The demand for glass mirrors is still growing. In Ludong Prefecture, Hebei Province, Huan'er, a maid from the Chen family in the pottery shop, was sitting in the young lady's room, chatting with her while eating cucumber slices. "Miss, do you know that the third lady of the Liu family next door bought a large glass mirror for thirty taels of silver."
Miss Chen asked: "Is such an expensive mirror? Is it better than a bronze mirror?" Huan'er swallowed a piece of cucumber and said: "There are three kinds of glass mirrors, the small one is as big as a palm, twelve taels; the big one is as big as a human face, Thirty taels; the largest one is 150 taels. I heard Cui'er from the Liu family said that the mirror is much better than the bronze mirror. Not only can you see people's faces clearly, but you can also see eyebrows and eyelashes." Huan'er pinched another piece. He stuffed the cucumber into his mouth and said, "That mirror was made by the Chengdong Li family, who sells soap."
"The things made by the Li family in the east of the city must be pretty good." Miss Chen thought for a moment and said, "Huan'er, go to the Liu family and lend me a mirror. If it's good, we'll buy one too." Huan'er was stunned and said, "What if the Liu family won't lend me such an expensive thing?" Miss Chen said, "No, the third sister of the Liu family likes to show off the most. If she has something good, she will definitely be willing to lend it to me." Let me show you."
When Huan'er heard this, she thought about it, gave up the cucumber slices, and went to borrow a mirror from Liu's house. She found the third sister of the Liu family and explained her purpose. She then heard the third sister say proudly: "Since I bought this mirror, people who come to borrow the mirror to watch have to cross my threshold. I can't stop it. Come on. , Miss Huang just returned the mirror, so I will lend it to you for a look."
The third sister asked the maid Cui'er to get the mirror, covered it with a piece of red silk and handed it to Huan'er, saying, "This is a mirror worth thirty taels of silver. Please take it carefully and don't drop it on the ground and break it!" Huan'er agreed wholeheartedly, happily took the mirror and walked back to Chen's house. Halfway through, Huan'er couldn't help but secretly opened the red silk and took a look. She looked at the glass mirror and saw that her eyebrows were clearly printed on the mirror. Huan'er had never seen herself so clearly before. At that time, she screamed in surprise and almost dropped the mirror to the ground.
It turns out that if you look carefully, you are quite good-looking. Huan'er happily walked back to the lady's boudoir, handed the mirror to the lady, and said, "Miss, it's true as you said, the third sister of the Liu family lent me the mirror." Miss Chen's family smiled and put the mirror away On the table, the red silk was unveiled. After taking a look in the mirror, Miss Chen screamed out. "It turns out this is what it looks like when I look closely!"
Huan'er came over and looked at the small mirror and said, "Miss, you are very beautiful. You look better than me when you look closely!" Miss Chen's eyes rolled and she spat: "Look better than you when you look carefully? How do you know that you look better when you look carefully? What did you look like? Did you peek on the street secretly?" Huan'er was stunned for a moment before she realized that she had spilled the beans. She said sarcastically, "I just took a peek at it secretly." Miss Chen snorted and stopped lecturing Huan'er. She looked left and right in front of the mirror, and after looking at it for a long time, she said: "With this mirror, you can only know how to apply rouge on your eyebrows. It won't be as blurry as when you look at 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. One as big as a palm is enough. Huan'er, you go to the box and get ten taels of silver and buy a side of ten taels." Here comes the little mirror!”
Geng Yingjie, the general of Congfu State and the envoy of Denglai Jiedu, was a native of Cangzhou. After the victory in Tianjing New City, he was promoted from the deputy general of Cangzhou to the general of Denglai State. Although he was transferred to Denglai to serve as the general of the auxiliary country, he still left his youngest daughter in Cangzhou. Every few months, he would go back to Cangzhou to take 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. "Dad, you're back!" Geng Yingjie smiled and pulled Geng Hua away and said, "I'm not here, someone is bullying you?" Geng Hua said with red eyes: "Dad and brother are not here, they all bully me. Daddy, I want it too. Go to Dengzhou!”
