Ping An Biography

There was a smell of blood and paste in the air, as well as the roar of people.High-speed update Zhang Ning saw that Xu Wenjun behind her had already vomited, and she found that Zhang Ning also looked up when she looked back, only to see tears in her eyes.

Zhang Ning kept silent, looked around, and finally found Monk Yao, who was standing in front of a dilapidated earthen wall.They walked towards Monk Yao, only to see a few elders standing beside them talking about something.

Monk Yao looked serious, and ordered an elder: "Go and appease everyone, let everyone treat the wounded and put out the fire first, and the dead in the hot weather must be buried as soon as possible."

A man next to him slammed the handle of the knife on the ground and said angrily, "Why do we have to suffer in this backcountry where bandits are rampant?!"

Another person said: "The bandits burned Fengcun and killed so many people, why not take revenge?"

"How do I get revenge in a hurry?" Monk Yao looked back to the left and right, "The bandit village is more than a hundred miles away, built on a dangerous mountain, easy to defend and difficult to attack. If there is a strong attack, where will people live to fill it? There is no way to besiege the bandits for a long time." Food and grass, with this little wealth, can the supply of more than a hundred miles of mountain roads be used up?"

Several people looked at each other, lowered their heads and sighed "Hey".Monk Yao said coldly: "This is not the only thing that is unreasonable. Let's bear with it and talk about it when we have a chance."

The sun was already westward, shining on the dilapidated khaki-colored city wall. Monk Yao, who was dressed in a homemade long coat and bald, looked miserable for a moment.

Zhang Ning had a question in his mind, why didn't the villagers who lost their loved ones take this matter to Monk Yao and the elders?Because they were the ones who made the decision to provoke the bandits.On the way back, what he learned from Yao Erlang finally made him understand the reason.

There is not much land suitable for farming here, and people in several villages live together according to the living habits of the Central Plains, resulting in a shortage of food, so they can only use their own production of salt, iron, tough crossbows, etc. to exchange food with the surrounding natives.The bandits robbed and extorted the residents within the radius for a long time, which reduced the food exchanged by the villages and brought crisis to Monk Yao's five villages, so they tried to fight and drive away the bandits.Interests are more likely to cause conflicts, and it is not such a simple process to act out of righteousness.

Monk Yao's residence was just behind the temple, and there was a yard where Zhang Ning and others were settled.The yard is full of apricot trees, the roof of the house is covered with green tiles, the walls are painted with lime, and the wooden lattice windows are pasted with paper, which is very clean.There have been guards with swords around the courtyard for a long time, but there was no woman here.If Monk Yao is really a monk, how could he have a son?So after Zhang Ning settled down to take a bath and change clothes, only Xu Wenjun helped him wash his clothes.

In the evening, Yao's father and son invited Zhang Ning and the others to have a family banquet, which was a cleansing of the dust. There were few dishes, but among them was a soup with minced lamb, a dish of stir-fried pickled pork with bamboo shoots, and rice wine.Monk Yao is obviously not a real monk, he eats meat and drinks alcohol.

After drinking for three rounds, they chatted with each other about family affairs, but Monk Yao was not in a high mood and was absent-minded.Zhang Ning guessed that he was concerned about the aftermath of the burning of Fengcun and other troubles, so he didn't mention his preparations for developing guns for the time being, but just talked about some light-hearted topics casually and politely.He thought to himself: You can ask your cousin Yao Erlang for help in the early preparations.

After dinner, the servant served tea. Unexpectedly, Monk Yao took the initiative to bring up the matter: "A while ago, I received a letter from your mother, and I accepted a box of gold and silver brought by her. In the letter, Madam Yao said that you I want to try to make firearms, let my people do their best to assist..."

Zhang Ning hurriedly said: "I didn't expect such a thing to happen here, uncle, it caused you trouble."

Monk Yao waved his hand, with a serious face and three vertical lines between his brows, "Since the leader wrote a personal letter, I will try my best. The current turmoil is nothing, so you don't have to worry about it."

Hearing these words, Zhang Ning understood in his heart that Monk Yao was so happy because of Yao Ji's face, otherwise the uncle might not allow Zhang Ning to "toss around" in his territory.This is the reason why Zhang Ning wants to persuade Yao Ji to support him. Of course it is a good thing that he is young, but it is difficult to do things without the accumulation of connections, and the surname Zhu is useless. How many people buy the prince surnamed Zhu in Jianwen now? of?

Monk Yao said again: "We need iron, firewood, and gunpowder to make firearms. When we moved here, we chose a place where there is an iron ore and salt well. Iron can be smelted on the spot, and firewood is all over the mountain. Only gunpowder needs saltpeter and saltpeter." Sulfur, I didn’t find a mine nearby, so I made some preparations and asked a friend in the firecracker business in Changde Mansion to get several hundred catties of nitrate and sulfur, you need to use it first, tell me what you need, and we’ll figure it out.”

After hearing this, Zhang Ning hurriedly thanked him, and blurted out in joy: "After building a batch of guns, first equip my uncle's men and horses. With the advantage in firepower, it will not be difficult to capture the bandit village and avenge the villagers."

Unexpectedly, Monk Yao didn't think so, and said: "When I was in Nanjing, I worked in Jinyiwei for a few days because of my cuteness. I have seen firearms. The ones in the Beijing camp can still be used, and the ones in other places are just bluffing things."

