stubborn thief

Chapter 19
Minzhuang is a local militia organization founded during the orthodox years, and it is one of the four poor officials of the government.

Because Min Zhuang is assembled and practiced twice a month by local officials, it is also called regimental exercise Min Zhuang or regimental training. In different places, it has different names due to the skills they rely on, such as machine soldiers, fast hands, thugs, archers, etc. Wait.

The houses and kilns in Xingpingli are all located on the mountainside, while Liujiamao is a flat-topped hill surrounded by residential houses, relying on the Loess Plateau.

Climbing up the mountain, in the loess small school field on the platform, there are more than ten strong men in farm clothes, seven or eight children waiting beside, Liu Juren is standing in the center, wearing a square scarf, wearing a green robe and tying a belt , holding a small staff behind his back, and instructing the four strong people.

Under a horn tree in the small school field, there is a warrior in armor. Judging from the style of the helmet and gun, it should be a junior guard of Yan'an Guard.

Liu Chengzong's archery eyes were extremely sharp, and at a glance he could see that the firearms held by the four Min Zhuang were bird guns, and there was a row of wooden targets more than [-] paces away from them.

Bird guns are front-loading arquebus guns, which were introduced to China after the Tuen Mun naval battle in the 16th year of Zhengde Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty. It has a history of [-] years and is not a new item.

In the past [-] years, there was another Korean War of Tomorrow that broke out in Wanli Year, and the silk trade to the Spanish colony of the Philippines was unprecedentedly prosperous. In the Ming Dynasty, you can almost find the prototypes of muskets produced by various countries in this era.

The bird gun is the most common small-caliber front-loaded arquebus for the armies of all countries today.

Up to now, the Ming Dynasty has made great progress in firearms, including step-and-bird guns, riding bird guns, and even developed Fran-machine-type rapid-fire bird guns and gun knives on the basis of local hot and cold mixed weapons.

Liu Chengzong had seen it in Yuhebao, the bird gun soldier was equipped with a straight-edged short knife, which could be inserted into the gun mouth for melee combat during the battle.

The people who use muskets are also called machine soldiers.

When called up by the government, the local fighters would be incorporated into the regular army as a reserve of musketeers.

At this time, the four mechanic soldiers were wrapped around matchlocks and held bird guns. The small school field was silent and everyone was nervous.

Liu Juren raised his hand and dropped it. They put the four-foot-long bird gun on the ground, unfastened the medicine pot around his waist and poured medicine into the small medicine tube.

After a few breaths, Liu Juren raised his hand and dropped it again, and the mechanic poured the gunpowder in the gun tube into the gun tube; once again ordered, they took out the stick from under the bird gun tube, turned it over in their hands and stabbed it into the gun tube, pressing down. Gunpowder, skilled action.

The fourth order is to put ammunition into the gun tube; the fifth order is to compact it again with a stick.

After the sixth order, the bird gun was finally leveled, and the mechanic took out the small medicine pot around his waist and poured the medicine into the small medicine pool on the side of the bird gun.

In the seventh order, the soldiers untied the arquebus wrapped around their arms and mounted it on the bird's-gun faucet. At this time, the bird's-gun was finally ready to go.

The four were in front of two and two behind. The former was half-kneeling and the latter was standing, raising their guns to aim, but Liu Juren put his hands behind his back and did not speak. , and finally gave the order: "Let it go!"

There was no bird shot as Liu Chengzong imagined, all four mechanic pulled the trigger at the same time, and the match rope clamped by the faucet rod also fell exactly into the medicine pool, but the four shot shot did not sound.

This scenario seems to be expected by everyone, only he does not know.

Shi Wanzhong explained in a low voice: "The government approves few medicines, the master rarely uses it for training soldiers, and the gunpowder is all fine soil."

After a complete shooting training of the bird gun was over, Liu Juren stepped forward with a small wooden stick, and went forward to give a lecture to each soldier. It seemed that no one had met the standard in his mind, and ordered each of them to reach out and use the small wooden stick in the palm of his hand. Up and down.

This action is particularly familiar to Liu Chengzong, who is watching from the side. When he and his brother were studying, his father urged them to study.

However, he has not yet started to open the door. Perhaps Master Liu found the trick to urge children to study hard. Whenever he made a mistake, he would let Chengzu stretch out his hand and be beaten, and let Chengzong watch from the side.

Because of this, from elementary school to the first idiom, Liu Chengzong was called killing chickens and scaring monkeys, and he was the most serious and diligent in reading.

