Chapter 49, it is better to buy than to build

Fukangan and Guo Shixun must have been loyal servants of the Qing Dynasty.

The kind of loyalty that cannot be spoken.

After all, one of the two is the deputy capital of the Eight Banners, and the other is from the banner of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty.

They can all be regarded as the "vested interests" of the Qing Dynasty.

When Fukangan heard that the Ming army actually directly defeated the 80,000 army with 3,000 troops in two days.

The kung fu of nourishing qi has already been broken.

The face that was still tense changed instantly.

Now it's even more eyelids.

Guangdong, as the southern reservoir of the Son of Heaven, stationed a very large number of troops, was the focus of the Qing Dynasty's garrison.

Fukangan served as the governor of Liangguang.

Moderate all the green battalion armies in the Liangguang area.

However, the distribution of the Green Battalion is relatively scattered.

Among them, in Guangdong, there are 2,000 people in the Guangdong Governor's Standard Battalion stationed in Guangzhou, 5,000 people in the Guangdong Admiralty Standard Battalion stationed in Zhaoqing, 6,000 people in the Guangdong Navy Division's General Battalion, 2,000 people in Shaozhou, Huizhou, Gaozhou, and Nanxiong Cities, 1,600 people in Nanxiong Meiguan Garrison, and then 500 soldiers in each county at most, and 200 at least.

The total is about fifty thousand.

In Guangxi, there are green camps with a total number of about 30,000 people.

The total number of green battalions in the Liangguang region is more than 80,000.

Deduct the necessary garrison forces stationed in various places.

The number of people who can be drawn will not exceed 50,000.

Besides.

The number of soldiers of the Eight Banners of Guangzhou, which was under the command of the Guangzhou general, was 5,000.

However, Fukangan is not without war, he led his troops to participate in the Battle of Jinchuan, the suppression of the Salar uprising in Gansu, the suppression of the Lin Shuangwen uprising in Taiwan and other large and small battles.

In the Qianlong Dynasty, it can be regarded as an outstanding military achievement.

can also be regarded as a man who knows the soldiers.

He is well aware ....

The current Uncle of the Eight Banners is no longer the ruthless man who came out of the mountains and forests back then.

It's a group of pampered uncles in the city.

It's been a long time since I couldn't fight.

Now only the role of bluffing remains.

The 5,000 Eight Banners in Guangzhou cannot be expected to go to the battlefield, and can only be used as a supervising team to supervise the green battalion to fight - they will be timid when they really go to the battlefield.

So if you are facing an elite who can break 80,000 with 3,000 battles.

If the more than 10,000 soldiers and horses on the Ming army's side are such elites.

The troops on the Guangdong side are really not enough.

"Two adults, the biggest advantage of the anti-Ming army is nothing more than the advantage of guns! We can buy this gun! ”

Vicente suggested.

"Buy?"

Fukangan and Guo Shixun looked at each other.

"That's right! Buy! Vicente said, "The leader of the thieves is greedy for money, and he has opened up the arms trade to the countries of the South Seas. Although we may not be able to buy muskets and artillery directly from the Reverse Ming Dao Huaxing, we can buy them through the Nanyang countries. It's just a little more money. ”

Fukangan groaned when he heard this.

My heart has already been opened.

Buying arms from abroad is indeed a good idea.

But now it is the national policy of the Qing Dynasty to open trade and close the country.

He was a governor of Liangguang, and he had an army of 70,000 or 80,000 under his hands.

If you purchase weapons from outside the country without authorization, it is not the work of human ministers, and you are afraid that the emperor will be suspicious.

Seeing that Fukangan was silent.

After escaping from the battlefield and meeting Lin Guoliang again, Liu Guangliang, who returned to Guangzhou by boat from West Borneo, wiped his tears.

If you want to say who is the most energetic now, you have to go against Zhu Daohua.

I'm afraid it's not the Governor of Liangguang Fukangan.

It's him Liu Guangliang.

Liu Qianxing was killed.

All the Liu family's properties were confiscated.

