Chapter 028: A New Musket

In order to justify his research and development of firearms, Chen Cao set up a firearms factory under the name of Nanjing Youwei, and the firearms factory is divided into firearms workshop, cement workshop, water conservancy workshop, and mechanical workshop.

Chen Cao is a person from the arsenal in his current life, and his profession is to make guns, and making arquebuses or flintlock pistols is pediatrics, but it takes time to teach Bi Maokang and Song Yingxing, fortunately, Bi Maokang had the concept of flintlock pistol before, and he has not been able to find a breakthrough.

"My lord, the bolt has been changed to flint, and the whole gun and the hook are made of hammered steel on the side of the water conservancy workshop, which is much lighter than the arquebus, and the durability has been greatly improved." Bi Maokang said, pointing to the finished product on the table.

The flintlock pistol in front of Chen Cao is the first flintlock pistol in the Ming Dynasty, a hundred years earlier than the world, in addition to attributing it to himself, the middle-aged man in front of him is also indispensable, and the other is the firearm skilled craftsman of the Ming Dynasty.

Song Yingxing was handed over gunpowder and lead bullet in the workshop: "My lord, please..."

Chen Cao frowned and looked at Bi Maokang: "If you play like this, if it rains, the firearm will be scrapped..."

An old craftsman on the lookers also interjected: "The small one said by the adults has also thought of firing flint before, but if you want to achieve what the adults say can be fired on heavy rainy days, then gunpowder and lead bullets alone will not work, and the small ones think about whether you can wrap gunpowder and lead bullets in oiled paper and put them directly into it to see if they can be fired." ”

Chen Cao looked at Bi Maokang and said: "Master Bi, this master's words are reasonable, you can think about it carefully and see if you can get a paper shell bullet, even if it is raining heavily, it can be fired directly in the barrel of the gun." ”

Brass bullet production must have a machine tool, simple machine tool manufacturing is not a big problem, but not electrified production speed is greatly slowed down, Chen Cao did not dare to do this at the beginning, time does not allow, so the first can only be flintlock pistol as a transition, and then draw drawings to Bi Maokang, after the manufacture of the gun, the bullet is still a paper shell bullet, the rest will be said later.

"Yes, Xia Guan understands."

"My lord," Zhao Xin walked into the workshop quickly: "My lord, when Mr. Xu arrived at the Longjiang ferry, he also brought a large number of Taixi people. ”

"Come with me..."Chen Cao said and didn't care about Bi Maokang, and led people to gallop towards the Longjiang ferry.

Xu Guangqi had just returned from the capital, and because of Zhang Wenda's help, the depressed Xu Guangqi agreed to come to Nanjing, and by the way, he brought all the missionaries from Shanghai County, not his will, but Chen Cao's instructions.

"Xiaguan Chen Cao, I've seen Lord Xu..."Chen Cao stood respectfully in front of Xu Guangqi's carriage and horse, looking very docile.

Xu Guangqi stepped out of the carriage, stroked his beard and said with a smile: "People say that the Jinyi Weiying dog is snobbish, all of them are five big and three thick, and the old man has also changed a lot when he sees you Chen Cao, and the rumors are true." ”

Chen Cao arched his hand: "Lord Xu has won the award, they are all rumors, and they can't be true." ”

"That's not necessarily." Xu Guangqi said: "Before leaving Beijing, all my colleagues sent each other, saying that you Chen Cao is a minister, but the old man didn't believe it, and said that the people in the military are not highly educated, but those who can do 'not retreat' are probably the only one in today's situation, Chen Cao." ”

"Lord Xu has won the award, and the lower officials have prepared a banquet in the mansion, and I invite the adults to go with me."

"The old man has resigned, you don't have to call the old man 'adult', you have a lot of relationship with Deyun, and it happens that the old man also has a good relationship with him, you will call yourself a junior in the future, and call the old man 'Mr.'."

"The juniors obey..."

