Chapter 41 The Southward ___ Begins

After Li Mao arrived, he first asked Zhang Zhimu when he would leave when he would go south, and Zhang Zhimu said that it was not yet confirmed, and it was estimated that he would have to prepare for a few days. Li Mao said that he still wanted to buy some horses to go back, Zhang Zhimu said that he couldn't take so many horses south at once, so he asked him to pick the horses himself. When Li Mao was about to leave, Yan Boju stopped him and said, "Li Gongzi, they all said that you are doing a good job in the horse business in Xiurong, and I still have a few horses, I don't know if you can look at it." ”

Li Mao said: "Then let me open my eyes." Yan Boju had the twenty horses in the stables in the front yard pulled out. Li Mao looked at them one by one, his face was expressionless, and asked Zhang Zhimu: "Brother Xian, are these horses ready to shoot here?" In fact, Zhang Zhimu could see that Li Mao already liked these horses very much, and his expressionless face was actually the most expressive, and he was trying to control himself. Zhang Zhimu said: "Brother Li, if you are interested, you can make a price." ”

"All inclusive, how about one hundred and eighty taels each?" Li Mao asked. Zhang Zhimu glanced at Yan Boju and said; "Okay, it's up to you." In this way, Li Mao bought a total of 120 horses.

After Li Mao finished meeting the money, he drove the horse away.

Yan Boju said to Lu Chengxiang that the horses Li Mao bought were two columns of top-class horses, three columns of medium-class horses, and twenty second-class horses, a total of 13,500 taels, you can find someone to collect it. Lu Chengxiang said, in the kiln, the cash will be handed over to Mr. Huang (Huang Yukun), and I will just keep the account. Zhang Zhimu asked: "You still have ten treasures, why don't you let Li Mao take a look?" ”

Yan Boju leaned into Zhang Zhimu's ear and said: "Those ten horses, one horse can top ten of the twenty, and now they can't be sold, and they won't be brought south." I'm going to take a good look at it. It will be of great use in the future. "Regarding the matter of horses, Zhang Zhimu completely handed over to Yan Boju, and he left him with whatever he said.

Li Jing, who went into the city to deliver eggs, came back and said to Zhang Zhimu: "God Hand Zhang" said that saltpeter and those things have arrived, let you go. Zhang Zhimu also wanted to meet the "God Hand Zhang" before leaving. Zhang Zhimu took Lu Chengxiang into Xiurong City, and as soon as he arrived at the city gate, Lao Wu came over, and mysteriously came over and said, "Two crossbows for the bed." Come and pick it up as soon as possible. Zhang Zhimu said: "Okay, my friend was talking about this two days ago, if he hasn't got it yet, I'll ask him to come to you." In addition, there is ** to get another thousand catties. "Yes, 10,000 catties."

Zhang Zhimu was so happy in his heart, he thought that he really wanted to sleep, so he sent a pillow. Li Zhi asked, "What do you want a bed crossbow for?" Zhang Zhimu said: "When the time comes, it will be useful." We don't have a cannon, we only use it as a ranged weapon. ”

After seeing Zhang Bengui and introducing Lu Chengxiang, Zhang Bengui asked why Chen Yufeng didn't come, and Zhang Zhimu said that he went to Lingshui Wharf. Zhang Bengui said: "Now everything has been obtained, but it is more to see how much you can want." There are more than 3,000 catties of saltpeter, more than 1,000 catties of sulfur, and 5 or 600 catties of willow charcoal and dough rod carbon. What do you think you can ask for? ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "The people who do this business are very knowledgeable, and they buy the goods according to the formula, and I want all these goods, no matter how much." ”

"Well, I'll let them transport it directly to the kiln at night, and this thing won't dare to enter the city." Zhang Bengui said.

Zhang Zhimu said, "Then I want to thank Uncle Zhang." ”

Zhang Bengui said: "Don't thank me for this, you just go to the south to help me bring some things back." As he spoke, he handed over a slip of paper.

