"That's not it, it's just that the speed and accuracy of the shot will be greatly affected." Liu Weimin explained.

Hearing Xiao Liu say this, Shi Kefa breathed a sigh of relief.

"Xiao Liu, how many of these cannons have you got?" Luo Jian thought that he had only been away from Yangzhou for a week, and he didn't have much hope, so he just asked casually.

"The artillery you saw that day did get twelve guns, but this direction machine and high and low machine are not solved after all, it is a big problem, and ** I made a small number of them, and I have done a few experiments, but they are too sensitive, and this passivation problem has to be solved."

Shi Kefa didn't understand the professional words, but he only heard that there were already twelve cannons, and he was immediately overjoyed.

"Xiao Liu, Maozhong, you have worked hard, you are really good." Shi Kefa said in admiration.

"Brother Liheng, do you know what our intentions are when you invite you over today?" Luo Jian turned his head and asked Yan Yingyuan with a smile.

"Governor, I don't know about this." Yan Yingyuan had already changed his name to Wang Sicheng and no longer called Luo Jian the prince of the country.

"I want to hand over all these artillery pieces to you, and form a special artillery unit based on your Zhutang disciples." Luo Jian said with a smile.

"It's... Could the Grand Governor let me take a look at the artillery first? Yan Yingyuan didn't agree, but asked to see the artillery first, which made Luo Jian extremely satisfied,

"Let's go, let's all go and see!" Luo Jian said and took the lead and walked outside the house.

Chen Zilong led a few people to a large factory building, and when he walked into the house, he saw a row of artillery in front of him, which was exactly the kind of artillery that Luo Jian and Shi Kefa had test-fired that day.

Liu Weimin looked at Luo Jian with some embarrassment and said, "Chief, the time is too tight, we only made so many doors, and these are still hundreds of workers working overtime to get them." ”

Yan Yingyuan stepped forward and stroked the cannon, and a strange brilliance flashed in his eyes.

"Brother Liheng, you stay here for the next few days, let Xiao Liu explain the principle to you, and understand the performance of these artillery, don't be reluctant to shell, experience is all out of the fire."

"Chief, the manufacture of shells has made great progress, but the thickness is well grasped during casting, and it is still very fast, but it takes some time to polish, so I am in a hurry to get the grinding machine out first."

"So?" When Shi Kefa heard this, he went out and called a guard, explained a few words to him, and the guard got out of the steel mill and galloped towards Yangzhou.

"Brother Xian, what are you doing?" Luo Jian saw that Shi Kefa was impatient to run out of the door, and he didn't know what was going on, so he hurriedly came out and asked.

"This Xiao Liu doesn't know what this grinder is for, I just asked people to go back and inform Ren Minyu and ask him to quickly organize people to come and dig the river. If it's too late, let the troops come up and work for a few days, and this can't be delayed at all. ”

After learning that the firearms of the Qing soldiers had been greatly strengthened, Shi Kefa was extremely concerned about the production of artillery, and now he is not willing to delay for a moment.

"Xiao Liu, it's not good for small-caliber ones, right?" Luo Jian asked Liu Weimin.

"Chief, it's not right now, most of the energy is focused on artillery, and I haven't had time to think about it yet."

"Well, it's right to concentrate on getting the artillery out first, time is running out, this autumn harvest is coming, the weather will also turn cooler, the Qing troops will inevitably go south, we have to hurry up and prepare."

These people were still talking, Yan Yingyuan had already called a few workers in, dragged a cannon and went outside the factory.

Seeing that the three or four workers dragged the artillery out, Yan Yingyuan grabbed a few steps forward, carefully examining the wheels of the artillery as he walked.

When Luo Quan saw it, he quickly called Yan Yingyuan back and said to him:

"Brother Liheng, you stay here for the time being, we are going to go back to Yangzhou first, and we will arrange some gunners in the former army to come to assist you, and you must also master the performance of these artillery pieces as soon as possible, if you don't understand something, ask Xiao Liu." As soon as your Zhutang disciples arrive, I will send someone to send them over. ”

When Luo Jian and the others hurried back to Yangzhou, Liu Lan and the others who were on the boat were able to arrive because they were going upstream.

