A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 78 Fire Gun Improvement
The seventh day of the twelfth lunar month in the eighth year of Chongzhen.

Gao Shiyin and Yang Tong came to Shun Township Fort from Dongjiazhuang, after they received the notice, Wang Dou hosted a banquet for the two old brothers.In the cold weather, eating boiling mutton soup and drinking hot wine is very comfortable.

During the banquet, brothers Han Chao and Han Zhong were also companions.Now everyone is promoted, ranging from the general banner to the hundred households. Naturally, they are overjoyed, and there are many topics for everyone.

Gao Shiyin drank heavily and ate meat. He said with a smile to Wang Dou, "I heard that my wife is having a relationship? What a coincidence, my wife has one too. She likes to eat sour things all day long, so I went to find some jujubes all day long." , grapes, hawthorn and other things for her to eat."

"A few days ago, that woman took me to the Town God's Temple in the village to worship the gods, burn incense and make a wish, saying that I had killed too many sins and wanted to accumulate some virtue for the child, grandma's bear."

Wang Dou was amused and asked, "Then you went?"

Gao Shiyin sighed: "How can I not go? It's strange to say that since my mother-in-law was happy, my heart has softened. The mother-in-law said that it was for the child, and I thought the same way. I was confused, so I went with her. He also knocked his head a few times. Thinking about it now, it's really weird."

He used to have a face full of flesh, but from time to time there was a trademark grin on his face, but now his expression was gentle, which made people feel weird.

Han Zhong shouted: "Gao Manzi, what kind of virtue can you accumulate? You have killed too many people, and it is useless to worship God."

Gao Shiyin was upset: "Han Er was stunned, what are you talking about?"

He had a dark face. Han Zhong's words hit his heart. In the past, he killed a lot of people in the camp, both good and bad. , he is also unknown.

Seeing that the atmosphere was a little stiff, Yang Tong hurriedly smoothed things over and said: "Okay, we are all good brothers, if there are some unintentional mistakes, don't get stiff."

He smiled at Wang Dou and said: "My lord, the humble officials and the high-ranking households are going to reclaim wasteland in Dongjiazhuang, but they lack cattle, farm tools, food and rice. I hope you can help me a little bit."

His demeanor was respectful, Wang Dou was the defense officer, and after he was promoted to a thousand households, he was even more cautious when speaking.Now the two front teeth on his mouth are also lost forever, which makes his speech unavoidable.Right now, he and Gao Shiyin are in Dongjiazhuang, one is in charge of the soldiers and the other is farming, but they are living in peace.

After the two of them brought a team of soldiers to Dongjiazhuang, with the help of several civil servants, they also counted the young and strong population in the fort, and planned to follow Wang Dou's practice in Jingbian Fort and Shunxiang Fort to reclaim wasteland. The editors are young and strong, but the lack of materials makes it difficult to carry out the work.

Wang Dou pondered for a while, and said: "Forget it, I will send fifteen oxen from the castle and give you thirty shi of rice and grain, and you can go and explain to Deputy Lin Qianhu."

Both Gao Shiyin and Yang Tong were overjoyed and thanked them repeatedly.Wang Dou also planned that after the training of the soldiers in Shunxiang Fort was completed, the soldiers and horses in the territory would also need to be pulled to Shunxiang Fort in turn for training. The training of officers in each fort should also be listed on his agenda.

After the banquet, Wang Dou said to Gao Shiyin and Yang Tong, "Tomorrow is the Laba Festival. You should go back after the Laba Festival."

Both of them quickly agreed.

……

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the eighth year of Chongzhen is a traditional festival in the Ming Dynasty. On this day, every household eats Laba porridge, and there are a series of activities such as worshiping ancestors, worshiping gods and chasing epidemics.On this day, Shunxiang Fort is also a day off for the whole army, and the army and civilians celebrate the festive season together.

On this day, the entire Shunxiang Fort was full of joy. Around noon, the Zhong family and Xie Xiuniang, accompanied by Zhong Tiaoyang, came to the Shunxiang Fort in chariots and horses.Among the group were Li Maosen, Wang Tianxue and others. They would also forge weapons and study medicine in Shun Township Castle in the future.

As his control over Shunxiang Fort deepens, Wang Dou is also planning to relocate a series of bases in Jingbian Fort to Shunxiang Fort. After all, there are more manpower, more materials, and a wider place.

Wang Dou greeted his wife and mother in front of the South Gate. Hearing that Mrs. Fang and the old lady had arrived, Lin Daofu, Governor Chi Dacheng, Commander Feng Dachang, and several team officers all went out of the city to greet them.There was also Wang Dou's uncle Zhong Zhengxian, who also followed the official Feng Dachang with a smile on his face.