Geng Yingjie smiled and said: "Dengzhou is not as prosperous as Cangzhou. You grew up in Cangzhou. How nice it would be to marry a man from Cangzhou in the future. If you go to Dengzhou with your father, you will see poor soldiers everywhere." Geng Hua muttered. : "Cangzhou is also full of poor soldiers..." But she stopped mid-sentence, and then said coquettishly: "Dad, you have only come back for so long, you want to buy me something good!" Geng Yingjie smiled and asked Geng Hua asked, "What good things should I buy?" Geng Hua said, "To buy a mirror, my sister from the Qin family next door bought a dressing mirror from the Li family in the east of the city. Not to mention how clear it is, I can even count my eyelashes. It is used for dressing up." The best."
Geng Yingjie was stunned and said: "I have also heard about this mirror. I heard that it has become popular in Bianjing City. Every wealthy family buys one." Geng Hua took his father's arm and said, "Daddy, buy me one too." Dress mirror! I need it when I apply rouge. If I don’t dress up more beautifully, I won’t be able to get married!” “Can’t get married? Everyone who comes to propose marriage has almost crossed 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 it costs one hundred and fifty taels! You just like these new things, and you will throw them away after playing with them for a few days."
Geng Hua held Geng Yingjie's arm and looked at his father longingly. Geng Yingjie had no choice but to take care of his delicate daughter, so he clapped his hands and said, "Okay, I'll buy you one, and we'll go to the Gao family's shop to buy some 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!"
In Youzhou, Zhang Yan went to visit Ye Qi Churong today. Zhang Yan was welcomed by the Khitan army in Yingzhou, especially the Hundred Household Team in Yingzhou. Zhang Yan obeyed his advice. Now a large amount of iron ore was transported to Tianjing New City through Zhang Yan, and it was all escorted and received by the Khitan army. Fan Long was also very kind to those Khitan soldiers. When he left, each of them had two taels of silver and two quick soaps, or five kilograms of salt. The hundred households tripled their hundred-man army just to help Zhang Yan. Transporting iron ore, in order to earn a place to transport iron ore, the head of the household received countless gifts.
As soon as the chief of the hundred households heard that Zhang Yan wanted to go to Youzhou to see the shop, he immediately introduced his relatives who were out of reach to Zhang Yan. Zhang Yan also gave the hundred households a mirror, and Zhang Yan took one hundred yuan with him. Soap, two clothes, a mirror, and five hundred kilograms of salt arrived at the home of Ye Churong. Ye Churong was also the top Khitan nobleman in the Liao Kingdom. He could be said to cover the sky with one hand in Youzhou. Looking at the gifts from Zhang Yan, he was so happy that now There are some soaps and salts for sale in Youzhou, but mirrors are rare items, and Zhang Yan only gets two of them as a gift. Ye Qi and Chu Rong were so outstanding that they gave Zhang Yan a piece of cake with just one mouthful. It covers an area of more than a thousand square meters, and Zhang Yan is also happy, because Yang Peng said that in fact, mirrors are not valuable, but no one knows how to make them. The Jin Yiwei of Tianjing New City has a place to stay in Youzhou, and is protected by others.
In April, the sales of glass mirrors were increasing, and Yang Peng had sold all the mirrors he had in stock in March. Yang Peng quickly hired five more people to increase manpower to make mirrors and earn more money. Mirrors are more profitable than glass wine sets. Yang Peng has reduced the production 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 when he heard a soldier reporting that Yu Bichi, the captain of Zhaowu School in charge of grain at Cangzhou Middle Road, was paying his respects. Cangzhou Town is divided into five roads, of which the middle road includes Cangzhou City and Tianjing New City. Colonel Zhaowu, who was in charge of the food supply at Cangzhou Middle Road, was in charge of the food, fodder and military pay of Cangzhou Middle Road. He was a popular figure in the eyes of the military attache at Cangzhou Middle Road. General generals and generals on the rangers would kneel respectfully when they saw him. But Yang Peng's main strength relied on soldiers, and the soldiers had always raised their own food and grass, so he didn't take Captain Zhaowu too seriously. He only visited him once and then stopped contacting him.