When I arrived at the Dadu Governor's Mansion and just entered the gate, I saw that a large group of people were already waiting in the mansion to greet him, and Hou Fangyu was also in the crowd of people who greeted him, and when he saw Luo Jian and Shi Kefa, he stretched out his head and looked around, but he didn't see anyone wearing women's clothes, and his face showed a disappointed look.

"Don't engage in all this showmanship, what's there to welcome? Chief of Staff B, hurry up and inform the commander-in-chief of the regiment and above to come to the meeting in the afternoon! Luo Jian said as he handed over the horses to the guards.

Turning around, he asked people to arrange the accommodation of Gu and Zheng, and seeing the embarrassed look on Steward Luo's face, Luo Jian realized that the previously spacious Metropolitan Governor's Mansion had now become crowded.

"Arrange Xiao Liu and Xiao Wang to a courtyard and leave two rooms, they don't have much time to live in the house."

Feeling Steward Luo's embarrassment, Luo Jian said.

As soon as he walked into the hall, he heard the horn of a car outside, and Luo Jian knew that Liu Lan and they were also back.

Said to Hou Fangyu, who was following him: "Why don't you go and pick up someone soon?" Take three days off for you. ”

Hou Fangyu was stunned for a moment, and suddenly felt his heart pounding, took a deep breath, turned around and bowed deeply towards Luo Jian, and strode outside.

Early the next morning, Zhang Laohan, who lived outside the city, carried a hoe as usual and went to his field to inspect the growth of rice.

Zhang Laohan fled from Shandong, after the angel governor ran away from the tartars, he divided ten acres of paddy fields outside Yangzhou City, and the seeds were provided by Yangzhou government, but after the autumn to pay three percent of the rent, by the way, in Yangzhou now it is not called rent, it is called "public grain".

Zhang Laohan is very satisfied, he used to plant paddy fields in his hometown, and the main family had to collect sixty percent of the rent, but now in addition to paying thirty percent of the public grain, there are no other harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and I don't know if there are any messy conscriptions, but Zhang Laohan has not been conscripted once in the past few months.

I have to pass by the barracks of the Yangzhou Army every day, but this morning's barracks made Zhang Laohan feel a little strange, usually the barracks were already starting to practice at this time, but today it was still quiet.

Standing on his own field and looking at the barracks in front of him, Zhang Laohan, who was accustomed to the number in the barracks every day, felt a little empty in his heart.

"Old Zhangtou, are you still so early?" Liu Mengzi in the field next door shouted.

"Ah, Mengzi, this...?" Zhang Laohan pointed to the barracks in front of him.

"Hey, I said Lao Zhangtou, you don't know yet, the army has been drawn last night, and I heard that I am going to fight the Qing soldiers." Liu Mengzi said with a suppressed voice.

"Huh? Why didn't you hear any movement from this army? Zhang Laohan asked in some surprise.

"I heard that yesterday when the governor returned to Yangzhou, he convened the generals to discuss the matter, and it was only one night that the army was mobilized. If you want me to say that I have seen a lot of troops, it is really rare to see such an army as the Yangzhou army. "Liu Mengzi fled from Henan, and he has seen a lot of troops, and he feels that he has a lot of right to speak.

"But it's not, I've lived so old, trained like this, and didn't bully our people's team, I'm also the first time I've seen it." Zhang Laohan said with deep sympathy.

"I don't know who the Yangzhou army is fighting this time? It's good to send the Tartars back to their hometown, and we can live a peaceful life. Liu Mengzi's eyes showed deep expectation.

Zheng Chenggong followed Luo Jian onto Huang Fei's ship, and sat down on the side of the ship, Zheng Chenggong was still looking at the Yangzhou army who was boarding the ship on the shore in surprise.

Huang Fei's ship is a sea ship, in fact, it is a reduced model of the Fu ship, there are 53 crew members and combat personnel on the ship, and it is equipped with 4 thousand pounds of Franc machines, which is a relatively large warship on the Yangtze River.

