Because they were not familiar with most of those people, Li Zhiyun and Fourth Brother did not go over, but stood four or five feet away from them. After my cousin joked with everyone for a while, he saw them and walked over on his own initiative. There was another person following him. Judging from his clothes, he should be a military general.
My cousin walked up to me and said with a smile, "Two princes, are you both here?"
"Hello, cousin." Li Zhiyun and his fourth brother rushed to greet him and salute him. My cousin nodded, pointed at the general standing beside him and said, "Two of you, let me introduce to you. This is General Yuan Junbao of the right guard." Yuan Junbao clasped his fists with both hands and said, "King Qi, King of Chu King, you will no longer be polite."
Li Zhiyun and Fourth Brother quickly returned the gift. In the following conversation, Li Zhiyun learned that Yuan Junbao was a general under his cousin. My cousin and Yuan Junbao talked to them for a few words and then walked away. At this time, another group of guests came in. The fourth brother met a few acquaintances and went to joke with them, leaving Li Zhiyun standing there alone.
A thin old man with a wrinkled face came over and said with cupped hands: "His Royal Highness, the King of Chu, your subordinate is the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, Ren Shibo."
"Oh, it's Mr. Ren, hello, hello." Li Zhiyun returned the greeting quickly.
"His Royal Highness the King of Chu, I heard that you were honored as the shepherd of Yongzhou. Last month, the official's home was visited by thieves."
"Oh, what was lost?"
"One of my hostas has disappeared."
"The loss is not too great. Have you reported it to the official?"
"The hosta is an ancestral possession. Xiaguan reported to Yongzhou Mansion at that time, but the hosta has not been returned yet."
When Li Zhiyun heard this, he quickly said: "Don't worry, Lord Ren. I will urge my subordinates to catch the thief as soon as possible and return the lost property." After Ren Shibo left, another guest came over.
"His Royal Highness the King of Chu, I am Liang Huairen, a native of Zhongshushe. The property of a relative of Xiaguan has been usurped by local tyrants."
"Oh, where does your relative live? What's his name?"
"The name of Huaiwan Village in Shiping County is Wang Ping'an."
"Okay, I have written it down, and I will urge my subordinates to handle it fairly."
It didn't take long before four or five customers came to complain to him. Li Zhiyun thought to himself that fortunately he was only a Yongzhou shepherd in name only, otherwise he would have been entangled in these cumbersome daily affairs.
After all the guests arrived, the eldest brother also came and sat at the top of the table. The guests also took their seats behind the tables on both sides of the hall. So, the banquet began, with exquisite food, wonderful music and dance, igniting the enthusiasm in the hearts of the guests...
The recruitment of soldiers went smoothly. It took only a dozen days to recruit all the needed soldiers. This time, Li Zhiyun recruited more than 4,000 people, plus more than 1,000 people from the "Women's Army", which can be organized into two regiments. Supporting an army is a very expensive matter, and he currently has limited financial resources, so he plans to form two regiments first. When conditions permit in the future, we will form another two groups.
The army needed a place to station, and the Ministry of War allocated him a barracks as a place for the firearms army. The barracks has barracks and a training ground.
On this day, Li Zhiyun took Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu, accompanied by Scarface, to the barracks for inspection. They walked to a training ground and saw more than a thousand recruits lined up in a square formation, practicing martial arts, and the man standing in front of the formation to demonstrate was none other than Li Tieniu.
Li Tieniu stopped when he saw them coming. He ran up to Li Zhiyun and clasped his fists and said, "King Chu, you asked me to be the standard commander, but I don't know how to fight. What should I do?"
"It doesn't matter if you don't know how to fight." Li Zhiyun smiled, "Can you fight?"
"Fight? I can do that."
"Well, you can just fight like a fight in the future."
"Oh, when you say that, I understand in my heart."
Li Zhiyun smiled and nodded, saying: "Go." Li Tieniu ran back happily and continued to lead the recruits to practice martial arts.
They came to another playground, which was the training ground of the artillery company. The artillery company commander was leading a dozen soldiers to practice loading ammunition and aiming and firing.
The arsenal has produced two red cannons and distributed them to the artillery company. The barrel of this kind of cannon is made of iron, about seven or eight feet long, and the muzzle is thicker than the sea bowl. It is installed on the gun base. The gun barrel is equipped with a front sight and a rear sight, and there are two ears at the center of gravity, which are fixed on the rotating shaft of the gun base to adjust the height of the muzzle. In this way, the shooting distance of the cannon can be adjusted according to the amount of explosives loaded and the height of the muzzle.
This kind of cannon is a ship cannon invented by Europeans. It was originally called the Hongyi Cannon and was imported from the Dutch in the late Ming Dynasty. The Dutch were called red-haired ghosts. In the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu people were very sensitive to the word "Yi", and some superstitious generals liked to tie a red cloth on the barrel of the cannon during battles, so it was renamed the red cannon.
