stubborn thief

Chapter 163 It is said that the lion is an auspicious beast

Shanxi, the southwest mountain suburb of Pingyang Fucheng.

Gao Yingxiang stood on the mountain, looking at the majestic Fucheng in the distance, his weather-beaten face was full of doubts.

He is thinking about a problem.

About what Liu Shizi is.

After thinking for a long time, Gao Yingxiang still didn't understand.

The third day Liu Chengzong left Shanxi was also the first day Gao Yingxiang pulled the troops from Fenzhou Prefecture into Yonghe County, and there was hailstorm in Yonghe County.

Gao Yingxiang's team of tens of thousands of people was originally loosely organized, but suddenly there was a hailstorm, and there was no place to hide in such a small place as Huojiabao.

The army was directly smashed into pieces.

When the hail stopped and the wind and rain stopped, there were still more than 4000 people in Gao Yingxiang's army, and more than half of them were bruised and swollen.

The rest of the people all ran away, and it took two days to reunite. They were all wounded, and there were more than 700 dead bodies.

Not many were killed, most of them were killed by running around in the mountains at night, their injuries were not healed, and they bled too much and froze to death in the wind and rain.

Miserable.

Later, Gao Yingxiang discovered that the reason why he suffered from the hailstorm was all because of Liu Shizi.

If he hadn't reported to Liu Shizi, Liu Shizi would not have let him go from Pu County, and if he hadn't let him leave from Pu County, he wouldn't have waited for me to make a clay model in Huojiapu.

Originally, he should have happily robbed Wangzhuang in Fenzhou Mansion, instead of being bruised and swollen by hailstones in Pingyang Mansion.

Gao Yingxiang who was standing on the cliff was very wronged, and muttered to himself: "Everyone says the lion is an auspicious beast."

In the past 30 years, Gao Yingxiang never felt that he was an unlucky person until he pulled Liu Shizi to his side after the rebellion.

It's too close to the lion. Li Bei led his army into Yan'an Mansion, and he wanted to attack Gao Yingxiang first, from Yanchang to Fushi.

It doesn't matter if you stay away from the lion, as soon as the auspicious beast leaves, he will be hit by hailstones.

The lion walks, and the hail comes behind.

He is simply God's own son, counting the days.

Gao Yingxiang recognized the reality.

Now they are located in the western mountainous area of ​​Linfen, Pingyang Fucheng, at the junction of Linfen County and Xiangning County. Both coal and iron ore are produced here, and it is also magnetite commonly known as green ore.

In the early Ming Dynasty, there were two iron smelting institutes, Fengguo and Fuguo, and in its heyday, more than [-] catties of iron were produced every year.

However, later the government-run iron factory was abolished and replaced by a private operation. The scale is not as large as in the early years, but the local people still continue the iron factory in that area in order to maintain their livelihoods.

Looking at the Fenhe Plain behind the rolling mountains, Gao Yingxiang sighed, he is a poor man, he can't bear this auspicious beast.

However, the Pingyang Mansion and his party are not without good things.

The mountain where he is now is called Guajia Ridge. There are two Tielis not far to the west. The local fields are scarce.

These people had a difficult life, Gao Yingxiang only paid a little food in exchange for them to work for him.

Gao Yingxiang walked down the mountain, and his troops stretched sixteen battalions in the valley that was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Shi Chengwo, who is bandaged with plain cloth on his head, is instructing craftsmen to make cannons in the valley, while bird gunsmith He Xin is on the other side supervising craftsmen making guns.

When Gao Yingxiang went down the mountain, a huge clay mold was being heated in the shade, and the craftsmen poured out the wax liquid in the mold with a wooden frame.

Shicheng and I were next to the copper melting furnace on the other side, measuring on the ground with tools, instructing the mason to build the abutment, and then pierce a large wooden frame at the position he measured.

"What is the division commander painting?"

