Ping An Biography

Zhang Ning's eloquent tongue in the King's Hall of Han back then seemed to suddenly become clumsy tonight, and he didn't know how to start, so he had to tell Zhang Xiaomei directly about the tragedy at home in Nanjing. 78 The happy atmosphere of the reunion immediately disappeared.

Zhang Ning thought that the little girl would become more dependent on him in grief and might cry in his arms, but she turned her back and sat on the edge of the bed without saying a word.

Looking at her back and trembling shoulders, Zhang Ning suddenly felt that the little girl seemed to be moving away from him, even though they were only a few steps away now.He glanced at Fang Ling who was standing beside her, and Fang Ling hurried to the bedside, putting her arms around the younger sister's shoulders and comforting her softly.But the little girl was still silent, and she couldn't hear her cry; maybe she was crying, but she turned her back to prevent Zhang Ning from seeing her.

He also has no way to explain and excuse himself. He originally wanted to describe the efforts he had made for the Zhang family. First, he sent Peach Blossom Fairy to help him, and then he wanted to rescue him after the King of Han captured Nanjing...but the results didn't work, so even if he said it Also pale and weak, he opened his mouth and said nothing.

The little girl usually doesn't care much about outside affairs, but she is not stupid. She must know that Zhang Ning committed a crime outside and implicated his uncle's family.The fact that Yao Ji and the others hurriedly avoided this deep mountain showed the seriousness of the matter.

Who is Zhang Xiaomei's closest relative?Although the uncle Zhang Jiujin's house is separated by one floor, it is the closest to her in terms of blood, and she has been living with the uncle's house since her parents passed away one after another.Zhang Ning thought to himself that it was nothing more than the adopted son of the Zhang family. After that coma, he had actually changed himself. Those brother-sister relationships were nothing more than a memory in his mind.

Zhang Ning felt sorry for the Zhang family, including Zhang Xiaomei.Thinking about Zhang Jiujin scolding himself as an elder for only causing trouble, it seems that he was not wrong... Now this family has lost their lives.

"I'm sorry..." Zhang Ning finally said something.Fang Ling turned her head to look at his face when she heard the sound, but his apology at the moment was not adulterated.

The little girl finally made a sound, she choked up and said, "What about little girl, was she killed too?"

Zhang Ning thought she was talking about the little niece. Girls in this era generally don't have names, so they just call them by nicknames at home.He said in a daze: "It is said that they are all dead, and I have not seen them with my own eyes."

"Why... died?" The little girl's tone became even more sad.

Zhang Ning's face twitched slightly, and he said, "Ling Chi will be executed." He didn't know what kind of mentality he had, maybe he should lie to her to make her feel better, but he thought for a while that he couldn't hide this matter for too long, so he simply xing It's enough to make her sad once.

After a long time, the little girl cried: "Since we have finished talking, what are you still doing here?"

Zhang Ning turned to look at Fang Ling, gestured for her to accompany her, then turned and walked out.Walking out of the room, the cool air outside made his mind go cold, as if he was dreaming in a trance.

……

In the several rooms on the side of the temple dedicated to the gods, the wooden boards of the "Weapon Bureau" hanging at the door were nailed up a few months ago, and they are still hanging.Zhang Ning sat on a chair behind a big case, waiting for the people Yao Erlang was looking for to come in one after another.

Fan Laosi and Wei Bin came first, and they sat on the chairs in front of the big case and waited.Zhang Ning greeted them and ignored them. He still flipped through the file in front of him, his eyes were darkened, and his spirit was a little sluggish.

After a while, the two general banners, Ma Dapeng who was in charge of the weapon workshop, Yao Erlang, Lao Xu and Wen Jun also came in.There were a total of nine people in the living room, and everyone didn't know why Zhang Ning had a bad face. Most of them thought that he hadn't had a good rest when he came here, so they greeted each other, and there was a lot of excitement.

"Sit down." Zhang Ning waved his hand, signaling that everyone needn't be polite, "I'll say two things first."

After hearing this, everyone took their seats and turned their heads to watch and listen.Zhang Ning tapped the dossier in front of him with his finger and said: "First thing, from today onwards, the officers and soldiers who have been registered in the roster will start to pay the military salary again, and the managers of the Weapons Bureau and the craftsmen will start to pay the salary again. It is still the same as before. , Fan Laosi manages the accounts well, and asks the accounting office to use the classified accounting of money and materials and the four-pillar clearing method to manage finances and materials. Every ten days, I will send people to allocate money and check the accounts. The second thing, the superiors have already agreed to find a way to go to Shimen County Rescue Lord Hou who was captured, let’s do this, I plan to attack Shimen County with the Fengxia Mountain Hundred Families Squad, and rescue Lord Hou after occupying the county. The family members of the war dead will receive 30 taels of silver, and those who are injured and disabled will receive Ten taels of silver, and continue to receive military pay, and resettle them separately. What do you think?"

Wei Bin with a Chinese character face immediately said seriously: "Several cannons weigh more than 400 catties each, and there is no way to transport them out on the rugged mountain road for hundreds of miles from Fengxia Mountain to Shimen County. Even if there are cannons, if the government opens the city gate If it is blocked, it is difficult for this kind of artillery to blast the city gate, let alone the city wall. It seems that our few people are not enough to storm the city."

