Chapter 678: Five-character Fire Gun Soldier

"Sister, please don't be angry. But speaking of it, the Jia family is no better than our Feng family who has been bumping around in the border areas all day long. Those girls who have been in the capital for four generations do know more rules than those in our house who have only been bought for a few years. There are so many, no wonder Ziying likes them, doesn’t my sister also like Jin Chuaner and Xiangling?..." Xiao Duan tried to smooth things over.

Mrs. Duan likes Jin Chuaner very much. She feels that Jin Chuaner is well-informed, well-behaved and sensible, and will take the initiative to talk to her about any situation. This girl really can't choose two people in her house, but Xiangling is honest. Although his temperament is not as bright as Jin Chuan'er's, his honest and kind temperament still makes the elder Duan feel at ease.

"Well, let him go." Feng Tang waved his hand, "But are there a few girls in Ziying's room?"

Since it is difficult to carry the outside rooms into the house, the girls in the house are not so taboo.

Feng Tang also knew that he would rarely come back from his trip to Liaodong in a short time. He might not stay for ten or eight years. The imperial court adjusted the general commanders of other towns very quickly, but Liaodong had always been He seeks stability and will not change easily. You can understand this if you look at the decades before and after Li Chengliang's two terms. Therefore, he also hopes that his son can continue his relationship as soon as possible, even if it is not possible to have a direct descendant, it will be fine to have two concubines.

"Master, I also said it, but Ziying always refused, saying that if she wanted to enter his house, she would have to look past him to satisfy him." The eldest Duan sighed, "Concubine, I can't explain this matter. I shouldn’t even come here to talk to the master, but Ziying has an idea now. It’s just ordinary things. She doesn’t want to listen to me and Wanqin about this kind of thing. She still has to ask the master to have a good talk with him. That’s all.”

"This kid!" Feng Tang shook his head. He couldn't help his mother. His son was too independent. He had to make his own decisions about everything. But if this was not the case, how could he let the important ministers in the court and even the emperor Are they all jealous?

 Feng Ziying had dinner with Wang Yingxiong.

"There is no more news yet, but what is certain is that Bozhou, Shuixi and Yongning are definitely connected, and they are still very close. As for the price increase of grain and cloth, it is difficult to say now. There is still some increase. However, judging from the overall trend, it is still rising slowly. I also asked my tribesmen to step up their investigation. In addition, Uncle Fang and I also told Uncle Fang to see if he could get information from the informants from the Ministry of Punishment. Go check it out and see if there are any other movements in Banzhou..."

Wang Yingxiong picked up the wine glass and took a sip, "But I feel that sooner or later there will be chaos in Bozhou..."

“So sure?” Feng Ziying smiled and raised her glass.

"The chieftains and officials are at odds with each other, and the people below are the ones who have to suffer. As long as there are people who are willing to fan the flames, it is very easy to cause trouble. Yang Yinglong is not an easy person. I wonder if this guy is waiting for the right time. ." Wang Yingxiong picked up a chopstick of marinated quail and put it into his mouth to chew. "Ziying, this marinated quail tastes amazing. No other restaurant in Beijing can taste like this."

"Haha, if you have nothing to do, you can come and sit with me for a while." Jin Chuan'er's craftsmanship was passed down from the Jia Mansion, and I have to say that the food culture in Rongguo Mansion is still of a certain standard.

“Well, also, your father is going to Liaodong to take up a post soon?” Wang Yingxiong is in the Ministry of War, so he is naturally very aware of these changes.

“Both Master Zhang and Master Chai are urging my father to take office as soon as possible to stabilize the morale of the army as soon as possible. My father is still discussing with the Ministry of War.” Feng Ziying nodded.

"Is it still a matter of food and salary?" Wang Yingxiong put down his chopsticks, "Food and salary are a big deal, but the Arsenal has just accepted a batch of 3,000 firecrackers. It was originally intended to form a team of firecrackers in the Beijing Camp, but the Shenji Camp I have never been interested in fire guns, so I put it aside. I know you have always been interested in fire guns, so this is a good time to ask your father to experiment in Liaodong."

"Oh?" Feng Ziying was surprised. He didn't expect that Dazhou could produce firecrackers by himself. "Can the Ministry of War produce firecrackers?"

"That's not true." Wang Yingxiong hesitated for a moment and lowered his voice: "It is said that Zhao Shizhen, a former doctor in the Arsenal Department of the Ministry of War, organized craftsmen to imitate Lumi gun. After taking out the sample, the Arsenal Department commissioned several workshops in Foshan. It was all made four or five years ago, and it was only completed this year and sent to Beijing."

 Zhao Shizhen? Feng Ziying seemed to have some impression of this person's name, but she couldn't remember it for a while.

"Let the workshop in Foshan imitate it? Doesn't the Ministry of War have its own Gunpowder Bureau or Warfare Bureau in Wanggong Factory?" Feng Ziying paid more attention to the Ministry of War's current Fang Division, and was less concerned about the other departments.