Soon the carriage stopped, Zhong Tiaoyang got off the horse, went to lift the curtain, Xie Xiuniang and Zhong Shi came out from the carriage.

Xie Xiuniang was wearing bijia on her small body, while Zhong Shi was wearing a full back. Both of them wore buns, showing their nobleness.Looking at the castle in front of him, Mrs. Zhong sighed, "This Shunxiang Fort is much bigger than Jingbian Fort, daughter-in-law, don't you think so?"

Xie Xiuniang took Zhong's hand and said, "Grandma is absolutely right."

Although she was pregnant, she couldn't see it now.

Wang Dou stepped forward, bowed to his mother, and smiled at Xie Xiuniang, "Xiuniang, you are pregnant now, so be very careful."

Xie Xiuniang felt sweet in her heart, and said in a low voice, "Brother, I'm fine."

Zhong looked at Wang Dou and shook his head: "You're thinner again."

Wang Dou couldn't help but laugh: "In the eyes of the mother, as long as the son goes out for a while, he will always be thin."

Afterwards, Wang Dou introduced everyone in Shun Township Castle to Zhong and Xie Xiuniang. When they saw the old lady and the defending lady in front of them, no one dared to be negligent, they all stepped forward to salute one by one.

Zhong smiled and greeted everyone. She is a veteran in interpersonal communication, and she made everyone feel like a spring breeze for a while.At the same time, Zhong's face was full of pride. In the past, these big men in Shunbao, how could they look at this little woman like her?It is because of their son that they respect themselves so much.

After introducing everyone in the castle one by one, Zhong Zhengxian also walked forward with a smile on his face, and called out to Mrs. Zhong: "Fourth Sister."

Zhong stared and said, "Brother, have you caused trouble for your nephew?"

Zhong Zhengxian was quite afraid of this elder sister, so he called out to Tianqu: "Why, if you don't believe me, ask Douer."

Zhong snorted: "If so, be careful and I won't spare you."

Zhong Tiaoyang stepped forward and saluted Wang Dou.Wang Dou smiled and said, "Cousin, thank you for the matter of Jingbian Fort."

Zhong Tiaoyang saluted solemnly: "This is a matter of humble duty, I dare not talk about hard work."

Wang Tianxue and Li Maosen also stepped forward to salute Wang Dou.The Confucian shirt on Wang Tianxue's body was still crumpled. He shook his head and said, "Finally, we have come to a big city, and it is no longer a remote village. I don't know how the Shunxiang Fort compares with Jingbian Fort."

When everyone entered the fort and saw the streets inside, Zhong's eyes showed surprise. She came to Shunxiang Fort before, but now the situation inside is quite different from before. The streets are clean and tidy, and the military households are full of energy. Is it still the same as before when the garbage is everywhere, and the streets are full of beggars from military households with yellow faces and emaciated faces?

Such a short period of time has changed, how can we not surprise Zhong?Li Maosen and other craftsmen who accompanied him also opened their mouths. They came out of Shunxiang Fort, and they knew nothing about the interior of Shunxiang Fort. It is really unbelievable that such changes have occurred in such a short period of time.

After entering the Qianhu official hall, Wang Dou arranged for his mother and wife to stay, and then he took Xie Xiuniang's hand to listen to the voice of the child in her belly.

Seeing her husband being so intimate, Xie Xiuniang was a little shy, she said softly: "Brother, how could it be so fast."

Wang Dou said with a smile: "I am impatient."

Xie Xiuniang whispered: "Brother, do you want the child to be a boy or a girl in the future?"

Wang Dou smiled and said, "I like both men and women."

Xie Xiuniang's face was worried, and she said softly: "It would be bad if it was a girl."

……

In the afternoon, Wang Dou and his wife Xie Xiuniang participated in the celebrations for the Laba Festival held in the fort. His mother, Zhong Shi, rested in the mansion due to exhaustion.

There is an old custom of "playing on a swing" in Shunxiang Fort. Every festival, a swing frame is erected in the fort. Men, women, old and young can freely participate in swing activities, and audiences from other places can also participate.This "playing on a swing" is novel and unique, quite attractive, and there is an endless stream of people participating.

Xie Xiuniang couldn't help clapping her hands and laughing, then she realized her gaffe, and gave Wang Dou an embarrassed look.

In fact, she is only this year, and with her small stature, she looks like an underage girl. In later generations, that is, a post-[-]s generation, it is a time of happiness and carefree, but now she is going to be a mother.Seeing her appearance, Wang Dou just smiled tolerantly, encouraging her to relax.

At the end of the day, Wang Dou took all the soldiers of the Shunxiang Army to watch a play in front of the Yuhuangge Theater at the East Street of the Fort.If there is any festival in the fort, I would like to ask the troupe to sing, which is a spiritual enjoyment loved by the soldiers and civilians in the whole fort.

