Chongzhen returned to the Qianqing Palace for a simple lunch and then went directly to Deshengmen.
The capital of the Ming Dynasty had sixteen city gates, nine in the inner city and seven in the outer city.
Deshengmen is located in the northwest. The army would pass through this city gate when going to war. The name of this gate is homophonic to "victory", which has a self-evident meaning.
Historically, Li Zicheng first attacked Xizhimen when he attacked Beijing.
The Xizhimen defender Wu Lin used earth and rocks to block the city gate tightly. Li Zicheng then attacked other gates and finally entered Beijing from Deshengmen.
Chongzhen walked up the steps to the city wall and looked into the distance.
The sky and earth are boundless and desolate.
The city wall under your feet is four meters high and three meters wide at the top, and can accommodate ten carriages running side by side!
The soldiers guarding the city knelt on the ground and dared not look up.
Chongzhen walked in front, followed by the new governor of the Beijing Camp, Fan Jingwen, and the eunuch Wang Dehua of the East Factory closely on his left and right.
(Chongzhen assigned a military officer and a city guard eunuch to each city gate. On the surface, it seemed that they could supervise each other, but in fact, the military officers disliked the eunuchs, and the eunuchs disliked the military officers, which had the opposite effect.)
"Your Majesty, the wind on the city wall is bitingly cold. Please move to the city gate tower. I have burned some charcoal inside and it will be warm." Wang Dehua said flatteringly.
Chongzhen glanced at him and considered whether to kill him now or later.
According to historical records, when Li Zicheng's army was at the gates of the city, the Minister of War Zhang Jinyan saw that the situation was hopeless, so he took the initiative to open the Zhengyang Gate of the inner city and led all the officials to welcome him in person. He also persuaded Li Zicheng to ascend the throne again in Beijing.
The eunuch Wang Dehua of the Imperial Household Department personally led his subordinates to open the Desheng Gate and kneel down to welcome Li Zicheng into the city.
As an eunuch of the emperor, it would be fine if this guy was not loyal, but what does it mean for him to kneel down and lick Li Zicheng?
Chongzhen stopped and asked expressionlessly, "Where does the charcoal come from?"
Wang Dehua was stunned for a moment, and replied in confusion: "Your Majesty, I got these charcoals from the Ministry of War."
"How much did you get?"
"Two hundred pounds."
"Will two hundred pounds be enough?"
Wang Dehua thought Chongzhen was concerned about him, and said with some emotion: "Your Majesty, that's enough! I only burn more than ten pounds of charcoal every day, which can last for half a month with some left over."
"Heh..." Chongzhen sneered. He reached out and grabbed the collar of a soldier guarding the city nearby, dragged him directly in front of Wang Dehua, and asked coldly, "Does he have any coal to keep warm?"
"No." Wang Dehua said without hesitation.
Not to mention that this man was just an ordinary soldier, even a captain of the seventh rank did not have charcoal to keep warm, and those who could roast a fire had to be at least of the sixth rank.
"Since there is no coal for heating, why do you say enough? Aren't the soldiers of my Ming Dynasty who are guarding the city human beings? As an internal official, you not only do not relieve my worries, but also use my name to exploit the defenders and do extravagant things."
"It's really hateful!"
Wang Dehua was enjoying Chongzhen's care the moment before, but he was unexpectedly convicted the next moment.
He felt like the sky was falling.
Seeing that the emperor was angry, Wang Dehua immediately knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I did not intend to enjoy the charcoal alone. The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue were short of money and grain, so they could not supply charcoal."
"According to the court's rules, it is in accordance with the rules for me to warm myself by the fire in the house."
Wang Dehua thought Chongzhen was deliberately angry and cooperated with him to win people's hearts. In this way, he did not make any mistakes, and the emperor also won people's hearts by caring about the defenders.
Chongzhen smiled.
Laugh at Wang Dehua's stubbornness, laugh at him for still being stubborn even when his death is imminent.
"You are the eunuch guarding Deshengmen. I want to ask you how many soldiers are there at Deshengmen? How many crossbowmen are there? How many firearms are there? Where are the rolling logs, rocks, gunpowder and bullets stored?"
