Chapter 534: The General Trend

At the shooting range attached to the Qi Palace, as in many cases, thirty soldiers with Jiaozhou battalion-style smoothbore guns stood in a line, while thirty soldiers armed with new flintlock pistols stood in a line.

This time it was different from the state on the battlefield, each soldier had a bucket next to him, and the edge of the bucket was covered with a wet cloth, and the smell of gunsmoke on the school field was extremely strong, and the soldiers were now wiping the barrel with the wet cloth in their hands, and the wet cloth wiped the barrel, sizzling, and white steam was rising.

The pro-soldiers of the pro-soldier brigade stopped the commander-in-chief between the firecrackers and Li Mengyi, and issued orders step by step, asking the soldiers to wait for the side empty-handed after wiping the firecrackers.

Some craftsmen ran forward in small steps, carefully picked up the firecrackers on the ground, carefully inspected, and reported the data while checking, and there were people there to quickly record them.

More than 100 steps away, there were all kinds of grass and wood targets, and there were also people there to check the records, these people were Han Chinese, and there were also a small number of white people, all of whom were craftsmen of the Ordnance Manufacturing Bureau.

Sun Chuanting, the prime minister of the king of Qi, held a flintlock pistol in his hand, kept picking it up and putting it down, making a shooting posture, and his face was quite happy.

When he first came to Shandong, he was amazed when he saw the musket in Shandong, which was much stronger than the bird gun of the Ming army, it was really a militaristic weapon, but he didn't expect to see a stronger one today, this flintlock pistol was relatively lightweight, and loaded with ammunition, and fired at a faster than the arquebus.

Because it is a flint-inspired device, the air tightness is also very good, and the range is much farther, if such a weapon is equipped in the army, it will definitely make the combat power of the Jiaozhou battalion more enhanced.

Sun Hedou and Guo Dong, the organizers and deputy directors of the Ordnance Manufacturing Bureau, stood beside Li Meng and Sun Chuanting, and only Huang Ping, the commander of the pro-soldiers, was on the side, and the others all automatically and consciously left to see the craftsmen of the Manufacturing Bureau busy.

"Lord Wang, this firecracker has been manufactured for 6,000 rods, all of which are fully qualified products, and the manufacturer of each firebolt can be traced, please rest assured of the quality."

Guo Dong was born as a servant in Li Meng's mansion, he had a close relationship, and he spoke casually, and the host Sun Hedou on the side was a little reserved, bowed down and said with a smile:

"Lord Wang, several master craftsmen have specially supervised the construction of hydraulic machinery, these machines are specially set up for flintlock guns, and they are also equipped with special skilled craftsmen, and there are enough manpower, and the production speed will not be slower than that of smoothbore guns."

The production and large-scale production of this flintlock pistol is naturally not a secret to Li Meng, Li Meng originally thought that the smoothbore gun was the standard configuration of the European army, who would have thought that on the side of the missionaries and foreign merchants sent by Zheng Zhilong on a regular basis, he knew that the European army had begun to be equipped with this kind of flintlock pistol.

Although this incident had no impact on the Jiaozhou battalion, Li Meng was still shocked into a cold sweat, maintaining the Chinese army from being pulled away by the West, which was his responsibility, the duty of his talent.

After listening to Sun Hedou and Guo Dong's introduction, Li Meng pondered and asked in a deep voice:

"How's the secrecy going?"

Sun Hedou on the side hurriedly explained:

"The local armed salt is on the periphery, the seventh regiment of the battalion is nearby, and the forbidden area is demarcated three miles away from the workshop, and those who trespass will be severely punished!"

There is nothing wrong with this work, Li Meng nodded, and then commanded:

"Equip the troops as soon as possible, and proceed in accordance with the sequence of each regiment, and the production of ammunition kits should also be matched, so as not to lag behind."

Sun Hedou and Guo Dong hurriedly bowed down and agreed, Li Meng waved at these people, and walked out, these general affairs naturally have corresponding officials to do, don't care too much, do a good job and make mistakes, there are relevant assessments and rewards and punishments, there are rules and consciousness, this is a system that is about to be perfected.

Li Meng walked out, Qi Wangxiang also had a lot of government affairs to do, after Sun Chuanting walked out of the school, and Li Meng resigned and returned to the official office, Yuan Wenhong, the organizer of the secretary and supervisor, followed quickly, since Li Meng called himself the king of Qi from the Duke of Qi, Huang Ping, the commander of the pro-army in charge of security, suggested that Li Meng should not ride a horse, and take a carriage as much as possible.

At that time, Li Meng also lost his temper, and angrily reprimanded that it was a change in name, so he was going to enjoy wealth and couldn't ride a horse? As a result, Huang Ping insisted quite embarrassedly that now the production and promotion of arquebuses and flintlock pistols are gradually being promoted, and it is difficult to ensure that there are not one or two of them left in the people, in case someone holds it unfavorably to the prince.

Speaking of which, Li Meng is also helpless, there are always many things that cannot be done in a high position, and the Ordnance Manufacturing Bureau specially dispatched people to build a four-horse carriage for this matter, which is the kind of carriage with seats, with carriages, which is convenient and flexible.