Scarface looked at the cannon and asked: "King Chu, why is the barrel of this cannon thick at the back and thin at the front?" Li Zhiyun smiled and said: "This is because the explosion of explosives will generate pressure, and the chamber pressure at the back is high, so the tube wall is thick. Some, the front chamber pressure is lower, so the tube wall is thinner.”
At this time, the artillery company commander had already asked the soldiers to stop training and formed a long queue. He ran to Li Zhiyun, stood at attention, raised his right hand and gave a new military salute, and said loudly: "Report to the King of Chu, the artillery company is practicing. Please give me instructions."
The artillery company commander and several platoon commanders went to the arsenal for training, and craftsmen taught them how to load ammunition and how to fire. Li Zhiyun also took the time to write a tutorial on artillery tactics and sent it to them. He made it up based on his imagination, and he didn't know if it would work. Fortunately, their future enemies did not have any firearms. As long as they fired the cannonballs, they would have the upper hand. As for how to further utilize the power of the cannon, we can only slowly explore it in future actual combat. Li Zhiyun returned the courtesy and said, "Have you conducted any live-fire drills today?" The artillery company commander shook his head.
"Then let's fire a few rounds and see. Be careful not to load the explosives so that the shells don't hit the outside of the barracks."
This training ground is very large. The open space in front is more than a hundred feet long and fifty feet wide. The artillery company commander turned around and ran back to the queue of soldiers and gave the order. So the soldiers began to load ammunition, lower the muzzle position, and then lit the match.
With a "bang", the cannonball was launched. What was fired this time was a stone bullet, which hit a place seventy or eighty feet away. Then, another iron bomb was fired, and finally an explosive bomb was fired. The explosive bomb is also a round iron ball with a guide wire on it. After the explosive in the barrel explodes, it ignites the guide wire. After the shell hits the ground, the explosive is detonated and a plume of smoke rises from the ground. The scene is quite spectacular. .
Although it was not the first time for Scarface, Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu to watch the cannon being fired, they felt very novel and excited every time they watched it. Zhang Zheng couldn't help but said: "King Chu, I really don't understand why you have so many novel things in your mind. Could it be that you are a god descending to earth?"
"The King of Chu is certainly not a mortal," Scarface said. "When he invented the bugle and explosives in Wugong County, I knew he was a god."
Li Zhiyun smiled and said: "That's right if you don't understand. In fact, there are many things in the world that don't necessarily have to be understood. Maybe it's better to be confused."
After Li Zhiyun returned from the barracks, he planned to visit the arsenal. He studied science and engineering in his previous life and was very interested in mechanical equipment. Whenever he was free every day, he would dive into the arsenal, play with the machines, and study together with the craftsmen how to improve the machines.
At this time, a servant came in and said: "Your Majesty, the captain of Yongzhou Prefecture wants to see you." Upon hearing this, Li Zhiyun ordered: "Take him to the front hall, I will be there right away." After changing his clothes, he came In the front hall, besides Cheolwon, there was only one other person in the room, a young officer in his early twenties. When the two saw him coming in, they quickly stood up and saluted.
Li Zhiyun waved his hand and asked them to sit down. Then he sat down on the chair opposite, looked at Tie Yuan and said, "Captain Tie Yuan, is something okay?" Tie Yuan pointed to the people who came with him and said, "King Chu, this is It’s Captain Li Yajin who is responsible for guarding the Mingde Gate in Chang’an. He has something to say to you.” Li Zhiyun turned his attention to Li Yajin again, “Captain Li, what do you want to say to me?”
Li Yajin cupped her hands and said with some restraint: "King Chu, there is such a thing. There is a Colonel Hu and I are from the same hometown. We have a good relationship and often drink together. A few days ago, he suddenly asked me, where are you? Can you help him open the Mingde Gate at the critical moment?"
"Oh?" Li Zhiyun became interested after hearing this, "Have you asked him about the critical moment?"
"I asked, but he didn't say anything. He was very vague at the time. I asked him what he wanted to do, but he hesitated and refused to tell the truth."
"Where is Captain Hu from?"
"He is an officer of the Shenwu Camp."
Shenwu camp? Li Zhiyun thought about it carefully, wasn't that his cousin Lonely Wynn's army? Li Yajin continued: "After I got home, I thought about it carefully and felt that this matter was quite serious, so I reported it to Lieutenant Tietou."
"You did the right thing!" Li Zhiyun said approvingly, "The Mingde Gate you guard is very important. It is related to the safety of the capital. Captain Li, let's do this. You continue to contact Captain Hu and see if you can Find out his details. If you discover anything new, please inform me in time."
"yes!"
