bullyxtreme Chapter 80 It's Hard to Persuade a Self-Destructive Person with Kind Words
Chapter 80 It's Hard to Persuade a Self-Destructive Person with Kind Words
Chapter 81 It's Hard to Persuade a Self-Destructive Person with Kind Words
Chapter 80 Nurhaci's expression slowly returned to calm. In March of the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, Ningyuan City was rebuilt. In July, Guangning Right Garrison City and Jinzhou were successively rebuilt. During the period when Sun Chengzong served as the Jiliao Supervisor, the Ming army advanced more than 200 li eastward from Ningyuan and had penetrated deep into the Liaodong hinterland.
Sun Chengzong created the flank chariot formation, which gave Nurhaci a great headache. This type of chariot carried two small breech-loading cannons, with a trebuchet mounted below and six rapid-fire muskets each. Each chariot required twenty-five soldiers. Sun Chengzong's chariot battalion was practically an armored vehicle of the Ming Dynasty, and could also be considered a firepower output platform.
One of these side-mounted chariots, which is about thirteen feet long, nine feet wide, and seven feet five inches high, is not scary. The problem is that the side-mounted chariot can form a simple city wall in a very short time. More importantly, the company has 128 of these side-mounted chariots and 256 supply wagons.
Each battalion consisted of approximately 3,200 to 3,500 infantrymen and 2,400 to 2,500 cavalrymen. Including officers, arquebusiers, and cart drivers, the total strength of the battalion was approximately 6,600 men. Each battalion was equipped with various types of artillery, such as cannons,
There were approximately 300 to 350 cannons and breech-loading cannons, and nearly 2,000 firearms, including muskets and three-eyed muskets.
The wagon camp carried a large amount of grain and fodder, enough to last for 40 days, and was equipped with 256 cattle for pulling the wagons and for emergency rations, demonstrating the strategic thinking of steady progress and holding out for reinforcements to the fullest extent.
Nurhaci was not unaware of Sun Chengzong's strategic intentions. Since March, when Ningyuan City was repaired and Juehua Island underwent large-scale expansion to become a material transfer center, and Juehua Island Port was only twenty li away from Ningyuan City, he sent people to launch a probing attack on the Ming army. However, with Sun Chengzong's chariots as a fulcrum, the Jurchen soldiers could not break through this hedgehog formation unless they suffered heavy casualties.
The real reason that forced Nurhaci to launch the western expedition at all costs was Jinzhou. After Sun Chengzong rebuilt Jinzhou, there were at least several million acres of arable land around Jinzhou. Sun Chengzong led the people of Liaodong to reclaim more than two million acres of wasteland. He originally planned to launch the Battle of Jinzhou after the autumn harvest and take the opportunity to seize the Ming army's grain.
Unfortunately, at this time, trouble broke out in the backyard. Even without Mangultai reporting it, he subconsciously thought that this must be Sun Chengzong's scheme.
Historically, Nurhaci did not successfully launch his planned western expedition because the Khorchin tribe led by Obataiji had the most tense relationship with Ligdan Khan's Chahar tribe, and at the same time, their contact with the Later Jin was becoming increasingly close. In the fourth year of the Tianqi reign (1624), they simply abandoned Ligdan Khan and allied with Nurhaci.
Ligdan Khan, the last Great Khan of the Mongols, was furious and led his army to attack the Khorchin tribe. Obataiji was no match for Ligdan Khan and asked Nurhaci for help. Nurhaci personally led his princes and ministers to aid the Khorchin tribe.
Nurhaci divided the Jianzhou Eight Banners into four banners: Bordered Yellow, Plain White, Bordered White, and Plain Blue, with the Plain Yellow, Plain White, and Plain Blue banners forming the left wing, and the Plain Yellow, Plain White, and Plain Blue banners forming the right wing.
He personally led the four right-wing banners—the Plain Red, Bordered Red, and Bordered Blue Banners—to attack the Xibe tribe.
Nurhaci stared at Daišan and said slowly, "Daišan, you will be the vanguard. Each Niru will draw warriors, and another 3,000 Khorchin cavalry will be dispatched to assist in the battle. I order you to sweep through the enemy's territory and leave no one alive."
"A concubine's son!"
All the princes responded in unison.
Meanwhile, the first batch of recruited craftsmen arrived at Yongning Port.
Most of these craftsmen came from Dengzhou, and a small number came from Tianjin. There were a total of 863 craftsmen and about 2,500 family members.
These ragged, beggar-like craftsmen arrived at Yongning Port and were warmly received by Chen Ying, who served them mutton offal stew and mixed grain cakes in a large pot.
Each person had two flatbreads and a large bowl of mutton offal soup. To add some oil to the pot for the craftsmen, mutton tail fat was also added. Looking at the fragrant mutton offal soup, the craftsmen couldn't help but swallow their saliva.
The craftsmen wolfed down their food. The cook, seeing their pitiful state, asked in bewilderment, "How long has it been since you've eaten meat?"
Are you asking about this month or this year?
"What about this month?"
-
"first!"
"This is the first time this year too!"
A boy of about sixteen or seventeen, ignoring the fact that the mutton soup was scalding hot, finished it off in a few bites. Clutching his stomach, he smiled obsequiously and said, "Sir, could you give me another bowl—"
"No, I'm not some big shot!"
The cook ladled out another large bowl of mutton offal, laughing, "Eat up, eat up! Eat as much as you can!"
