The demand for glass mirrors is still fermenting little by little. Hebei East Road Dezhou, the maid of the Chen family in the pottery workshop sat in the young lady's room this day, eating cucumber slices while chatting with the young lady without a word. "Miss, do you know that the third lady of the Liu family next door bought a large glass mirror and spent thirty taels of silver."

Miss Chen asked, "Such an expensive mirror?" Is it better than a bronze mirror? Huan'er swallowed a slice of cucumber and said, "There are three kinds of glass mirrors, the small one is the size of a palm, ten taels; The big man has a big face, thirty taels; The largest one hundred and fifty taels. Listening to the Liu family's Cui'er, the mirror is much better than the bronze mirror, not only can you see the face clearly, but even the eyebrows and eyelashes can be seen clearly. Huan'er pinched another piece of cucumber and stuffed it into her mouth, and said: "The mirror was made by the Li family in the east of the city, and it is the Li family in the east of the city that sells soap." ”

"The things made by the Li family in the east of the city must be not bad if you think about it." Miss Chen thought for a while and said, "Huan'er, you go to Liu's house and borrow the mirror for me, if it's good, we'll also buy one." Huan'er was stunned and said, "What should I do if the Liu family doesn't lend me such an expensive thing?" Miss Chen said: "No, the third sister of the Liu family likes to show off the most, and she is definitely willing to lend you good things to show off." ”

When Huan'er heard this, she thought about it, so she abandoned the cucumber slices and went to Liu's house to borrow a mirror. She found the third sister of the Liu family and explained her intention, and heard the third sister say proudly: "Since I bought this mirror, the people who come to borrow the mirror to watch are about to step through my threshold, and I really can't stop it." Come on, Miss Huang just returned the mirror, so I'll lend it to you. ”

The third sister asked the maid Cui'er to bring the mirror, covered it with a piece of red silk and handed it to Huan'er, and said: "This is a mirror of thirty taels of silver, you can take it, don't fall on the ground and break it!" Huan'er agreed, and happily took the mirror and walked back to Chen's house. Halfway to Huan'er, he couldn't help it, and secretly opened the red silk to take a look. She looked into the glass mirror and saw that her eyebrows were clearly imprinted on the mirror. Huan'er had never seen herself so clearly, and she screamed in surprise and almost dropped the mirror on the ground.

It turns out that after looking carefully, I look pretty good. Huan'er walked back to the lady's boudoir beautifully, handed the mirror to the miss, and said, "Miss, it's really like what you said, the third sister of the Liu family lent me the mirror." Miss Chen smiled, put the mirror on the table, and uncovered the red silk. After glancing at the mirror, Miss Chen screamed. "So if I look closely, it's like this!"

Huan'er leaned over and looked at the small mirror and said, "Miss, you are beautiful, look better than me if you look closely!" Miss Chen rolled her eyes and said, "Look better than you if you look closely?" How do you know what you're looking at? You peeked on the road? Huan'er was stunned, only to know that she had leaked her mouth, and said, "I just took a sneak look." Miss Chen snorted and stopped teaching Huan'er. She looked left and right in the mirror, looked at it for a long time and said: "With this mirror, I can only know how to apply the rouge on my eyebrows, and it will not be as blurry as when I was facing the bronze mirror." ”

After thinking about it, Miss Chen said: "This is really a good thing, but we don't need such a big one, just a palm-sized one." Huan'er, you go to the box and take ten taels of silver, and go buy a small mirror of ten taels! ”

Geng Yingjie, a native of Cangzhou, was born and raised in Cangzhou, and after the victory of Tianjing New City, he was promoted from the deputy general of Cangzhou to the general of Denglai Auxiliary State. Although he was transferred to Denglai as an auxiliary general, he still left his youngest daughter in Cangzhou. Every few months, he would go back to Cangzhou to have a look.

