Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 273 Pointing East to Attack West, the Jurchens Fall into the Trap (Part 2)

At this moment, Huang Taiji was a little dumbfounded.

He had just led his cavalry into Liaozhou territory when the Hanzhong army suddenly turned tail and ran away!
Are these traitors really that cowardly?
He was even anticipating a major battle.

After all, the combined forces of the Hanzhong Army in Liaozhou and Qinzhou numbered five or six hundred thousand, while his cavalry numbered less than one hundred thousand.

In this situation, even if the Hanzhong army knew they were coming, they would still choose to try and fight them head-on.

He wasn't afraid to clash head-on with the Hanzhong army, because the Hanzhong army was equipped with only cold weapons, and they would be easy prey for their armored cavalry.

The problem is, they didn't even bother to confront them; they just ran away.

This is actually not a good thing.

This is because the Hanzhong army suffered no losses. If he retreats, the Hanzhong army is very likely to make a comeback.

He'll still have to come and help then.

He didn't want to keep running back and forth like this; he wanted to defeat the main force of the Hanzhong army in one fell swoop, and even let Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong take the opportunity to rush over and wipe out the Hanzhong army.

Since the other person made that trip, it was like he made a wasted trip.

At that moment, he hadn't realized it was a feint attack.

It's not unusual for the Hanzhong army to run away as soon as they saw them; they clearly couldn't win, so they retreated quickly. He would have done the same.

This only shows that Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, was a very cautious person.

He never imagined that Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, was one of the young emperor's men.

Is it possible for an emperor to have his own people rebel against him?
He was really confused. The other person had taken off running. What was he supposed to do?

While Huang Taiji was still in a daze in Liaozhou, Song Yingxing had already built equipment for making ice from saltpeter and fertilizer.

Around 9 a.m. that day, Zhu Jue had just finished reviewing the memorials when he hurriedly boarded a boat and headed straight for the Beijing Shipyard with Zheng Zhilong, Wang Chengen, Fang Zhenghua, and others.

Song Yingxing also installed the equipment for making ice from saltpeter and fertilizer in the dock of the Beijing Shipyard.

He did this purely to save time, because building a new factory would take at least a month or two, while it wouldn't be so troublesome inside the shipyard.

There happened to be a boiler in the dock, so the equipment could be installed directly. All they needed to do was build a waterwheel.

Waterwheels are incredibly simple for the Ming Dynasty's current manufacturing capabilities. Song Yingxing didn't even need to worry about them; he just needed to tell the craftsmen at the shipyard, and they would build and assemble them for him in a few days.

At this moment, Wang Zheng and the other craftsmen were still looking at the equipment for making ice from saltpeter and fertilizer in the dock with great curiosity.

This equipment can be described as semi-automatic.

The saltpeter was simply poured into the lower trough. Song Yingxing also added some small iron buckets driven by chains to the trough, which then transported the saltpeter directly to the water tank above.

As for water intake, that's even simpler. The waterwheel keeps filling the tank with water. They just need to open the baffle in front of the water tank, and the water will flow in naturally. If the baffle isn't opened, the water will just flow back into the river.

The water tank is actually two-tiered. The top tier is a small tank where the water, once it's in, directly flushes the saltpeter that's been transported up into a small bucket equipped with a stirrer.

The next level is a large water tank, and the water flows directly into the large bucket below the small bucket.

The large barrel completely enclosed the small barrel. As the saltpeter in the small barrel was stirred and melted, small ice crystals visibly formed in the water in the large barrel.

Next, there are two sluice gates and two water tanks. When the upper sluice gate is opened, the well-stirred saltpeter solution will flow through the upper water tank into a large iron barrel surrounded by steam pipes.

Once the sluice gate is opened, the ice water will flow into a large wooden barrel. The barrel has a large valve at the bottom; you can simply open the valve and collect the ice water directly in the barrel.

When Zhu Jue walked in, they had already started working. The small cubicle separated by wooden boards was as chilly as early winter.

