Chapter 052 New ways to make money
After sufficient preparation, Admiral Ning wore cotton-padded clothes, newly made cotton shoes on his feet, and the bedding was also sewn from brand-new cotton.
In addition to clothing, Cheng Shijie asked the Ordnance Bureau to modify 200 large vehicles. These large vehicles are similar to later generations of marching dining cars. Of course, due to technical reasons, they will certainly not be as fully functional as later generations of dining cars.
Each team has one of these dining cars, with a briquette-type hot water heater on it. This hot water heater can burn even during the march, ensuring that Ning's navy officers can drink hot water during the march. Once camped, hot meals can be quickly cooked for the entire team.
In addition to these dining cars, accompanying Ning Haijun was the newly established Ning Haijun Baggage Transport Department.
Wang Jing, the chief gambler of the game, is the youngest among the ten hundreds of households in Zuo Qianhu. He just defeated his father Wang Xuan's Baihu last year and is only 19 years old. When Ning Haijun was established, Wang Jing wanted to join Ning Haijun and vowed to quit drug addiction.
This guy was a ruthless man. Seeing that Cheng Shijie disagreed, he took a knife and wanted to chop off his right hand. Cheng Shijie pushed Wang Jing away, and Wang Jing's knife struck the ground, leaving a mark of nearly half a foot.
In Cheng Shijie's view, Wang Jing was a ruthless person, not to mention that he was still young, so he was given this opportunity. Of course, the prerequisite was that if he gambled again, he would no longer have the chance.
The Baggage and Transport Department has five sentries, each with five teams of 60 people, one team more than the soldiers. The whole department has a total of 300 people and a total of 280 modified carriages. Of course, due to There were not enough horses, so mules, donkeys and oxen were used instead.
These baggage transport vehicles were responsible for transporting supplies, tents and briquettes. The army of 2,500 people was equipped with a total of 480 large vehicles, which was definitely a bit too much. It was mainly to facilitate the transportation of seized materials.
Ning Haijun's officers had already set off, but this time Cheng Shijie did not lead the troops. Instead, he was led by Shen Mingyu and assisted by Chang Yu.
Beforehand, Cheng Shijie specifically told Shen Mingyu: "Don't be greedy for credit in this battle. We have many people and good equipment. In fact, the chance of losing is not big. It's just that the bandits are brave and casualties are inevitable. These soldiers are the seeds of our Ning Navy." , it hurts no matter which defense is lost."
"Be careful at the door!"
"A general must be able to adapt to the situation. If the bandits escape, don't underestimate the enemy. Even if the bandits escape in the end, it means that the bandits are afraid of our army, and the brothers will be encouraged by this. In the next battle, their courage will be stronger." It will be bigger. They will think in their hearts that bandits are not that big... They will also be afraid and run away..."
Shen Mingyu laughed dumbly and said: "Master Guards has figured out all the brothers' thoughts."
"Let's leave it at that. Sometimes we fight with wisdom, but most of the time we fight with courage. Building courage is a slow process. An army without courage will not dare to fight, and no matter how brilliant a general is, Keep your hands tied."
Cheng Shijie looked in the direction of Liaodong: "Just like the Jiannu in Liaodong, Lao Bohuskin said that they raised their troops with the help of thirteen pairs of armors. They initially specially selected soldiers from the Liaodong Guards to fight. The soldiers from the Liaodong Guards had never fought in the Li Chengliang era. , so when they meet Jiannu, they are frightened, but Jiannu becomes braver as he fights. This is actually a process of cultivating self-confidence. The same is true for our brothers. When they face the bandits, they are no longer timid and can move forward bravely. Our brothers An army is enough!"
"The general will never be humiliated and will not let down the trust of the Lord Guard!"
General Ning Haijun had disappeared from sight. Cheng Shijie was still standing at the gate of the camp, looking at the disappearing figure of General Ning Haijun.
"My lord is worried..."
"Nothing can be done behind closed doors in the Ning Navy General's barracks. The army is not trained, but fought. Only in actual combat can the real problems be discovered..."
Before Cheng Shijie could finish speaking, Song Xiance said: "My Lord is a little anxious, a little..."
"Destroying the seedlings and encouraging them to grow?"
Cheng Shijie smiled bitterly and said: "The enemy will not give us time. Dalinghe has been defeated three times in a row. On the surface, the imperial court has more than 2.8 million troops. In fact, where do they have soldiers and horses available? Our Lord Futai …”
Historically, Sun Yuanhua sent Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng of the Dongjiang Army to support Dalinghe, but his Denglai New Army did not move. In fact, he still had selfish motives.
Although Ning Haijun was established with the support of Sun Yuanhua, this army neither asked for his food nor his equipment, and it did not let him worry about it.
It's like a borrowed cow, it never hurts to use it.
If Ning Haijun cannot grow rapidly in a short period of time, once he goes to Liaodong, he will only gain an additional 2,500 heads.
What's more, Cheng Shijie is really anxious now.
Cheng Jiayue has already received a response from the beautiful hospital. The other party has faxed her case and is conducting expert analysis. If the other hospital is absolutely sure, they will accept Cheng Jiayue for treatment. This time may be three to five days, or it may be It's half a month, or even longer.
Cheng Shijie could only prepare for the worst.
Cheng Shijie first went to Ninghai City. Ning Haijun's Ordnance Bureau, Guns Bureau and Armored Crossbow Bureau were all established in Ninghai City. When he came to Ning Haijun Gun Bureau.
The person in charge of weapons production and research and development is the housekeeper Zhou Yandong.
"Brother Zhou!"
"Lord Guardsman, you are trying to disgrace your subordinates!"
