Chapter 148
Cheng Shijie's requirements for the arsenal were not too high. Even if he couldn't make a bolt-action rifle, he would at least make a breech-loading rifled rifle.
The principles and templates have actually appeared in Liaonan. Nowadays, both Thunderbolt and Folan artillery are breech-loading smoothbore types. It makes no sense to deliberately pursue the range of this kind of artillery and firecrackers, because when the shells come out of the chamber, they are not given by the barrel or the rifling of the barrel. Due to the rotational force, the cannonballs and bullets actually have no accuracy.
The elite shooting range of the Thunder Gun is only about 80 steps. If it exceeds 80 steps to 150 steps, the first hit rate is only less than 70%. From 150 steps away, the accuracy is only less than 30%. Two hundred paces away, wherever you hit depends on where the bullet is willing to go.
Fortunately, what the Thunder Gun requires is not precision, but a rough range, forming a dense rain of bullets and covering the enemy with fire.
The same is true for the Folang machine gun, but its stability is much better than that of the Thunder Gun. However, four hundred and fifty steps is already the limit. Six or seven hundred steps has such a range, but it requires luck. The artillery position of Kong Youde's rebels was hit by the first round of three rapid-fire rounds. This was not normal. It can be said that it was mostly luck.
If Yuan Shiliang is asked to launch a second round of bombardment at the same distance, Yuan Shiliang will probably not be able to do it. In this case, a complete change of equipment is the most wasteful situation.
Therefore, the technical reasons have not been resolved. The current Ning Navy Artillery Force has less than 2,000 people and a total of less than 240 artillery pieces. As for fire guns, the three divisions only have 12,000 fire guns. There are also a large number of spearmen, sword and shield soldiers and crossbowmen in combat.
When it comes to designing guns, it is actually not that complicated. It is just a matter of changing concepts. The current objective technical level is already very good. Cheng Shijie just introduced the future development trends of handguns and artillery to the R&D craftsmen of the Guns and Artillery Bureau. Then the specific design is handed over to professionals. I believe the craftsmen of the Guns and Artillery Bureau can give Cheng Shijie a satisfactory answer.
"The new prototype gun... actually already exists, but..."
"We have a new gun, why didn't you tell us earlier?"
Cheng Shijie immediately stood up and said, "Go and have a look!"
"The new gun has not yet been finalized. It is just a prototype gun. There are too many problems and the failure rate is too high. The Gun Bureau is still improving. The craftsman responsible for developing this gun originally wanted to report it to the commander-in-chief, but... Autumn Harvest, the commander-in-chief is too busy. !”
Cheng Shijie smiled bitterly and said: "How much does the autumn harvest have to do with me? I neither went to the fields to harvest potatoes nor put the autumn grain into the warehouse. Now during the autumn harvest, I am just an idler!"
"Actually, it's because there is not enough safety guarantee, otherwise they would definitely invite the commander to participate in the new gun experiment!"
With the successful example of Su Huaicai, all the craftsmen are actually working hard and preparing to do something big. Once successful, not to mention earning a meal, they can even leave an iron rice bowl for future generations.
"How's the artillery going?"
"Slow progress!"
Zhou Yandong was embarrassed to say that Cheng Shijie posed a big problem for the craftsmen, because the artillery he needed not only had a long range, but also was powerful enough and light enough to be able to be loaded and fired, and hit and run.
These requirements stumped the craftsmen.
The more powerful the artillery, the barrel of the artillery must be thicker and longer. In this way, the barrel of the artillery will definitely be thicker. If the tube wall is thin, there will not be enough bore pressure. But once the artillery needs to be light, it cannot be used. The barrel is made thin.
Cheng Shijie knew how difficult it would be for future generations of howitzers or cannons, so he took a step back and prepared to develop and equip mortars. Compared with traditional artillery, mortars have many advantages. The main advantages are simple structure, easy operation, and very suitable for educational levels. Ning Haijun, who is not tall.
In addition, for a long period of time, the Ning Navy's face-to-face enemy was only the Jiannu cavalry, which moved quickly against the Jiannu cavalry. The terrain in Liaodong was also suitable for the large-scale movement of the Jiannu cavalry. Traditional artillery, even the lightest Folan machine Artillery also doesn't move as fast as mortars.
