In the past few days, Li Zicheng has stayed in the craftsman's workshop for at least half a day, and the craftsman has used the only pig iron to create ten fire # guns, together with the original one, a total of eleven, and then to build, you can only use waste weapons and armor, but these iron tools need to be refurnace to smelt high-quality steel.

Li Zicheng mobilized a total of 22 soldiers from Liu Yunshui's ministry and lived directly in the craftsman's workshop for training.

It is not only to test the performance of this fire # gun, but also to familiarize the soldiers with this fire # gun.

By moving the target to a distance of 400 paces, the soldiers' hit rate is greatly improved, and if there is enough time to aim, the hit rate can reach 50%.

He officially set the effective range of this musket at four hundred paces, and later with more guns, soldiers were trained according to this standard, and only special soldiers needed to train longer distances.

This kind of fire # gun is very different from the fire # gun that Da Ming is using, whether it is range, accuracy, rate of fire, or the power of bullets, so such a fire # gun has at least one official name that is different from Da Ming Huo # gun.

Because it is produced in Xining, it is called Xining rifle, and Li Zicheng named this rifle "Xining" for another reason: in the future, when the opponent hears the word "Xining", he will lose the courage and confidence to fight, and he will surrender without a fight.

Just when Li Zicheng was amazed by the "Xining Rifle", he received a flying pigeon from Ma Youshui: The battle in Jishi County was unfavorable, and then Ma Youshui sent cavalry to send a detailed message.

Li Zicheng was so angry that he dropped his felt hat, "This horse has water, how can there be a bodhisattva heart on the battlefield?" If you're incompetent, fuck me off as soon as possible! But when the cavalry told him that Ma Youshui had gathered all his soldiers and had set out to recruit the Salars, he had no choice but to wait for the latest information.

Fortunately, in less than a day, Ma Youshui sent him a message to the flying pigeon: the Salar people have all been exterminated, and none of them have escaped the net, and he will personally come to Xining to apologize.

This was only the final result, the carrier pigeon could not transmit more information, Li Zicheng sent a herald to inquire for more detailed information, while waiting for Ma Youshui to come to the door.

Ma Youshui had placed the soldiers and prisoners of war in order, and hurried to Xining, where he had only three horses, borrowed two from the rangers, and brought only four of his own soldiers with him.

Hurrying all the way, he finally entered Xining City before the city gate was closed.

When he came to the official office, Ma Youshui didn't dare to see Li Zicheng, and he didn't dare to go to the back office, but he still reminded him with his own soldiers: "My lord, sooner or later, you want to see Lord Qianhu, since you have come, let's ask to see you!" ”

Ma Youshui thought about it, and the ugly daughter-in-law also had to see her in-laws, so she came to the back office, Li Zicheng's study, and found He Xiaomi, "Xiaomi, are you there?" ”

"Ma Baihu?" Although He Xiaomi is already the chief flag officer, he is one level lower than Ma Youshui, a hundred households sitting on one side, and when Ma Youshui served as the chief flag officer of Li Zicheng's personal soldiers, he was a small flag officer of the pro-soldiers, and he was a direct subordinate of Ma Youshui, so he maintained a respect for him, "I heard that Ma Baihu destroyed the Salar people, and he is in the limelight!" ”

"Xiaomi, don't say it," Ma Youshui shook his head and sighed, "More than a dozen brothers died this time, adults don't know how to punish me, are adults still angry?" ”

"This ...... I really don't know! He Xiaoxiao smiled, "I vaguely heard a hint of information, Ma Baihu, what's going on?" ”

"Hey, don't mention it, I originally just hoped to save a few Salars, but I didn't expect it to be like this......" Ma Youshui just shook his head and sighed, and briefly told what happened, "Who knows that these Salars are really dog bites Lu Dongbin......"

"Didn't the adults let you act cheaply? It's actually to make you ...... If the Salars do not listen to the persuasion, they will be destroyed directly......"

"Everyone has only one life, Xiaomi......"

"You're right, everyone really only has one life," Li Zicheng suddenly pushed the door in, sat directly on the main seat, and said with a calm face: "Is the life of the Salar people more precious than the lives of the brothers?" ”

"My lord," Ma Youshui was startled, and hurriedly knelt on the ground, "subordinates ......"

