"I made a note of it, brother." Tao Gong asked again, "What else?" ”

"And then there's the second point." Tao Min said, "Find someone to go to Beijing to spread the news, just say that Yulin Bay has self-respect and has the intention of rebellion." ”

"Can Chongzhen believe this?"

"Believe it or not, the dead horse has the right to be a live horse doctor, and it is okay to be able to pull their hind legs."

Tao Gong wrote down the second point: "Is there anything else?" ”

"One more thing is the most important." Tao Min suddenly smiled and said, "Yulin Bay wants to go to Vietnam, but it provides us with an opportunity." It will take at least half a year to a year for them to fight Vietnam this time, so let's take advantage of this opportunity to take Japan. You also have to hurry up and urge the shipyard to complete those four warships by the end of the year. I estimate that Yulin Bay will probably start attacking Vietnam during the Chinese New Year, and we will attack Japan at the same time. ”

The military committee of Yulin Bay also held an emergency meeting, Jiang Beiming sent back Cobra intelligence from Beijing, Tao Min was rushing to build warships in North Korea, and was preparing to assemble 80,000 new Korean troops, also whose movements were unknown.

The news that Yulinwan was released in Beijing City played a role, and Chongzhen ordered Jiang Beiming to return to Beijing with the fast gun team, and the Xi'an side was handed over to Yang Sichang and them.

Jiang Beiming's intelligence also mentioned a problem, and there are now rumors in Beijing that Yulin Bay has a tendency to support troops and respect itself. At the same time, Jiang Beiming's battle with Zuo Liangyu in Xi'an was also stabbed in the court. According to Wang Chengen's information, there have been several bullets to impeach Jiang Beiming and Yulinjun.

The Military Commission did not pay much attention to the changes in Beijing, because Jiang Beiming had already been impeached and would be sued several times in any year. But for Tao Min's behavior, the Military Commission is a little nerve-wracking, what does he want to do.

Zeng Guangxian thought that Tao Min might attack Tianjin or Dengzhou again, and Tao Min must now know that the main force of the Yulin Army had retreated to Yulin Bay, so he would take this opportunity to press the border again and make peace with Chongzhen.

However, Xu Lang and Leng Tianbing's opinion was that Tao Min might attack Japan, and the combined fleet was waiting for the Annan landing operation in Yulin Bay, and Tao Min must have heard the news and wanted to take advantage of this time to defeat Japan.

Wang Hua put forward a possibility that no one had thought of, whether Tao Min would have some contradiction with Huang Taiji to turn his face, otherwise why would he gather so many troops. Besides, Yulin Bay has not figured out what is going on until now, and there will be any secrets hidden in it.

All kinds of possibilities have been put forward one by one, each with its own reason. The meeting lasted a whole day, and finally the Military Commission came up with a resolution that the landing plan for Annan would remain unchanged, regardless of Tao Min's purpose. At the same time, the Military Commission instructed Wang Hua that since there were rumors in Beijing that Yulin Bay supported troops and respected themselves, they also asked the agents in the northeast to release the news, saying that Tao Min wanted to stand on his own feet in North Korea and stimulate Huang Taiji.

The secret services of both sides were busy, and all kinds of agents and spies began to shuttle through the Central Plains, from north to south, from south to north.

When the two sides were busy with their own work and actively preparing for war, Shen Daxing invited Dong Fei and Qin Songwang to his military research institute. Shen Daxing hesitated for a long time when he was looking for these two people, whether to tell them his plans. According to the regulations, the top secrets of the military scientific research institute can only be known to the current chairman, chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Shen Daxing, director of the military scientific research institute. But Shen Daxing also knew that the abilities of these two people were not good at all, and they wouldn't understand even if he told them. But the rules are the rules, Shen Daxing can only report to the two people first, and then ask the opinions of the two people to see if he needs to talk to Zhang Guodong.

Shen Daxing's plan is about the development of firearms, and the Yulin Army is currently replacing it with rifled guns. Moreover, Tao Min also knew about the situation of the Yulin Army's rifled guns, so it is difficult to say whether Tao Min would also be developing rifled guns in order to catch up with this generation gap. Therefore, Shen Daxing wanted to apply to the committee for a special fund to develop newer firearms, rear-loading guns.

Because it is still impossible to get a metal cartridge case and a primer, the rear-loading gun that Shen Daxing wants to engage in is an imitation of the American M1819 Hall rear-loading gun.

