The Story of Ping An 154_The full text of The Story of Ping An is free to read_Chapter 154: Tossing around from
There was a smell of blood and paste in the air, as well as people's roars. Zhang Ning saw that Xu Wenjun behind her had vomited. She found that Zhang Ning looked back and raised her head, and saw tears in her eyes.
.
Zhang Ning kept silent, looking around, and finally found Monk Yao, and saw him standing in front of a broken earth wall. They walked towards Monk Yao, and saw several elders standing next to him, talking about something.
thing.
Monk Yao looked serious and ordered an elder: "Go and appease everyone. Let everyone treat the injured first and put out the fire. It's so hot that people have to be buried as soon as possible."
A man next to him slammed the handle of the knife on the ground and said angrily: "Why do we have to suffer in this remote place where bandits are rampant?!"
Another person said: "The bandits burned down Fengcun and killed so many people. What's the right of God not to take revenge?"
"How can we take revenge if we are in a hurry?" Monk Yao looked back. "The bandits' stronghold is more than a hundred miles away. It is built on a mountain with dangerous terrain. It is easy to defend but difficult to attack. If we attack by force, where will the lives be taken? The bandits have been besieged for a long time and there is no way.
Food and grass, with this little family’s wealth, can we afford to consume more than a hundred miles of supplies on the mountain road?”
Several people looked at each other, lowered their heads and sighed "Hey". Monk Yao said coldly: "This is not the only thing that is unreasonable. Let's endure it for a while and then talk about it when we have a chance."
The sun had turned westward and shone on the dilapidated earth-yellow city wall. Monk Yao, who was wearing long homespun clothes and had a bald head, looked miserable for a moment.
Zhang Ning had a question in his mind. Why didn't the villagers who lost their loved ones take this matter to Monk Yao and the elders? Because they were the ones who made the decision to provoke the bandits. On the way back, what they learned from Yao Erlang finally made him understand.
He understood why.
There is not much land suitable for farming here, and people from several villages live together according to the living habits of the Central Plains, resulting in food shortages. Therefore, they can only use their own production of salt, iron tools, tough crossbows and other items to exchange food with the surrounding indigenous people. Bandits
The long-term robbery and extortion of residents within a radius has reduced the amount of food exchanged by each village, which has brought crisis to the five villages of Monk Yao. Therefore, they have to try to attack and drive away the bandits. This will make it easier for them to generate profits.
In a conflict, taking action with justice is not a simple process.
Monk Yao's residence is just behind the temple. There is a courtyard where Zhang Ning and others are accommodated. The courtyard is full of apricot trees. The roof of the house is covered with green tiles, the walls are painted with lime, and the wooden lattice is papered.
The window was kept very clean. There were guards with swords near the yard for a long time, but there was no woman here. If Monk Yao was really a monk, how could he have a son? So after Zhang Ning settled down to bathe and change clothes, only Xu Wenjun helped him
Did the laundry.
In the evening, the Yao family and his son invited Zhang Ning and others to a family dinner to refresh themselves. There were few dishes, but there was a haggis soup, a stir-fried pickled pork with bamboo shoots, and rice wine. Monk Yao was obviously not a real monk, and
Eat meat and drink wine.
After drinking for three rounds, they talked about common things with each other. Monk Yao was in a low mood and was a little absent-minded. Zhang Ning guessed that he was thinking about the aftermath of the burning of Fengcun and other troubles, so he did not mention his plan to develop guns for the time being.
Are you ready? Just talk about some light topics casually and politely. He thought to himself: You can ask your cousin Yao Erlang for help in the early preparations.
After dinner, the servant served tea. Unexpectedly, Monk Yao took the initiative to mention the matter: "I received a letter from your mother a while ago and accepted a box of gold and silver she brought over. Mrs. Yao said in the letter that you
I want to try to make firearms and let my people try their best to help..."
Zhang Ning said hurriedly: "I didn't expect that something like this would happen here, uncle, and it would cause you trouble."
Monk Yao waved his hand, with a serious face and three vertical lines between his eyebrows, "Since the leader has written a personal letter, I will definitely try my best. The current turmoil is nothing, so you don't have to worry about it."
Hearing these words, Zhang Ning understood in his heart that the reason why Monk Yao was so happy was entirely because of Yao Ji, otherwise this uncle would not allow Zhang Ning to "fiddle around" on his territory. This is why Zhang Ning wanted to
To convince Yao Ji to support her reasons, it is certainly a good thing that she is young, but it is difficult to do anything without accumulated connections, and it is useless to be named Zhu. How many people in Jianwen's current prince named Zhu buy it?
Monk Yao added: "Making firearms requires iron, firewood, and gunpowder. When we moved here, we chose a place with iron ore and salt wells. Iron can be smelted on the spot, and firewood is all over the mountain. But gunpowder requires saltpeter and
As for sulfur, there are no mines nearby. I made some preparations and asked a friend in Changde Prefecture who runs a firecracker business to get several hundred kilograms of saltpeter and sulfur. You can use it first. Tell me what you need, and we can think of a solution."
After hearing this, Zhang Ning hurriedly thanked him and blurted out in joy: "When a batch of guns and cannons are built, we will first equip my uncle's men and horses. With the firepower advantage, it will not be difficult to capture the bandit stronghold and avenge the villagers."
Unexpectedly, Monk Yao disagreed and said: "When I was in Nanjing, I served as a Jinyiwei for a few days because of Mengfeng. I saw firearms. Those in the Beijing camp are still usable, but those elsewhere are just bluffs."
