kingnovel Chapter 166 Sun Chengzong
Chapter 166 Sun Chengzong
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As early as when Columbus discovered the New World of America, he saw Indians playing with a very elastic ball. According to the local population, this ball was made of the tears of a certain tree.
And this tree is what later became the rubber tree.
However, the European explorers at that time only had their eyes on gold and silver mines and did not take rubber seriously, so the rubber trees continued to be buried in the tropical rainforest.
It was not until 18 in the 1736th century that rubber trees were transplanted to Europe and used by Europeans to make rain boots and raincoats.
As a person from later generations, Lu Cheng naturally knew the importance of rubber to the development of modern industry.
On the one hand, one of the reasons why Xiaorizi entered Southeast Asia was also for the rubber resources in Southeast Asia.
Rubber has a wide range of uses, from a pair of medical rubber gloves, cable covers, and car tires to various types of transportation, electronic appliances, and construction projects.
With rubber, the industrial process could be greatly accelerated.
Of course, rubber grows in the tropical rainforests of South America. If we want the expedition team to bring back the rubber tree seeds, we will probably have to wait for more than a year.
In June of the fourth year of the Tianqi reign (1624), Yang Lian, the Left Vice-Chief Censor, impeached Wei Zhongxian for serious crimes. The ministers in the court wrote letters to echo and attacked Wei Zhongxian. However, Zhu Youxiao turned a blind eye to all these impeachments, and ignored all the civil and military officials in the court, and only favored Wei Zhongxian.
After this incident, Wei Zhongxian became even more unscrupulous in eradicating Donglin Party members. He executed the famous Six Gentlemen of the Donglin Party one after another, and ordered the destruction of academies founded by the Donglin Party across the country.
At the same time, Xiong Tingbi was also implicated in the factional struggle because of his old friendship with the "Six Gentlemen of Donglin". Wei Zhongxian repeatedly advised Zhu Youxiao when he was concentrating on carpentry work, saying that Xiong Tingbi was just a figurehead, operating in Liaodong for several years but with little achievement, and wasting a lot of money and food.
In the end, Emperor Tianqi became tired of Xiong Tingbi after being criticized too much by Wei Zhongxian.
In August of the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, Xiong Tingbi was dismissed from office, and the Minister of War Sun Chengzong was ordered to go to Liaodong to take over as the governor of Liaodong.
Fortunately, Xiong Tingbi had been in charge of Liaodong for many years, and he restored Liaodong's strength, did not lose cities or territory, and even recovered the Zhenjiang Fort area. Therefore, although Xiong Tingbi was dismissed this time, at least he did not have to be beheaded and displayed to the public as in the original history.
When bidding farewell to Xiong Tingbi, Lu Cheng looked at the old man whose hair and beard had turned completely white, and felt a little sad.
Xiong Tingbi had indeed worked hard for Liaodong, and at the age of 70, he looked older than a -year-old.
"Sir Jinglüe, now that you have returned to your hometown, don't think about anything else. Just enjoy your old age at home. As for Liaodong, with young people like us here, we will never let the Jiannu get involved."
Xiong Tingbi took a final look at the land of Liaodong, and his heart was filled with emotion: "I am here in Liaodong and I am worthy of the court and Your Majesty. After I leave this time, I may never be able to return to Liaodong in this lifetime. Everything here is handed over to you. Sun Chengzong is also a capable minister, and he should be able to defend Liaodong."
In fact, Lu Cheng was still very grateful to Xiong Tingbi.
It’s not just because of Xiong Tingbi’s kindness, but also because of his help over the years.
In the past few years, Lu Cheng has vigorously developed southern Liaoning, expanded his business to various tribes on the grassland, and trained a large number of soldiers.
If it weren't for the threat from the Jiannu in Liaodong, Lu Cheng's actions could be equated with rebellion.
Moreover, southern Liaoning has developed so rapidly and earned so much money, how could it not attract covetous people?
If Xiong Tingbi hadn't been blocking in front, Lu Cheng would have inevitably encountered some trouble.