Outside the lobby of Chen Cao's mansion, there were four tables of banquets at this moment, and after three rounds of drinking, Xu Guangqi pointed to a middle-aged missionary next to him and introduced Chen Cao: "Yew Chung, this priest's name is John Adam, he is from the Kingdom of Prussia, and he is very powerful in firearms and machinery. ”

Chen Cao smiled and saluted John, and then listened to him say in a not very standard Da Ming language: "God is merciful and sent me to the East to preach, hoping that Lord Chen will give us a chance to carry forward the teachings of the Holy Roman Empire, Jesus loves the world... Alleluia. ”

Chen Cao turned his head to look at Zhao Xin behind him, and this kid bowed his head and whispered: "At the beginning of the forty-fourth year of Wanli, this group of Taixi people who preached in the east of the city forced the people of the Ming Dynasty not to sacrifice to their ancestors, and colluded with the White Lotus Sect. At that time, Lord Xu defended these people..."

"No wonder..."Chen Cao knows in his heart, although he has a good history, but this is really not clear, those novels did not write about the Nanjing lesson plan...

"Adam... No, it's still John..."Chen Cao forgot his name: "I'm sorry, the name is awkward.."

Father John laughed, and then talked to Xu Guang in Tessie dialect, Chen Cao didn't know if they spoke Italian or German, in short, he couldn't understand, and then Father John said in Da Ming: "I'm sorry Lord Chen, I'm going to change my name to the local customs, and the Lord will definitely not blame me," he drew a cross on his chest, and then said, "My Ming name is John Tang..."

Burst...

Chen Cao squirted out all the wine he had just drunk, then touched his lips and looked at him in surprise: "What's the soup?" ”

Xu Guangqi said with a smile: "With the homonym of his Taixi name, it is called Tang Ruowang..."

it...

Chen Cao stared at Tang Ruowang, and then clenched his fists: "Father Tang, the official knows a little about the case in the past few years, and it is not a big problem to continue preaching in Nanzhili, but Father Tang also has to help me a little." ”

Hearing that he could continue to preach in Nanzhili, Tang Ruowang was overjoyed and hurriedly said: "What's the help, as long as I help, I will definitely help." ”

"This is a trivial matter for Father Tang," Chen Cao said, "I also ask Father Tang to gather a group of skilled craftsmen from your country, and you need talents such as machinery, water conservancy, artillery, and firecrackers, you don't need much, a hundred people are enough..."

When Tang Ruowang heard this condition, he immediately agreed: "This is too simple, I have a lot of this aspect in my sect, but they will definitely have conditions when they come." ”

"On what terms?" Chen Cao frowned.

"Please allow them to preach freely." John Tang said seriously.

The Western Holy See is as fanatical as a warmonger about the spread of Catholicism, and as long as you can preach, you can go wherever you are.

Chen Cao stretched his brows, these conditions were too simple, so he said: "No problem, as long as the people arrive, I will definitely facilitate you to preach freely in Nanzhili." ”

"Thank you, Lord Chen..."

Xu Guangqi bowed his hand to Chen Cao with joy: "The old man thanked Yaozhong..."

"The old gentleman is polite..."

"Hey..."Tang Ruowang sighed, raised his glass to Chen Cao, and said gloomily: "All the lords of the Heavenly Empire think that my Taixi's technique is a strange skill, and they disdain it. ”

Chen Cao only remembered an important thing at this time, so he asked: "I heard that Mr. Xu and Father Tang have studied the calendar, I don't know if the priest knows the algorithm of the Western calendar, how many years should I be in the Western calendar now?" ”

"In the year 1621 of the Western calendar...", Xu Guangqi and Tang Ruowang said together.

Xu Guangqi and Tang Ruowang sympathized with each other, the two of them studied the calendar very deeply, and believed that this calendar was something that the two of them had studied for a long time.

"I have repeatedly asked His Majesty to use the Hongyi cannon in Liaodong, and the princes of the court still think that this world is still dominated by swords, guns, swords, and halberds, and the woman's opinion, the woman's opinion..." Xu Guangqi still complained to himself, the reason why he resigned was also because he was excluded, and he attached great importance to Western obscene skills, which made others think that he was a scum of Confucianism.

...

In the firearms workshop, John Tang looked at Bi Maokang's improved flintlock pistols and paper shells, and kept praising them, which were more advanced than the flintlock pistols in Taixi's country.

Nonsense, you have to see who drew the drawings ...

Chen Cao stood next to him and nodded with satisfaction, Bi Maokang is really good at firearms, and he solved this problem after his own simple mention.

