Emperor Ming Fengyunlu

Volume 5: Lying on the salary and tasting the guts

Chapter 3 Social turmoil and turmoil

Section 5 Franc gunner

In the middle of June of the forty-eighth year of Wanli (the fifth year of the Later Jin Mandate of Heaven), the Hanwei army camp in Tongzhou.

On this day, Liu Yunwei was inspecting a batch of bird guns newly produced by the General Zuo Division in the Chinese army camp, as well as some weapons such as horse chopping knives, when he suddenly saw Lu Yingxing running over in a hurry, so he asked loudly: "What's wrong with Lu Ying?" Is there anything good? ”

Lu Ying came to Liu Yunwei and said with a smile: "Good news, big brother, Mr. Sun is back, and he also brought back six Franc people, and now he is waiting for his eldest brother in the big tent of the Chinese army." ”

Liu Yunwei was overjoyed when he heard this, and said: "Great, the general has just cast three big Buddha lang machine guns, plus the ten big Buddha lang machine guns allocated to us by the Ministry of War, now we have thirteen artillery pieces, just let these Buddha lang machine gunners practice." ”

While speaking, Liu Yunwei and Lu Ying walked quickly towards the big tent of the Chinese army. After a while, the two of them came to the tent, and saw Sun Yuanhua chatting with Yuan Mingxuan, and there were six Franc machine people sitting there drinking tea while constantly looking around. When the six Franc machine people saw Liu Yunwei come in, they all put down the teacups in their hands and stood up one after another.

When Sun Yuanhua saw Liu Yunwei coming, he said with a smile: "Little general, I didn't go to Dengzhou in vain this time, I recruited six Franco gunners for our Hanwei Army, even if it was a mistake, haha." ”

Liu Yunwei also said with a smile: "Mr. Sun has worked hard, thanks to Mr. Sun." Then he looked at the six gunners, and saw that one of them seemed to be the leader of the several, and the other five were very respectful to him.

So, Liu Yunwei asked Sun Yuanhua: "By the way, Mr. Sun, can these six people speak our Ming official language?" ”

At this time, before Sun Yuanhua could answer, the leader of the Francophone said in stiff Chinese: "This general, we are all Portuguese who have been in Daming all the year round, we can listen to and speak the official language of Daming, if you need anything, please give instructions." ”

Hearing this, Liu Yunwei and Lu Ying both felt very novel. Liu Yunwei then asked, "Then what's your name?" ”

"The general may call me Edward, and I and my five companions are Portuguese, oh! That is, the Francophone man. ”

Liu Yunwei nodded and said, "Then are you all willing to come to our army to teach artillery skills?" If so, what do you want? ”

Edward said respectfully: "Back to the general, we were all soldiers of the Portuguese Navy, and after retiring, we lived in poverty, so we were recruited by Lord Sun. We are all willing to help the general train the gunners, as long as the general can pay us enough money to live on and the cost of the journey back to the motherland in the future. ”

Hearing this, Liu Yunwei looked at Sun Yuanhua, and when he nodded slightly, he smiled and said to Edward: "No problem!" I will now appoint you as the acting commander of the artillery battalion of my Hanwei Army, responsible for the training of the artillery battalion, and all five of your companions will be assigned to the artillery battalion as acting generals. However, there is one thing you have to remember, this is the North Zhili of the Ming Dynasty, at the foot of the Son of Heaven, you must strictly abide by the laws of my Ming Dynasty and the military laws of my Han Wei Army, if there is any misconduct, this town will be severely punished! ”

Liu Yunwei has experienced countless life-and-death battles, and he already has a strong murderous aura and power on his body. At this time, Liu Yunwei exuded the power of his body as he spoke, and immediately shocked Edward and the others, who only felt that they were facing a fierce tiger, and their faces were all pale.

"Please, please rest assured, we will do our duty." Edward and the others hurriedly said.

Liu Yunwei smiled and said, "That's good." In the future, Edward's military salary was according to the general rule of thousands, and the military salary of the rest of the people was according to the general rule. ”

Edward and the others were overjoyed when they heard this, and thanked them again and again, begging for a life in Daming all the year round, these people all knew about the military system of Daming, and knew that the total military salary of Qian Sum was enough for them to squander on weekdays.

