Chapter 453: Early 17th Year of Chongzhen

Yang Chengzu is a tall and thin man with big hands and feet. Yuan Shizhong met him several times, but he knew that Yang Chengzu was quite strong in the past. The reason for his appearance in front of him must be because he was wandering in Dashun.

His more than 3,000 subordinates were not far from the starving people. It is said that when he was brought to the Tuntian Farm north of Zhuxian Town that day, a local Tuntian Farm sent food. The people swallowed it and even ate one or two hundred people to death. At least all, they came over the Great Famine. They had experience with this and quickly controlled their appetite for compulsory control, which made them slow down.

From this we can also see how much suffering these people have suffered.

Zhuxian Town was in a false alarm. After confirming that Yang Chengzu was not a fraudulent surrender, Henan Governor Li Xianfeng and Kaifeng guerrilla Yuan Shizhong, Guide garrison Jia Dashan jointly sent an urgent letter to Shandong.

Yang Chengzu, the brave general of the refugee army, came to surrender with his troops. This was a big deal, and he took the initiative to surrender. This was more important than Yuan Shizhong led the small Yuan camp to join him at night. How to arrange and deal with it, the people in Kaifeng naturally did not dare to make arbitrary decisions.

The express fast horse route from Henan to Shandong is already quite smooth, and Shandong has adopted a relatively flexible method for these relay points. Each relay station is used as an inn open outside the Lingshan Trading Company, and also receives traveling merchants. What they have to bear is to feed the horses that send messages in expedited.

The news reached Shandong, and before the fifteenth day of the 12th lunar month, there was a clear order from Shandong. This was the secret commentary of Li Xianfeng.

Although the rumors in the market are false, they have their true meaning. Li Xianfeng, the governor of Henan who is loyal to the Duke of Qi, did send a memorial to the court, and what is said is about the same.

The so-called illness is urgent and seeking medical treatment, but the Ming Dynasty court is in a similar state today. The actions of the Henan Governor Li Xianfeng, who is in Cao's camp and in the Han Dynasty, are originally a feeling of taking advantage, let alone being able to capture the troops.

The Ming Dynasty court understood one thing, it was nonsense that the civil and military officials were cheap. There was no army in his hands and no one listened to his words. Seeing that in Li Xianfeng's mouth, the thief Yang Chengzu could serve the Ming Dynasty. This was really a cheap thing that fell from the sky. From Henan to Datong, Shanxi, he didn't say that the court would support food and salary or something, so he simply agreed.

During the refugee coalition, Yang Chengzu was a big man stomping his feet and shaking his feet on the ground. Now that he has led the crowd to surrender, he can't pay much attention to so much decency.

The location of this village farm that houses refugees in the north of Zhuxian Town is quite meaningful. The village guards of various farms, who are busy in winter, have retreated from Kaifeng City, but have not disbanded and returned to work, but remained in the organization. Maintained a state of war readiness.

In case there is anything wrong, these guards of the military farms can be pulled out and put up, waiting for the army to come and pacify.

Yang Chengzu was a man who was fighting an old war, so of course he knew why this intention was. But he had no scruples to do this kind of thing.

Among these more than 3,000 people, there were quite a few officials and assistants at all levels. They were elites in the army. Compared with ordinary soldiers, the chances of survival on the battlefield and on escape were much higher. When they were gathered in the shelter area during the shelter, they all sighed at each other. During the disaster in Shaanxi and Henan back then. If the Ming Dynasty could have such a measure, how could the situation in today's situation? Who would have survived?

The memorial of the Henan Governor Li Xianfeng, and the news naturally reached Yang Chengzu's ears. Now he and his soldiers are in a state of no movement. Yang Chengzu also wanted to ask Yuan Shizhong and others what they mean about this matter, but they have never waited for people from Shandong.

He is not a fool either. He also vaguely guessed that behind this matter is probably not as simple as the rumor...

After resting for about a month, Yuan Shizhong personally brought people to Yang Chengzu's army. Yang Chengzu was very kind. He also took out all the gold, silver and treasures left, saying that he wanted to entrust Yuan Shizhong to present them to the general, but in fact it was a gift to Yuan Shizhong.

What he did not expect was that Yuan Shizhong did not ask for his gold, silver and treasures, and was quite polite to him. The question he spoke first was:

"The Duke of Qi asked me to ask you, where Yang Chengzu will go in the future, and he is willing to be a wealthy family, and he will follow the wealthy places controlled by Shandong, and he is willing to continue fighting and join the army. Then there are other arrangements."