"Let's talk about it in detail, what's going on!" Li Zicheng neither let Ma Youshui get up, nor did he let He Mi serve tea, but just signaled He Mi to go out temporarily, and only the two of them were left in the study, sitting and kneeling.

"My lord......" Ma Youshui didn't dare to raise his head, facing everything that would happen on the ground, he told Li Zicheng as it was, "My subordinates know it's wrong, ask my lord to punish him!" ”

"Naturally, it is to be punished," Li Zicheng heard that the soldiers could fight to the death, and his face was more relaxed, "Get up first, your matter is a big problem!" Let He Xiaomi give Ma Youshui tea, Fang said: "You are my own soldier and one of my most trusted officers, but loyalty is one thing, and you have to use your brains in case of trouble." ”

"Yes, sir."

"Don't be, think for yourself, what are the things that are not doing right!" Li Zicheng leaned back on the wooden chair, but his eyes were fixed on Ma Youshui's eyes.

"Subordinates shouldn't ...... You shouldn't have tried to persuade the Salar yourself......"

"It's not too confused, kindness to the enemy is the greatest harm to yourself!" Li Zicheng said leisurely: "After several previous persuasions, the Salar people have clearly refused, and there is already a huge gap between the two sides, and they are going deep into danger under the condition of unclear prospects; Knowing that his strength was obviously insufficient, he angered his opponent with the intention of accidents, causing the danger to aggravate; In times of danger, he left his brother behind; Which of these is enough to deal with it by military law! ”

"Your Excellency...... Subordinate ......" Ma Youshui trembled, but he couldn't say a complete sentence, and he couldn't even express himself in words to apologize to Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng ignored Ma Youshui's guilt for the time being, and continued: "Because you want to avenge your brothers, you have to ignore the overall situation, in case the thieves in Shaanxi cross the Yellow River and lose their land, how can you afford it?" How can I trust you to guard such an important position? ”

He is not worried that the thieves occupy the land of the mill and Zhuang Langwei, it doesn't matter if the castle is lost, it is not necessary to take it back, if he does not occupy the strength of the castle, in addition to today's thieves, sooner or later he will also lose to the hands of the imperial court, the key is his own strength, but the thieves will inevitably attract the attention of the imperial court, and the current situation of Xining will be a gang.

Not to mention the grain and salary of the imperial court, the layout of Xining has not yet ended, and it is too early to confront the imperial army, Li Zicheng is really not sure, the Ming Dynasty has a hard time dealing with the nomads in the north, but to deal with the separatists who are also agrarian culture, there is neither a lack of excellent officers nor a lack of brave soldiers.

"My lord, my subordinates know that they are wrong...... Ma Yushui's eyes were red, almost dripping tears, he had already known that he was wrong, and he came to Xining this time to apologize to Li Zicheng in person.

"As the lord of an army, you must not be emotional," Li Zicheng glared at Ma Youshui, "Regret can't change reality, what happens happens forever, can the dead brother come back to life?" ”

"My lord, my subordinates are guilty, ask my lords to punish them, no matter how my lords punish them, my subordinates will have no complaints!" Speaking of the dead brothers, Ma Youshui's guilt was completely aroused, and he regretted it the most, and felt sorry for the lost brothers, who could have lived well.

He suddenly left his seat, knelt down in front of Li Zicheng, and refused to get up.

He Xiaomi couldn't bear to see Ma Youshui's appearance, so he hesitated and said: "My lord, Ma Baihu has come to Xining, and now it's getting late, is it ......?"

"I know that you are protecting him," Li Zicheng sighed, "Originally, after destroying the Salar people and making great contributions to Jishi County, there are hundreds of officials on the head of the water, and they can go up to a higher level, but now they are ...... Hey......"

"There is water to be ashamed of the adult, and there is water to be the adult!" Ma Youshui knocked his head with a "knock knock" sound, the regret in his heart, the adults gave him the opportunity to make meritorious contributions, in fact, he was promoting him, Xining now has seven hundred household officials, if he can go further, he will stand out from these hundred household officials, under the real person, at least in the army, but now because of his own willfulness......

