There was a burst of gunfire on the firearms training ground, several lumps of wood chips splashed on the long wooden target 70 paces away, and the 12 firearms men reloaded and fired two more volleys.

After they finished shooting and raised the muzzle of the gun, Chen Xin walked to the wooden target with a group of chief officers, and a firearms instructor went up to count the bullet holes next to each other, and drew a place with a pen when he counted them, and the place where the armor was fixed on the wooden target was also lifted and looked at, and he came back to report back after a while: "My lord, a total of 33 shots were fired, and 24 hits were hit, and the hit rate exceeded 70%. ”

Chen Xin picked up an iron scale armor in the past, a piece of armor on it was hit, and many sharp pieces of iron cracked out of the hole backwards, and the lead bullet was embedded in the wooden board behind the armor, Nie Hong handed over the dagger that had just been sent, Chen Xin dug out the lead bullet, and it had become a flat piece, and some parts had been separated from the main body, if it hit the human torso, the soft lead bullet would split into many small pieces, forming a cavity effect, and no one could save it in this era. Chen Xin snorted in a low voice: "Look at your dog's day." ”

Chen Xin then praised Tang Zuo who delivered the goods: "The power is good. ”

Tang Zuoxiang hurriedly and modestly: "It's all Mr. Liu's good management, now this workshop talks about a standard, first of all, the villain's musket, although it is cumbersome, but the defective products are almost gone, and the villain has to admire Mr. Liu." ”

Dai Zhenggang also took an unloaded one, buckled the plate hook to the open space, the plate hook reed inside jingled softly, and as soon as the yin machine moved, the fire door opened immediately, and the faucet also fell forward.

Zhu Guobin looked at it and praised: "This gun is good and easy to use, but I don't know how to use the shield." ”

Shi Pingli was the person in charge of the test, and said respectfully to Zhu Guobin: "My lord, within fifty steps, there is no shield that can block it, unless you take an iron shield." ”

Lu Chuanzong laughed and said, "Who the hell is fighting with an iron shield, can that thing be moved?" ”

Shi Pingli also smiled: "What Lord Lu said is that if you really take the iron shield, we will fight close to the turtledove, and he will not be able to stop it." ”

Zhu Daichun, Wang Changfu and others who accompanied the observation came up to test the gun, a training officer and a hundred presidents, all of them had to bring killer firearms, so they also had to learn a variety of skills, the two grabbed the gun, started to operate together, loaded the ammunition almost at the same time, glanced at each other, rolled their eyes, and each fired a shot at the open space.

This is the first batch of 100 combined machine guns, weighing nine catties, four feet and one inch long, with a barrel of three feet and four inches, an empty diameter of six inches, a bullet weighing eight yuan, and a medicine of seven yuan.

Shi Pingli participated in the whole test and said to Chen Xin: "My lord, I originally planned to make a five-foot gun, but after the test, the four-foot gun was loaded faster, and after the firearms team tried it, everyone thought that four feet was better. In the end, Mr. Liu settled on this four-foot-one-inch one. ”

Chen Xin nodded and said, "That's how it should be, let the person who uses it make the decision." What about gunpowder? ”

Tang Zuoxiang came up and rushed to say: "According to the method recorded by Qi Shaobao, forty taels of nitrate, five taels of sulfur, seven taels of willow charcoal, add water for two minutes to grind, dry into granules, and use a sieve to sieve out the size of rice grains. ”

It was still granular gunpowder, Chen Xin picked up a paper-wrapped bullet by himself, touched it with his hand, the lead bullet was on the top, and the projectile was on the bottom, so the lead bullet bag was omitted. Shi Pingli hurriedly gave Chen Xin instructions, Chen Xin bit off the paper tube from the bottom, poured it into the chamber, then filled the lead bullet, and finally blocked the muzzle with an empty paper tube, compacted it, and then loaded the primer and fire rope. A shot was fired into the open space, which eliminated the need for a bullet bag and a fire door than the original bird. The strict practice of using paper cartridges makes it easier for soldiers to form reflex-like proficiency, and there will be much less phenomenon on the battlefield of loading lead bullets first and then charging, and loading several lead bullets in a row.

