Perhaps it was because Hong Chengzhuan and Zu Si saw that Yang Zhen always looked a little depressed after hearing them talk about the gathering of troops in western Liaoning. After explaining the location of Yang Zhen's uncle, Xuanzhen Commander-in-Chief Yang Guozhu, they immediately

The topic turned to another one.

And this is also the main reason why they brought the navy fleet from Juehua Island to Jinhai Town this time.

"Captain, we came to Jinhai Town this time. In addition to informing you about the gathering of the Liaoxi army, the second most important thing we have to do is to purchase a batch of new weapons from the Commander upon the entrustment of Commander Hong and Commander Zu.

Firearms."

"Yes, Governor, the firearms samples we brought back from the Governor before, yes, they are samples, including flying generals, blasting tubes, especially the kind of booby traps that can defeat thousands of people. The firearms battalions in Ningyuan and Jinzhou Army have tried them. We

Decided to buy!”

Seeing that Yang Zhen seemed unhappy after hearing about the situation in western Liaoning, Hong Chengzhuan and Zu Si also temporarily changed the second thing they were going to say to purchasing firearms.

Moreover, the two of them just looked at each other in front of Yang Zhen and decisively gave up the other possibility that Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou told them before coming.

Another possibility is to use the imperial decree to suppress Yang Zhen, and then use a smooth tongue and other conditions to persuade Yang Zhen to provide those new firearms to the firearms camp of the Ningjin Army in western Liaoning for free.

After Hong Chengzhuan and Zu Si returned home, they truthfully reported Yang Zhen's plan to sell new firearms to the Liaoxi soldiers and horses.

However, both Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou despised Yang Zhen's idea at first glance.

In their opinion, Yang Zhen is crazy about money and wants to make any money.

Even after the firearms battalions of Ningyuan Army and Jinzhou Army tried out the firearm samples from Jinhai Town and were very satisfied with them, Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou, who were advised by the Ministry to introduce a large number of firearms, still did not think that they should spend their own money to buy them.

.

Therefore, they quickly threw this problem to Ma Shaoyu, who was going to Ningyuan to supervise the army.

Upon hearing this, Ma Shaoyu immediately drafted a memorial to Emperor Chongzhen without saying a word, requesting Emperor Chongzhen to issue an order to Yang Zhen to supply ammunition and firearms to the friendly forces in western Liaoning.

However, after Ma Shaoyu's memorial was sent to the capital, it was as if it had disappeared into the sea and there has been no movement.

Ma Shaoyu, who was eager to establish his prestige in front of the soldiers and horses in western Liaoning, just wrote to Chen Xinjia, the minister of the Ministry of War, and his friend Zhang Ruoqi, who was also a doctor in the Ministry of War, asking them to help handle the matter.

After Ma Shaoyu's letter was sent, Chen Xinjia and Zhang Ruoqi received it.

However, it is a pity that Chen Xinjia and Zhang Ruoqi both sided with Yang Zhen. Instead, they wrote back to persuade Ma Shaoyu to give up this unrealistic idea, and suggested that he leave the matter to Jiliao Governor's Office and Jinhai Town for negotiation.

deal with.

Moreover, Chen Xinjia's reply to Ma Shaoyu contained a warning to Ma Shaoyu not to be used as a weapon.

Finally, the memorial written by Ma Shaoyu to Emperor Chongzhen was finally returned to the cabinet from the Supervisor of Ceremonies after being retained by the emperor for nearly two months.

The comments made by Emperor Chongzhen were almost exactly the same as the suggestions in the reply letter written by Chen Xinjia and Zhang Ruoqi to Ma Shaoyu, which was to ask Jiliao Governor Hong Chengchou and Jinyi uncle Dashou to discuss the matter with Jin Haibo Yang Zhen.

Although Emperor Chongzhen was very suspicious and worried about many governors and ministers, and always felt that someone was deceiving him, he was not really a fool.

