Changqing Mansion, in the Zhenwu Army camp.
After listening to Shen Jianzhong's explanation of what happened in Fengzhou, Chen Dechang fell into silence. After a while, he raised his head and asked with confusion and confusion:
"Master Shen, I know it all makes sense, but has the Cui family really decided to support Ye Mingsheng?"
Chen Dechang's question was unexpected by Shen Jianzhong. He said with a wry smile:
"Mr. Chen, I was thinking about this question you asked me on the way back!"
"According to the information I got, Cui Dakai did appear in Fengzhou during that time. I have read the letter Cui Shao wrote to Ye Mingsheng and I can basically confirm that it was Cui Shao's handwriting. Although the letter was asked for by Ye Mingsheng Go back, but I have already released some news through some channels, and I want to see how the Cui family reacts..."
"The Cui family has remained silent so far, which explains the problem. If the matter is false and was directed and acted by Ye Mingsheng, then the Cui family who was used by him will definitely not sit idly by and watch!"
"In my opinion, there is a high probability that the Cui family has some thoughts about Ye Mingsheng. Even if it has not reached the stage of directly joining forces between the two parties, they should have the intention to start contact.",
"Fortunately, Ye Mingsheng himself is also wary of the Cui family and is very cautious about joining forces with the Cui family. But if we force Ye Mingsheng, it is very likely that we will push him to the Cui family. This The situation is very unfavorable for us.”
Listening to the explanation given by Shen Jianzhong, Chen Dechang sighed slightly and said with some reluctance:
"Thirty thousand taels of silver, one hundred thousand stones of food and grass, and a bunch of other conditions. Ye Mingsheng is still a greedy wolf. Why did I mistakenly trust this person with ulterior motives in the first place!"
"Sigh... The Zhenwu Army's money and food have already been distributed to various cities. If it is transferred now, it will definitely affect combat readiness and the morale of frontline officers and soldiers... ·”
Hearing what Chen Dechang said, Shen Jianzhong frowned slightly. He naturally heard what this old guy said!
But at this time, everyone is in the same boat. Shen Jianzhong is too lazy to argue with him. He pondered for a while and said:
"The thirty thousand taels of silver that Ye Mingsheng wants can be obtained by our Supervision Department, and I can also negotiate with Dalongchang Company. However, the Supervision Department does not store food and grass, and there are no craftsmen under it, so these two require you, Mr. Chen. get ready!"
Seeing that Shen Jianzhong was willing to offer money, Chen Jianzhong's face, which was originally bitter, immediately softened a lot. After thinking about it, he nodded pretending to be embarrassed and said:
"We still have some food and grass in the camp, which should be enough for 100,000 stones. As for the craftsmen, they can just grab some from the city..."
"In that case, let's do what Mr. Shen wants! Thank you Mr. Shen for understanding the righteousness!" At the end of the sentence, Chen Dechang still handed over to Shen Jianzhong.
"Mr. Chen's words are really embarrassing. Everyone is working for the chief minister. Shen will definitely not refuse if he can do it!" Shen Jianzhong hurriedly raised his hand and said in return:
Chen Dechang is the commander of the Zhenwu Army of the third rank, and Shen Jianzhong is the governor of the Supervision Department of the fourth rank. There is a two-level difference between the two. Not only that, Chen Dechang also has the title of Guangshun Marquis, and his status is much higher than that of Shen Jianzhong!
According to the rules of the officialdom, Chen Dechang could call Shen Jianzhong by his first name, but now that Chen Dechang called him "Master Shen", he was very polite to Shen Jianzhong and gave Shen Jianzhong a lot of face.
Although Chen Dechang gave him face, Shen Jianzhong's own status was very upright and did not exceed the rules at all.
After discussing what to give to Ye Mingsheng, Chen Dechang changed his tone, looked at Shen Jianzhong and asked:
"Master Shen, what do you think of Ye Mingsheng's plan?"
Seeing that Chen Dechang was asking questions knowingly and deliberately testing himself, Shen Jianzhong's eyes flickered a few times and he whispered:
"I can make the Khitans send troops!"
"oh?"
Hearing what Shen Jianzhong said, Chen Dechang immediately became interested. His old eyes shone a little brighter, and he knew that Shen Jianzhong would never agree to Ye Mingsheng's conditions so easily... ··
Under Chen Dechang's gaze, Shen Jianzhong continued to preach:
"Ye Mingsheng has the smallest power, so all he wants is for us and Song Wenhui to fight to the death in the front, so that he can fight with the snipe and the clam in the back, and the fisherman will benefit!"