When he turned his head, facing Liu Chengzong, who was standing by the side of the small school field, he raised his eyebrows fiercely, turned his body and said to the soldiers with a straight face: "Clean up the guns and rest for a moment, think about the actions, and then form the formation. Post-annealer play quiz."

After he finished speaking, he turned his head and said to the officer of the guard station standing aside: "Peng Zongqi, please ask for the banner and firepowder later."

Liu Juren was in his prime. Because his family was poor when he was young, others began to gain weight in their thirties. He spent a year in prison in his early [-]s and still did not gain weight. His body was still well-proportioned and his mental state was good.

"Father."

"Why are you back?" Liu Xiangyu frowned, staring at the second son's face from clear to dark. Obviously, the current situation made him think of bad associations, so he simply said: "Go home first, don't go out and don't meet people."

At first, Liu Chengzong didn't understand it, but after hearing this sentence, he understood. Dad regarded himself as a deserter, and quickly said: "Not only me, but my brother is also back."

He briefly explained to Liu Xiangyu the return situation, including the defeat of Bai Yingzi, and said, "Big brother asked me to come back and find someone to find a car so that I can pick up the grain. The grain cart is too heavy and I can't pull it back."

Knowing that his son was not a deserter, Liu Xiangyu was much more relaxed.

After all, it was someone who was used to being an official, so he opened his hand and gave orders, and called a few young children from the small school field: "Go to the field and call for people, let each family lead the donkey to drive the car, Min Zhuang will bring the weapons down the mountain, and the old man will go to Qingpingchuan. Pick up."

"You run forty miles, go home for dinner or go with you? Then talk while walking on the road."

After that, Liu Xiangyu turned his head to talk to Peng Zongqi, who was waiting on the side. Peng Zongqi just nodded and said nothing. He let the little baby in the village lead him to rest, and bowed his hands to Liu Chengzong before leaving.

After a while, more than a dozen people from the small school field took weapons such as spears, knives, waist knives, etc., and followed Master Liu down the mountain.

At the foot of the mountain, a few villagers also gathered, and there were people pushing carts and donkey carts to the village.

The days that just started spring are not considered slack, but the drought has made people idle, and the busy time has become more abundant.

"How can my father train?"

"This is training troops, not leading troops. As long as there are regulations and prestige in military training, do you think that being a father doesn't even have the prestige to make others obey?"

When Liu Xiangyu said this, there was no doubt about it, and Liu Chengzong didn't question it. He just took off his helmet and walked a few steps in silence before saying, "Father has his own prestige, but this is not the same as before."

My father is a juren, and he has been an official for more than ten years. Although he is not the chief magistrate of the county, there are still folks in his hometown who are respected enough by the elders.

But respect is not prestige, and what he has seen and heard this time, everyone obeys, it is no longer respect.

What's more, it was not their family's business to train in the Min Zhuang Regiment in the past. In addition, the hometown is now different from other places, and the vibrant atmosphere of hope made Liu Chengzong have so many doubts in his mind that he didn't know where to start.

Liu Xiangyu took the air for a moment. Seeing his son's silence, he turned around with a complex smile that was both proud and sad: "Because my father was convicted for his words, I know best that the year of disaster has come."

"Last year, when the new emperor of Mongolia ascended the throne and granted amnesty to the world, when he returned to his hometown, he summoned his clan uncles to set up a year of farming, and mobilized the villagers to clear the Panlongchuan canal and plant more drought-tolerant grains."

"As of last year, I heard from the prefect's yamen about the mutiny in Guyuan and the rise of thieves in northern Shaanxi, and from Yan'an Guard, Peng Zongqi was invited to teach martial arts to the children in the village... It's just a pity for future generations."

Liu Xiangyu walked and stopped, sighing in a very soft voice: "My family, why didn't I get the palace exam?"
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Note:
①. Ming Dynasty group training.

The Ming Dynasty Min Zhuang was selected from the common people, and the main members were all rural farmers who had not received formal training.

In order to enable the people to have the ability to approach the regular army, the Ming Dynasty took a series of measures to train them, and also provided venues, arms, and military salaries during the Tianshun Zhengde period.

Later, most of the officials in charge of this matter perfunctory, or used the central funds to enrich their personal pockets, and this powerful armed force gradually fell into disuse.

②.Franji bird blunderbuss and blunderbuss knives are from the Ming Ningshao deputy commander and soul painter He Rubin's "Binglu" printed in the third year of Chongzhen. Formula, 20 pages of sub-complex gun fraction.

The book was destroyed in the 45th year of Qianlong.

(End of this chapter)