Emperor Ming, the number one filial son in the world, Zhu Cihong, is really going to return to Beijing. With his father, Emperor Chongzhen, and his mother, Empress Zhou, as well as his good brother Zhu Cihuan, the king of Chongqing, and a small number of accompanying ministers and the staff of the Generalissimo's Mansion.

Escorted by two newly-built flintlock regiments of the Xiaoling Guard, a newly-built Xiaoling Guard's Lancer Regiment and a guard battalion, the group traveled northward along the old road of the Grand Canal.

In front of the northbound Imperial Brigade and in the rear were two infantry regiments, no longer armed with pikes, and all combat infantry armed with flintlock muskets.

The flintlock pistols of the soldiers of these two regiments were called the Hongxing seven-year style, and the total length of the Hongxing seven-year style without the bayonet was five feet three inches, the length of the barrel was three feet seven and a half inches, the weight was eight pounds and four taels, the caliber was five cents and eight cents, and the projectile weighed six dollars and five cents (the bullets wrapped in paper would be distributed), while the length of the sleeve bayonet was two feet four inches, and the total length of the Hongxing seven-year style after the bayonet was installed reached seven feet and three inches (the bayonet was attached to the barrel, so there was an overlap between the two).

In Zhu Cihong's opinion, this flintlock smoothbore gun is not an advanced weapon at all, and its power is not very good, and the effective range during training (shooting a huge wooden target 10 feet wide and 6 feet high) is only 100 steps - the 100-step hit rate is about 20%, and this "100-step hit rate" is of little significance in queuing up to shoot in battle, because the battlefield environment interferes too much with the soldiers, the distance is shortened by half, and the hit rate is reduced by half.

However, this hit rate is not without reference value in combat operations, such as when sending good shooters to shoot black guns, such as when flintlock pikemen are guarding the fortress, such as when half-kneeling behind the fortifications built by sandbags and putting guns, the hit rate of 100 steps cannot be achieved by 20%, and the problem of folding in half is still not big.

Since there are many modes of engagement, and there is not only one type of shooting in line, the value of flintlock smoothbore guns in actual combat is still very large. Therefore, when Zhu Cihong left Beijing and went south eleven years ago, he pondered the idea of building a new army with flintlock smoothbore guns as the standard equipment of infantry.

Unexpectedly, eleven years later, in the eighth year of Hongxing, Emperor Zhu had two experimental flintlock regiments. This seemingly simple flintlock pistol is really not easy to create with quality and quantity. It's a handicraft now! It's all handmade, and there's no way to dismantle the process of making a smoothbore gun too finely, so that you can use the method of assembly line production to improve efficiency.

Because the most time-consuming part to build is the barrel, in addition to packaging, oil wiping and other miscellaneous work, is a coiled iron tube, a drilling bore, a total of two processes. There is no need for a tall assembly line, and the most ordinary blacksmith workshop is also divided into two groups of people. But until now, these two processes are still "the craftsmanship of the master", and there is no way to standardize. There is no way to even use hydraulic hammers and hydraulic drilling machines, only by hand - now hydraulic hammers can only be used to process thick pieces of wrought iron, not for finishing. The power of the hydraulic drilling machine is too large and difficult to control, so it can only be used to drill the gun chamber, not the gun chamber.

Therefore, the production of flintlock pistols is very slow, and it may take ten years to completely replace arquebuses!

However, for Zhu Cihong, who personally conquered Beijing, 8,000 to 10,000 flintlock pistols (some of which were equipped with black spearmen) were enough.

Because this Northern Expedition was originally a show to show the military might of Daming!

The Xiaoling Guard Lancers, who were smaller than the flintlock pikemen, were also the protagonists of the show, and the cavalry regiment had now expanded to four battalions, with two thousand soldiers, all of whom were manned, horses, and mules. The horses are folded ears or Arabian horses, and the mules are tall and strong horse mules. All the cavalry, armed with black plain plate armor, were now lined up in two columns, marching to the left and right of the Imperial Battalion.

And the third protagonist of this "Beijing Show" is going north by sea, is a siege artillery battalion, equipped with eight 48-pound bronze smoothbore guns, all of which are treasures ordered by Zhu Cihong from the Netherlands - now Daming's arsenal can only cast 24-pound bronze smoothbore guns at most, and can't make 48-pound guns and larger 64-pound guns, so eight 48-pound guns are imported to fill the façade.