"My lord, please look," Bi Maokang came to Chen Cao with a flintlock pistol: "The paper shell of the paper shell bullet is soaked in oil with rice paper, and after drying, it is made according to the model you wrapped, even if it rains, the rain will slide down on it, and it will not soak the paper shell, and the lead bullet on it is polished in the water conservancy workshop with a grinding disc steel needle rotated by a water wheel," said the paper shell bullet in front of a group of people and bit the corner of the paper shell with his teeth, and then poured it upside down from the muzzle in front of him, and handed it to Chen Cao: "Please try the gun." ”

"Is there a good match for the amount of gunpowder?" Chen Cao is not afraid to go to the battlefield, he is afraid of dying at gunpoint.

Bi Maokang swore and said: "The amount of materials is increased little by little according to the usual amount of materials, and each additional test gun is carried out until the amount of gunpowder is balanced." ”

"How much is it now?" Chen Cao picked up the paper shell bullet next to him and looked at it carefully and asked.

"Three dollars and five cents..."Bi Maokang said: "The maximum distance can reach 400 steps, and the distance of killing the enemy is 230 steps, and after that, the enemy will be seriously injured." ”

At this time, one step is about one meter, and two hundred and thirty steps is a distance of 230 meters, which is more powerful than the farthest distance of the arquebus.

"The actual distance of the arquebus is only one hundred and fifty steps, but after the range exceeds fifty steps, it cannot kill the enemy," Song Yingxing interjected: "This gun came out, why worry about the indestructibility of Jiannu?" ”

"Okay..."Chen Cao picked up the gun, aimed at the straw man target a hundred meters away, aimed with one eye, and then pulled the trigger...

"Bang..."

White smoke came out of the barrel of the gun, the straw man was punched out of a big hole, and there was a cheer around him, Chen Cao put down the gun, looked at Bi Maokang and said: "Master Bi, each person in the workshop will be rewarded with one tael of silver, according to this model, make me 5,600 flintlock pistols, and 100,000 bullets." ”

"There aren't enough people." Bi Maokang gave up his hand, showing his embarrassment: "Today, the production capacity of the workshop is more than 120 muskets and more than 500 bullets per month. ”

Chen Cao's mind turned very quickly, and he immediately thought of a good way: "Zhao Xin, arrange to gather the remnants of the soldiers of the Nanjing Right Guard, distribute them to the firearms workshop and the water conservancy workshop, and give each person two coins of silver per month to help them produce." ”

"Yes..."

Chen Cao and Bi Maokang walked together alone, and then took out a stack of drawings from his arms and handed them to Bi Maokang: "I have studied a new type of musket, for the rear loading ammunition gun, I have seen some workshops in Nanjing made springs, with the help of springs to pull the drop hammer to hit the iron products, so it is a whim, these drawings after you go back to gather veteran craftsmen to study together, first make the gun, as for the bullet, you can also use paper shell bullets, however, in the early stage, we must improve the gunpowder produced by the Ming Dynasty itself." ”

Bi Maokang looked at the drawings and was surprised: "The adult is really an all-rounder, and the subordinate can do things under the adult, fortunately, fortunately..."

"Don't be in a hurry," Chen Cao continued: "The muskets of the Taixi countries are all the most advanced black powder, but the smoke is too big and the explosive power is small, you can see if you can start with gunpowder, gather those veterans of gunpowder making, and see if adding some things can make the gunpowder smoke smaller." ”

"Xiaguan will do his best."

...

On the first day of September in the first year of the Apocalypse, the right guard of Nanjing was formally formed into an army, with a total of 5,600 people, commanding Chen Cao, commanding Song Che, and commanding Qi Xianzong.

Xu Hongji was the garrison of Nanjing, and the Nanjing Right Guard was a soldier who must participate, and there were also officials from the Nanjing Military Department who watched the ceremony.

Chen Cao stood on the platform, looked at this group of soldiers, took out a special megaphone, and said loudly: "This official is Chen Cao, your commander, among you, half are from Zhejiang, half are from Shaanxi and Henan, your identity is a homeless and untouchable, but as long as you enter the right guard of Nanjing, I don't care what your identity is, from now on, you are the soldiers of the imperial court, and I am Chen Cao's soldiers.

