Shi Kefa stroked his beard and pondered. Huang Degong was one of the few famous generals in the Huaiyang area. He was as famous as Liu Liangzuo. He fought bravely and had strict discipline. If Huang Degong helped him, he would be more confident of breaking Gaoyou.

However, it is nearly 500 miles from Huai'an to Fengyang. It will take as little as two days to send people to report the news. Huang Degong will bring his troops to come, and it will take ten or half a month. For such a long time, can you cover up the fall of Gaoyou?

What's more, he was worried that the thief had no intention of staying in Gaoyou. He ran away without a trace after robbing. It would be fine if he could catch someone, but if he couldn't catch someone, who would bear Chongzhen's anger?

This is not because Shi Kefa is afraid of death, but because he is unwilling to be arrested and imprisoned. After suffering all the humiliation, he was beheaded in Xishi.

Eunuch Zhang also had similar concerns and snorted: "Look, look, just thieves have scared you like this. He has red barbarian cannons, don't we? It's okay to invite Huang Degong, but the emperor can't wait. In fact, according to our family, Huai'an sent 8,000 troops, and his Yangzhou Hanwenjing sent another 4,000 or 5,000, twice the strength of the bandits. There are still gentry in Gaoyou City who care about the court. When the battle starts, they will be attacked inside and outside. How can the bandits not be defeated?"

“Eh?”

Shi Kefa thinks that this idea is also good.

Although he was nominally governing Fengyang, Fengyang was the imperial tomb. The person who really took charge of Fengyang was the eunuch Lu Jiude, and although Huang Degong nominally belonged to Shi Kefa, Huang Degong was actually Lu Jiude's person. If Huang Degong really invited Huang Degong to defeat the bandits, it was equivalent to the bandits on Huaiyang ground who wanted Fengyang's soldiers to clear them. How could this make the Huaiyang soldiers feel?

Shi Kefa is also blind, which has nothing to do with being honest and upright. The most important thing about being in the officialdom is face. If you lose your face, how can you survive?

"What do Xu Junmen think?"

Shi Kefa looked at General Xu.

General Xu Shao was famous. When he saw that Shi Kefa and Eunuch Zhang were not willing to invite Fengyang's soldiers, he was not too persistent, so he said, "Since that is the case, the Caofu can advance along the land and water, and attack Gaoyou along the canal. If the bandits are weak, attack immediately. If the bandits are strong, they can also seize Mengchengyi first, station troops at the city, disrupt their morale. When the reinforcements in Yangzhou arrive, they will then take the general attack."

"Yeah~~"

Shi Kefa and Eunuch Zhang looked at each other and thought it was feasible. Shi Kefa shouted: "I hope you can prepare quickly. In three days, the soldiers will send high-mail!"

"Get orders!"

All the generals below saluted.

...

It was dawn, and Li Xin didn't dare to sleep much. Yesterday's day was basically used to the army. The newly surrendered 1,300 people were organized into various divisions, including 100 people joining the artillery battalion, 200 people joining the musket regiment, and the rest were all included in the infantry regiment.

There are fifteen Bolang machine cannons in Gaoyou, no tiger squat cannons, three hundred and fifty bird cannons, and hundreds of three-eyed cannons.

All morning, Li Xin was sleeping with the craftsmen. He urgently needed to get the flintlock gun out. The flintlock gun was not only troublesome, but more importantly, in a few months, Huaiyang would enter the plum rain period. In the continuous rain, if the flintlock was not lit, it would mean that half of his strength was destroyed.

On the way to Gaoyou, I explained all the key points to the craftsmen. What I need to do now is to formally build a firing device. The craftsmen dare not make a guarantee and declare that they will make samples within three days.

After coming out of the craftsman camp, Li Xin and Hongniang walked side by side. Gao Guiying was next to Hongniang. Li Xin turned around and asked, "Matchmaker, do you think Huai'an and Yangzhou are possible to attack from the canal?"

"Well, very likely!"

Hong Niangzi nodded violently: "I heard that Caobiao has a kind of fast ship called Cangshan boat. It can be equipped with a thousand-jin Folang machine. It has shallow draft and extremely fast speed. It is dedicated to canal patrols. There are also various warships such as blessed ships, steamers, sea-rein ships, etc. I think whether it is Shi Kefa or the Korean mirror in Yangzhou, it will definitely attack through the canal."

