In July of the third year of Chongzhen, the outposts of the Lion Camp that went out to collect food gradually returned.

Today, Wei Qian'er is still in charge of the defense Tangqi in Lion Bay, but Gao Yingxiang made a request for all kinds of news outside the river valley.

When each sentry returns, tell him the news directly, but do not tell the other leaders who broke into the camp.

Liu Chengzong was still puzzled by this at first, and told Gao Yingxiang clearly: "If the information is not clear, I am afraid that when the sentries come back, they will scare the people who break into the camp."

He knows very well what his gang looks like.

Wearing the clothes of a frontier army, walking in the ranks of a frontier army, using the tactics of a frontier army, they are even still frontier soldiers themselves.

Just go to that point and you can scare the soldiers of the leaders.

Little did he know that this was exactly what Luo Gao Yingxiang wanted: "Yes, just to scare them."

"My soldiers are different from yours. This is an opportunity for reorganization."

The biggest difference between Gao Yingxiang's troops and Liu Shizi's troops is that their troops are all independent leaders.

Unlike the Lion Battalion, which absorbs defeated soldiers every time, the middle-level officers will not surrender to him. The surrendered soldiers have no organization since joining and can easily receive reorganization and distribution.

Gao Yingxiang's Shanxi leaders, Ke Tianhu, originally each had three to five hundred people. Even if he wanted to break up and reorganize them, others might not be willing.

With Gao Yingxiang's three thousand headquarters alone, he was able to suppress the eight or nine scattered Shanxi leaders when the army was reorganized, but if those leaders were unwilling to accept reorganization, he really had no other choice.

Liu Chengzong thought to himself, isn't this just a way for the fox to pretend to be the tiger's power?

He immediately agreed to Gao Yingxiang's request, but when Cao Yao and the others came back, they scared the camp into a panic.

Greatly increased Gao Yingxiang's prestige.

In fact, after the leaders of the camp were worried at first, Gao Yingxiang took Liu Chengzong together and proposed reorganization in the camp, and everyone probably understood this trick.

But there is nothing I can do to understand it.

The Lion Battalion is stationed nearby, and the camp is full of heroes from the frontier army. Even those Shanxi leaders who are not convinced by the reorganization do not dare to jump out here.

Liu Chengzong never thought that Gao Yingxiang would reorganize his troops in such a hasty manner.

He thought that what Gao Yingxiang discussed with him was just a general idea, so the brigade-level establishment he mentioned was also a general idea.

But Gao Yingxiang directly did what he said.

Liu Chengzong was shocked, what is this called?

This is called the dedication of being a guinea pig!

The ninth day of the lunar month.

Gao Yingxiang reviewed the eight thousand troops under his command in Lion Bay and reorganized them into the Chuangzi Brigade. He appointed himself the brigade commander and the commander of the Chinese Military Standard Battalion, with two battalions on the left and right under his jurisdiction.

There are general Gao Yingen in the left camp and General Ke Tianhu in the right camp. Each battalion has five sentries for soldiers and one for baggage. The standard camp of the middle army has another artillery post.

Not all of the six outposts of the Lion Battalion returned. This time they had a great harvest, and the large amount of food and grass they received was difficult to transport at once.

Therefore, Yang Yao and Feng Yu were stationed in Ningzhou, Qingyang Prefecture, and were looking for suitable locations in Heshui and Ningzhou.

Qingyang Mansion borders Pingliang to the west and Yan'an to the east, which is their next step.

When Shi Chengwo and Gao Yingxiang came back, the lion cannon finally fell into the hands of Liu Chengzong, but according to Shi Chengwo, some of the thirty-six cannons were cast for Chuangying.

In order to distribute these cannons, Liu Chengzong called Gao Yingxiang and asked: "Master Gao, does the Chuangzi Brigade have the ability to cast cannons now?"

"There should be."

Gao Yingxiang was a little embarrassed when he said this, and said: "When the master craftsman was casting cannons, I sent many craftsmen to follow him, but they didn't learn well, and they didn't cast a single cannon in Shanxi."

But he thinks the future is bright: "I have hired a hundred goldsmiths from Shanxi and plan to build a cannon-casting site in the mountains of Lion Bay. I will think about it more. It may not be as good as the master craftsman."

Liu Chengzong nodded, and then said: "Since Mr. Shi said that there are a batch of cannons made for Chuangying, thirty-six cannons, I will give you twelve, and eleven of them will weigh 300 kilograms, and I will give you another one."

What do you think of Master Gao who weighs 200 pounds?"

So generous?

Gao Yingxiang was surprised: "Give me all three hundred kilograms?"

This suddenly made him even more embarrassed.

Gao Yingxiang thought for a long time and pondered: "How about you see what you want from my money and food?"

"I can handle the money and food now. If I run out of money in the future, I'll ask you for it."

Liu Chengzong waved his hand and said very seriously: "Master Gao, I will give you twelve cannons in this batch, but if you cast any more cannons, you must follow the example of the 200-jin cannon."

Gao Yingxiang had plans to make cannons, especially since Liu Chengzong told him that Lion Bay could boil salt and soak it with nitrate, so he even planned to make cannons.

But he couldn't understand, it would be nice if the cannon were more powerful, why did he have to catch a 200-jin cast?