Zhang Ning said: "I came from Shimen County and took a general look at the city defense. There are no firearms, and there are no light or heavy cannons on the wall. It is impossible to suppress us from a long distance. As long as we use muskets to suppress the city tower, we can get close to the city. There are many ways to break the city. The soldiers in Changde Mansion have no fighting power at all, and the commander of the guards can't even get on a horse, I have seen it with my own eyes."

Obviously this matter was agreed by Monk Yao, Wei Bin said a few words and then stopped talking.

Zhang Ning also said: "The artillery in the arsenal can't be transported out. If we don't prevent it from falling into the hands of others in the future, the molten iron has been melted in the past few days. We don't need artillery this time. The army is not terrible. We can’t train once. Our Fengxia Mountain’s armed forces have to practice every morning. Not to mention the suppression of firearms, even hand-to-hand combat is better than the army. They are all raised by parents and mothers. Inexplicably became brave because of his name?"

The two general flags laughed after hearing this, and one of them rubbed his hands as if trying to shake his hand.

The man with the big head rubbing his hands couldn't help but said: "In addition to saving people, let's take down the county and rob him for the first time? The money in the county government treasury, as well as those big households, don't rob the white or the people. Yes. If the brothers are allowed to do this, the fight will definitely be unstoppable."

"We are not bandits." Zhang Ning said.

The man resentfully said: "Your Highness, don't blame me, I'm just talking."

Zhang Ning said: "The things in the public treasury in the county must belong to us, and the whole county will also collect taxes, especially those who have money and food. When the time comes, guns will be placed on the heads of the officials, and they will help collect them." .But everything has to be confiscated, and the rewards of the brothers are divided according to their merits. Otherwise, our Weapons Bureau will have to pay for the manufacture of weapons, pay them, and reward them. Where will the money come from?"

"Isn't this still robbing?" The man smiled, "You are a scholar, so the method you use is different."

This man's surname is Luo, and he is the leader of the Zuo Zongqi (60 people). His name is Zhang Ning, but I can't remember; the other You Zongqi is a thin, middle-aged man.

Zhang Ning's eyes swept over the faces of the two of them, feeling that Zhang Chengzong should be more stable, and said: "We have to do some preparations before departure, Zhang Zongqi, you send a team of people and people to dress up, first go to Shimen County to guard the city defense, Find out the terrain along the road."

"Your subordinates have orders." Zhang Chengzong stood up and clasped his fists in response.Zhang Ning was very satisfied when he saw this. He was usually very easy-going, and this general banner could still be respectful. He was indeed a prudent and sensible person.

Zhang Ning looked at Fan Laosi and Ma Dapeng again: "You melted the guns; check the muskets in the arsenal, and repair the unusable ones; prepare as much powder as possible."

The two also took orders.The self-made gunpowder used in Fengxia Mountain has also been improved. It is mixed with nitrate, sulfur and charcoal according to the proportion, then mixed with water, dried and sifted out with two kinds of bamboo sieves with different densities. This kind of granular gunpowder is better than the powdered one. Use some, at least the reload won't blow all over the place when it's windy.

After making arrangements, Zhang Ning ordered everyone to disband.He himself wandered around with Lao Xu, first went to the weapons workshop in the east of the village, where work had been suspended, only a few people were guarding, and Fan Lao Si was sending someone to call the craftsmen over.

When Ma Dapeng, a man from Shandong, saw Zhang Ning coming, he acted like he was rushing to work, and those who came first arranged for them to do some simple work: load ammunition in bamboo tubes.Of course Zhang Ning knew about the custom-loaded ammunition, and had arranged for the Weapons Bureau to do it before.Put a certain amount of gunpowder and lead bullets together in a thin bamboo tube, then plug it with oil paper, and then tie these bamboo tubes together with a rope; priming is not so troublesome.Before soldiers go to the battlefield, they usually hang a long string of bamboo tubes on their bodies. If the ammunition is exhausted after a long battle, the soldiers can also refill the diabolo tubes by themselves.

After leaving the workshop, Zhang Ning went to the pasture outside the village to watch Wei Bin and Yao Erlang train soldiers.There are 120 soldiers in the whole team, and there are more than ten miscellaneous soldiers.Because of the small number of people, the soldiers all had matchlock guns.In fact, there are seven or eight hundred households in several villages in Fengxia Mountain. There is no family planning at this time, and most families have more than one male. If you really want to mobilize, it is not difficult to organize an army of a thousand people.But in the past, this place naturally didn't need so many armed forces, and the emphasis was on farming. It was enough to organize more than 100 people to practice martial arts as a force to defend the village;

Seeing Zhang Ning approaching, all the soldiers clasped their fists and bowed to meet him.Seeing this, Zhang Ning huffed and clasped his fists in a very imposing manner, and said with a hot forehead, "Let's not salute like this in the future, and make another rule."

Everyone stood there not knowing what to do.Zhang Ning thought of the modern salute gestures, and felt that it was strange for a group of ancient people to use such gestures, but the words had already been said, and he had to find a way temporarily. They seem to be very organized, and they raised their left hands without thinking much at the moment...