Chapter 203: Breaking into the King's Tricks

Seeing Li Mao's urgent letter, Zhang Zhimu knew that he couldn't go home now. He came to Chen Yufeng's command center and showed the letter to Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He.

After reading Li Mao's letter, Ouyang He found the location of the Luohe River on a large map and said: "When Li Zicheng occupied Luoyang for a long time, they could easily send ships from Luoyang to cut off the transportation of the Yellow River. It seems that competing with Li Zicheng for the waterway is our main task in the next step. ”

Chen Yufeng asked: "Zhimu, when will our steamship be renovated?" ”

Zhang Zhimu knew that Chen Yufeng was a little anxious, and said: "The Dacheng ship has almost been transformed, and it will be launched for sea trials this time, and they are doing the final inspection and commissioning." The boat was also going well. It will also be in the water soon. ”

Chen Yufeng nodded and didn't speak, Zhang Zhimu said: "I don't think we should worry, let's wait until our boats are ready to use." Even I was thinking that we would attack when a few ships were remodeled. If we don't move, we will beat them honestly all at once, and we will beat them all the way to the gate of Luoyang. Won't they be able to come out into the Yellow River, and we can also go to the Luohe River. Use the maneuverability of our steamships to convince them. ”

Ouyang He said: "Mr. Zhang, our steamship has the advantage of maneuverability, but there has not been much improvement in firepower, we can carry mortars on the ship, but the mortars have a short range after all, much closer than those red-coated cannons." ”

"It's a good idea to bring mortars onto the ship, they have red-coat cannons, and we have them on board, but it's hard to get them right from a distance," Chen said. We took advantage of our advantage, we had a telescope, and we could shoot at a distance of two or three miles, and they were two or three miles away from us, and they could only see a shadow of us. We are not afraid of them when we fight. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Sun Liang's artillery scope is going to be good, with the artillery scope, you can directly aim and shoot, and there is no cover on the water surface to give full play to our advantages." ”

Ouyang He said: "Actually, we don't necessarily have to wait for several ships to be ready before attacking, our ship can drag other ships to act together, and when we need to pursue at high speed, we can let go of the towed boat, even if it is towed, our ship is much more mobile than theirs." Especially when the wind blows, they can only watch us come and go freely. ”

Chen Yufeng said: "At least we have to wait until we have tested two ships, one large and one small. However, before the experiment, Li Zicheng's stronghold should be pulled out. Don't let them get the information out. ”

Zhang Zhimu said with a smile: "Let's keep that intelligence point, we have raised it for so long, and it will be of great use in the future." Even if they send the information back, they don't know what's going on with our steamship, and if they do, they can't do anything. So leave them alone. ”

Chen Yufeng said: "Send a telegram to Fan Chengkun immediately, asking them to send 50 people with some education to Yaogang to learn mortars." Li Wei's others kept them as seeds and served as instructors for the people behind them. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "When they finish their studies, you can send a few instructors to follow them on the boat first, and wait for a few battles." Fan Chengkun's people can do it themselves. The people who have been trained for a short time and the people who have been trained by Li Wei with cannonballs are completely different things. That Li Wei can now hit his target with almost two shots. Sometimes a single shot is all it takes. It's not something that can be done in a day or two. ”

Ouyang He immediately drafted a telegram: "Order: In order to increase the firepower of the warship, the company is ready to equip the warship with mortars. Fan Chengkun was asked to select 50 young soldiers and officers with outstanding eyesight and literacy to go to the kiln post to learn mortar-related techniques and prepare for the mortar to be put on board. Kiln Gang Military Council. ”

The telegram was soon delivered to the telegraph room.

