Eighteen Kicks is located in the southwest of the two-line sky, which is actually a bare stone mountain. The southwest side of this rocky mountain is a cliff of nearly 90 degrees, and the northeast side is a rocky slope with a slope of more than 45 degrees. Because it is a rocky mountain, there are basically no tall woods in the mountain, only clumps of weeds growing tenaciously between the cracks in the stones.

The name of the eighteen kicks lies in the fact that there is a cave on the cliff on the southwest side of it, which is the place where the Liao people used to sacrifice, and the Liao people carved out 22 steps in the cliff of nearly 90 degrees to climb into the cave to worship. Because the Liao people believe in Buddhism, 18 is the number of perfection of Buddhism, so it is named 18 kicks.

Behind the eighteen kicks are several taller peaks, including the highest peak of Yiwulu Mountain, Wanghai Mountain. If you look at Haishan as a stone man sitting up, the eighteen kicks are like the bent knees of this huge stone man. Although the mountain is not high, it blocks the way to Wanghai Mountain.

The road to the northwest from here is blocked by the double-line sky, the so-called double-line sky, which is a stone screen that suddenly emerges from the gap between the two mountains, dividing the gap into two. Originally, this gap could only accommodate seven or eight people in parallel, but it was cut off by a stone screen, and the road was divided into two, but each was reduced to a width of two people at most. Standing at the mouth of the lower gorge, you can see two skylines, so it is called the two-line sky.

On the east side of the Eighteen Kicks was a deep ditch that was difficult to go down, and behind them was the approaching Ming army. Therefore, if the Qing army wants to escape, in fact, they can only pass through the eighteen feet along the ridgeline, and they don't even need to occupy the peak, as long as they can run to the relatively gentle place near the peak, they can bypass the stronghold set up by the Ming army on the peak from the side, and enter the mountains and forests behind the eighteen feet.

As for the double-line sky, to be honest, as long as there are people guarding there, it will be difficult for the Qing army to pass. It's really a place where a husband and a wife can't open it. The Qing army's tentative attack on the two fronts was just a fluke.

Therefore, after the first tentative attack on both sides failed, the Qing army decisively pressed the treasure through the eighteen kicks.

When the Qing army reorganized its troops and was about to rush past the peak of the Eighteen Kicks at one time, Wei Chenxi, who had watched the Ming army's officers and soldiers repel the Qing army's attack for the first time, immediately went to the commander of the base to protest.

"Mr. Lieutenant, you can't use a deer hunting gun like that. The firing distance of this gun is more than 150 meters, you can now look down, the stone on the mountain road circled with red paint, as long as the Qing army walks over this stone, you can let your soldiers shoot freely..."

The Ming military captain stationed at the eighteenth foot was a young man, although Wei Chenxi in front of him looked like an ordinary businessman with a fat body, but considering the reason why the official arranged this person here, he had to explain to the other party: "But this is the regulation, according to the regulations, we should put the enemy army as close as possible, and then it is correct to concentrate fire." ”

Wei Chensima objected: "Of course there is nothing wrong with the regulations, but this is not the reason why I am standing here with these deer hunting guns.

Your officer asked me to bring these guns to the front line, not to shoot at these Qing troops.

You see, you have more than 70 of your subordinates, and only 20 of them use deer hunting guns. Why don't you divide your troops into two teams, first disrupt the attacking Qing army with deer hunting gun fire, and then concentrate fire on the remnants of the Qing army that rush to the nearest location.

This way, we can get the most out of your deer hunting gun without having to break the rules you have to follow. Otherwise, the slow-loading Deer Hunting Gun won't work as well as the standard rifles you have. ”

The lieutenant was still hesitating, he subconsciously glanced at the Qing army that had been assembled at the foot of the mountain, and couldn't help but say: "However, I don't know the performance of this new musket, I'm afraid it will be difficult to give proper shooting instructions..."

Wei Chenxi immediately replied: "Please leave the personnel who use the deer hunting gun to me to command, I know how to use him, these people around me are excellent hunters, and they can also help a little." ”

"But you're not a soldier, I'm afraid I can't hand over my subordinates to a civilian command," the lieutenant said with some hesitation as he looked at him.

Wei Chenxima lied without changing his face: "Of course I am a soldier, if I am not a soldier, how can your rank allow me to appear here?" The Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, like the Beijing Ordnance Superintendent, is a unit under the supervision of the General Staff. ”

The lieutenant glanced down the mountain again and realized that the Qing army had begun to form a group of mountains. He had no intention of entangling with the other party any longer, so he nodded and said, "Well, since you think your guns can shoot at such a distance, then I will allow you to command them." But I warn you, if you do, you will no longer be civilians from now on, and I will use military law to restrain you and your men..."

"Of course, if these Qing troops are allowed to rush in, I'm afraid they won't let us civilians go, right?" Wei Chenxi replied without hesitation.

Although this lieutenant handed over his subordinates who used the deer hunting gun to Wei Chenxi, he had been paying attention to the other party's actions and was ready to take back command at any time. However, he soon recognized the performance of Wei Chenxi and others, the excitement shown by these people did not look like an ordinary civilian, obviously they said that they were soldiers, and there was some basis.

