Although Zhu Cihuan went to the table three times in a row, saying that he had no intention of taking the throne, Zhu Youxiang still sent people to Yangzhou again and again, showing that he was willing to give way to King Yong, which made Luo Jian and Shi Kefa very annoying.

That's not all, there were many vassal kings and former ministers of the Chongzhen Dynasty who came to Yangzhou to find King Yong, and they also had a lot of persuasion intentions, Luo Jian was overwhelmed, and simply ran to the second division to train the troops, leaving Shi Kefa alone to deal with it in Yangzhou.

Shi Kefa saw that there were too many people, which directly affected Zhu Cihuan's study, and he was also entangled in these things every day, so annoyed that he couldn't do it, and then Liu Lan came up with an idea, and issued a statement in the name of Zhu Cihuan in Yangzhou Weekly, saying that he was doing studies in Yangzhou, please don't delay your studies, and the number of people who came slowly decreased.

Mr. Liu Zongzhou learned that King Yong was in Yangzhou, and he was so excited that he couldn't sleep for a few days, and found Zhu Cihuan and volunteered to be his husband, but the scene that happened to Zhu Yujian happened again, and Mr. Liu was so angry that he couldn't eat for a few days.

Luo Jian didn't care about everything that happened in Yangzhou, he just stayed in the barracks of the Second Division and trained with the soldiers every day, and his body felt a lot better.

But the comfortable days were soon interrupted again, and Shi Kefa sent someone to invite Luo Jian back to Yangzhou and say that something was wrong.

"Xinghua, it seems that your worries are indeed justified, isn't this still an accident." When Shi Kefa saw Luo Jian, he hurriedly said.

"What's wrong?" Luo Jian was a little puzzled, Shi Kefa said this thoughtlessly.

"Well, what's going on? It was the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce that had an accident with the merchant ship to Japan. Only then did Shi Kefa slowly explain to Luo Jian what happened.

The merchant ship organized by the Chamber of Commerce also arrived in Japan smoothly for the second time, but this time it was not as good luck as last time.

The merchant ships entered the port of Nagasaki, and the Japanese sent officials to bring the people on the merchant ships to the city, and then detained all the merchant ships.

To the great surprise of the merchants, who had no idea what was going on, they asked the interpreter to inquire with a lot of money, and finally found out that the cause of the incident was what happened to the sulfur ball.

At this time, the sulfur ball was originally a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, but since the Japanese invasion of Korea, the Shimazu family sent troops to the island to capture the sulfur king alive, forcing the sulfur country to pay tribute to Japan, in fact, at this time the sulfur ball has become a dual vassal state.

The Ming Dynasty has been worried about internal and external troubles since Chongzhen, and he has no time to take care of himself, where can he still take care of the vassal state of the sulfur ball, and Japan also took the opportunity to implement the actual occupation of the sulfur ball, and the army of the Shimazu family never left the sulfur ball island, and the Tokugawa shogunate at this time actually regarded the sulfur ball as its own territory.

Then just a few months ago, Lu Wei and Zheng Chenggong mistakenly landed on Sulfur Island, killed the King of Sulfur in a daze, and beat the army sent by the Shimazu family to the desert, and then Luo Jian transferred a battalion of troops from the first division and the officials selected by Shi Kefa to land on Sulfur Island, and at this time Sulfur was renamed Daming.

After the Japanese shogunate learned of this news, some people proposed to use force to take back the sulfur ball, but according to the Japanese soldiers who fled back, the army of the Ming Dynasty on the island was extremely powerful, and less than 1,000 people beat the 5,000 or 6,000 troops of the Shimazu family to the point that they were powerless to fight back.

At this time, the merchant ships of the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce arrived in Japan, and the Tokugawa shogunate soon learned about it, which allowed Nagasaki officials to detain the merchant ships, preparing to use this to negotiate with the Ming court and let it return Iulqiu Island.

The fleet organized by the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce this time is much larger than last time, there are more than 20 merchant ships, and the value of the goods carried is much higher than last time.

How could the Chamber of Commerce have the ability to solve this problem, so it had to go to the Dadu Governor's Mansion to find Luo Jian, but Luo Jian was not in the mansion, and ran to find Shi Kefa, and Shi Kefa sent someone to find Luo Jian back.

"Xinghua, let's take care of this?" Shi Kefa asked, he really has no experience in dealing with this kind of foreign-related matter.

"How can this be left alone? As long as my Ming people are bullied abroad, we have to take care of it, and this time the matter is still because of us, this matter must be managed! Luo Jian said resolutely.

"Then let's send someone to Japan to negotiate with them?"

"Don't worry, let's talk about it when Lu Wei and Damu come back."

"Xinghua, you're not waiting for the two of them to come back, are you? You're waiting for the 'Wei Qing' to come back, aren't you? Shi Kefa asked, staring at Luo Jian's eyes.

"Brother Xian, let's talk clearly, I don't have the patience to talk to the people of that country, let's use a cannon to talk to them!" Luo Jian said coldly.

"Xinghua, didn't you say that you shouldn't care about what didn't happen? Now how..."

Without waiting for Shi Kefa to finish speaking, Luo Jian stood up and said, "Brother Xian, I can listen to you in everything, but I have to make my own decisions in this matter!" This time, I asked Xiao Wang to go, and this kid is looking forward to this day. ”

"Xinghua, I have served you, this matter is up to you, but you have to grasp the degree, you can't go too far, you must know that our biggest task at present is to drive the Tartars out, and when the world is peaceful in the future, it will not be easy to clean them up?"

"Brother Xian, I know in my heart, open their door this time, and our goods will be able to enter freely in the future, which is enough, if you are still disobedient, you will clean them up in the future!"