The movement of mortars is also more convenient than traditional artillery. It is very difficult for traditional artillery to move in places where there are no roads in Liaodong, so it is difficult to accompany the troops. However, as long as the caliber of mortars is not too large, it can be done and can accompany the infantry to move quickly. , suitable for a variety of complex terrains, can be loaded and used, hit and run.
…
The Liaodong Economic Strategy appeases the envoy's Yamen, Ning Haijun General Military Mansion, the backyard, and Nuangeli.
Gao Qiqian was holding little Jiaxin who was already learning to speak. Little Jiaxin was now chubby. She stretched out her hand to tug up the high-rise fake beard, and the beard that was all over her face was pulled into pieces by Jiaxin.
Gao Qiqian was not angry, but very happy.
From time to time, he would hold candies to lure Jia Xin to call him grandpa.
Xiao Jiaxin doesn't like this.
Ever since Cheng Shijie brought Yang Yuniang and Xiao Jiaxin back to Liu Ji Inn, and later to the Cheng Mansion in Zhoucheng, including now, Xiao Jiaxin has been living with Cheng Shijie.
Now Yang Yunniang is also busy with banking and accounting matters, and has almost no time to take care of Xiao Jiaxin. Xiao Jiaxin is not Yang Yunniang's biological daughter, she is just a prop that Yang Yunniang used to have.
In order to take care of Xiao Jiaxin's life, Cheng Shijie hired a wet nurse to take care of Xiao Jiaxin. Her identity became confused. In the eyes of others, Xiao Jiaxin was Cheng Jiaxin, just like Cheng Anning and Cheng Anjing. Cheng Shijie's adopted daughter.
In less than a month, Gao Qiqian followed Cheng Shijie selling sweet potatoes and potatoes and earned more than 600,000 taels of silver.
The money was earned cleanly, and even if he sued the emperor, Gao Qiqian would feel confident. This was money he earned based on his ability, and he could use it with peace of mind.
However, I don't know since when, the story that "the bones of slaves can fertilize the land" spread in southern Liaoning. At the beginning, it was only spread in the streets and alleys, but soon spread to every corner of southern Liaoning, and then spread to the rear like a plague, and spread throughout the entire southern Liaoning in the blink of an eye.
Gao Qiqian also felt curious and very worried. Because he promoted Cheng Shijie's high-yielding crop seeds to almost all the Huangzhuang stewards. Especially those Huangzhuang stewards saw the yield of these crops with their own eyes and donated generously to purchase the crop seeds.
Gao Qiqian earned more than 300,000 taels of silver from selling sweet potatoes, and more than 200,000 taels of silver from selling potatoes and corn. In less than a month, he made a net profit of more than 600,000 taels of silver.
Now he is more worried about one thing. If these seeds are true to the rumors, they need the bone powder of Jiannu to grow well and have high yields. From then on, the problem will be big.
The stewards of Huangzhuang did not have the ability to obtain the bones of slaves. If they sold crop seeds to the stewards of Huangzhuang and officials, and if the production was reduced because of the lack of bone powder of slaves, Gao Qiqian would be outraged by the public.
He is not afraid of offending a few insignificant stewards of the Imperial Palace, nor is he afraid of offending a few officials. If the eunuchs in the inner court oppose him if he arouses public outrage, he will not be able to sit down as the part-time supervisor of the Ning Haijun Army.
"Father-in-law, why are you here?"
When Cheng Shijie came back, he was a little tired. He wanted to take a bath to relieve his fatigue and get up and hide here. He could only talk to him patiently.
Gao Qiqian handed the Jiaxin in his hand to the nanny next to him. The nanny picked up Jiaxin and was about to leave. But when the little Jiaxin saw Cheng Shijie coming in, she stretched out her little hand and shouted to Cheng Shijie: "Yeah... Yeah!"
Seeing that Xiao Jiaxin wanted to be hugged by Cheng Shijie, Cheng Shijie smiled slightly: "Come on, give me a hug!"
Cheng Shijie reached out and picked up Xiao Jiaxin.
Xiao Jiaxin showed a sweet smile to Cheng Shijie. She stretched out her little hand and showed off the trophy in her hand to Cheng Shijie.
The wet nurse knew that Cheng Shijie and Gao Qiqian were going to discuss important matters, so she wanted to coax Xiao Jiaxin to leave Nuange.