Zhang Zhimu said that this was easy to do, so he put the paper slip in his arms, and said: "I have to ask Uncle Zhang to help me bring some gold gun medicine, and I can't help but make some preparations along the way." ”

Zhang Bengui said: "I've prepared it for you." The guy sent in a bag and said to Zhang Zhimu: "This is a good golden gun." ”

Zhang Zhimu took it and said, "It's still a little less." Zhang Bengui said: "How many of you are there? Zhang Zhimu said that he was going to go to fifty or sixty people. Zhang Bengui said: "Oh my God, how many goods have you brought back from killing Hukou. Zhang Zhimu said: "There are more than 1,000 horses. ”

Zhang Bengui was so shocked that he couldn't close his mouth, and said, "That's to prepare more medicine, come again before you leave, I'll prepare some more." ”

Zhang Zhimu returned to the kiln, and Mrs. Cai and Huang Yukun came to Zhang Zhimu to intercede for Yang Yulin. said that this child, seeing that everyone else was preparing to go south, wanted to follow very much, and said that taking her would not add a burden, he used to dart with his father, and this child was literate and hyphenated, and could help keep an account or something. Zhang Zhimu said: "Since Mrs. Cai agrees, let her follow." She's also a good helper on the road. "Just when Yan Boju came over, Zhang Zhimu said, help Miss Yang pick a good horse. Yang Yulin happily ran over and pestered Yan Boju to pick a horse. At this time, Yang Jing sighed beside him. Zhang Zhimu went over and comforted: "When you recover from your illness, there will be opportunities in the future." ”

That night, someone brought the goods when it was dark. And left an address, saying that he would ask for the goods in the future, and if he couldn't find Zhang Bengui, he would contact this person, so that the goods would be as many as they wanted.

Chen Yufeng came back on the third day after leaving, bringing back 20 people. Of course, Zhang Zhimu gave a tear-jerking speech after a meal of wine and meat, and then arranged them to Liu Yun. Zhang Zhimu didn't wait for Chen Yufeng to say anything about Lingshui Wharf, and told him first, Lao Wu, the gate army, got two bed crossbows, and quickly asked your junior brother to send someone to retrieve them.

Wait for Yan Boju and Lu Chengxiang to come over. Chen Yufeng gave a briefing on the situation. It is true that the 400-stone boat can pull something of 1,000 stones, but the water must be deep enough, and the water of the Fen River is deep enough, but the horses cannot go down to the cabin, so the horses will suffocate to death. On the deck above the cabin, the horses couldn't pull much. If you nail the horse pen, the horse pen is dense, and you can pull fifty horses. But the cabin can still be loaded. Lu Qi said that he saw the boat, and it was much the same. The horse fence can be tied to the boat, because I am afraid that the wind and waves will be strong, and the tie will not be strong, and the key parts should be nailed in a few places.

Zhang Zhimu said: "There are all the boats, and there are not enough boats here to go to Jinyang to find a ship by themselves, and they are very willing to take our business." Because a boat was hijacked a few days ago, come with us, you can be safer. Just say hello in advance. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "The other horses are not counted, there are 15 columns of horses in the whole column, 750 horses." Then we'll take all these horses with us. Fifteen boats were needed to load the horses, and two more were armed. The armed ship did not carry cargo but people, and the front one was open, and the back was delayed. There are echoes before and after. One boat is equipped with a bed crossbow, five crossbows, fifteen people are each equipped with muskets, **, and each other boat must have at least one of our men to help take care of the horses. If the personnel are not enough, look for it at Lingshui Wharf. ”

Lu Qi said, I have already drawn the size of the horse fence, and I can do it according to the size in the kiln gang, and it can be assembled as soon as it is transported to the ship.

Chen Yufeng said: "Just tell the boatman three days before departure. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Okay. When Li Yunhe's guns are ready, we will notify the boatman again, so that we will have three days to test the guns. ”

After the meeting, Lu Qi found Zhang Zhimu and said that he wanted to go back with the caravan, but he had been away from home for too long, and the family didn't know whether they were alive or dead. He said that his son can't leave here, he can just go back alone, and besides, when you go to the south, you can't understand the words, and someone has to be a translator, and there is also a Jiangxi who also wants to go back, let him talk about it together. Zhang Zhimu thought about it, so he agreed. And asked Huang Yukun to pay them all their wages in advance, and let them prepare some things by themselves.

In the end, Zhang Zhimu brought Liu Yun, Li Wei, and Li Jing and told them to let Li Wei select ten people to set up a crossbow team, with ten crossbows and two bed crossbows. Each bed crossbow is equipped with four people, and after the bed crossbow returns, it is specially practiced. He called Li Yunhe again and told him that the bed crossbow was coming, and you had to make a thunder for the bed crossbow, which was called a crossbow thunder for the sake of distinction, and the weight was ten times that of the bow thunder, and it was as slender as possible. There is also a need to make training thunder, because the bed crossbow has to be trained intensively.