Chen Xin said to Song Wenxian, who came with him: "Mr. Song, why don't you try it?" ”

Song Wenxian smiled, awkwardly took the musket, Shi Pingli helped to load the medicine, Song Wenxian put his head far back, and his shoulder was hit painfully after a shot, so he quickly returned the gun to Shi Pingli, rubbing his shoulder, while shaking his hand at Chen Xin.

Chen Xin smiled, picked up the two combined machine guns and compared, the empty diameter of the gun chamber is basically the same, it seems that the iron core has been unified, but the shape of the outside of the pipe wall is still irregular, and some places are slightly protruding, but now he is very satisfied with being able to do this.

"Mr. Tang, how is the speed of the drill pipe now?"

"Back to adults, it's still an inch a day, it's really not too much."

Chen Xin thought for a while, there are not many musketeers now, and the output can barely keep up, but he really can't stand dozens of people who specialize in drilling the barrel.

"Can you not drill the barrel?"

Tang Zuoxiang was startled, and hurriedly said: "My lord, this can't be helped, the cooked iron sheet is extremely rough, especially the sintering place, it is not smooth, not to mention the deflated, and it is not accurate, and there is also the lead hitting the bulge inside, which is very easy to damage the barrel......"

"When you fight together, you can always hit a few. You just said can you hit it? ”

"This, this can also be shot, but this ......" Tang Zuoxiang was a little sweaty, and he had to explain, Chen Xin shook his hand and smiled: "I'm just asking, as long as you can get out, there are not many guns in front of you, you still continue to drill, if there are more soldiers in the future, let's talk about it." Later, the bird gun was no longer made zuò, and the turtledove changed the ignition device to the combined machine gun style, and the barrel continued to be produced according to the original style. ”

After Chen Xin finished speaking, his eyes rolled, and he said to Tang Zuoxiang: "This combination is qualified, and the bonus will be given to the participants before the end of the year, and you will be given two new tasks." ”

Tang Zuoxiang's heart tightened, this Shangguan's idea was really wild, he wanted quality and output, and he didn't know what to come up with in the new task, so he said stubbornly: "Please give me orders." ”

"The first one, you put up a notice in the workshop, all craftsmen can participate, who can shorten the time to drill the barrel, and add the salary of the first-level craftsman for each day shortened, there is no upper limit."

Tang Zuoxiang's eyes widened, the first-level salary is five dollars of silver, if it rises slowly, it can only rise by one level after passing the assessment in two or three years, if it can reduce the time of drilling the barrel by ten days, it is a monthly salary of five taels, and he has been getting the old one, he couldn't help licking his tongue.

Chen Xin continued: "If you reduce the most, you will be rewarded with fifty taels at one time. ”

Tang Zuoxiang secreted a lot of saliva in his mouth, and he swallowed hard, "Can that villain try it too." ”

"Of course, I said it's everyone, but you can't delay what you're doing. Those craftsmen are not afraid to spend some money if they need any tools. Chen Xin said of course, he thinks the Soviet Union's method is very good, especially in the current era when the threshold of science and technology is not high, and the professional division of labor is not refined, as long as these people are willing to use their brains, they will definitely be able to toss things. The science and technology of the Ming Dynasty were generally studied by officials and scholars by interest, and the craftsmen were extremely despised, and most of the craftsmen were illiterate, and even if they had ideas, they could not be passed on to the world.

Tang Zuoxiang secretly planned to try it himself, and he couldn't wait to ask the next task.

"In the next task, the same notice will be posted, whoever can make a gun with flint and flint will be rewarded with a sixth-level salary, and a reward of one hundred taels of silver at a time." Chen Xin thought for a while, recalled that Liu Min had bought a house, and added: "There are also three big houses and one house." ”

A drop of saliva finally flowed out of Tang Zuoxiang's mouth.

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Song Wenxian stayed for two days, then returned to Dengzhou from Weihai, and Chen Xin gave him the task of first taking the Wang Ting test, and then going to Shanhaiguan after the year.

Chen Xin himself sent people to continue to recruit displaced people in nearby Laiyang, Ninghai and other places, Wendeng's large wasteland became his tunbao, Shandong's bankrupt farmers provided sufficient resources, Chen Xin, who was not financially well-off, was not willing to give them tile houses, but gave food, the news came out, the beggars around Wendeng including the three acropolis were empty, the homeless people had hope, and used their brains to build a strange shack, soon more than two thousand people, Xu Yuanhua organized them and divided them into five tunpu.