The Hall Rear Loader is a breech-loaded flintlock pistol with a construction that is not entirely new. The bolt mechanism of the gun includes a bolt, a firing mechanism, and a steel block attached to the receiver. To reload, press a trigger-like spring hook under the butt to open the bolt, then lift the bolt upwards so that the muzzle slopes upward. The chamber is then filled with a certain amount of propellant and the projectile is pushed to the deepest part of the chamber with your fingers. When the bolt is locked, the firearm is in a state of readiness. With a little practice, the Hall rear-loading gun could be reloaded several times faster than the standard front-loading smoothbore musket, as well as other guns of the same era. What's more, soldiers can lie on the ground and reload their guns without having to queue up to be shot.

Of course, Shen Daxing's idea was to transform this flintlock pistol into a breech-loading rifled gun.

Shen Daxing was busy with gestures for most of the day, but Dong Fei and Qin Songwang still didn't understand much.

"Shen Daxing, we don't understand what you're talking about." Qin Songwang said, "Just tell me how much funding your scientific research institute wants." ”

"The question of money is still uncertain, I mean allocate a special fund, and how much can be used." Shen Daxing had no choice but to explain again, "This gun must be machined and then assembled. Now that our steam engine technology is becoming more and more mature, it has become possible to machine parts, and we are also developing springs, so I had this idea. ”

The inventor of the spring should be the British scientist Hooke in the strict sense, although the helical compression spring had appeared and was widely used at that time, but Hooke proposed the "Hooke's law" - the elongation of the spring is proportional to the amount of force experienced, it is according to this principle, in 1776, the spring scale using the helical compression spring came out. Soon after, springs made based on this principle for use in clocks were also invented by Hooke himself. And the spring that conforms to Hooke's law is the spring in the true sense of the word.

Although Shen Daxing also knows "Hooke's law", the spring he is developing is still in the most primitive stage, and it is handmade, and even Shen Daxing himself does not know whether it is practical or not.

"Daxing, you also know that our current funds are still not loose." Dong Fei said, "And it's about to enter Vietnam." But you don't have to worry, I think it's best to consult Chairman Zhang's opinion, and if he agrees, I'll be fine. ”

"I'm fine." Qin Songwang also said.

"But I have a problem." Shen Daxing said with a smile, "According to the regulations, only the three of us can know about this matter." ”

"The rule is dead, but man is alive." Dong Fei said with a smile, "Besides, I can't believe it, but no one can trust Chairman Zhang." You don't have to worry about this, I'll go to him myself. ”

The next day, Zhang Guodong came to the scientific research institute, and Shen Daxing saw Zhang Guodong as if he had seen a savior: "Chairman Zhang, it's good if you come." ”

Zhang Guodong joked: "I violated the rules." ”

"Then I can't help it." Shen Daxing said, "If we don't violate the regulations, we really won't be able to develop it, and the two of them don't understand." ”

"It's not that serious." Zhang Guodong explained, "I came to you with the consent of the two committees, and it is not a violation of any regulations. What exactly do you want to do, say it and listen to it. ”

Shen Daxing told Zhang Guodong about his plan, and Zhang Guodong was very excited: "Okay, Daxing." If we can really get a rear-loading gun, then our combat effectiveness will go to a higher level. ”

"Chairman Zhang, as long as you agree." Shen Daxing was relieved.

Zhang Guodong asked again: "Do you have any other ideas besides this, let's talk about it together." ”

Shen Daxing smiled: "There are many other ideas, but they are not very realistic. We originally wanted to make a revolver, but I asked some people in the military, and I also checked some of the original copied and printed materials, and we still can't get out the thunder mercury and the fire cap, so the revolver won't be able to get it for a while. ”

Zhang Guodong also knew that the earliest revolver was invented by Colt in 1835. The revolver was a fire cap type and used a paper cartridge conical bullet with a caliber of 10.16 mm. Prior to this, there were many primitive revolvers, but they were inconvenient to use because they needed to be turned by hand.

