Permit carefully inspected the structure of the ship and took some photos. [Read full text] These clues about the shipyard aroused his great interest. In addition to collecting intelligence on hostile forces, the Intelligence Bureau must also discover, master, and evaluate potential threats: including emerging hostile forces and any technological, human, and scientific progress of non-senator forces.
Inspections of the shipyards prove that the natives of time and space are aware of the technological gap and are improving their own technology to the extent possible.
Although I am worried about this phenomenon, no matter how small and feeble such an attempt is, there is no doubt about the enterprising spirit contained in it. The existence of the Senate greatly stimulated the desire of the time and space natives for technological progress, and also indirectly broadened their horizons.
The Senate, a space-time colonizer, is using its technological system and cultural advantages to crush the space-time natives, while also constantly spreading new technologies and ideas.
Xu Xu had mixed feelings in his heart. The naturalized citizen staff accompanying him saw that his face was solemn and not as cheerful as other leaders. For some reason, they couldn't help but become more cautious.
"Let's go to the artillery factory and have a look."
The artillery factory was not far from the shipyard, but only two miles away. Quan Quan went there on foot without riding a horse. Several members of the special search team of the Planning Institute and marines were already waiting for his arrival at the entrance of the artillery factory.
The artillery factory was very simple, just a large piece of rammed mud and a few brick houses. Because of the need for cannon casting, several water reservoirs were built. Xu Xu noticed that several iron furnaces had been built here and a large amount of charcoal and iron materials had been stored.
The equipment of the artillery factory was considered advanced according to the level of the Ming Dynasty. Even based on the 17th century firearms knowledge gained by Xu Xu, a half-baked assault student, it was almost up to the European level of the same period. Not only was it equipped with various measuring tools and calipers, but also used cattle Or a human-pulled movable long rod milling cutter for boring gun bores.
However, there were no traces of production in the gun factory, and the iron furnace had not yet been turned on.
According to several prisoners who surrendered. The artillery factory was built less than a month ago. Although all the equipment and tools were in place and the materials were sufficient, Zheng Zhilong never ordered the production to start because he was waiting for "foreign artillery".
"Foreign cannons?" Xu Xu thought to himself that he could see a lot of genuine foreign cannons along the way. He saw several Portuguese red cannons in Huli Mountain alone, and there were also "Kongun cannons" from the Senate on the city. . The Zheng Group was by no means so embarrassed that it had no cannon - even the hired cannon found it strange: a lot of money was spent, but the materials were prepared but no casting was started.
He continued to inspect the gun factory, but found a strange building. The shape is similar to a square turret. The foundation is made of bluestone, and the top is made of blue bricks. All are cemented with Sanhe clay mixed with glutinous rice juice, and are about ten meters high. The house is empty. The entire building is divided into three floors, and the highest part has no ceiling. There is only a wooden frame built of thick timber, covered with reed mats to protect it from wind and rain.
Obviously this building has not been completed yet, but for a while I couldn't tell what the purpose of this thing was. Judging from the solid construction, it seemed to be a bunker.
He walked around the building and found a large pile of wood covered with reed mats next to it. The wood has been processed, and the long and short logs have already been cut with mortise and tenon joints. One of them is about ten meters long.
Except for these woods. There are also some relatively thin long and short wooden sticks and a large number of sliced bamboo strips.
Xu Xu couldn't guess what kind of medicine was sold in the gourd for a while, so he had to record it with a camera and asked the staff of the Planning Institute to register the materials in detail.
There is also a gunpowder factory attached here, and large quantities of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal are stored in the warehouse. However, no special bluestone mill specifically used to grind gunpowder was found. Licensing feels weird. This is a necessary item for making gunpowder. There are strict requirements for stone quality, and not just any stone will do.
When the prisoner came over and asked, he was told that the stone mill was specially made because of its large size and weight. It hasn't been shipped yet.
Xuancheng didn't take it seriously. He walked through the entire artillery range. It was discovered that there were not only cannon-making equipment here, but also plans to make muskets. And, there are crucibles.
Although Xu Xu has never worked in a factory, he has at least read a lot of popular science about industrial technology. Of course, he knows that the only possibility for the crucible to appear here is that someone in the Zheng family's arms factory is trying to make steel.
Although large-scale steelmaking is still the preserve of Lingao, small-scale production of "high-quality" steel by the standards of the time can be found in many places in time and space.
The question is, what does the Zheng Group need crucible steel for? Even if Xu was not a weapons expert, he knew that it was impossible to use this amount of steel to cast a cannon - not to mention that he had heard from industry veterans that casting steel was extremely difficult. Even in the 21st century, it is not something that a small workshop can do.