This is really a mutual enmity.

He knelt on the ground and took a few steps forward.

"My lord, my family originally bought a small number of muskets used by the Ming Dynasty, which are no different from those used by the Dutch in the South Seas, and in addition to mortars, they also use long-barreled six-pounder guns commonly used by Westerners."

"Oh?"

Fukangan's eyes lit up.

"Can you bring it here?"

Lin Guoliang hurriedly said: "Bring it, bring it, it's outside." In addition, the lowly also found this from the battlefield...."

As he spoke, Lin Guoliang lifted a burden under his feet.

Cautiously opened it.

It turned out to be a mortar shell.

The oval-shaped cannonball was followed by an iron rod with a tail fin.

An iron pipe was wrapped in a cotton cloth with a circle of gunpowder.

"Two adults, please see, this cannonball has a tail fin, presumably like an arrow, using the tail to stabilize the trajectory to improve the hit rate and stability, the iron rod wrapped in the projectile should be a projectile, and the shell is filled with explosives..."

Lin Guoliang had obviously studied it carefully.

He also took out the image of the mortar that he had drawn himself.

"Two adults, the anti-Ming army calls this kind of cannon a mortar, in fact, it is a kind of shrunken mortar, the shell enters through the muzzle, and there should be a flintlock ignition device at the bottom of the barrel, igniting the propellant and the lead, throwing the shell out, and exploding after landing..."

Lin Guoliang was saying.

Someone outside brought in a six-pounder cannon and a flintlock pistol.

After looking at it, Fukangan was not interested.

Because of this artillery and flintlock pistol, the Qing Dynasty was not impossible to build.

"It's pretty well made... However, there is nothing unusual, and the office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs can be built if it is willing to spend the capital. Guo Shixun carried a musket and looked at it over and over again.

"It's interesting to see this mortar...."

Fukangan was silent when he heard this, but he was complaining in his heart.

Let the Ministry of Internal Affairs make it?

Don't say if you can make such a good one.

It's good to be able to use it.

Come to think of it.

Fukangan looked at Liu Guangliang and asked, "In Nanyang, what is the price of such muskets and artillery?" ”

Liu Guangliang hurriedly said: "The musket is not expensive, it only costs 5 Ming Yuan, which is equivalent to about 8 taels of silver for a musket, and a six-pounder cannon costs 300 Ming Yuan, which is about 500 taels of silver to buy one." ”

Muskets and artillery were not expensive.

For many forces in the South Seas.

The consumption of gunpowder is more expensive.

So cheap?

Fukangan and Guo Shixun looked at each other, and then Guo Shixun waved his hand and motioned for the two to retreat.

After the two of them left.

Guo Shixun immediately stood up.

"Governor, the rebels have risen suddenly, Guangdong's defense must not be careless, and the rebels come from the sea, if there are fortifications everywhere, there are widows everywhere, if the focus is on Guangzhou, then what is the situation in Guangdong?"

Guo Shixun said.

"According to the opinion of the lower officials, we should immediately enter Beijing, first, to report the situation to the Holy Lord, second, to ask the imperial court to transfer the green battalions of various provinces to help Guangzhou, third, to ask the Holy Lord to allocate funds to build ships and artillery, and strengthen the Guangdong Naval Division, and fourth... It was suggested that the Holy Lord could purchase ordnance from Nanyang Xiyi to strengthen Guangdong's defense. ”

Fukangan nodded repeatedly.

"This official has this intention, Xiyi guns are cheap, and the construction office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is expensive, so to speak... It's really better to buy it. ”

The two looked at each other and smiled knowingly.

If this musket is made for the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

What does that have to do with them?

"Shixun, why don't you and I each go to the secret to the saint, explain the situation, and inform the price of the musket artillery...."

"Eight taels of silver is not insured, if eight taels of silver can't be bought, aren't you and I bullying the king?"

"Yes, yes, yes."

"How about a musket of twenty taels of silver, and a six-pound cannon of one thousand taels of silver?"