The Northern Army's enthronement ceremony was scheduled for September 19th. Qin Lingsi and others arrived at Haozhou on September 8th and waited for three days at Guanyi, but Pan Cheng never showed up again.
Just when Qin Lingsi felt a little strange, on the afternoon of September 11th, Monkey excitedly knocked on the door and entered Qin Lingsi's room. He said happily: "Master, who do you think is here?"
He stepped aside and saw two dusty men standing behind him, both of them bowing to Qin Lingsi.
"Meet the owner!"
Qin Lingsi was surprised and happy, and shouted: "Geng San, why are you here in Haozhou!"
It turned out that those two people were Geng San and Qian Yongren.
Geng San smiled and said: "Your Majesty sent us here."
Qin Lingsi hurriedly welcomed the two of them into the house and asked, "Why did my brother-in-law ask you to come here? Are you also here for the enthronement ceremony?"
Geng San took out a baggage from behind his back and said with a smile: "Your Majesty asked us to come here for two things, one of which is to hand this thing over to you!"
Qin Lingsi took the baggage and felt that it was quite heavy. It seemed to be an iron object. When she opened it and took a look, she was stunned.
"What is this?" she asked in surprise.
It turned out that there was really a dark iron pipe in the bag, about three feet long, with a curved wooden support embedded at the end.
Geng San stared closely at the iron pipe, with a strange light shining in his eyes, and said: "Master, this is the blunderbuss that the king has been talking about. You can use it as a shrunken artillery!"
Qin Lingsi naturally heard Zhang Yangquan mention the blunderbuss and asked in surprise: "Has this thing finally been built?"
Geng San nodded and said: "Yes, the craftsmen from most of them are very capable, and Miss Shu provided a clay model, and finally made a few handles."
The monkey looked up and down and said in surprise: "Can this thing really be stronger than a bow and arrow?"
Geng San raised the corner of his mouth slightly, and said with a bright light in his eyes: "I will demonstrate it to you, and you will naturally know whether it is strong or not!"
"Okay, but don't worry, Monkey, go and call Yang Ying, Chang Yuchun and the Lan family brothers over, let's open our eyes together!" Qin Lingsi ordered.
The monkey agreed and hurried out of the house to call for help.
Qin Lingsi then turned her attention to Qian Yongren and asked curiously: "What are you doing in Haozhou?"
Qian Yongren bowed his hands respectfully and said: "Returning to the field master, I have ordered the king to come and negotiate a deal with the Northern Army!"
Qin Ling thought: "What deal?"
Qian Yongren said: "The Northern Army wants to buy 80,000 shi of grain from our army, but the king doesn't want to accept the money, so he wants the Northern Army to use craftsmen to exchange with us!"
Qin Lingsi said thoughtfully: "They asked us to buy food?"
"Yes."
Qin Lingsi slapped her forehead and said, "I understand. No wonder Pan Cheng didn't come to trouble us again. It turns out they are begging us!"
Geng San and Qian Yongren both looked puzzled, and Qin Lingsi briefly explained what happened to the Lan family siblings.
Not long after, the Lan family siblings, Chang Yuchun and Yang Ying all came over.
Qin Lingsi originally wanted to try it directly in the backyard, but Geng San said: "Master, the king said that this is a secret weapon. Don't let anyone know about it for the time being. He also said that you should try not to use it in front of others until you are in a critical moment!"<
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Qin Lingsi pouted and said, "Then let's go out of the city and try."
So everyone left Haozhou City together and came to a forest five miles away from the east gate, and then asked the guards to guard the entrance.
Geng San set up a target in the forest, with a piece of armor most commonly worn by Jiangdu Army soldiers on it.
Then he stood ten feet away from the target, skillfully inserted a round lead shot into the barrel, drove it straight to the bottom with a purge rod, and then poured a small bag of gunpowder into the medicine chamber at the rear.
Everyone was staring at his movements, with nervousness and anticipation on their faces.
Geng San held the wooden stock of the gun in one hand, held the barrel of the gun flat with the other, closed one eye, aimed with the sight and rear sight on the barrel, and then pulled the trigger.
There was a loud "bang" sound.
Qin Lingsi and others were used to hearing the sound of artillery and didn't think anything of it. The Lan family siblings were shocked when they heard the sound of muskets for the first time.
What surprised the two even more was that a small hole was punched through the armor used as the target.
Lan Yu asked in shock: "Did the iron rod make this small hole?"
The monkey laughed and said: "That thing is called a gun!"
Qin Lingsi happily ran to Geng San and wanted to try to take a shot.
Geng San taught her how to shoot, and with a bang, Qin Lingsi's first shot missed.
She moved closer to the target and fired again. This time she finally hit the target, and there was another small hole on the edge of the armor.
