Seeing the scene in front of him, Zheng Zhibao couldn't help but be surprised: "Lord Commander, the musket used by your army is so powerful, it seems to be more advanced than the musket used by the Francophone?" ”

Liu Fan shook his head and said, "The prototype of this musket is the Spanish Mushteco arquebus, which is a kind of smoothbore gun, a sharp weapon of the army, with an effective firing range of 200 steps. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 Info: Although this gun is powerful and has a long range, it has a fatal drawback, that is, the accuracy is too poor. Only by forming a large-scale firepower network can it exert its maximum power, and the use of individual soldiers is not as good as that of birds. ”

"Oh!" Zheng Zhibao nodded when he heard this, Liu Fan was right, this kind of gun is indeed a sharp weapon of the army. Although Zheng Zhibao was coveted by its great power, he also knew that this kind of musket was not suitable for the Zheng family. The navy is different from the army, and when fighting on the sea, the distance of the ships is generally very long, and it is more suitable for arquebuses with long range and high accuracy like the bird's gun. Although he was unwilling, Zheng Zhibao could only dispel the impatience in his heart.

Liu Fan glanced at Zheng Zhibao and continued, "In addition to this kind of musket, our army is also equipped with some three-eyed guns, which are also common in my Ming Dynasty, so this governor will not let them demonstrate." Let's take a look at the artillery! ”

Liu Fan beckoned Wu Tao to prepare for the next round of artillery demonstrations. After receiving the order, Wu Tao led everyone to the open space where the artillery was. Pointing to the rows of artillery in front of him, Wu Tao explained to everyone: "The artillery that the Broken Army is now equipped with is mainly divided into three types. They were the Army's short-range three-pounder, six-pounder, and a handful of twelve-pounder guns! The first two types of artillery were less powerful, but they were easy to carry and transport. It is possible to provide effective fire support to the infantry. ”

"Alright, alright!" Liu Fan waved his hand and said, "Don't be ugly in front of experts with these words." Brother Zheng has been crisscrossing the ocean all year round, and he has never seen any kind of cannon. There are dozens of Franco cannons on one ship, so don't take out these small cannons to show off! ”

Zheng Zhibao shook his head and said, "Lord Commander, this is a bit biased, although the guns on the ship are more powerful, but they can only be used on the ship because they are thousands of catties, and if they are on land, they will lose their original role because they are too heavy." It's not as practical as these army guns. ”

"Hmm!" Liu Fan nodded and said, "The ruler is long, and the inch is short." It is not surprising that you and I have different emphases and different weapons. Although our Broken Army is only equipped with these less powerful firearms, we can also produce other types of firearms. If Brother Zheng is in need, he can say it bluntly! ”

Zheng Zhibao was silent for a moment, raised his head and asked, "Can Zhibao go to the firearms workshop in Shihe to have a look?" I would like to know more about the scale of production at the Shihe plant before I consider whether I want to buy something!"

"Yes!" Liu Fan said without hesitation: "Since Brother Zheng is interested, then let's go to the arsenal to have a look!" ”

Zheng Zhibao said movingly, "Great, then thank you to the Overseer!" ”

There is also a reason why Liu Fan agreed so happily, although the scale of the Shihe Arsenal is not small, there are not too many leading contemporary firearms. Neither arquebuses nor artillery are too advanced, and with the strength of the Zheng family, they can get the same production technology as them in a short time. Since there is no need for secrecy, why not show Liu Fan to the Zheng family generously? In this way, he can not only show his sincerity, but also let the people of the Zheng family see his strength. Why not?

In view of Zheng Zhibao's request, after the parade, everyone left the school field and began to go to the south of the city where the Shihe Arsenal was located. After several years of continuous expansion, the current Shihe Arsenal has become the largest firearms production base in Shandong, and only the production workshop in the latter part has occupied a large area in the southwest of Shihe City.

After Liu Fan and the others returned to Shihe City, they came to the production area of the Shihe Arsenal very smoothly. While walking, Liu Fan introduced Zheng Zhibao, "Brother Zheng, our Shihe Arsenal has more than 15,000 craftsmen, and it is responsible for the production of all the weapons in active service of the Broken Army, from muskets and artillery to small knives, guns and sticks, all the weapons that the Broken Army can see can be produced here. This piece of workshop in the city is only the final assembly and grinding workshop, and there are many basic workshops outside the city for the first time, such as iron casting factories, molds, gunpowder and other flammable and explosive workshops. ”

Zheng Zhibao was a little surprised when he heard this, and said after a long time, "Lord Chief Soldier, what is the output of your arsenal?" ”

"Under normal circumstances, it can produce more than 1,000 three-eyed guns and more than 1,500 arquebuses per month. If the artillery is produced at full capacity, it can produce about 300 tiger squat cannons, 50 three-pounder guns, 30 six-pounder cannons, and less heavy artillery than 10 guns a month! The main reason is that we lacked enough iron and copper before, but now that our territory has expanded, Laizhou has enough iron ore and copper mines to support our arsenal, especially copper mines, Weixian County has a lot of large and small copper mines, if we go all out, in order to be free of copper in ten years, I expect that by next spring, the production capacity of the arsenal can be doubled! Hearing Zheng Zhibao's inquiry, Liu Fan was not ambiguous, and directly falsely reported the output of the arsenal more than doubled.

As soon as Liu Fan said this, Zheng Zhibao was really shocked. Zheng Zhibao looked at the large continuous workshops in front of him in disbelief and exclaimed: "The chief soldier is very human, such a large arsenal, even the entire northern Ming Dynasty, it is difficult to find someone who can be compared." I'm afraid that only a large factory such as the War Bureau in the capital can be compared! ”

Liu Fan smiled and said proudly, "That's natural, you must know that this arsenal has poured a lot of effort into me!" From the beginning of the fifth year of Chongzhen to the present, the governor has invested no less than 10 million taels of silver in the arsenal. If he hadn't accomplished anything, wouldn't Ben have wept to death? ”

"Ten million taels!" Everyone in the Zheng family was immediately stunned. If you want to say who is the richest person in the Ming Dynasty now, in addition to those Jin merchant groups who betray the country to seek glory, I am afraid that the maritime merchant group like the Zheng family, which is also an official and a thief, is the richest. But if they want to take out 10 million taels at once and throw them into a big hole that can only enter but not get out, I'm afraid they can't do anything. Even Zheng Zhilong, the leader of the Zheng family, probably doesn't have such a big courage and mind. Thinking of this, for the first time, everyone sincerely admired Liu Fan. (To be continued.) )