The rise of the prince

Chapter 388
To the north of the new army training ground, the terrain is wide and sparsely populated, and it is far away from Yuancheng, and there are no villages. It is the place where the new army artillery trains every day.

Li Xingzhou and Zhao Si walked through the training ground together to inspect the artillery training.

The artillery training ground is like thunder every day, the ground is shaking, the mountains are shaking, and there is a lot of movement. It is also the most curious place for all soldiers.

Li Xingzhou and Zhao Si came to the North Training Ground one time.

Recently, the wife of Zhao Si's family is pregnant again. As a strict wife, he naturally takes good care of her.But because he was reused by King Pingnan, now Zhao Si has also become a man of the hour in the neighborhood. He is well-known in the capital and sought after by relatives and friends.

However, Zhao Si was not good at communication, but was obsessed with firearms. Since the palace began to produce guns and cannons, he stopped working as a carpenter and went to the riverside workshop every day.

Moreover, he is a typical honest person. He used to help his neighbors do carpentry for no money, and he also made his wife angry, so he was very popular.

Although it is developed now, the old problems have not been changed, and it is kind to everyone.

Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, I was cheated by my relatives.

When he had money, he discussed with his wife to change the place of residence, but the wife's relatives introduced one, saying that it was a treasured land with good geomantic omen, and a good stockade, because he was a relative of his natal family, and he studied firearms in the palace every day, so there was not much. Take care of it mentally and leave it to relatives to take care of it.

In the end, I finally bought the house and moved over to have a look. What kind of good village is on the land with good geomantic omens? It is a old village that has been in disrepair for a long time, and the old village is full of weeds. It is still in the west of Beijing. The stench can still be smelled to this day.

After that, I hurriedly went to look for that relative again, but he took the money and ran away, so I couldn’t find anyone, more than 3000 taels of silver, no matter where he went, it would be enough for him to be rich for a lifetime.

His wife cried a lot because of this and fell ill, but Zhao Si took care of his wife as if nothing had happened, and told his wife that at least the house was bigger than before, and it didn't cost much.

If others lost 3000 taels, they would have to worry about gains and losses for the rest of their lives. Fortunately, he continued to go to the Wangfu workshop to drill firearms the next day.

It is his tepid nature and his willingness to help others that makes Zhao Si very popular, and because of his almost desireless focus, he can think of many ideas that others can't think of.

For example, he improved the shells, using cork to fix the shells and propellant together to fit the barrel, so that when the artillery fires, it is not necessary to release the propellant first, and then load the shells, but it is done in one step.

Moreover, because the cork frame fits the gun barrel, it has a sealing effect, and the air tightness is better, and the range and accuracy of the artillery are greatly improved.

He also designed a quadrant for measuring the angle of the muzzle, because woodworking was originally used to measure the angle, he improved and created it into a wooden quadrant.

Of course, the name of the quadrant was given by Li Xingzhou, because later generations also have instruments with the same function.

Because of these, Li Xingzhou rewarded him more than 5000 taels of silver back and forth, envious of others. 5000 taels is a huge sum of money, but it is not much, or even less than his contribution, because these changes are likely to determine the victory of a war and the survival of a country.

Zhao Si also likes to often go out of the city to the new army camps to inspect the soldiers' use of firearms.

Because of this, he was embarrassed and almost had an accident.On the [-]th day, he went to the new army camp as usual, and when he passed by the gate of the forbidden army camp on the way, he was detained by the forbidden army on the spot.

If Li Xingzhou hadn't led people into the Forbidden Army's camp in time, Zhao Si would have suffered a lot.

The camp of the new army and the camp of the forbidden army are not far apart, but their affiliations are vastly different. The new army is directly under the Privy Council; while the forbidden army is trained by the three yamen, the division in front of the palace, the division of the horse guards, and the infantry division of the guards.