Waiting for the wet nurse to leave Nuange with little Jiaxin in her arms,
"Cheng Jinglue? Did you really grind Jiannu's bones into powder and scatter them on the ground?"
Gao Qiqian also said that the rumors were false. Not all cultivated land in southern Liaoning was high-yielding. Some land produced only 2,600 to 700 kilograms of sweet potatoes and potatoes. Although this product was not considered low. Yes, there is a clear difference with the fields using bone meal. This is only a difference in the yield of sweet potatoes and potatoes, but also a difference in traditional food crops.
"true or false?"
Cheng Shijie looked at Gao Qiqian and said, "Does Eunuch Gao think this is true?"
"Our family also hopes that it is true, but the rumors outside have their own noses and eyes, and our family doesn't know who to believe!"
This is actually a blind spot in knowledge. The bones of the human body contain a large amount of phosphorus, calcium, and organic salts, which are the main elements of fertilizers. Bone powder is indeed sprinkled in Ning Haijun’s military fields. Most of these bone powder are not human bones, but The bones of cattle and sheep purchased from Jiannu were originally garbage that Jiannu did not need.
However, Ning Haijun bought it at a price of two to three cents or even five cents per catty. Since then, Jiannu felt that he could make money, so he took the initiative to collect the bones that had been discarded before and gave them to Ning Haijun's merchants to exchange them for salt and iron. pot.
A bag of two kilograms of salt can produce a hundred kilograms of bones. A herdsman can easily get hundreds or thousands of kilograms by collecting them. In this way, these bones are taken to southern Liaoning and ground into powder with a stone mill, which is used as fertilizer. Scatter it in every field.
"My father-in-law, think about it. There are more than five million acres of farmland in southern Liaoning, and more than three million acres of it are sprinkled with bone meal. How much bone meal is needed?"
Cheng Shijie sighed and said: "Where can Mr. Cheng find so many bones of slaves to make bone powder?"
Gao Qiqian's voice shrilled: "It's more than three million acres. If you spread one or two kilograms per acre, it would only cost fifty or sixty thousand kilograms. But our family heard that you made seven or eight thousand loads of bone meal!" "
"Father, whether you believe it or not, this is actually a coincidence!"
Cheng Shijie did buy five to six million kilograms of bone meal and five to six million kilograms of dried cow dung, because these bones were actually cheaper than cow dung. Cow dung was something that slaves needed. They also used cow dung to boil water for cooking and even roast meat. Later, I discovered that bones were cheap, so I purchased a large number of them.
In addition, many cattle and sheep in Jiannu froze to death last winter. These frozen cattle and sheep had to be slaughtered on the spot, the bones removed, and made into beef jerky or mutton jerky.
"Then potatoes and sweet potatoes are grown in Guan Nei, and the yield is..."
"The yield may not be that high, but it will definitely not be less than two thousand catties per mu. If it is good land, it will not be a big problem to harvest three to four thousand catties!"
Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "The key is to use the right planting methods and timely drainage. Don't worry, once these sweet potatoes and potatoes are planted, it is guaranteed that there will be a bumper harvest next year and there will be countless living people. By then, my father-in-law will be able to ascend to Buddhahood!" "
"Our family doesn't want thousands of families to be promoted to Buddha, I'm just afraid that... it will cause complaints!"
At first, Gao Qiqian looked down on Cheng Shijie, even if Cheng Shijie won the Haizhou victory. But with the harvest in southern Liaoning, Gao Qiqian knew that both the court and himself had actually lost control of Cheng Shijie. .
Even though Gao Qiqian had never actually fought in a war, he could still tell whether an army could fight. He had seen the Guan Ning Army's army, including the Tianxiong Army of Daming Mansion. He had also seen it.
These troops are not enough to see in front of Cheng Shijiening's navy.
With the harvest of food in southern Liaoning, Cheng Shijie's status in the hearts of all soldiers and civilians in southern Liaoning has risen. Especially this rumor has directly sent Cheng Shijie to the altar.
Gao Qiqian did not continue to ask, but stood up and left.
"Godfather!"
When Gao Qiqian left Cheng's house and boarded the carriage, one of his godsons, Wang Muzhi, said: "I'm afraid Cheng Jinglue didn't tell the truth to his godfather!"
