Chapter 344: Minister of Rites (II)
In Shengjing, Lao Ba looked at the mirror hanging in the bathroom for a few times. Because Huo Chong did not have the courage to forcibly apply the age classification standards of the 21st century to this era, the Lao Ba in the mirror, who was in his early 50s, was already an old man.
His eyebrows and beard were all white. Even the hair on the back of his head was mostly white. Looking at himself like this, Lao Ba suddenly felt extremely disappointed. He was old, really old.
Thirty years have passed since he thought he could compete with his second brother, the crown prince, for the throne. During these thirty years, he experienced various setbacks and even nearly died in the cage that Yongzheng imprisoned him in. However, he survived thanks to the manipulation of the situation by the eighth brother.
Now his father Emperor Kangxi and his brother Emperor Yongzheng, who had attacked him, have passed away. However, the eighth prince still failed to seize the throne. The throne of Shengjing now fell into the hands of Hongxi, the son of the second eldest prince.
Seeing that he was already past the age of knowing his destiny, Lao Ba felt even more confused. He had been running around all his life, his father and son had almost broken off the relationship, his brothers had become enemies, and he had lost the life of his beloved woman. But what was the purpose of his life?
With a sigh, Lao Ba turned away from the mirror, walking in the opposite direction of his own back.
August in Shengjing was already cold, and everyone in the Golden Palace wore thick clothes. The Prime Minister, Prince Lian, and other ministers lined up before Emperor Hongxi, and Prince Lian reported the latest situation. The battle of Jiangning was over, and no further fighting broke out between the Xi'an court and the Huaxia court, at least no new fighting had been heard of in the past month.
The Xi'an court was being harassed by the Dzungars. According to intelligence, Hong Zhou had decided to mobilize all his elite troops to attack the Dzungars first. At this moment, the Shengjing court had only one direction to move its troops, which was to go south.
Hongxi had no enthusiasm for the southward march, and after Prince Lian finished his report, he asked, "Prince Lian, why don't we temporarily stop fighting and wait for the two sides outside the pass to continue fighting?"
Prince Lian advised, "Your Majesty, although we occupy the area north of the Yellow River, we are the weakest among the three. If we compare with the Three Kingdoms, we are Shu Han. Back then, Zhuge Kongming went to Qishan six times, and Jiang Wei went to the Central Plains nine times. They were all for the purpose of maintaining the situation."
The Manchus were very interested in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It was said that when they were outside the Great Wall, they relied on reading the Romance of the Three Kingdoms to increase their understanding of the world situation. So when Prince Lian said this, a local prince immediately felt that this analogy was really discouraging.
"Prince Lian, if we are Shu Han, then who is Cao Wei? Of course, it is the traitors in Xi'an! If we do not fight against the traitors, but fight Huo Chong instead, won't Xi'an be a laughing stock?"
Prince Lian immediately retorted: "If we are talking about Cao Wei, Huo Chong is the Cao thief! In terms of military strength, Xi'an is not as strong as Huo Chong. Although Xi'an seems to have a large territory, it is actually only dominant in the northwest. Huguang and other places are inconvenient to communicate with the northwest. At this time, Huo Chong has already controlled the Central Plains, and Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are connected together, and there is a canal connecting them. This is our biggest concern."
"No! Although Huo Chong looks vicious, he has been rebelling for less than ten years, and people are in turmoil. What good will it do if we fight Huo Chong? If we can destroy the traitors in Xi'an, we will unify the world, and then all the troops will march forward, and Huo Chong will not be able to jump for long. Why do we have to take advantage of the situation now and become a pawn for Xi'an?"
…
There was endless debate here, and everyone had their own opinions on who to fight against. Hongxi felt embarrassed. If possible, he didn't want to fight. Originally in the capital, he didn't get to see the vast world. After arriving in Shengjing, Hongxi finally had the opportunity to come into contact with the world.
Compared with the capital, the area outside the Great Wall was just a wilderness. Although a large number of brave men from outside the Great Wall could be summoned every time a battle was fought, the area outside the Great Wall was too desolate. Often, you would walk dozens of miles without seeing a few people. It was simply not comparable to the capital.
