'Moo! Moo! 'Accompanied by the braying of cattle, the villagers began to prepare to transplant rice seedlings.
The wheat harvest has just been completed today, and the fields where rapeseed and ramie are grown have been plowed by oxen.
Horses and donkeys were used to plow the ground, but now they are not used.
Horses should try not to enter paddy fields. If their hooves are soaked in too much water, horses will get sick, including donkeys. However, it is not a problem to plow occasionally.
In theory, buffaloes are the best for plowing paddy fields, as they are strong and like water.
The village does not buy buffaloes because the buffaloes are used for other tasks, especially walking and pulling carts. The local weather is hot in summer, and the buffaloes cannot withstand the high temperatures for a long time.
Another point is that buffaloes are particularly aggressive with their own kind, and their advantage is that they are stronger than oxen.
At this moment, the oxen are raking the ground, and the rice will be planted tomorrow. People from other villages who have finished harvesting the wheat will stay there for another day, help them go home after planting the rice, and deal with their own land.
Zhou Zong led his people to work together, and Zhu Wentian led his friends to hide behind the mountain temple to practice shooting. The flintlock gun was made, and there is only one at present.
Zhu Wentian made a lot of gunpowder and projectiles. The projectiles of lead bullets were almost the same size, and the gunpowder was fixed and packaged once.
The flint is selected, cut into the same shape and specifications, and can be replaced at any time.
He loaded the powder in the front, fired the gun, then loaded the lead bullet, loaded the powder in the back, closed the fire door, aimed, fired, and shot, hitting the bullseye of the paper target.
"Accurate! Hehe!" Zhu Wentian was satisfied.
"Okay! Brother Hanhan is awesome!" The friends clapped their hands and cheered.
"You all come and try." Zhu Wentian changed the target paper one meter away in front of the gun and gave the gun to the next friend.
Everyone tried it one by one. After a dozen times, they simply cleaned the hole in the fire door and they were able to continue firing.
This is a long gun with a longer range than a handgun. The barrel is not rifled and the bullets do not use Mini bullets.
The main reason is that we are running out of time. We have to leave immediately after planting the rice. The prince is getting married on April 12th, and today is the seventh day of April.
After planting the rice seedlings tomorrow, I will take a boat to Nanjing early the day after tomorrow. I will go to the place to discuss the etiquette with the etiquette officer, and I will be arranged to stay in an inn.
…
On the night of the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, many people in the village had insomnia. The friends were tossing and turning, thinking about going to the big city. The village elder was also thinking about it while lying down.
The headmaster recited the etiquette over and over again, fearing that he would forget it when he got nervous.
Zhu Wentian was the only one snoring in the sacrificial hall. He had nothing to worry about. He could just read the etiquette once. Besides, with his status, others would not do anything to him.
On the morning of the ninth day of the Lunar New Year, everyone had a hasty meal, put on new clothes, new shoes, jewelry, and gifts for the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, as well as gifts for His Majesty, Queen Ma, Concubine Sun, other women in the harem, and the kings.
Therefore, three ships are needed, otherwise they will not be able to carry so many people and things.
Zhu Wentian took a bag and took care of a box. Inside the bag were clothes and shoes, and in the box were silver ingots.
On this trip, everyone took a thousand taels of silver with them. If they could buy anything, they would buy it and bring it back to the villagers.
The captain had a long strip wrapped in cloth in his hand. He got on the boat and muttered the contents of etiquette.
Zhou Zong was sitting in the same boat as Li Chang, and he looked at the long thing placed on Li Chang's leg: "Zhu Lizhang, what is this?"
"A stick, a stick with holes." The chief replied naturally.
"Where's the box you're stepping on?" Zhou Zong was very doubtful.
"Small balls of lead were stuffed into the holes in the sticks, as well as powders of sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal."
The commander said, untying the cloth. He couldn't carry it with him at all times. This was a firearm. Who was he going to assassinate?
When he opened it, a simple flintlock gun appeared in front of Zhou Zong.
Zhou Zong: "..."
He wanted to curse, what kind of stick? Have you made a handgun?
When he saw the real thing, he frowned again, what kind of gun? I've never seen it before. Is this what I got you?
He knew what a handgun looked like. It was a barrel, held in a hand, first put the fuse, then the powder, projectiles or arrows, ignited the fuse, held it up and waited, the fuse burned inside, and then shot out with a bang.
Why is what I see different now? Didn’t the village elders learn this? It shouldn’t be! Quite simple.
He reached out and picked it up to play with: "This gun... what is this?"
"The gun stock, this is the hammer, this is the trigger, it is the medicine tank, cap, stopper rod, flint, fixed charge bag, medicine tank bag, lead bullet..."
The director doesn't need to ask questions one by one, he explains every part and extra things.
After he finished speaking, he took the gun and started to operate it, loading the gunpowder and bullets one by one without pointing the gun at anyone.
"Put the butt of the gun on your shoulder and just pull the trigger. Don't point it at anyone! Here." The commander carefully handed the loaded weapon to Zhou Zong.
Of course Zhou Zong understood the dangers of firearms, so he took them carefully: "Where's the fire?"
"Didn't I tell you to just hook it? Flint is fire. Find something to hit it with."
Li Chang kept his eyes on the muzzle of the gun, ready to dodge at any time.
Zhou Zong began to look around. Zhu Taiyi and others were on the boat. When they saw him, they looked over and waved their hands in front of them.
"Uh... the boat is approaching the shore, hurry up." Zhou Zong stood up with his mouth in his mouth. There was a tree on the shore in front of him.
The boat first approached the shore, about two or three meters away. Zhou Zong jumped from the boat to the shore with a gun in his hand, ran forward, got in front of the tree, raised his gun and pointed it at the tree and pulled the trigger.
'Bang! A puff of smoke came out, and Zhou Zong was startled. He quickly looked at the tree trunk that was hit, turned around, and jumped from the shore to the boat that had just come over.
"Zhou Sheren is worthy of being a swordsman, with great skills." The chief praised, and the others who were not targeted nodded.
"Is this the gun you made with those three hand guns?" Zhou Zong was so excited that his whole body trembled.
He saw smoke just now, saw the holes punched in the tree trunk, and smelled the smell of burning gunpowder.
He dared to swear that he never used fire to ignite the powder twister. He just hooked the hook with his finger and the lead bullet was shot out.
The chief smiled and nodded: "It is too difficult to imitate the handguns sent by Zhou Sheren. I have no other choice but to learn from some of the knowledge I learned about handguns.
This gun has too many flaws and is not as good as the imperial gun. I think it can be used to protect the village from bad guys. "
Zhou Zong, Zhu Taiyi and the others, as well as the boatman in charge of the boat, were speechless. What a bad thing! so bad.
After more than ten breaths, Zhou Zong laughed angrily and heheed twice: "Handguns are indeed difficult to imitate, but this is embarrassing for you. Can I ask, do you think the fire used to light the fuse is difficult to imitate? ?”
"It's... right? Well! It's not convenient to stick torches. How are the fire pleats made? In villages, they usually use a fire sickle to light fires, and there is flint inside.
Then we thought, yes! We don't know how to make fire pleats, so we just put flint on it and hit it, and the fire came out. "
The director was thinking hard about how to make it up and round it out, sweating on his forehead.
"Yes, bang, boom, hey hey hey!" Zhu Wentian estimated the time beside him and it was time for him to speak out.