Why did Captain Zhaowu come to Tianjing New City in person? Yang Peng dusted himself off and returned to the official hall. Entering the second hall, Yang Peng saw Captain Guan Liang Zhaowu Yu Bichi and a middle-aged man with a thin face already sitting there waiting. When he saw Colonel Zhaowu, Yang Peng did not kneel down. Instead, he bowed his hands and said, "Master Zhaowu is here to visit in person. I am sorry to welcome you from afar." Yu Bichi, the principal of Zhaowu, knew that Yang Peng was a capable person, and even Xuanwei General Luo Zhen was defeated by him. Moreover, Yang Peng was not too concerned about the military pay and food for a thousand battalions. Yu Bichi could give him 10% more or less than 10% to Yang Peng. On the contrary, Yu Bichi was afraid of Yang Peng's strength and always looked at Yang Peng with a different eye when allocating food and grass.
There was nothing Yu Bichi could do about Yang Peng's refusal to kneel down. He just raised his hands and said, "General Ranger, you are well!" Colonel Zhaowu pointed at the middle-aged man next to him and said, "This is my younger brother Yu Biren! The middle-aged man bowed his hands in salute and sang: "Yu Biren has met the General Ranger!" Yang Peng heard the self-introduction of the visitor and knew that this was Yu Biren of the Yu family, one of the eight major business houses in Bianjing. The Yu family dealt in grain. They used Yu Bichi's status as grain commissioner to mobilize ships, and a large amount of southern rice came in from the canal and was sold in Gyeonggi Province, making a huge profit. In these years of war and chaos, the north became more and more dependent on the south for food supplies, and the Yu family's business grew bigger and bigger.
What is Yu Biren doing here? Does he also want to buy a mirror? While Yang Peng was thinking about it, he heard Yu Biren say: "Master Youqi's mirror business is getting bigger and bigger, which is enviable!" Yang Peng chuckled and did not answer. Yu Biren said: "I want to buy 300 small mirrors with Master Youqi every month and sell them to the south!"
It turns out I really bought a mirror. Yang Peng smiled and said: "Yu Gong also wants to buy a mirror?" Yu Biren said: "Many of the ships returning to the south are empty ships. It would be a pity not to sell some things. Master Youqi's mirror is very novel, there must be some Sales." Yang Peng said with a smile: "This mirror needs to be made of transparent glass, so the cost is quite high!"
Seeing that Yang Peng said the cost was high when he came up, Yu Biren knew that Li Zhi was going to bargain, so he raised his hand and said, "If you buy 3,600 mirrors next year, how much profit will General Youqi make?" Yang Peng suddenly thought of Since Yu's family is engaged in grain trading, can I buy some pig bran and rice bran from him? Nowadays, Yang Peng raises a large number of piglets and needs a large amount of bran and rice bran every month. The price is driven up by small merchants selling from various places. If Yu Biren sells it in large quantities from Jiangnan, the cost will be lower.
"Yu Gong, I want to buy a large amount of bran and rice bran from you. Is it possible?" Yu Biren was overjoyed when he heard this, and said with his hands over his hands: "Bran and rice bran are cheap things. I have a lot of them in the south. Lord Youqi If you want, I can transport it and sell it to the adults at a low price!" Yang Peng then said happily: "If that's the case, my small mirror can be cheaper and sold to Mr. Yu for nine taels a piece!"
Yu Biren said: "Mr. Youqi, it's cheaper!" "It's already the cost price!" "Sir Youqi, you're joking!" "It's indeed the cost price!" After bargaining with Yu Biren, Yang Peng finally gave up. After biting the reserve price of nine taels of silver, he agreed with Yu Biren on a one-month deal for three hundred small mirrors. Li Zhi made a deal with Yu Biren to buy bran and rice bran, and asked Yu Biren to transport the pig food from Jiangnan at a preferential price. After talking about the business for an hour, both parties were relatively satisfied, and Zhaowu Colonel Yu Bichi 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 new recruits have been equipped with a flintlock rifle, and they practice target every day. After several months of shooting training, most recruits can hit a human-shaped target at a distance of 200 meters. On average, they can hit the target eight or nine times out of ten 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 has 28,000 soldiers. These soldiers are equipped with flintlock rifles and their combat effectiveness is far stronger than other infantry of this era. To say that one can fight two is an understatement, but it is against the Khitan army that has been fighting for a long time. If the opponent is a bandit, Yang Peng's infantry can defeat one against three, or even one against four.
