Please ask me to be the emperor

"Your Highness, the current situation of military expansion in various places is as follows!" Staff Xu Ziyuanhui reported.

After the former chief of staff Hong Chengchou was sent to Henan Province as the head coach, Zhang incidentally transferred Xu Ziyuan over to fill the same position.

However, in view of Xu Ziyuan's insufficient qualifications and insufficient ability to formulate plans for large-scale battles, he was appointed chief of staff.

"Oh?" Zhang Shun stopped what he was doing, raised his head and listened carefully.

"Now Xu Quan's five thousand fire gunmen have been trained, but the production of new fire guns is insufficient. Only half of them are equipped, and the remaining half still use Lumi guns." Xu Ziyuan continued to report.

"The second battalion of Li You and Li Daliang, with 6,000 men, has been organized and trained. The third battalion of Wang Sheng, Zhang Ding and Shen Jingbang, with 9,000 men, has been formed."

"Li Zicheng's two battalions, Li Guo and Liu Zongmin, have been expanded to 6,000 men, and the three battalions of Lu Xiangjin, Lu Xiangguan, and Zhang Rujing have been expanded to 9,000 men."

"The two battalions of Huang Chaoxuan and Zhang Xianbi have been expanded to 6,000 men; the two battalions of Dang Shousu and Zhang Rukui have been expanded."

"Wei Congyi's Fire Gun Cavalry has been formed, and the two battalions of Fei Yizai and Chen Jitai have been formed. The three battalions have a total of 9,000 people."

"A total of 53,300 troops have been completed to expand the army. We are still short of the 6,700 soldiers short of the target of 60,000 troops."

"Oh? How about the new armor, mules and horses, and other equipment? How is the combat effectiveness?" Zhang Shun did not expect that the army expansion mission would go so smoothly, so he couldn't help but ask about the details.

As for the shortfall of 6,700, it is only two battalions of men and horses and can be replenished at any time.

"There are a lot of armors stored in the three sides and four towns. Regardless of whether they are new or old, they are basically equipped with more than 90% of them." Xu Ziyuan quickly pulled out the corresponding information and reported loudly.

"Except for the 5,000 gunmen under Xu Quan and the 7th battalion of Li Guo, Liu Zongmin, Huang Chaoxuan, Zhang Xianbi, Wei Congyi and Fei Yizai, the remaining 11 battalions are barely available."

"Out of eighteen battalions, it's not bad to have seven battalions with guaranteed combat effectiveness!" Zhang Shun nodded after hearing this.

Those seven battalions with good combat effectiveness all have enough veterans as their backbone, so their combat effectiveness basically reaches the average level of the rebel army.

As for the remaining eleven battalions, due to the small number of backbones, they can barely be used, which makes Zhang Shun satisfied.

"That...there is one more thing, please make a decision, Your Highness." Xu Ziyuan hesitated for a moment and couldn't help but ask for instructions.

"Let's talk, we are all old people, so there is no need to be too restrained." Zhang Shun lowered his head and said comforting words while writing and drawing on Xu Ziyuan's recent drawings.

"The Party Shou came to report that Man Tianxing, the leader of the rebel army, is now hiding in the mountains of Yichuan. There are about three to four thousand people, lack of food and clothing, and in a difficult situation. He asked King Shun to allow him to go and recruit surrender." Xu Ziyuan couldn't help but responded.

"There is also Shetaotian who entered Sichuan with the Eighth King Zhang Xianzhong. Now he and Zhang Xianzhong have had conflicts and parted ways. Now he is hiding in the high mountains north of Huguang with no way out."

"He has also sent envoys here in the past two days, hoping that King Shun can accept them."

"Oh? This is a good thing!" Zhang Shun said in surprise.

He believed that all the heroes in the world were his own, but he didn't expect that there were so many rebel generals hiding elsewhere.

"It's just... I'm just afraid that we can't afford it..." Xu Ziyuan hesitated.

