Yang Fan turned around in surprise and saw an old man standing there with a group of people behind him, smiling.
When Yang Fan saw the old man, he immediately saluted respectfully: "It turns out to be Mr. Zhang, why did you come to Jiuyuan City?" It turned out that the old man opposite was the first flying shear equipped with a steam engine that Yang Fan personally inspected last year. Boat.
I took Chen Xi to Hangzhou and met Zhang Wudian's family on the broken bridge. At that time, Zhang Wudi and his wife, their daughter-in-law Huo Shi, and their granddaughter Zhang Fengyi were also playing there.
At that time, we even had dinner together. Afterwards, Zhang Wudian wanted to inspect Yang Fan's steamship, and Yang Fan agreed.
But Yang Fan was not there. He went to Suzhou Fucheng to meet Zhang Pu. It was Chen Xi who received him. Later I heard that Zhang Fengyi saw a steamship and a cannon, and there were more than a dozen female soldiers on board.
The uniforms of these soldiers are very beautiful. Both male and female soldiers are heroic and have a military temperament.
I was immediately envious and insisted on staying in the navy. As a result, her mother carried her by the neck and carried her away like a chicken.
Zhang Fengyi burst into tears and refused to leave. But the arms couldn't twist the thighs. She was also kicked several times by her mother.
While Chen Xi was telling the story, the fire of gossip was burning in his big eyes. While marveling that Mrs. Zhang is really a hero among women.
Her daughter was also a practicing child, and she was like a kitten that was grabbed by the back of the neck, unable to resist.
Sure enough, behind the old gentleman was her daughter-in-law Huo, and a girl in smart clothes, Zhang Fengyi.
She saw Yang Fan looking at her, sticking out his tongue and making a face. Then she became honest after being glared at by her mother.
Zhang Wudian was the Minister of War in the Wanli Dynasty. His son Zhang Quan was the Minister of War in the Taichang Dynasty, and later died in the battle in Liaodong.
The Zhang family is full of loyal people. Since Zhang Fengyi was thirteen years old, she followed her grandfather and led troops to fight with the Mongols outside Yanmen Pass, and even fought against the slaves.
Huo was skilled in bow and horse, and her daughter's horseback riding skills were all learned from her. In the original history, Li Zicheng entered Shanxi with more than 100,000 people, and various places fell one after another.
Huo organized regiment training and rural soldiers on his own to defend Zhangjia Fort. King Chuang led tens of thousands of troops, failed to attack more than a dozen times, and finally retreated.
A few years later, Li Zicheng made a comeback with even stronger troops. Huo would rather die than surrender, and eventually died in battle, and Zhangjiabao was razed to the ground.
At that time, Zhang Fengyi led troops to pursue Wang Jiayin and was fighting in Henan. Although there were too many people who harmed and betrayed the country in the late Ming Dynasty.
But there are also many loyal ministers and good generals who do not care about personal and family gains and losses. He dedicated his life to this country and nation until his death.
Yang Fan had the greatest respect for them. Zhang Wudian smiled bitterly and said: "Uncle Dingyuan conscripted all the civilians in Shanxi. Let a young man who has never fought in a war take him to fight against Zhao Wangcheng. What kind of fancy job does that boy do of infantry and cavalry? I heard that he will die. Half of the people have been killed. Who dares to bring the newly recruited civilian husbands here? Shanxi officials passed the blame on each other, and finally the blame fell on me, an old man who has been retired for seven or eight years." Yang Fan sneered, the Jin Party had a guilty conscience. They are afraid.
I'm afraid I'll take care of them when they come. The army is outside, and your orders are not accepted. Please bring out Shang Fang's sword and find a reason to kill them. Their deaths will be in vain.
The emperor will not avenge them. The officials who can come here are at most fourth or fifth grade. Yang Fan bowed with some embarrassment and said, "I have made Mr. Zhang suffer."
"I'm too tired to talk about it, but I can still go out for a walk with my old bones. I have been a civil servant all my life, but I just like the military. Last time we got together at West Lake, we had a great conversation. Now I feel like Uncle Ruding Yuan There are not many people who understand military affairs like this."
"Anything that Mr. Zhang is interested in, Jiuyuan City can be opened to the public. Mr. Zhang can look at it as he likes." Zhang Wudian cupped his hands to express his gratitude.