Li Zhi's crossbow troops were equally powerful. Li Zhi used copper body iron core technology to transform the crossbows of this era. At the same time, he installed bearings on the crossbow vehicles, which greatly improved the mobility of the field six-pound cannon. Li Zhi used iron molds to cast powerful crossbows, and the scrap rate was very low. He could cast a powerful crossbow in a few days. The troops are equipped with many crossbows and their firepower is very fierce.
But Yang Peng's troops still had shortcomings-the cavalry was not good enough. Yang Peng has not organized regular cavalry until now. Some soldiers have horses, but they are only mounted infantry. In a real fight, they still have to dismount and shoot with rifles. There was not a single cavalryman in Yang Peng's army who was actually ready to fight.
Even the bandit's Tangma has far stronger impact than Yang Peng's mounted infantry. Without cavalry, the army has no impact and relies entirely on infantry and artillery fire. And without cavalry to protect the flanks, the riflemen were in danger of being attacked by cavalry groups on the flanks at any time. If the flank is overwhelmed by the enemy's cavalry, the entire battle formation will shake or even collapse.
Not to mention pursuit battles that require cavalry mobility. Troops without cavalry cannot hunt down deserters, and a victory can only be a small victory. Once defeated, it will be a huge defeat, which is very dangerous. Moreover, the cavalry can also play the role of scouts, going out to spy on enemy intelligence. If there is no cavalry that can fight against the enemy, there will be no scouts who can move freely, and they will be blind on the battlefield. Although Yang Peng's telescope allows Yang Peng to see the situation several miles away, Yang Peng has no idea what is happening further away.
In order to adapt to future battles, Yang Peng urgently needed to build a strong cavalry team. Yang Peng's army originally had more than 2,000 war horses and pack horses: 700 war horses and 1,600 pack horses. After defeating Ye Qi Hongguang, Yang Peng captured another 1,100 war horses on the battlefield. Now Yang Peng has a total of 1,800 war horses.
Using these horses, Yang Peng decided to set up three cavalry battalions with a total of 1,500 cavalry troops. The soldiers of the cavalry are veterans of the selected vanguard regiment who have experienced many battles. These veterans are not only warriors who have seen blood, but each of them has practiced fighting for two years. Their sword fighting skills are the strongest among Yang Peng's troops. Moreover, these veterans are equipped with military horses captured in previous battles and are skilled in riding skills. The cavalry wanted to break out and fight, so Yang Peng had no choice but to choose them.
Zhan Jinguo is now the leader of the vanguard selection group. Hearing that Yang Peng was going to turn his 1,500 soldiers into cavalry, Zhan Jinguo was a little stunned. "Brother, I don't know how to fight with cavalry at hand-to-hand combat!" Yang Peng smiled and said, "Melee-to-hand combat is the last resort. I will equip your cavalry with handguns. After using rifles and handguns, the enemy will have collapsed long ago. Yes." Of course Yang Peng would not let these cavalry rush up and fight the enemy casually. These cavalry were still equipped with flintlock rifles. The cavalry can shoot when they are two hundred meters close to the enemy. After firing a round of bullets, they can mount their horses and engage in battle.
Moreover, Yang Peng also wanted to equip this cavalry team with muskets so that they could shoot again when they rushed to the enemy twenty meters away. If the enemy has not collapsed after two shots, rush forward and engage in melee combat. It is believed that such tactics are enough for the soldiers of the Selected Front Regiment to defeat the same number or even more enemy cavalry than themselves.
The handgun can be said to be the pistol of later generations. In close combat, the flexibility of the pistol is enough to determine the outcome of the battle. After making up his mind, Yang Peng began to make handguns and made drawings of the handguns he designed. The handgun designed by Yang Peng is also a flintlock gun. Although this kind of gun is usually fired at a distance of more than ten meters, it may also be used for emergency shooting at a distance of twenty meters or thirty meters. Sometimes a certain degree of accuracy is required, and flintlock bullets can provide higher accuracy than round projectiles. Much better hit accuracy. Moreover, the flintlock bullet has good airtightness, is more powerful than the leaky round bullet, and has stronger armor-piercing ability.
Finally, because Yang Peng's soldiers were used to using flintlock rifles, they suddenly felt a little uncomfortable using smoothbore rifles on pistols. Yang Peng's 200-mini gun craftsman has 200 special rifling broaching machines. The cost of rifling is not high, so of course he uses rifled guns.
