Because most of them were not familiar with those people, Li Zhiyun and the fourth brother did not go over, but stood four or five feet away from them. After talking and laughing with everyone for a while, my cousin saw them and took the initiative to come over. There was also a person behind him, judging from his dress, he should be a military general.

Uncle Cousin walked up to him and smiled: "Two princes, are you all here?" ”

"Hello cousin." Li Zhiyun and the fourth brother all vied to greet him and salute him. Uncle Cousin nodded, pointed to the military general standing beside him and said, "Two, let me introduce you to you, this is Yuan Junbao, the general of the right guard." Yuan Junbao clasped his hands into fists and said: "King Qi, King Chu, I am not polite." ”

Li Zhiyun and the fourth brother hurriedly returned the salute. In the ensuing conversation, Li Zhiyun learned that Yuan Junbao was a general under his cousin. After talking to them for a few words, Uncle Cousin and Yuan Junbao walked away. At this time, another group of guests came in one after another. The fourth brother met a few acquaintances, so he laughed with them, leaving Li Zhiyun standing there alone.

An old man with a thin figure and a wrinkled face walked over and arched his hand: "His Royal Highness the King of Chu, the lower official is Ren Shibo, the young secretary of Dali Temple." ”

"Oh, it's Lord Ren, hello, hello." Li Zhiyun hurriedly returned the salute.

"His Royal Highness the King of Chu, I heard that you were honored as the Yongzhou Mu. Last month, Xiaguan's home was visited by burglars. ”

"Oh, what's missing?"

"One of the hostas in the cheap is gone."

"The loss is not too big, have you reported it to the official?"

"That hosta is an ancestral thing. Xiaguan reported to Yongzhou Mansion at that time, but the hosta has not been returned so far. ”

When Li Zhiyun heard this, he hurriedly said: "Lord Ren, rest assured, this king will definitely urge his subordinates to catch the thieves as soon as possible and return the lost property." After Ren Shibo left, another guest came over.

"His Royal Highness the King of Chu, I am Liang Huairen, a scholar from the Middle School. The property of a relative of Xiaguan was seized by local tyrants. ”

"Oh, where does that relative of yours live? What is the last name? ”

"Huaiwan Village, Shiping County, named Wang Ping'an."

"Okay, this king has written it down, and this king will definitely urge his subordinates to deal with it fairly."

It didn't take much time for four or five customers to come to him to complain. Li Zhiyun thought to himself, fortunately, he was just a nominal Yongzhou pastor, otherwise he would have to be entangled in these tedious daily affairs.

After the guests arrived, the eldest brother also came and sat in the top seat, and the guests also sat down behind the desks on both sides of the hall. So, the feast began, and the exquisite food, beautiful music and dance, ignited the enthusiasm in the hearts of the guests......

The recruitment of soldiers went smoothly, and it took only a dozen days for all the required soldiers to be recruited. This time, Li Zhiyun recruited more than 4,000 people, plus more than 1,000 people from the "Women's Army", which could be organized into two regiments. Feeding the army was a very expensive task, and he now had limited financial resources, so he planned to form two regiments first. When the conditions allow in the future, two more regiments will be formed.

The army needed a garrison, and the Ministry of War allocated him a barracks to serve as a garrison for the firearms corps. There are barracks in the barracks, as well as a playground for training.

On this day, Li Zhiyun took Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu, accompanied by Scarface, to the barracks to inspect. When they walked to a training ground, they saw more than a thousand recruits lined up in a square formation, practicing martial arts, and the person standing in front of the queue to demonstrate was none other than Li Tieniu.

When Li Tieniu saw them coming, he stopped. He ran to Li Zhiyun and hugged his fists and said, "King Chu, you let me be the standard, but I can't fight, what should I do?" ”

"It doesn't matter if you don't know how to fight." Li Zhiyun smiled, "Will you fight?" ”

"Fighting? That I will. ”

"Well, you can just go to war like a fight in the future."

"Oh, when you say that, I understand."

Li Zhiyun nodded with a smile and said, "Go ahead." Li Tieniu ran back happily and continued to lead the recruits to practice martial arts.

They went to another playground, where the artillery company was training grounds, and the commander of the artillery company was leading a dozen soldiers to practice loading ammunition and aiming and firing.

The arsenal had already manufactured two redcoat cannons and distributed them to the artillery company. The barrel of this cannon was made of iron, about seven or eight feet long, and the muzzle was thicker than that of the sea bowl, and it was mounted on the gun mount. The barrel is equipped with a crosshair and a shutter, and the center of gravity has two ears, which are fixed on the hinge of the gun mount in order to adjust the height of the muzzle. In this way, it is possible to adjust the firing distance of the cannon according to the amount of explosives and the height of the muzzle.

