Bi Maokang came to the Jiangning battalion and served as the commander of the guard, and the official position was above Xiong Zijian, which aroused the curiosity of many people, the Jiangning battalion was a very united whole, except for Sun Chuanting, the rest of the officers were almost all produced from within, even if it was Sun Chuanting, he had been in the Jiangning battalion for a long time, participated in many battles, and was accepted by everyone for a long time, and Sun Chuanting's ability was indeed good, and he had a good skill in managing and leading the army.

Bi Maokang can be regarded as a sideways birth.

After learning that Su Tiancheng was going to take out 500,000 taels of silver and hand it over to Bi Maokang for firearms research, the officers of more than 1,000 households in the Jiangning battalion expressed their incomprehension, after all, everyone's understanding of firearms has not yet reached a certain height, and the most important thing is that they have not really experienced the battle in which firearms determine the outcome of the war.

In the battle of Zhongdu, the Shenji battalion suffered heavy losses, almost completely lost its combat effectiveness, and this loss touched everyone very much, so that the soldiers of the Jiangning battalion thought that they still had to rely on the cavalry to decide the battle situation, and even the soldiers of the Shenji battalion had to participate in the training of cavalry and foot soldiers every day, and constantly strengthen their own physique.

The battalion commander of the Shenji Battalion has always been concurrently served by Sun Chuanting, and Su Tiancheng has also consulted Di Huaixiang, Qin Rui and others, although these people are very loyal to him, but when it comes to serving as the commander of the Shenji Battalion, everyone is evasive, resolutely disagrees, and is even willing to stay in the Xiaocai Battalion and the Forward Battalion as ordinary sergeants.

The soldiers of the Shenji Battalion do not have a high understanding of the huge role of firearms for the time being, and this cannot be blamed on everyone, firearms have appeared for more than 200 years, but the progress has been very slow, let's say arquebus. For so many years, when it is used in actual combat, it is subject to too many restrictions, and it will blow up the chamber if you are not careful, and it is also very inconvenient to operate, when facing the rapid charge of the cavalry. It can't play a big role, once the cavalry rushes in front of it, it will only be slaughtered.

Only the birth of firearms, which are powerful and easy to operate, can fundamentally change the perception of sergeants.

Sun Chuanting quickly found Su Tiancheng.

"My lord, I have some opinions on the development of firearms by the Jiangning Battalion, and I am not happy if I don't vomit."

"If Master Sun has any ideas, just say it."

"The imperial court set up the Second Bureau of Soldiers and Weapons, which was specially used for the development and production of firearms. There is also an ordnance bureau in the provincial capital, if the Jiangning battalion needs firearms, you can ask the imperial court to supply them, and now they take out the silver, specially develop it, and start from scratch, it is too difficult, even the two battalions of Beijing and Nanjing. Didn't do that either, and said more. The imperial court's control of firearms is still very strict, and Jiang Ningying will not cause controversy if he does this. ”

"Jiang Ningying came to Henan Mansion, although the family background is quite thick, but the conditions of Henan Mansion. Far from being able to compare with Jiangning County, I feel that every money of silver should be cherished, and after the autumn harvest this year, Jiangning Camp has provided 500,000 stone of grain. But the silver has not been replenished more, if the current situation continues, next year's expenditure, may encounter difficulties, now for the development of firearms, a single expenditure of 500,000 taels of silver, I am afraid that the soldiers have some ideas in their hearts. ”

Sun Chuanting's words represent the thoughts of a large layer of people, and Su Tiancheng knows that he must adhere to it.

"Lord Sun, what you said does have some truth, Jiangning Camp is not very rich at present, this is indeed because the conditions of Henan Mansion are different, and it cannot be compared with Jiangning County, but the development of Henan Mansion is also very fast, according to my estimate, but in about a year, Henan Mansion is not far worse than Jiangning County, that is to say, the expenses of Jiangning Camp can be guaranteed, so don't worry too much about this."

"As for the research and development of firearms, this matter must be persevered, this is one of the most important tasks of the Jiangning battalion, no less than the training of soldiers to kill the enemy, soon, you will understand the importance of firearms, we often say that sweat more in peacetime, and less blood in wartime, in fact, the development of firearms is the same reason, you can make the enemy unable to get close to you, you will eliminate the opponent, so that you can minimize casualties."

Sun Chuanting does not seem to accept such an explanation.

"There is some truth in what my lord said, but in the battle of Zhongdu, the Shenji Battalion suffered heavy losses, and after encountering the cavalry, it was not able to play a role at all."

Su Tiancheng was a little speechless, you must know that this Sun Chuanting in the history of Lu Dao, in the battle against the Liukou, the focus was to rely on artillery and birds, so that later he relied too much and ignored the role of cavalry and foot soldiers, but when he came to the Jiangning battalion, he witnessed the bravery of the soldiers, and he was not much interested in firearms.