Yang Chengzu's answer was also straightforward:

"The villain has been fighting for more than ten years. If he lives a peaceful life, he may not be able to live. Please ask the Duke of Qi to send him!"

Hearing Yang Chengzu's words, Yuan Shizhong took out the appointment documents from Shandong and appointed Yang Chengzu as the deputy general of Kaifeng, with the rank of garrison in the regiment, and his troops were organized into two regiments, with 4,000 people.

There are precedents of these matters as Chen Yongfu, the general of Datong, and Kaifeng is familiar with it. Because the situation in Weishi County is urgent, the two regiments brought by Guide guard Jia Dashan, one regiment was organized under Yang Chengzu, and Yang Chengzu retained two thousand people.

The rest of the people who are willing to join the army should go to the military camp for training. Those who are willing to serve the people can grant fields around Kaifeng City and become farmers.

It was about three days after the appointment, Yang Chengzu felt sorry for his more than a thousand troops who followed him were stripped of the Shandong. Before the feeling of pain had passed, a large number of supplies and equipment were transported over to come. Shandong was so rich, and this person was willing to spend it.

These weapons and armor made Yang Chengzu dumbfounded. With these powerful weapons, these two thousand people were probably able to catch up with the four thousand men and six thousand horses that were originally equipped with them.

After this time, the rags of Yang Chengzu's soldiers and horses were almost eliminated, including big swords, spears, bows and arrows, leather armor, ring-arm iron armor and other armor. These things are brand new, and they are obviously good products created with great care, and there are more than 400 horses.

With powerful tools and armor, the greater the possibility of surviving on the battlefield, the more combat effectiveness is, the more doubled, the entire army is full of joy, and Yang Chengzu's old subordinates came to talk about it. It was Brother Yang, who is so generous and rich in Shandong, why bother to join the mean Ming Dynasty court?

These generals and officials knew the rumors these days, but these people were all scolded by Yang Chengzu and said:

"Even you and I can know this rumor. Don't Yuan Shizhong know, and don't Shandong know?"

Having said that, everyone suddenly realized that they went back to the camp and happily accepted the new equipment. When the regiment sent by Jiaozhou camp came over, Yang Chengzu, who was already happy, and all the military generals under his command knew that they were too small to look at the two thousand people in Shandong.

Almost half of these two thousand people were wearing armor like cans, six cannons, and a total of eight hundred muskets. Judging from the strong looks of the soldiers, they were even stronger than those of them who were quite proud.

The news about Yang Chengzu's land gradually became more and more aware. I heard that the regiment's garrison and the regiment's deputy garrison were rushed over from Guide and Yanzhou.

The big swords, spears and Ming-style armor provided to Yang Chengzu are all equipment that Shandong has eliminated in the army, and are just suitable for Yang Chengzu, an army that focuses on fighting cold weapons.

Yang Chengzu is different from Datong General Chen Yongfu. Chen Yongfu sent his son Chen De to Shandong as a hostage. And when he went to Datong, the whole family stayed in Kaifeng. His more than 9,000 Henan soldiers, most of his family lived in Kaifeng City. This loyalty will basically not be suspected.

Yang Chengzu came to join him for a month and was about to be sent to Shanxi. Moreover, this army was a bachelor who was free of worries, so it was difficult to have a constraint.

Since this is the case, this time we will use a stronger force to restrain ourselves and head north together. The regiment garrison and deputy garrison who came here this time are considered to be the meritorious elites in Shandong.

The regiment garrison was originally the deputy of the Ma Army. Wei Li, who had made meritorious contributions in Northern Zhili, and the regiment garrison was Wang San, who had made meritorious contributions at the Woshui Station. He had finished his training in Li Mengdi's personal military camp and was released as an official.

Two generals from the near branch brought two thousand people to strengthen the firearm equipment, which was enough to balance Yang Chengzu's two thousand people and could fully gain the dominance.

The appointment of the court was soon brought down. Yang Chengzu knew the righteousness and led his troops to return. He was specially appointed as the general of the border town of Datong. He was under the jurisdiction of the general Chen Yongfu.

Although it was approaching the first month of the 17th year of Chongzhen, the team of people led by Yang Chengzu was worried about state affairs. He was unwilling to delay in Kaifeng City. Although he was unable to move in the cold winter, he still led his troops to set off and head to Shanxi.