This cannon is a ship cannon invented by the Europeans, originally known as the Hongyi cannon, which was imported from the Dutch at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the Dutch were called red-haired ghosts. In the Qing Dynasty, the Manchus were very sensitive to the word "Yi", and some superstitious generals liked to tie a red cloth on the barrel of the cannon when fighting, so it was renamed the red-coated cannon.

Scarface looked at the cannon and asked, "King Chu, why is the barrel of this cannon thick at the back and thin at the front?" Li Zhiyun said with a smile: "This is because the explosion of explosives will produce pressure, and the pressure of the back chamber is high, so the wall of the tube is thicker, and the pressure of the chamber in front is low, so the wall of the tube is thinner." ”

At this time, the artillery company commander had already asked the soldiers to stop training and lined up in a long line, he himself ran to Li Zhiyun, raised his right hand and saluted a new-style military salute after standing upright, and said loudly: "Report to the king of Chu, the artillery company is practicing, please give instructions." ”

The artillery company commander and several platoon commanders went to the arsenal for training, and the craftsmen taught them how to load ammunition, how to fire. Li Zhiyun also took the time to write a tutorial on artillery tactics and sent it to them. He made it up according to his own imagination, and he didn't know if it worked. Fortunately, their future enemies did not have any firearms, and as long as they fired the shells, they had the advantage. As for how to further exert the power of the cannon, it can only be slowly explored in the actual combat in the future. Li Zhiyun returned the salute and said: "Have you conducted a live-fire drill today?" The artillery company commander shook his head.

"Let's take a few shots. Be careful, reload less explosives, and don't shoot shells outside the barracks. ”

This training ground is very large, and the open space in front of it is more than 100 zhang long and about 50 zhang wide. The artillery company commander turned around and ran back to the ranks of soldiers and gave the order. So, the soldiers began to reload their ammunition, lowered the muzzle position, and lit the arquebus.

With a "boom", the shells were fired. This time, a stone projectile was fired, and it hit a distance of seventy or eighty feet. Then, another iron bullet was fired, and finally an explosive bomb was fired. The explosive bomb is also a round iron ball, with a guide rope on it, and after the explosives in the barrel explode, the guide rope is ignited, and after the shell hits the ground, the explosive is just detonated, and a column of smoke rises on the ground, and the scene is quite spectacular.

Although it is not the first time that Scarface, Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu have watched the cannon launch, every time they watch it, they feel very novel and excited. Zhang Zheng couldn't help but say: "King Chu, I really don't understand, how can there be so many novel things in your mind, could it be that you are a god descending from heaven?" ”

"Of course the King of Chu is not a mortal," Scarface said, "When he invented the military horn and explosives in Wugong County, I knew that he was a god. ”

Li Zhiyun smiled and said, "If you don't understand, that's right." In fact, there are many things in the world that do not necessarily have to be understood, and it may be better to be confused. ”

After Li Zhiyun returned from the barracks, he was going to go to the arsenal to have a look. In his previous life, he studied science and technology, and was very interested in machinery and equipment, and every day whenever he had free time, he plunged into the arsenal, fiddling with those machines, and working with craftsmen to study ways to improve them.

At this time, a servant walked in and said, "Lord Wang, the governor of Yongzhou Mansion asks to see you." When Li Zhiyun heard this, he ordered: "Take him to the front hall, and I will go over immediately." After he changed his clothes, he went to the front hall, and saw that there was another person in the room besides Tieyuan, a young officer in his early twenties. When they saw him come in, they quickly stood up and saluted.

Li Zhiyun waved his hand for them to sit down, and then sat down on the chair opposite, looking at Tie Yuan and said, "Captain Tiedu, is there something wrong?" Tie Yuan pointed to the fellow humanitarian: "King Chu, this is Li Yajin, the team leader who is responsible for guarding the Mingde Gate of Chang'an, he has something to say to you." Li Zhiyun set his eyes on Li Yajin again, "Li Teamzheng, what do you have to say to this king?" ”

Li Yajin arched her hand, a little restrained: "King Chu, there is such a thing. There is a Captain Hu and I are fellow villagers, and we have a good relationship and often drink together. A few days ago, he suddenly asked me if I could help him open the door of Mingde at a critical moment. ”

"Oh?" When Li Zhiyun heard this, he became interested, "Did you ask him, what is the key moment?" ”

I asked, but he didn't. He was very vague at the time, and when I asked him what he wanted to do, he just refused to tell the truth. ”

"Where's that Captain Hu?"

"He's an officer of the Shenwu Battalion."

Shenwu Battalion? Li Zhiyun thought about it carefully, wasn't that his cousin's lonely Huai'en army? Li Yajin continued: "After I went home, I thought about it carefully, and I felt that this matter was still quite serious, so I reported it to Captain Tiedu. ”

"You're doing it right!" Li Zhiyun approvingly, "The Mingde Gate you are guarding is very important, and it is related to the safety of the capital. Team Li, in this way, you continue to contact that Captain Hu and see if you can find out the details of him. If there is any new discovery, inform the king in time. ”

"Yes!"