He likes to study ordnance. The last time he visited Yang Fan's clipper ship and steam engine, he was as happy as a child.
"Brother Yang, can I see your warship this time?" Zhang Fengyi asked with a blushing face. Zhang Wudian coughed and reprimanded: "Xiao Qing, don't be rude." Yang Fan was a second-rank general who conquered the west, and he was a noble man with a high status.
It is indeed rude for Zhang Fengyi to call her eldest brother. Yang Fan waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter, we are of the same age and we are friends with each other. But you said warships, what warships, where are they? There are no warships here." Zhang Fengyi suddenly became unhappy and said angrily: "Grandpa and I I saw it on the way here. A steamship was parked on the edge of the Yellow River. There were cannons on the ship. They were the red cannons on navy warships." Adjutant Hou Ping stepped forward and said, "Sir, it should be the Naval Research Institute. A newly designed submersible heavy gunship. I don’t know how it passed the Hukou Falls. Maybe the ship was dismantled and reassembled upstream of the waterfall." Only then did Yang Fan remember that there was indeed such a thing.
Because the Yellow River water transport ships are always shot with bows and arrows by the Mongolian cavalry along the coast. These elite desert Mongolian cavalry used rockets to burn transport ships.
They even had heavy matchlock guns from West Asia and Europe. This is also the reason why there have been so many casualties recently.
In order to escort, we also considered the issue of future inland river operations. For example, the shallow Sichuan River. The chaos in She'an there has not yet been quelled.
It can be seen that river warships play a great role. So Yang Fan put forward design requirements and asked the Ship Research Institute to modify it as soon as possible, or to redesign it with a draft of one meter and no more than 1.5 meters at most.
A flat-bottomed, short-length-to-width-ratio shallow-water heavy artillery ship driven by steam engines for inland water divisions. It seems that they have built a prototype ship.
"Let me go back and ask, if it is true that the shallow-water heavy gunship has built a prototype ship, it should come to the upper reaches of the Yellow River for trial navigation this time. I asked them to come over as soon as possible. Then, they can actually investigate Linhe City. Linhe City is also on the Yellow River. On the other side." As soon as Zhang Wudian heard about the new steamship, he immediately became interested and said, "I have come all the way to deliver grain and grass to you, Uncle Dingyuan. Uncle Dingyuan must let me board your ship. Let's see." Yang Fan smiled and said: "Others can't do it, but Mr. Zhang can do it. Just watch Mr. Zhang, and I will personally lead the team when the time comes. Let's take a shallow water heavy gunboat and explore Linhe City at night, hahaha." Zhang Wudian was also happy. laughed.
The old man likes to study machinery and other things all his life. He is also very interested in various weapons. Last time, Yang Fan had a pleasant chat with him, and even gave his family a dozen Newcomen steam engines to pump groundwater to fight drought.
Now these steam engines have been installed on tens of thousands of acres of dry land in the Zhang family. The drought in Shanxi has been severe in recent years. Although there is groundwater, people are exhausted from using well water to irrigate the fields, and they cannot irrigate a few acres of land.
Once these steam engines were installed, tens of thousands of acres of the Zhang family's land immediately became irrigated land. The gentry around Zhangjiabao came to watch the excitement.
Everyone was envious. In Shanxi, irrigated land guarantees harvest regardless of drought or flood. These steam engines can not only pump underground water for irrigation, but also drain waterlogging.
The price difference between irrigated land and dry land is ten times. As long as there is enough water, even double-cropping of wheat and rice is no problem.
It's a pity that they don't have such a prominent family background as the Zhang family, with heirlooms of poems and books. Minister of the Ministry of War for two generations. Not only is it a local tycoon, but it is also a family of loyal ministers and martyrs.
Where can they talk to Uncle Dingyuan? The Newcomen steam engine is now a hot commodity, with orders placed for two years.
Even people from Jiangnan are interested and come to buy it.
"Brother Yang, I want to go too. I want to see Brother Yang bombard Linhe City." Zhang Fengyi said happily.
Huo Shi pulled her behind. He reprimanded: "A girl, can you be a little reserved? Your skin is tight again, isn't it?"
