Zhao Hao left Beijing on the first day of September.

When passing by Dagukou, he inspected the progress of the Tianjin Port project. I saw five rough stone concrete trestle bridges, like an open palm, stretching from the shore to the tranquil harbor.

Bohai Bay is an inner bay, calm and calm, which is very conducive to construction. More than four months ago, the main project of the wharf has been completed.

On the side of the wharf, rows of granaries and warehouses have also been built, and workers are busy finishing the clean. In a few days, the first batch of grain officially shipped by sea will arrive at Tianjin Port.

At that time, a grand ceremony will be held to arrive at Hong Kong, and the Ministry of Household Shangshu and Ma Butang, and the new Prime Minister of Hecao, Pan Zhongcheng, will come to participate.

However, Zhao Hao didn't plan to wait, although he was the leader of the Daming Royal Shipping Corporation, showing his face on such an occasion would only make the adults embarrassed.

What the big guys want is a face, and it doesn't matter how they lick him Zhao Gongzi in private. But in front of the public, I really can't pull off that face.

So Zhao Gongzi prepared to go to Hu Shouren's place, meet Qi Jiguang and set off.

This goodbye, Qi Jiguang finally regained his handsome demeanor, he was lofty, swaying freely, and the door was a few points higher. It is no longer the same as the previous general Qi who was dizzy and cautious.

He is now the prime minister and chief military officer of Jizhen military training, and the officers and soldiers of Jizhou, Changping, and Baoding are all subject to his control, and his top boss, the governor of Jiliao, is his Bole Tan Lun, and the bachelor in charge of military affairs is his benefactor. Qi Jiguang finally has no constraints at all, and he can show his strength and do a career.

Of course, real problems cannot be solved by spirit alone, and you have to rack your brains to find a solution.

Qi Jiguang, the general soldier of Jizhen, is mainly the target of prevention is the remnants of Duoyan Sanwei and Wara in Liaodong. One of the biggest problems he encountered was that the enemy was cavalry, and the Ming army was dominated by foot soldiers, so they could only defend passively. And the Mandarin Duck Formation, which he relied on to become famous, also lost its power in front of the Mongolian cavalry who came and went freely.

Qi Jiguang found that when fighting in the north, he relied far more on firearms than in the south to fight against the Japanese. However, Daming's firearms were completely insufficient to convince the soldiers.

The artillery was not maneuverable enough to fight in the field, and the dazzling array of muskets was not only easy to explode, but was usually lethal within 50 paces. The soldiers were panicked, often firing from outside the range, and it was too late to reload, so they could only watch the Tartar cavalry rush towards them......

Only the imitation beak gun has a long enough range, but the firing steps are cumbersome. Soldiers are fine during training, but once they go to the battlefield and face the overwhelming cavalry charge, they will be in a hurry, and they will often not be able to shoot two shots and will be put in the face by the cavalry...... The bird's beak gun made of heavy gold in their hands became a burning stick.

In order to improve this problem, Zhao Hao was entrusted by Zhang Juzheng as a member of the cabinet to supervise the improvement of firearms by the Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing. He was justified in dispatching skilled craftsmen from the Nanjing Ordnance Bureau to set up a firearms research institute on Xishan Island, which justifiably made guns and cannons.

Although the amount he made is really large, in the past year, the Longqing style has been made a full 3,000 pieces, and it is standardized production, and the parts are interchangeable.

The Firearms Research Institute can't always take advantage of the imperial court and produce results, right? What's more, Zhao Hao also sincerely wanted to help the Qi family army to pacify the northern Xinjiang as soon as possible, so that the people of the Ming Dynasty would suffer less crimes. So for this meeting, he specially asked people to prepare a hundred Longqing-style rifles and give them to Qi Jiguang.

This kind of self-produced first flintlock pistol, he did not intend to keep it secret from the imperial court from the beginning, otherwise it would not have been named 'Longqing style'. What's more, there is no way to keep it secret, the security team has basically completed the Longqing style, and it is difficult to guarantee that it will flow out a few shots. When the time comes, let the court ask, and the matter will be bigger.

~~

Qi Jiguang really knew the goods, and immediately picked up a Longqing style and came outside the house. According to the process described by Zhao Hao, he took a paper shell fixed bullet, bit the tail of the bullet with his teeth, poured the gunpowder into the primer pot, and buckled the lid of the pot. Then the pass bar is unplugged, the bullet is fed into the barrel, and it is compacted with a pass adjustment.

Close, pistol, aim, shoot!

With a bang, a hundred paces away from the willow tree, a poor little house finch fell, and it was beaten to the point that it was no longer like a bird.

But Qi Jiguang did not stop shooting, and continued to repeat the above actions until he fired five shots in a row, and the entire yard was filled with white smoke, and he praised while collecting the gun and clearing the chamber: "Good gun, saving two steps, much faster than a bird's beak." And if you don't shoot a shot, you can fire it again, which is a huge improvement. And it should be able to launch even if it rains, right? ”

"Dashuai is really discerning, and this gun is indeed not afraid of wind and rain." Zhao Hao smiled and nodded, but his eyes involuntarily glanced at Qi Jiguang's left forehead, where there were a few scratches.

Qi Jiguang was so alert that he immediately found that he had subconsciously pushed the black gauze hat up just now in order to facilitate aiming, revealing unspeakable shame.

At this time, I wanted to cover it up if I pulled it down, so I smiled dryly and said, "The cat scratched it." ”

"Oh, that's right." Zhao Hao nodded, indicating that he believed it.

"Alas, there's no need to hide it from my brother, my brother's grape trellis has fallen." Qi Jiguang smiled bitterly.

"Alas......" Zhao Hao sighed with a look of empathy.