According to 50 people and one class, they were organized into tunhu to dig canals and dig irrigation wells, and assigned labor tasks every day. Weihai's 2,000 mu of land is insufficient this year, and only more than 1,000 stone of grain has been collected, and there are already more than 300 households and more than 1,000 people in Mazidun's tunbao, plus the sailors on the ship and the remaining flag soldiers, Chen Xin calculated that it would only be enough for them to eat until the first half of next year, and he did not transfer grain from Weihai. Wendeng's 10,000 acres of military land and several thousand acres of civilian land are better than Weihai's, and if the grain is harvested at the end of next year, the military grain will be solved.

After the training of 500 recruits was completed in November, the original infantry team continued to suppress the bandits, and the 100 cavalry were also eight squads, and two squads were transferred each time to cooperate and practice sentry scouts.

In December, all the bandits near Wendeng County were basically wiped out, and the remaining small bandits heard that the Wendeng camp was killing people and moved to remote places, and some even ran to Laiyang and Ninghai Prefecture nearby. In December, Chen Xin exhaled more than 10,000 taels of silver and more than 3,000 stones of grain, and he estimated that the bandits' resources would soon run out, and if he wanted to fight the bandits in the future, he would have to go to other people's places to find them.

Chen Xin, who had more than 2,000 tunhu, didn't intend to let them eat in vain, so he chose more than 300 strong ones to come out, and took the time to have the training team carry out basic training and weapons training, and only gave a training fee of three yuan of silver per month, as a supplementary soldier for the battle losses of the soldiers, and the existing soldiers could be directly replaced if they were well trained, which also put more pressure on the soldiers.

Tianqing Haiyan in the jurisdiction of Yuzhi County, bandits and beggars are gone, Chen Xin and Zhou Hongmo have sent him filial piety many times, he has a good impression of Wendeng Camp, even if Chen Xin has occupied thousands of acres of land, he is only counted according to 1,000 acres, and he reported to Denglai Dao that he found incense teaching activities in the territory, and Wendeng Camp then reported hundreds of first-level military exploits.

Zhou Hongmo took a fancy to the Linqing general, but there were people sitting in the position, and his military exploits may not be able to pry it, and in December Chen Xin gave him another two thousand taels of silver, and Zhou Hongmo was ready to send someone to Beijing to see the situation in the spring.

In the blink of an eye, it was the New Year's Festival on December 24, all the soldiers stopped training, and Chen Xin gave them a holiday, and some of the nearby ones went home for the New Year, and those from other places went to Wendeng County or nearby to buy three animals and incense and candles, and worshiped their ancestors outside the camp. The people of Wendeng County and the original Wendeng Camp saw the business opportunities here, so they rented a house in the old Wendeng Camp and opened some cloth shops, candy stores, grain stores, iron shops, etc., and another small town appeared in the embryonic form.

On the 28th of the 28th of the month, Chen Xinla paid a New Year's greeting with Zhou Hongmo and Yuzhi County in advance, and on the same day he had dinner in the barracks and the officers and soldiers in the barracks, and on the 29th of the 29th of the month, he took some soldiers from Weihai to set off back to Mazidun, rested in the hot spring town for one night, and finally rushed back to his home after a few months of absence on the afternoon of the 30th.

Song Wenxian also returned to Weihai from Dengzhou on the same day, and his family also moved here, seeing that Chen Xin's power is getting stronger and stronger, he has the intention of officially taking refuge, and his family is safer in Weihai.

Song Wenxian didn't stay at his house that night, and came to Chen Xin's house to spend the New Year together with Liu Minyou and Dai Zhenggang, a group of bachelors.

When the child was approaching, Mrs. Zhao and Chen Xin each sent New Year's money to the servants at home, Zhang Po took out fireworks and firecrackers and sent them to everyone, Ju Xiang happily set off fireworks in the courtyard outside, Lu Chuanzong also joined in the fun, even put a few, Xiao Jiahua was a little excluded, and asked Zhang Po to ask for a few fireworks but did not arrive. There were sporadic firecrackers in the bunkers outside, laughter and laughter everywhere, children carrying lanterns chasing around in the alleys, and Liu Minyou looked at the bigger and bigger bunkers with a smile on his face, and it was hard to imagine that this place was still a wilderness at the beginning of the year.

