Chapter 607 0602 [Besieged on All Sides]

Due to the huge external pressure, Zhong Xiang was not really corrupted, and he was thinking about how to raise military rations all day long.

The final construction scale of the imperial palace in Changsha was more than half smaller than the design.

It was not about sympathizing with the people's strength, but the wood used to build the palace was transferred by Zhong Xiang to build warships.

Last year, Li Bao equipped a large number of firearms on the warships, and Zhong Xiang's navy suffered heavy losses. He must restore the strength of the navy as soon as possible, otherwise he would not dare to show up in Dongting Lake.

"Your Majesty, gunpowder can explode."

"Really? Take me to see it!"

Zhong Xiang excitedly left the palace and came to the firearms experimental base outside the city.

When Zhu Ming was in Xiangyang, Zhong Xiang suffered from firearms. In the Dongting Lake naval battle last year, the pseudo-Chu navy was beaten by firearms.

After learning from the pain, Zhong Xiang kept sending people to inquire about the news.

After losing dozens of spies, he finally found out that there were arsenals in Kuizhou and Yiling. But those two places were too closed. If the spies wanted to sneak in, one would die, and if two went in, a pair would die.

Last winter, Daye built a new arsenal.

Although nothing was obtained this time, more accurate information was finally obtained. Both muskets and cannons were fired by gunpowder. And the tubes of guns and cannons were hollow, one end was open and the other was closed.

Zhong Xiang immediately started to develop firearms, and soon found that traditional gunpowder could not explode.

Of course, he had no concept of explosion, but the Ming army's firearms were as loud as thunder, and the firearms he made could only spray fire.

Well, Zhong Xiang's firearms were made like this: iron sheets were hammered into a gun barrel, one end was cold welded and sealed, and a wooden handle was installed. Drill a hole to insert the fuse, and fill the gunpowder and bullets from the muzzle.

After the fuse ignited the gunpowder, it could not explode smoothly, but burned violently and sprayed flames, and the bullets would be ejected from the barrel a short distance.

"Long live His Majesty!"

The craftsmen knelt down in unison.

Zhong Xiang seemed impatient: "Hurry up, where is the gunpowder that can explode?"

A craftsman held up a pottery bowl, which was full of gunpowder.

Zhong Xiang said: "How is it made?"

The craftsman explained: "Mix the amount of charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur, and put it into the bamboo tube and ignite it each time. I have mixed it more than a hundred times, and it can not only explode, but also burst the bamboo tube."

"Try it now!" Zhong Xiang said happily.

The craftsmen stuffed the gunpowder into the bamboo tube as thick as a finger, sealed the bamboo tube, and drilled a small hole on it to put the fuse.

It is probably the appearance of firecrackers.

"Bang!"

There was a crisp sound, and green smoke came out of the ground.

When the smoke dissipated, the bamboo tube had been blown into pieces.

Zhong Xiang was overjoyed: "Everyone will be rewarded!"

Then, he took the "fire gun" to experiment, but this thing didn't even have a gunpowder pool. Shake the gunpowder into the muzzle, and the inner wall of the gun barrel was scattered everywhere, and then use a bamboo stick to force the bullet into it.

The craftsmen put the gun barrel on the wooden fork, one person held the long wooden handle, another person lit the fuse, and two people stood there holding shields.

The person who lit the fire quickly retreated behind the shield.

"Bang!"

This time the sound was louder.

When the smoke cleared, Zhong Xiang stepped forward to check.

Not only did the bullet fly away, the entire gun barrel was blown up, and even the shield was embedded with some gun barrel fragments.

The test failed, but Zhong Xiang did not get angry but laughed, saying repeatedly: "Good, good, good, you did a great job. The tube of this musket will be hammered with wrought iron in the future, and it will definitely be strong and not easy to break!"

"Your Majesty is wise!" The craftsmen shouted.

Zhong Xiang asked someone to carry out the reward money and said: "When the musket is made, I will have another reward!"

Amid the cheers of the craftsmen, Zhong Xiang rode back to the city and transferred more soldiers to guard the firearms experimental base.

A speedboat came from the south, and did not stop at the water gate, but showed its badge from a distance: "Urgent military information, open the water gate quickly!"

The water gate was quickly pulled up, and the messenger drove the speedboat all the way to the palace.

Not long after, Zhong Xiang received the military information, and after reading it, he was so angry that he trembled.

Cao Cheng rebelled!

Cao Cheng may be a Han Chinese, or a Hanized Yao. Anyway, he lives in the border zone between Han and Man, located on the border of Guangxi, Guangdong and Hunan.

The Yao, Dong and Miao people here had been forced to rebel by the Song Dynasty long before Zhu Ming started his army. It was the officers and soldiers of Jinghu and Guangxi who fought back, but they were not wiped out, but retreated to the mountains.

After Zhong Xiang started his army, they continued to make trouble and tied down the Song Dynasty's military forces, making a huge contribution to Zhong Xiang's expansion.

Last year, Zhong Xiang took advantage of Li Gong's retreat to Guizhou and immediately sent the southern line troops to Guangxi.

Cao Cheng was named Duke and led his troops to station in Hezhou.

Now, Cao Cheng has killed the altar master (prefect) and the envoy (military supervisor) in Hezhou, and destroyed the altars in Hezhou everywhere.

Changed the flag and surrendered to the Ming Dynasty!

Zhong Xiang sat dejectedly on the dragon throne, holding the military intelligence report.

He didn't understand why Cao Cheng wanted to rebel, he treated Cao Cheng well. He had already been canonized as the founding duke, must he be crowned king to make him loyal?

Cao Cheng rebelled, and it is estimated that the barbarians in Daozhou, Quanzhou, and Guiyang will also rebel one after another.