After a while, the telegraph room sent another telegram from Fan Chengkun: "The order has been received, and sixty officers and soldiers will be sent to the kiln post for training within three days, please rest assured." Fan Chengkun. ”

Chen Yufeng laughed and said: "The telegram is really good, if someone sends a letter back and forth, it will be a lot of trouble." ”

Ouyang He smiled and asked, "Mr. Zhang, can you install a telegram on the ship?" ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Yes." There are two things I'm going to do next. One is a rifled gun; The other is the light bulb. Once I'm done with the light bulbs, I'll make tubes, and then I'll put radio equipment on the ship, so that I can stay in touch with my family wherever the ship goes. ”

Ouyang He asked again: "What kind of radio equipment are you talking about, can you use a car to pull it?" ”

Zhang Zhimu and Chen Yufeng both laughed, and Zhang Zhimu said, "You want to use radio command to fight, right?" Let me tell you, not only can you pull it with a car, but you can carry it on your back with a person. Later, when the soldiers charged, they could take telegraphs with them. ”

Chen Yufeng said: "In the future, our courses will become more and more difficult to teach, and with this thing, the way of fighting will change." ”

In fact, the current Ming Dynasty is a few people in the next game of chess, everyone wants to layout according to their own ideas, and others will also find ways to destroy the opponent's layout.

Just when Zhang Zhimu led the officers and soldiers of Yaogang to defeat the Qing army in November of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng made great gains in the Central Plains.

Although Li Zicheng suffered a great setback in Kaifeng and tried to defeat Zhang Zhimu twice, he successfully annexed several other rebel armies during this time.

Li Zicheng marched into Huguang in the 15th year (1642) in leap November, and it took only three months to capture Xiangyang, Jingzhou, Chengtian, Hanyang, De'an, Huangzhou and other prefectures in the north of Huguang and the Yangtze River, leaving only Yunyang. Wang Guangen, the general of Yunyang Prefecture, was also the leader of the peasant army in northern Shaanxi, and later surrendered to the imperial court. At this time, he defended the city with all his heart, vowing not to surrender, and Liu Zongmin, who was attacking the city, had no choice, so he had no choice but to do so.

After Li Zicheng returned to Xiangyang, he began to form a political power. At that time, someone persuaded Li Zicheng to become king, but Niu Jinxing thought it was impossible, so Li Zicheng changed Xiangyang to Xiangjing, set up the Generalissimo Mansion of Fengtian and Yiyi, and appointed himself as the generalissimo of civil and military affairs, and set up official positions:

There is 1 prime minister, who is served by Niu Jinxing. There are "six departments" of officials, households, rites, soldiers, criminals, and workers, respectively, by Yu Shangyou (Jinshi, the original imperial history), Xiao Yingkun (Jinshi, the former Jiangxi political envoy), Yang Yongyu (Jinshi, the former Qin Tianjian doctor), Li Zhensheng (Jinshi, the original patrol according to the imperial history, Li Zhensheng was actually not demoted, and was succeeded by Qiu Zhitao after his post), Deng Yanzhong (Gongshi), Yao Xiyin served as a waiter.

Foreign officials are set up with posts such as defense history, government governor, state pastor, and county order. The areas where Li Zicheng set up officials were roughly Nanyang Mansion, Xinyang Prefecture, Runing Prefecture, Chengtian Mansion (renamed Yangwu Prefecture), Jingzhou Mansion, De'an Mansion (renamed Anlu Prefecture), Xiangyang Mansion and so on. Later, Li Zicheng's influence expanded to the south of the Yangtze River.

At the same time, Li Zicheng carried out rectification and reform of the army. He divided the troops into two types: one was the "five battalions" that attacked the city and conquered the territory, and the other was the local army that guarded various places.

The five battalions "set up two generals, namely Tian Jianxiu and Liu Zongmin. Tian Jianxiu was in charge of the commanders' battalions, and Liu Zongmin was in charge of the Zhongquan pro-army.

In addition to the "five battalions," Li Zicheng also established a guard force in various parts of the town. According to the purpose of guarding Xiangyang first, then Chengtian, De'an, and then gradually to Runing, he set up guards and placed commanders and stationed them in various places.

At the same time as the construction of political power, Li Zicheng used bloody means to eliminate dissidents, monopolize power, and establish his absolute authority.

