Pengxi Town stands by the water, located on the side of Yong'an Creek, between Linhai County and Xianju County.

Different from other town names, there is no Pengxi near Pengxi Town, but because this town originated from the Peng family, a big family who moved here at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and because of the water, it was named Pengxi Town.

At the end of the thirty-second year of Jiajing, the Japanese invaded Taizhou in a big way, first broke through the sea guards, and then occupied Huangyan County, 3,000 Japanese invaders attacked Linhai County, and the prefect Tan Lun dragged his sword naked to protect the city and not be disappointed.

But after keeping Linhai County, other places were not so lucky, such as Pengxi Town, near Linhai County, where only half of the people hid in the nearby Kucang Mountain, and the remaining half of the people died tragically under the swords and guns of the Japanese invaders.

Every family mourns, everyone wears filial piety, and the hard-working hatred makes Pengxi Town the town with the largest number of recruits in the whole government, Tan Lun's Taizhou soldiers, Hou Jigao's recruited township Yong, and Qian Yuan's escort team all have Pengxi people.

In the battle of Jiaxing Mansion last year, three Pengxi children were killed in battle, and after the year, Qian Yuan came to worship in person, and finally had to take away four Pengxi youths.

Therefore, today, as a Zhejiang patrol, Qian Yuan, who does not need to bow his head to anyone in Zhejiang Province, is sincere and salutes the old patriarch of the Peng clan in front of him.

However, the old man's face was very unsightly, and he raised the cane in his hand several times, and finally stopped on the ground fiercely, splashing the dirt everywhere, "Lord Qian, but they don't dare to go into battle?" ”

Qian Yuan shook his head again and again, "This is definitely not the case. ”

"I heard that half of the Qian family's guards have joined the army, and these mediocre people dare not have such extravagant hopes." The old man is old, but he is full of energy, "but he will return after only two months away from home, either he will not listen to discipline, or he will be timid!" ”

The four guards behind Qian Yuan all had bitter faces and didn't dare to refute, nor did they dare to retreat, even if the crutches wielded by the patriarch were about to be drawn to his body.

Leaving Yiwu, Qian Yuan left almost everyone to train recruits, only bringing four old people, plus four newcomers from Pengxi Town, which naturally had a reason, but he didn't expect to cause trouble.

The villagers on the side explained in a low voice that now the population in the town has decreased sharply, and the output of cultivated land is not much, and they all rely on the recruited soldiers to kill the Japanese to earn silver taels, and more than 200 people in Pengxi Town have been recruited into the army, which has become their main way to make money, so they have also developed a unique custom here, both young and old, men and women, all despise those young people who dare not go into battle.

"Fourth grandfather, the guards are training in Yiwu, and we are escorting the young master to patrol." A guard's explanation of grievances, as a result, his fourth grandfather gave him a cane.

"That's Peng Feng, the nephew of the patriarch of the Peng clan, whose grandfather was raised during the Hongzhi period, and died under the sword of the Japanese in the thirty-second year of Jiajing." The villager said in a low voice: "Drive them back to Yiwu, and you can enter the town here." ”

"Is this necessary?"

The villager nodded vigorously.

Qian Yuan's mouth was about to open open, during the Warring States Period, the Wei people were not afraid of war, and the Zhao people were good at fighting, but they were not as good as the Qin people.

In the end, the four guards from Pengxi Town were driven back to Yiwu, and Qian Yuan was warmly welcomed by the local big families and ordinary people, and even a beautiful girl in a cloth dress and a thorn skirt boldly cast a hot gaze.

The villagers around him are also from Pengxi Town, and they bowed their heads and said a few words with a smile, such as Qian Yuan, it is natural for people like Qian Yuan to take concubines, and it is not normal not to even accept concubines.

"Lord Qian, this is it." The villager pointed to Zhuangzi not far away, "Six people have been specially assigned to take care of it, and they are all good at serving the fields." ”

The six of them are all over forty years old and have rich experience in planting, Qian Yuan asked a few words, checked again, and then relaxed slightly.

Ten days ago, Qian Yuan asked people to transport the seeds back to Linhai County, and then remembered that he wanted to come to Pengxi Town, so he simply asked people to send them and find some old farmers to wait.

Qian Yuan didn't understand this, Xiao Qi didn't understand it, he regretted it now that he thought about it, he should have asked his father to write a booklet...... Now I can only do my best to obey the destiny of heaven.

"Those who are planted come out, serve well, and each person will be rewarded with silver." Qian Yuan instructed a few words, it's best to get a fence outside, don't let cats and dogs run in, if it's a bear child, it's even worse.

