Chapter 444 Ripe Fruit

July 12th, this is the day when the King of Han, who had just arrived in Nanjing, brought his court officials to worship the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum.

But the weather suddenly changed yesterday afternoon, and it rained lightly at night. Although the rain stopped at dawn, it was overcast after dawn.

Tens of thousands of Fu Han soldiers guarded the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum within a radius of ten miles. Hundreds of ministers and nobles, as well as envoys sent by Korea, Zheng Zhu, Guangnan and other countries were present. It was already past the last minute of the Si hour, but the clouds had not yet dispersed.

A thin layer of sweat had seeped out of Zhang Qilong, the director of the Imperial Observatory, on his forehead. Although his face did not change much, Chen Ming looked at him coldly, but he felt that he was looking at a pressure cooker. Zhang Qilong's entire chest was like a pressure cooker. Now the pressure was constantly increasing, increasing, and it was about to explode. The auspicious time was calculated by the Imperial Observatory, but seeing that the auspicious time was about to arrive, the sky was still overcast, which was too bad.

King Chen Han, who was determined to revive the Han Dynasty, worshipped the Ming Emperor Gaozu who expelled the Tartars and restored the Han Dynasty four hundred years ago. It should be in the sunny and windy weather, with smooth sailing, thousands of thousands of people, offering sacrifices, offering gifts, and worship. But not in such a cloudy time like now. If there is no miracle, the Imperial Observatory will definitely be finished.

Zhang Qilong's eyes showed despair and hesitation. The Imperial Observatory will definitely suffer the consequences of such a thing, even if he is the uncle of the 57th generation of Tianshi of Longhu Mountain.

The Tianshi Dao of Longhu Mountain only submitted a petition to lick the emperor after the Fu Han Army completely swept Guangdong. However, Chen Han still gave the position of the Imperial Observatory Supervisor to Zhang Qilong. Last year, Zhang Qilong "calculated" that it would rain a lot. Anyway, the Imperial Observatory is a branded product. Chen Hui and Chen Ming, father and son, both stood on the table as tablets and gently uncovered them. But now it seems that Zhang Qilong's official career is really bad. The rainfall in the south this year did not cause any major disasters, but in this "small matter" at the moment, he is about to capsize in the ditch.

Chen Hui was very unhappy, with a gloomy face, which was even darker than the clouds above his head. His teeth were "clicking", and his eyes were pregnant with uncontrollable anger, like an angry lion.

More than a quarter of an hour passed unknowingly, and Chen Er's forehead was full of sweat, looking at Chen Ming pitifully.

"Father, the auspicious time is about to pass..." What should I do?

In fact, Chen Ming also wanted to curse in his heart. What the hell is going on? It's too unlucky to come to worship the Xiaoling Mausoleum on a cloudy day. But if you miss the auspicious time, it seems... even more unlucky.

Chen Hui clenched his fists, "Can't miss the auspicious time." When I go back, I will definitely drive the surname Zhang away.

But no matter how angry he was at the moment, Chen Hui had to straighten his demeanor and head towards the Xian Hall under the guidance of the ceremonial officer. Qin Dacheng had written a sacrificial text with a great literary style of four-four and six-six parallelism. Chen Hui held incense and offered wine, and performed the ceremony of three kneelings and nine kowtows.

Officials, no matter what a group of people think in their hearts, under this overcast sky with dense red clouds, Chen Hui's last and most important "shiver" of offering sacrifice to the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum must proceed as scheduled.

No miracle happened, no "just at this time a ray of sunlight penetrated the clouds and refracted on the Xian Hall, reflecting the magnificent and solemn and sacred Xian Hall. Chen Hui's body was rendered with a halo, like a god, and the morale of Chen Han was greatly boosted". No.

Chen Hui offered sacrifice to the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum under the dark clouds, and Zhang Qilong took the initiative to resign the next day.

Until now, Chen Ming has not made up his mind whether to support Taoism. In the future, the Fu Han army will go out with swords and swords. After taking over a large area of ​​space, it can't be blank in religious beliefs, right?

He also thought about reforming Taoism and letting them create a new set of Taoism. Learn the monotheistic set, and the green one, not only in the afterlife, but also in birth, adulthood, marriage, and even ordinary festivals. But Chen Ming thought again, is Taoism still the original Taoism after doing this?

He is very uncertain now.

So when Zhang Qilong left Nanjing City sadly, Chen Ming did not send anyone to contact him.

