The great hero of the Silk Road, starting from a farm farmer

Chapter 58: Flintlock or Matchlock
Two days before the second uncle got married, the third uncle rode a tall horse back home, saying that he came back to help.

Looking at the bay red horse that third uncle was riding, Song Yingkui felt a little envious and jealous.Fortunately, after all the tossing and suffering, I have only now ridden a little mule.Third Uncle, this little boy, has turned into a horse rider. It's really annoying to compare people to people.

"The Guo family gave you a horse? Isn't that too generous! Your father-in-law wants to raise you as his own son?" Song Yingkui said bitter words while taking the reins of the horse and leading the horse to the barn.

"How can there be such a good thing, just lend it to me first, and then return it to others when I finish grinding the powder and go home."

"This is still understandable, otherwise I think the Guo family is a bit too generous." A mule is only worth five or six taels of silver, and an ordinary horse is worth more than ten taels of silver.No matter how much he likes his son-in-law, it's somewhat unreasonable to give such a valuable thing!
Horses are definitely valuable in Dazheng. Ordinary horses in the northwest frontier are cheaper. I heard that a decent war horse costs 40 taels of silver.If it is in the hinterland of Dazheng, ordinary horses can be worth more than 20 taels of silver.In Dazheng, the families that can afford horses are not ordinary.

Because the third uncle rode back a horse, and when he went to Gou's house to pick up the bride, the animal that picked up the bride was replaced by a horse.When the second uncle led the horse to Gou's house, the neighbors around Gou Yuxiu's house were very envious.It is said that the girl from the Gou family has a good eye for people and picked a promising family.

After finishing his second uncle's wedding, Song Yingkui had a little leisure here.

Ding Huanyi helped third uncle finish the equipment for making potato flour at Xingyue Gorge and then went back to the shop. With him working in the shop along the river, Song Yingkui would have much less to worry about.

Now a lot of work in the Yanchuan shop has become normal. In addition to Ding Huanyi, Jiang Xiaohu and the second uncle, Song Yingkui also called Nong Dongxian's uncle to the shop to help, and also called three temporary workers from Zhuangshang and Yanchuanzi. Counting himself, there are eight people working in the shop, barely becoming a small factory manager.

The business of making wheels has been booming recently, and more and more people are coming to buy wheels. However, because the price is a bit expensive, the main business targets are foot households and horse-drawn carriage groups. Farmers in Wuying Town do not change their wheels very much.

"Huanyi, go home and ask your father if you are interested in making car frames. If you are interested, you are free now. Bring your eldest brother over to discuss with Jia's family. We will build a shed next to my shop to pick up car frames. I guess there will be a lot of work this winter."

When the wheel business started, Song Yingkui didn't think much of the frame business, but quite a few people came to the shop to ask him to make frames.For example, many footholds, when they come over, they order with wheels and a car.

Don't transfer the work of making the frame to others, just doing this stuff can make people very tired.But this kind of thing can't be made without any carpentry skills. After much deliberation, I have to make this old thing that is cheap but expensive.

For making wheels, ordinary manual workers can help in many tasks. Coupled with the recent acquisition of some professional tools, real carpentry work is rare.The price of using a general worker is much cheaper than using a craftsman, so it is a good deal to transfer this thing out.

Inviting Ding Degui and his son to Yanchuan Gorge, Song Yingkui had another idea.In the future, people in the vicinity will find a lot of carpentry work done by themselves, and they will be able to push it to Ding Degui.Now that they are all factory directors, it would be a waste of time to do the work of building cabinets and repairing farm tools.But if people from the village come to you, it’s not appropriate if you don’t answer them, and it’s easy to be said to be too airy.With Ding Degui and his son sharing their worries, this kind of work can be diverted a lot.

"Build a shed here to work? Ying Kui, isn't this a steal from you?" Song Yingkui's idea made Ding Huanyi feel awkward. There is a conflict of interest between the father and the boss.Besides, my salary has just been raised to [-] Wen, and I can't justify giving such a good treatment, and still thinking about letting my family members come to steal other people's business.

"What a brain! My shop mainly makes wheels and noodle presses now. I can't make much money doing other chores, and I still have time to let your father and brother come over. Can we make it easy?"

"Isn't it the same to let my father and the others do it in the house?"

"Can it be the same? How many jobs do we find here? We send those who can't come to Yangjiabao, so that people can walk more? Another thing, we have a water saw here, which is convenient for changing wood, so your father can work quickly! Also, the foot households usually order whole cars, and you have to buy wood. The Peng family sells wood here. Isn't this also convenient?"

What is an industrial agglomeration effect?Do you Ding Huanyi understand or not?Nesting in Yangjiabao as a carpenter, can it be convenient?

Due to the driving effect of Songjiapuzi, Yanchuan Gorge now has a faint feeling of a small business gathering area.First, they moved to a lumber shop, and recently the Jia family opened an oil press next to the mill.In addition, Jia's in-laws also opened a small grocery store selling oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar.

Those who come here to grind flour, to change wood, to extract oil, to sell eggs, to order cars, sometimes people come and go, it looks like the streets of Wuying Town.Some shopkeepers even come here to set up a stall for a while, the picture is that this place is very popular.

After the Xiakou became lively, it was not the Song family that benefited the most, but Jia Xiangnan's family.The family is the landlord here, no matter how many people come to do business, they have to pay rent to his family.The rent that Song Yingkui will pay to Jia's family next year will increase by more than one or two dollars, which is really a price increase.

It is estimated that the Jia family did not expect that it was a wise investment to sell the whole place in order to prevent others from opening another mill in the gorge.

Song Yingkui, who didn't want to see more and more bustling things along the gorge, had a little time to spare, and now he was thinking about serious matters, he wanted to make a gun!

In winter, the nearby farmers are idle.When people are free, there are many right and wrong, and it is easy to find trouble when there is nothing to do.Didn't the family suffer from bandits last winter?At that time, the bandits were driven away by a brute strength, but the main reason was that there were few bandits who came.If there are many bandits, I really can't imagine what the result will be.

Therefore, there must be a sharp weapon for self-defense, so as to have a sense of security.As a traveler, the first self-defense weapon that can be thought of is a gun.It is too difficult and unrealistic to make a pistol for later generations!But making a flintlock or an arquebus can always work, right?With a gun in hand, still afraid of ordinary little bandits?
The question now is, which gun is easier to make?According to the history of firearms development in memory, matchlock guns appeared earlier, and the technical difficulty should be less than that of flintlock guns. But if you think about it carefully, simple flintlock guns seem to be not much more complicated than matchlock guns!Or just make a flintlock gun?

Based on Song Yingkui's current understanding of this time and space, such things as muskets should not have appeared yet.However, when folks set off firecrackers, it seems that something similar to gunpowder is added inside. Song Yingkui has seen it specially, and feels that it is black powder with an incomplete formula.Now that the prototype of gunpowder has appeared, it is not difficult to get the raw materials for making gunpowder.As long as the gun can be made, it is not a problem to mix the appropriate black powder.

(End of this chapter)