Shi Cheng, I did not raise my head on the ground and compared with the rules: "The barrel."

Gao Yingxiang was dumbfounded, there was clearly nothing on the ground.

The only thing is that there is a brick abutment, and a wooden frame is placed on the platform. Shi Chengcheng, I pulled a rope from the wooden frame, and drew on the ground like ghosts, but there was nothing else.

The whole psychic ceremony.

"That's it, no mistakes allowed, dig."

As soon as Shi Cheng gave me an order, the auxiliary sentry next to him started to follow his order.

Only then did he heave a sigh of relief, turned his head to Gao Yingxiang and said with a smile, "King Chuang is here."

Gao Yingxiang said helplessly: "I've been here for a long time, and you just told me that it was a gun bore, where is the gun bore?"

Shi Cheng, I raised my hand and rubbed the wound on my head, and said with a smile: "King Chuang doesn't know something. The key to casting a cannon is to straighten the barrel. If the position is not right, the cannon will be a waste."

His head was smashed by hailstones when he rushed out of the house to protect Huojiabao's dry clay mold.

It is very uncomfortable to have a wound in this position. If I don’t pay attention when I sleep at night, the wound that has healed will be scratched. Now it has not healed for nearly a month.

"The mud-shell King Chuang also saw it, buried it in the pit and exposed half of it, and fixed it with this shelf."

Teacher Cheng and I pointed to the wooden frame. The frame is very simple, that is, two columns are erected, and the columns are tied with two crossbars at a certain distance: "The upper one is on the outside, the lower one is on the inside, and the middle is inserted obliquely from the outside to the inside to match the gun caliber. The same stick, it's the barrel."

"Actually, it doesn't matter if you don't need a wooden stick. If it's an iron cannon, it's better to use a willow stick. For frying steel, you also use a willow stick. It doesn't matter if you use a copper cannon."

Gao Yingxiang looked at the wooden frame, frowned and calculated for a while, but couldn't figure it out, and asked, "How do you know that the barrel is there?"

"Forget it. I know the width of the barrel, the thickness of the wall, and the length from the fire door to the muzzle. It's not difficult to calculate."

Speaking of this, Shi Cheng and I rubbed our chin beard, frowned and said: "However, when this cannon is cast, it may be heavier than the general wants."

"How heavy?" Gao Yingxiang asked, "Didn't the lion want a two-hundred-jin cannon?"

"That's right, the general wants a cannon of [-] catties, and mine may cost [-] catties to cast." Shi Cheng and I shook our heads and said, "I miscalculated... How long can we stay in this mountain, King Chuang?"

"stay How long?"

Gao Yingxiang didn't think about it, now he would hear him ask, shook his head and said, "How long do you want to stay?"

"Stay until June, two months, okay?"

"do not know."

Gao Yingxiang answered this answer very simply.

How long they can stay here is not a matter for them to decide. When the imperial court sends an army, they have to leave.

"The officers and soldiers of Fenzhou Guard and Pingyang Guard don't need to be afraid. When they went south from Huozhou to Gongji Bridge earlier, Master Shi also saw it. They didn't dare to come across the high river. They were afraid of us."

Gao Yingxiang mentioned the Pingyang Guard Banner Army with a smile on his face, and then said: "Actually, I am more worried about the regiment training and people in Pingyang Prefecture than them."

In the Fenhe Plain in Shanxi, landlords and merchants of Wangzhuang are everywhere.

Under normal circumstances, there is nothing to be afraid of. Compared with the frontier army, the landlord regiment is not a dangerous enemy.

If the frontier soldiers are jackals, tigers and leopards, and the Weisuo Banner Army is a dog guarding the courtyard, the landlord regiment is at best a hedgehog.

If the thorns grow more than the flesh, the Chuangjun will not fight.

But the current situation in Shanxi is a bit hard to say.

Because Gao Yingxiang was not the most troublesome leader on the Fenhe Plain.