The first to bear the brunt are Cao Cao, Luo Rucai, Ge Liyan, He Yilong.

Cao Cao and Luo Ru were one of the earliest peasant leaders in northern Shaanxi, and they were relatively strong. When Li Zicheng was defeated in Shaanxi and hid in the mountains and did not dare to show his face, Luo Rucai and Zhang Xianzhong were in a prosperous situation. Later, because he couldn't get along with Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and Li Zicheng joined forces, swept Henan, and went to Huguang, and their contribution and strength were not inferior to Li Zicheng. When Li Zicheng proclaimed himself the "Generalissimo of the Fengtian Righteous Battalion", he also gave Luo Rucai the title of "General Dewei on behalf of the people of Tianfu", but Luo Rucai did not have the right to issue orders to the whole army.

Ge Li Yan He Yilong is the leader of the "Ge and Left Five Battalions". Together with Lao Hui and Ma Shouying, he led the long-term activities of the "Fifth Battalion of the Revolution and the Left Battalion" in Anhui. Even in the most difficult period when Li Zicheng was defeated and Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai surrendered, they never wavered. The "Fifth Battalion of the Revolution and the Left" basically fought independently, and once joined forces with Zhang Xianzhong, and later saw that Li Zicheng was fighting well in Henan, so he moved to Henan to join forces with him until Huguang. The strength of the "Fifth Battalion of Revolution and Left" is second only to Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai.

If Li Zicheng wants to monopolize power, he must get rid of Luo Rucai, He Yilong and others, because Luo Rucai, He Yilong and others are also strong competitors. The situation at that time was that either the forces were scattered and fought on their own, or the winner was decided and the whole army was commanded. So Li Zicheng made the first move and made the first move.

After Li Zicheng made proper arrangements, he invited Luo Rucai and He Yilong to the old camp for a banquet. Luo Rucai did not go under the pretext of excuse. However, He Yilong was invited to come and was killed by a random knife. Early the next morning, Li Zicheng led a hundred elite horsemen, lied that there was something to discuss, killed Luo Rucai in the bedroom, and then announced his crime (naturally collaborating with the enemy) to appease his subordinates.

Although many of Luo Rucai's and He Yilong's subordinates defected, most of them were still there and were incorporated into Li Zicheng's camp. When Lao Hui returned to Ma Shouying, he was leading his troops to attack Lizhou (now Li County, Hunan), and was shocked when he heard the news, and did not dare to return to Li Zicheng's side. Li Zicheng tried every means to win him over and confer on him the title of "Yongfu Battalion Heroic General" and gave him a gold seal weighing forty-eight taels, but he was all refused. Ma Shouying finally fell ill and died, and most of his subordinates went to Zhang Xianzhong. The other three leaders of the fifth battalion of Ge and Zuo, namely He Jin, the king of Zuojin, Liu Xiyao, the king of the ruling world, and Lin Chengyang, the king of the world, obediently became Li Zicheng's subordinates. Soon after, Li Zicheng also set up troops to eliminate the small Yuan camp active in Henan, and its leader Yuan Shizhong was killed.

At this point, Li Zicheng was already a peasant leader with great power. His next target is Shaanxi.

But he didn't forget Zhang Zhimu of Shanxi Yaogang, who made him like a fish in his throat. Niu Jinxing saw that Li Zicheng could not rest assured of Zhang Zhimu, afraid that he would be distracted and delay the seizure of Shaanxi, and analyzed: "We know that Shanxi has been in drought for many years, and Zhang Zhimu has gained a foothold in Shanxi because of the grain brought back from Jiangnan. ”

Although Li Zicheng was skeptical of Niu Jinxing's words, his top priority was to deal with Shaanxi, and he did not have time to deal with Zhang Zhimu with all his might. Therefore, he adopted Niu Jinxing's suggestion and sent ships from Luoyang to block the Yellow River waterway. Because Luoyang occupies a very good position, the Luo River here can just cut off the Yellow River waterway. Moreover, it is also very convenient for the warship to return to Luoyang to rest. If Shanxi people are forced to cross the Taihang Mountain, the mountain road is not easy to walk, and it will take a big circle. Not to mention that the capacity will be greatly reduced, and the transportation cost will consume most of the profits.

