The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 218: Southern Song Mutiny
In late February of the third year of Jianyan, in order to seek forgiveness from the Jin people, Zhao Gou issued an edict to recruit Zhang Bangchang's relatives, and sent people to the Jin camp with the documents of peace agreement between Zhang Bangchang and the Jin people, to beg for peace from the Jin people again. He also exiled Wang and Huang, appointed Zhu Shengfei as the right prime minister, promoted Wang Yuan to the position of signing the Privy Council, and still served as the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Camp, to reward him for his escort work.

Who is this Wang Yuan?
A famous general who fled in favor of peace at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty!

Although he was not very good at fighting, he was a first-class escapee. The last time the Jin army attacked Zhao Gou from 2000 miles away, and Zhao Gou was able to escape successfully. Wang Yuan played a great role in this. After all, he was a professional in escaping, and protecting the emperor during his escape was his specialty.

On the fifth day of March in the third year of Jianyan (1129), military officers Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan were dissatisfied with Wang Yuan and the eunuch Kang Lu. They used the excuse that Wang Yuan was colluding with the eunuchs to rebel. When Wang Yuan retired from the court, they ambushed and killed him. Then they led their troops to the north gate of the palace and killed more than a hundred beardless people. Zhao Gou was shocked when he heard about the change. Accompanied by Zhu Shengfei and others, he went up to the city wall to meet with the mutinous generals.

Miao Fu sternly rebuked Zhao Gou for his trust in eunuchs, unfair rewards and punishments, and his failure to punish Huang Qianshan and Wang Boyan, who had harmed the country. He also accused Wang Yuan of failing to fight and instead receiving a promotion thanks to eunuchs. He also demanded the execution of eunuchs Kang Lu, Lan Gui, and Zeng Ze as a token of gratitude to the armies, the transfer of the throne to the crown prince, and the request for Empress Dowager Longyou to rule the country from behind the scenes. Zhao Gou was forced to hand over Kang Lu and the others, and after consulting with Empress Dowager Longyou, he abdicated to avoid criticism. Zhao Gou then retired to Xianzhong Temple and received the title "Rensheng Renxiao Emperor." The three-year-old prince, Zhao Bing, was then enthroned, and Empress Dowager Longyou ruled from behind the scenes, changing the reign to Mingshou.

Next, we omit the 100 million words of Zhao Gou's dealings with the rebels, and how he finally regained the throne.

On the third day of the fourth lunar month, Han Shizhong's army returned to support the emperor and defeated the mutinous forces at Linping. Seeing the situation hopeless, Miao and Liu fled Hangzhou that evening with 2,000 soldiers. Lü Yihao led the troops back into the city. Zhao Gou, weeping, held Han Shizhong's hand and instructed him to eliminate the rebels. Han Shizhong then dispatched troops to pursue the fleeing Miao and Liu forces. Afterwards, according to merit, Lü Yihao was promoted to Right Prime Minister and concurrently Commander of the Imperial Camp; Liu Guangshi was promoted to Grand Marshal and Deputy Commander of the Imperial Camp; Han Shizhong was promoted to Jiedushi of Wusheng Army and Commander-in-Chief of the Left Army of the Imperial Camp; and Zhang Jun was promoted to Jiedushi of Zhenxi Army and Commander-in-Chief of the Right Army of the Imperial Camp.

Such an incident was not a good thing for the small Southern Song Dynasty court!

From then on, Zhao Gou became even more distrustful of his military commanders...

It is hard to say that the various weird actions this guy took against the generals later had nothing to do with this incident.
-
The third year of Jianyan, the end of April.

"Please look, this is our new heavy musket."

Caspar Korner handed a heavy musket to the translator and asked him to pass it on to Yue Wenxuan and Gong Erniang.

The translator casually reached out to take it, feeling his hands sink and nearly falling to the ground. He hadn't prepared for the 20-pound weight and hadn't thought about it. That was the outcome of taking it so carelessly.

Fortunately, I managed to keep my composure at the last moment and avoid embarrassment.

He held it in both hands and handed it to Madam Gong Er.