At least in Hongxi's opinion, it is time to recuperate and make the areas outside the Great Wall stronger and more prosperous.
The dispute ended in nothing, but Hongxi could see that the princes outside the Great Wall did not want to go to the trouble of fighting. What the princes wanted was to let Huo Chong and Hongxi's cousin Hongzhou fight to the death. If Hongzhou was defeated, the Shengjing court could take over Hongzhou's power.
The dispute continued for the next few days, but there was still no result. It was only known that Hong Zhou had mobilized his troops and was preparing to go west to fight a decisive battle with the Dzungars.
On the first day of September in the third year of Qianlong's reign, 60,000 elite troops from the Xi'an court left the capital and began to march north. Although the time of the expedition seemed a bit late, the Junggars had already begun to attack the Mongolian tribe north of Xi'an, and it was now necessary to fight the Junggars.
September in the lunar calendar is October in the solar calendar. In the past, some places in the north had already seen the first snow. The Shengjing court began to prepare for winter. All the tribes outside the Great Wall sent people to transport food and winter supplies to Shengjing. Whether to suddenly cross the Yellow River in winter was still the focus of debate in the Shengjing court.
Lao Ba was still very persistent and insisted on crossing the Yellow River to attack Huo Chong. I thought the other prince would find a way to refute it, but after such a long time of refutation, he suddenly proposed that there was a famous shaman outside. Why not ask the shaman to make a prediction about crossing the Yellow River?
After all, he had lived in the capital for so long that Lao Ba didn't believe such things at all. However, seeing the princes of Shengjing nodding their heads and saying that the shaman was very effective, Lao Ba had no choice but to agree.
After all, this is Shengjing, not the capital. Han officials in the capital all know how to laugh at "not asking the people's opinions but asking ghosts and gods", but there are not many Han officials in the Shengjing court, and all official positions are basically controlled by Manchus. For the Manchus, shamans are very sacred beings, at least they cannot be ignored.
Hongxi did not object. Soon, the tattered shaman and her assistant arrived on the golden palace. As the assistant sat down and began to beat the drum, the shaman, who was dressed in tattered clothes and tied with many copper bells, began to twist on the golden palace.
Kangxi had no interest in this, and under Kangxi's education , the Eighth Brother had no interest in this either. However, since Changshengtian was a religious belief of the Manchus, the Eighth Brother also had some understanding of it.
The shaman dance requires two people to perform it together, one is the first god (some say the big god), and the other is the second god. They believe that the first god is the object of the soul's possession, and the second god is the assistant. During the shaman dance, the first god is mostly "spinning" while the second god plays the drum. There are fixed tunes and words to invite the gods. After the gods are invited, the second gods are responsible for "communicating" with the gods (spirits) and answering people's questions. Sometimes the "invited" are so-called immortals, and sometimes they are the "souls" of the dead.
Although he did not agree with the shaman dance, with the sound of drums and the strange sounds of strings of copper bells, Lao Ba was gradually attracted by this seemingly crazy, yet indescribably attractive shaman dance.
Since he was invited to the Golden Temple to perform the shaman dance, he must be a little different. After all, the princes outside the Great Wall were not fools. After this crazy but not crazy dance and a series of humming, the shaman suddenly sat cross-legged, raised his left hand high, and shook it vigorously.
Amid the rapid ringing of the bell, the shaman began to ask questions to the invisible thing in the air. The questions and answers mixed with the local accent continued, and then the shaman suddenly stood up and shouted in a sharp voice: "The Yellow River freezes every year, why doesn't the Yellow River freeze?"
Then, the shaman's voice suddenly became low and ethereal, "The world has changed drastically. The Yellow River will not freeze this year, and it will not freeze in the future."
Hearing this, Lao Ba was furious. He had originally thought that the princes of Shengjing were doing this on purpose, and now he believed that the princes of Shengjing had colluded with the shaman to cause trouble here.
The Yellow River is not a gentle river, and the water volume is not as large as the Yangtze River. This makes it very difficult to cross the Yellow River. If you use a small boat, the waves will be big. If you use a large boat, the draft will be shallow.