This trick can't help but say that Niu Jinxing can see the magic accurately, he really stabbed the sore spot of the kiln. Otherwise, the Yellow River will be civilized, and many things, such as manganese dioxide ore and apatite, grain, etc., should be transported to Yaogang. These are all urgently needed in the kiln.

It should be said that this trick has indeed seen the effect, and the momentum of the smooth development of the entire kiln gang has been blocked. Fortunately, the kiln gang still has its own backhand, and the transformation of the steamship is about to be completed.

Things are always good and bad, and as soon as Zhang Zhimu went to work the next day, two good things came in a row. One is that the research group of the metal cobalt produced the metal cobalt; The second is that the copper mine smelts copper at the same time as the metal zinc.

Zhang Zhimu was mentally prepared to refine metal zinc, because metal zinc had already been smelted during the experiment, and after they put it into production, they only industrialized the results of the experiment. What Zhang Zhimu didn't expect was that these people produced metal cobalt so quickly, although these metal cobalt were very small, it showed that they had mastered the technology of producing metal cobalt.

This primitive cobalt blue is actually a mixture of cobalt oxide, zinc oxide, and silicon oxide, but these cobalt blue ore powders contain a large amount of copper and other impurities, and the cobalt content is very low. Zhang Zhimu didn't know how cobalt was produced before, but he heard from the master that the production of cobalt was very complicated, and the ore raw materials should be dissolved with ferrous sulfate solution first, because the cobalt in cobalt oxide can replace iron, and finally dissolved in the solution, and the copper was resolved by the method of electrical analysis, and then after the impurities were removed from the remaining solution, the lime milk was precipitated into cobalt hydroxide, and then the cobalt hydroxide was dissolved in sulfuric acid to obtain a high concentration of cobalt sulfate solution, and finally the metal cobalt was electroresolved by graphite anode.

In fact, Zhang Zhimu knew that his master might not have personally made metal cobalt, and he had only read some information. He probably never imagined what kind of impact his few words in small talk would have on the history that had passed hundreds of years.

Zhang Zhimu also pointed out a direction to these people in this group, but they didn't expect that they would make metal cobalt so quickly.

Zhang Zhimu told them to immediately design a set of production equipment based on the principle of your cobalt production, specializing in the production of electrolytic copper and metal cobalt. Then he called Li Yunhe over and told him that the next step was to make cemented carbide.

Li Yunhe asked: "What is cemented carbide?" ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "To put it simply, tungsten carbide is made into a solid material with metal cobalt as a binder, which is very hard, wear-resistant, and high-temperature resistant. The turning tools that make lathes can machine most of the things we come across. ”

Li Yunhe immediately realized the usefulness of this thing and said, "This matter must be done quickly." ”

Zhang Zhimu felt that the people who made the metal cobalt were very suitable for doing this, but they also had to design production equipment. There's no way, just let them do both.

The prospecting team and the group organized by Li Shoutan's people were still very capable, and they were very excited when they heard that Zhang Zhimu was going to give them a new task again. Zhang Zhimu told them that the production of cobalt metal and new jobs are very important and must be taken care of.

Zhang Zhimu's requirement is to produce tungsten powder first. Zhang Zhimu has never produced this tungsten powder, he just knows that after tungsten ore is leached with alkaline water, the generated sodium tungstate solution is purified and calcium chloride is added to form a precipitate, and then hydrogen chloride is decomposed into tungstic acid, which is calcined into tungsten oxide, and it is reduced by hydrogen to become tungsten powder.

