The First Prince of the Ming Dynasty

Li Shishi could not hide his disappointment in the father and son.

Zhu Chenhao then interrupted the conversation, personally leading his son to see Li Shishi off to his carriage at the door and watching him leave.

"Son, were you deliberately keeping some things from being said because you were wary of Mr. Li's presence?" Zhu Chenhao was not a fool.

Although he agreed with his son's idea of ​​assassinating those who hindered the Ning Prince's rebellion, he also wondered if his son, who had a vision that was five hundred years ahead of his time, was only capable of this much.

Zhu Yi smiled and said, "Father is wise. Indeed, there is a more complete plan. We should find a quiet place to discuss it."

"Let's go inside and talk." Zhu Chenhao led his son back to the main hall of the villa.

The tea that had been sitting on the table was still steaming.

Zhu Yi said, "If we want to start an uprising, we must manufacture firearms. Only in this way can we have a chance to make a decisive move on the battlefield."

"Build cannons?" Zhu Chenhao asked. "Wouldn't that be a huge hassle?"

Zhu Yi shook his head and said, "It's not about making divine guns and cannons, nor is it about building ships or siege weapons, but about making gunpowder."

"Gunpowder?" Zhu Chenhao's face fell into deep thought.

In his view, gunpowder could only be used in firearms or cannons, and the Ming Dynasty had a high level of technology in manufacturing these firearms.

In addition, the Prince of Ning's mansion also sent people to Fujian and Guangdong to buy mature cannon-making technology from the Portuguese.

Zhu Yi said: "Historically, when Ningfu raised an army, its preparations were quite thorough. It had a large number of firearms and large, sturdy ships. Although it could not be said that its troops were well-trained and well-supplied, its number of men and horses was still considerable. On the other hand, the opposing imperial army, even the elite troops under Wang Shouren, numbered only a few thousand men and did not have enough firearms."

Zhu Yi was too embarrassed to say that you had played a good hand terribly, and Wang Shouren, with only a bunch of rabble, had utterly defeated your supposedly hundreds of thousands of elite troops.

You don't have a big ship?

No firearms?

Or is it a shortage of soldiers and food?

You're not cut out for great things.

If I were to force you to build guns and cannons in the hopes of turning the tide of the war, it would be no different from courting death, since your soldiers are not capable of operating those things.

Zhu Chenhao gritted his teeth and said, "Then why are we losing? Is it only by killing those few obstacles you mentioned that we can turn the tide of the battle?"

Zhu Yi shook his head and said, "Raising an army to rebel against the court is inherently wrong from top to bottom. Everyone is afraid of being wiped out after a defeat. It may be fine when everything is going smoothly, but once setbacks are encountered and the war goes against us, morale will collapse and eventually become uncontrollable. The biggest disadvantage of raising an army is that we have to keep attacking cities. Once a city cannot be captured, we will be completely passive."

What he meant was that your first priority shouldn't be fighting in open battle with the imperial army.

What's needed in field battles are guns and cannons.

But the biggest trouble you'll face is actually the siege.

When attacking a city, having only muskets and cannons often won't be enough to decide the outcome of the battle; you need to overcome the obstacles of city walls, gates, and moats.

The government troops don't need a lot of people or advanced firearms. As long as they hide behind the city walls, you can only watch helplessly most of the time.

"Hmm." After thinking it over, Zhu Chenhao reluctantly agreed with his son's statement.

"So in my opinion, the defeat in the Battle of Ningfu in history was actually due to the slow advance of the troops and the failure to capture Anqing Prefecture in time. Once Anqing Prefecture was captured, the subsequent journey to Nanjing would have been smooth sailing... and the imperial court's defenses along the Yangtze River were clearly insufficient." Zhu Yi carefully analyzed the "historical situation" that would occur in the future.

Zhu Chenhao said, "I know that Anqing is a crucial defensive stronghold along the river, and I understand the importance of capturing this city for establishing a foundation. But... what does this have to do with what you said about manufacturing gunpowder?"

Zhu Yidao: "In the later Qing Dynasty, in 1851, a grassroots uprising occurred, known as the Taiping Rebellion. During this uprising, the Taiping army, composed of peasants, invented a tactic for attacking cities: they would first dig tunnels under the city walls, then bury a large amount of gunpowder, ignite it all at once, and instantly collapse the city walls."

This method, known as the "tunneling siege method," proved extremely difficult for the Qing dynasty's garrisons along the Yangtze River to defend against. Relying on this method, the Taiping army was able to capture Nanjing (Nanjing) from the ground up in a short period, establish its own regime, and resist the Qing dynasty for over a decade before ultimately failing due to the combined forces of various factions.

Is such a thing possible?

Upon hearing this, Zhu Chenhao was very excited and stood up, looking at the person with an incredulous expression.