Zhang Ning was stunned, opened his mouth and didn't know how to explain, so he let it go. He decided not to argue with his uncle for the time being, so he calmed down and said: "As far as my nephew knows, the tendons used to make crossbows are controlled by the imperial government.
It will be difficult to purchase in large quantities and bows and arrows are easy to damage. It would be beneficial if firearms could replace bows and crossbows."
Monk Yao nodded, but he did not agree with Zhang Ning. He said: "You have been an official for two years, and it sounds like you have some knowledge of the law. The village is short of bows and crossbows, and good bows and arrows are also very good in the Tujia village.
In exchange for grain, the crossbow made of nettles and branches is not strong, but we are short of beef tendon and other materials."
Zhang Ning thought for a while and asked: "Is there any coal? Coal."
Monk Yao said: "Yes, there is a charcoal kiln at the foot of the mountain. When there is not enough charcoal to forge weapons during the off-season, people will be asked to go in and dig charcoal. But if you are not careful, it will collapse and kill people. Normally, everyone still uses charcoal."
Zhang Ning nodded.
Monk Yao pondered for a moment and then said: "Tao Da has prestige in the village and can control people, but recently he has been asked to help take care of a lot of things in the neighboring village. Let Erlang help you first, and he will recruit a young man of ten or twenty to do it.
The work is not a problem, I will arrange it when you are short of manpower."
At this time, Zhang Ning saw the tired look on Monk Yao's face and picked up the tea cup, so he resigned knowingly.
Yao Erlang sent him out, and the two walked silently under the eaves for a while. Zhang Ning asked casually: "My second cousin is ranked second, does he have a sister or a brother?"
Erlang replied: "I had a sister, but she has passed away. When Nanjing fell, my father took me and fled out of the city in a hurry, without taking away my mother, sister and several aunts. Later I heard..."
"Stop talking, I shouldn't ask." Zhang Ning hurriedly stopped him, because after hearing Fang Ling's life experience, he could easily think of the fate of the Yao family. He turned to look at Yao Erlang's face, but saw that he His face was very calm.
Maybe things have been going on for too long, and people have accepted that fact... Or maybe in the eyes of the world, it is a natural law for losers to be raped and humiliated, and to be slaughtered? There are indeed many ridiculous rules and orders in this world. , and then was strangely accepted by others. It was only when Zhang Ning's vision jumped out of this law that he realized the absurdity.
"My dear brother, stay here and rest early." When Zhang Ning saw Xu Wenjun looking at the door of his room, he turned around and saluted.
Yao Erlang also saw the female family members wearing skirts, his face turned red, and he hurriedly said: "Goodbye."
Zhang Ning walked to the door of the room and took a look at Xu Wenjun's plain skirt. Because this girl usually dressed neatly, she always felt that something was wrong. He asked casually: "Have you eaten? What are you doing here?" very?"
"Eat, I...I live with Qiuye next door." Xu Wenjun lowered his head and started to leave.
"Stop." Zhang Ning said, "Come here with some paper and ink and help me sharpen the ink."
Xu Wenjun looked a little flustered, so he responded and went back into the room. There were study items in the room, and there were also several books of thread. An iron sword hung above the desk. Wenjun picked up Yantai and walked to Next to the washstand, I poured some water into the copper basin and put it into the inkstone. After a while, I heard the sound of "rustling" ink grinding.
Zhang Ning sat down on the chair and spread out a piece of white paper. As soon as he relaxed, tiredness came over him. The chirping of summer insects outside the door and the pleasant but simple sound of grinding ink were mixed with a slightly pungent sound. The mosquito repellent incense makes people want to move less and less.
His thoughts also became chaotic. The situation in the court, the situation with the Jianwen Yu Party, the anti-evil sect... many clues were squeezed together. He sighed softly unconsciously, and thought to himself: No matter what, first of all, Don’t worry about the success of the current matter. Otherwise, it will be in vain to think too much and accomplish too little.
So he adjusted his mind and thought about firearms. There were many types of firearms in the Ming Dynasty with different uses, but in Zhang Ning's view, firearms in the black powder stage can be divided into two categories: cannons and guns. There are many types of firearms, which may be adapted to local conditions. It has advantages, but its shortcomings are also obvious: it is not conducive to standardization, and it is extremely inconvenient for training and maintenance.
It is best to start the development of muskets from the matchlock gun, so as to gradually sum up experience and improve it. Zhang Ning has not tinkered with this thing himself, and everything is still in the exploratory stage. As for the artillery, he plans to start trial production from the mother-and-son gun, which will later be copied from the Western warship. For the gun's Franchise machine, on the one hand, the double gun has a faster rate of fire and is more advanced, and on the other hand, it is light and easy to fight in the mountainous areas of western Huguang. However, the cannon is too heavy and scrap metal, and the available resources are currently limited.
Zhang Ning thought for a while, and when he raised his head, he saw that the ink in the inkstone had been polished, so he picked up the pen and dipped it in, and first drew a gun barrel on the paper. The lines he drew casually were rough and uneven. This soft-pen drawing was really amazing. It hurts me to not understand what people used to draw drawings at this time. When the Daming Palace was built in the Tang Dynasty, the chief designer was a civil servant named Yan who was also a calligrapher. I don’t believe that he didn’t design the architectural drawings without Make drawings.
He drew a cannon barrel and put down his pen. He stared at it for a while. When he raised his head, he saw Xu Wenjun still standing beside him. When Wenjun saw him looking at him, he said, "Many people died in that village today."
While Zhang Ning was thinking about the "tool" for killing people, he responded casually: "Human life is indeed very fragile sometimes."
The Story of Ping An 154_The full text of The Story of Ping An is free to read_Chapter 154: Blind Tossing has been updated!
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