In the days that followed, Jia Lian's main energy was devoted to Shenji Camp and matters related to welcoming the imperial concubine to the royal family.
In the blink of an eye, August came, and the third day of the lunar month was Jia Mu’s birthday again.
According to custom, Jia Mu's birthday usually involves a three-day banquet.
This year, because we are busy with marriage arrangements, this is the biggest happy event of the Jia family, even Jia's mother's birthday has to be second to none.
So Jia's mother spontaneously said that on the official day, she would invite all the members of the clan to come and have fun with her relatives and friends.
Just the day before Jia Mu's birthday party, Shenji Camp also had good news.
Wu Youquan sent someone to tell Jia Lian that the modification of the flintlock gun was effective, and invited him to the launch site to observe the test.
Jia Lian was a little excited when he got the news, and quickly came to the launch site of the Fire Gun Bureau.
At this time, there were many people around the site, most of whom were officials and craftsmen from the Gun Bureau and Artillery Bureau.
Since ancient times, the superior has done something good, and the inferior must follow it. Since Jia Lian, the commander, took office and showed his unique emphasis on firearms, officials and other personnel in the Shenji Camp inevitably paid more attention to firearms.
Some people, seeing the excellent treatment received by Wu Youquan and others, turned around and devoted themselves to the intensive research of firearms with envy.
Wu Youquan and his assistants had already set up a battle array in the field. When they saw Jia Lian coming, Wu Youquan immediately went forward to report: "I would like to report to the Marquis, last time I reported to the Marquis about the flint-loaded fire. The gun has been forged.
Moreover, it can really launch! "
Jia Lian was shocked when he heard this: "Show me."
Wu Youquan was ordered to personally fetch the blunderbuss from the table and offer it to Jia Lian with both hands.
Jia Lian took it and took a look. The brand new gun body was double-barreled. The gun body was very heavy to hold, and it looked very lethal.
After checking the barrel and chamber of the gun, Jia Lian smiled and asked, "How is the firing effect?"
"How about I show it to the Marquis myself?"
Jia Lian nodded, and Wu Youquan took the gun and returned to the desk, took a long breath, and then carefully began to load the ammunition.
After all, this was the first public appearance of the flintlock gun in the Wei Dynasty. Jia Lian did not rush it. Instead, he had time to look at the distance from the firing point to the target. It was estimated by visual inspection that it was about two hundred steps.
Two to three hundred steps is not a unique effective range even for fire cannons of this era.
This is also an advantage of firecrackers over bows and arrows. After all, even a powerful marksman would be unable to effectively kill the enemy at this distance.
Soon Wu Youquan was ready. He looked back at Jia Lian. At Jia Lian's signal, Fang was so angry that he raised his gun and pulled the trigger in front of everyone's attention.
With a loud sound of gold and stone hitting each other, the people around looked at each other and asked questions.
"Did you cum?"
"Did you hit it?"
The target observers who had been prepared long ago trotted to the target in confusion and checked it repeatedly.
But people with sharp eyes have noticed that the bullet was not fired at all. Others also saw clues from Wu Youquan's excited to regretful expression.
Jia Lian sighed, obviously the first shot failed.
But he was not too surprised. In the past three months, he had often gone down to the forging barracks to participate in and guide the transformation work of Wu Youquan and others. Therefore, he clearly knew that even with him as a prophet, it would not be easy for the technology of flintlock guns to mature from scratch.
From manual ignition to automatic ignition, this is a leap forward in itself, and it is normal to have difficulties.
"Please give the villain another chance, Lord Marquis. The launch was really successful at the small shooting range behind the barracks. The villain really didn't lie. They can all testify for the villain."
Wu Youquan put down his gun and explained to Jia Lian uneasily. After all, it was Jia Lian who he had excitedly invited, but the result was like this, which made him very upset and self-blame.
Jia Lian waved his hand and said calmly: "I will give you two more chances."
If all three shots fail to fire, it means that the transformation of the flintlock gun has failed.
Hearing Jia Lian's words, Wu Youquan bowed gratefully, then picked up the gun again, carefully recalled the reason why the launch failed, finally reloaded the ammunition, raised the gun again, and pressed the trigger with breathless concentration.
"Bang!!"
The loud firing sound sounded again. Those with good ears and eyes can clearly feel that this time the sound is not only clearer than the previous one, but as far as the eye can see, there is a fierce fire in the barrel of the long blunderbuss in Wu Youquan's hand. Flashing.