The most vicious ones were the Jiaocheng bandits in Jiaocheng County, Taiyuan Prefecture.

Since the two years of non-stick mud in the north and the south, and Gao Yingxiang's troubles, the bandits there have also become active.

Their leader, Calabash King, rushed out from the mountain, and tens of thousands of horses attacked Jiaocheng, and successively captured Jiaocheng, Wenshui, Qingyuan, Xugou, and Taigu.

The latest news is that Calabash King sent someone to contact Gao Yingxiang three days ago, saying that they were going to attack Fenzhou Prefecture.

"If we were here, it would be fine to stay until June, but now that the lunatics in Jiaocheng are making a fuss, it's hard to say when the imperial court will send troops to suppress it."

Gao Yingxiang really felt that the Jiaocheng bandits were not the same kind of people as they were, and the situation over there was very complicated.

There are hundreds of leaders in Jiaocheng Mountain, the chief leader Calabash King has only 400 people under his command, tens of thousands of horses are not subordinate to each other, and the personnel are very mixed.

Only Gao Yingxiang knew about it.

Along with Calabash King, Shanxi’s local bandits and starving soldiers include Datong Yang and Wei Muting who rebelled against the hungry army in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, Zheng Zhenming, a member of the White Lotus Rebellion who rebelled against the remnant party in the second year of the Apocalypse, Yang Dagao who resisted taxes in the third year of the Apocalypse, and Jiangzhou rebellion Wang Deshan.

In addition to the local bandits, there was a wave of food transport troops from Yangzhou and Fengyang.

They are called Longhuahui, including Zheng Zhenming's remnant party who rebelled in the second year of Tianqi, all of them are Bailian followers.

In fact, Gao Yingxiang likes to fight with others, for example, with Ruishou, he feels relaxed.

But these Jiaocheng bandits couldn't coordinate themselves.

The Calabash King just wanted to seize the opportunity to loot near Jiaocheng. Once the government and army suppressed it, he went back to the mountains to hide. The peasants who resisted the tax went home as soon as it rained.

Compared with them, many anti-kings in northern Shaanxi are too pure.

Gao Yingxiang weighed it carefully in his heart. Although his team was an army that could be dispersed by hailstorms, at least 4000 people in it were under his control.

At present, the guard army and the landlord regiment in Shanxi are training, and he can deal with it without joining forces; if the frontier army comes in the future, he will not be able to fight even joining forces.

At that time, as soon as the government and army suppressed it, all these people went back to the mountains, and he was the only one left to be beaten.

just forget it.

He asked: "Why wait until June, isn't the cannon already cast?"

"The shell of this cannon was dried in the shade for a month. This cannon was an attempt to make it. If it didn't work out, I found out that the calculation was wrong. The cannon is heavy, and another shell needs to be made. It will be May. Ruo a new shell No problem, as long as there are enough copper materials and dozens of shells are made, there will be dozens of cannons in June."

After the earth pit next to the foundation of the fort was dug, Shicheng, I asked someone to bring the clay mold over, and buried half of it in the pit in the direction of the inclined wooden stick.

After carefully comparing the positions, Gao Yingxiang watched nervously from the side, not daring to show his breath, even though he didn't know what he was nervous about.

It wasn't until Shicheng and I finished all the preparations and the copper kiln next to me started blowing wind that I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He pointed to the clay mold and said, "The rest will be easy. Once the copper juice is poured into the clay mold, and the shell is broken when it cools, it will be an uneven artifact."

"I just like making copper cannons. Bronze cannons need to be polished and polished, but iron cannons can't be polished so quickly."

Gao Yingxiang stared straight at the words: "Is it that simple?"

"It's as simple as that. Hongyi's cannons are thick where they should be thick and thin where they should be thin. The cannons have different sizes for what they are used for. Other than that, there is no difference from the previous cast cannons."

Shi Cheng, I laughed as I said that.