Zhang Zhimu saw that everyone had finished taking notes, and said, "That's all I know, and it's up to you to do what you do." ”

In the end, these people put forward a request, saying that there are not enough personnel to work together for two jobs, and they hope to increase the number of personnel.

Zhang Zhimu jokingly said: "You choose the personnel yourself, I am a bare pole, and I can't go with you." ”

In fact, Zhang Zhimu hopes that they will choose more people, this is an opportunity to train and cultivate people, and said to Li Yunhe: "Li Yunhe cooperates with them to give them as many people as possible, you know, people at this time are not sent out in vain." After that, it's all seeds. ”

Of course, Li Yunhe knew that this was the best opportunity to cultivate people, and many of his people were brought out in this way.

Sending away these people who happily received new tasks, Zhang Zhimu left Li Yunhe behind and asked him: "When your lathe processes parts, is the turning tool easy to wear, if the processing speed is too fast, the turning tool will soon anneal, and the hardness will decrease?" ”

Li Yunhe replied: "Yes, this is also a problem that limits our processing speed, even if the processing speed is too fast with coolant." ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Let me tell you a way, the manganese dioxide we brought back is not only used to make glass, but also a little, you can add it to the steel when making steel, so that the manganese content is about 10 percent, so that the steel made for turning tools can greatly improve the heat resistance." When their tungsten powder comes out, it is even more difficult to add some more. You test it with manganese first, and when the tungsten powder comes out, we will use tungsten manganese alloy steel to make rifled barrels. ”

Li Yunhe seemed to understand the purpose of Zhang Zhimu's step-by-step preparation, and asked: "You are waiting to make this alloy for the barrel of the gun." I said you kept saying that you wanted to make a new gun with a rifled barrel, and it didn't move. That's the reason, right? ”

Zhang Zhimu smiled and said, "Count you smart." It can also be made with ordinary steel, but the rifling of such a barrel will wear out quickly. It's better to wait, and you can get it in one step. ”

Li Yunhe asked, "Is it about to be soon?" ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "There are a few more things. The first thing is that you're going to make an alloy from zinc and copper that they've just smelted, and then use that alloy to make bullet casings for your new gun. You're going to have to work a little bit on this bullet case. As he spoke, Zhang Zhimu took out a few drawings of bullets.

Li Yunhe leaned over, looked at it for a while, and said, "This is completely different from the bullets we use now." The warhead is a jujube core type, and the shell is a thin-mouthed shape. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "This kind of shell processing is a little more complicated, but this shape can increase the charge at the same bullet length. This makes it possible to increase the range of the bullet. ”

Li Yunhe asked puzzledly: "When we stamp, the outside mouth is the same as the inside or the outside mouth is larger than the inside, so that the stamping can work." How do you get this little bite? ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "To make the bullet case, we need to use the method of extension processing, first of all, a brass column should be flattened on both sides, and it should be extended and processed into a cylinder with a mold several times, and a set of molds with the same shape as the mouth of the bullet case and a cylindrical mold consistent with the outer diameter of the bullet should be used to squeeze the shell case, and then rush out of the primer, and finally the car will come out of the annular groove and the bottom edge of the bullet. ”

Li Yunhe asked: "The primer is about the same as the current bullet?" ”

"Yes, the primer is pretty much the same as the current primer. It's just that there is a slight difference in size. Zhang Zhimu replied: "The key is that the gap between warheads is large. The warhead is composed of three parts: a quilt armor, a lead sleeve and a steel core, each part is manufactured separately, and then assembled into a warhead after passing the inspection. It should be noted that when charging, the mouth of the shell should be painted with asphalt paint. When it is semi-dry, the charge is recharged, if it is not dry, the charge is easy to stick to the asphalt paint, and when it is too dry to assemble the warhead, it is not easy to form a seal between the warhead and the shell. ”

Li Yunhe asked again: "This kind of *** uses smoke-free **, right?" ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "It's smoke-free." However, it is necessary to use ** to dissolve the nitrate cotton into a gelatinous form, and then squeeze it into cylindrical small particles. This is to prolong the burning time of **, reduce the chamber pressure and the working time of the bullet, and increase the range of the bullet. ”