It's obvious that there's no problem with the ice-making water.

This stuff is actually quite simple; the key is how long it takes to dry the saltpeter solution through the steam pipes to make fertilizer. Zhu Jue took a quick look in the small compartment where the saltpeter was used to make ice, then nodded slightly and said, "That's fine. Let's go check on the fertilizer making area."

The fertilizer-making room is different because it is heated, and a lot of heat is generated when the nitrate solution is stirred and dried.

As soon as everyone walked in, it was like entering a steamer.

Upon closer inspection, Zhu Jue realized it was still quite early; the saltpeter solution was still liquid and hadn't turned into a paste yet.

Seeing this, Song Yingxing said awkwardly, "Your Majesty, this steam drying is indeed a bit slow."

That's alright, their main purpose wasn't to make fertilizer.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and said, "Well, it's okay if it's slow. It will still dry eventually, so it won't be wasted. It's alright."

He thought for a moment, then simply waved and led everyone outside to the large wooden tub filled with ice water.

The large wooden tub was already more than half full of ice water, with countless tiny ice crystals floating inside, just like a chilled drink from later times.

Actually, the water is quite clean because the saltpeter solution and the water in the tank outside are separated. If well water is used to make ice water, it is safe to drink directly.

Perhaps this could be used to make chilled drinks. Just add some sugar, milk, and chopped fruit, and it would taste amazing, plus it would be incredibly refreshing. The business would probably be quite good.

Zhu Jue thought about it and decided to give up. It was just a small amount of money, and earning that little bit of money would be a waste of his time, manpower, and resources.

He's going to make big money.

There are plenty of ways to make big money these days.

He thought for a moment, then solemnly said, "Zhilong, with this ice-making equipment and the cooling fan, the scorching heat of Southeast Asia will no longer be a problem."

"We should start thinking about strategizing in Southeast Asia. The Dutch seem to have seized quite a few colonies there. Send someone to investigate thoroughly. Once we have enough Weiyuan warships, we'll drive the Dutch out of Southeast Asia."

Well, it wasn't just the Dutch who were vying for territory in Southeast Asia.

Upon hearing this, Zheng Zhilong cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, what about the Spanish? After they seized Luzon, they continued to expand southward and westward. Now, their territory is unimaginably vast."

The key point is that Luzon, which they occupy, is a necessary route for us to go to Southeast Asia. If our fleet can get supplies in Luzon, then we won't need to carry too much food and fresh water.

If our fleet cannot resupply in Luzon, we must carry at least three times the amount of food and fresh water.

"Your Majesty, what do you think? Should we drive the Spanish away as well, or should we have them send envoys to discuss resupplying our fleet with food and fresh water?"

Luzon's location is indeed very important.

It would be best if they could take it over.

The problem is, it doesn't seem like a good idea to just drive the Spaniards away like that.

They're just pretending to maintain a cooperative relationship with them.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then slowly nodded and said, "Well, let the Spanish send an envoy to discuss this. We don't necessarily have to drive them away. We can talk to them and ask them to leave."

Oh, so the colonial bandits are asking to relinquish their colonies?

This is unlikely, right?
Zheng Zhilong was taken aback upon hearing this.

As they were discussing, Fang Zhenghua suddenly rushed in, holding an envelope, and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, General Pan has sent a secret report."

Are the Jurchen cavalry arriving?
Zhu Jue took the envelope, unfolded it, and couldn't help but smile.

Huang Taiji fell for the trap as expected. At least 70,000 to 80,000 Jurchen cavalrymen rushed to Liaozhou to reinforce the city!
Now there shouldn't be any Jurchen cavalry left in Liaodong, and Sun Chuanting should be able to easily take the south bank of the Hun River.

He thought for a moment and then decisively said, "Zhenghua, quickly send someone to deliver an imperial edict, ordering Boya to send troops immediately."

(End of this chapter)