Yang Zhen came to the capital to offer prisoners this time, and his stay was too short. Many people he met did not have time to meet him.

For example, Tang Ruowang.

Yang Zhen wanted to meet him and see if he was really capable.

If he really has more talent and knowledge in forging Western-style muskets and artillery than Yang Zhen and his subordinates, Yang Zhen really wants to get him over.

Of course, when Yang Zhen asked Chu Xianzhang to make such a request to Emperor Chongzhen this time, it was not all because he wanted to rely on the foreign devil Tang Ruowang to build some rifled guns and rifled cannons.

Now, Yang Zhen's iron works and ammunition factories have cooperated to produce large-caliber mortars for use with explosive ammunition.

Although the range and accuracy of this mortar, named the Soaring Cannon, are average and cannot be compared with the Folan cannon, let alone the Hongyi cannon, the explosive bullets used by this mortar are quite powerful.

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In this regard, Yang Zhen and his artillery team were actually ahead of the times in the use of artillery.

Although it is only a little bit ahead, it is enough for now.

What he urgently needs to do now is mainly to increase the number and expand the scale.

In addition, the problems with muskets in Yang Zhenjun's army are similar to those with artillery.

There are no longer any technical obstacles to the three major factors that affect Yang Zhen's musket equipment and its power, namely the manufacture of gunpowder, barrels and flintlock engines.

Moreover, with the more powerful granulated black powder and a considerable number of Rumi guns, the range and accuracy of the muskets used by Yang Zhen's troops were much better than ordinary matchlock guns.

Even if they can't mass-produce flintlock bolts and mass-produce homemade forged steel barrels for the time being due to limited manpower, material and financial resources, it's only a matter of time.

Next, Yang Zhen faced the same problem of how to find more resources, increase their number and expand their scale as soon as possible.

Moreover, these problems will soon be gradually solved after Yang Zhen leads his troops to the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula and has a stable base.

Therefore, Yang Zhen's need for rifled guns is not that urgent.

The reason why Yang Zhen wanted to recruit Tang Ruowang into his army was because he wanted to use the foreign devil's contacts in the Jesuits to help him contact other matters.

Of course, the most important thing is that this foreign devil cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of Li Zicheng's group in the 17th year of Chongzhen's reign, or into the hands of the Manchu Tatars.

Well, in addition to Tang Ruowang, Yang Zhen also wanted to meet Sun Chuanting when he was in the capital. However, Sun Chuanting was imprisoned in the capital prison at the time, and he did not find a chance to meet.

He originally wanted to wait for Emperor Chongzhen to finish awarding him and his generals, or at least wait for the imperial edict to be issued, and then use the opportunity of his Majesty's speech to intercede with Sun Chuanting, whom he had never met before.

However, Emperor Chongzhen did not see him, so his plan failed.

And the reason why he didn't dare to raise this issue during the two summonses before Emperor Chongzhen awarded him a reward and before the orders of his generals came out to reward him was because he was worried about offending Emperor Chongzhen.

He had more important things to deal with at that time. Once he offended Emperor Chongzhen because of Sun Chuanting's issue, I'm afraid his other things would also be messed up.

Fortunately, Chu Xianzhang was a straight man, and this time Yang Zhen was able to achieve his purpose of interceding on behalf of Sun Chuanting through him.

For a figure like Sun Chuanting, Emperor Chongzhen kicked him out of his high position as Minister of War, Governor of Baoding, and locked him in a prison for three years because of his few complaints and disrespectful words.

It's a bit too wasteful.

It was not until Yang Sichang died and Emperor Chongzhen had no one to use that he thought of Sun Chuanting again. After he was released, he directly made him the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi. Not long after, Sun Chuanting was given the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of War, and Shang Fang was given the sword.

Military affairs in seven provinces including Henan, Huguang, and Sichuan.

It is a pity that by that time, the entire north of the Ming Dynasty had been completely corrupted, and even if a figure like Sun Chuanting came to take charge of the overall situation, there was no way to save it.

In October of the 16th year of Chongzhen, Sun Chuanting was killed in battle, with no body left. A few months later, the capital of the Ming Dynasty fell, and Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself.

Some people say that when Chuan Ting dies, Ming Dynasty dies. There is some truth in this saying.

If Sun Chuanting could have been released two years earlier, would the situation have been different?

Yang Zhen, a soul from later generations, knew that at this moment, people like Sun Chuanting were imprisoned in the capital prison for three years by Emperor Chongzhen because of his disagreement with Yang Sichang and his vindictiveness with Yang Sichang. How could he remain indifferent and stand by?

No matter what, he must speak up for Sun Chuanting and work hard to extend the life of the Ming Dynasty.

Whether Emperor Chongzhen listens or not is Emperor Chongzhen’s business. However, whether he talks about it and whether he does it is Yang Zhen’s business.

On the premise of protecting himself, he could talk but not say, and he could do but not do it. In Yang Zhen's own heart, he couldn't get over that hurdle.

For Yang Zhen, asking Chu Xianzhang to send a message to Emperor Chongzhen and requesting the release of Sun Chuanting meant that he was doing his best to obey fate.

However, it was said that after Chu Xianzhang met Yang Zhen and conveyed Emperor Chongzhen's will to Yang Zhen and his generals, he delivered the ordnance brought from the capital that night, said goodbye to Yang Zhen early the next morning, and left Songshan.

After the two groups of imperial envoys from the imperial court all left, Songshan City finally came to a temporary halt.

Moreover, with the decree of Emperor Chongzhen previously read by Lu Zhide, the generals who stayed in Songshan also knew that the imperial court's reward for them, including those for those generals who had been ordered to cross the sea to Liaonan before November, were all paid by Yang.

