The guy listened to the shopkeeper's words, nodded again and again and said: "The little one has heard it a long time ago, the shopkeeper has a pair of fire eyes, which can see through people's hearts, and I also ask the shopkeeper to give advice, so that the little one can also have a long insight." ”

The shopkeeper was just making a lot of money and was in a happy mood, and then listening to the guy's sycophants, he suddenly became interested, and said to the guy: "I want to listen, then don't do things well, the shopkeeper is happy today, so I will talk to you." ”

When the guy heard this, he was happy in his heart, and he was immediately busy preparing the goods.

Looking at Wang Tianling, who was walking away, the guy poured tea for the shopkeeper with a flattering face, sent pastries, and gave the shopkeeper a hammer on his shoulder, and asked modestly: "Please advise the shopkeeper and let the little one have a long insight." ”

The shopkeeper looked at everything in front of him, nodded with satisfaction and said, "You kid is not bad, then I will guide you, you hear clearly, I will say it again." ”

The man nodded hurriedly, his expression became more flattering, and the movements in his hands were more soft and knocked on the shopkeeper's shoulder.

The shopkeeper's comfortable eyes narrowed, and after a long time, the guy's hands were sore, but his face was still flattering, and he secretly looked at it for a while, and finally the shopkeeper smiled with satisfaction, opened his eyes, and said with a smile: "Man, you are very good, I am also old this year, and I can't do it for many years, how about the lack of an apprentice?" ”

The man's eyes widened in surprise, and he hurriedly ran to the front of the shopkeeper, knelt down and said, "Sail to meet the master, please drink tea"

Watching Yangfan respectfully pour a cup of tea, the shopkeeper squinted his eyes, smiled happily and said, "Fan'er, I'll test you first, where do you see those people?" ”

Yang Fan said respectfully: "Back to Master's words, Fan'er heard that their accent is from the northwest, and they have the waist card of the government, so Fan'er concluded that they are from the government." ”

The shopkeeper listened and said with a smile: "Fan'er, Fan'er, you are still too tender, you must know that those who wear official uniforms are not necessarily people in the court." ”

Yang Fan said with a look of surprise when he heard this: "Master, what are you talking about?" Are they anti-thieves? ”

Looking at the surprised sail, the shopkeeper said with a mysterious face: "Child, when did you see that the people in the official mansion were so kind, and they still used silver to buy things?" There are hungry people everywhere in Shaanxi now, and those who are officials will find ways to solve the food problem of the hungry people if they don't make a lot of money. ”

Yang Fan listened to the shopkeeper's words, and suddenly said: "Master, you actually know that they are thieves, how can you still sell them so expensive, are you afraid that they will come to you to settle accounts later?" ”

At this time, the shopkeeper said proudly: "Why do you think I am the shopkeeper of the Zheng family, it is because he is strong and has a backer." ”

Yang Fan heard this and said: "But the shopkeeper, why don't we find adults and take them down in one fell swoop?" ”

The shopkeeper said meaningfully: "Xiaofan, you have to know what it is, if the water is clear, there are no fish." Otherwise, how do you think the Shanxi Eight families got up? ”

Listening to the shopkeeper's beating, Yang Fan fell into a long period of contemplation, and after a while, he bowed to the shopkeeper and said, "Thank you for the favor of the shopkeeper."

Qingyang County Ordnance Factory.

When Wang Luo led people into the Weapons Factory, the steward guarding the Weapons Factory had been waiting for a long time.

Wang Luo and his entourage appeared in their sight again and again, and immediately waited for the two subordinates to kneel on the ground, "Qingyang Iron Steward Lu Dayou visited the leader. ”

Wang Luo looked at it and said, "Get up." ”

The ironwork factory occupies a very large area, and there are soldiers at the gate to defend it, and there must be procedures for going out, and the management is strict, and when you enter the courtyard, you can enter a small pile of coal mountains and a messy iron mine.

I heard the clanging of iron from the blacksmiths.

As soon as Wang Luo entered the door, he said to the steward: "After entering, you can't salvage the blacksmiths to work." ”

The steward clenched his fists and said yes! The steward was also an old man who followed Wang Luo, and he knew that Wang Luo didn't value etiquette, so he wasn't much surprised.

Wang Luo asked the steward, "How many people are there in the arsenal now?" ”

The steward replied, "Originally, there were ten masters in the county, thirty people on land, but now there are fifteen masters and fifty apprentices. ”

Wang Luo nodded and asked, "How many weapons and armor can be forged in a month, and whether it is a master who can make birds?"

The steward replied, "Within a month, you can make ten sets of armor, fifty swords, one hundred guns, and forty shields, but if you don't laugh enough to make a bird." ”

Wang Luo frowned when he heard this: "So little? If you remove the armor, how many knives and guns can be made in a month? ”

The steward did the math and said, "I can make seventy knives, one hundred and fifty guns, and seventy shields." ”

Wang Luo frowned even more when he heard this, there are 1,300 soldiers in the army, of which less than half have weapons, and the rest are trained with wooden guns.

The steward bowed and said, "I understand."

"Hmm" Wang Luo nodded and walked forward, entering the room, a wave of heat came to his face, and he retreated his shirts one after another, and the craftsmen were striking iron with their bare arms, at this time, it could be seen which were the craftsmen in the county, and those were the craftsmen who followed Wang Luo.