If it doesn't freeze, it's hard to send a large number of people across the river. Since the shaman said the Yellow River doesn't freeze when he prayed to the gods, it would be difficult . Even if they didn't drown, they would freeze to death.
However, since the shaman was invited by the princes, Lao Ba could not directly order him to be expelled. The shaman had obviously completed the many processes of inviting the gods and had solved the most important problem. The shaman suddenly prostrated himself on the ground and shouted, "Farewell, great immortal."
The shaman-dancing ceremony ended here.
In Linzi, which is farther away, Huo Chong's team has left this ancient city with a long history and officially embarked on the road of moving the capital to Xuzhou.
As the person in charge of this march, Qian Qing put in a lot of effort. Looking at Huo Chong riding his horse and moving forward, Qian Qing couldn't help but spur his horse forward and ride side by side with Huo Chong.
"Sir, do you think the Yellow River will never freeze?"
"The Arctic's high-pressure cyclone will break apart and trigger an extremely cold weather..."
Qian Qing interrupted quickly, "Sir, don't tell me I don't understand this. Do you really think the Yellow River won't freeze?"
Huo Chong found that people of this era had little interest in such interesting natural sciences, including his beloved apprentice. This made Huo Chong very disappointed. It seemed that not many people took learning as fun.
You know, in the 21st Century B station, as long as there is some real material, the click rate of natural science popularization UP is not low. Huo Chong would listen to it for a while when he was washing dishes, going to the toilet, or taking the subway.
Listening to the changes in the earth's climate is not only exciting, but also gives you a sense of the great changes that have taken place over the centuries.
However, this little hobby of his was ruthlessly despised by his apprentice.
However, what Qian Qing was worried about was indeed something important, so Huo Chong could only answer decisively: "It won't freeze. Even if it does, it won't freeze in the section we control."
"Why?" Qian Qing asked.
Huo Chong knew that if he continued to talk about the Earth's Arctic cyclone or the global ocean currents, he would be despised again. He could only find a point of knowledge that Qian Qing had mastered, "The specific heat capacity of water vapor is greater than that of air. You have measured it."
"Yes." Qian Qing answered decisively.
"Not to mention things like the Earth's atmospheric circulation, when the Yellow River returns to the north, it evaporates a lot of water vapor into the air. Just to cool this water vapor down to freezing, it needs to absorb a lot of heat. This heat is huge and can be resisted for a while. However, after this period of time, it will be spring."
Huo Chong thought Qian Qing might not understand immediately after he finished speaking. Unexpectedly, Qian Qing nodded immediately, "Sir, you are right. No wonder I feel that the weather is getting more and more humid."
...This knowledge needs to be felt by others. Huo Chong sighed in his heart.
As they walked and talked, Qian Qing told Huo Chong about the troubles in the military academy training. Huo Chong listened for a while and sighed, "In that case, let's continue the training."
Qian Qing was stunned, "Ah? Then what should we do in front of the army?"
Before Huo Chong could say anything, Qian Qing suddenly realized, "Sir, you are right, then continue the training, continue the training. Then I will teach them swordsmanship myself, and never let them think that they cannot defeat the Qing army."
Huo Chong nodded in satisfaction, "Yes. I think I was too partial to you back then. But after all, you practiced martial arts for so many years before you met me. I'll teach you the broadsword technique, and you'll be able to learn it. Those people have been running around since they joined us, so they don't have the time to learn close combat properly."
"Sir, you only know how to laugh at me." Qian Qing complained.
The master and the disciple talked as they walked, and they were very happy under the clear autumn sky, and they also decided many things.
The military academies of the Chinese court were divided into three categories: the NCO academy for training squad and platoon officers, the military academy for training battalion and company officers, and the military academy for training regimental officers, which was the latest and was located in Xuzhou at this time.
After Huo Chong arrived, he took office as the commander of the Huaxia Army. Without saying anything else, he started with basic physical training. Just seeing the physique of these senior soldiers, Huo Chong was immediately unhappy.
Qian Qing is the deputy commander-in-chief and the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces. She is a woman who has a hard time building muscles, but she has a very good figure and strong muscles.
The guys in their 30s and 40s in front of me are obviously fat. The so-called general belly refers to the accumulation of a lot of fat in the abdomen. Are these people generals? Most of them are not. Their bellies are comparable to each other.