Madam Gong Er was only 18 years old, still a girl, but her hands were much stronger than the plastic translator's. She easily took the musket without a trace of embarrassment. She turned it over and over in her hands for a while, then sighed, "It's really heavy! It's fine to hold it like this normally, but when it comes to firing, I really can't hold it steady without a bracket."

She passed the musket to Wu Jialiang who was standing beside her. Wu Jialiang passed it to Guan Sheng and then to Zhang Yong...

Everyone was amazed at how heavy this musket was! Too heavy!
At this moment, Zhang Yong handed the musket to Zhang Dashu again.

Zhang Dashu took it and weighed it, and was delighted: "Wow, this stick fits my hand well."

Everyone: "?"

Zhang Dashu easily lifted the heavy musket with his left hand, his right hand lightly pressing the trigger. He glanced at the distance and said happily, "I like this thing. It's sturdy and convenient! The bird guns I used to have were too light. I always felt that they were a bit fluttery in my hand and difficult to aim. This one is just right."

Everyone: "..."

Zhang Dashu continued to complain, "After firing my bird gun, General Qi Tian would tell me to switch to a long sword when the enemy got close. But the handle of that long sword is made of wood, so it's flimsy and useless. I don't think I'll need to switch to a long sword anymore. I'll just use this heavy musket to hit people. It weighs twenty pounds now, and I can use it to hit the enemy's head. I guarantee it'll blow them apart."

When Yue Wenxuan first heard this, he thought he was joking, but after thinking about it carefully, he thought, "Don't say it, you really shouldn't say it."

This heavy musket is now two meters long, weighs twenty kilograms, and is made of iron. It is more useful than the steel pipes used by gangsters in later generations to hit people on the head.

This thing would be useless in the hands of an ordinary person, and would tire them out after a few swings. But in the hands of someone like Zhang Dashu, it could become a deadly weapon. Yue Wenxuan said, "I think we can build a bracket on the barrel of the gun, and then attach a three-foot-long narrow blade! From a distance, you can fire at the enemy, and up close, you can attach the blade, and it will become a ten-foot-long sword, capable of stabbing, slashing, and even as a blunt weapon. How about that?"

Zhang Dashu was delighted: "That's good, that's good."

He thinks it's good, but others don't think it's so good.

The heavy musket itself weighs twenty pounds, and with a three-foot-long blade, it becomes even heavier, and ordinary people cannot swing it at all.

"This guy is a monster, his weapons need to be specially made!"

Everyone surrounded Zhang Dashu and came to the shooting range for a test shooting.

Li Tiezhu and others had already prepared thick iron plates on the shooting range, which were about the same thickness as the Jin army's iron pagodas, and placed them at a distance of about ten feet. They were worried that the muskets would not be accurate, so they placed a large piece of iron plate, which was at least five times larger than the impact area of ​​ordinary people.

"Hey, Dashu! You have to hit it!" Li Tiezhu shouted from a distance, "Don't waste gunpowder."

Zhang Dashu: "Don't worry, I've been practicing very hard recently."

Li Tiezhu: "I heard you prefer brute force training."

Zhang Dashu's face darkened: "I don't practice brute force anymore."

It turned out that Zhang Dashu used to like to practice brute force when he was in the rebel army, and all his daily training was aimed at strengthening his body. However, after Zhang Dashu fought with Bali Yuanshan, he changed his temperament.

During that fight, the strength that Zhang Dashu was proud of was easily suppressed by Bali Yuanshan, and his martial arts skills were far inferior to his.

He sadly discovered that even if he practiced for his whole life, he would never be able to defeat Bali Yuanshan.

So, Zhang Dashu transformed from a muscle fanatic to a crazy practitioner of musketry.

Now he is quite confident in his marksmanship.

In front of a group of leaders, Zhang Dashu skillfully loaded the ammunition and took aim at the target...

"boom!"

The sound of the heavy musket firing was so loud that it made people's ears buzz.

The iron plate was pierced by the bullet!

Everyone cheered in unison.

“Mass production!”

(End of this chapter)