The Shun Township Army has been drilled hard. It is rare that all the people are on vacation today. They all brought their wives and family members to watch the theater, and the front of a stage was crowded. Although the weather was cold, it couldn't stop the enthusiasm of the people at all.

Wang Dou, Lin Daofu, Chi Dacheng, Zhong Tiaoyang, Gao Shiyin, Yang Tong, Han Chao, Han Zhong and others sat in front, and several former military management officers such as Xu Lu sat beside Wang Dou and others.

Seeing that Wang Dou brought Xie Xiuniang to come, everyone saluted Xie Xiuniang respectfully, calling them his wife, and Xie Xiuniang returned the salute meticulously.Afterwards, Xie Xiuniang sat aside with a group of military officers' wives, and became the focus and fawning object of all the women.However, Xie Xiuniang already has some experience in this kind of scene, that is, she speaks less and smiles more, but she also has a graceful posture that people dare not underestimate.

At this time, the local clappers were sung on the stage, with a high-pitched and agitated singing, melodious and melodious, with a lot of charm. In addition, the troupe was quite famous in Baoanzhou, which aroused applause from the audience.Among them, Gao Shiyin, Han Zhong, and Wen Fangliang were the loudest.

That Wen Fangliang is worthy of being a romantic brother, he is handsome, and his family is also well-off, and now he is a deputy thousand, which attracts the attention of the surrounding women.He brought out his wife and five concubines today, all of them are quite beautiful, Yingying Yanyan, very attractive.

Wen Fangliang has hundreds of acres of fertile land in Shunxiang Fort, and there are many domestic slaves in his home. The dozen or so servants in his team are all domestic slaves around him. This is also common in Shunxiang Fort and military forts everywhere. Phenomenon.The military officers occupy a large number of fields just to support their own slaves and family members.

In fact, several Shun Xiangbao officers privately disagreed that Wang Dou did not have a servant. Although Wang Dou had trained a large number of good soldiers, he was in danger of making wedding dresses for others just because of a transfer order from his superiors.Wang Dou had heard a lot about this kind of discussion in private, so he just laughed it off.He who came from a later life has a lot of means to solve this kind of problem.The servants are absolutely not allowed to appear in his army.

Now that Wen Fangliang has been promoted to deputy thousand householder, he is already qualified to participate in the management of various affairs in the castle. Wang Dou is still considering his arrangement.

After watching the play, the crowd dispersed contentedly. Starting tomorrow, the Shun Township Army will begin hard training again, which will continue until the few days before the Chinese New Year.

……

In the evening, Zhong Tiaoyang had a conflict with his father Zhong Zhengxian. The reason was that Zhong Tiaoyang heard that his father was now living in the Qianhu House. Zhong Tiaoyang thought it was inappropriate and advised his father to move out.Zhong Zhengxian was naturally furious, but Zhong Tiaoyang's voice was firm, and the father and son had a quarrel. Finally, Zhong Zhengxian moved out dejectedly and moved into the clerk's room.

The Zhong family and Xie Xiuniang lived in the fort after that, and Wang Dou planned to arrange for them to do some things to care for women and children in the future.

On this day, due to the cold weather, Lin Daofu led the military households in the fort to reclaim wasteland, and it came to an end.

From the end of October to the current beginning of the twelfth lunar month, Lin Daofu mobilized 130 cattle, nearly a thousand old and weak men and women, and reclaimed a total of more than 3000 mu along the two rivers of Dongfang River around Shunxiangbao. The land made Shun Township very excited.

Most rural women in this era do not bind their feet. When they are at home, they work in the fields like men. They endure hardships and stand hard work. In addition, they cultivate the fields for themselves, so they can eat enough after working every day, so everyone is very motivated. In a short period of time, it is a miracle that these three thousand acres of land have been reclaimed.

Not only that, in various wastelands, military households also dug more than a dozen irrigation wells, which provided a good irrigation foundation for spring plowing in the coming year.

It turns out that Shunxiangbao has more than 7000 mu of registered farmland, and more than 3000 mu of farmland directly under Shunxiangbao. However, most of these farmlands are in disrepair, and most of the good land is occupied by military officers. Almost each of the several team management officers in Baobao has at least [-] mu of fertile land, and the local garrison administration is very complicated.Wang Dou didn't have any hope for the original farmland, and planned to let the military households in the fort start again after reclaiming the fields.

In Wangdou's plan, every military household in the fort will be allocated new fields in the future, and each person will be allocated at least [-] to [-] acres of land. As for their original farmland, arrangements will be made in the future.

When the spring of the next year begins, each household will divide the fields by lottery, and first divide them into one hundred households.