With the completion of the worship of Ming Xiaoling, the Yuewang Temple, Yan Yingyuan, Lu Xiangsheng, Zhu Dadian, Lingnan Sanzhong and other shrines, as well as Taiwan's Yanping Wang Temple [Zheng Chenggong is not Yanping Junwang, but Yanping Wang. The king was granted by the Qing Dynasty], Chen Han also burned down the Shi Family Ancestral Hall in Yakou Village, Longhu Town, Jinjiang, and found more than 100 kilograms of iron materials in the ruins to cast a kneeling statue of Shi Lang, which was sent to the Yanping Wang Temple. Chen Han sent people to offer sacrifices every year, and now he sent officials to various places to offer sacrifices. He also sent officials to various places to offer sacrifices to the victims of the Ming History case, the Nanshan Collection case, and the Lu Liuliang case.

After that, he raised the status of Nan Kong in Quzhou and gave him a position as a worship officer. He asked local officials to repair the ancestral temple of Nan Kong and hang a plaque written by Chen Hui himself. Although the words were written very ordinary, it was a face-saving job.

When everything was over, it was already August and the Mid-Autumn Festival was coming.

The news that the First Division had taken Guizhou came at the right time, and the Hanzhong Teaching Division also launched an offensive against Gansu, because Sichuan's offensive against Hanzhong had completely stopped, and a large number of Sichuan troops were transferred to Guizhou, or in Sichuan to suppress the local areas.

Not only did the Sichuan soldiers completely withdraw from Hanzhong, but they were also taken over by the Teaching Division over a dozen counties. It was also because the instructor had been carefully investigating the military situation in Gansu and Shaanxi all summer, and had not set his sights on Sichuan, otherwise Jianmen might have been taken by Chen Qi.

By this time, the whole world had clearly seen the weakness of the Qing Dynasty.

From the end of last year to July and August of this year, Chen Han did not launch any large-scale attacks for more than half a year. But what did the Manchus themselves do during these six months?

In addition to strengthening the defense along the Liaodong coast and greatly benefiting the Northeast Pass, and then continuing to squeeze North Korea, the money and food obtained not only raised bannermen, officials and the army, but also expanded new troops and rushed to build guns and artillery. However, Manchuria The Qing's war situation in the northwest, Shandong, Central Plains, Liaodong, and Korea has not changed significantly, not for a good reason.

The new Eight Banners Army in the hands of Emperor Qianlong has grown to nearly 50,000 people. In addition to the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners, a large number of Han military flags have also been included. However, this army unit with the best equipment and the highest fighting spirit in the hands of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was used more by Qianlong to defend Liaodong and Beijing and Tianjin, rather than going out to fight. Only a small part of them were put by Qianlong to practice on the battlefield in the Central Plains, and some were transferred to Shandong by him. In the northwest, where the situation was in turmoil, neither Lulu nor the local Han armed forces had rebelled yet. Qianlong hoped to see them restraining each other, so that they would not pose a big threat to the Manchus. Instead of strong suppression, establish the prestige of the central government.

Qianlong knew very well that the great showdown between Manchu and Han was not far away. Chen Han will not leave too much time for Da Qingguo. Overthrowing Beijing in one go is Chen Han's best choice. Therefore, before this war came, he tried his best to hold the elite warriors in his hands instead of scattering them to the northwest. But in the eyes of the courtiers and gentry, this approach was too demoralizing.

When the time entered August, the floods in the south were eliminated. The weather in the south this year was smooth. Although the stick sticks were busy, they only caused some damage to the skin. Instead, they exposed a lot of marks themselves.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty's Niangan Department first took advantage of "people's hearts" to make trouble in the areas ruled by Chen and Han. This was because the gentry and landlords in many places still expected the "court" to come back, so the Niangan Department developed extremely quickly. But now the Manchus and the Qing Dynasty should not talk about fighting back again. If they can keep half of the country in the north, everything will be fine. I don't know how many gentry and landowners who were stuck in the sticks regretted it, but it was too late.

If the Manchus and Qing Dynasties could cheer up and fight against the Fuhan Army for a few battles, it would also give confidence to the gentry and landlords who had boarded the pirate ship but could not get off, but the Manchus and Qing Dynasties did not. Not only did they fail to cheer up on the battlefield, this year the Manchus were also preparing to make a bigger deal than last year when the rainy season floods came. Many local gentry and squires reported the matter to the Chen Han government. Whether they discovered it out of conscience or felt that the matter was important, they took the opportunity to report and surrender. It was a great contribution and atonement.

Anyway, from the end of May to mid-June, the Manchurian Sticky Branch failed to make a few troubles, but instead exposed a lot of manpower. Chen Han followed the clues and arrested many people.

Of course, a tense atmosphere is also rising in the Huanghuai land.

"Who knows if there will be floods next year? The Yangtze River is no more peaceful than the Yellow River."

In front of a large map, Chen Ming stood next to his father, with the pointer in his hand pointing to Northern Jiangsu and Shandong. Natural disasters and man-made disasters. The absence of man-made disasters does not mean that there will be no natural disasters. "It would be a pity not to take advantage of the good time of this year to go north to fight."