Listen clearly, everyone must train seriously, you are a guard, each person is paid one tael of silver per month, and the officer hereby promises that he will never eat up your military salary, and he will be paid at the beginning of each month, and he will be fed three meals a day. ”

"Good..."

Chen Cao was accustomed to the teachings of later leaders, and this was very good at buying people's hearts, so he was stunned at the moment.

The barracks of Nanjing Right Guard were built in less than three months under the combined manufacture of cement and masonry, the wind and shelter from the rain, extremely firm, the rows of barracks were established neatly and standardly, very similar to the army barracks of later generations, a small flag department lived in a room, standard...

In the barracks of a team, Yan Chun, the newly appointed little flag officer, sighed, and then said: "Life was a hopeless life before, but now it is different, Lord Chen is a good person." ”

A young man looked at the other and said, "Xin Laosan, I heard that you are from Zhejiang, what do you think of what the adults said today?" ”

Xin Lao is at least thirty years old, Qi Xianzong was reluctant to come when he recruited troops in Zhejiang, and he had a wife and daughter at home, but when he thought that his brothers in his village went to Guanhaiwei to serve as soldiers, he also sent back two or three dollars of silver every month, and he had a hope for life.

"Our village has been a pariah for generations," Xin Laosan took a sip of dinner and scooped up the leftover rice soup, which in their village, only large families have: "Originally, I wanted to mix up and eat, but on the day I was selected, I was given a tael of silver, you say, do you believe it or not?" ”

"Letter," the rest of the room said in unison.

"We are all homeless people..."The young man before was called Zhang Ting: "Our village is in Shaanxi, there has been a drought since the year before last, and there was no harvest last year, and the political envoy also forced to collect Liaoxiang for Liaodong, and he couldn't live, so he could only run, and my younger brother and parents went to the workshop to do things, not to mention the food and housing, and there was a monthly salary of two dollars of silver a month, and when they entered the workshop a few days ago, they paid a monthly fee, which was six yuan..."

Xin Laosan looked surprised: "Really? ”

Yan Chun also nodded: "My family is also a homeless person, all four members of the family went, and they gave eight coins of silver, and the adults built barracks in the enclosure behind Jubao Mountain behind the workshop, and all families lived in it, but the adults strictly ordered that the workshop must be kept secret, and if it leaks out, it will be decided..."

"And such a good thing?" Xin Laosan was immediately moved, so he asked: "Little Qiye, did you say that I would still have a chance to enter the workshop if I brought my family to Nanjing now?" ”

Yan Chun said: "Of course there is, now that the workshop is growing stronger, there is not enough manpower, and it needs manpower, but the lord ordered that as long as our Weizhong brothers have military surplus, I want to wait for me to contact those relatives of my family, and get all of them in, so there are two coins of silver, which is enough for the family to eat for a month." ”

"What do you say?"

The barracks where he lived had no door, only a curtain, in order to facilitate entry and exit, and he was not soundproof when he spoke, Chen Cao led people into the room, Yan Chun was frightened, and quickly got up and saluted Chen Cao: "I have seen an adult." ”

"See your lordship..."The others quickly got up and got out of bed, and stood behind Yan Chun to salute Chen Cao.

"Don't be restrained, sit..."

Chen Cao sat on the edge of the bed as soon as he sat on the edge of the bed, and everyone was embarrassed, and Zhang Fengnian, a hundred soldiers behind him, said: "My lord let you sit down, this is a military order." ”

A group of people sat on the bed, all a little restrained, Chen Cao smiled: "As Xin Laosan said, they are all untouchables, and they are untouchables all their lives without special purposes, even if they come to the army, that is, military households, they are still untouchables," Although Chen Cao was young, he spoke with an old god: "But as long as you have money, it's fine, right." ”

"Your Excellency is right..."

Chen Cao nodded: "The right guard is now sent by the workshop, you can bring all the people in the family, as long as you train well, and there is a regular money to take during the New Year's holidays, and the official will pay for it for you out of his own pocket." ”

"Why do you treat us like this?" Xin Laosan couldn't help but ask.

Chen Cao thought for a moment, and said with a smile: "You are all my people of the Ming Dynasty, and if you follow me, I have the obligation to lead you to wealth..."

After a quiet moment in the barracks...

"I am willing to die for my lords...", a group of people saluted together.