At this time, Wu Youquan was looking down at the black smoke coming out of the gun barrel, looking excited.
From the huge recoil of the fire gun, he knew clearly that the launch was successful! But he was not too eager to show off. Instead, he winked at the people next to him and asked them to go up and check the target.
There was no need for them to step forward to check. The target guard had already exclaimed loudly: "Hit, hit, hit!!"
After hearing this voice, Wu Youquan dared to turn around and smile at Jia Lian.
Jia Lian also nodded approvingly at him. Although it took the second shot to succeed, its success means that the transformation is in the right direction.
In the future, it will just increase the probability of success.
But with this kind of firearm that does not rely on manual ignition, the musket, also known as a musket, has the real possibility of crushing and replacing bows and arrows on the battlefield!
Soon, officials from the Fire Gun Bureau asked someone to carry the huge wooden rake over, and Jia Lian personally came forward to inspect it.
The power is very good, and the small and heavy lead bullet has penetrated three points into the wood. This effect is extremely likely to be fatal even if it hits soldiers wearing ordinary armor.
After re-testing a few rounds and confirming that there was no danger of the gun exploding, Wu Youquan and others asked Jia Lian to test-fire in person.
After some experiments, Jia Lian discovered that the reason for the launch failure was that the flint loaded inside sometimes did not fire at all. If the gunpowder cannot be ignited, the launch will naturally not be successful. Therefore, Jia Lian asked Wu Youquan to try to change the type of flint and improve the launch mechanism.
Wu Youquan raised his head and said: "But this kind of flint is the easiest to start a fire in the entire Shenji Camp I have found."
Jia Lian thought for a while and said, "Let's do this. Later I will ask someone to go to the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War to see if they can provide more flint for us to test."
Upon hearing this, Wu Youquan was surprised and thanked Jia Lian. This was the benefit of having support from above. If he didn't have the ability, he would ask people from the Ministry of War and Ministry of Industry to help.
After the test was over, Jia Lian, looking at the people gathered around him, announced in public that he would reward Wu You with one hundred taels of silver as promised, and the officials and craftsmen who assisted him in the development also received rewards.
Seeing that because of being appreciated by Jia Lian, even the officials began to congratulate and even compliment Wu Youquan. The other craftsmen were very jealous.
Jia Lian promptly announced that all craftsmen in the Shenji Camp who are interested in firearms can apply to work in the Firearms Camp. He also focused on retaining the officials and craftsmen of the Artillery Bureau, promising that as long as they could improve various types of artillery on the existing basis, he would not be stingy with praise and rewards.
As soon as these words came out, the people in the Artillery Bureau were in high spirits.
Especially the officials in charge of the artillery bureau, they knew that since Jia Lian took office as deputy commander, he made a special trip to the imperial court to apply for special funds in order to improve the development of firearms.
Shenjiying was originally a deserted yamen with insufficient oil and water. Now that Jia Lian is here, there are many people who want to fawn over and reap benefits.
Seeing them like this, Jia Lian smiled and made suggestions, asking them to work more on "explosive bombs".
The blooming bullet is a breakthrough attempt compared to the solid bullet that only relies on powerful impact to cause damage after being fired.
It is a cannonball that loads gunpowder into an iron shell and ignites it with a fuse. After it hits the ground, the iron shell will explode and cause damage with shrapnel.
This kind of artillery shells existed in the previous dynasty. Of course, it is very crude and has many drawbacks and shortcomings. It has been basically abandoned in both the previous and current dynasties.
Jia Lian naturally knows that the truth is only within the range of the cannon, and a cannon that can land and explode is a cannon in the true sense!
However, Jia Lian knew that the transformation of cannons would definitely be much slower than that of fire cannons.
But he is not afraid. When the transformation of the cannon is effective, he will have to consider instigating the emperor to establish a new navy.
After inquiring and analyzing, Jia Lian has determined that now is the period when the Age of Discovery is emerging!
Building a powerful naval fleet and competing with the Western powers for the right to speak in the Age of Discovery is Jia Lian's biggest goal at the moment.
Regarding this, he is quite successful. Because, through his research, he found that Western weapons and equipment should be more advanced than those of the Wei Dynasty, but they were limited.
Therefore, there is still plenty of time left for him.
Another important point is that the current navy of the Wei Dynasty is exactly the team built by the Rongguo Mansion.
After Taizu founded the country, he also built a navy to combat water pirates and pirates.
To build a navy, you naturally need warships. At that time, it was Rong Guogong who was responsible for supervising the construction of warships and building naval bases for the Navy.
