Ninety-ninth day after the crossing, snow.

Suddenly, like a night of spring breeze, thousands of trees and pear blossoms bloom!

The eyes are simply closed and opened, and when I open the door in the morning, I can see that the silver rivers and mountains are general!

It's finally snowing!

The fine snow fell all night, and it was not until near noon that God reluctantly accepted the magic power and released the sun father-in-law again.

As the first snow fell, so did the temperature, and the townspeople unconsciously tightened their clothes and put on their leather jackets.

Fortunately, the warmth measures were well prepared, and the vanguard of winter did not make the townspeople feel anything, except for the thickened clothes, what should they do!

And the children who don't know the taste of sorrow are even more clapping and laughing, welcoming the advent of the heavy snow era. Children from the south are full of curiosity and amazement about the snow, while children from the north are looking forward to galloping in a "snowball fight", and they are spitting to their friends who have never seen the world to tell how fun it is to have snowball fights and build snowmen, especially focusing on how they are "good at fighting" and "ingenious".

For a while, the children's laughter resounded throughout Xin'an Town.

......

"The snow is finally falling, hehe, the first snow of the year!"

At Yang Pingwei's home, a group of people gathered around the charcoal stove to barbecue meat and taste tea.

Looking at the weak sunlight outside the window and the black and white world, Li Kang sighed with emotion: "Winter is coming!"

In the past few months, Li Kang and everyone else have done most of everything to prepare for winter, and now that winter is coming as scheduled, to be honest, Li Kang is still quite nervous, this is a major test for him and Xin'an Town.

"Don't worry, my lord, everything is ready, I will wait patiently. Yang Pingwei smiled and picked up the teapot for Li Kangman, then looked out the window and said with a smile: "Look at this posture, it is impossible to form snow, and if the sun rises a little more, the snow should melt." I'm afraid those bear boys' 'ambitions' will be stillborn!"

"Fude (Yang Pingwei's words) said too early, this is only the first day, and no one can say what the future holds. Li Kang also smiled, although the situation was unknown, but the worry on his face was obviously weakened a lot, "If you let the boy hear, I won't annoy you to death!"

"Hehehe......" Yang Pingwei smiled bitterly and touched his chin, "It's not up to me." ”

"Although it's only the first snow, you can deduce one or two. At this time, Bi Maokang interjected, his expression relaxed and happy, "Looking at the scale and intensity of this first snow, it is far less big and violent than the northern winter, and the local climate is similar to Huaisi, and the severe cold in winter must be more similar to Huaisi winter. ”

......

Bi Maokang (1571-1644), known as Menghou, the eastern suburbs of Shexian County, was an official of the Ming Dynasty in China and an expert in weapons. In the twenty-sixth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1598), he was awarded the scholar of the middle school, and then moved to Guangxi Province to supervise the imperial history, the right to supervise the imperial history, the Shaanxi patrol, and the Shandong patrol salt imperial history. Later, he was squeezed out by the eunuch Wei Zhongxian and impeached by Wang Jikui of the imperial history, and then his status was reduced. In the early years of Chongzhen, he was appointed as the political envoy of Nanjing, and he was promoted to the right attendant of the military department. When saying goodbye, Emperor Chongzhen ordered the Wugang car, Shenfei cannon, etc. After the completion of the weapon, he edited the "Illustrated Description of Weapons" to enter the Chongzhen Emperor, and the book mentioned the flintlock pistol for the first time.

......

"Meng Hou is more confident than us, is this the so-called bystander Qing?" Li Kang laughed, and after Bi Maokang said this, his spirit was completely relaxed.

"The lord is really ashamed of me when he says this to his subordinates, am I not a townsman of Xin'an Town? How can I say that I am a bystander?" Bi Maokang pretended to be displeased, and his beard curled up.

Li Kang was stunned when he heard this, and he didn't expect this old-fashioned little old man to joke, so he hurriedly said: "Yes, yes, yes! All the citizens of Xin'an, in no particular order, are all the authorities! It was my mistake that I punished myself with tea instead of wine." ”

After speaking, Li Kang raised his glass, drank the tea, heroic and refreshing, and wiped his mouth with his sleeve without regard to the shape after drinking, and vividly interpreted the cow chewing peony and vulgar and unwritten.

"Ruixue is a good year! That's a good sign!" The hidden worries were initially removed, and when he looked at the snow scene outside the window, Li Kang felt something else.

After a pause, Li Kang restrained his smile and said seriously: "No matter whether it is a disaster or a blessing, we must not be negligent, we must not be negligent, we must not be discouraged, and we must strive to minimize the loss...... As long as there is no disaster... That's all a blessing! In short, I've climbed ninety-nine floors of other steps, but I'm trembling on the hundredth floor!"

"No!"

"Meng Hou, Wen Kai (Dai Zizi), is the iron still not good?" After saying Xue, Li Kang turned the topic to the musket he was most concerned about.

With Bi Maokang and Dai Zi, two major manufacturing experts, and a physical object for reference, the principle and structure of the original arquebus were quickly clarified, and even the sulfur was inquired about by the caravan, but before Li Kang could smile, he was cruelly told that the iron in the town was only suitable for hoes, and the barrel of the gun would be blown up at one point, and no one dared to use it. Moreover, the craftsmanship of the blacksmiths is not up to standard.

So Li Kang is very concerned about this matter now, these dozens of days, Bi, Dai and the blacksmiths are experimenting with refining refined iron, the initial simple small blast furnace is no longer applicable, Li Kang directly exchanged for an iron-making blast furnace produced by the system, and then painted a scoop according to the gourd, a batch of cottages, and the fuel was changed from wood to coal.

Just as he was about to tell the lord that the iron problem had been overcome, and after dozens of days of hard work, the blacksmiths had also mastered the manufacturing method of muskets. Now the blacksmiths are still very rusty, I am afraid that the efficiency will not be high, and the quality of the finished product is difficult to guarantee!" Bi Maokang said after some consideration.

"Okay, good!" Li Kang said happily, "the so-called practice makes perfect, I'm not afraid that they can't do it well, I'm afraid that they won't do it, try a few more times, and the efficiency will naturally go up." But you must also remember that I can accept a certain amount of waste, but never inferior products, and each musket must be engraved with the name of the maker, and I will trouble whoever has a problem, so let the blacksmiths not be in a hurry, but polish carefully. Of course, I will reward whoever has the highest performance. ”

"No!"

"Fude, do you hear that, your Foreign Affairs Department is going to increase the burden again, and you must start to increase the collection of sulfur, by the way, don't let go of saltpeter. Li Kang specially instructed Yang Pingwei again, he is a little impatient now.

"No!" Yang Pingwei smiled bitterly, he didn't remember how many times Li Kang had burdened himself, but this reflected Li Kang's trust in himself, so... Oh, it hurts and rejoices!

"Dafu, the city wall is almost finished, right?" Li Kang suddenly turned to Wang Dafu and asked.

Wang Dafu was stunned, Li Kang participated in the construction of the city wall from beginning to end, what the progress was, he knew better than anyone else, without him, the progress would not have been so fast. So isn't this just asking knowingly!

muttering a few words in his heart, Wang Dafu still replied honestly: "There are still thirty meters left, and all the work will be completed tomorrow at the latest." ”