Gao Guiying was also worried and said, "Gaoyou only has dozens of patrol ships and cannot set up cannons. If you fight against Caobiao, it may not be possible."

"Sister Guiying, are you caring about me?"

Li Xin passed over Hong Niang and laughed.

Gao Guiying said angrily: "What's wrong with you? You're so angry that you still have the intention to joke?"

The Hongniang felt very uncomfortable. Although under Li Xin's insistence, she reluctantly accepted Gao Guiying, but she flirted in person, saying that her quarrel was not there, right? She immediately pinched Li Xin's waist and eyes.

Li Xin didn't care and smiled and said, "Sister Guiying, let's make a bet. If I can break the naval army of the government army, then you can be my concubine and give me your body. If not, I will let you and Lanzhi go, what about?"

Gao Guiying said disdainfully: "You have made a plan to fight. If you can't even solve the naval army of the government army, then you will definitely be defeated. You can't even protect yourself. Why are you talking about letting Lanzhi and I go? Haha, it's really funny. If you lose, won't we escape by ourselves?"

Li Xin nodded and said, "Sister Guiying, what you said makes sense. This condition is unfair to you, but who told you that your figure is so hot? You wander in front of me every day. I am also a normal man. My little brother misses you day and night, and the matchmaker refuses to fulfill his family with me. I am also very miserable. I am almost out of patience, so whether you agree or not, after repelling the attack from the court this time, you must give me your body. Don't force me to tie you up and send you to bed."

"I owe you, okay, come on, you dare to climb onto my bed, I bit you into a eunuch with my mouth!"

Gao Guiying cursed without showing any weakness, but at the same time, there was still a slight trembling deep in her heart!

After all, she was born as a horse thief and was used to being wild, but a woman's nature was still there, which made her temperament like a wild horse and needed a stronger man to conquer her.

Li Xin smiled coldly: "It doesn't matter if you don't give it to me. I'll replace Lanzhi. There are a few days left for the Spring Festival. After the Spring Festival, Lanzhi is thirteen. It's really good to be my concubine!"

"You... are shameless!"

Gao Guiying's face turned red.

"Young Master Li!"

The Hongniang stared at Li Xin with dissatisfaction.

Li Xin turned around and said, "Huanghai, go get some pyrite, or ores with relatively large sulfur content, as well as mercury, saltpeter, gunpowder, iron shells, wooden rods and diatomaceous earth."

Huang Hai was listening to Li Xin threatening Gao Guiying with relish, and was amazed in his heart, thinking that even such shameless words could be said openly, the commander-in-chief is worthy of being the commander-in-chief!

"ah?"

At this time, he was stunned and asked quickly: "Commander-in-Chief, there is no problem with anything else, then... what is diatomaceous earth?"

Li Xin patiently explained: "Calitite can be found by Gaoyou Lake. It is probably plate-shaped, earthy yellow, and has many small pores. This thing is not difficult to find, and it is often distributed by the sea or lake."

"Oh, I'll take someone there myself!"

Huang Hai bowed his fists and left in a hurry.

The Hongniang couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Li, what are you going to do?"

Li Xin said mysteriously: "Of course I'm doing something well. I'll keep it in a silence now, and you'll know when you come out."

"Pretending to be a ghost!"

The Hongmao glanced over.

Li Xin smiled slightly. It doesn’t matter if he had no warships when fighting against the navy of the government army. He could create mines. There were already landmines in the Ming Dynasty, especially Qi Jiguang who created steel steamer thunder. This is the first trigger mine in the world. However, this trigger device cannot be used in water. What he wants to do is trigger fuses.

The triggering of the fuse is inseparable from Lei Guan. The material that Li Xin asked Huang Hai to prepare is the material for synthesis of Lei garlic mercury. If you want to synthesize Lei garlic mercury, the prerequisite is nitric acid. Although there are many ways to prepare nitric acid, the simplest is to directly distillate saltpeter, but the concentration is not enough. Under the technical conditions at the end of the Ming Dynasty, nitric acid can only be replaced with concentrated sulfuric acid from nitrates. Therefore, Li Xin must synthesize sulfuric acid first!

While Huang Hai had not returned, Li Xin arranged manpower and began to build a brick kiln.
Chapter completed!