As soon as the morning dawned, Chen Yufeng went to Xiurong, and when he came back at noon, he brought back a white and pure offspring in his twenties, Zhang Zhimu said that this was an apprentice of Zhang Bengui, and Zhang Bengui asked him to follow the caravan to buy the medicine back. Zhang Zhimu understood that Zhang Bengui was afraid that something would happen on the road, so he sent his apprentice to protect everyone. Buying so much medicine has already been explained. The young man is also surnamed Zhang, called Zhang Bingchen. Zhang Bengui said that his apprentice will not cause trouble to everyone, it is not okay to kill the enemy in battle, and it is okay to protect himself in case of trouble. Zhang Zhimu knew that Zhang Bengui was polite, Zhang Bingchen didn't say anything, Zhang Bengui wouldn't say this. Zhang Zhimu said, Okay, but you have to train with Liu Yun and them first. Zhang Bingchen said that he came here now because he wanted to come over early to practice his gun. Seeing that Zhang Bingchen was carrying two medicine gourds and a cloth bag of medicine, he asked Huang Yukun to help put them up first.

It was also in the evening that Chen Yufeng's junior brother sent things over.

In this way, Li Yunhe can follow the crossbow mines and launchers. In order to speed up the progress, Li Yunhe was given additional manpower.

Finally, in the expectation of everyone, guns, bullets, **, and bow mines were all made. It's almost a crossbow thunder, but Li Yunhe said that he can try it tomorrow. After arranging the work, Li Yunhe led everyone to the river to start testing guns. The matter of the gun is basically covered by Fan Song and Liu Jun, and the two of them are very happy about this matter. As soon as he saw that someone could replace him, Li Yunhe would go back to get his crossbow thunder. The next day, Li Yunhe tested it with a crossbow mine. The crossbow thunder is basically according to Zhang Zhimu's suggestion, a bit like the *** in the previous life, but with a tail wing. The range of the crossbow is very ideal, although it is not as far as the bed crossbow arrows of the "Mugan Tieling", but it is also 300 zhang away; The explosion power of the crossbow thunder is also terrifying, and the explosion sound of nearly ten catties of black **, the children heard it once, and they ran away and never came again. Zhang Zhimu said that it could be produced, and the crossbow mines would be produced in 100. First bring some coaches, let Li Wei and them train quickly, and they must train accurately. Zhang Zhimu said that the production would be completed in two days.

Zhang Zhimu said that the horse fence could be transported to the Lingshui wharf first. In this way, Chen Yufeng stood in front of the station and led the people to transport the horse fence first, and Lu Qi also followed. Zhang Zhimu and Huang Yukun found an opportunity to go into the city together, of course, the main thing was to do it again, this time both of them let go, Huang Yukun enjoyed all this to the fullest, and was also very active. After the incident, the two embraced, and Zhang Zhimu said, "I'll marry you when I come back." Huang Yukun said: "Really? There are so many good girls that you don't marry? Zhang Zhimu said: "You are the best, I only want you." You wait for me. Huang Yukun said: "Okay! I'm waiting for you. ”

At last it was time to set out, taking with him fifty muskets, leaving five for his family, each with a hundred rounds of ammunition and a hundred rounds of shotguns. Each person carries five**. The rest is packed in wooden boxes. The family's oxen and carriages all helped deliver people to Lingshui Wharf. Chen Yufeng, who arrived in Lingshui, was miserable, and some people begged to follow him every day. There was no way to pick another twenty, after Liu Yun arrived, he pulled the gap between loading the ship here and pulled it into the mountains, and conducted a surprise training, that is, put a few shots, and each person threw a **, the most important thing is to emphasize discipline. It took two days to press the horse fence and load the cargo on the ship, and tomorrow it will be the departure of the ship. In the evening, everyone was going to live on the assigned boat, and Zhang Zhimu was on the horse's head and gave a speech to everyone. Inspiring and uplifting, of course.

Due to the availability of manpower, Liu Yun led the trained fifteen people to take the lead, and the boat led by Li Wei was also fifteen people. There were two people on each of the other boats to guard the cargo and take care of the horses, and the rest were in a boat with Zhang Zhimu, which was not loaded with any cargo except for some valuables and horses. Just when everyone got up for breakfast, a few horses ran over, it turned out that Li Mao ran over panting, and he also brought two people, Li Mao arched his hand: "Brother Xian, I can catch up." If you don't miss me or me, take us with you. Zhang Zhimu said: "Where to say, eat quickly, and the boat will sail in a while." Li Mao waved his hand to let the man who led the horse on the shore go back, and he sat down.

At this time, the morning light was slightly dewed, and the whining horn sound was heard from the ship in front, and the fleet set sail.