Liu Minyou sighed and said to Chen Xin: "I don't know what it will be like here next year." ”

Chen Xin didn't answer, at this time next year, Houjin must already be in Beijing, he only knows that Houjin soldiers will come in winter, but when they will come, it is not clear, how to get benefits, there is still a hard road to go.

Song Wenxian laughed and said: "Needless to say, it must be better than this year." Chen Daren is both civil and military, and with the help of a great talent like Mr. Liu, it may not be impossible to be a marquis in the future. ”

Liu Min has a general impression of Song Wenxian, and he can only say that he is better than Deng Keshan, but now that Deng Keshan can't be seen on weekdays, sometimes he feels a kind of kindness when he thinks about it. Although this Song Wenxian is polite to people, he always gives people a fake feeling. After a few polite words, I went to the side to watch the fireworks.

Song Wenxian was not embarrassed, and changed the topic to Chen Xin: "I told you a few days ago, that Jiliao Inspector doesn't know what else to do, the voice has not fallen, and now the matter is out." ”

"What's the matter?"

"I heard from the scribe of Haiphong Province that the grain ships of the Dongjiang River have to go to Ningyuan before they can send Phi Island."

"Mr. Song is talking about the grain ships in Tianjin?"

"If Jinmen is still reasonable, even Dengzhou is the case now. Phi Island is now frozen, and I guess Mao Wenlong doesn't know yet. ”

Chen Xin was surprised: "Dengzhou also has a trip to Ningyuan, and it will take a lot more time to send Phi Island from Ningyuan." ”

Song Wenxian sighed and said: "The Ministry of War has already come to the paperwork, and I don't know why the emperor will agree, it is clear that he wants to control the Dongjiang River, the Dongjiang River and Ningyuan are far apart, and it is possible to go back and forth for more than a month without a tailwind, and he can really strategize and win a decisive victory." ”

Chen Xin frowned and thought for a while, he knew that Yuan Chonghuan had killed Mao Wenlong, but he didn't know about this grain, so he just reminded him that this was also a place where he could make a profit, "Mr. Song, you can help me do a few things at the beginning of the year." The first is to buy a few more ships, not warships, just ordinary cargo ships. The second is to purchase the goods of the sea trade as soon as possible, and the ships should go to sea as soon as possible. ”

Song Wenxian agreed, and then asked: "Let's ship Tianjin twice, buy so many foreign ships, those ships that run the Liaohai Sea may not be able to go to Japan." ”

Chen Xin said with a smile: "Lord Yuan wants to control the Dongjiang River, the Dongjiang River will definitely be short of grain, we are here, the Dengzhou Sailor will not come, we will sell grain from Weihai to Phi Dao." ”

"I'm afraid Dongjiang doesn't have the money to take out to buy things."

Chen Xin watched Zhao Xiang and Ju Xiang light a firework in the middle of the yard, the fireworks rushed into the sky with a swish, and the two women screamed softly to avoid the tail smoke of the fireworks, and then looked up at the fireworks bursting, and the brilliant fireworks printed their smiling faces into changing bright light and shadow.

Chen Xin knew that once Mao Wenlong was killed, Dongjiang Town would no longer have the slightest cohesion, and those Liao people were very good manpower, so he held his hand to his chest, "I don't want their silver, I want people, veterans of Dongjiang Town." ”

Song Wenxian hesitated and said: "The soldiers of Dongjiang are not bad, they fight with the Tartars every year, but we don't have too many soldiers, and you have already occupied all the Wendeng camps." Besides, this place in Shandong is not Jiubian, what are you doing with so many soldiers. ”

"The newcomers are all villagers from Tunpu, and they don't wear military uniforms."

Song Wenxian didn't feel that he needed so many soldiers, but the greater Chen Xin's power, the better it would be for him, and just as he was about to ask carefully, there was a sudden sound of dense firecrackers from the dungeon, and there was also a burst of cheers in the courtyard, and there were congratulations to each other everywhere.

Song Wenxian hurriedly said to Chen Xin: "Lord Chen is already in his prime. ”

Chen Xin also smiled and bowed in return, and after everyone came to congratulate them one by one, and then dispersed to play, Chen Xin said softly: "It's been a long time, and it's finally here." "--------------------------------- I want to recommend the collection of the second volume at the end