Chapter 363 Zhou Chi's Family and Friends Aqiu had never been to school, and there were no educated people around her. Before she met He Ran, the highest-ranking official she had ever seen was the village head. No one had ever mentioned Emperor Injo in front of her, so she didn't know who Emperor Injo was. Yet many people still know about it. Liuxia handed the tablet of Emperor Renzu to He Xiulong. He Xiulong smiled coldly and shouted loudly: "All soldiers, follow me to attack the city!" Duke Dingguo's mouth is crooked, and the military doctor doesn't know how to give acupuncture. The doctor who is treating him now is named Zhang, and his ancestors were imperial physicians. He knows how to give acupuncture. He gave him acupuncture yesterday and everyone said there was improvement, but saliva still flows down the corners of his mouth. Duke Dingguo was in good health. Apart from his crooked mouth and numb right hand, he was no different from an ordinary person. Especially in his mind, Duke Dingguo is very clear now. He knows that it is because of the tablet of Emperor Taizu that the Ran army did not act rashly in the past three days. Duke Dingguo had never met Emperor Taizu. Most of his understanding of Emperor Taizu came from his grandmother, Lady Meng. However, the person that Old Lady Meng talked about the most was not Emperor Taizu, but He Jinghong.
At first he thought it was because Old Madam Meng and He Jinghong were both women. It was not until a few years ago that he learned the truth from Old Lady Meng. It turned out that my grandfather, Duke Dingguo, fell in love with a fifteen-year-old girl when he was in his forties. He also wanted to divorce Old Lady Meng and give that woman the position of his legal wife. No one could persuade him. At the critical moment, He Jinghong stepped in and agreed to a divorce. However, before the divorce, he had to pass the title to the prince. He could then take the beauty to Zhuangzi and live a happy life that was the envy of even the immortals. Of course my grandfather refused to agree. He had finally established his dynasty and it was time for him to enjoy the fruits of victory. Besides, he was not that old yet. But he could confront his wife, but he couldn't afford to offend He Jinghong. He Jinghong asked him to give up his title, which was like slapping the imperial edict in his face. In the end, the divorce was left unresolved, and the beauty didn't even get a concubine. The old Duke Dingguo and the old Madam Meng continued to be a loving couple, and were recognized as a model couple in the capital. Duke Dingguo couldn't help but smile bitterly when he thought of these past events. If his grandparents had divorced back then, Duke Dingguo's Mansion would probably have fallen apart long ago. Although he was his grandfather's grandson, he still had to thank He Jinghong for this matter. So my grandfather was too stupid to take such a risk for the daughter of a minor official. Duke Dingguo smiled bitterly. He had never thought of divorcing his wife. No matter who is his wife, as long as she is virtuous, generous and decent, he can accept her. Because except Huishan, all women in the world are the same in his eyes. Unfortunately, he lost Huishan's child. Now he already knows that the corpse is not the real Jing Lao San. Zhou Cangyue and He Xiulong, these two little bastards played him around. He looked at his right hand and wanted to make a fist, but after trying, he still couldn't do it. He sighed and sat up.
Ever since he arrived in Yangzhou, the Ran army has been unstoppable, coming to challenge and attack the city at five o'clock every morning. Even now, knowing that the tablet of Taizu has been placed in front of the city gate, the Ran army will still come for the sake of formality. Like a vicious dog, it won't let go once it has bitten a bone. Yangzhou City is the delicious piece of meat and the Ran Army is the vicious dog. It was already the fifth watch of the night and Duke Dingguo was completely sleepless. He heard people whispering outside the door and knew that someone had come to report that the Ran army was coming to challenge him again. This He Xiulong is really persistent. But what’s the use of challenging someone? As long as she dared to attack the city regardless of the consequences, she would tear off He Ran's fig leaf, tear off He Ran's hypocritical mask, and completely expose He Ran's wolf ambitions to the world. Of course, it is only a matter of time before He Ran's ambition is exposed, but there are still many people who support King Zhao, and He Ran's prestige is not enough to make her do whatever she wants. Therefore, as long as the tablet of Taizu Zhou Chi is still there, Yangzhou City is safe, and He Xiulong can only come here every day to go through the motions. Of course, this is not a long-term solution. Duke Dingguo tried to clench his fist again, but still failed. Then just wait. The noise outside continued, but it was very low and could not be heard clearly. Duke Dingguo shouted, "Let him in!" Soon, a soldier came in tremblingly, and Duke Dingguo asked, "Is He Xiulong still here?" It seems that he is not giving up. Normally, he would have called off the battle by this time. The soldier's mouth twitched, and he said bravely: "No, I'm not leaving. Now, now, now we start, start attacking, attacking the city." Duke Dingguo was startled, thinking