"What are you afraid of? There will be a road before the car reaches the mountain!" Zhang Shun said, looking like he was crying but not crying, or smiling but not laughing.

If he continues this wave of fighting, he still doesn’t know how many people will die and how many corpses will fill the ravines.

What he worries about is how to use the blood of so many soldiers to exchange for a glorious victory, how to use the blood of so many soldiers to exchange for a bright and prosperous world, how to use the blood of so many soldiers to exchange for a peaceful and prosperous age.

As for the question of whether there will be enough food to eat in the future, it is not a question that he needs to consider for the time being.

To put it cruelly, it is probably still unknown how many mouths will be left to eat after this battle.

Zhang Shun couldn't help but feel uncomfortable when he thought about the situation where corpses were about to appear everywhere.

Although it is said that Ci cannot control soldiers, they are still living lives after all.

How cruel it is to have to personally send them to the point of no return now.

Must win!

Zhang Shun said something to himself silently, and then changed the subject and said: "How are the gunpowder preparations going?"

The rebel army's "one-wave" tactics feared nothing but the enemy's fortification of the walls, clearing the fields, and defense of the city, making it impossible for the rebel army to attack for a long time.

If it lasts for a long time and the troops are stationed under a fortified city, the huge team will cause great logistical pressure.

Therefore, from the beginning of campaign planning, Zhang Shun paid great attention to the application of firearms.

However, the equipment of large-scale firearms has caused the rebels, who were originally relatively dependent on firearms, to consume an appalling amount of gunpowder.

For example, a 10,000-kilogram Hongyi cannon cannon weighs 50 kilograms. According to the Ming army's past practice of doubling the charge, one shot would require 100 kilograms of gunpowder.

The field artillery commonly used by the rebels requires twenty kilograms, the golden cannon requires forty kilograms, and even the Feibiao gun, which uses the least amount of medicine, requires forty kilograms of gunpowder to fire once.

According to this standard, assuming that the First Army of the Rebel Army is equipped with 30 10,000-jin Hongyi cannons, 20 flying blunderbuss, 80 field guns, and 80 flying blunderbuss, a single salvo consumes 8,600 jins of gunpowder. .

For this reason, Zhang Shun specifically ordered the gunners to repeatedly test fire to obtain the optimal dosage of gunpowder.

It was finally determined that the standard dosage for the 10,000-jin Hongyi cannon was one-third of the bullet weight, and the standard dosage for the field cannon and golden cannon was one-half of the bullet weight. As a mortar, the Feibiao gun still could not reduce the dosage, so everything had to continue as usual.

After some fiddling, the amount of gunpowder required for a salvo was reduced to 5,300 kilograms.

Not to mention other kinds of gunpowder and artillery powder, the troops and horses along the way would probably have to be equipped with hundreds of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder to barely have enough.

"Gunpowder is not a big problem." Xu Ziyuan reported after hearing this.

"Originally, the three sides and four towns have stored 200,000 to 300,000 jins. We can use 200,000 jins first and make up the rest gradually."

"As for the materials for making gunpowder, it is not surprising that the charcoal used in it is found in various places."

"All the sulfur used comes from the mountains. It is produced in Chengcheng and Lantian of Shaanxi Province. It is not a big concern if it is refined to 10,000 kilograms a day."

"Only saltpeter, also known as fire saltpeter, is the most rare. It requires many times of boiling and is the most rare."

"Later, Governor Zhang visited various places and found out that it was produced in Longxi and Qingyang."

"In the winter, the ground grows like white frost. I swept it up, poured it with water, and decocted it. Now it has been refined according to the method, and there is no fear of shortage."

"Now we have made another 100,000 jins of gunpowder. By March, we will almost be able to add another 200,000 jins."

"Okay!" Zhang Shun nodded and said, "These gunpowder will be supplied to Henan Prefecture first. It won't matter if the other two routes are slightly delayed."

"By the way, let Cao Bianjiao and others know so that they can use it sparingly first and don't make progress too fast!"