"Master Sun, you are the commander of the Jiangning battalion, your understanding can determine the understanding of many officers in the Jiangning battalion, the Jiangning battalion has gone through many expeditions, it should be said that every loss is a bit heavy, fortunately, we have a unique advantage, that is, every time we can get time to rest, get the greatest supplement, but in the future, maybe in the future, if you go to the north, directly face the Houjin Manchurian Eight Banners, Mongolian Eight Banners, it is very likely to be continuous combat, a month, two months or even more than half a year, If every time they fight, they will suffer a lot of losses, and the combat effectiveness of the Jiangning battalion will inevitably be weakened. ”

"Combat is about seizing opportunities, as long as we can achieve the greatest victory, even if it is the greatest sacrifice, we will not hesitate to do so, provided that we cannot let the enemy escape, we cannot let the enemy breathe, in such a situation, we can maintain our own combat effectiveness, and we will not have the greatest certainty of victory."

"The decisive factor in all this is that firearms, the role of firearms, has not been able to fully play, this is also because the research of firearms, some lag, Bi Maokang is an expert in firearms, I talked to him, he researched the bird gun, compared with before, there has been a great improvement, and in the use of artillery, he also has a very good experience, Lord Sun, you don't worry, don't take a long time, you can see the effect."

Sun Chuanting nodded suspiciously.

Of course, Su Tiancheng can't come up with a more convincing example, after all, it is impossible to move things hundreds of years from now to the current environment, so that people will think you are crazy.

No matter what kind of research, it needs to have practical results.

Su Tiancheng gritted his teeth and took out 500,000 taels of silver, that is, in terms of investment, he spent a huge amount of money, and he was able to see the effect earlier, as long as the firearms were improved to the maximum, when facing the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Meng, he would have this natural advantage, and he could exchange the smallest sacrifice for the greatest victory.

There is also the most important purpose of inviting Bi Maokang to Jiangning Camp to develop it, that is, secrecy.

Although the firearms researched by the Ordnance Bureau in the capital may be kept secret in terms of technical skills, the loss of firearms is unavoidable, and some bureaucrats and gentry collude with businessmen to secretly sell weapons and obtain huge profits. These weapons were lost to the Houjin and equipped with the Han army, resulting in a smaller and smaller gap between the two sides in terms of firearms.

Bi Maokang came to the Jiangning camp, and all the firearms developed here were kept secret to the greatest extent.

There are secrets that are not well known.

He is not only an expert in firearms, but also a real cash cow.

Although Song Sijun, Wan Chenggui and other businessmen can support more and more expenditures, the army is state, not private, and if the Jiangning battalion relies too much on businessmen, it will definitely be very unfavorable to future development.

If he can make a fuss about firearms, Jiang Ningying can earn countless amounts of silver.

With such careful thinking, Su Tiancheng did not have the slightest problem in operation, and under the condition that the skills did not leak out, it was completely feasible for the Jiangning Battalion to control the number of firearms and carry out a certain degree of firearms trafficking.

Besides, Bi Maokang went to the Jiangning battalion to develop firearms, all the expenses were the responsibility of the Jiangning battalion, and the firearms with strong combat effectiveness were developed, which was also the hard work of the Jiangning battalion.

Many other officers in the Jiangning battalion also found Su Tiancheng one after another and talked about the development of firearms, which was obviously because Sun Chuanting himself did not change his understanding and was not able to explain it well.

In this regard, Su Tiancheng was very patient and made a special explanation, emphasizing the importance of firearms development.

The Jiangning battalion can be said to be created by Su Tiancheng, all the officers, including the soldiers, are very convinced, and they are absolutely obedient to Su Tiancheng's requirements, although everyone has such and such an understanding of the importance of firearms, but Su Tiancheng insisted, everyone must obey, and will not put forward many opinions.

In this process, Bi Maokang also knew Su Tiancheng's attitude.

There were so many things that surprised him that he couldn't be called a surprise now.

Su Tiancheng did what he said, 500,000 taels of silver, it was in place immediately, and the government government specially vacated the official land not far from the Jiangning camp station, organized the people, and built houses on a large scale, after the autumn harvest, it was already the slack season, Henan Mansion had a bumper grain harvest this year, and the peasants had hope for their lives, and they were all trying to find things to do, so that they could earn more silver and improve their lives, and there was no problem with the labor force at all.

This newly built barracks is about the same size as the barracks in Jiangning, and such a large place is specially reserved for Bi Maokang to do firearms research, and it is also necessary to produce weapons here.

Bi Maokang put away all his thoughts and devoted himself to the development of firearms, Su Tiancheng and Jiang Ningying invested so much silver, of course, he wanted to explore the most advanced firearms in the shortest possible time. (To be continued......)