Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 434: Lindan Khan's Hunt in the North
"I am glad to hear that Fangshan Gunpowder Laboratory has completely solved the formula problem of smokeless gunpowder through solid, arduous and fruitful work. On behalf of the royal family, millions of soldiers and hundreds of millions of people of the Ming Dynasty, I would like to express my warm congratulations and sincere thanks for your achievements in my personal name! The successful development of smokeless gunpowder will bring about earth-shaking changes in the armaments of the Ming Dynasty and thus bring about a huge military revolution. Such a change is in no way inferior to any social change brought about by the advancement of science and technology since the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors!
For thousands of years, from the Qin Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, the power that could threaten our Han people has long come from the grasslands north of the Great Wall. In the future, it may also come from the sea in the east. The advent of smokeless gunpowder will make the threat from the northern grasslands almost non-existent! Even if there are enemies from the eastern sea in the future, with smokeless gunpowder, we will have a strong resistance and self-defense force!
Thank you for your hard work, all the staff of Fangshan Gunpowder Laboratory! The rewards of a few mundane things cannot make up for your hard work and great sacrifices over the long term. I only hope that these mundane things can better protect your lives, so that you can continue to make more contributions to the Ming Dynasty, the royal family, and me with more enthusiasm and health!
Because of military secrets, your achievements today need to be kept secret and cannot be publicized. Therefore, you cannot be as famous as the soldiers who went on the expedition to America. I feel deeply guilty about this. But I promise you that one day, I will make all the men in the world aim to learn from you!
Once again, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to you. I hope that you will continue to overcome difficulties one after another in your subsequent work while ensuring your own safety.
Emperor of the Ming Empire, Zhu Youdong. March 1, the second year of Tianqi.
On February 28, less than an hour after the smokeless gunpowder was successfully developed, the news reached the palace. Upon receiving the news, the emperor immediately dropped all his work and ran to the stable in the palace.
After all, the emperor had experienced two assassination attempts, so he still had a sense of security. After arriving at the stable, he did not ride his horse and ran away, but waited patiently for the guards to gather: However, the emperor firmly rejected Fang Zhenghua's request to arrange for him to ride in the imperial sedan chair. Instead, he rode his horses with his guards and rushed to Fangshan School.
After confirming that smokeless gunpowder had indeed been successfully developed, Zhu Youdong excitedly gave every staff member in the gunpowder laboratory a modern hug!
Then after returning to the palace, in addition to the extremely generous reward, he also wrote a warm thank-you letter in pure, 21st century vernacular!
It can be said that although the reward of 10,000 silver dollars per person was shocking, what really touched Sun Yuanhua and his researchers in the gunpowder laboratory was this hug and this letter: The emperor treats you as an equal, is there any greater praise in this life than this? For a moment, Sun Yuanhua and others felt that even if they were killed in the future experiments while developing new gunpowder, this life would be completely worth it.
Zhu Youdong, who returned to the palace, certainly had no idea what Sun Yuanhua and others were thinking. If he knew, he would probably be extremely frightened: the literati looked down on soldiers and craftsmen, but as a time traveler, how could he not know these people were much more useful to the country than the literati?
At this time, he was still in an extremely excited state. After fighting with his queen and concubine that night, he was still in high spirits and summoned Xu Guangqi and Wang Xiangqian the next day.
"You two, are you all aware of the successful development of smokeless gunpowder?"
"Yes, we have already known this."
"Okay, I have ordered the Fangshan Gunpowder Laboratory to perfect the formula and hand it over to the Ministry of Industry. The Ministry of Industry will set up a special department for secret production. The Ministry of War will organize personnel to familiarize themselves with the small number of breech-loading rifles and machine guns that were previously produced. As soon as the corresponding bullets are produced, immediately organize personnel for training! This time, I want to use this new weapon to practice with the Mongols!"
"Yes, I will obey your order."