The craftsmen who followed Wang Luo saw Wang Luo, stopped their work, bowed to Wang Luo, and then continued their work.

And the craftsmen in the county did kneel and kowtow honestly, and they didn't dare to get up for a long time, Wang Luo hurriedly shouted: "Everyone, get up, we are the rebel army and don't want to do this." ”

Looking at the crowd that got up one after another, Wang Luo found from his clothes that the masters of the fifteen people were all white-haired old blacksmiths, and the rest of the young ones were apprentices, indicating that they had just been recruited.

Before another fire, Wang Luo stopped.

An old blacksmith with gray hair was beating the Yanling knife in his hand, and he was beating it repeatedly in one part, whether it was to make the apprentice increase the heat, and it was another beating. The other craftsmen saw that Wang Luo either clasped his fists and saluted, or knelt on the ground. He was the only one who concentrated on beating the goose feather knife and didn't raise his head.

Wang Luo saw it and asked the steward beside him: "Who is this?"

The steward replied: "Chief, this is the leading master craftsman in Qingyang County, as long as the materials are sufficient, the weapons manufactured are extremely sharp, and they are striking iron all year round, and their ears are a little difficult to use, so they must speak loudly." ”

Wang Luo nodded after hearing this, and asked the steward to call the master over.

The steward trotted over when he heard this, and then shouted loudly in the ear of the master master: "Old Gu, the leader is here, come quickly." ”

Lao Gu, who was called, was startled, and turned his head to see Wang Luo so frightened that he immediately knelt on the ground.

When the steward saw Lao Gu kneeling on the ground, he pulled him up and brought him to Wang Luo's side.

Lao Gu looked at Wang Luo in front of him, and was so frightened that he hurriedly knelt on the ground: "The villain is guilty, and the adult spares his life"

Wang Luo said softly: "Old man, what are you guilty of, hurry up, I have a few questions for you." ”

Old Gu stood up in a rambling manner, still hunched over, with his head down, cautious, not looking good at Wang Luo.

Looking at the cautious old Gu, Wang Luo asked in a more and more gentle voice, "Old man, what is your name?" ”

The old man replied in a low voice: "Recruiting people is called Gu Ke." ”

"How long have you been a craftsman?" Wang Luo asked.

In ancient times, Ke replied: "If you go back to the adult, the little Emperor Zaichengzu has been incorporated into the craftsman household since the beginning of the emperor, and he is a blacksmith for generations." ”

Hearing this, Wang Luo came to his senses and asked: "Old man, I see that you are very attentive to beating iron weapons, I don't know how many weapons you can fight in a month, how is Lidu?" ”

In ancient times, he replied: "The villain personally fights in a month, and he can fight twenty Yan Ling knives, and the knife slashes and kills twenty people with armor without rolling."

The steward hurriedly mentioned Gu Ke and said: "My lord, Lao Gu is the last blacksmith in the county, and the knives he makes are also the best and sharpest. ”

Wang Luo nodded after hearing this, and then asked hopefully, "Old Gu, will you fight the bird system?" ”

Gu He hesitated when he heard this, but did not speak.

Looking at the hesitant Gu Ke, Wang Luo's eyes lit up: "Master Gu, just say it, you have been in the county for so many days, and you should know what our army is like." ”

In ancient times, I could hear the leader call himself Master Gu, and I jumped down, you must know that in ancient times, craftsmen were inferior people, and they were lowly households, but I didn't expect the leader of a county to call me a master.

The excited old Gu said: "Lord Hui, I haven't fought the bird system in Xia, but I have learned the manufacturing method of the bird system and the turtledove system in Yulin Town, but I haven't actually smashed it, but as long as I give my subordinates time and can build it." ”

Wang Luo was excited after listening to Master Gu's words, this Master Gu is really a talent, it would be an accident to be able to play the bird system, since he can also build the turtledove system, it is really a rare talent.

Wang Luo did it, out of interest, and asked, "Master Gu, you introduce, what is the difference between the bird system and the turtledove system?" ”

In ancient times, it can be said: "The bird has a longer body tube, a smaller caliber, and fires round lead bullets of the same caliber, which has a longer range and stronger penetration; The front sight and the door were added, and the ignition of the hand was changed to the firing of the bolt, and the handle of the gun was changed from a straight wooden handle inserted in the tail of the gun to a curved wooden support for the barrel, and when holding the gun to shoot, it was changed from holding the gun back to holding the gun body in front of one hand and holding the handle in the back of the other hand, which could hold the gun stably for aiming, and the shooting accuracy was high. ”

"But there are also many shortcomings, each shot, can be divided into the following six steps, pouring the charge, charging, pressing, loading, chambering, loading the fire rope, and finally the final is ready to ignite. In addition, there are disadvantages such as the bird is susceptible to wind and rain when igniting, and the fire must be retained when the fire is lit and the burning fire rope cannot be maintained for a long time.

The average skilled operator can only shoot twice a minute, and the shooting distance is 100 meters.

Therefore, when fighting with Houjin Iron Weapon again, it is generally necessary to retreat into the formation after one or two shots, otherwise you will have to face the pursuit of the Houjin cavalry.

However, in the later period of the Ming army, there was no training, and military discipline was corrupted, and when the Jin Tie Cavalry was fighting against him, he often did not reach the attack distance, but he shot two shots, like a firework, to boost morale, and then ran back in a panic.