"Only start the war in northern Jiangsu, Shandong, and the northwest?" Chen Hui remembered that when Zheng Chenggong went on his Northern Expedition more than a hundred years ago, he went all the way from the coast of Fujian to the north and entered Nanjing. He could have been careless when he was about to succeed, but he failed.

"It's not farther from the Yangtze River to Beijing than from Fujian to Nanjing." Chen Hui muttered in his heart.

Chen Ming's point of attack was in Shandong, and then moved to Beijing and Tianjin. "To defeat Beijing, of course, we must go by sea. The land route is too variable." The vast North China Plain is a good battlefield for cavalry to gallop. Starting from Henan, fighting across the Yellow River, When we attack Beijing again, we must not only capture Luoyang and block the threats from the northwest, but also prevent the Taihang Eight Paths along the way. Coupled with this supply line stretching one or two thousand miles back and forth, it was simply a 'big meal' for the Manchu cavalry.

"Let's take Shandong first, and then take Beijing next year. Shandong is home to the four groups of Qingshui Sect and Hunyuan Sect. Even though they have been trapped in the mountains for the past two years, their strength is no longer what it was at the beginning. Logically speaking, they still have 40,000 to 50,000 fighting troops. After our army landed in Jiaozhou, it responded to the enemy and swept Shandong with ease. "Even the garrison of Shandong was ready.

Although Liu Song and Fan Mingde of the Hunyuan Sect were a little arrogant and calculating in the early days, in the past two years they have been tightly surrounded by the Qing army and regiment training in Shandong in the mountains of southwestern Shandong, and no matter how ambitious they were, they would soon be defeated by the wind. The rain has stopped.

As long as they meet up with them, the Fuhan Army will be able to take command of them, with 40,000 to 50,000 combatable troops, and then with a little reorganization, at least Shandong's garrison will be there.

The current situation is different from the late Qing Dynasty and the late Qing Dynasty. There is no external threat. The Manchu-Han conflict occupies the main body of conflicts in the world. The Manchu and Qing Dynasties entered the customs and lost Beijing. What capital can they have to continue to command the world and continue to use orthodox Zhengshuo? Self-proclaimed?

Or Qianlong could not leave Beijing alive at all.

Although the secret camp has kept a low profile in Beijing for the past two years, it has always penetrated into the Manchu officialdom. According to my heart, the current Emperor Qianlong's health is not as good as before. Although his face is rosy, his healthy complexion is not as good as before. His old demeanor and skinny body are out of proportion, most likely just for show. Even in the Old Summer Palace, he had to take a chariot when he went to see the Holy Mother and the Queen Mother.

Jiuzhou Qingyan and Changchun Immortal Hall are very, very close.

The withered bones of Qianlong in the tomb might have killed him directly after being hit hard.

"The Grand Commandery has enough money and food to support the northwest, and then we can start fighting in Shandong."

"We don't need too many troops for this battle. Just two brigades each from the 1st and 2nd Garrison Divisions, plus the Guards Brigade and accompanying artillery."

"For the large and small ships for transportation, the Grand Commandery has gathered more than 500 ships in Shanghai, Ningbo, and Zhoushan. In addition, we have contacted foreigners to find eight large sailing ships to stay in China for the New Year." The transportation capacity is sufficient.

"Is the escort navy enough?" Chen Hui is also very familiar with the situation of the navy and the army, but before receiving the detailed plan from the Grand Commandery, he didn't know some details.

"Didn't we buy a batch of Western-style sailing ships from foreigners? Now these ships are all in place, and the navy seeds that followed the Swedes to Europe have all returned."

"With the Wusong Navy as the main combat force, plus this group of novices, it is enough for escort."

Five army brigades and artillery units do not need to be transported to Shandong at once. Chen Ming does not need 30,000 people to kill together to capture a small Jiaozhou. Besides, in addition to Jiaozhou, the land that Chen Ming had planned to settle, the Fu Han Army also had two other places to settle in Shandong, Yantai and Miaodao Islands. There would not be a main force there, but there would be a small army landing. If the troops there fought well, there would be a team landing in Laizhou Bay in the next step.

This was the offensive plan brewed by the Grand Commandery. If the time was right, it should have been carried out in July. But I didn't expect the relocation of the capital to be delayed a bit, from July to August.

"The operational plan has been drawn up by the General Staff and is being revised. It will be delivered the day after tomorrow. If possible, I will lead the troops to the north in the early second half of the month!" The entire operational plan did not use many troops, and the Fu Han Army had already prepared a large-scale landing operation when it went to Lingnan.

In addition to the secret camp in Shandong and the four routes of troops, Shandong was completely ripe this time and could be reached easily.