At this time, Liu Yunwei said to Sun Yuanhua: "Mr. Sun, now that we have thirteen big Buddha cannons in our camp, I think it is better to let Edward and them try the cannons." From tomorrow onwards, Mr. Sun will take over from Lord Yuan to deal with the affairs that will be the division, and Lord Yuan has other things to deal with. In addition, the gunners of the battalions should also start selecting as soon as possible. ”

Sun Yuanhua said with a smile: "Okay, it's all up to the little general." ”

So they all walked together toward the wasteland outside the camp. On the way, Sun Yuanhua talked to Liu Yunwei about the situation of Edward and the others, and finally said: "Little general, these people are all down-and-out Franc machine sailors, although they know artillery skills, but their level is definitely inferior to those missionaries. But Edward's good thing is that these people are simple, these people are only for money, so I can only recruit them. ”

Liu Yunwei said with a smile: "That's just right, let's give money, they pass on their arts, we both take what we need, and both sides don't have to think too much." After our own gunners are dispatched, if Edward and the others are willing to stay and continue to contribute to us, then I will promote them well, and if they are not willing to stay, I will give them the money to go home and let them go. ”

While speaking, everyone had already ridden to a wasteland outside the camp, and the soldiers of the Chinese artillery battalion had lined up the thirteen big Buddha cannons, and the cannons and gunpowder were also stacked and placed one by one.

Liu Yunwei pulled Sun Yuanhua and Yuan Mingxuan to take a closer look at the artillery, and said: "This is the prototype of our Hanwei Army artillery battalion, and in the future, I will equip our Hanwei Army with hundreds of artillery, and I will make all enemy troops turn into dust in the flames!" ”

Sun Yuanhua and Yuan Mingxuan were also infected by Liu Yunwei's pride, and they were full of expectations for the future of Hanwei Army.

And when Edward and the others saw these cannons, they were all secretly surprised. Before coming to Tongzhou, although they had all seen all kinds of artillery cast by the Ming Dynasty, they were all small cannons such as Tiger Zun cannons and son-mother guns, such as the big Buddha cannon in front of them, which could already be compared with the Portuguese twenty-four-pounder gun. Moreover, compared with the Portuguese artillery, the Ming artillery did not have the upper hand in terms of casting process or the weight of the gun body.

You must know that before this, Edward and the others still despised the artillery of the Ming Dynasty, but after seeing these big Buddha cannons, Edward and the others all restrained the contempt in their hearts.

At this time, Liu Yunwei walked up to Edward's side and asked, "How is it?" Mr. Edward Qian, these cannons are okay, right? ”

"If you go back to the main town, these artillery pieces are very good, even in my homeland, they are rare." On the way here, Edward had already heard Lu Ying talk about some titles in the Ming army, so he changed his name to Liu Yunwei "General Town".

After listening to Edward's words, Liu Yunwei was also very happy, and said: "That's good, then ask President Edward Qian to demonstrate our artillery skills." ”

Edward immediately followed the example of a Ming soldier, clenched his fists and said, "Order!" ”

Then, Edward chose a large Buddha Lang cannon cast by the Hanwei army general, and beckoned five companions to start loading the artillery, and Edward stood aside to command. I saw a Francophone man take out a protractor and measure it next to the artillery, and the target was a large tree the size of a bucket about two hundred paces away; The other Franc man was wiping the inside of the barrel with a rag, while the other two were cleaning the cannon and the gunpowder respectively, and when the companion who had measured the distance had come to a conclusion, he began to reload; The last Franc machine man lit a torch and waited aside.

About half a pillar of incense passed, the Franc machine man who measured the distance had already measured the distance and angle, and after thinking about it for a while, he converted the distance into a Ming unit, and said loudly: "Two hundred and nine steps away from the target, the muzzle of the cannon is raised by four points, the gunpowder is eight taels and seven dollars, and the eldest son seals (a cannonball), ready!" ”

I saw that the two Francophiles who were preparing the cannons and gunpowder quickly prepared the ammunition, first weighed the gunpowder, and then tied it into a bundle with sackcloth and went through the muzzle, and then poked a cannon into it.

In the blink of an eye, Edward took the torch from his companion's hand and walked to the side of the cannon, first pierced the gun bag with an iron spike through the hole of the cannon, then inserted a lead into it, and said loudly, "Ready to fire!" As soon as he finished speaking, Edward slammed the torch against the lead.

"Silk, silk, silk!"

In an instant, with a loud bang, the cannon flew out in the firelight, hitting the target accurately, breaking the big tree at the waist, and suddenly stirring up a puff of smoke, and the big tree was full of flying wood chips.

Liu Yunwei saw that Edward was skilled and skillful in cooperation, and at first glance he was an expert in fiddling with firearms, and he was very happy in his heart, and said: "Okay! Mr. Edward Qian is really skilled, and you are also very skilled. In the future, the training affairs of our Hanwei Army Artillery Battalion will be completely entrusted to you. By the way, you will be directly responsible for me in the future, and Edward Qian can always report to me at any time on all matters related to the training artillery camp. ”

Seeing that Liu Yunwei had affirmed his skills, Edward and the others knew that this errand had been officially earned, and they all clasped their fists and said, "The last general will definitely do his best!" ”

At this moment, there was a sudden sound of horses' hooves, Liu Yunwei followed the sound and looked, only to see Wen Poyu rushing over with a team of people. When he got closer, Wen Poyu pulled Liu Yunwei aside and whispered: "Big brother, I didn't receive the news from Lord Li Linbin at night, Your Majesty is no more!" ”