"Don't say that. Once you are a brother, you will be a brother all day long. When Cheng was a member of a thousand households, you, Zhou Laozhou, could afford it, and you can still afford it now!"
Cheng Shijie asked: "How is the progress of the crossbow machine?"
"It's too difficult, there's no way to complete it!"
The sample crossbow that Cheng Shijie gave to the Armored Crossbow Bureau was actually a crossbow from a later generation. Since all such equipment on a certain treasure had been taken off the shelves, what he bought was just a second-hand crossbow.
It also cost him more than 8,000 yuan. The total weight of the crossbow is 6.5 kilograms. It adopts the pulley winding method and can have a strong damage range of 200 meters. Because it has an optical sight, even Cheng Shijie has never used it once. There is also a 70% chance of hitting the target.
"Is it really that difficult?"
"It's so difficult!"
Zhou Yandong smiled bitterly and said: "Even if we follow the same pattern, the range is still too far, we can barely reach one hundred and seventy steps!"
Cheng Shijie silently calculated that one step in the Ming Dynasty was five feet. According to 31.5 centimeters per foot, it was 1.57 meters. One hundred and seventy steps was 267 meters.
The ultimate range of 267 meters is enough to easily defeat a firecracker.
"Then lower the standards and follow the one hundred and seventy steps!"
"If the standards are lowered, it can be done, but this material..."
"Can't you find all the materials?"
"Steel, we have it. It's things like beef tendons and horns. Few people kill cattle, so it's hard to find such materials!"
Cheng Shijie also had a big headache. Cows are an indispensable partner in farming. Without cows, agricultural production would definitely suffer a huge setback. Therefore, cows have become the lifeblood of farmers. Killing cows to obtain tendons and horns to make crossbows?
Killing a cow privately will lead to jail time! There are so few cows, he now has less than 200 cows in total, where can he find enough horns and tendons?
Cheng Shijie tried to ask: "Is it okay to use tendons from livestock such as pigs or sheep?"
"You can also use pig or sheep tendons, but the tendons of these animals are much thinner than beef tendons, so they can only be glued...and the quality is far inferior to beef tendons."
"That's it for the time being. I'll try to think of a solution. If it doesn't work, let's just spend money on it! Is there any progress in the development of the fire gun?"
"We are no strangers to fire blunderbuss. As long as there is enough iron, it is not difficult to make a powerful blunderbuss... Look, the craftsmen are drilling the blunderbuss tube."
Cheng Shijie watched the craftsmen drilling the blunderbuss tubes manually, and was thinking about how to improve the efficiency of pipe making. In the short term, Cheng Shijie could indeed bring blunderbuss tubes from later generations. Hansteel Group itself produces seamless steel pipes. There are various models, not to mention gun barrels, but also artillery barrels.
They range from the smallest two millimeters to the largest 1,420 millimeters (natural gas pipelines). However, the problem is that the amount it can carry is limited. It can solve small-scale equipment problems in a short period of time. It also requires a large number of equipment troops. The Ming Dynasty overcame this problem technically.
At this moment, Cheng Shi came over and said, "Father, that man named Gu wants to see you!"
Cheng Shijie already knew that Gu Shizhang was a merchant from Huizhou. There was no Anhui Province yet, and the Gu family was not from a wealthy Huizhou merchant family, so Cheng Shijie didn't pay much attention to him.
Speaking of which, Gu Shizhang was really unlucky. He was injured in the fall, but the wound was infected and he got cold. He has only recovered now.
Cheng Shijie thought about using merchants' channels to buy beef tendons, and then decided to meet Gu Shizhang.
In Qianhuzhai, Ning Haijun is already guarding the Yamen.
Cheng Shijie saw Gu Shizhang again, but Gu Shizhang looked a little embarrassed.
"Gu Mou pays homage to Cheng Shouwei!"
"Is Mr. Gu's injury getting better?"
"Much better, Shizhang thanks Cheng Shoubei for saving his life!"
"Cheng is a member of the Ninghai navy. It is his duty to protect the safety of Ninghai. Mr. Gu, there is no need to be polite!"
Gu Shizhang bowed and said: "Etiquette cannot be discarded. Gu is a native of Qimen, Huizhou. He has been doing business for generations, mainly in the fur and spice business. He is also involved in pawn, salt, grain and other industries, but he is not famous."
"It turns out that Mr. Gu comes from a wealthy Huizhou merchant family. It's disrespectful."
"A small business cannot be considered a wealthy family!"
Gu Shizhang said with a smile on his face: "I can't fully repay the kindness of living. It's a trivial thing and not respectful. Please accept it with Cheng Shoubei's smile!"
As he said this, Gu Shizhang handed Cheng Shijie a gift list.
Cheng Shijie took a quick glance and saw some property written on it, worth about four to five thousand taels of silver. This was definitely a big deal.
Gu Shizhang watched Cheng Shijie accept the gift, then stood up and said: "Sir Cheng, I have an unkind favor, I don't know..."
"Tell me!"
"Gu has a batch of goods that are going from Dengzhou to Jinan City. Can you please send troops to escort the goods?"
Gu Shizhang was also frightened by the bandits in Shandong. He originally arrived in Dengzhou directly by boat, but he never arrived in Dengzhou. Instead, he was near Liugong Island. His boat began to seep water. In desperation, he had to abandon the boat. On foot, passing through Ninghai Prefecture, he was attacked by Zhen Sanshan and his troops. There were more than 40 guards around him and a team of bodyguards. Nearly a hundred people were killed by Zhen Sanshan, leaving only two masters and servants.
Cheng Shijie couldn't help but his eyes lit up, and a new way of making money appeared in front of him.
