Sun Chengzong mentioned Bi Maokang, who is now working hard in the Ordnance Bureau under the Ministry of War, and it is said that a new type of bird gun is about to be developed.

Hearing this news, Su Tiancheng was like a chicken blood, and he knew that this so-called new type of bird gun was a flintlock pistol that replaced the arquebus.

Zhu Youzhen and the ministers of civil and military affairs of the imperial court have not yet fully realized the importance of firearms, and although it is said that the imperial court has spent a lot of energy on the development of firearms, they have not been able to give full play to the role of firearms without a matching military system.

This is Su Tiancheng's task.

The establishment of the Jiangning battalion is very different from the ordinary guard army, and from the perspective of the composition of the sergeants, the military household system has been eliminated, and all the sergeants are professional, although the focus is still on the cavalry, which is only based on the actual situation in the early days of establishment.

The construction of the Shenji Battalion has always lagged behind, mainly due to the lack and backwardness of firearms, and the heavy losses of the Shenji Battalion in the battle of Zhongdu made Su Tiancheng have a profound understanding that this kind of mixed situation is completely unsuitable for the construction and development of the army.

A bold idea was born inside him.

The imperial court set up a military war in the military department, the second bureau of weapons to manufacture firearms, and later allowed the provinces to produce copper artillery, handcuffs and other firearms, the imperial court is very strict in the control of firearms, and it is never allowed to leak out, however, with the financial tension of the imperial court, the weakening of the ability to control the local area, the weapons slowly leaked out, and many salt merchants in the south secretly started the business of smuggling weapons, in which, there are officials.

Fortunately, the process of producing firearms has not been leaked.

For a period of time, the imperial army was equipped with a large number of firearms, and its combat effectiveness was greatly improved.

It's a pity. Because Kong Youde and others took refuge in Houjin, a large number of firearms fell into the hands of Houjin, and the rebellion in Dengzhou, Shandong, the greatest loss suffered by the imperial court, which was the loss of military weapons, as an important logistics base to fight against Houjin. There are a large number of firearms in Dengzhou, and these firearms, with Kong Youde's defection to Houjin, are all owned by Houjin.

Huang Taiji specially set up a banner of the Han army, called Wuzhen Chaoha, which means heavy soldiers, and the reason why it is called so is because the Han army mostly uses heavy weapons such as cannons.

It can be said that with Kong Youde, Shang Kexi and others taking refuge in Houjin. The border passes of the Ming Dynasty became more and more dangerous, and in terms of firearms, the Ming army no longer had much advantage. When the Later Jin attacked the city, they began to use the Han army and use heavy artillery, which could reduce casualties and make it easier to capture the city.

As a traverser, Su Tiancheng understands. In the next 200 years, the pace of progress of human civilization will be. In a period of transition, the feudal military civilization has begun the transition to a modern military civilization, the original feudal military civilization has not completely withdrawn from the historical stage, and a new type of modern military civilization has emerged.

The Ming Dynasty was in a leading position in the world.

It's a pity. With the fall of the Ming Dynasty, this leading advantage began to regress in great strides, and while the land of China regressed, the military civilization of the West made rapid progress. After 100 years, backwardness and being beaten have become an indisputable fact.

Su Tiancheng, who crossed over, if he couldn't change the situation, he could find a piece of tofu and kill him.

Su Tiancheng did not delay in the slightest, and immediately wrote out the secret fold and recommended Bi Maokang to be the commander of the Jiangning battalion guard.

Only by letting Bi Maokang come to the Jiangning camp and bring the skills of flintlock pistols and a large amount of equipment can he maximize the role of firearms, of course, he still has some ideas that need to be discussed with Bi Maokang, after all, people are experts.

The imperial court does not attach much importance to technical talents, so no one cares about Su Tiancheng's performance, isn't it just a scholar who studies firearms in the Ordnance Bureau, there is not much of a great deal, many ministers of civil and military affairs think that Bi Maokang's luck is too good, who doesn't know the courage of the Jiangning battalion, to put it mildly, the Jiangning battalion is already the most effective army in the Ming Dynasty.

Even Zhu Youzhen felt strange, how did Su Tiancheng know about Bi Maokang, after all, Su Tiancheng did not hold any official position in the imperial court, and he had always been in the local government.

Bi Maokang, who was studying firearms, reluctantly left the Ordnance Bureau and took up his post in the Jiangning Battalion.

Bi Maokang also has ideas, Su Tiancheng and Jiang Ningying's fame, of course he knows that as an expert in the professional study of firearms, his ideas are a little different from many civil and military ministers, after the development of firearms, it needs to be combated, otherwise it will have no effect. Unfortunately, with the financial tension of the imperial court, this idea has become a little unattainable, and a large number of firearms have been allocated to the army directly under the imperial court, such as Beijing Jingying, etc., and it is difficult for local guards to be equipped with firearms on a large scale.

There are too many disadvantages of arquebuses, and the restrictions are innumerable, only cannons can also play a certain role.