The most critical aspect of the so-called red cannon lies in these size rules.

These laws can maximize the power of the combination of gunpowder and the tube in this era, and make the tube more durable.

In fact, for Shi Cheng and me, the most difficult part of casting the Hongyi small cannon required by Liu Chengzong is not the casting, but the design.

Generally, others use this set of things to make cannons, and it costs at least a thousand catties.

Just like last year when he helped Wang Zheng cast cannons in Sanyuan County, he cast three Hongyi copper cannons weighing [-] jin.

But after entering the Lion Camp, Liu Chengzong wanted to cast a two-hundred-jin small cannon, but all of a sudden there were great differences in all aspects, and he almost designed a cannon by himself.

This is much more difficult than casting.

Once he finishes the design, the rest will be no problem, and even the following things can be done without him, especially in Shanxi.

Just find any goldsmith who can make bronze bells, tell them the size, and they can make cannons.

That night, the excited Gao Yingxiang held a torch and watched Shicheng and I pour water on the spindle-shaped copper pillar.

Seeing that there was no water leaking out, they began to drill the blast holes, and polished the casting burrs and potholes on the gun body and gun bore.

He also used a hammer and a chisel to chisel out the word "lion" in front of the blast hole.

I originally wanted to engrave my name on Shicheng, but I was persuaded by Gao Yingxiang: "Don't chisel it, just carve a number for the cannon. What if the name is chiseled and the officers and soldiers take it away?"

Finally, Shicheng, I engraved the six words "Tianzi No. [-] Big Gun" on the cannon, and the cannon was completed.

In the flames of the river valley, the sergeants weighed the guns with a specially made large frame, and measured various sizes.

The caliber of this gun is two inches and two inches, the muzzle is four inches and four inches thick, and the fire door is the thickest part of the gun body, which is six inches and six inches. Three catties of iron bullets.

"It is indeed heavier than the general requested, but I think this gun is very good."

Shi Cheng, I looked and looked, then turned to Gao Yingxiang and said, "King Chuang, if you don't know how long we can stay here, I want to make two preparations first, and start changing the two-wheeled artillery cart drawn by the general tomorrow." , and then make new clay molds."

Gao Yingxiang listened sideways, and listened to Master Cheng and me: "First make ten clay models like this, and then make smaller clay models. If you have to go back to Shaanxi in early May, you should bring eleven Tianzi lion cannons."

"I estimate that the 32-jin clay model can be finalized next time. It is temporarily called the Earth Lion Cannon. In May, another [-] Earth Lion Cannons will be made, so that we can bring [-] Heaven and Earth Lion Cannons home."

But Shicheng, I didn't expect that Gao Yingxiang shook his head: "I don't think so, the copper materials are not enough. There are so many cannons, the copper materials are just right. If one is not done well, it will be broken. Make more clay models .”

Gao Yingxiang said with a serious face, but he couldn't hold back and put on a smile: "And make more clay models, I, Gao Yingxiang, have been standing beside you for so long, don't you understand what I mean?"

"This gun is good, I want it too, you have to make some for me."

As he said that, Gao Yingxiang stretched out his hand and said, as if he was afraid that Shi Chengcheng would refuse me, "There are not many cannons like this, you have to make five for me, and the lion cannon for the land character, make me ten, only half of the lion."

"You are short of manpower, and I will find as many manpower as you need. Goldsmith, I have found 140 households, and I guarantee that you can make it."

"Manpower is easy to say." Shi Cheng and I pursed our lips and said, "If there are fifteen more, then the materials will not be enough."

Gao Yingxiang heard him let go, pursed his lips and breathed a sigh of relief in his heart: "As long as you are willing to build it, I will go to the Buddhist temple tomorrow!"

　Good evening, comrades, remember the size of this cannon. I have calculated the volume density according to the modulus for a long time, and I will cast it according to this when I pass through someday. It is correct.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)