"Does truth and lies matter?"
Gao Qiqian sighed.
"Is it important?"
Wang Muzhi was stunned, not knowing how to answer Gao Qiqian's words.
"We are going to bleed heavily this time!"
Gao Qiqian took advantage of the abundant harvest in southern Liaoning and earned more than 600,000 taels of silver. This money was given to him in disguise by Cheng Shijie. It was also the heaviest large-scale bribery by Cheng Shijie in recent times.
Gao Qiqian originally thought that he could take so much money by himself, but now he can't. He can only distribute part of the money. The twelve eunuchs, the Nanjing garrison eunuchs, and the eunuchs in various places all need to give some benefits.
It would be nice if I could keep half of it, but half is not a lot.
…
Gao Qiqian was quick to respond. In fact, the rumor that Jiannu's bones could fertilize the land spread more and more widely, and it had already spread to Ning Haijun's army.
"Is this true or false?"
The current second richest club in Liaonan is not Shen Mingyu of Ning Haijun, nor Changyu, but Zhou Yandong and his son. Although these three father and son are not as good as Xie Jingze and his son who both belong to the Liaodong Management Committee, the problem is, Zhou Ning has been promoted to deputy commander of the Ning Navy Guards Division.
Although this level is lower than Shen Mingyu and Chang Yu, the problem is that his brother, because of his merits in blackmailing Zu Dashou, has been transferred from the garrison of Ganquan Town to become the deputy commander of the garrison department.
This is even more rare. The father and son have all entered the core positions of Ning Haijun.
"Are you saying that the bones of Jiannu can really fertilize the land?"
"Whether it's true or not, you can't judge it yourself?"
While Zhou An was eating, he said to his father-in-law Kang Shitou: "Old Yue, you have been farming all your life. Have you ever seen anyone's land with such a high yield?"
"It's true. There is no bone meal in our town. Although we have spread silt and plant ash on the ground, the output is only 2890 kilograms, and the wheat is only a little over three shi!"
"This is true. I have been farming for half my life, and I have never heard of such a high yield!"
"The bones of the slaves can fertilize the soil, no wonder it is like this!"
Kang Shitou smacked his lips and said, "I've never seen it, and I've never heard of it!"
Zhou An's father-in-law Kang Shitou arrived in Liaonan at the end of the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign. As a military dependent, he had an independent household. Although there are welfare benefits for military dependents, the problem is that military dependents do not divide the land. The land planted by Kang Shitou is actually the land assigned by Zhou An, the deputy commander of the capital, while Zhou An is planting Zhou Yandong's land.
But the problem is that although the yield of the 350 acres planted by Kang Shitou is slightly higher than that of his hometown in Shandong, it is only a little over two dan, which is more than one dan less than the wheat produced by the field army, and the yield is nearly 200 kilograms.
Although the yield of sweet potatoes and potatoes is not low, the problem is that the yield is only a little over 2,000 kilograms, which is much lower than that of Ning Haijun's field.
"Could it be said that all the bones of Jiannu are really fertile?"
There are many fields that have not been sprinkled with bone meal, and the yield gap is obvious.
Kang Shitou hesitated and said, "You are an officer, can you..."
"What?"
"If you have the chance, bring some corpses of slaves to your home!"
"Yue Weng, you are not afraid of corpses..."
"What's so scary about corpses? I'm even more afraid of starving!"
Kang Shitou said: "If we get hundreds of corpses at home, grind these bones into powder, and scatter them on the ground, our fields can harvest hundreds of stones more!"
…
Southwest of Jinzhou Acropolis, in the fields near the Yanchang Station, more than 500 former bandit labor reform prisoners are working hard to harvest corn.
After nearly a year of labor reform, the effect of the reform is pretty good. The loose nature of these bandits has been basically worn away. It is obvious that they are their former best friends across a field ridge, but no one of them said a word to try to make friends. Their best friends kept talking to them, but they didn't pay much attention and just focused on doing their own work. At most, they would give each other a friendly smile when they straightened up to take a break.
"Take a rest, come over and eat!"
Because during the most stressful time of the autumn harvest, these reform-through-labor prisoners will not go back to eat. All autumn harvest workers set up temporary stoves in the fields to solve the problem of eating.