Now that Zhao Si is being detained, Li Xingzhou smells something unusual, obviously he is going for him!
Zhao Si often went in and out of the camp of the new army, and it was no longer a daily event. Who would not know that he was a member of King Pingnan.

Yang Hongzhao, the Dianqian commander of the Dianqian Division, is still in Suzhou, so the person who did this was either Zhao Guanghua, the commander of the horse army of the guards, or Tong Guan, the commander of the infantry of the guards. He had expected that someone would attack him , I didn't expect that someone couldn't help jumping out so soon
This also reminded Li Xingzhou that an important person like Zhao Si, who is not in the palace, is easily persecuted if he is unknown!So he simply added Zhao Si as Yuhou, the capital of the new army.

Then Tieniu, Guan Zhong, and Zhu Rong were added as deputy battalion commanders.

Because he is a member of the Privy Council and the commander of the new army, he naturally has the right to appoint.The new army did not set up a wing, and the Du Yuhou in one wing was just a vacant post, but it was also a very large official body, usually ranging from 5000 to [-] people in one wing, the commander of the first officer, the commander of the deputy, and Du Yuhou.

Du Yuhou is an official from the fifth rank, if the forbidden army dares to arrest someone again next time, it will be to imprison the imperial court official privately!He directly dared to lead people all the way into the Forbidden Army camp.

Zhong Duyu didn't make things difficult for him, his paperwork just went up, and the appointment of Zhao Si and others was approved the next day, and the paperwork from the Ministry of Officials also came on the third day.

As the commander of the first army, when appointing subordinates, the court would at most just make a point of it and go through a process. In fact, he had the final say on the appointment of the new army.

Zhao Si knew that he had suddenly become an official of the imperial court, and he was still a senior official of the fifth rank. He was happy for a long time, but he forgot in the afternoon, and continued to investigate the actual use of firearms with him excitedly.

The Shenji Battalion has now been changed to the Shenji Army, with the Musket Battalion and the Artillery Battalion below.

The Musketeer Battalion still followed the establishment of Jingguodu, Ying, Jun, Xiang, and a certain army. Under the Shenji Army, there was no establishment of a chamber. The Musketeer was organized into three armies, each with 3000 people.

The artillery was obviously not suitable for such an organization. After exploration, Li Xingzhou, Zhao Si, Di Zhi, and Yan Shen came up with a new organization, that is, every eight people are responsible for one artillery.

One of the gunners is responsible for observation, measuring the shooting angle and shooting distance;

Two persons are in charge of supplying shells and cutting leads;
Two people are responsible for the vertical and horizontal angle adjustment of the artillery;

One person is responsible for filling;
One person is responsible for stuffing the shells, cleaning the barrel and the barrel;

One person is responsible for blocking the fire door.

Moreover, it is just right for eight people to transport a cannon weighing several hundred kilograms, and it is just right to match it with a pack horse, so it needs to be reorganized.

Eight people form a squad, each with a total of [-] combatants and logistics personnel, and [-] guns.

There is no such classification in other battalions. Whether it is the Musketeer Battalion or the Cavalry, they are all in a small team of three, a large team of 30 people, and a three-man team plus logistics personnel.

"Start shooting!" On the battlefield, under the watchful eyes of Li Xingzhou and Zhao Si, the artillerymen ordered loudly.

After receiving the order at the same time, the ten gunners ordered their subordinates at the same time: "Start loading! Solid bullets."

Each cannon plus the gunner has a total of eight gunners. The gunner judges what kind of shells to load based on experience. For now, the artillery of the new army only has two types: solid bullets and shotgun bags.

The amount of shotgun equipment is also very small, mainly just in case, if the opponent's soldiers approach within [-] meters of the artillery position, the shotgun is the means of self-protection for the artillery.

The No. [-] and No. [-] gunners next to the shell car immediately consulted the form pasted on the cover, which listed the type, quantity, and range of shells in detail.Then began to remove the hay padding that filled the gaps to avoid bumping, and took out the shells with the charges.

(End of this chapter)