Li Meng got on the car, Yuan Wenhong sat diagonally opposite, shook the reins of the horse and shouted, the horses ran in small steps, and the cavalry guards around the carriage also followed, these cavalry are elite soldiers, if there is something, they can form an escort at the fastest time and react.

The carriage left the school yard for a distance, Li Meng had been leaning on the seat and closing his eyes and pretending to sleep, the carriage bumped slightly, and Li Meng suddenly said:

"Where is Li Zicheng's head now?"

"Now in the warehouse of the pro-soldier brigade barracks."

Yuan Wenhong is equal to Li Meng's secretary general, a thousand things have to be sorted out, at Li Meng's suggestion, he made a notebook with paper to carry around, this kind of notebook quickly spread among Shandong civil officials, and many people began to use a hard pen, because it is much more convenient and fast to record.

Li Meng asked about this matter, but he didn't need to flip through the book, he could answer it casually, Li Meng pondered, sighed, and said:

"Find a place to bury yourself in Lishan, and when the matter over there in Huguang is over, Li Chuang's body will be burned, and the ashes will be sent to Shaanxi Mizhi."

Yuan Wenhong quickly recorded it in the notebook, he didn't answer, but he admired it in his heart, he followed it for so long, and found that the king of Qi could only be said to be a middle-class talent in politics and military strategy at most, but his mind was very large, quite tolerant, even if it was a-for-tat opponent, he would give the right view and respect, the Ming and Shun army had a vendetta against each other, Li Zicheng's ancestral grave in Mizhi's hometown in Shaanxi was dug up, and the clansmen were killed.

According to Yuan Wenhong's thoughts, if the Ming court caught Li Zicheng, he would definitely be completely destroyed before he could be considered to be over, but Li Meng said that he would be buried and returned to his ancestral hometown, which was really extraordinary.

Although the carriage could be ventilated, it was a little stuffy, Li Meng was wearing a robe, and there was a slight sweat on his forehead, he fanned it a few times, and Yuan Wenhong on the side hurriedly followed:

"After the army entered the city, General Chen protected Mr. Niu Jinxing's mansion according to the instructions of the marshal, and Mr. Niu was already preparing to move his family to Shandong and Niu Yan together."

Li Meng nodded, paused, and asked:

"How about Niu Yan here, the scribe of the secretary and supervisor is just a person from Henan!"

"Lord Wang, Niu Yan is doing a very good job, after all, he once participated in confidential information in the camp, did specific government affairs, got started quickly, and was also low-key."

Li Meng nodded, no longer spoke, Niu Yan is just an old man with a relationship to him, and he has played a great role in Huguang's Shunjun strategy, and he must be taken care of, but to what extent, of course, depends on his own performance.

However, if Niu Ji can do it, he may have a bright future in the future, and his father Niu Jinxing will not use him even if he is a genius, after all, Niu Jinxing used to be the chief minister of the Shun army, if he is used, he will definitely bear a monstrous infamy, Niu Jinxing is indeed quite talented.

If Li Meng wants to use it, he will only give him roles such as counselors and advisers, and will not let him occupy the table.

The land of Beizhili is almost completely arranged, and the land of Sancheng was bought by the Liu family and its side branches, and the rest was bought by the former high-ranking officials and nobles of the Ming Dynasty in the Beijing Division.

Because of this, the formation of the Tianjin battalion was quite rapid, and a large number of materials had already begun to be deployed through Cao, and the troops of the Shandong base camp had also begun to be gradually transferred.

Zhang Jiang, the chief soldier of Hebei, said in a military report to Li Meng that Wu Sangui, the chief soldier of the Ningyuan regiment, was already preparing to surrender, but he still hoped to be a general in the Jiaozhou battalion to preserve his strength.

In the current situation, Shandong will not agree to his conditions, which has been hesitant to make the King of Qi quite annoyed, that bit of strength, that is to fight, but Wu Sangui's soldiers and tenants are also fleeing, and they also see the general trend.

On the grassland of western Liaoning, the Mongolian cavalry commanded by Chen Yongfu, Zhang Kun, Ou Man and others fought several times with the troops of Zierharang and Azig, and the herdsmen cavalry on the grassland did not have the assistance of the foot soldiers of the Jiaozhou battalion, and was not the opponent of the Eight Banners at all, and was defeated several times.

can not stand the Tumut Department wheel war, not afraid of the loss of the fight, Liaoxi has always been entangled, a pot of porridge like a situation, Mongolia suffered heavy casualties, Jurchen is also a lot of casualties, Wu Sangui's generals are vassals because of this general trend, they gradually fled.

King Qi's convoy was already about to leave the city, and several guards rode horses from the direction of the palace to join the convoy.

Someone knocked on the window and handed in a few letters, Yuan Wenhong took it, directly unfolded the first one, and read in a low voice:

"Lord Wang, General Zhang of Hebei urgently report, Wu Sangui please surrender, I am willing to be a civilian, please be a rich man under the rule of King Qi."

Li Meng nodded, this kind of person who doesn't know what to do was originally going to be killed, but fortunately, he saw the opportunity quickly and made a decision, Yuan Wenhong opened the second letter, but his face showed joy, and he first said:

"Congratulations to King Qi!"