Although the pistols of later generations were also short-range weapons, they were also rifled guns. The handgun designed by Yang Peng is 35 centimeters long and weighs three kilograms. It also uses flint hair to ignite. During the battle, the cavalry first loaded the gun with gunpowder, primer and bullets, wrapped the bullets with cotton cloth and stuffed them into the chamber to prevent the bullets and gunpowder from falling out of the gun. Then they inserted the hand gun into the gun leather bag on their waist. inside. In battle, when encountering an enemy at close range, he took out the gun from his leather bag and fired directly.
The cost of a hand gun is only five taels, and gunsmiths can make one in seven days. In late April, Yang Peng had received 1,500 muskets and equipped them with 1,500 cavalrymen of the Selected Front Regiment equipped with war horses. On the second day of May, the weather was already very hot, so everyone put on light summer clothes. Yang Peng brought several officers to the training ground to watch the cavalrymen of the Selected Front Regiment demonstrating how to charge into battle with muskets.
Fifteen soldiers lined up in three rows and shot at the scarecrow two hundred meters away. Only the crackling sound of gunshots was heard, and holes were punched out one after another on the fifteen scarecrows. Fifteen soldiers from the Selective Regiment have been in the army for more than two years and have trained thousands of target shots. At this time, all fifteen shots hit the target.
After firing their rifles, the soldiers climbed on their horses and rushed towards the scarecrow in front. After rushing to a distance of twenty meters, the cavalrymen pulled out the muskets on their waists and fired at close range. The scarecrow was hit by the cannon, and another piece of grass flew into the air. After shooting, the soldiers inserted their muskets into their gun bags and pulled out the knives on their waists. They quickly passed by the scarecrow and slashed at the scarecrow's body. After the training was completed, the cavalry used rifles, muskets and waist knives to kill the scarecrow three times.
Seeing the combat effectiveness of the gun, several officers were very excited and started talking around Li Zhi. "Brother, your blunderbuss is really powerful. It can knock down a large area at a short distance!" Cheng Shijie said: "Lord City Lord, this blunderbuss is very effective. It gives the soldiers another chance to shoot."
Zhan Jinguo thought about it and said: "City Lord, if this handgun can be equipped with infantry, it can also increase the number of shots fired by the infantry." Yang Peng nodded and said: "It is not bad to equip infantry with handguns, but now the output of musket workshops is limited. We have to wait a few months for one." When Zhou Dayong heard that Yang Peng intended to equip the infantry with handguns, he laughed and said: "Lord, you must give every infantryman a handgun, I can't wait!"
Yang Peng came to the official hall and saw Lin Qing'er and Old Mrs. She chatting together. Yang Peng walked in and said hello to Lin Qing'er, and then said to Old Mrs. She, "Old lady, I want Sister Eight and Mrs. Yang Paifeng helps me manage the cavalry troops. I also saw that the eighth sister is very strong in cavalry combat. If I fight with the eighth sister, I may not need a single round. And that Yang Paifeng is simply born with supernatural power, which is not available in Dagou. People are his opponents, the regiment leader Duan Zhixian is hiding now when he looks at Yang Paifeng, just because he is afraid of competing with Yang Paifeng."
Old Mrs. She said, "Isn't it good to give him such a big official all at once? It's better to let her help you train the cavalry." Yang Peng said, "Old Mrs., you also know that we are just a bunch of people in mass graves. The children who come out have no parents and no support. The only way to save their lives is to be strong. The eighth sister is very good to us brothers and sisters. I have always regarded the eighth sister as my own biological sister. , Please also ask the old lady to agree."
Lin Qing'er said to Mrs. She, "Sister, just promise him? Otherwise, this little monkey will bother me endlessly. At that time, I will hide and let you deal with him, haha." Mrs. She Said "That's okay?"
"Old lady, there is one more thing I want to discuss with you. My brother Zhang Xiang is deeply in love with Yang Paifeng. Zhang Xiang is now twenty-four years old. No matter which girl he comes from, he just doesn't like him. The last time I asked about Zhang Xiang I like Yang Paifeng, otherwise you will accept Yang Paifeng as your adopted daughter, so that Yang Paifeng will not have any knots in his heart. This society also pays attention to being well-matched. Old lady, you see Yang Paifeng is not young, you old man Just make this junior a good match."
If you want to know what happens next, let’s look at the breakdown in the next chapter.