Especially in the first two years, before Lu Cheng became the deputy general of Pingliao, he was several levels lower than those generals. If those generals really wanted to come to him to share the profits of the business, Lu Cheng might really be in some trouble.
Fortunately, Xiong Tingbi suppressed the generals of Liaodong and gave Lu Cheng the most complete autonomy, which allowed Lu Cheng to open up the current situation.
No matter what, Lu Cheng is grateful to Xiong Tingbi.
Therefore, when Xiong Tingbi left Liaodong, Lu Cheng also asked the Intelligence Department to send a team of elite operatives to protect him along the way and stay in Xiong Tingbi's hometown for a long time to prevent anyone from assassinating this old man.
After Xiong Tingbi left, Sun Chengzong took charge of Liaoyang. He first summoned the Liaodong generals, affirmed their achievements over the years, encouraged everyone, and calmed the hearts of the Liaodong generals.
Afterwards, Sun Chengzong personally led people to inspect various places to understand the strength of each ethnic group's military forces, defense arrangements, etc.
Of course, when Sun Chengzong inspected southern Liaoning, Lu Cheng had already hidden everything that needed to be hidden.
The latest breech-loading rifles and mortars were all hidden away, and some of the other steam engines, gunpowder workshops, etc. were also temporarily sealed.
The rifles in the soldiers' hands were the earliest batch of muzzle-loading flintlock rifles ever manufactured.
Even so, Sun Chengzong was full of praise for the performance of those flintlock rifles, and he even took a few of them, saying that he would give them to the court craftsmen to make copies.
Lu Cheng didn't mind this. Even if the imperial court put all its efforts into manufacturing those flintlock rifles, it would be difficult to produce them quickly due to technical limitations.
Moreover, the imperial court did not have mercury fulminate as a primer, nor did it have improved gunpowder, smokeless powder, etc. Even if it had made a rifled flintlock rifle, it would not be as good as the early Lu-type rifle produced in Liaodong.
Compared with the new muskets, Sun Chengzong was obviously more interested in the agricultural development and business in southern Liaoning.
In this era when the imperial court was short of money, Liaonan under Lu Cheng's rule was thriving and full of vitality, which forced Sun Chengzong to pay attention.
"General Lu, I didn't expect that you are not only good at leading troops in battle, but also good at governing a region. It's a waste of your talent to be just a deputy general."
"Your Excellency, what are you talking about? These are the results of the concerted efforts of the civil and military officials of the four guards of southern Liao. I am only leading the soldiers and providing them with a safe environment for farming."
"This is already very rare. If all the generals in Liaodong can be like General Lu, the court and your majesty can rest assured."
After understanding the entire situation in Liaodong, Sun Chengzong learned in detail about the Mongolian tribes on the grassland and the situation of the Later Jin. Finally, he concluded that Liaodong did not have the ability to launch a decisive battle with the Later Jin.
Moreover, Sun Chengzong concluded that the Later Jin would certainly launch a large-scale attack on Liaodong within one or two years.
After all, the progress of the Later Jin on the grassland was not very smooth. If it wanted to expand further, it still had to take over Liaodong.
After considering all factors, we can conclude that the next attack of the Later Jin Dynasty had only two options: either to attack Shenyang directly from the North Gate to the south, or to bypass the Khorchin tribe and attack Guangning, cutting off the connection between Liaodong and the interior.
Afterwards, Sun Chengzong wrote a letter to the court, detailing the comparative situation of the entire Liaodong and the Later Jin, and also recounted his own judgment on the future situation. He applied to Emperor Tianqi to establish a defense line outside Liaoyang and Guangning, and to step up the training of a group of cavalry to deal with the cavalry of the Later Jin and the grassland.
Emperor Tianqi did not expect that after he had just sent away Xiong Tingbi, who was greedy for money, Sun Chengzong was now chasing the court for money and food.
However, Sun Chengzong had served in the court for many years, and his relationship with court officials was far beyond what Xiong Tingbi could compare to.
Soon, many officials in the court came out to support Sun Chengzong.
In addition, Wei Zhongxian had also made a lot of money for the court in the past two years, so Emperor Tianqi finally decided to support Sun Chengzong in building a defense line and training troops.