Zhong Xiang asked his younger brother Zhong Yi to stay in Changsha, and he immediately went south with his personal army.

When he arrived in Hengyang, he met the missionary Huang Cheng who was traveling north by boat.

"Master, Daozhou is gone too!" Huang Cheng knelt down with a plop.

Zhong Xiang asked in surprise: "Why did Daozhou disappear so quickly?"

Huang Cheng said: "Not only did the Yao people and the Dong people rebel in Daozhou, but even the Han people rebelled together..."

Zhong Xiang was so angry that he grabbed the man's clothes and shouted angrily: "I ask you, why are all the tribes rebelling?"

Huang Cheng said in frustration: "Master, I have been to the court many times. The owners of the altars in the south are all opportunists. They used to be landowners and gentry, pretending to believe in our religion, and even pretending to donate their family property. In fact, all of them are They are all ambitious. They used the master's reputation to expropriate money in the city and countryside, forcing the people to have no choice but to go..."

Zhong Xiang slowly let go of his hand and pulled Huang Cheng up.

When he confronted Ju Ming on the Yangtze River, all the elite troops were transferred to the front line of the Yangtze River, making it difficult to continue to expand southward.

It happened that the officers and soldiers of the Song Dynasty there could not bear it anymore. Rich businessmen, gentry, ruffians, monks... all converted to Manichaeism and captured the prefectures and counties to join Prime Minister Zhong. Some people even donated all the property saved by their ancestors to the church in order to show their loyalty.

Faced with such a situation, what else can Prime Minister Zhong do?

I can only accept it. Is it possible to use a knife?

In order to control the newly acquired territory, he also sent many close disciples there. But he was soon corrupted by speculators. On the surface, he was extremely respectful, but in fact, he was both obedient and obedient.

As a result, Zhong Xiang's territory became polarized.

In the area around Dongting Lake, Prime Minister Zhong is extremely popular among the people. Civil and military officials are relatively honest, and there are even many who maintain their original aspirations.

And several states far to the south are already in a state of chaos!

Prime Minister Zhong also knew that there was a problem, so he sent his direct disciple Huang Cheng as a missionary to inspect the south.

Huang Cheng was not corrupted and reported the situation truthfully.

But at this time, the Prime Minister was surrounded by Hubei, Jiangxi, and Guangxi. He did not dare to attack the southern states, otherwise it would inevitably trigger a large-scale rebellion.

"Why would Cao Cheng rebel?" Zhong Xiang asked.

Huang Cheng explained: "The people in the village where the Cao family lived were also violently expropriated this time. The reason was that the master ordered the pass to be strengthened, and the local altar masters took the opportunity to prey on the people. There may also be other reasons. Cao Chengjun's envoy (supervisor of the army) was The uncle of the crown prince’s concubine heard that he had a very bad relationship with Cao Cheng. There were rumors that he had asked Cao Cheng for a bribe but failed, so he threatened to sue Cao Cheng for treason..."

"Asshole!"

Zhong Xiang was so angry that he cursed.

It was precisely because the southern states were gradually losing control that Prime Minister Zhong sent emissaries to various armies, that is, he placed cronies to supervise the armies.

The supervisor next to Cao Cheng was a direct disciple who had followed Zhong Xiang in teaching for many years. He also married his niece to Zhong Xiang's son as a concubine.

Such a trusted person actually forced the frontline general to rebel!

Zhong Xiang waited for a while before ordering the march to be accelerated. He tried to rely on his prestige to recruit the rebellious troops.

But he only continued for a few dozen miles when he received another urgent military message.

The Dong and Miao people in Jiushituandong, Wugang, both rebelled. And the Han people in Wugang actually joined the uprising.

In just half a month, the cities of Suining, Chengbu, Lingang, and Wuyang were all lost, and the rebel army had already marched towards the Wugang military city.

Prime Minister Zhong was numbed by the news and could only speed up the march with his troops.

When they arrived in Qiyang County, they received another urgent military report: Li Gong, a famous general who had recently joined the Ming Dynasty, sent troops from Guilin to besiege Xing'an County. The defenders across the state were waiting to go to the rescue, but the Su family of the Hanized Dong ethnic group in Xixidong rebelled again. The entire state's army could only attack the Su family first, and Xing'an County had become an isolated city.

The Su family was not easy to eradicate. When the Song Dynasty was still there, they often went down to the mountains to rob Han people, and even robbed government ships.

Zhong Xiang no longer knows how to deal with a series of urgent military situations.

This is just the beginning.

Only half a day later, another news came from Guiyang Prison. Due to the rebellion of the Yao people over there, the puppet Chu officers and soldiers went to conquer. With the lack of troops in the hinterland, the Han miners took the opportunity to rebel.

There are four large silver mines in Guiyangjian, as well as many small silver mines. The total number of silver refiners and miners is 20,000 to 30,000!

Now, Prime Minister Zhong can only pray that the Ming troops in Hubei and Jiangxi will not send troops. After he puts down the rebellion in the south, there will be room for change.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, a messenger is coming from the north!"

As soon as Zhong Xiang heard these words, he felt bad in his heart.

He forced himself to calm down and opened the military information document, glanced at it and put it down, muttering: "It's over, the situation is over."

Under the protection of the Ming Navy, the Hubei Ming Army sent tens of thousands of troops southward.

At the same time, the Ming army in Jiangxi also crossed the mountains and was attacking Liling and Chaling.

If Zhong Xiang takes this pro-army army going south, if they don't go back quickly, they may be cut off by the Jiangxi Ming army.

Zhong Xiang looked up at the sky, his body was swaying, and he already felt hopeless.

He was not afraid of the rebellion of those ethnic minorities, and he expected to be besieged by the Ming army. But the Han people in the southern states actually followed suit and rebelled, which was like stabbing Prime Minister Zhong in the heart.