"Hahaha..."Chen Cao laughed a few times, slapped his legs and stood up: "Train hard, don't be lazy, if you are lazy and fail in the later inspection training, you will go back to your hometown, my Nanjing right guard doesn't need a fool who can't even shoot a musket." ”

...

"Husband, your savings are gone." Li Xiang was holding the account book and was dialing the plan, this talented woman not only knew everything about the appointment of officials before and after the Ming officialdom, but also memorized the Four Books and Five Classics backwards: "There is no way, fortunately we still have a bookstore, otherwise..."

Xiaochun is giving Chen Cao wide clothes, the person who dislikes Chen Cao the most has become a dowry maid because Li Xiang married Chen Cao, warming the bed is a must, and Chen Cao also deliberately asks Xiaochun to undress himself every time.

"Husband..."Li Xiangjiao shouted, and then said helplessly: "If you like Xiaochun, you can let her have sex, why torture her every time..."

"Ah..."Chen Cao came back to his senses, and then said: "I'll find a way when the silver is gone, the military camp is really a money-consuming place, the other two books I wrote will be sold tomorrow, the price is five taels of silver, and the fixed version is sold for 10,000 copies, remember, it is the entire Daming." ”

"Five taels?" Li Xiang couldn't believe his ears: "This price? ”

"There are so many rich people in Jinling, just with the gold-lettered signboard of your husband... Okay, go to bed and get down to business, you're my Chen family's wife..."

...

"What? Five taels of silver a piece? A dignitary housekeeper shouted at the door of Juxianju: "Mr. Nalan's writing has become a tool to make money in the eyes of you powerful guys, you are a killer, you say, did you deliberately set such a high price?" ”

Zhou Decai looked unhappy, stared at the housekeeper in front of him, and sneered: "If you can't get used to it, you can go to other bookstores to buy pirated books, and the price set by my husband must have the reason of my husband." ”

The housekeeper was the first to line up, and at that moment, the five middle-aged housekeepers behind him rushed out and sneered: "Mr. Nalan's signboard is not comparable to Bai Mengsheng's now, I thought that the books of five taels of silver were less than those of the Jinshan Hou Mansion, and the shopkeeper of Zhou, the second and third parts of the Chinese Ghost Story, each of my Jinshan Hou Mansion set five hundred copies." ”

"Huh..."

The people in line sighed for a while, and at this time, Zhou Decai announced: "My husband said, the second and third parts of A Chinese Ghost Story are each set for 10,000 copies, and the whole Ming Dynasty is on sale, everyone, the booksellers in Zhejiang and Huguang have each ordered 2,000 copies, and the booksellers in Beizhili have each ordered 4,000 copies, that is to say, there are only 4,000 copies left in my Nanzhili territory, if you don't buy them quickly, they will be gone, and when the pirated books come out, I'm afraid their content will be greatly discounted." ”

"Nanjing's household department Shilang Mansion has ten copies each..."

"Fuyang Bofu has set thirty copies each..."

"The Nanjing Military Department Shangshu Mansion has set fifteen copies each..."

"I have ten copies for each family..."

In less than half an hour, the remaining 4,000 books were all snapped up, some bought with silver tickets, some with gold and silver, Zhou Decai smiled from ear to ear, Li Xiang and Chen Cao sat in the private room on the second floor of Juxian Juju and watched the lively scene downstairs.

"Husband, you are really a god," Li Xiang looked at Chen Cao affectionately: "Yunwen Yunwu, Weiling Yilong..."

"What Long?" Chen Cao frowned, he understood in the front, but he didn't know in the back: "Look, the 100,000 taels of silver are in hand, and you can last at least two to three months in the workshop," he said and read alone: "Bi Maokang's money is not a fuel-efficient lamp, and the cost of a flintlock pistol actually gets three taels of silver, not counting the bullets and later maintenance costs..."

Li Xiang pursed his lips and said, "Husband, this Chinese ghost story is finished, do you still have inventory?" ”

Chen Cao stood up, turned his head to look at Li Xiang and smiled mysteriously: "Your husband didn't have any skills before, but he read too many novels, all kinds of types..."

"Lao Zhou, if the crowd is excited and asks for additional printing, at most two thousand more copies will be added, and there must not be more."

"The little one understands..."