Zheng Chenggong has spent a lot of days at sea with his father Zheng Zhilong since he was a child, and this warship can only be regarded as a trumpet compared to the large fortune ships he has seen.

But it was not the battleship that surprised Zheng Chenggong, but the Yangzhou army, and Zheng Chenggong couldn't help but think back to everything that had happened from yesterday afternoon to now.

Yesterday afternoon, he also participated in the battle meeting of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, which he asked to participate in, and the Metropolitan Governor also told him that he wanted to listen, watch, and learn more.

At the battle meeting, the Metropolitan Governor let everyone speak freely, and the atmosphere was very warm, and even he wanted to say a few words, but he really didn't know anything about the situation, so he had to hold back.

The Yangzhou Army has five divisions, and the Metropolitan Governor finally decided to send three divisions to Anqing to attack Zuomengeng's department.

As a result, what I didn't expect at all was that except for the first division, which was named by the Metropolitan Governor and determined that it must stay, the other division commanders almost quarreled in order not to be stayed.

The words of the second division commander Li Chengdong let me remember it most clearly, "If the second division stays behind, I, the division commander, will not be able to do it, and I will not be able to explain to the brothers when I go back. ”

In the end, it was Jingnanhou who carried forward his style and let the Sixth Division stay, looking at the expression of the commander of the Sixth Division, he hated Jingnanhou to death.

Besides, the movement of tens of thousands of horses and horses, no matter which of your troops is where, it will cause earth-shattering trouble, but the Yangzhou army does not seem to be able to, the staff officers of the General Staff Department are making adjustments along the way, and the march of tens of thousands of troops is so orderly.

More than 3,000 cavalry from three divisions had already set off, and Zheng Chenggong estimated that they would have arrived at Yizheng.

Luo Jian stood on the deck of the Haicang ship, looking at the Yangtze River in front of him, and his heart was also a little excited.

It's been almost three months since I arrived at this time, and looking back now, these three months have been so stressful.

Just like when I came back from Nanjing this time, I originally wanted to understand the situation of the troops first, and after Xiao Liu's artillery was delivered to the troops, I would slowly formulate a battle plan and solve Zuo Mengeng's troops at one time.

However, at yesterday's combat meeting, everyone's opinion was that in order to fight this battle, it was necessary to fight this battle as soon as possible, and the crops in the fields would be ripe in a few months, which meant that the combat time left for the Yangzhou army was less than a month.

In this hot weather, let the troops march long distances to the line from Tongling to Jiujiang, I am afraid that the Yangzhou army will not be able to afford non-combat attrition, which is why Luo Jian reluctantly chose to transport troops with a water division.

However, at this time, the speed of the warship was too slow to rely on sails and manpower, and according to Huang Fei's estimate, it would take at least five days to get from Yangzhou to Tongling, which required the sailors to go all out.

Seeing that the ship that had already boarded the ship in front of him began to set sail, Luo Jian retracted his thoughts, turned back to Huang Fei, the commander of the sailor division, and asked, "How is the combat effectiveness of the sailor division on the left?" ”

"Hehe, Grand Duke, can they be called a water master? It's just a matter of looting some people's boats. Huang Fei scoffed at the sailor on the left.

"Then you can't underestimate the enemy, I will go ashore when I get to Tongling, and the battle of this naval division will depend on you. Success, you come here. Luo Jian called Zheng Chenggong, who was still in a daze on the sideboard.

"You follow General Huang to learn the combat methods of water warfare, and if you have any ideas, you can directly put them forward to General Huang."

Zheng Chenggong nodded hurriedly, and somewhat understood what the metropolitan governor meant, this is to train himself to become a general of the navy.

He didn't know that Luo Jian actually wanted him to become a future naval commander, not a naval general.

"Grand Duke, more than half of the ships have already set sail, shall we set off too?" Huang Fei asked for instructions next to him.

"Let's go!" Luo Jian said.