Uncle Lai in the Red Chamber

Chapter 205 Coping
It was said that King Beijing returned home, but he was not in a hurry to reflect, but immediately summoned Jiang Yuhan.

The so-called fasting and reflection naturally meant that all singing and dancing entertainment had to be stopped. He knew exactly what King Zhongshun had planned.

Holding Jiang Yuhan's hand, he said with some reluctance: "King Zhongshun was humiliated by me last time, and he has been holding a grudge. Now I have been punished by the Supreme Emperor to fast and reflect, and he has been appointed as a supervisor. I'm afraid As a drunkard, you can go to my Zhuangzi in Red Sandalwood Castle for the time being and take shelter there, and I will call you back when the wind blows over."

"Your Majesty!" Jiang Yuhan screamed sadly.

King Zhongshun was used to being rough and arrogant, and Jiang Yuhan was being called around by his side. How could he live comfortably in King Beijing's place? In addition, Shui Xiong was over the age of a weak crown, and his daughter was also a jade tree in Linfeng, which was quite attractive. Naturally, he had biased.

"Go quickly! I'm afraid that guy will come after he goes to court."

The two said some more caring words before saying goodbye.

Jiang Yuhan packed up the package and left Beijing Palace.

On the way, he wondered how long it would take for the king of Beijing Jing to lift the ban. In the future, there would be no one to talk to relieve his boredom in Red Sandalwood Castle, so he turned halfway to Rongguo Mansion, and Jia Baoyu from the sub-committee went to see him when he had time.

King Beijing guessed right. King Zhongshun indeed planned to recapture Jiang Yuhan in the name of supervision.

However, he was unable to get free time after going to court, but was summoned by the emperor for a secret talk.

Inside the imperial study.

In addition to King Zhongshun, there are also Chen Yiwen, Qi Ning, Qiu Duwei, Lai Shangrong and others.

For one thing, the emperor pushed King Beijing into the mud this time. Although it was not yet time to reward him for his meritorious deeds, verbal praise was still necessary.

Secondly, King Beijing was demoted and seized power, and everyone in the military department was in danger. The burden of resisting the Western barbarians also fell on the emperor.

If this matter is not done well, all previous efforts will be wasted, and it may even turn victory into defeat.

The soldiers and horses went ahead before food and grass were used, which was why Lai Shangrong was able to attend the meeting.

Otherwise, just by taking the account book, you may not have the opportunity to participate in such a high-level meeting.

"Lai Aiqing! Can rubber tires really save animal power?"

"Go back to the emperor! It can indeed save animal power, but it also has disadvantages."

Rubber tires are not as easy to slip as wooden tires. Their grip is much higher than that of wooden tires. You can also make some designs on the outer tires.

However, because the sealing effect is not as good as that of later generations, it needs to be inflated every day or two. Of course, if it is just transporting grain and grass, it is not impossible to make it solid. After all, there is no need to consider shock absorption.

He broke open the tire and explained it to the emperor. Emperor Zhenglong nodded.

He turned to Qiu Duo and said, "Qiu Aiqing, do you think you have any tactics to deal with Xiyi's Shenji Camp?"

Qiu Duo pondered: "Based on the intelligence of Commander Qi, the Xiyi people's three-stage attack solved the loading problem. I think it is best to fight in rainy days."

"What kind of solution is this! Xiyi is not a fool, why would he still fight in the rain? For now, Qianxiang Kingdom is not a concern, the Western Sea Coast is the top priority!"

The Great Xia army of the Qianxiang Kingdom was not acclimatized to the environment and was not familiar with the tactics of warfare. They were defeated by Xiyi in several battles, and the original awe of Great Xia no longer existed.

Governor Shendu sent several ships to show off his power along the West Sea, but because he underestimated the enemy, Zhou Qiong, the commander-in-chief of Zhenhai, captured one of the ships.

Lai Shangrong was also a half-military fan in his previous life, and he had some knowledge of the ordnance of this era.

He thought thoughtfully: "Does Lieutenant Qiu know the range of Xiyi's musket?"