In early April, he returned to Cangzhou from Dengzhou to see his daughter. As soon as Geng Hua saw Geng Yingjie, his eyes turned red and he threw himself into Geng Yingjie's arms. "Daddy, you're back!" Geng Yingjie pulled Geng Hua away with a smile and said, "I'm not here, someone bullied you?" Geng Hua said with red eyes: "Daddy and brother are not here, they all bully me." Daddy, I'm going to Dengzhou too! ”

Geng Yingjie said with a smile: "Dengzhou is not as prosperous as Cangzhou, you grew up in Cangzhou since you were a child, and it is good to marry a Langjun from Cangzhou in the future." If you go to Dengzhou with your father, it will be full of poor soldiers. Geng Hua muttered: "Cangzhou is also full of poor soldiers...", but she stopped halfway through her words, and said coquettishly: "Daddy, you have only come back once in so long, and you want to buy me good things!" Geng Yingjie smiled and asked, "What good things to buy?" Geng Hua said: "Buy a mirror, the sister of the Qin family next door bought a dress mirror of the Li family in the east of the city, not to mention how clear it is, even the eyelashes can be counted, and it is best to use it for makeup." ”

Geng Yingjie was stunned and said: "I also heard about this mirror, and I heard that it has become popular in Bianjing City, and big families buy one." Geng Hua took his father's arm and said, "Daddy will buy me a dress mirror too!" I use it when I apply rouge. If I don't dress up beautifully, I won't be able to get married! "Can't get married? The people who come to propose marriage are about to break the threshold, and you can't look down on any of them. Geng Yingjie said with a smile: "That dress mirror is not cheap, I heard that it costs one hundred and fifty taels!" You just like these new things, play around for a few days and then throw them away. ”

Geng Hua hugged Geng Yingjie's arm and looked at his father with a blank eye. Geng Yingjie had no choice but to take Jiaodidi's daughter, so he clapped his hands and said, "Okay, buy one for you, and we'll go to the Gao family's store to buy one in the afternoon!" Geng Hua let go of Geng Yingjie's arm and clapped his hands happily. Geng Yingjie shook his head helplessly and said, "How is Daddy?" Geng Hua clapped his hands and said, "Daddy is the best!" ”

Youzhou, Zhang Yan went to visit Ye Yu Churong today. Zhang Yan was welcomed by the Khitan army in Yingzhou, especially the 100 households in Yingzhou, Zhang Yan obeyed, and now a large number of iron ore is transported to Tianjing New City through Zhang Yan, and it is all escorted by Khitan soldiers, and the received Fan Long is also very good to those Khitan soldiers, every time he leaves, he has two taels of silver and two quick soaps, or five catties of salt, and the 100 households have tripled their 100-person team, which is to help Zhang Yan transport iron ore, in order to earn a transportation quota, the head of the hundred households does not know how many gifts he received.

As soon as the head of the hundred households heard that Zhang Yan wanted to go to Youzhou to see the shop, he immediately introduced his relatives who couldn't beat the eight poles to Zhang Yan, Zhang Yan also sent a well-dressed mirror to the hundred households, Zhang Yan took a hundred pieces of soap, a two-faced one-sided mirror, and five hundred catties of salt to Ye Yu Churong's house, Ye Yu Churong is also the top Khitan nobleman in the Great Liao Kingdom, in Youzhou, it can be said that one hand covers the sky, looking at the gift given by Zhang Yan, he is very happy, and now soap and salt are sold in Youzhou, but the mirror is a rare thing, and Zhang Yan is a pair of noodles as soon as he sends it. Ye Yu Chu Rong was in the limelight, and gave Zhang Yan a shop with one mouth. It covers an area of more than 1,000 square meters, and Zhang Yan is also happy, because Yang Peng said, in fact, the mirror is not valuable, but no one will do it.

In April, the sales of glass mirrors are getting bigger and bigger, and all the accumulated mirrors of Yang Peng in March have been sold. Yang Peng hurriedly hired five more people to increase the number of people to make mirrors and earn more silver. Mirrors are more profitable than glass wineware, and Yang Peng has compressed the output of glass wine sets to free up production capacity to produce mirror glass.

On this day, Yang Peng was studying how to increase production capacity in the glass workshop, and heard a report from the soldiers, saying that Yu Bichi, the captain of Zhaowu Colonel in Cangzhou Middle Road, had visited him. Cangzhou Town is divided into five roads, of which the middle road includes Cangzhou City and Tianjing New Town. Captain Zhaowu of Cangzhou Middle Road who manages the grain and grass of Cangzhou Middle Road is a big celebrity in the eyes of the Cangzhou Middle Road military attaché, and ordinary rangers and generals have to kneel respectfully when they see him. However, Yang Peng's main strength relied on the soldiers, and the soldiers' food and grass had always been self-raised, so he didn't take this Zhaowu captain too seriously, but only went to visit him once and didn't have any contact.

