might not necessarily allow us to harvest their timber.

You don't need to worry about that.

Zhu Jue said domineeringly, "Southeast Asia has always been within the sphere of influence of my Great Ming. I will drive out those colonial bandits from Europe sooner or later. As for those vassal states in Southeast Asia, I will give them enough benefits to cooperate with us in development. Anyone who is unwilling to cooperate, I will dismiss them."

Oh, that's no problem.

Song Yingxing nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise; I was overthinking it."

Well, let's not talk about those.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then said solemnly, "I want you to develop a machine that combines saltpeter ice making and fertilizer production. Simply put, this machine will produce ice water and fertilizer at the same time. This shouldn't be too difficult, right?"

This is indeed not difficult.

Making ice from saltpeter only requires a mixer, and making fertilizer only requires stirring and drying.

They already had mixers and dryers. They didn't even need a dryer when making fertilizer from nitrates; a steam-heated pot seemed to suffice.

Song Yingxing thought about it carefully, then slowly nodded and said, "Your Majesty, this is indeed not difficult. I will think about it and I should be able to make a sample in a few days."

I have a few more requests.

Zhu Jue readily picked up a pen and handed it to Song Yingxing, then explained in detail: "We need to concentrate all the ice-making and fertilizer-making machinery in one factory, so that no one can see our machinery. Draw a rough sketch for me to see."

Uh, all concentrated in one factory building?
Song Yingxing held the pen and thought carefully for a moment, then cautiously said, "Your Majesty, making ice from saltpeter requires a lot of water. If we produce ice water directly, we need even more water. If we concentrate all the water in one factory, we probably can't supply it by relying on manual water carrying or even horse-drawn carts."

This is a simple question.

Zhu Jue pondered, "Then let's build the factory by the river and add a waterwheel next to it to bring in water. Anyway, waterwheels aren't a secret, so it doesn't matter if we put them outside."

Oh, the factory is built by the river and uses water trucks to bring in water.

That's no problem.

Song Yingxing nodded slowly, then picked up his pen and began to draw seriously.

He could be said to be a specialist in research and development, and his skill in meticulous brushwork painting was exceptionally high. Before long, he had drawn a vivid sketch.

To put it simply, this factory building only contains a boiler, two mixers, and two special tanks; the structure is indeed very simple.

Zhu Jue examined it carefully, then pointed to the waterwheel: "Chang Geng, when the saltpeter is melting and the fertilizer is drying, we can use the waterwheel connecting rod to come in and stir it, so we won't need a steam engine."

Oh, this stirring doesn't require much force; the waterwheel linkage can handle it without any problem.

Upon hearing this, Song Yingxing nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. This way, we won't need steam engines anymore, and we won't have to worry about being seen inside the factory."

Actually, this can also be used to mislead others.

Zhu Jue pondered, "We can pretend to be mysterious, send people to watch over the factory, but hire people randomly, and let the traitor find a way to sneak in and take a look."

Uh, are you trying to mislead people into thinking that steam engines are powered by waterwheels?
This could indeed be misunderstood, because the waterwheel on a ship is somewhat similar to the waterwheel on a waterwheel.

Upon hearing this, Song Yingxing slowly nodded.

(End of this chapter)