A group of ordinary people from the bottom of society, without mature technology, without the lofty banner of royalty, and without the help of officials and gentry to provide funds and supplies, were able to successfully take Nanjing and stand on equal footing with the imperial court.

This is actually a great encouragement for Zhu Chenhao.

This showed him that with his son's help, capturing Nanjing was not an impossible task.

Zhu Yi continued, "Our manufacture of guns, cannons, and ships requires a great deal of materials and involves a lot of activity. This will easily be noticed by officials at all levels, and more rumors will reach the capital, causing the court to take action first. At that time, we will be forced to respond as soon as possible."

Ultimately, this could very well lead to a hasty uprising, similar to what has happened in history. Conversely, simply producing gunpowder would be much more discreet and less likely to be detected.

"Hmm." Zhu Chenhao nodded, now feeling even more strongly that his son was indispensable to his rebellion.

"Furthermore, I also know of a type of gunpowder that is even more powerful than black powder. It is yellow in color and will be called yellow gunpowder in later generations. Its power is far greater than that of black powder. However, it will take a long time to research and mass-produce it. Two or three years may not be enough."

Zhu Yi then revealed another massive plan of his.

Black powder requires digging tunnels for "underground siege warfare," but if yellow powder were used, digging tunnels might not even be necessary.

What does that feel like?

They'll give you cutting-edge technology from four hundred years in the future.

Zhu Chenhao sighed, "I know that we don't have enough time! At most, we only have four years. If I had listened to your advice and taken some bigger steps, it would have alerted the court, and the uprising would have had to be brought forward, making it even more rushed..."

"So my second step in the plan is to create time," Zhu Yi said with a serious expression. "This requires Father to have complete faith in me."

Zhu Chenhao, now brimming with confidence, stood up and said, "Come, let's go to the study to plan this in detail!"

……

……

Inside the study.

Zhu Yi drew up the blueprints for the Hongyi cannons and also provided some iron smelting technology. In short, he wanted to build some steelmaking furnaces and also asked Zhu Chenhao to find a way to open an iron mine.

These were all iron ore mines around Jiangxi that had not been developed during the Ming Dynasty.

"Good, being able to create such a divine object is truly a case of achieving twice the result with half the effort." Zhu Chenhao looked at the blueprints, feeling even more confident.

Zhu Yi asked, "Father, do you still remember what I said?"

"Of course I remember. We're not in a hurry to build this cannon. Casting iron is the priority..." Zhu Chenhao said. "Time is of the essence. Now tell me your plan."

Zhu Yi put down his pen and, as if lecturing in a classroom, said, "The best way to create time is to make the emperor believe that our Ning Mansion has no plans to rebel and has always been cooperating with the court in governing the country, such as assisting in border defense and pacifying the people..."

"What?"

Zhu Chenhao frowned upon hearing this.

Why would I help Zhu Houzhao instead of setting a trap for him?

Zhu Yi said, "Only by deceiving the enemy can we better develop ourselves."

"That makes sense... but... how can we convince the young emperor that our Ning family has no intention of raising an army?" Zhu Chenhao said. "As you know, many people in the court are already on guard. You also said that there will be a power struggle between Qian Ning and Jiang Bin in the future, which will also affect our Ning family's great cause."

Zhu Yi laughed and said, "Then let's gather Qian Ning and Jiang Bin together and send them gifts separately."

"Just this?" Zhu Chenhao asked, puzzled.

You've gone on and on for so long, just to get me to treat Qian Ning and Jiang Bin equally in terms of bribery?

"Furthermore, we must report to the Emperor in advance the major events that will occur in the court in the next few years, so that he can take precautions. In particular, we must warn him against the Tatars' incursions and provide him with some technologies that will only be available later to help him achieve victory in the war against the Tatars. This will make him more confident in his military talents," Zhu Yi said with a smile.

Zhu Chenhao clenched his fist and said, "It's already being polite not to ambush and kill him halfway to the Northwest, but to help him achieve his great cause? To make him even more authoritative? To make our uprising even less legitimate?"

Clearly, Zhu Chenhao cannot fully agree with his son on this point.

This involves the issue of the cause of rebellion.

We started our rebellion under the slogan of "removing the corrupt officials from the emperor's court and overthrowing the incompetent ruler," and now you want me to help him become a wise ruler?

Why does that sound so frustrating?

Zhu Yi said, "But only in this way can we gain Zhu Houzhao's trust!"

"Let me think about it."

Zhu Chenhao calmly considered the problem, pacing back and forth for a long time with his hands behind his back, seemingly unable to think of a better way to delay the rebellion. Finally, he nodded helplessly and said, "Although that would be possible, wouldn't that reveal your secret of having traveled five hundred years into the future? My son, I cannot allow you to be in danger under any circumstances!"

Zhu Yi smiled and said, "It's good that Father agrees. In that case, we have to mention another person and another plan!"