What did Captain Zhaowu personally do when he came to Tianjing New Town? Yang Peng patted the dust on his body and returned to the official hall. Walking into the second hall, Yang Peng saw that Yu Bichi, the captain of the Zhaowu Sect, was already sitting there waiting with a middle-aged man with a thin face. Seeing Captain Zhaowu, Yang Peng did not kneel down, but bowed his hand and said: "Captain Zhaowu has come to visit in person, and it is a long way to welcome him. "Zhaowu Captain Yu Bichi knew that Yang Peng was a powerful person, and even Xuanwei General Luo Zhen was overturned by him. Moreover, Yang Peng is not too concerned about the salary, grain and grass of a thousand battalion soldiers, Yu Bichi can give more than one percent and one percent less than Yang Peng. On the contrary, Yu Bichi was jealous of Yang Peng's strength, and always looked at Yang Peng differently when distributing grain and grass.

Yu Bichi didn't have anything to do with Yang Peng's kneel, but he just arched his hand and said, "The ranger general is not harmed!" Captain Zhaowu pointed to the middle-aged man next to him and said, "This is my brother Yu Biren!" The middle-aged man bowed and sang, "Yu Biren has seen the Ranger General!" Yang Peng heard the self-introduction of the visitor and knew that this was Yu Biren, one of the eight major firms in Bianjing. The Yu family operated grain, and used Yu Bichi's status as a grain manager to mobilize ships, and a large amount of southern rice came in from the canal to sell in Gyeonggi, making a lot of profits. In this chaotic year, the north became more and more dependent on the food supply from the south, and the Yu family's business became bigger and bigger.

What did Yu Biren do when he came to find himself, did he also want to buy a mirror? Yang Peng was pondering there when he heard Yu Biren say: "Lord Ranger's mirror business is getting bigger and bigger, which is enviable!" Yang Peng smiled and did not answer. Yu Biren said: "I want to buy 300 small mirrors with the Ranger every month and sell them to the south!" ”

It turned out that I really bought a mirror. Yang Peng smiled: "Yu Gong also wants to buy a mirror?" Yu Biren said: "Many boats go back to the south empty, and it's a pity not to sell some things." The Ranger Lord's mirror is very novel, and there must be a market. Yang Peng said with a smile: "This mirror should be made of transparent glass, and the cost is quite high!" ”

Seeing that Yang Peng said that the cost was high as soon as he came up, Yu Biren knew that Li Zhi was going to bargain, so he arched his hand and said: "If you buy 3,600 mirrors in the next year, how much can the Ranger General make?" Yang Peng suddenly thought that this Yu family was doing grain trading, could he buy some bran and rice bran for raising pigs with him. Now Yang Peng raises a large number of piglets, and needs a large amount of bran and rice bran every month, relying on small merchants to sell from all over the country to push up the price, if Yu Biren from the south of the Yangtze River in large quantities, the cost will be lower.

"Yu Gong, I want to buy a lot of bran and rice bran with you, I don't know if it's feasible?" Yu Biren was overjoyed when he heard this, and said: "Bran and rice bran are cheap things, and I have accumulated a lot in the south. If you want it, I can ship it and sell it to you cheaply! Yang Peng said happily: "If this is the case, my small mirror can be cheaper, and it can be sold to Yu Gong on one side!" ”

Yu Biren said: "Lord Ranger is cheaper! "It's already the cost price!" "Lord Ranger is laughing!" "It's the cost price!" After bargaining with Yu Biren, Yang Peng finally bit the reserve price of nine taels of silver, and negotiated with Yu Biren about the business of 300 small mirrors for a month. Li Zhi and Yu Biren made a business to buy bran and rice bran, and let Yu Biren transport these pig food from Jiangnan at a preferential price. After talking about business for an hour, both parties were satisfied, and Yu Bichi, the captain of Zhaowu, took his younger brother back to Cangzhou City.

In early April, Yang Peng's boring machine had been built for three months, and the craftsmen had produced more than 6,000 new guns. Yang Peng's 10,000 recruits were already equipped with a flintlock rifle and were shooting targets every day. After several months of shooting training, most of the recruits were able to hit a humanoid target at a distance of 200 meters, and on average, they could hit the target eight or nine times out of 10 shots. After a few more months of training, it is estimated that the soldiers will be able to hit the target again and again.

Yang Peng now had 28,000 soldiers, armed with flintlock rifles, and their combat effectiveness was far greater than that of other infantry of the era. It is said that it can be conservatively estimated by one enemy and two is to say that it is the Khitan army that has been fighting for a long time. If the opponent is a rogue bandit, Yang Peng's infantry can defeat three with one, or even four with one.

