I was living at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and I dealt a brutal blow to the Eight Banners!

Outside the palace gate,

Zhang Jingchuan waited quietly.

He wasn't waiting for the people in the palace to come to their senses and open the gates to surrender.

Because this is the early Qing Dynasty, not the late Qing Dynasty.

Whether it was Huang Taiji or the Qing civil and military officials in the court, they all fought their way up from the battlefield, and backbone was the most indispensable thing for them.

Zhang Jingchuan was not naive enough to think that raising a bandit to enhance his own importance would bring Huang Taiji's compromise.

They would rather fall on the way to break out than kneel on the ground.

There were actually two reasons for sending a message inside.

One reason is to create conflict among the people inside, thus buying time for Zhang Jingchuan's backup plan;

Another option is to provoke Huang Taiji, ideally to have him lead his troops out to fight his way out and resolve the issue once and for all.

As for the matter of raising bandits to enhance his own power, he might have considered it half a year ago, but now he has been enfeoffed as a marquis and given a fief.

Once they possessed a powerful army and were self-sufficient, they no longer needed to be beholden to the imperial court.

right now,

It should be the imperial court that needs to be mindful of his mood!

Not long after,

A firecracker shot into the sky from the right side of the main street, bursting into brilliant sparks in the night sky.

Zhang Jingchuan smiled slightly; his backup plan had arrived.

This was a signal that the Embroidered Uniform Guard had succeeded.

After a while,

Several strong men dressed in cloth walked over, leading two slow horses, with a wheeled cannon on the back of each horse.

One of the men had his face covered, and Zhang Jingchuan knew at a glance that this man was Tong Puhan.

This cannon was also secretly brought into Shengjing by Tong Puhan and had been hidden in a courtyard facing the street.

When a loud noise came from the south gate, the Imperial Guards who had been lying in wait in Shengjing City began to assemble in that courtyard to await orders.

When Zhang Jingchuan arrived at the palace gate with his personal guard cavalry, the Imperial Guards began to drag out the Hongyi cannons.

to this end,

They even sawed the threshold flat.

The moment the Hongyi cannons appeared outside the palace gates, the faces of the Imperial Guards on the palace walls changed.

Zhang Jingchuan grinned and started taking out a cigar.

But his pockets were empty, and then he remembered that he had given his last cigar to Old Li in Fengjibao.

Just as Zhang Jingchuan sighed in disappointment, Tong Puhan jogged over and handed him a cigar and a tinderbox: "My lord, we've prepared everything for you!"

Zhang Jingchuan chuckled:

"Shopkeeper Tong is so thoughtful!"

merchant,

Especially for businessmen who have reached the level of being imperial merchants of a country, they have an extremely keen sense of political trends and risk control.

It's not that the Qing Dynasty was finished. After all, Huang Taiji was still alive, the Qing princes and key figures were still alive, and the main force of the Qing army was still alive.

The fall of a nation has absolutely nothing to do with the Qing people.

Tong Puhan's private assistance to Zhang Jingchuan was entirely out of business interests.

Whether it was the Qing court, the Ming court, or even the Goryeo court, they all regarded Zhang Jingchuan as a powerful regional official with a large army or a powerful vassal with military merits.

But only Tong Puhan defined Zhang Jingchuan as a tycoon whose wealth rivaled that of a nation.

Everyone else thought Zhang Jingchuan had to go into business to support his army, but Tong Puhan thought Zhang Jingchuan was raising an army because he wanted to do business.

Everyone's perspective is different depending on their position.

For Tong Puhan, business is business.

The existence of the Golden State Chamber of Commerce dealt a severe blow to Tong Puhan's business.

Putting aside interests, their living space was limited to the territory actually controlled by the Qing army.

But real fertilizer,

Business with the Ming Dynasty and business with Goryeo were almost entirely monopolized by Zhang Jingchuan's Jinzhou Chamber of Commerce, leaving only a small portion of Qing and Mongolian lands with little profit to be made!

Not only that,

All valuable and sought-after goods included: silk, jade, antiques, and porcelain from the Ming Dynasty; cattle and horses from Korea; samurai swords, fans, and screens from Japan; and Western items.

They are all controlled by the Golden State Chamber of Commerce.

If you want to get the goods, you have to be mindful of the Jinzhou Chamber of Commerce, which is Zhang Jingchuan's personal whim.

If you can't make money

What could the Tong family possibly use to buy grain, salt, and iron from Zhang Jingchuan?

When 80% of a business depends on one person, it's only a matter of time before it's taken over by a single person.

To put it bluntly,

If Zhang Jingchuan wanted to suppress the Tong family in business, the Tong family would be beheaded within two months for failing to provide the imperial court with food and supplies.

If they refuse Zhang Jingchuan, the entire Tong family will die.

However, if they help Zhang Jingchuan, as long as they do it discreetly, the Tong family will not only survive, but also live a very comfortable life.

Because of this,

Tong Puhan had absolutely no choice!

After exhaling a puff of smoke, Zhang Jingchuan pointed to the palace gate with the hand holding the cigar and said:

"Blast the city gates open!"

this moment,

Zhang Jingchuan suddenly felt like Li Yunlong was leading a regiment to attack Ping'an County.

That's the same red-barbarian cannon that Li Yunlong was talking about—the Italian cannon!

"Boom!"

A cannonball pierced the palace gate, but it still missed the bolt.

As soon as the cannon fired,

Not only were the Imperial Guards on the palace walls frightened, but even Sony and his men, who were organizing the breakout inside, felt a chill run down their spines.

Sony and his entourage of civil and military officials instinctively turned their gazes toward Huang Taiji, who was riding a warhorse, while Huang Taiji's face turned pale.

With the third cannon shot, the palace gates were blasted open.

Without the slightest hesitation, the hundreds of riders from the Imperial Guard charged in.

For a time,

The palace was filled with howls and wailing. The Imperial Guards ran down the palace walls to fight back, but they were no match for the Imperial Guards' cavalry and were all cut down.

Most of the Imperial Guards here are sons of noble families. Even if most of them have served on the battlefield before, their years as Imperial Guards...

His body had long been hollowed out by wine and women, and his will had been extinguished by gold, silver, jade, antiques and collectibles.

Many of them laid down their swords and bows and arrows, and stood on the palace walls watching the Ming cavalry charge towards the main hall.

They have already accepted their fate.

The Ming army has already stormed into the city; the entire capital, Shengjing, has fallen. Even the palace gates have been breached by three cannon shots. There's no point in resisting here anymore.

In most people's eyes, it's all a waste of time.

Even the two regiments of Plain Yellow Banner soldiers led by Sony were no match for the hundreds of Imperial Guards battalions.

Outside the palace gate,

The arriving cavalry, under Lord Zhang's instructions, also began heading towards the palace.

Not long after,

The palace fell silent.

Zhang Jingchuan rode his horse into the palace gate, followed by a squad of imperial guard cavalry.

Inside the palace gates,

A large number of people knelt down, and the wounded were wailing in pain.

In front of the Ming army, these people were all very disciplined. Some of the more cunning individuals began to boldly and secretly observe Zhang Jingchuan.

only,

Zhang Jingchuan had absolutely no interest in these small fry.

Just as Zhang Jingchuan was preparing himself to face the surrender or angry rebukes from Huang Taiji and the other Qing officials,

A heavily armed battalion commander, riding in from afar, abruptly interrupted Zhang Jingchuan's carefully crafted emotions with a single sentence:

"My lord, General Cao is planning to massacre the entire city!"

"Fuck!"

……