In fact, Wang Dou can't get much food from the fields now, he always throws it out, and he can't see the harvest. It seems that it is of no benefit to Wang Dou, but in the long run, this is the best way to calm the hearts of soldiers.The ancients valued the land the most, and the family divided the land, and there were fathers, brothers and children who joined the army in their family, so they desperately protected this place.

Moreover, in ancient times, the importance of food was always ranked first, and the way of merchants was the last.If one day, when the food in Shunxiangbao can be self-sufficient, Wang Dou will stop worrying, and this base area will be in his own hands when Lao Lao is in control.

Wang Dou had no choice but to think of a way to get through these initial investments in farmland, and he would be successful in the future.

……

This time Li Maosen and Wang Tianxue also came to Shunxiang Fort together. During these days, Wang Tianxue opened a herbal medicine shop in Jingbian Fort and brought a few herb-picking apprentices with him. Wang Dou asked him to continue to open it in Shunxiang Fort. Pharmacy, training apprentices.

In Wang Dou's plan, in the future, disinfection products, bandages and gauze, surgical instruments for cleaning wounds, and various anthelmintics, Xingjun powder, hemostatic drugs, and traumatized wine and ointments for the army will all be developed.What Wang Tianxue wants to spend, just tell himself.

There is also Li Maosen, this time he returned to Shunxiang Fort, which is considered to be a return home. It turns out that the craftsmen in the fort, seeing him now, are all very envious.

Wang Dou was going to let Li Maosen take charge of the craftsman workshop in Shun Township. According to the system of Jingbian Fort, he would provide basic monthly rations, punish the lazy and reward the diligent, so as to ensure the quality of weapons and armor.Regarding this point, Jingbian Fort already has a mature craftsman system. Li Maosen has been in Jingbian Fort for many days, so he is naturally familiar with the management.

Under the new system of rewards and punishments, soon, the atmosphere of Shunxiang Fort Craftsman Workshop will be changed, and the Shun Township Fort Craftsman Workshop will become as popular as Jingbian Fort.

Li Maosen assured Wang Dou that as long as he had enough raw materials, he could continuously produce qualified firecracker weapons.

Iron Wangdou has a solution. Shunxiang Castle has some iron materials in stock. After the New Year, he can organize people to go to Huiyao Castle to mine.

However, Wang Dou was at a loss as to the supply of raw materials for gunpowder and saltpeter. He had no other way but to buy from others, so he was inevitably controlled by others.In his conception, the manufacture of black powder will be improved in the future, and granular black powder will be studied, which will require a large amount of saltpeter.

Just where is the saltpeter? Are there related minerals in Baoanzhou and nearby?
……

While meditating, Wang Dou looked at Li Maosen who was tinkling the barrel of the blunderbuss in front of him. The division of labor in the Shunxiang Fortsmith Workshop was roughly divided into iron work, wood work, and gunpowder work.The most critical part of the blunderbuss is the welding of the barrel. Although Li Maosen is a craftsman, he usually makes blunderbusses, and he also participates in the assembly of many blunderbusses.

Shun Township Fort Craftsman Workshop has long had a gun bed connected to the gun tube, which has been handed down very early, so that the gun tube can be put on rivets. At this time, there is a manufactured bird gun next to him. It is no different from the western arquebus.However, the faucet of the western matchlock gun is fired from the front to the rear, while the bird gun in front of you is installed with the faucet reversed, and a baffle is installed at the back to prevent the gas generated during firing from hurting the shooter. This is a manifestation of the Chinese people's ingenuity at that time.

Watching Li Maosen making and welding the tube, Wang Dou suddenly said: "Carpenter Li, can't you just punch out the barrel directly on the steel core? In this way, the barrel will be stronger and thicker, not easy to explode, and more powerful. Isn't it big?"

Wang Dou has read some historical materials, and he remembers that the western matchlock guns and Japanese iron guns are directly coated with red iron on a steel core, and then knocked out layer by layer without welding, so that the barrel is very large and powerful. Also big.

Li Maosen was taken aback, he thought carefully for a while, and said: "Indeed, since there is no need for pipe making and welding, this requires low craftsman skills, and it is not easy to explode the barrel. The barrel of the gun is large, and there are many sub-powders. The power is also great. However, the shooting range of this firecracker is very short, and the villain estimates that the lethality is only about sixty steps."

"Sixty steps..."

Wang Dou pondered, the range of the Qing soldiers' infantry bows was only sixty steps.

It seems that there is no advantage in shooting against the Qing soldiers in this way.

Unless, there must be artillery!
※※※

Old White Bull:
The 24-hour subscription of yesterday's chapter was good, with more than 500 subscriptions, exceeding the 1-hour subscription of Chapter 24.

Here, Lao Niu thanks everyone for their support, thank you!

(End of this chapter)