Of course, the captain's judgment was still skewed, and the excitement of Wei Chenxi and the others was not the excitement of a soldier facing war, but the greed of a businessman for a promising profit.

Before Chongzhen ascended the throne, if someone asked the merchants of the Ming Dynasty, what business was best to do, of course, it meant legal. Almost every Ming merchant will think that the domestic words are naturally salt sales, and the foreign words are raw silk.

But today, if anyone asks this question again, the answer of the Ming merchants will not be so consistent. And for Wei Chenxi, there is no business for the profits of the arms business.

Since His Majesty the Emperor invented the concept of weapon upgrades, and the large-scale overseas colonization operations carried out by the imperial court. The profits of the arms business immediately exceeded those of salt and raw silk.

After all, there is a limit to the output and demand of salt and raw silk, and once this limit is exceeded, the price will continue to fall. But this is not the case in the arms business, and once weapons begin to be replaced, the old ones will still be obsolete, if they are still usable.

Especially in the small countries around the Ming Dynasty, as long as one country begins to buy new weapons from the Ming Dynasty, the surrounding forces also have to update their military armaments. And the unilateral seller's market means that arms dealers simply do not sell at a lower price.

For example, Japan, Siam, Myanmar, Vietnam, Banten and other small overseas countries do not have their own industrial manufacturing capacity, and some countries even have to import iron. In the past, when these countries fought wars with each other, everyone just made do with some inferior cold weapons.

But when one country imports arquebuses and armor from other countries, if other countries do not import the same weapons, then a war with an old enemy is undoubtedly a massacre. For these small overseas countries, the area of their own country is not very large, and a defeat may be a battle for the destruction of the country, so when the hostile forces buy new weapons, they will equip their armies with new weapons sold by the Ming Dynasty even if they smash the pot and sell iron.

Moreover, whether they can buy new weapons from the Ming Dynasty has also become a sign for these small overseas countries to distinguish whether the other party is protected by the Ming Dynasty. If your opponent can't even buy Da Ming's weapons, doesn't this mean that the other party has a bad relationship with Da Ming, and if you attack the other party at this time, then you don't have to worry about being interfered with by Da Ming.

For example, Japan seems to be a unified country, but there is a hostile relationship between the Eastern and Western shogunates and the shogunates. Although Japan has not yet become the Sengoku period again, both the Edo shogunate and the Japanese feudal domains are doing their best to develop their armaments and prepare for the coming of troubled times.

As for the Osaka shogunate, it has now become a completely vassal of the Ming Army, and their orders for weapons are all decided by the General Staff. The entire East Asian region, with the exception of the Qing Dynasty, has basically become a dumping market for Ming arms.

So how profitable is the Ming munitions? With the most common flintlock musket, the cost of manufacturing a breech flintlock musket by the Beijing Ordnance Supervision is about 9.8 Ming Yuan, and the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau needs 11 yuan to manufacture the same musket. The * price given by the General Staff Department was 14.5 yuan for each piece of ordnance supervision, but only 13.5 yuan for each of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.

The reason, of course, is that the quality of the guns produced by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau is uneven, and according to a certain staff officer, "the number of enemies injured by the rifles of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau is not as many as the number of our soldiers injured by the explosion of this rifle..." Although this is just a joke, it also fully shows how unreliable the guns produced by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau are in the eyes of the officers of the General Staff.

Although the price given by the Ming military is not high, the * number of the Ming military is in tens of thousands. And most importantly, the military advisers sent by the Ming Dynasty to the surrounding small countries will also give priority to the weapons produced by the ordnance supervisor. Overseas sales, does not distinguish between the Ordnance Supervision and the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, all flintlock muskets 80 yuan to 120 yuan, arquebus 35 to 45 yuan, its Japan and North Korea accept the Ming military advisers of the army, enjoy a six-fold discount.

The overseas arms market is about one-sixth of the Ming market, but the profits are almost equal to the entire domestic market. Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, as a company with a large share of private capital, is naturally more interested in foreign markets. However, because of the strength of the Ming General Staff, the majority of the entire foreign arms market is controlled by it, and the weapons that have not been recognized by the General Staff naturally cannot be recognized by those military advisers sent abroad, and their attitude determines the choice of procurement personnel from overseas countries.

The shareholders and directors of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau have been trying to change the attitude of the General Staff towards themselves, in order to be able to find their own supporters in the General Staff. They also began to send children and donate materials to the Nanjing Army Military Academy, trying to cultivate a group of army officers who were inclined to them.

And this time, the 33rd Division wanted to use the deer hunting gun to save the unfavorable situation on the battlefield, which was undoubtedly a surprise for Wei Chenxi, allowing him to see an opportunity to gain the recognition of the military.

The menacing Qing soldiers on the mountain road below, at this time, Wei Chen's west eyes were no longer fierce and cruel Jianjiao, but a bunch of walking Da Ming Yuan. As a businessman, who is afraid of piles of money?

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