"Also, how many cannons are there on the city wall? How many muskets are there? How far can the cannons reach? Are their locations marked?"
A series of questions came out of Chongzhen's mouth, not only Wang Dehua was confused, but even Fan Jingwen and the soldiers responsible for defending the city were stunned.
They never thought that Emperor Chongzhen would say such detailed and professional words.
Artillery is a relatively professional branch of the military. The muzzle angle, charge, and projectile weight will all affect the artillery range.
Before defending the city, the artillery needs to test the maximum range and then mark it on the ground so that they can immediately open fire once the enemy enters the range.
Wang Dehua didn't understand any of this. He looked at Fan Jingwen hesitantly, and then wanted to ask the soldiers guarding the city behind him.
Chongzhen didn't give him a chance at all. He sneered and said, "Come on, throw Wang Dehua off the city wall."
"Your Majesty...I was wrong!" Wang Dehua finally realized the emperor's intention. He knelt on the ground, with his upper body lying on the cold soil of the city wall, begging for mercy.
"Your Majesty, please spare my life!"
"I know my crime, Your Majesty. Please forgive me this time..."
Chongzhen shook his head: "If I forgive you, others will continue to imitate you. Anyway, the crime is not punishable by death, don't you think?"
Wang Dehua’s face was as pale as paper, and he knelt on the ground with a dazed look on his face.
"Come here, throw Wang Dehua off the tower and make an example of him!"
The soldiers guarding the city had long been fed up with Wang Dehua's pointing and criticizing. A captain took action himself and, together with three others, grabbed Wang Dehua's limbs, and the four of them simultaneously threw Wang Dehua off the city wall.
"ah...!"
With a bang, the screams stopped abruptly.
Wang Dehua fell from the city wall which was more than ten meters high and turned into a pool of blood.
The soldiers on the city wall were all moved. They secretly looked at Chongzhen, their eyes full of loyalty.
Fan Jingwen followed behind him without saying a word the whole time. At this moment, he was filled with shock and admiration.
The emperor before him exchanged the life of a eunuch for the loyalty of all the guards at the city gate.
Moreover, he seemed to know everything, from national affairs to soldiers guarding the city.
Is this still the emperor I know?
Chongzhen looked at the blood under the city wall and ordered: "Wang Guoxing."
"I am here."
Wang Guoxing was originally the deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. After Li Ruolian took over as the commander-in-chief, his vacancy was filled. The vacancy of the other deputy commander-in-chief remained vacant (the Embroidered Uniform Guard had one commander-in-chief, two deputy commanders, and two deputy commanders).
"Notify all eunuchs guarding the city to return to the palace immediately. All matters concerning the defense of the city will be handed over to the Governor of the Beijing Camp. I will not send eunuchs to supervise the army anymore."
"As you wish."
Fan Jingwen immediately knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, this is inappropriate! The defense of the city is of great importance, and it is best to have the inner court supervise it."
"No need. I don't use people I doubt, and I don't doubt people I use. The guards of each city gate should prepare earth and rocks in advance, and use them to block the city gates when the bandits approach the city."
In the following half day, Chongzhen watched the range tests of artillery, Portuguese cannon, bird guns, and crossbows.
It would have been fine if he hadn't tested it, but after testing Chongzhen discovered the problem.
The firearms fire too slowly!
Take the fire gun as an example. When firing for the first time, you first load gunpowder from the muzzle, and the amount of gunpowder you load is entirely based on your feeling. After loading, use a long pole to compact the gunpowder, then put the lead bullet wrapped in paper into the muzzle, compact it again, and finally ignite and fire.
There is an additional step when firing the second time, which requires using an iron brush to clean the gunpowder residue inside the musket.
The musket must be cooled down after firing a few times, otherwise the gunpowder loaded into it will spontaneously ignite.
"Minister Fan, you happen to be in charge of the Ministry of Works. I have a plan that can greatly increase the firing speed of firearms. It's called paper shell gunpowder."
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