Even if he didn't say it, Liu Chengzong could understand his thoughts and said with a smile: "Master Gao, let me calculate an account for you. How much difference is there in performance between two hundred catties and three hundred catties?"

He glanced at Shi Chengwo and said: "Mr. Shi said that the small lion cannon can fire a two-pound bullet and lay it flat for 170 steps; the big lion cannon can fire a three-pound bomb and lay it flat for 190 steps."

"There are a hundred little lions and a hundred and sixty big lions, all taken at a hundred paces."

Liu Chengzong raised his hand and said: "No matter whether it is two kilograms or three kilograms of closed-mouth artillery shells, it cannot attack the city, and it cannot penetrate the rammed earth even if it is a foot thick. The only difference is that it takes twenty more steps and sixty more loose shells."<

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"The weight is half the weight. It requires an extra mule to be rotated during transportation, and an extra 100 kilograms of copper material is used during casting."

Liu Chengzong analyzed the pros and cons and asked: "Is it appropriate for this range advantage?"

"But it's even more cruel!"

Gao Yingxiang said: "Two cannons can be used as three cannons, and they are more vicious."

"Then why not cast three doors?"

After Liu Chengzong finished speaking, he raised his hand and said: "Master Gao, two hundred and three hundred catties can do the same thing on the battlefield, but it is lighter. The soldiers and mules have more physical strength to do other things."

"If you pursue ruthlessness, you will be able to cast cannons weighing 600 kilograms or even heavy cannons weighing more than 1,000 kilograms in the future."

After saying that, he motioned Gao Yingxiang to wait in the tent for a while, got up and walked out.

Liu Gao Yingxiang and Shi Chengwo looked at each other in the tent. They looked at each other, both confused.

How could Liu Chengzong, a man who had never touched a lion cannon, behave better than the two of them, who made and used cannons, and knew more about lion cannons?

After a while, the sound of horse hooves was heard outside the tent.

It was Liu Chengzong who came back riding a red flag, carrying a big package in his hand. After putting it in the account, he put it on the ground. It felt quite heavy.

Gao Yingxiang stretched his neck to look and saw two silk-wrapped cylinders placed in a purple cloth parcel.

Then Liu Chengzong brought the two cylinders to Gao Yingxiang: "The shells of the Qianjin Hongyi Cannon weigh seven pounds and eight taels. The left is closed ammunition and the right is loose ammunition."

Gao Yingxiang looked at the two silk-wrapped pillars, then at Liu Chengzong, and then at the silk-wrapped pillars.

From top to bottom, I can’t tell that these two things are cannonballs.

In comparison, we can see a little bit of Luo Rucai.

He could only look at Shicheng me for help, but Shicheng me didn’t know what was going on here.

The fabric ammunition pouches were produced in the Battle of Wen'anyi. After we joined forces, I followed Gao Yingxiang to find a place to cast cannons in the Fenhe Plain of Shanxi Province, knowing nothing about it.

When Liu Chengzong opened the silk bag, Gao Yingxiang could see clearly.

There were gunpowder, wooden horses, and cannonballs in the package, but they were just wrapped in silk.

I heard Liu Chengzong say: "This thing is inserted directly into the barrel of the gun, and when it is opened through the fire door, the gunpowder will leak out, making it easier to fire."

"The powder is similar, but it's not that good. In the future, if you have the opportunity, make a thin iron shell, put the powder inside, paper the outside, and wrap it with gunpowder in satin. It will be very convenient to beat."<

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Liu Chengzong introduced this thing to Gao Yingxiang, then sat back and said: "If I have three kinds of cannons, then I need to prepare six kinds of fixed-charge artillery shells. Then these three kinds of cannons must be responsible for different situations on the battlefield."

"For example, the light artillery fires together with the three-eyed muskets at a distance of fifty or sixty paces after a volley of crossbows and muskets; the medium artillery fires closed-mouth ammunition at a distance of 250 paces, which can hit wooden villages and other fortifications; the heavy artillery fires at a distance of 400 paces.

If you fire from a distance, you can attack the battlements."

Liu Chengzong was talking about horizontal distance. He raised his hand to Gao Yingxiang and said: "Just like Master Gao said that the establishment of leaders from all walks of life should be unified. In fact, I think not only the establishment, but at least the use of firearms and artillery should be unified."

Unified specifications."

"Just talking about artillery, at least there are two of us. Master Gao is a brigade, and I am still a battalion. At least we use the same specifications of cannons and the same specifications of artillery carriages. Your artillery carriage is broken; my cannon was robbed.

, the gun carriage is given to you and you can use it."

"Artillery is universal, and so are artillery shells. Once we have a station, we will establish an ordnance bureau. The parts for bird and fire muskets must also be universal, and they must be incompatible with the weapons of the army."

"This... this is too far." Gao Yingxiang looked at the silk-wrapped ammunition pillar and raised his hand to scratch the back of his neck: "In the past two years, if we can cast some cannons, we will be very powerful. The weapons will be unified and organized. I'm afraid it will take two or three years.

Neither can be done."

Unexpectedly, Liu Chengzong raised his hand and spread his fingers: "Five years, we should have a foothold in five years, right?"

Gao Yingxiang nodded, disapproving.

He just had one thought: It’s great to be young.

What gives you the confidence that leaders from all walks of life can survive for five years under the siege of the imperial court?
To be continued...