He asked Tang Ruowang to set up a cannon foundry in the suburbs of Beijing. At that time, he invested a total of nearly one million taels of silver. In the end, he only produced 20 heavy cannons, several small cannons, and other firearms such as shotguns and blunderbuss.

.

Tang Ruowang himself learned while doing it and summed up a pamphlet on the key points of fire attack. However, what Emperor Chongzhen spent a lot of money to build did not actually have any big use.

In the end, it was abandoned because the cost was too high.

The biggest lesson this incident taught Emperor Chongzhen was that firearms were expensive and he couldn't afford them.

For this reason, after Emperor Chongzhen received the memorial from Ma Shaoyu, who was forwarded by the cabinet to the Supervisor of Ceremonies, requesting that Jinhaizhen firearms be transferred to the Liaoxi soldiers and horses, he instinctively felt that Ma Shaoyu was a bit too partial to others. Not a bowl of water was even, and he even sat crookedly.

.

If Ma Shaoyu's letter was a request to allocate firearms from Liaoxi soldiers and horses for Jinhaizhen to take the lead in launching an offensive against the captives, then Emperor Chongzhen would probably have approved it without hesitation.

Because it was not easy for Yang Zhen to fight in Jinhai Town for the past two years, and Emperor Chongzhen knew this.

After all, it has been more than two years since Yang Zhenkai established the town of Jinhai. During this period, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War have supplied Jinhai Town with only a handful of money, food, weapons, horses, warships, and other materials.

Although it cannot be said that there are none at all, it is indeed very few.

In this regard, Emperor Chongzhen's heart was actually the same as Ming Jing's.

From the very beginning, Yang Zhen never failed to live up to the trust of the court. On the contrary, the court was somewhat dissatisfied with Yang Zhen and his troops in Jinhai Town who were fighting continuously behind enemy lines.

Therefore, due to both emotions and reasons, Emperor Chongzhen was too embarrassed to issue an explicit order to ask Jinhai Town to supply firearms to the soldiers and horses of western Liaoning.

So, two months passed. After repeatedly soliciting the opinions of Chen Xinjia, Zhang Ruoqi, Wang Dehua and others, Emperor Chongzhen finally chose a solution that seemed to be a bowl of water, which was called Hong Chengchou. Zu Dashou discussed with Yang Zhen

Let's do it.

It was not until the fifteenth day of March in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen that Emperor Chongzhen's decree was sent to Ningyuan City.

After seeing it, Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou were dumbfounded.

Ma Shaoyu, who was used as a weapon by Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou, was even more ashamed and embarrassed and never said a word about the matter.

Faced with this situation, Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou had to start to seriously consider the option of purchasing new fire from Jinhai Town.

However, they still refused to give up. They still planned to use Emperor Chongzhen's order to discuss the matter with Yang Zhen to suppress Yang Zhen. If they could force Yang Zhen to provide some firearms for free, it would be best. If that didn't work, they would pay.

Buy.

This idea is of course a good idea. On the sea journey to Jinhai Town by boat, Hong Chengzhuan and Zu Si discussed how to exert pressure and how to persuade Yang Zhen.

However, now that he has met Yang Zhen, especially after Yang Zhen heard about his uncle Yang Guozhu's situation in western Liaoning, his face has been gloomy. This timing is wrong at first glance. Once pressure is exerted, the negotiation will inevitably collapse.

.

At that time, it will not be whether Yang Zhen will give them firearms, but that they will not be able to buy Jinhaizhen's sharp firearms with their money.

As for the other thing they have been keeping in their stomachs, they may not even have the chance to say it out by then.

So the two of them looked at each other and simply gave up the pressure rhetoric and directly chose the second plan.

That means paying for it.

"Haha, your choice is wise. To be honest, the war is about to begin, so I agreed to sell firearms to the Liaoxi soldiers and horses because we are friendly forces!"