(In the original work, Jia Lian’s nurse Zhao, when talking about Taizu’s southern tour, mentioned that when she first remembered, Jia’s family was in the Suyang area, “supervising the construction of sea boats and repairing seawalls”, and extended accordingly.)
It can be said that the foundation of the Great Wei Navy was laid by Rong Guogong.
As the grandson of Duke Rong, it is naturally easier for him to intervene in the navy's affairs than others.
But no matter what, this matter still has a long way to go.
When he returned home, Jia Yunhou was waiting for him at the gate of Dongkuayuan.
Jia Yun was a rare descendant of the Jia family who received Jia Lian's attention. Jia Lian initially asked him to be an errand boy in the Military and Horse Department, which was equivalent to his working secretary.
There is no way. Although this guy is smart, he is not good at writing or martial arts, so he can only do some common things.
Later, Xiucai Gong, no, now it should be said that everyone is governed by the same principle. After Gu Danfeng, the third son of the Gu family, took up the post of "Master" in the Military and Horse Division, Jia Yun's role in the Military and Horse Division became smaller. Then Jia Lian recalled Jia Yun to help He assists in family affairs.
Now more than a year has passed, and the young boy he was back then is now barely mature.
It just happened that this year Jia Lian had the idea of starting a business, so he thought of letting this guy try it.
Firstly, this boy is young and energetic, and secondly, compared with Sun Zairen, the shopkeeper of Juxian Tower, he is a descendant of the Jia family and is responsible for managing the property under the Jia family's name, so it seems reasonable.
"Second uncle, the matter of the grain store has been settled. The He family finally agreed to sell their He family grain store, including tens of thousands of stones of grain in stock, to us for a price of thirty thousand taels." As soon as we met. , Jia Yun stepped forward to help Jia Lian, and said with a cheerful smile.
Although Jia Lian didn't like his flattering look, he also knew that everyone has his own way of survival. At least this kid had a very upright mind. In this way, tact can be said to be his advantage.
"Thirty thousand taels, the price is a bit low. But you used your status as the Jia family to threaten you?"
Since returning from the Xue family's night banquet, Jia Lian has asked people to start expanding the scale of Juxian Tower, building a winery, and setting up a grain store.
The first two things needed to be done slowly, but when it came to setting up a grain store, Jia Lian decided to take Baochai's suggestion and buy the entire grain store. No matter how big or small, it would save him time and effort.
This He's Food Store was the best option given to him by the people below after asking about it.
Jia Yun knew that Jia Lian was usually easy to talk to, but when it came to serious matters, he was as strict as running an army, so when he heard this, he quickly explained: "Second uncle is unjust, how dare we.
Originally, we went to find them because we found out that the He family had problems with their cash flow.
The scale of their grain store is not that big to begin with, and their business is not as good as the other big ones in Beijing. It was only because we came to them that they dared to ask for such a high price.
Later, seeing that we were not easy to fool, we slowly relaxed. Of course, this was also thanks to the help of the two shopkeepers from the Xue family. Otherwise, we would have easily suffered a loss if we didn't know the secrets.
But the He family said that the 30,000 taels of silver must be paid in cash and paid in one lump sum, and then they will assist us in all handover management. "
When Jia Lian heard this, he said directly: "Promise them."
For Jia Lian, he is neither short of cash flow nor afraid of the He family daring to cheat, so he naturally does not need to think as much as ordinary businessmen.
Jia Yun also felt that there was no problem, and then asked Jia Lian: "When a new grain store is established, it must have a name. Should it be named directly after the family like other companies, and be called 'Jia's Grain Store'?"
Jia Lian thought for a while and shook his head.
Although the imperial dynasty does not prohibit nobles from doing business, the vast majority of nobles still maintain their own identity and will not participate in business, at least they will not end up in person.
Therefore, there is no need for them to let the grain store walk around under the name of "Jia". It seems too arrogant, unfair to other businessmen, and a bit bullying.
"Let's call it 'Huifeng Grain Store'. There is plenty in the world. Let's gather it together to benefit people's livelihood."
Jia Lian casually picked up a name, and Jia Yun immediately called out: "Okay, Second Uncle is a great name. It sounds easy to hear and has a good meaning. Later, we will have people make this sentence of Second Uncle into a plaque." , use it as the signboard of our food store!"
Jia Lian didn't even bother to look at this toady again. He turned around and was about to walk home. After thinking about it, he backed out and headed towards Ningguo Mansion.
(End of chapter)