Chang Yuchun's face suddenly became a little complicated, and he smiled bitterly and said: "The small cannonballs fired by this thing are so fast, I'm afraid even I can't dodge them."
He saw at a glance the greatest advantage of this weapon - it placed no requirements on the user, and it was far more powerful than a bow and arrow.
In other words, even a weak woman can kill him with this thing. Then the martial arts he has practiced hard for many years will be of little use.
"General Geng, is it difficult to build this thing?" he asked.
"It's easier than artillery. We can make more than a hundred guns in a month. However, the king is still not satisfied, so he issued an order to send official documents to all states and counties to recruit craftsmen!" Geng San replied.
Qin Lingsi listened and finally understood why Zhang Yangquan wanted to trade grain for craftsmen.
She hugged the barrel of the gun happily and found that the barrel was slightly hot. She smiled and said: "This thing can also be used on horses. When the number increases in the future, it will definitely form a powerful cavalry!"
Compared with the matchlock gun, the biggest advantage of the flintlock gun is that there is no need to worry about wind and rain, so soldiers can shoot even if they are riding at high speed.
Geng San smiled and said: "You are absolutely right. On the way here, my subordinates tried to shoot immediately. Although the accuracy is a bit off, as long as they practice more, they can overcome it!"
Next, Monkey and Yang Ying also took a test shot each, and even Lan Yu had the courage to take a shot. Only Chang Yuchun silently watched everyone queuing up to take the shot.
Lan Xiangyu didn't go over either. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and said, "Are you afraid that this thing will make your martial arts useless?"
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Chang Yuchun smiled dryly and said: "How could that happen?"
Lan Xiangyu said softly: "Although I am an ignorant woman, I also know that people with better martial arts can learn any weapon faster!"
Chang Yuchun's eyes lit up, and a surge of pride suddenly arose in his heart. He said loudly: "Yes, no matter how good the weapon is, it will be used differently by different people. Let me try it!"
He strode over and lined up to take a shot.
He was good at bow and arrow, and his hand was very stable. He shot the target ten feet away with one shot, and everyone cheered in unison.
Next, Lan Xiangyu also came over, and Hou Hou and Chang Yuchun stopped fighting with them, and stood aside silently and watched.
Geng San suddenly walked up to the two of them and said with a smile: "Monkey, you have been promoted!"
The monkey hurriedly asked: "Has your Majesty rewarded you for your merits?"
"Yes, shortly after you left, the king awarded rewards to all the generals on the main campus of the Military Academy."
The monkey's heart suddenly jumped and he asked: "What position did the king give me a promotion to?"
Geng San's eyebrows were dancing and he said: "You, me, and Wang are all promoted to the fourth rank, General Yunhui. You are the deputy commander of the left wing, Wang is the deputy commander of the right wing, and I am promoted to the deputy commander of the Shenji Battalion!"
The monkey was ecstatic, and felt trembling all over, feeling comfortable everywhere.
Chang Yuchun swallowed and said, "Deputy Commander Geng, what about me?"
Geng San glanced at him and said: "Like Bian Yuanheng, you have been promoted to the fifth rank of Zhongwu General."
Chang Yuchun said in surprise: "Am I the same as Bian Yuanheng?"
Everyone knew everything about the situation of the three routes of the Southern Expedition.
Because Chang Yuchun followed Xu Baisheng, he did not make much contribution this time. On the contrary, Bian Yuanheng conquered many cities.
So he always thought that he would be thrown away by Bian Yuanheng this time, but unexpectedly it was still the same.
Geng San said seriously: "You should thank Marshal Xu. You were originally promoted from the fifth rank to General Ningyuan. It was Marshal Xu who gave all his credit to you, so you were promoted to one more level. Marshal Xu did not receive any reward this time." Chang Yuchun was stunned for a moment, took a deep breath, and said, "Thank you, Deputy Commander Geng, for telling me."
The monkey suddenly said: "What happened to the generals under our command?"
Geng San smiled and said: "It goes without saying that among the promotions this time, the generals under the three of us were promoted the fastest. Han Er, Huo Liu and others were promoted from Zhenfu to the sixth rank, and many thousand households were also promoted to
From the sixth grade!"
The monkey nodded and asked again: "Is there any news from Jiqing?"
Geng San frowned and said: "Not yet, Chen Ye keeps delaying it again and again, I don't know what he is doing!"
The monkey wanted to ask again, but Qin Lingsi in the distance suddenly shouted: "Geng San, we have run out of gunpowder here, please give me a few more bags."
The amount of gunpowder used in a flintlock gun is strictly regulated. Too much gunpowder can easily cause danger, so the gunpowder for each gun must be weighed in advance and packed in a small sheepskin bag.
Geng San hurried over.
Everyone tried their guns in the forest for more than an hour. Seeing that it was getting late, they returned to the city.