Under such circumstances, the imperial court will restrict the use of firearms, and there is no money for food, where can a large amount of silver be taken out to develop firearms.

Shandong Dengzhou Kong Youde mutiny, took refuge in the Houjin, the blow to the imperial court is very big, and now the firearms of the Houjin are not much worse than the army of the Ming Dynasty.

Bi Maokang has been developing the arquebus for a long time, and the development has been basically completed, and the firearm fired by using flint instead of the arquebus has been basically developed.

What is needed now is actual combat to verify this improvement.

To be able to serve as a guard commander in the Jiangning Battalion, Bi Maokang's main thought was to promote the use of firearms.

When Bi Maokang arrived in Luoyang, Henan, it was already mid-September.

When he was still more than ten miles away from Luoyang City, Bi Maokang saw a group of people standing next to the official road from a distance.

A young man greeted him.

"This is Lord Bi Maokang, I'm Su Tiancheng."

Bi Maokang was a little at a loss, Su Tiancheng was his direct boss, the prefect of Henan Prefecture, and concurrently the commander of the Jiangning battalion guard, he didn't expect to come here to greet him, and when they met, he didn't call the official position, nor did he say the official, such a scene, he really couldn't understand it.

"Xiaguan Bi Maokang, I've seen adults."

"Master Bi, don't be polite, when we arrive at Jiangning Camp, we will be brothers."

Su Tiancheng took Bi Maokang's arm and introduced Sun Chuanting, Xiong Zijian and others, including many thousands of households in Jiangningying.

Bi Maokang and everyone saluted one by one. Those previous worries were swept away.

Today's Wei Sho army, and the past can not be compared, with the taste of dictatorship, the Wei commander regards the army as personal property, the imperial court is easily unable to mobilize, he suddenly came to the Jiangning camp, as the Wei commander Tongzhi, although he is at the top level, but he is not able to do things, or things that are not clear.

Seeing this, at least on the surface, there is nothing wrong with that.

Su Tiancheng was also observing Bi Maokang.

Bi Maokang is thin and tall, at a glance, it is not the appearance of happiness, from the perspective of hundreds of years later, a typical intellectual, not the appearance of an official, and in terms of receiving people and things, it seems to be a little simple, Bi Maokang's eyes, from flattered to relieved, this process is very fast, it is not at all the performance of a scheming person, and it lacks the most critical link, scrutiny. When working with such a person, you don't need to worry too much, don't have any scheming, it's best to go straight.

A few years later, Bi Maokang wrote "The Illustration of Weapons", which is still very influential.

It seems that Bi Maokang came to Jiangning Ying, and this book may be coming out in advance.

The Jiangning battalion was fully prepared, and the 20,000 soldiers stationed outside Luoyang stood neatly on the playground.

Su Tiancheng took Bi Maokang and walked directly onto the wooden platform.

Sun Chuanting, Xiong Zijian and others followed behind and walked onto the wooden platform, and many thousands of households were standing below.

Seeing this situation, Bi Maokang was even more excited.

"Brothers, the imperial court sent Lord Bi Maokang to the Jiangning Battalion to serve as the commander of the guard, this is the pride of the Jiangning Battalion, Lord Bi has made great contributions to the study of firearms, I believe that with the efforts of Lord Bi, the Jiangning Battalion will be able to develop rapidly, and truly become an invincible army, below, please speak to Lord Bi."

Bi Maokang is still sober-minded.

He walked to the front and opened his mouth with a fist clenched.

"Appointed by the imperial court, I will come down to the Jiangning camp, and work together with many soldiers in the future, I don't have much to say, I must contribute to the development of the Jiangning camp under the leadership of Lord Su."

Su Tiancheng behind him had a smile on his face.

Accommodation and so on have been arranged a long time ago.

At the next banquet, Su Tiancheng made it clear that he should not pour wine.

Bi Maokang was spared the pain of drunkenness.

After the banquet, Su Tiancheng took Bi Maokang around the barracks.

"Master Bi, I heard that you have developed a new type of firearm in the capital, and it has been successful, I wonder if there is such a thing in Ludao."

"Your Excellency's news is really well-informed, Xia Guan did develop a firearm, but on the basis of the arquebus, it is improved, and flint is used to fire instead of the arquebus, which can avoid a lot of defects......"

Speaking of firearms, Bi Maokang gushed endlessly, forgetting that he had just arrived at the Jiangning camp.

After patiently listening to Bi Maokang, Su Tiancheng smiled and said his request.

"Lord Bi to the Jiangning camp, I recommended, please come to the Jiangning camp, I have two purposes, first, the new type of weapons developed by Lord Bi should be equipped with the Jiangning camp as quickly as possible, second, please Lord Bi develop flowering bombs, I heard that Lord Bi has made achievements in this regard, and today's cannons are all solid bullets, and the lethality is too small. As for the silver taels needed for firearms research, Jiang Ningying will never be stingy, my consideration, first allocate 500,000 taels of silver, let Master Bi spend, if it is not enough, just ask. ”

Bi Maokang opened his mouth and didn't speak for a long time. (To be continued......)