he had misheard: "What did you say? What is He Xiulong doing?" "They're attacking the city." The soldier's legs were trembling. The Duke looked so scary. Duke Dingguo couldn't believe his ears. He asked in a deep voice, "The tablet of Taizu wasn't brought out today?" The soldier's voice was trembling: "We tried to lift it, but it was useless. He Xiulong was carrying the tablet of King Renzu while attacking the city." Duke Dingguo's head buzzed. It was the tablet of King Injo! Injo, the father of Zhou Chi! After Zhou Chi ascended the throne, he posthumously conferred titles on his four generations of ancestors. His great-grandfather was Emperor Dezu Xuan, his great-great-grandfather was Emperor Yizu Heng, his grandfather was Emperor Xizu Yu, and his father was Emperor Renzu Wu. In other words, he used Taizu's tablet to retreat, and He Xiulong then used Taizu's father's tablet to attack the city. "Is there only the tablet of King Injo?" Duke Dingguo said in a deep voice. The soldier widened his eyes in surprise, with an expression as if asking, "How did you know that?" "He Xiulong is holding the tablet of King Injo, but the people who came to challenge him said that they only invited King Injo to come today. If it doesn't work, they will invite King Uijo and King Heejo tomorrow. If that still doesn't work, they will ask King Deokjo to come." Duke Dingguo. No wonder He Xiulong has been so quiet these days, it turns out she was busy making the tablet. He was wrong.
Because of the shameless Zhou Cangyue, he actually forgot that He Ran was also a shameless person back then! He Xiulong was brought up by He Ran, so of course she follows suit and is also shameless. So why would he, the royal army, challenge the shamelessness of the Ran army? Duke Dingguo really wronged He Xiulong. The one who came up with the idea was He Ran. And Duke Dingguo also underestimated He Ran. He Ran asked He Xiulong to have people make more than just these four tablets. But there are eighteen in total! Everyone has a share of Zhou Chi's eighteen generations of ancestors. Of course, except for these four who have titles, the remaining fourteen do not even have names. They are all named after the first and second generation ancestors of the Zhou family. You say this is wrong, right? It’s the first and second generation. You say it’s right, it doesn’t even have a name. In short, all these tablets are ready, and the relatives and friends of Taizu Zhou Chi are ready to come and cheer at any time. At this moment, the tablet of King Injo was still in He Xiulong's hands. He Xiulong held the tablet in one hand and held a small red flag high in the other. "Prepare—let go!" With a loud bang, a big crack was blown in the thick city wall. This is the Thunder Cannon that was just delivered the day before yesterday. The Benlei Cannon was developed and manufactured by Dong Jinzhen. The first batch of Benlei Cannon consisted of only twenty pieces. They were divided up by Feng Zan and Lu Zhen as soon as they came out. The honest He Xiulong didn't get a single one. What is being sent to He Xiulong now is the second batch of Thunder Cannons. What made He Xiulong happy was that the second batch of Thunder Cannons was better than the first batch, and to compensate her, He Ran gave her five more. Now He Xiulong had fifteen cannons in her hands. The shot just fired was the first shot fired by He Xiulong’s army. It hit the target with every shot! The Ran army gave a deafening cheer. If they continued to fight like this, they would not need to use ladders to climb the city walls. They could just blow up the gate tower of Yangzhou City. The loud noise was also heard by Duke Dingguo who was still in the government office. "What's that sound?" asked Duke Dingguo. The personal soldier didn't know and quickly ran out to ask. A moment later, the guards came back and told Duke Ding the unfortunate news: "It was the artillery! The Ran army has deployed artillery!" Duke Dingguo was stunned: "How is it possible? When did the Ran army have artillery?" As soon as he said this, Duke Dingguo remembered that artillery was mentioned in the battle report sent by Lu Yuncheng after his defeat in Bozhou. Lu Zhen fired ten cannons at the same time, blowing away the city gate of Bozhou! Of course, the imperial army also had artillery. They had artillery in the previous dynasty, but they were too heavy. During the reign of Taizu, fifty of them were purchased from the red-haired people at a high price. Half of these fifty artillery pieces were given to the border areas, and the other half were given to the coastal areas of Fujian. Duke Dingguo had seen these cannons at the border when he was young. Although they were lighter than those of the previous dynasty, their hit rate was not high and they were difficult to ignite. Often the cannon operators were shot dead by an enemy arrow before they could ignite the cannons. Due to their age and lack of maintenance, there are only a dozen or so red-haired cannons still in use today. When the battle report from Bozhou mentioned artillery, the first thing that Duke Dingguo thought of was the red-haired artillery. In the last ten years of Taizong's reign, various taxes were raised. Therefore, in the past few decades, it has been rare to see red-haired people doing business within the dynasty. No one knows where He Ran bought these cannons from.