When Yang Chengzu's 4,000 troops were in mainland Henan, there were naturally "merchantists" from Shandong and Henan who helped prepare military supplies, but after entering Shanxi, they could not be supported. However, at this time, there was no need to wait for the merchants from Shanxi to come and flatter them. They went into the Jinzhou Liu family, which was doing business in Shanxi, and sent secret letters to various businesses on the marching route.

After Goldman Sachs in Pingyao City and the slaughtered by blood, the merchants in Shanxi were all trembling, fearing that they would follow the footsteps of the Gao family and the Sheng family.

After the secret letter from the Liu family was released this time, each family found an opportunity to serve and please the land. There was no reason to go all the way. Yang Chengzu walked from Henan to Datong very easily. As a landlord general of the army, Yang Chengzu had never worried about military supplies for the first time.

The strength of the army can also be seen from the discipline and marching style. Along the way, the quality shown by the Jiaozhou Camp regiment made Yang Chengzu and his troops feel inferior, and at the same time, it even dispelled those uneasy thoughts.

When Yang Chengzu's army was walking on the road, it was New Year's Eve and the first month, and the 17th year of Chongzhen arrived...

All over the world, those who can celebrate the New Year with carefree care and happiness are probably those children from wealthy families. Everyone in the world has no peace. Some people are nervous, some are frightened, some are excited, and some are discouraged, but they do not have the joy and joy of the New Year.

Of course, the family members of the Duke of Qi were quite happy, because Li Meng was at home for an unprecedented time during this period, and the relatives of each family are now in Jinan City, which is a reunited New Year Festival.

Compared with the happiness of the inner servants, Li Meng's mental state is really not high. Although he is in the middle of the dispatch, there is always a hidden worry, that is, the soldiers and horses from the old camp and the soldiers in the Nanzhili area have not fought for a while. The combat effectiveness of this army can only be maintained in battle. If it is too peaceful for a long time, it will definitely be affected.

The troops stationed outside Jinan City also wanted to go to war. In fact, stationing in the city was more difficult than fighting, because every day was in training and exercises, but the general was in the supervision and could not relax at all. This was really painful.

Speaking of which, it was the Chinese New Year, and the soldiers of each battalion were given seven days off by Li Meng, and finally relaxed. But on the eighth day of the first lunar month, the general did not come to supervise and practice. This made everyone feel relieved. Everyone had a day of relaxation.

In the shooting field outside the Duke of Qi's Mansion, Li Meng was raising his gun to shoot. This time the barrel was much thinner than the Jiaozhou Camp's standard mesh gun, and it didn't seem to have the hook of the bird's beak that hooked the fuse.

Sun Hedou and Guo Dong, who rarely appear in the Duke of Qi's Mansion, are standing beside Li Meng, watching Li Meng finish shooting. He raised the barrel of the gun, held a slender strip and slid up and down a few times, then took out a two-finger-thick paper tube, bite one end, and sprinkled it a little on the other side of the medicine pool. Then he poured it all into the gun chamber, bit the other end, put the lead bullet into it, and tamped it a few times with the strip.

He blocked the paper ball of paper in the gun chamber again. Then he held the musket flat with both hands and made a shooting posture.

Because the barrel of this musket is very thin, it is not as heavy as the current Shandong standard smoothbore gun, so naturally there is no need to put a wooden fork on it. There is a device similar to a beak hook at the rear end of the barrel, but it is reversed to the beak hook and is much smaller.

Li Meng pulled the small hook back with his right thumb and aimed at the wooden target in front. He hooked the trigger and a light bang, and the "little hook" hit him.

With a "bang", the musket fired, and the sound of the musket coming out was much smaller than that of the heavy smoothbore gun, but the roar of the lead bullet flying in the air was much sharper.

There was not much smoke coming out of the muzzle. After the shooting, the personal soldiers in the ditch behind the wooden target immediately crawled out. After checking the target, the number was loudly reported:

"Master! The Eighty-Five Ring Road~~!!!"

Guo Dong, Sun Hedou and several craftsmen bowed and praised:

"The Grandmaster's Shooting, the Grandmaster's Shooting."

Li Meng and several officers standing behind Li Meng. Including the personal soldiers standing, they turned their eyes to the table on one side. A young craftsman apprentice stood beside the table, and an hourglass was placed on the table. Seeing everyone's eyes staring, the craftsman apprentice replied with a fright:

"I used it this time for 40% less than the one shot just now."