Regarding the little actions of Hong Chengzhuan and Zu Si under his nose, Yang Zhen was very aware.

"But regarding the purchase of firearms, you will talk to Manager Zhang Degui later. As for the price, the friendly price I mentioned when you came last time is the final price. Don't bargain any more!"

"Well, no matter what, just listen to the governor!"

Seeing that Zu Si seemed to want to speak, Hong Chengzhuan thought that they still had something to ask Yang Zhen for, so he quickly spoke first and finalized the purchase of firearms.

At this time, Zhang Degui, who was accompanying the meeting, immediately stood up. He first bowed to Yang Zhen to express his acceptance of the order, then turned to Hong Chengzhuan and Zu Si, bowed and clasped his fists in greeting.

After waiting for Zhang Degui to sit down again, Yang Zhen looked at Hong Chengzhuan and Zu Si who were fawning over their faces, and asked thoughtfully:

"Aside from reporting on the situation in western Liaoning and asking for the purchase of firearms from Jinhai Town, do you two have anything else to say?"

Yang Zhen saw that the two of them seemed to be easier to talk to in front of him today than he had imagined, and he couldn't help but guess that they probably had something important to discuss with him.

Sure enough, as soon as Yang Zhen finished speaking, Zu Si was the first to speak.

"Yes, the Governor's guess is correct. When I come here this time, I do have one more important matter to discuss with the Governor."

"In that case, just say it!"

"It's like this, Governor. Not long ago, the imperial court issued a decree to urge the Liao army to leave as soon as possible. The imperial court requested that a battle against the captives be launched in April."

"Then what?"

"When Mr. Hong and Zu came to Jinhai Town to meet the Governor last time, they reached an agreement with the Governor. At that time, we agreed that this war against the captives should be launched by the Governor's subordinates first on the eastern front behind enemy lines."

"Yeah?"

"It's absolutely true, Commander!"

"How could the Governor forget?!"

Faced with what Zu Si said, Yang Zhen asked a casual question, which made Zu Si and Hong Chengzhuan immediately become nervous and almost jumped on the spot.

For Zu Si and Hong Chengzhuan, this was one of the biggest results they obtained from Yang Zhen when they last came to Jinhai Town.

If Yang Zhen turns his back now and refuses to admit his guilt, then they will not be able to explain to Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou when they return to western Liaoning. How can the two of them not jump at this?

Fortunately, Yang Zhen just asked a question casually, and did not really want to turn his back on him.

Although Yang Zhen did not make a specific and clear commitment to this three months ago, he did have this intention at the time.

His purpose at that time was actually to implicitly express his agreement to obey the unified command of Ji Liao Governor's Mansion, and first get Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou on board.

As for who fired the first shot and who initiated the first battle, Yang Zhen actually didn't care much.

The most important thing is that he is now ready to start the first battle to regain Liaoshen in the direction of Jiuliancheng.

Although Zu Si's words made him feel uncomfortable, seeing that they cared so much about it and were so nervous about it, he stopped trying to keep it secret.

"Haha, it's easy to say, easy to say. Don't worry. Please also relax, Governor Hong and Commander Zu. I, Yang Zhen, have always made great promises, and I will definitely fulfill my words."

Zu Si and Hong Chengzhuan, who were very nervous, couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.

Hong Chengzhuan said repeatedly: "That's good, that's good, just don't have any accidents."

But Zu Si was obviously not satisfied with this, and went on to say:

"The Governor has always been loyal to the public and the country, and his loyalty is unparalleled. Everyone in the government and the public knows it. Regarding this, my ancestor is extremely relieved, and I think the same will be true for Governor Ning Yuanhong.

"It's just that since March, the imperial court has sent envoys every three days to urge the dispatch of troops. Envoys are constantly on the way. Therefore, the governor is requested to launch an attack on the Qing captives on the eastern front in April, preferably in early April.
To be continued...