Because the autumn harvest has come, even the prisoners in the reform-through-labor camp have much better food, including sweet potato and pumpkin stewed porridge, and potatoes and braised pork. Although there are more potatoes and less meat, the problem is that now they can eat big fat meat every now and then. Mouth full of oil.
Mao Shiwan, the former big boss, has no one to care about anymore. If they follow him and go hungry four times in three days, what a fool, if they are not prisoners of labor reform, but military households in the field, and the food of the hundred households in the field , only need to hand over 30%, and 70% will go to their 100-household office. The 100-household office will also settle the food settlement based on how much each person works.
Well, now, as labor reform prisoners, they only have the right to eat, but not the right to enjoy the fruits of their labor. These former bandits hate to death the 100,000 yuan that robbed them of being bandits.
If it weren't for the strict management that prohibited killing at will, even if Mao Shiwan had a hundred lives, it wouldn't be enough to kill him.
"Guo Tou, I heard that the bones of Jiannu can increase food production?"
"Yeah, I've heard about this too!"
"I don't know, do the previous regulations still count?"
"What rules?"
"Cut off the head of a slave and reduce your sentence by five years!"
"Forget it, it's clearly written in black and white. Marshal Cheng spits every nail, who dares to say it doesn't count?"
"Guo Tou, are the brothers doing well during this time?"
"Okay, last night, the working committee also said that our 100-household office was here!"
"Guo Tou, can we have a discussion?"
"What?"
"React to the top and let us brothers go north!"
"Going north?"
"yes!"
"You are not afraid of meeting Jiannu!"
"Hehe... I wish I could meet Jiannu!"
A man with a scarred face said with a ferocious smile: "I, Lao Zhang, still have eight years in prison. If I alone have enough to eat and the whole family is not hungry, I can work here for ten or twenty years. I, Lao Zhang, are absolutely not talking nonsense. I am just a child." My mother, my dog Dan, and my mother also came to Liaonan, looking forward to my return home every day."
At this point, there was a trace of warmth in Scarface's eyes, and he continued: "I have thought about it. I, Lao Zhang, can only fight for a while in this life. If I am lucky, I can chop off two Jiannu's heads, and I will become rich." Now, we can regain our freedom immediately and serve as Marshal Cheng's field soldiers. Marshal Cheng is kind-hearted and only charges us 30% of the rent, but our production here is high, even if the income is 70%, the whole family can eat and drink without worries."
"Yes, I also have an eleven-year sentence. Cutting off three Jiannu heads is the most cost-effective!"
"You are not afraid of death..."
"Dead, dead, it counts!"
…
Now the Ning navy soldiers already know that the bones of Jian slaves can increase food production, and their families also send them letters invariably, or directly send them letters, telling them that during the war, they can find ways to get a few corpses to bring back. Home.
Because the corpses of slaves can increase food production.
Located outside Fuzhou Fort, a group of Ning Navy soldiers completed a twenty-mile armed cross-country training. After being disbanded, the soldiers were resting on the roadside.
These Ning navy soldiers were talking to their commander: "Commander Zheng, what did the higher-ups say?"
"What can the higher-ups say? Peace of mind training, if there are any combat missions, the higher-ups will issue them!"
"Why can't you make it clear to the higher ups? Even if our bureau can be a death squad, there are more than 700 people in our bureau and there is not a single coward. When the slaves come, we brothers will be the first to attack!"
Since entering Fuzhou, Qin Buhui of Jin Yiwei has found that his outlook on life has become somewhat fragmented.
Because both the Ning navy soldiers and the garrison soldiers were all thinking about the same thing, how to kill Jiannu and how to keep Jiannu to fertilize the land.
Some proposed setting up traps, while others proposed death squads. In almost every military camp, there were young people who came to sign up to join the army to kill the slaves.
Qin Buhui felt that his own was not enough.
Almost all the armies of the Ming Dynasty were timid when they saw Jian Nu before fighting. Ning Haijun was like a bunch of lunatics, and they only wanted to let Jian Nu stay and fertilize their land.
Is Jiannu so easy to kill?
Even if the Ming Dynasty's most elite troops could defeat Jiannu three to one, there were only a few Jiannu left.
Even if it was a ten to one fight, Jiannu couldn't afford it.
(End of chapter)