"Xinghua, I don't know how badly you have been harmed by this country, although this is a little inconsistent with my concept, but I support you! I'll let someone inform the Chamber of Commerce, and we'll take care of it!" Shi Kefa also said firmly.

After Shi Kefa left, Luo Jian asked people to call Wang Qiang back.

"Chief, it's been a long time, and the garrison division is a bit like it now, when can we issue rifles to the garrison division?"

"Xiao Wang, I didn't come to you today to talk about this, let me ask you, do you still want to fight Japanese devils?"

"Chief, what do you say? How can there be Japanese devils at this time? ”

Luo Jian told the Chamber of Commerce about it.

"Chief, I have to go! Chief, don't let anyone else rob it, I'm looking forward to this day. When Wang Qiang heard this, he was immediately excited.

"You don't have to worry, our 'Wei Qing' hasn't come back yet, when they come back, you will lead the team to set off, if you don't get them this time, there will be more and more demons in the future, besides, if we want to produce bullets in the future, we need a lot of copper, you know that copper is abundant there?"

"I don't know, chief, I used snacks to study them during this time, and they haven't used a knife to cut their belly at this time, right?"

"The samurai already existed at this time, but the 'bushido' was not at this time, and it was not until the Russo-Japanese War that it really took shape, and the Japanese at this time were afraid that they were not so tenacious, right? Otherwise the Americans will be able to blast their portals open with a couple of steamships? You have to take a good look at the history of Japan during this time, and it will be good for us to open their doors to me without letting their shogunate fall down. Luo Jian explained to Wang Qiang carefully.

"Chief, don't worry, I'll hand over the garrison division to them, and while I'm waiting for the 'Wei Qing' to come back, I'll do more homework and find some businessmen who have been to Japan to learn more about the situation."

"That's the best, I don't really want Zheng Chenggong to go this time, after all, his mother is Japanese, I'm afraid he won't be able to accept it emotionally."

"Then I have to learn naval warfare again, chief, is this difficult?"

"You don't have to worry too much about this, even if Zheng Chenggong doesn't go, isn't Shi Lang there? With him here, it shouldn't be a big problem, right? ”

The two discussed for a long time, and then ran to the computer to check a lot of information, and they could be regarded as having prepared enough homework, but Lu Wei and Zheng Chenggong did not come back for a long time.

The Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce learned that the Metropolitan Governor's Office was determined to take care of this matter, but they also settled down, knowing that Yangzhou wanted to take care of this matter, and they must wait for the return of the "Wei Qing", and everyone was looking forward to the early return of the "Wei Qing" every day.

More than half a month has passed, and it has been more than three months since the first merchant ship organized by the Yangzhou Ocean Trading Company to go to sea, and Shi Kefa has already begun to worry.

Under the personal supervision of Luo Jian, the training progress of the Second Division was greatly accelerated, and Li Chengdong was even more unwilling to fall behind the First Division, and personally guarded the training ground every day, and the Second Division quickly became familiar with the Yangzhou Type 1 rifle, and the troops basically formed combat effectiveness, and now all they lack is actual combat experience.

In this way, Huai'an's five divisions that directly faced the Qing army were also put on the agenda.

The Yangzhou army's rearmament was carried out very steadily, and the troops who changed their outfits first went to change their defenses, which was to ensure that the Qing army had no opportunity to take advantage of it.

Huang Degong was very excited to learn the news that the Fifth Division was about to change its clothes, and this time he personally led the Fifth Division back from Huai'an.

"Metropolitan Governor, our three divisions have changed their clothes, can we have a big fight with the Tartars?" Just seeing Luo Jian, Huang Degong saluted and asked.

"I said Brother Huang, the Fifth Division hasn't changed its costume yet, right? Are you in such a hurry? If we don't fight, we will have to solve the problem once and for all, and we will not be able to procrastinate. Luo Jian said with a smile.

"Yes, yes, yes, what's it called, these talents are so stupid, even a smart person like me can't teach them, oops, I think about it, this is called thick accumulation and thin hair, Metropolitan Governor, am I right?" Huang Degong finally remembered this word, and he was a little proud.

Luo Jian saw that Huang Degong could say "thick accumulation and thin hair", he was really a little impressed, you must know that Huang Degong couldn't read a basket of big characters at the beginning.

"I said Jing Nanhou, it seems that you are really not idle, this study is quite tight." Luo Jian said with a smile.

"That's, I tossed those showmen enough, no, it was those showmen who forced me to choke enough, I didn't know a few words a day, I just didn't let me go, Dadu, I've had a hard time these days!" Huang Degong said with a bitter face, and Luo Jian laughed when he heard it.

The fifth division is guarded by Huang Degong, and Luo Jian didn't worry too much about the training after changing clothes, and he went to Guazhou a lot during this time.

The progress of Xiao Liu's production line is still very slow, some equipment is produced while groping, and some have to be withdrawn and started again, which is a great delay in time.

Luo Jian mentioned the mortar to Xiao Liu, and the two planned together for a long time, feeling that with the current level of technology, it could still be achieved.

The key propellant, Xiao Liu thinks that nitrocellulose can be used, this is not difficult to produce, but the amount is not very large, Xiao Liu estimates that there is no problem in producing hundreds of **.

The mortar is a smoothbore gun, which makes Chen Zilong feel that there is no difficulty, and its structure is relatively simple, because it is an infantry accompanying gun, and the caliber cannot be too large, Luo Jian feels that the caliber of sixty is more suitable, but the shell is relatively small, and the power of using black huo medicine is smaller than that of mountain artillery.

The production of bullets is still being studied, Chen Zilong is extremely concerned about this matter, Luo Jian has seen the power of the rifle they use with his own eyes, and he has always dreamed of getting a similar one.

In the midst of his hustle and bustle, Luo Jian finally waited for the news of the return of the fleet.