…
Aside from the Beijing Ministry of Industry, which was in its fastest production rhythm at the time, Chahanhot, hundreds of miles away from Beijing, was the capital of the Mongolian Khan Lindan Batur. At this time, there was a tense atmosphere of everyone being ready for battle.
"Great Khan, we have now found out that the southern barbarians are sending out three armies this time, and the total number of troops will be no less than 200,000."
"Humph! That little emperor of the southern barbarians is just like that. He always likes to create some flashy and grand scenes. What a pity. As we Mongolians say, a good horse does not lie in its saddle, and a beautiful woman does not lie in her clothes. What's the point of sending so many soldiers? Can we have enough food? Can we find water sources at any time?"
The officials below buried their heads and quietly rolled their eyes: "The Khan is right, but the southern barbarians are at the forefront of the battle. Should we fight them?"
"Of course we have to take shelter temporarily. We didn't go south this winter but were packing our bags. Isn't that to prepare for this? Alas, it's just that there was only a little snow on the grassland this winter. After the beginning of spring this year, the grass on the pasture..." After saying this, Lin Danhan raised his eyebrows: "How is it in Korchin?"
Although Mongolia still had a Khan at this time, it was actually already divided beyond recognition.
Because of Genghis Khan's great achievements, the Mongols of this era were not confined to the Mongolian grasslands, but were widely distributed in a vast area from the Greater Khingan Range in the east to the Volga River in the west, and even ruled northern India in the southwest.
Of course, the Mongolian rulers of the Mughal Empire had long been enlightened. The Yarkand Khanate, which was born out of the Chagatai Khanate, had little contact with the Mongolian Khan Ligdan Khan. At this time, the Khans who still nominally respected Ligdan Khan were, from east to west, Khorchin (the part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the three northeastern provinces at the same latitude in the 21st century), Chahar (the part of Inner Mongolia just above Hebei Province), Tumed (the part of Inner Mongolia just above Shanxi and Shaanxi), Tatar Tumed (northern Qinghai), Turpan, Khoshut (the Russian territory between Xinjiang and Outer Mongolia in the 21st century) , Khalkha (Outer Mongolia)...
Among so many tribes, the only ones that Ligdan Khan could effectively control were the Chahar and Tumed tribes. As for the Khorchin Mongols, because they were close to each other and the Jurchens had already completely surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, Ligdan Khan had some influence on them, but was far from being able to completely control them.
Since the end of last year, news came from Beijing that the Ming Emperor was preparing to launch a large-scale military campaign against the Mongolian tribes. In addition to asking the Chahar tribe, which faced Jizhen, and the Tumed tribe, which faced Xuanda, to pack up and prepare for the northern expedition, Lin Danhan also asked the Khorchin tribe, which faced Liaozhen, to prepare to move.
But after a winter, when the climate on the grassland gradually warmed up and the communication between the tribes was restored, Lin Danhan's men reported dejectedly: throughout the winter, the Khorchin Mongols did not make any preparations to move. On the contrary, they actively contacted Du Song and others in Liaozhen.
Faced with such a situation, despite being angry, Lin Danhan sent envoys and monks from all sides to persuade Khorchin with great patience. But unfortunately, it was March 1st now, and the latest news came that Khorchin Mongols did not want to follow the Khan to flee to the northern desert.
"Great Khan, it seems that the people of Khorchin are determined to be the internal supporters of the southern barbarians of Ming. It is said that they did not collect cattle and sheep at all, but organized all the cavalry. I think that Khorchin's actions cannot be interpreted as them fighting against the southern barbarians of Liaodong, Ming alone, right?"
"Humph! Being cunning is something that only incompetent people do, while being loyal is the true character of a man. These villains of Khorchin have completely forgotten how Hesar was loyal to Genghis Khan in the past, and have completely forgotten the glory of the Golden Family's bloodline!"
"Then the Khan, us?"
"Ignore them. Go out now and leave the dead cattle and sheep at various water sources. Then all of my Chahar tribe will move north to the Khalkha tribe!"