Li Zhi's strong crossbow troops were equally powerful, and Li Zhi used the copper iron core technology to transform the strong crossbows of this era, and at the same time installed bearings on the strong crossbow cars, which greatly improved the mobility of the field six-pounder gun. Li Zhi used an iron mold to cast a strong crossbow, and the scrap rate was very low, and he could cast a strong crossbow in a few days. The troops are equipped with a large number of crossbows, and the firepower is very fierce.

But Yang Peng's troops still have shortcomings - cavalry is not good. Yang Peng has not organized regular cavalry until now, and some soldiers have war horses, but they are only mounted infantry, and they still have to dismount and shoot with rifles when they really fight. There was not a single cavalry in Yang Peng's troops who really fought immediately.

Even the gangster's Tang Horse has a much stronger impact than Yang Peng's cavalry infantry. Without cavalry, the army had no shock and was completely dependent on infantry and artillery fire. And there was no cavalry to protect the flanks, and the riflemen were in danger of being attacked by the cavalry swarm at any time. If the flanks are crushed by the enemy's cavalry, the entire battle formation will shake or even collapse.

Not to mention a pursuit battle that requires cavalry power. An army without cavalry could not pursue and kill deserters, and a victory could only be a small victory, and a rout would be a big defeat, which was very dangerous. Moreover, the cavalry can also play the role of scouts, spying on enemy intelligence. If there is no cavalry that can fight against the enemy, there will be no scouts who can be freely retracted, and you will be blind on the battlefield. Although Yang Peng's telescope allowed Yang Peng to see the situation from a few miles away, Yang Peng didn't know anything about the situation in the distance.

In order to adapt to future battles, Yang Peng urgently needed to build a strong cavalry team. Yang Peng's troops originally had more than 2,000 war horses and pack horses: 700 war horses and 1,600 pack horses. After defeating Ye Yan Hongguang, Yang Peng captured 1,100 war horses on the battlefield, and now Yang Peng has a total of 1,800 war horses.

Using these horses, Yang Peng decided to set up three cavalry battalions, totaling 1,500 cavalry troops. The soldiers of the cavalry used veterans of the Selective Regiment who had been in battle for a long time. These veterans are not only soldiers who have seen blood, but they have all practiced martial arts for two years, and their sword fighting skills are the strongest in Yang Peng's army. Moreover, these veterans are equipped with military horses captured in previous battles, and they are skilled in riding. The cavalry wanted to fight in a sudden formation, and Yang Peng could only choose them.

Zhan Jin Guo is now the head of the Xuan Feng Regiment, and when he heard that Yang Peng was going to turn the 1,500 soldiers under his command into cavalry, Zhan Jin Guo was a little stunned. "Big brother, I can't fight hand-to-hand cavalry!" Yang Peng smiled and said: "Hand-to-hand combat is the last move, I equip your cavalry with handcuffs, and after fighting rifles and handcuffs, the enemy will have collapsed long ago." Of course, Yang Peng would not let these cavalrymen casually rush up and fight the enemy hand-to-hand, and these cavalrymen were still armed with flintlock rifles. When the cavalry is close to the enemy, they can open fire, and only after a round of bullets can they mount their horses and engage in battle.

Moreover, Yang Peng also had to equip this cavalry team with handcuffs, so that they could shoot again when they rushed to the enemy twenty meters. After two shots, if the enemy has not collapsed, rush up to hand-to-hand combat. It is believed that such a tactic will be enough for the soldiers of the Elective Regiment to defeat the same number, or even more than their own number of enemy cavalry.

The handcuff can be said to be the pistol of later generations. In hand-to-hand combat, the agility of a pistol is enough to determine the outcome of the battle. Having made up his mind, Yang Peng began to make handcuffs and drew drawings of the handcuffs he designed. This kind of handcuff designed by Yang Peng is also a flintlock bullet flintlock pistol. Although this kind of gun is generally fired at a distance of more than ten meters, it may also be fired at a distance of 20 meters or 30 meters, and sometimes a certain degree of accuracy is required, and flintlock shells can provide much higher hitting accuracy than round projectiles. Moreover, the flintlock bullet has good airtightness, and the power is greater than that of the round bullet with air leakage, and the armor-piercing ability is stronger.

Finally, because Yang Peng's soldiers were used to flintlock rifles, it would be a little uncomfortable to suddenly use a smoothbore gun on a pistol. Yang Peng's 200-meter gun craftsman has 200 special rifling broaching machines, and the cost of rifling is not high, so of course he chooses rifled handguns.