Zhang Ning was stunned, opened his mouth and didn't know how to explain it, so that's all.I decided not to argue with my uncle for the time being, so I took a deep breath and said: "As far as my nephew knows, the beef tendons used to make bows and crossbows are controlled by the imperial court. It will be difficult to buy a large number of bows and arrows. Crossbows have their benefits."

Monk Yao nodded, but he didn't agree with Zhang Ning. He said: "You have been an official for two years, and you can tell that you have some knowledge of the law. There is a lack of bows and crossbows in the village, and the best bows and arrows are also very good in the Tujia village. In exchange for food, bows and crossbows made of nettles and twigs are weak, but we lack beef tendon and other materials."

Zhang Ning thought for a while and asked again: "Is there any coal? Coal."

Monk Yao said: "Yes, there is a charcoal kiln at the foot of the mountain. When there is not enough charcoal to forge weapons during the slack season, people will go in to dig charcoal. If you are not careful, people will die in landslides. Usually, everyone still uses charcoal."

Zhang Ning nodded.

Monk Yao pondered for a moment and then said: "Tao Da has prestige in the village and can command people, but recently he is required to help take care of a mess in the neighboring village. Let Erlang help you first, and he will call a No. Work is not a problem, I will arrange it when you are short of manpower."

At this time, Zhang Ning saw Monk Yao's face was exhausted, and he picked up the teacup, and he resigned knowingly.

Yao Erlang sent him out, and the two walked silently for a while under the eaves. Zhang Ning asked casually, "My cousin is the second. Is there a sister or a brother?"

Erlang replied: "I have an elder sister, but she has already passed away. When Nanjing fell, my father took me and fled the city in a hurry. Before he could take away my mother, elder sister and several aunts, I heard later..."

"Stop talking, I shouldn't have asked." Zhang Ning hurriedly stopped him, because he could easily imagine what happened to Yao's family after hearing about Fang Ling's life experience.Turning to look at Yao Erlang's face, he saw that his face was very calm.

Maybe things have passed for too long, and people have accepted that fact... Or maybe it is the natural law for the losers to be raped and slaughtered in the eyes of the world?There are indeed many ridiculously ridiculous rules and orders in this world, and then they are strangely accepted.It was only when Zhang Ning's vision jumped out of this rule that he realized the absurdity in it.

"Brother, stay and rest early." Zhang Ning saw Xu Wenjun looking around at the door of his room, and turned around to salute.

Yao Erlang also saw the female relatives in skirts, his face blushed, and he hurriedly said, "Farewell."

Zhang Ning walked to the door of the room and took a look at the plain skirt on Xu Wenjun's body. Because this girl is usually dressed neatly, she always felt that something was wrong for a while, so he asked casually: "Have you eaten yet? Are you here?" very?"

"Eat, I... I live next door with Qiuye." Xu Wenjun lowered his head and wanted to leave.

"Stop." Zhang Ning said, "Get some paper and ink, and help me grind the ink."

Xu Wenjun looked a little flustered, he answered and went back into the house.In the room are the things of the study, and there are several books of thread, and an iron sword is hung above the desk.Wen Jun picked up the Yantai and walked to the washstand, scooped up a little water from the copper basin and poured it into the inkstone, and after a while there was the sound of "sanding" grinding ink.

Zhang Ning sat down on the chair, spread out a blank sheet of paper, and tiredness hit his heart as soon as he relaxed.The sounds of summer insects outside the door and the pleasant but simple sound of grinding ink make people feel more reluctant to move in the slightly pungent mosquito repellent incense.

His thoughts also became chaotic, the situation in the imperial court, the situation in Jianwen Remnant Party, warding off evil cults...all kinds of thoughts were crowded together.He unconsciously sighed softly, and said to himself: No matter what, let's finish the matter at hand successfully first.Otherwise, it is futile to think too much and do too little.

So he adjusted his mind and thought about starting a firearm.There were many types of firearms in the Ming Dynasty with different uses, but in Zhang Ning's view, firearms in the black powder stage only needed to be divided into two categories: cannons and guns.Variety may have the advantage of adapting measures to local conditions, but the shortcomings are also obvious: it is not conducive to standardization, and it is extremely inconvenient for training and maintenance.

The best way to develop muskets is to start with matchlock guns, so as to gradually sum up experience and improve. Zhang Ning has never fiddled with this stuff himself, and everything is still in the groping stage.As for the artillery, he planned to start trial-manufacturing from the sub-cannon, which is the Fran machine that copied the Western naval gun. One is that the sub-cannon has a faster rate of fire and is more advanced. It is too heavy to be scrap iron, and the available resources are limited now.

Zhang Ning thought for a while, and when he raised his head, he saw that the ink in the inkstone had been polished, so he picked up the pen and dipped it in, and drew a gun barrel on the paper.The lines drawn by hand are rough and uneven. This soft pen drawing is really a pain in the ass, and I didn't know what people used to draw drawings at this time.When the Daming Palace was built in the Tang Dynasty, the chief architect was a civil servant named Yan, who was also a legalist. I don’t believe that he didn’t draw blueprints when he designed the architectural blueprints.

He put down his pen after drawing a gun barrel, stared at it for a while, and when he raised his head, he saw Xu Wenjun still standing beside him.Seeing him looking at him, Wen Jun said, "A lot of people died in that village today."

Zhang Ning was thinking about the "tool" for killing people while coping casually: "Sometimes human life is really fragile."