The soldiers present looked happy on their faces, and the craftsmen were quite proud on their faces. Li Meng held the musket in the posture of marching in the Jiao Dian, moved up and down a few times, nodded and said:

"This share is almost half as lighter. Over the past few people brought the target over."

Huang Ping, the commander of the personal soldiers, quickly spoke out his orders, and several personal soldiers trotted to the wooden target, pulled out the target, and came back again.

A group of people here gathered around the wooden target, regardless of the distinction between superiors and inferiority, and looked at the hitting place. Someone took a bamboo strip and explored the bullet hole. He pulled it out to see the depth. Everyone was even more amazed. Huang Ping next to him smiled and said:

"I didn't expect that the lead bullet would be much smaller, but the power looked even bigger. With such a powerful weapon, our Jiaozhou Camp is even more invincible."

Everyone around him nodded, while Li Meng was holding the gun and watching it over and over, obviously quite satisfied. However, when Guo Dong heard what Huang Ping said, his face felt a little embarrassed. He looked at Sun Hedou and said hesitantly:

"Master, it's a bit difficult for our craftsman to manufacture this gun on a large scale. The ground spring between the hammer and the trigger can be manufactured in batches, but the batch size of qualified finished products is too small.

When Li Meng heard this, he diverted his attention from the musket. Seeing Li Meng looking up, Guo Dong was so scared that he immediately didn't know what to say. Sun Hedou coughed and said:

"Duke, this flintlock rifle is indeed a powerful weapon, but the parts on it are much more exquisite than the standard muskets in our Jiaozhou Camp. Not to mention that our craftsmen are not skilled. If it weren't for these hydraulic machinery, we would probably not be able to make some things now. Today, the trigger spring of this musket was specially built with the cooperation of an old locksmith in Jining City. The things that were hit by the forging hammer would not work if they were used for more than twenty times."

After Sun Hedou finished speaking, Guo Dong also plucked up the courage and added a few words:

"I heard from the two masters Duncan and De Walter. Even in the Western Land today, such guns have not been used on a large scale. Xiaoren and Sun asked about it together to ask Master Fei. This is indeed the case."

The flint-lock gunpowder is lit with a flint-lock gun, the flint-lock gun is fired with a hammer, and the flint-lock gunpowder fired with a spark. The flint-lock gunpowder is relatively light and has simple design steps. It also has a fast firing speed and great power, so it is naturally the first choice for weapons, but what Sun Hedou and Guo Dong said is also the case.

With the relatively rough hydraulic machinery such as Jiaozhou Camp Weapon Manufacturing Bureau, there are indeed many areas that need to be improved if you want to make flintlock rifles, or if you want to make flintlock rifles that can be used on the battlefield.

The barrel is easy to say, but the spring connecting the hammer. In modern times, what is most common is the most common thing, but in this era, manufacturing is a huge problem.

Those skilled old craftsmen are good, but such handicrafts cannot be used to produce large-scale products. What's the use?

Li Meng looked at the musket in his hand.   Sighed, thought for a while, and said:

"Since there is still a locksmith who can build this land, let him go to the Weapon Manufacturing Bureau to see if the machinery can be improved. If it can be made in batches, I will reward everyone involved with it."

Among the heavy gifts Zheng Zhilong sent was a flintlock rifle inlaid with jewelry. This thing was also used for decoration and show off among the nobles and wealthy Europeans.

After being discovered by Li Meng, he ignored his value and valued the advanced nature of the flintlock rifle. He immediately sent it to the Weapon Manufacturing Bureau for them to imitate it.

Those craftsmen from the West all knew that there was a flintlock gun, and some people had come into contact with it to make it, but they could not only know how to make it. They had high requirements for this aspect and could not be used for a while, so they could only work slowly in this direction.

Looking at Guo Dong and Sun He's fearful appearance, Li Meng waved his hand. He smiled and comforted:

"There is no need to feel guilty. Now our Jiaozhou Camp is enough to use the coercion. Your weapon manufacturing bureau must work hard. Not only do you need to produce powerful weapons, but you also need to cultivate more craftsmen. This is the foundation of Shandong's future foundation, do you know?"

The foundation of Shandong's foundation. Guo Dong and Sun Hedou were shocked when they heard this. Shandong's foundation should be the farmland and the army. What does it have to do with this craftsmanship? However, it is well known that Li Meng's attention to craftsmanship and craftsmen, and he thought it was the preference of the superiors.
To be continued...