"But he forgot one thing, and there is an old saying: The mantis stalks the cicada and the oriole follows behind!"
"Your Excellency, you might as well agree to his plan first. Ye Mingsheng's troops will not exceed 25,000 at most. If he wants to be a fisherman, he will have to mobilize all his troops to defeat Song Wenhui!"
"Ye Mingsheng's all-out attack on Fengzhou will be empty. At that time, I will lure him with benefits and let him know the benefits. I will definitely let the Khitans send troops to attack Fengzhou!"
"As soon as Fengzhou was broken, Ye Mingsheng immediately became a lost dog and a rootless duckweed!"
"Most of his men have settled in Fengzhou. Even if Ye Mingsheng wants to occupy Dongning, his men will be eager to return to Fengzhou and force him to return to Fengzhou to aid. By then, our army will have digested Song Wenhui. The soldiers surrendered, and the Khitan people attacked Ye Mingsheng from front to back, this thundering force will surely lead to victory in one battle!"
Hearing how detailed Shen Jianzhong's plan was, Chen Dechang couldn't help but feel a little moved on his face. However, he was experienced and thought things through very carefully. After thinking about it, he continued to ask Shen Jianzhong. :
"Master Shen, your plan is based on Ye Mingsheng fatally defeating Song Wenhui with one blow. But what should we do if Ye Mingsheng does not succeed in the sneak attack?"
"Master Chen, don't worry, Song Wenhui will be defeated. From now on, he will be a withered bone in the grave, waiting to die!" Shen Jianzhong smiled mysteriously and said meaningfully:
Looking at Shen Jianzhong's smile, Chen Dechang seemed to have some realization and asked tentatively:
"Master Shen, do you have any other methods?"
Facing Chen Dechang's gaze, Shen Jianzhong said confidently:
"Of course, the chief minister has laid out this plan to unify the north in person, so he is absolutely confident that he can win Liaoyang, but now that an unexpected person like Ye Mingsheng has appeared, the situation has become a little more variable!"
"But no one can stop the general trend of the world. Whether it is Song Wenhui, Ye Mingsheng, or Cui Shao, they are nothing more than a mantis using their arms as a chariot, and a worm shaking a tree..."
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With the departure of Wang Muzhi and Shen Jianzhong, the troop deployment crisis came to an end, but Ye Mingsheng's daily life did not return to the usual peace.
As the smell of gunpowder in the air in Liaoyang becomes stronger and stronger, Ye Mingsheng's work schedule has also changed a lot. Compared with the previous ten days and a half, he only visited the camp in the north of the city for inspections. Ye Mingsheng recently went to the military camp. The frequency of visits has increased significantly, and I basically have to go there every other day.
In addition, Ye Mingsheng also stopped his usual daily leisure activities, such as drinking tea in teahouses, listening to operas, and riding horses, and devoted his limited time to the development of the craftsman camp.
With the support of Ye Mingsheng's abundant resources and the guidance of the knowledge in his mind, the Artisan Camp's research and production of firearms is very fast. Not only has it produced 500 Polu guns, but also thousands of three-eyed guns!
It has also independently produced the Crouching Tiger Cannon in batches, and developed an improved version of the Bird Gun - Weiyuan Gun!
This is why Ye Mingsheng did not ask Shen Jianzhong for more money and food during the previous negotiation process, but asked for craftsmen. Ye Mingsheng needed a large number of craftsmen for production.
Ye Mingsheng, who knows that technology is the primary productive force, is really hungry for talents from these craftsmen and provides them with the best treatment.
Ye Mingsheng knows very well that in today's turbulent times, the army is the guarantee of his power, and military power is his talisman...
Therefore, Ye Mingsheng attaches great importance to the construction of the army, which includes the loyalty of the army and the combat effectiveness of the army!
Loyalty and combat effectiveness are two things that complement each other and are indispensable!
If the army has no loyalty, no matter how strong its combat effectiveness is, it will be useless!
People can use whatever means they want to win over or divide them, but there is no need to start a war. Your head will be cut off by your own people and given to others.
And an army without combat effectiveness alone cannot win a battle. Even if it is loyal and loyal, it will perish sooner or later if it suffers repeated defeats!
Therefore, while firmly grasping the military's financial power, personnel power, and brainwashing the soldiers with personality worship, Ye Mingsheng did not dare to neglect the development of firearms.
In today's world, he comes from a poor family, has no family support, and only lives in Fengzhou. In terms of the number of soldiers and horses, and sufficient money and food, he will never be able to catch up with others...