"Okay, get up, what should come will always come," Li Zicheng's face finally faded from the frost and replaced it with the warm spring sun, "Xiaomi, you go and make arrangements, we will have dinner here at night, just the three of us, prepare some distilled spirits!" ”

"Yes, sir!" He Xiaomi ran to prepare in a panic.

"There is water, get up," As soon as He Mi left, Li Zicheng immediately changed his face, "Your conquest of the Salar people this time is not without brilliance, in the fierce confrontation, the brothers did not retreat, right?" ”

"Absolutely not, the brothers are all courageous." Ma Youshui immediately discovered that coordinated operations were still a strategy set by adults for the army, and he was just the executor.

Li Zicheng nodded slightly, "In any case, the brothers have made meritorious contributions, and they can't be treated badly, and the dead and injured brothers must make proper arrangements for the future." ”

"The subordinates understand that the subordinates will never treat the brothers badly!" Ma Youshui's heart was sour, but then he lowered his head and secretly wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.

"And that slogan, kill, kill, kill!" Li Zicheng smiled slightly: "Although it is concise, it is very uplifting for soldiers, especially at critical moments, and it will be used as a mobilization slogan for the whole army in the future." ”

The original slogan of the Xining Army was "kill the robbers", which was aimed at the Mongols, but the future opponents of the Xining Army were not only the Mongols, but also the army of the imperial court, so Li Zicheng always wanted to change the slogan, and handed over this task to Liang Wencheng last time, but unfortunately Liang Wencheng became the prefect of Xining, and he was already a civilian official, so there was no follow-up.

"This is indeed uplifting," Ma Youshui's face was not dry, but his face was smiling, "When I was surrounded by the Salars, the brothers rushed through the gap under the guidance of the word 'kill'. ”

Li Zicheng remembered a key question, "With water, how are the Salar people doing now?" ”

"My lord, the Salar have all been settled, except for the prisoners of war, the rest ...... All killed by the brothers! ”

"How many prisoners of war?"

"There are fifty-eight strong men, and one hundred and three strong women," Ma Youshui looked at Li Zicheng and said, "My lord, what about these prisoners of war?" ”

"What should I do?" Li Zicheng found that Ma Youshui's eyes flashed with a strange brilliance, "I know your thoughts, let's settle the strong men first, they are all excellent laborers, let them cultivate the land in Jishi County, Jishi County will station an army and strictly guard these Salars." "Having finally eliminated the Salar people who believe in the horror religion in Xining, Li Zicheng does not want them to resurge.

"Yes, my lord," Ma Youshui raised his eyes and looked at Li Zicheng with a blank look, "Then these strong girls ......"

"What ...... they" Li Zicheng thought about it, if he wanted to eliminate the Salar people, he couldn't let them have another chance to reproduce, who let himself not open his eyes, let Ma Youshui seize the opportunity, "The brothers of the six hundredth households, this time they have made meritorious contributions, so they will leave thirty people and set up a fruit building in the local area, but they must be managed more often, they cannot be allowed to conceive children, and the health problem cannot be ignored." ”

"Yes, sir." Ma Youshui almost knelt down to thank him.

"This time, the brothers have no bad seeds, I give the soldiers who participate in the battle, each of them four monthly tickets for military merits, in addition, one guaranteed monthly ticket per month on weekdays, which cannot be increased at will."

"Yes, sir."

"Nanchuan County and Triangle City each sent ten strong women, and the rest will stay in Xining!" Li Zicheng originally wanted to send ten people to Li Guo in Beichuan, but Beichuan County didn't even have a county seat, and the soldiers and officials all lived in tents, so he dispelled his mind, "As for you, there will be no punishment this time, but there will be no rewards, not even a monthly ticket for military merits, after I go back, give me a good eye on the dozens of Salals, if something goes wrong again, you don't have to be a hundred households!" ”

"Yes, my lord, my subordinates obey!" Ma Youshui hurriedly stood up and gave Li Zicheng a military salute.

It happened that He Xiaomi came back, and Li Zicheng instructed: "Xiaomi, remember to send someone to Zhenhai Fort tomorrow morning, and transfer Chusheng to Jishi County to serve as the magistrate, don't forget, after breakfast, we will go to Lotus Mountain." ”