Because these eight artillery pieces were too heavy, they could not go north by land, so they could only be transported to Tianjin by water, and then pulled to Tongzhou by canal.

However, it does not take a 48-pounder cannon to fight the city of Beijing - because Emperor Zhu himself opened a sandbag gold finger, so the heavy artillery that fires solid shells is of little use in siege warfare, and the fortifications built up by sandbags can carry the cannons of later generations, what is the use of solid shells fired by bronze smoothbore cannons? At best, it's just a matter of shooting at the gate tower and smashing a few targets in the city.

The biggest threat to the impregnable Beijing Castle is, of course, Zhu Cihong, the great son of the Great Tomorrow who is riding an Arab horse and walking side by side with Emperor Chongzhen!

"Ministers greet His Majesty the Emperor, His Majesty the Emperor, long live my emperor, long live, long live......"

Outside the Weiling Fort in Tianjin, on the official road that has been paved with stones, a group of generals wearing black cuirasses, plate armor, and red cloaks and a large number of civil officials from Hebei Province who gathered in Tianjin, Wen Zuo and Wu stood in shifts, and together they bowed to Zhu Cihong and Chongzhen, who came on horseback, and shouted long live.

"Hooray! Banzai! Hooray......"

After the officials finished shouting long live, on the wilderness on both sides of the official road, countless people lined up neatly, with all armor and weapons, and the soldiers of the Ming army with weapons in their hands, also shouted in unison, long live the mountain!

Farther away from the official road, there are still many ordinary people holding pots, and there are more than 100,000 men and women, all of whom stretch their necks, as if they want to see the demeanor of the emperor and the emperor!

Under the supervision of the Great Tomorrow soldiers, they spontaneously went to the Hejian Mansion outside the Tianjin Acropolis to greet the frame of the Son of Heaven...... They are all looking forward to the king year after year, and the king is here, and the good people of the Ming Dynasty who don't know the king are coming!

Seeing the current appearance of Wang Shi, the big guys are surprised, envious and regretful!

It's only been eleven years since he called Huazi Wangshi, how did he become a local tyrant when he came back? Is there a mountain of gold and silver in the south of the Yangtze River? I knew that Jiangnan was so good, I should have followed the prince to be a king! After staying in Beizhili for so many years, I really don't know how much hardship I have suffered...... It's tearful to think about!

Emperor Chongzhen is also shedding tears now, so many royal teachers! It's not on paper, but one by one is really in front of it, and the armor is excellent, and the soldiers are full of horses, and you know that they are elite at a glance. Such a royal teacher, when Chongzhen was in power, that is, he saw it in a dream, and now he actually appeared alive...... It's a pity that the king to whom the king is loyal has been replaced!

"Shi Kefa, Yan Yingyuan stepped forward!"

Tian Yuchen, the eunuch who followed Emperor Zhu to the north, shouted loudly at this time.

Shi Kefa, the governor of Pingjin, and Yan Yingyuan, the governor of Pingjin, immediately stepped forward and arrived in front of the horses of Emperor Zhu and Emperor Chongzhen.

The 200,000 Ming troops now gathered in Tianjin are jointly controlled by these two!

"Where is the army of the Acting King now?" Zhu Cihong asked on horseback.

According to the plan of the Generalissimo's Office, the army besieging Beijing was divided into two routes, the west route army went through the Monan grassland, all the way to collect the soldiers and horses of the two banners of Tumut and the eight banners of Chahar in the naturalized city, and then entered the fortress from Juyong Pass, and joined the East Route Army from Tianjin outside Beijing. Surround the Shunzhi Emperor in the city of Beijing!

"Your Majesty," replied Shi Kefa, "His Royal Highness the Acting King and the troops led by Har and Lin Khan have now arrived at Zhangjiakou Fort, and His Royal Highness the Acting King is meeting the Mongolian tribes outside Zhangjiakou, just waiting for His Majesty to send an angel to comfort and reward him, and then he can enter the fortress in a big way." ”

"Old Five!" Zhu Cihong turned his head and called.

"Brother is here." Chongqing Wang Zhu Cihuan hurriedly responded.

Zhu Cihong said: "Fifth brother, you can go to Zhangjiakou on my behalf!" ”