"It is said, well, it is said that back then, Langzhong Zhao imitated the Lumi gun in the Bingzhan Bureau. As a result, it took him a year or two to make the Lumi gun. The effect was extremely poor. In addition, the Bingzhan Bureau also imitated the Japanese bird gun. The fire blunderbuss produced was far less effective than the bird blunderbuss, so the equipment was given to the Shenji Battalion. As a result, fire blunderbuss explosions continued, killing and injuring many Shenji Battalion soldiers, and the match ropes burned at different speeds, so they almost caused the Shenji Battalion. After the mutiny, Langzhong Zhao was almost imprisoned, but it was the former chief minister Shen Lord and the former minister Xiao Shangshu who protected Zhao Langzhong, so Zhao Langzhong stayed in office..."

Feng Ziying didn't expect that Wang Yingxiong had some ability to inquire about information, and he actually found out all the secrets of the Ministry of War.

“So the Arsenal Department just outsourced the manufacturing?” Feng Ziying laughed, “It’s just that it’s too far to go to Foshan. Mr. Zhao is not afraid of being impeached by the people of the Metropolitan Procuratorate?”

“It is said that it was Dr. Zhao who suggested looking for someone outside. It was Mr. Xiao who decided to go to Foshan for customization. Moreover, Foshan is close to Guangzhou and it is easy to recruit Western craftsmen..." Wang Yingxiong said casually.

"It took four or five years to make this?" Feng Ziying couldn't imagine that three thousand fire guns could be made in four or five years. What kind of high manufacturing efficiency was this?

"Except for the initial allocation of 10,000 taels of silver, no more money has been given. Xiao Shangshu has left, and Dr. Zhao has been dismissed from his post long ago. Now they are here to ask for the follow-up money..." Wang Yingxiong then said Tell the whole story.

“Hey, it turns out it’s just a bunch of junk that no one wants, and the Shenji camp still refuses to take it?” Feng Ziying laughed, and he asked how a bunch of firecrackers came out for no reason. It turned out to be such a twisted story.

"The Shenji Camp was determined not to want it, but they all sent it, and they also signed an agreement at the beginning. Each gun was made at eighty-two-five cents of silver. With the gunpowder made by the Gunpowder Bureau, the price of a gun was already nineteen. It’s about two to five dollars, and the price is too expensive.” Wang Yingxiong shook his head.

A fire gun and medicine are worth about ten taels of silver. Is it expensive? Feng Ziying is not sure either.

In a sense, I'm afraid it is indeed more expensive. Compared with ordinary swords, it is definitely more expensive. But as a hot weapon, if it can change the outcome of the war on the battlefield, then three thousand fire blunderbuss are nothing more. More than thirty thousand taels of silver is really nothing.

Of course, I don’t know the quality of this kind of fire gun. It may be something that explodes after a few shots. Then it is not worth even one tael of silver, let alone ten taels of silver.

“The reason why the Shenji Battalion refuses to take them is that the fire cannons are dangerous, unstable in quality, easy to injure soldiers, inconvenient to operate, and not powerful enough. So what about this batch of fire cannons?” Feng Ziying asked.

"I tried one or two, and they are definitely much stronger than the previous fire guns. But compared with the Western Yi people's muskets, such as the Turtle Dove Gun, there is probably still a big gap. It is said that the main reason is that the quality of the iron material is not good, and the gunpowder is also required. It's worse, and the barrel can't be that long, so I can't blame anyone." Wang Yingxiong shook his head.

The iron material is not good, the barrel is not good, and gunpowder is not good. These few things determine that this kind of firecracker cannot be very reliable, and the firecracker itself requires a lot of mechanical training by the soldiers to form an inertial memory pattern in order to be effective. , and at present, Dazhou seems to have basically no training in this area, so how can it be effective?

Three thousand fire blunderbuss, whether it is too much or too little, depends on how you use it.

But as far as the current situation is concerned, the proportion of frontier troops using fire guns is not high, and most of them are even worse types of fire guns, such as three-eye blunderbuss, target guns, etc.

 But even if this type of weapon is compared with an army that is purely a cold weapon, the ratio is still far behind.

According to statistics from the Ministry of War, the proportion of musketeers in Liaodong Town is estimated to be about 10%. In other words, the 100,000-strong army in Liaodong Town has about 10,000 musketeers, and 99% of these musketeers use firearms. Door guns, real matchlocks were rarely used.

If it were border towns such as Xuanda and Sanbian, the ratio would be even lower. At least Feng Ziying knew that the musketeers in Yulin Town were only a mere thousand, and they were just superficial. The archers were still the absolute main force in long-range strikes.

 Feng Ziying pondered for a while.

He knew that what Wang Yingxiong meant when he mentioned this was to let his father take over these three thousand fire guns, which was equivalent to solving a problem for the Ministry of War, and it was also a support for Liaodong Town. It needs to be deducted from the food and salary supplies that dad requested from the Ministry of War.

 He needs to think about this.

He knows that his father is not very interested in the use of these types of firecrackers. He thinks that these types of weapons are mostly gimmicks and have little practical value. However, his father still values ​​​​all kinds of artillery.

Of course, this may be unconvincing with the performance of various fire gate guns in the military, including the three-eyed gun, but Feng Ziying also knows that this is not the reason for the firearms, but that the fire gate guns have indeed lagged behind this era. At the same time, The conservative mentality within the Zhou imperial court, especially the civil servants, was unwilling to take risks and innovate. In addition, this kind of musket did have many disadvantages, and the training in the army was seriously insufficient. Therefore, over time, it led to the army's lack of confidence in such new things. bias.

 (End of this chapter)