"Hmph, Madame is too much!" Hu Shouren couldn't hold it back for a long time, and when he saw that the handsome man finally made the matter clear, he shouted: "Man, which one doesn't have three wives and four concubines?" The handsome man is now also the dignified Zuo Governor, and he is a member of the first grade. If you take a concubine, you have to keep it outside, and you will be like a thief all day long, and if you don't get it right, you will be beaten! ”

"This and this ......" Qi Jiguang glared at Hu Shouren's big mouth, and his old face turned red and explained to Zhao Hao: "Brother, don't listen to his nonsense, brother, I am not lustful, and I have a good relationship with my wife." It's just, alas, in order to continue the incense, I have to ......"

"Someone must inherit the office of the great handsome." Zhao Hao nodded in understanding. After all, even Hai Rui is so poor, doesn't he have to take a concubine in order to give birth to a son?

However, it is better not to put these two together.

He remembered that Qi Jiguang would have five sons, all of whom were born to concubines secretly outside from the wife of the main family, Wang. And Mrs. Wang didn't know about it until her sons were all grown up.

In his later years, Qi Jiguang said in the "Congratulations" dedicated to his ancestors and ancestors that in order to continue the descendants of the Qi family, he 'made a strange plan and worked hard. It can be seen that for this matter, there is no less wit and courage, and endure humiliation.

However, Hai Rui said that he had no choice but to accept a concubine to continue the incense on his mother's order, and Zhao Hao believed it. After all, the more Han looks good.

But Qi Jiguang said that he was just to continue the incense, but Zhao Hao didn't believe it.

Because in the forty-second year of Jiajing, Qi Jiguang took a concubine Shen behind his wife's back. But a year later, the Shen family still did not give Qi Jiguang a child, and Qi Jiguang accepted another concubine Chen. Chen gave birth to three sons to Qi Jiguang in a row, namely Qi Zuoguo, Qi Anguo, and Qi Baoguo. Later, the Shen family also gave birth to a son, and Qi Jiguang named him Qi Changguo.

In other words, Qi Jiguang now has four sons, so he doesn't have to worry about incense at all! But this year, he accepted the third concubine Yang, so it's not good to push it to feudal etiquette again, right?

If you're, just say it, what's the big deal. Well, for Qi Jiguang, it seems to be a big deal.

It is said that Qi Jiguang's wife, Wang, is noble-born, strong in martial arts, and fierce as fire, and never soft on her husband. Regardless of whether you are a national hero or not, if you kneel on the washboard, you have to kneel on the washboard, and you will never be soft when you smoke big-eared melon seeds.

It is difficult for a Qing official to decide family affairs, and Zhao Gongzi's wise choice is silent. I only heard that Hu Shouren was still there and said indignantly: "This time, I have to teach my wife a good lesson, why don't I let the brothers be fully armed and drive to the marshal's house together next time, show the authority of the marshal, and let her know that the marshal is awe-inspiring and inviolable!" ”

"Nonsense ......" Qi Jiguang said in his heart, what kind of bad idea is this? When the time comes, you pat your ass and leave, and Lao Tzu will have to kneel on the washboard. He hurriedly stopped this shameful topic, pointed to the bayonet on the barrel and asked Zhao Hao, "What is this circle of grooves for?" ”

Zhao Hao couldn't help laughing and took a short blade with a length of a foot from Gao Wu's hand. The short blade had no handle, instead a tail ring as thick as the muzzle. He thrust the blade into the gun, and with a click, the tail ring snapped into the muzzle, and the tail of the blade rested against the handguard.

"Wonderful!" Qi Jiguang's eyes lit up, and the problem that musketeers couldn't fight in close combat was solved so simply.

He brandished the bayonet-added Longqing style and made a few stabbing blocks, which were certainly not as easy as a spear, but definitely worth it.

Qi Jiguang was deeply satisfied with this, as if for him, the bayonet was more important than the flint. It was immediately said that all bird guns must be equipped with bayonets.

~~

Qi Jiguang is very grateful for the gift brought by Zhao Hao, and believes that his invention will be of great benefit to the improvement of the combat effectiveness of the official army.

It's just that in Qi Jiguang's opinion, this Longqing-style flintlock device is still too delicate, and with the urine of the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry, I don't know if it can be imitated in the Year of the Monkey. And even if it is imitated, I am afraid that it will not be able to reach the level of the original gun, so I still add a bayonet to the bird, and the effect is more immediate.

Zhao Hao is not surprised by this, any introduction of new technology will be met with resistance to old concepts. Even a military genius like Qi Jiguang could not have realized in an instant that this revolutionary invention would completely change the shape of warfare.

In fact, the Frenchman Mahan had already invented the ramming flintlock pistol twenty years earlier, but many French generals objected to the use of flintlock pistols on the grounds that 'of course the musket must be ignited with an open flame, how can the spark from the flint ignite the black powder?' ’

It wasn't until decades later, when they suffered a big loss under the Spanish flintlock pistol, that they gave up their attachment to arquebuses. It was not until the middle of the 17th century that the arquebuses were completely eliminated in European armies and replaced with flintlock muskets, which were used until 1848.

When the British devils launched the First Opium War, the brown bass rifles listed were essentially no different from the Longqing type, all of which were front-loading smoothbore, fixed-loading bullets, and flintlock pistols with bayonets.

Zhao Hao gave such a weapon to Daming, which can be regarded as benevolence and righteousness. If you can't beat the Tartars, then it's really a system problem......

In fact, the issue of the system is also a false proposition, and in the final analysis, it is still not good at combat effectiveness.

There is no Gatling Bodhisattva in the south, six clean big pipes, and any Li Chuang wild boar skin, all of which can be beaten into a sieve.