Fortunately, although the number of troops, sufficient money and food have a very important impact on the combat effectiveness of the army, they are not the only influencing factors!
Firearms are what Ye Mingsheng can think of. The magic weapon in his hand to defeat the enemy. In order to use firearms and equipment to make up for the lack of troops, money and food of his army, Ye Mingsheng is not stingy with the craftsman camp, and is committed to the research and development and production of firearms. He spent almost a thousand taels of silver every month.
The huge investment also brought Ye Mingsheng rich returns. According to Ye Mingsheng's guidance, the craftsman camp was able to produce squatting tiger cannons and improved versions of bird guns.
Although the Crouching Tiger Cannon was nothing new in this era, because the craftsmen who could make it were generally in the hands of the imperial court, the Crouching Tiger Cannon was mainly equipped for the Forbidden Army.
Therefore, in Liaoyang, a remote and borderland place, it is still very rare, and the craftsmen who can make it are even rarer.
Previously, the squatting tiger cannons under Ye Mingsheng were all provided by Chen Dechang. However, as Ye Mingsheng and Chen Dechang turned against each other, the source of the squatting tiger cannons under Ye Mingsheng was cut off, and every one of them was damaged... ···········
But just like the gunner who operates the Tiger Crouching Cannon, he is a skilled worker. In order for him to improve his technical accuracy, you have to feed him cannonballs and let him conduct actual combat training. There is no other way but to Only in this way can you exert your power in real battles and kill more enemies!
Ammunition is easy to handle and Ye Mingsheng has no shortage of it, but the problem is that the Tiger Crouching Cannon itself has losses. The more you train and fire more, while the gunner's skills improve, the wear and tear of the Tiger Crouching Cannon will also increase, and the probability of failure will also increase. The number increased significantly. In one month at most, the Fengzhou Army destroyed 11 tiger squatting cannons.
Faced with this situation, Ye Mingsheng obviously had no good solution. He could only increase investment in the craftsman battalion, spend a lot of money to recruit more talents, and let the craftsman battalion issue a military order to complete technical research within a time limit and mass produce· ···············
Under the pressure exerted by Ye Mingsheng and the temptation of large sums of money, the Craftsman Battalion was still very competitive and completed the task within the specified time limit. Now it can manufacture twenty Tiger Crouching Cannons for the army every month. The existence of these Tiger Crouching Cannons can It is said that it greatly ensures the training quality of Fengzhou Army.
Compared with mass-manufacturing the Crouching Tiger Cannon, the Artisan Battalion did a more important thing and developed an improved version of the Bird Cannon!
Compared with the three-eyed blunderbuss, which is currently the main weapon of the Zhou army, the bird blunderbuss does have advantages in some aspects.
From the perspective of future generations, the three-eyed gun is a fire door gun. It is made of a metal tube with a one-way opening as the barrel. A small hole is set at the rear end of the launch tube for ignition. A piece of wood is connected to the end of the launch tube. Club or spear shaft. Easy for shooters to hold, aim and control firing.
The bird gun is a matchlock gun. It is indeed much better than the three-eyed gun in terms of shooting accuracy, range and power.
However, the three-eyed gun is not just a firearm. After shooting, it can also be used as a blunt weapon, which is very widely used...
In addition, compared with bird guns, the three-eyed gun has a simple structure and is cheap to manufacture. Therefore, from the perspective of large-scale installation, the three-eyed gun also has merits.
Under the guidance of Ye Mingsheng, the craftsman battalion in Fengzhou combined the advantages of the bird guns equipped by the Zhou Dynasty and the Japanese iron cannons to create an improved version of the bird guns. Ye Mingsheng named it Weiyuan gun
Compared with ordinary bird guns or Japanese iron cannons, the Weiyuan gun not only has a great improvement in range and power, but also has made great progress in the rate of fire. The time it takes for a bird gun or iron cannon to fire one round, The Weiyuan Gun can fire two rounds.
In addition, Weiyuan gun has another advantage in manufacturing, that is, Ye Mingsheng has optimized its structure, so that it requires less man-hours in the production process and the cost is very cheap, basically only three taels of silver. make one
If the Eagle-billed Gun is Ye Mingsheng's sharp weapon to deal with the enemy's cavalry, then the Weiyuan Gun is Ye Mingsheng's nightmare prepared for the enemy's infantry...
Ye Mingsheng has prepared six thousand taels of silver and plans to mass-produce two thousand Weiyuan guns to initially replace the three-eyed guns commonly equipped in the Fengzhou army and improve the army's combat effectiveness!