Huo Chong is almost fifty years old, and because of hard work and physical exercise, he is better than these guys. Looking at the results caused by the improvement of living standards, Huo Chong feels that these guys really need to study hard in the military academy. This study time must be maintained.
Since he often went to the military academy, he didn't have enough time to go to other places. Gao Pang found that it took a long time for his official documents to come back.
However, Gao Pang was really anxious. Since the Qing Dynasty's attack on Jiangning was repelled, the changes in Jiangnan became obvious. The local farmers in Jiangning who defected to the Chinese court all stood up.
Whether it was the farmers on the state-owned farms or the former tenants who had obtained the land, they had all been under tremendous pressure. After all, if the Qing Dynasty fought back, they would be treated as thieves. They would lose everything they had obtained, and even their lives would be in danger.
When the Qing attacked Jiangning, these people were organized to enter the city without any harm. Therefore, these people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were very enthusiastic about the court and expressed their desire to serve the court.
Gao Pang felt that the people's hearts could be used and he should be able to do something. Seeing that the replies were getting slower and slower, Gao Pang made up his mind, prepared what he was going to say, and headed straight for the new capital Xuzhou.
There were paddle steamers along the canal, traveling day and night. Gao Pang also discovered that many small lighthouses had been built on both sides of the canal. They were clearly visible even at night. When he asked the boatman, the sailors on the boat were not very enthusiastic, but rather complained.
It turns out that each of these lighthouses is different and has its own unique features. Sailors need to remember so many lighthouses and related navigation points. This is a life-threatening task for sailors. How can they remember all these lighthouses?
However, there are also benefits. Originally, the canal was sailed during the day, and everyone needed to rest at night. With the guidance of the lighthouse, the paddle-wheel-powered ships could sail day and night. It used to take Gao Pang at least seven or eight days to travel from Zhenjiang to Xuzhou, but now it only took four days to reach the destination.
In addition to preparing materials along the way, Gao Pang was also able to take a good look at the scenery and take a break. The originally difficult journey turned into an autumn outing. When Gao Pang got off the boat, he felt refreshed.
Gao Pang also became interested when he learned that Huo Chong was actually in the military academy. He directly applied to go to the military academy. After all, it was the application of the Governor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so the application was approved. Gao Pang was a little surprised when he entered the military academy.
I saw the senior officers were all wearing ordinary military uniforms, running drills on the playground. Although it was autumn, they were all sweating profusely, and their shiny fat faces were bright... a bit radiant.
The guard led Gao Pang to the training ground, where they saw Huo Chong's tall and straight figure practicing with officers on the playground.
Gao Pang envied Qian Qing's skills and asked Qian Qing how to practice martial arts. The governor's request must be met. Gao Pang received very good guidance. At this time, when he saw the posture of the wooden sword in Huo Chong's hand, Gao Pang saw that this was Qian Qing's most proud swordsmanship.
The chubby officer opposite Huo Chong was swinging his wooden sword in despair to block Huo Chong's attack. Both of them used broadsword techniques, but Huo Chong's footwork was very agile and steady.
The starting position for broadsword fighting is always the same. Stand at attention with your feet shoulder-width apart and step forward with either foot. It doesn't matter if it's the left or the right foot, as it depends on the situation.
Gao Pang saw that Huo Chong's front foot pointed forward, and the back foot was rotated 45 degrees outward. This is the so-called T-step. This posture can keep balance in front, back, left and right. The knees should be slightly bent, so that the movement is easier and smoother. Beginners often ignore this point. Keep the upper body upright, the center of gravity falls between the legs, and try to relax the body.
When moving, you don't move forward or backward, but move along the direction of the foot line, and then there should be a turn of the feet.
Although the upper body doesn't look much different, it's actually completely different when moving.
The officer in front of Huo Chong did not grasp this point, and was suppressed by Huo Chong's flexible left and right attacks. In Gao Pang's opinion, if Huo Chong wanted to knock this officer down directly, he would have succeeded long ago.
Moreover, the officer's obesity made it even more difficult for him to move. In front of Huo Chong, he was simply the perfect example of someone ready to be killed.