"Okay, it's a big step forward to be able to get a rear-loading gun." Zhang Guodong felt that it was better not to put too much pressure on Shen Daxing, "Let me tell you one more thing, the two committees have made a decision, if you have anything in the future, you can directly contact me, and I will convey it to the chairman of the committee and the chairman of the Military Commission." ”

Shen Daxing smiled knowingly: "Then it will be much more convenient for me." ”

By the end of the year, Yulin Bay had sent more than 10,000 troops to Jinpu, and the new Vietnamese army that had been replaced had also been broken up and organized into tax police stationed in various places. The last group of the New First Army, led by Xu Lang, will set off from Yulin Bay to Jinpu on the 25th of the lunar month, and the landing operation in Annam will be officially launched on the first day of the first lunar month. In order to take care of the landing of Annan, the crossing conference that was supposed to be held in the eleventh year of Chongzhen was advanced to the twenty-second day of the lunar month.

There was nothing new about the conference this time, and Yulin Bay was now focusing all its energy on the Annan landing.

Qin Songwang made a simple report to the conference, reporting on the development of Yulin Bay in the past six months.

Xia Yang, as the leader of the land reform team, also made a report on land reform to the conference.

At present, the land reform is relatively smooth, and several counties around Yulin Bay and Yazhou, such as Thanksgiving County, Changhua County, and Lingshui County, have completed the land reform. Basically every landless peasant was given a piece of land, and the original land has not changed, and there is no decree that the maximum land rent shall not exceed 20%.

There has also been no change in the land of the Li people, and the land reform team has made arrangements for those Li people who are willing to leave the mountains to live in various prefectures and counties and in Yulin Bay. There are no coercive measures for those who do not want to leave, and they continue to live in their original places according to their original habits.

The biggest problem in the land reform is dealing with local magistrates. Yulin Bay wanted to take the ownerless wasteland into public ownership and distribute it, which made many magistrates very dissatisfied. Xia Yang adopted the method of carrying out two hands at the same time, on the one hand, the tax police from all over the country cooperated with the compulsory collection; On the other hand, it also sent sweetness to these magistrates, as long as they did not interfere with the land reform, Yulin Bay could partner with them to do business. How much money Zhou Chongde and Li Shuang can earn now is obvious to all in Qiongzhou Mansion, and these local officials have turned a blind eye.

On the last day of the meeting, a controversial issue arose, and Tan Jing, on behalf of the Women's Federation, submitted a bill to the congress, demanding that the "Marriage Law" be amended, and monogamy should be implemented from the eleventh year of Chongzhen, and no new concubinage should be allowed. But the bill was opposed by some, mainly because it had been rejected by the General Assembly a month earlier. The people of the Ming Dynasty did not agree to monogamy, and if this system was only implemented among the travelers, most of the male travelers would still be reluctant.

Even people like Leng Tianbing, who have made it clear that they don't want to take a concubine, some of them voted against, I don't take a concubine is my choice, but forcing me not to take a concubine is to interfere with freedom. In the end, Tan Jing's proposal was not passed, but Tan Jing still saw hope, because when the "Marriage Law" was enacted, less than 70 people agreed to monogamy, and now the votes for it are only about 20 votes less than the votes against.

The conference ended on the 24th, Xu Lang was going to Vietnam the next day, Ye Zhan had already followed the first division, and Gao Chen had also left. Gao Chen is now officially appointed as the major chief of staff of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Division of the New First Army.

The whole family went to rest after dinner, and Xu Lang, Cheng Yiyi, and Zhao Zhiruo sat alone in the courtyard. The street lamps outside the courtyard have been lit, and with the moonlight, the whole small courtyard looks quiet and bright.

"It's about to be the New Year, but I'm leaving." Xu Lang smoked silently and said in a low voice.

"Xu Lang, don't do this." Zhao Zhiruo grabbed Xu Lang's arm, "Annan is not very far, Sister Yiyi and I have been there, Sister Yiyi has also fought there, you will be back soon." ”

"I hope it's going to be soon." Xu Lang knew in his heart that even if he could successfully defeat Vietnam, he might not be able to come back soon, because he still had to control and manage Vietnam. And all this, Han Wantao has no idea, and in the end he has to rely on himself as the chief of staff.

"Xu Lang." Cheng Yiyi leaned her head on Xu Lang's shoulder, "I never asked you for anything, I want to make a request this time." Anyway, when Zhiruo and I had a baby, I wanted you to be by your side. ”

Xu Lang lowered his head and kissed Cheng Yiyi on the cheek, then turned his head and kissed Zhao Zhiruo: "I will, I promise you, I will definitely come back when the time comes." ”