Li Yunhe smiled bitterly and said, "It seems that there are still a lot of troubles." By the way, I haven't heard you talk about what ** before? What's that? ”

"It can be produced by the reaction of pure alcohol and concentrated sulfuric acid**. I've asked the distillery to produce more alcohol from grains, just for that. Zhang Zhimu said: "You hurry up and finish the bullet business, and then you will organize elite soldiers and strong generals to concentrate on rifled guns." ”

The dry mouth that Li Yunhe said was that he didn't see Yang Yulin coming to deliver water. Zhang Zhimu felt a little strange, could it be that everyone had gone out. When Li Yunhe left, Zhang Zhimu also came out, and when he saw Yang Yulin and they were all there, Zhang Zhimu said: "Hurry up and get some water to drink, now my mouth is dry." ”

After a while, Yang Yulin brought in a pot of tea. Because Zhang Zhimu had been looking at a drawing, he didn't look up, but Yang Yulin put down the tea and went out without speaking. At this time, Zhang Zhimu felt that something was wrong. Why did Yang Yulin come into the house and leave without saying a word.

Zhang Zhimu got up and called Yang Yulin in, Yang Yulin didn't squeak when she came in, and stood there waiting for Zhang Zhimu to speak. Now Zhang Zhimu was even more puzzled.

Zhang Zhimu couldn't help but ask: "Oh, I said what is wrong with you today, why didn't you say a word?" ”

Yang Yulin obviously still didn't want to speak, and said, "What's the matter with you?" ”

This made Zhang Zhimu even more confused, and when he got up and went over, he was about to pull Yang Yulin. Yang Yulin ducked back and said, "It's okay, I'll go out." ”

"There's something, you come and I'll talk about it." Zhang Zhimu went to the sofa and said, "I'm going to ask you what's going on." ”

Yang Yulin reluctantly sat down, Zhang Zhimu went over to hug her, Yang Yulin didn't dodge, and asked, "Do you remember what you said?" ”

Where did Zhang Zhimu remember that Yang Yulin asked that sentence, and asked: "You asked that sentence, I said too much." ”

Yang Yulin snorted angrily and said, "Are you talking nonsense everywhere and not remembering anything after you finish speaking?" ”

Zhang Zhimu said patiently: "Just say it directly, I should remember that sentence?" ”

Yang Yulin saw that she couldn't say no, and said, "You said that you would marry me at the beginning of spring." After finishing speaking, Yang Yulin blushed and lowered her head, which was both shy and angry.

Zhang Zhimu suddenly remembered that last time Yang Yulin asked herself, "When will you marry her", she immediately gave Zhizhi until the beginning of the Spring Festival. I didn't expect this spring to arrive so soon.

Zhang Zhimu kissed Yang Yulin and said, "I dreamed of marrying you back as soon as possible." But you see, how can I have time? Besides, you don't know yet, King Chuang's warship has blocked our trade routes, and if we don't think of a way, we will be in trouble if we don't have a food supply. How can I think about my own business now? ”

Zhang Zhimu is telling the truth, in fact, Yang Yulin also knows this, but she is a woman, and she is not at ease if she does not marry Zhang Zhimu for a day. Special are her two good friends, every time they come here, saying that they are coming to see her, she knows in her heart that they are all looking secretly at Zhang Zhi's wooden house, which makes her heart sour, and she can't speak. Zhang Zhimu is too attractive in front of these women, and this is not to blame them. So Yang Yulin always has a sense of crisis.

It's already March after the New Year, but Yang Yulin can't see that Zhang Zhimu wants to marry her. Yang Yulin couldn't ask Zhang Zhimu about this, and she couldn't tell anyone about it, so she wanted to cry aggrieved. This mood is naturally expressed.

However, this matter is also a problem for Zhang Zhimu, and he doesn't know how to say it.

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