The initial 10,000-plus people who arrived at Yongning Port, like these artisans, were starving ghosts reincarnated. However, as time went on, they became less interested in meat.
Because there are too many wild animals here, and because there are few people and the land is vast, there are plenty of things to eat, such as rabbits, juveniles, wild donkeys, and deer. In addition, the Jurchens, including Hamutai, are launching a fierce attack, exchanging heads for equipment. As a result, their equipment is getting better and better, their fighting power is getting stronger and stronger, and they can capture more and more cattle, sheep and horses.
Now the immigrants in Yongning Port have the freedom to eat mutton offal, but the problem is that the more unlimited the supply, the more they can eat their fill, the less they can eat.
However, this guy clearly meant well but messed things up. The sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy clutched his stomach, his voice trembling, "My stomach hurts—my stomach hurts so much—"
When Chen Ying arrived, he found dozens of teenagers lying on the ground, clutching their stomachs and writhing in pain: "What happened? Did someone poison us?"
The waiter rushed forward to explain, "Did they eat too much?"
Chen Ying squatted down and touched the children's bellies, finding them swollen and protruding. He was startled and asked, "How much did you eat?"
The child said with difficulty, "I ate several big bowls—it was so delicious—ouch, it hurts so much!"
"Are you trying to kill yourself?! You've been starving for so long, and you're still eating like crazy. Aren't you afraid of bloating to death? Just throw it up!"
The child kept his mouth tightly shut and shook his head desperately.
Chen Ying knew very well that these children had been starving for too long, and their digestive systems were extremely weak. Overeating now would easily cause problems. He had no time to waste. He turned to his guards and said, "Hold them down and induce vomiting!"
"yes!"
Chen Yongren was the first to act. He grabbed the boy by the neck, and the boy cried out in pain. Chen Yongren took the opportunity to stick his fingers into the boy's mouth and gag his throat. The boy couldn't take it anymore and bent over, vomiting up pieces of mutton offal that he had just eaten.
The child clearly did not want to vomit up what he had eaten and struggled desperately, but was caught by Chen Yongren. Although Chen Yongren was only sixteen years old, after more than a year of recovery, his strength was even greater than that of an adult. How could he possibly struggle?
In despair, they could only vomit up the mutton offal they were eating, piece by piece. Under the coercion of Chen Yongren and his guards, the children vomited up all the mutton offal and flatbread, along with a large amount of tree bark, grass roots, clay, and other miscellaneous things. The stench was so foul that it made him want to vomit as well.
The child's life was saved, but after vomiting up enough food to have choked him to death, he felt no joy. Instead, he lay on the ground, wailing and crying. Having vomited everything meant he was going to starve. For these children, the taste of hunger was worse than death.
Chen Ying roared at the cook, "From now on, newcomers will have to eat porridge for two days to soothe their stomachs!"
It almost resulted in a death, and the cook was too scared to utter a sound.
However, the children cheered when they heard there was porridge to eat. They were finally not going to starve. After five or six days of recovery, the shipbuilders began to work on shipbuilding. They were assigned tasks, with some apprentices handling timber and others cutting it.
Chen Ying also had many animal-powered tools transported from Shahe, such as a saw with a gear mechanism pulled by oxen, a polishing plane, and a drilling machine that could make holes.
In order to speed up shipbuilding, Chen Ying proposed a modular production method for shipbuilding. The keel was laid in eight docks. At this time, officers from Dengzhou also arrived at Yongning Port.
The highest-ranking officer present was a captain, consisting of three captains, twelve lieutenants, and forty-four sergeants, along with over three hundred and forty ordinary sailors.
They also brought three warships, all of them 400-tonnage warships. These 400-tonnage gunboats were equipped with eight cannons, including four tiger-squatting cannons, two breech-loading cannons, and two bowl-shaped cannons. All three ships were warships of the Dengzhou Navy that sank at sea. As for how they sank, no one asked or said anything.
Chen Ying personally received them and distributed resettlement allowances on the spot. The silver was piled up on the table, and the eyes of the naval officers and soldiers were wide open. They had never seen so much silver in their lives!
"From this day forward, you are soldiers of the Yongning Navy!"
Chen Ying looked at the naval officers and soldiers and said, "Your treatment is as follows: ordinary sailors receive two taels of silver per month, captains five taels, platoon leaders ten taels, centurions thirty taels, and platoon leaders fifty taels. I must make this clear beforehand: all officers of the Shahe Guard are not allowed to embezzle soldiers' wages or accept salaries without working. Anyone found doing so will be dismissed immediately!"
"Yes, sir!"
Chen Ying continued, "Your families can also come here. I will provide you with housing. Your families can also work at Yongning Port and support themselves. Of course, even if your families don't work, they can still live very well. Ordinary sailors will be allocated one mu of residential land, team leaders one and a half mu, platoon leaders two mu, centurions five mu, and captains ten mu!"
"I swear to serve you to the death, sir!"
Ten acres of residential land cannot all be used to build houses, nor would it be a waste to live in them. This land is their vegetable garden, their orchard, and they can also raise cattle and sheep.
Three days after these naval officers and soldiers arrived in Yongning, Chen Ying held a commissioning ceremony for the Yongning Navy and presented them with a military flag. At the same time, three 400-ton gunboats began patrolling along the river.
Chen Ying recruited over 600 young men with good swimming skills from Yongning to train with the Yongning Navy.
Su Mei quietly approached Chen Ying: "My lord, the Jurchens have made their move; thirty to forty thousand troops are marching towards the Xibe tribe—"
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