It seems that there are quite a lot of unsolved mysteries here. Xu Xu increasingly felt that there were many unknown secrets hidden in this gun factory.
"Chief..." The staff of the Special Search Team of the Planning Institute had been waiting for him to complete his inspection before starting to count and make a list. Seeing that he had returned to the entrance of the artillery factory, they hurriedly came up to ask for instructions.
"Everything here must be carefully recorded, mapped and photographed before being moved - including their specific position in the gun factory. The specific work will be taken care of by the people I brought here. Each project must be completed after they are completed. Let’s start, do you understand?”
"I understand, chief."
"You also need to give them a copy of the catalog and numbers you counted - I can use them." After saying that, Xu Xu hurried back to the pier and took a small boat back to Xiamen Island, where there was more work to do. He does it.
With a click, a miraculously well-preserved Xuandehong vase among the rubble was crushed to pieces by Xue Ziliang's combat boots.
Xue Ziliang stood in a courtyard of Zheng Mansion, calmly lighting up a Chuqing limited edition Corolla cigar. He was carrying a fal short barrel assault type, his sleeves rolled up to his thick biceps, his head Wearing a Benny hat and the sun shining on his fake Lei Peng sunglasses, he looks like the "out-and-out American soldier" in movies from the past.
Only four hours had passed since he fired the cannonball, but within these four hours, Anping had changed hands - faster than Xue Ziliang and all Lingao's staff had expected.
The shelling caused great chaos in Anping. As a result, a team of 100 people was sent from the city to search the artillery position long after the sound of the gunfire stopped. After encountering continuous precise fire from rifles, they retreated leaving a dozen corpses behind. After returning home, the navy's spy boat squadron arrived in Anping and destroyed all the Zheng army ships anchored on the river in a battle without much suspense.
Before the navy troops could land to attack the city, the city was already in chaos, with fires everywhere. The special reconnaissance team ambushing everywhere began to report that all the city gates had been opened, and people were escaping from the city everywhere. There were so many people escaping, and it was so turbulent that the sniper teams everywhere could not intercept them and had to watch. When they came to those with gorgeous clothes, those on horseback and in sedan chairs opened fire, killing many people, but more people escaped.
Now, the roads leading out of Anping's city gates are littered with abandoned boxes and cages, damaged sedan chairs, dead horses, and corpses scattered everywhere, with all kinds of soft goods scattered on the ground.
The Marine Corps quickly took control of the four gates of Anping City and set out to put out the fire and restore order. Xue Ziliang led a special reconnaissance team into Anping - his first goal was to control Zheng Zhilong's mansion.
He took a puff of his cigar to dispel the pungent smell of blood. The yard was completely blown up by artillery shells, with gravel and shrapnel everywhere. There were bloody corpses everywhere in the yard and under the corridors, and there were also a few dying ones still moaning in pain. A dozen male and female servants who were running for their lives in panic seemed to have been hit by shrapnel as they rushed to the courtyard door to escape. Their bodies were shattered by the bullets and staggered in the doorway.
This leads to Dunren Pavilion where Zheng Zhilong discussed and handled affairs in the mansion, and is an important transportation thoroughfare in the mansion. Xue Ziliang ordered the four team members behind him to quickly clean several rooms in the yard. He knew that there was no need to say anything, these veterans knew how to behave. At this moment they were panting, looking around warily, ready to act immediately.
Xue Ziliang walked through the passage carefully - although the mansion was in a mess, this was Zheng Zhilong's mansion after all. If they would encounter resistance in Anping City, it would definitely happen here.
As soon as he entered the courtyard, a man holding a sun sword suddenly rushed out from the left, screaming and rushing towards him. This may be a frightened servant trying to escape for his life, but now Xue Ziliang has no room to think. He dodged and fired a three-round burst from the automatic rifle in his hand. The guy stumbled and fell, with blood spurting out of his mouth.
Xue Ziliang kicked the corpse away and walked forward carefully. There is no longer any large-scale resistance, but people struggling to survive may appear at any time. He led two team members to cover each other and entered the courtyard of Dunren Pavilion.
There are more corpses here. Many stewards, bosses and footmen have gathered here for meetings. The shelling has claimed the lives of many of them, leaving blood and flesh everywhere.
He subconsciously felt a slight sound of footsteps in the main room, and immediately raised the gun, keeping ready to fire, slowly approached the main room, and kicked open the door.
There was no one in the main room, but he knew someone was hiding behind the curtain.
"Come out, we won't kill you!" shouted a naturalized soldier from southern Fujian who was accompanying him in the search.