After having lunch at the patriarch's house, Qian Yuan drove a boat across Yong'an Creek accompanied by the village elders, and the other side of the river was Kuocang Mountain.

"It's so humid." After only a few steps into the mountain, Qian Yuan couldn't help but pause and said, "Why is it so foggy in the afternoon, I can't see it clearly from more than ten steps." ”

"The clouds are steaming, and the sky is wonderful." The villager smiled and said: "Almost every morning and afternoon, the sea of fog in the mountains rises, and there is a feeling of soaring clouds and fog when walking. ”

The group walked slowly forward while admiring the view, and after about two quarters of an hour, they bypassed an unobtrusive corner, and in front of them was a large valley.

A row of dozens of large and small workshops, the sound of ping-pong hammer hammer is endless, a shout, the high flames provoke everyone to exclaim, dozens of men are naked in the early spring, look closely, the body is rolling down are beads of sweat the size of beans.

This is Qian Yuan chose a long time to set the iron workshop, this year from Taizhou, Jinhua, Hangzhou to recruit blacksmiths gathered here to make all kinds of ordnance, before Qian Yuan guaranteed that there was no shortage of ordnance under Lu Bin, largely because of this workshop.

Of the 20,000 taels of silver stolen from Hu Zongxian, nearly 5,000 taels were invested here, and Qian Yuan also snatched ten master craftsmen from the Governor's Palace, and even sent a letter to Dong Bangzheng to appoint ten craftsmen who could make bird guns.

Chosen here, one can be kept secret, food, clothing, food and housing are responsible for Pengxi Town, Qian Yuan paid another silver tael, this is the Pengxi Town people to avoid the invasion of the Japanese invaders, the houses are ready-made, and located in the sea, it is difficult for the Japanese to invade.

Second, the transportation is convenient, not far away, there is a tributary of Yong'an Creek, which is very convenient for transporting ordnance and iron.

An old craftsman with gray hair respectfully stepped forward and kowtowed, but Qian Yuan did not ask about the number of ordnance made first, but first asked about the craftsmen's daily food and accommodation...... The civil officials of this era despised craftsmen, but Qian Yuan naturally did not have this bad habit.

The old craftsman was flattered for a while, and he couldn't speak, but the old villager explained on the side that now Pengxi Town has arranged ten people to cook here, and there are boats to transport grain, vegetables and meat every three days.

As he spoke, he walked forward, and suddenly a thunderclap startled everyone, Qian Yuan turned his head to look, and a long iron cylinder fixed by an iron hoop bounced up violently and smashed to the ground...... The dirt was smashed into a small hole.

"My lord, this was sent by Ningbo the day before yesterday." The old craftsman made his mouth easier, and introduced: "It is two feet long, more than two inches thick in the abdomen, weighs thirty-six pounds, and uses six taels of gunpowder and a hundred buckshot weights of five coins." ”

"Tiger squatting cannon." Qian Yuan was interested, the muzzle of the cannon was aimed at a mountain cliff, it should be a craftsman who was trying to shoot, he stepped forward to take a closer look, it was simply a large shotgun, and it was within range of six or seven meters in front of him.

"How far can you shoot?"

"About one hundred and eighty paces away."

"So close?" Qian Yuan was disappointed, he looked at the tiger squat cannon, lowered his head and pondered, and pointed to the iron claw under the cannon head, "Try a higher one." ”

Although Qian Yuan doesn't understand it very well, he can reason logically, the iron claw is high, the muzzle elevation angle is large, and the firing range should be farther.

The old craftsman didn't dare to disobey, so he quickly found someone to change the iron claw, changed the direction, and went out with one shot, and it was really a lot farther away.

In fact, Qian Yuan didn't know that in history, this kind of tiger squat cannon was actually a light mortar, with a range of about 500 meters.

"How many tiger squat cannons can be made in a month?"

"If it is re-manufactured, it will be up to two pieces a month, and if it is used, it will be much faster to restructure the old gun." The old craftsman said: "The bowl cannon and the poisonous tiger cannon can be restructured." ”

Qian Yuan was a little dissatisfied, there was no hope of catching up with this year's war, otherwise in an area with narrow terrain like the southeast, ten tiger squat cannons with hundreds of bird guns were enough to resist more than a thousand Japanese robbers.

I don't know if this kind of tiger squat cannon can be used in naval warfare, Qian Yuan pondered and looked for a chance to ask his father, but it was enough, last time he saw two big general cannons in Nanjing, that is, the bronze cannon of the Franco machine, one is nine feet long, the other is six feet long, and the tiger squat cannon is only two or three feet, the gap is too big.