Although the pistols of later generations were also short-range weapons, they were also rifled guns. The handcuff designed by Yang Peng is 35 centimeters long and weighs three catties, and it is also ignited with a flintlock. During the battle, the cavalry first loaded the handcuff with gunpowder, ignition powder and bullets, wrapped the bullets in cotton cloth and stuffed them into the chamber to prevent the bullets and gunpowder from falling out of the gun, and then inserted the handcuff into the leather bag of the handcuff on the waist. When encountering an enemy soldier at close range during the battle, he takes out the handcuff from his leather bag and shoots it directly.

The cost of a handcuff is only five taels, and gunsmiths can build one in seven days. By the end of April, Yang Peng had already obtained 1,500 handguns, which were equipped with 1,500 cavalrymen of the Xuan Feng Regiment equipped with war horses. On the second day of the fifth month, the weather was already very hot, and everyone changed into light summer clothes. Yang Peng took a few officers to the training ground to watch the cavalry of the Xuan Feng Regiment demonstrate the handcuff charge.

Fifteen soldiers lined up in three rows and shot the scarecrow two hundred meters away. Only crackling gunshots were heard, and fifteen scarecrows were punched out of their bodies. The soldiers of the 15 Selective Regiments have been enlisted in the army for more than two years and have trained thousands of rounds to shoot targets, and all 15 shots have hit the target at this time.

After firing their rifles, the soldiers climbed on their horses and charged towards the scarecrow in front. Rushing to a distance of twenty meters, the cavalrymen drew their handcuffs from their waists and fired at close range. The scarecrow is hit by a handcuff, and another field of grass clippings flies. After shooting, the soldiers inserted their handcuffs into the pouches and pulled out their waist knives. They swept past the scarecrow and slashed at the scarecrow's body. After training, the cavalry killed the scarecrow three times with rifles, handcuffs, and swords.

Seeing the combat effect of the handcuffs, several officers were very excited and talked around Li Zhi. "Big brother, your handcuff is really powerful, you have to knock down a large piece at close range!" Cheng Shijie said: "Lord of the city, this handcuff has an excellent effect, which is equivalent to giving the soldiers another chance to shoot. ”

Zhan Jinguo pondered and said, "City Lord, if this handcuff can equip the infantry, it can also increase the number of shots of the infantry. Yang Peng nodded and said: "The infantry equipment handcuffs are also good, but now the output of the musket workshop is limited, and it will take a few months to get one per person." When Zhou Dayong heard that Yang Peng intended to equip the infantry with handcuffs, he laughed and said: "City Lord, you must give every infantry a handcuff, I can't wait!" ”

Yang Peng came to the official hall and saw Lin Qing'er and She Lao Taijun chatting together, Yang Peng walked in and said hello to Lin Qing'er, and said to She Lao Taijun, "Old Taijun, I want to let Eighth Sister and Yang Paifeng help me manage the cavalry troops, I also see that Eighth Sister is very strong in cavalry combat, if I fight with Eighth Sister, I may not need a round, and that Yang Paifeng is simply born with divine power, no one is his opponent in Dagou, that regiment commander Duan Zhixian is now hiding when he looks at Yang Paifeng, just afraid of competing with Yang Paifeng." ”

She Lao Taijun said: "Isn't it okay to give him such a big official all of a sudden?" It's better to let her help you train the cavalry troops. Yang Peng said, "Old lady, you also know that we are a group of children who came out of the mass grave, without parents. There is no reliance, the only thing is that one's own strength is the way to save one's life, the eighth sister is very good to our brothers and sisters, but I have always regarded the eighth sister as my own sister, and I asked the old lady to agree. ”

Lin Qing'er said to Old Taijun She, "Sister, you just promise him, right?" Otherwise, this little monkey will be endlessly annoying me, and I'll hide at that time and let you deal with him, haha. She Lao Taijun said, "Okay then?" ”

"Old lady, there is one more thing to discuss with you, my brother Zhang Xiang has a deep love for Yang Paifeng, Zhang Xiang is now twenty-four, no matter which girl just can't look down on, the last time I inquire about Zhang Xiang, I like Yang Paifeng, otherwise you will accept Yang Paifeng as a righteous daughter, so that Yang Paifeng will have no pimples in his heart, this society is also very important, old lady, you see that Yang Paifeng is not small, your old man will become a junior marriage."

If you want to know what happens next, let's see the next breakdown.