Zhen decides with one word.

After knowing this, these people settled down and did their own things, waiting for Yang Zhen's decision.

Yang Zhen did not make an immediate decision.

On the morning of the fourth day of the first lunar month, after Yang Zhen personally saw off Chu Xianzhang and his party outside the South Gate, he led the remaining generals and rode to the boat camp at Zhimao Bay to inspect the ice conditions at sea.

Yang Zhen remembered that as early as one midwinter during the Tianqi period, Nuerhachi led tens of thousands of troops to storm Ningyuan City. As a result, he failed to capture the city at the cost of many soldiers and generals, but instead set his sights on Tunliang City on Juehua Island on the sea near Ningyuan.

The winter weather that year was extremely cold, and the sea from the coast of Ningyuan to Juehua Island was completely frozen. The Jin army, tens of thousands of Manchu and Mongolian cavalry, marched on the ice, landed on Juehua Island, attacked the grain storage city, and brutally massacred

They defeated the defenders and merchants on the island, and burned and looted the countless grain and grass in the grain city on the island.

At that time, there were hundreds of warships and grain transport ships frozen in the sea near the port of Juehua Island. They became living targets and were set on fire by the Manchu Tatars.

Every time he thought about this matter, Yang Zhen couldn't help but feel heartache.

What left the biggest shock to Yang Zhen, and what made Yang Zhen's memory extremely profound, was that the sea ice on Liaodong Bay could freeze to such an extent that it could allow tens of thousands of Manchu and Mongolian cavalry to gallop across the ice.

Enter.

So, what now?

Can I not wait for Yuan Jin, Qiu Zhenhai and their fleet to return from Lushun, but directly lead a large number of troops and cross the ice on the sea?

In the morning of that day, Yang Zhen led the remaining generals and rode their horses to the anchor bay boat camp.

The candidates to stay at the Zhimao Bay boat camp are Qiu Zhenhai's brother-in-law Guo Zengfu and his eldest son Qiu Bixian.

Qiu Bixian was the eldest son of Qiu Zhenhai and the nephew of Guo Zengfu. He was a little younger than Qiu Biyong. This time he did not follow his father across the sea to Liaonan. Instead, he was left behind, with his uncle helping to stay behind.

Of course, although Qiu Bixian is not very old, only sixteen or seventeen years old, because he is Qiu Zhenhai's eldest son, Qiu Bihan's cousin, and one of Yang Zhen's brothers-in-law, he has the authority to control the general manager at a young age.

of military service.

After Qiu Zhenhai took a large number of young and strong tribesmen to southern Liaoning, except for a few confidants, the tribesmen who stayed behind at Zhimao Bay were all old, weak, women and children.

As soon as Yang Zhen arrived, Guo Zengfu and Qiu Bixian rushed to accompany him.

Yang Zhen briefly asked about the food, clothing and housing of the old and weak people left behind. Seeing that there were no problems, he let them lead him straight to the eastern seaport.

Before reaching the coast, Yang Zhen was stunned by the sight in front of him. He had seen the surging sea, but he had never seen the sea surface solidified during the surging.

The sea stretched as far as the eye could see, and the familiar sound of the waves disappeared, leaving only the howling wind and the dry snow swirling and flying like white dragons in the wind.

Near the coast, a ship was frozen by sea ice on the solidified sea surface, forming a strange and spectacular scene.

Far away from the coast, there are layers of ice, piles of ice.

Some places are as flat as a mirror, some have thousands of ravines, and some are shaped like irregular cracked ice walls.

The Liaodong Bay in front of us looks like a frozen alien world.

"Lao Xia, Lao Lu, you have been in Liaodong for many years, and you must have seen many scenes like this. In your opinion, if we ride our horses and walk on the ice, can we go straight to southern Liaoning?"

Yang Zhen saw that the sea was frozen, and he could not see the horizon at a glance. The idea that had long been in his mind became even stronger now. He turned around with excitement and asked Xia Chengde and Lu Pinqi who were following behind.

"No, Commander, absolutely no!"

Yang Zhen was full of expectations, but he didn't expect that as soon as he finished speaking, he saw the generals following him shouting "No" almost in unison.

Yang Zhen did not expect this.

What Yang Zhen had said to Chu Xianzhang before was that the sea in Liaodong Bay was frozen and no ship could sail there, so we could only wait until the rainy season or even the Jingzhe arrived before we could cross eastward.

But when Yang Zhen said that, he just wanted to find a reason for himself to reject Emperor Chongzhen's impatient and aggressive demands, and to get rid of the dangerous idea of ​​Emperor Chongzhen indiscriminately directing him to fight in Liaodong in the Forbidden City in the capital as soon as possible.

In fact, he never really thought that he had to wait until the Waking of Insects and the sea ice dissipated before he could lead his troops to move to southern Liaoning.

Ever since he took a small group of troops and left Lushunkou by boat, Yang Zhen had been thinking about the situation in Fuzhou City. He was worried that the Tatar army would not give Yang Zhen time and would go south to Liaonan to drive them away.

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Now, it has been more than a month since Yang Zhen lost contact with those troops who moved to southern Liaoning in advance. What is the situation of those people now? Is Fuzhou City still there? Is Jinzhou City still there? How could Yang Zhen not

Are you anxious or not worried?

It was for this reason that he brought his generals here to inspect the ice conditions in Liaodong Bay today.

For him, if possible, he must rush to the other side of the frozen sea in front of him as soon as possible.
Chapter completed!