"It's about the same as the Shenji camp I'm facing, about two shots." One shot is 100 meters, and two shots are 200 meters. Fortunately, it's just a smoothbore gun, which is equivalent to the level of the eighteenth century in the old time and space.

Lai Shangrong said with a smile: "This three-stage attack method is not invulnerable."

Regardless of the three-stage strike or the four-stage strike, the focus is on a queue, which means standing in a straight line to expand the shooting range.

The most feared aspect of this tactic is encirclement. Once enemies appear behind you or on the flanks, chaos is inevitable.

Of course, this also relies on the human sea tactic. If both sides have equal strength, they will not be able to encircle them even if they want to.

Although Xiyi colonized countries such as Shendu, they only used them as raw material production areas. Even if there was a leading party, they had to maintain local security and production.

Therefore, the troops deployed were limited, and they did not open up the situation in Qianxiang Kingdom at the beginning. They waited until the monsoon season to transport troops from the mainland to expand the results. If they want to attack Daxia, at least at this stage, they can only carry out surprise attacks.

"Now most of the Xiyi troops are in the Qianxiang Kingdom. I'm afraid they are just getting carried away and showing off their power. They want to attack me, Daxia, but they are unable to do so."

Explaining the strength of Xiyi and the disadvantages of the three-stage attack, Lai Shangrong added: "At this stage, we can indeed rely on human sea tactics, but firearms are an inevitable trend. If we improve the technology, increase the range, and then change to loading from the breech, then the battle will There is no need for three strikes, and it will not be affected even on rainy days.”

Emperor Zhenglong did not expect that he knew so much about firearms, and thought that he was a good hand at improving technology and inventing.

He said excitedly: "Does Lai Aiqing have a way to improve firearms?"

"I do have some ideas, but some details still need to be explored."

Improvement is not difficult. From a smoothbore gun to a rifled gun, the shooting range and accuracy can be effectively improved.

"Okay! Okay! I will immediately issue an order to transfer..." After a pause, he changed his words: "Let you also serve as the Ordnance Department!"

"Your Majesty! Improving technology is one thing, but the key is the materials used. If the material of the barrel is defective, it will easily cause the barrel to explode."

It is not difficult to improve as long as the yin and yang lines of the rifling are left to the craftsmen to draw the gourd.

The key is to solve the problem of the material of the gun barrel. Ancient people did not have a periodic table of elements to refer to. Although they could also smelt iron and steel, most of them knew it but did not know why.

Just like the ancient magic weapon, which is often accompanied by the legend of jumping into the furnace to sacrifice, it is actually just using the elements of the human body to control the carbon element in the pig iron and eliminate harmful elements.

Qiu Duo immediately echoed: "Yes, yes! I heard Yi Jun say when he went back, this firearm is easy to explode. Although firearms soldiers are much easier to train than crossbowmen, exploding the chamber is really harmful to morale."

"What do you mean by relying on Aiqing? The Salt and Iron Division is the key?"

"I am still in the exploratory stage. It is better to pilot it in an iron smelting workshop and then allocate a group of craftsmen who produce firearms to Wei Chen."

After a pause, he added: "It would be best if the officers and soldiers of the Shenji Battalion can also give some opinions."

He has limited energy and cannot be in charge of the State Department, the Ordnance Department, and the Salt and Iron Department at the same time. Moreover, the Ordnance Department may seem to have a great reputation, but in fact, most of the weapons it produces are cold weapons such as armor and crossbows.

Moreover, military-to-civilian conversion is a virtuous cycle of technological development. It should be piloted on a small scale first, and then it can be popularized when the technology matures.

He has long wanted to get involved in a basic industry like smelting. Last year, due to the floods, the smelting technology was immature, so he had to resort to the next best thing in building river embankments, using bamboo instead of steel bars.

His request was not difficult. The Shenji Camp was originally set up by the emperor. In order to reduce dependence on the Ministry of War, the production expenses for firearms were all paid for by the emperor himself.

Of course, it was Lin Ruhai who intercepted the salt administration at first, and later it was the profits of the State-Owned Division.

(End of this chapter)