Until this point, Duke Dingguo still thought that He Xiulong was using the red-haired cannon. The personal soldier said, "I don't know, but it is said that there were more than a dozen guns, mounted on carts, and the Ran army pushed them over, so they were very light. By the way, the first shot blew up the city wall." Duke Dingguo was stunned. Although the red-haired cannon was lighter than traditional cannons, it was not light enough to be loaded on a vehicle. The red-haired cannons at the border were lifted onto the city wall with great effort, and they have never been moved since they were lifted up. Even after they were scrapped, they have remained there without moving, and this has been the case for decades. Could it be that the artillery used by the Ran army was not red-haired? There is no general who is not interested in weapons, let alone a weapon with such great lethality. Duke Dingguo said, "Bring me my armor. I want to go to the tower to watch the battle!" Just as he finished speaking, there was another loud bang, and this time the sound was louder than before. "This is not one cannon, it's two, or more!" Several shots were fired at the same time, causing the earth to shake. Amidst the chaos and turmoil, Duke Dingguo dressed neatly and walked out of the government office. This was the first time he walked on the street since he fainted that day. Maybe it was a psychological effect, but he seemed to smell the smell of gunpowder. Duke Dingguo's right hand was still shaking, and not only his right hand, but the right half of his body was not in good coordination. In fact, even his speech was somewhat slurred. For the first time in his life, Duke Dingguo was unable to mount his warhorse. With the help of two personal soldiers, he was able to sit upright on his horse. The war horses kept going up to the city wall, and Duke Dingguo was about to dismount, as if to demonstrate to him, when another burst of cannon fire rang out. Duke Dingguo, who was on the city wall, could clearly feel the vibration under his feet. His warhorse was frightened and neighed. After the sound of cannon fire, Duke Dingguo took the telescope and looked around. He finally saw the legendary cannon! It turned out that these were not red-haired cannons. There were fifteen brand-new cannons, all loaded on a cart with wheels underneath. They could be pulled by horses or people and carried in all directions. Next to these cannons, a female general sat on her horse, holding a tablet in one hand and a red flag in the other. He Xiulong! At this moment, He Xiulong just looked up, and Duke Dingguo, with his clairvoyant eyes, made eye contact with the female general who was old enough to be his daughter. The young female general had a firm and confident gaze, and her face showed the calmness of being sure of victory. In contrast to He Xiulong's calmness, the imperial army was in chaos at this time, and their formation was thrown into disarray by the artillery fire. Leading the troops today was Zhu Kuan, the son of Qingyuan Marquis, who was a fierce general personally appointed by Duke Dingguo. If Lord Quan had not randomly selected the troops and sent Ding Wu over, the general that Duke Dingguo had originally chosen would have been Prince Zhu. After arriving in Yangzhou, Prince Zhu's performance was also remarkable. If there was anyone in the younger generation of the dynasty who could take on the important task, it would definitely be Zhu Kuan.
But Zhu Kuan was still too young, and just a few cannon shots made him lose his composure. Duke Dingguo sighed as he looked at the army below which had lost its formation. In fact, if it was him instead of Zhu Kuan, the situation would not be much better. Before she could stop sighing, He Xiulong waved the red flag in her hand again, and the sound of cannons rang out again. The artillery fire swept through the already chaotic formation, and blood and flesh flew everywhere! A deputy general stumbled to Duke Dingguo and knelt on the ground with a thud: "Duke, please order the troops to retreat. How can flesh and blood resist artillery fire? Retreating now can preserve our strength. Duke, for the sake of the overall situation, please order the troops to retreat!" Duke Dingguo said nothing, as if to demonstrate to him. Several cannons were fired at the same time, the city wall was hit, bricks and stones flew everywhere, and the personal soldiers hurriedly protected Duke Dingguo behind them. Despite this, a bloody mark was still left on Duke Dingguo's cheek by the broken bricks. The deputy general who was kneeling on the ground had no time to dodge and was hit on the head and bleeding. At this moment, even the guards were panicking: "My Lord, let me escort you down, it's too dangerous here." Just as Duke Dingguo was about to speak, he heard a cheer from below the city wall. A still childish female voice shouted, "I, He Linlin, have severely injured Zhu Kuan, the son of the Marquis of Qingyuan!" "General Linlin is mighty, General Linlin is mighty!" Duke Dingguo was stunned: "Is Zhu Kuan still alive?" The name "Shizu" at the end of the previous chapter was changed to "Renzu", which is borrowed from the temple names of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty and pays tribute to Emperor Hongwu.