stubborn thief

Chapter 242 Neighbors
The majestic horse galloped through the snow in the valley, and Liu Chengzong laughed loudly while holding a short blunderbuss on his horseback.

More than a dozen guards drove the huge herds of argali, running wildly in the valley.

The argali is the largest sheep in the world, and its climbing ability is relatively poor, so it is reluctant to run up the cliff when escaping.

They come into heat in winter, and they appear in groups in the Hehuang Valley in order to attract mates. After a short and intense exercise, after a few bangs, the valley returns to calm.

"Hey, Sezi has a knife on his head."

Liu Chengzong reined in his horse and watched the immobile argali fall heavily in the snow, and was slowly dragged away by the guards on the rope.

Waiting for their final fate, they will appear on the dinner table of the Lion Army's New Year's Eve together with autumn radishes, and become an excellent soup for warming up in winter.

He raised his gun and smiled at his elder brother, "Brother, how are you doing?"

Liu Chengzu rode his horse and stood beside him, riding a tall war horse, also holding a musket in his hand, nodded and said: "The horse runs a bit slower, but this thing is very convenient."

Both of them changed their mounts and rode a big horse from Hequ. The Hequ horse here has the blood of Tang horse. It is strong and vigorous, and still bears the shadow of that era of prosperity.

No matter on mudflats or plateaus, they can walk freely as if they are walking on flat ground. They can carry more load than their war horses, have strong strength, medium speed, and slightly less endurance.

Even if their guns were heavier, a single set of horses could still drag them.

As for the musket, Liu Chengzong took a modified light bird blunderbuss. A brass cover was added to the medicine pool to block the wind. Before shooting, slow down, open the cover, and pull the trigger to prevent the horse's back from bumping and blowing the primer away. .

The whole movement must be smooth, coherent, fast and precise, but this is not difficult for Liu Chengzong.

What Liu Chengzu held in his hand was a flint-haired long-barreled handgun with a two-foot barrel.

Liu Chengzong mentioned it when making the new bird gun, so I made him a small toy after Shi Cheng.

Since I have time to hunt today, I let my brother Liu Chengzu play with it.

Liu Chengzu took a look at the pistol, and said with a smile: "This thing is usually good for playing, but it is inconvenient to hold it for fighting."

Liu Chengzong nodded and said: "It can be equipped on a small scale. There are disadvantages, but there are also advantages."

This kind of flintlock machine is a little more troublesome to make than a matchlock machine, and the spring is not a big problem. A craftsman who can make cross-strand scissors can make reeds.

The only difference between the flintlock and the matchlock is the gun mechanism. The barrel and ammunition have not changed, and the power and range are exactly the same. There is no technical difficulty for the handicraft industry of this era.

The advantage is that there is no open flame, no fear of wind, no matchlock, and it is possible to fire instantly, and the team can be arranged more densely.

The disadvantage is that compared with the matchlock machine, it is labor-intensive, has a low firing rate, poor accuracy, and low reliability.

The low fire rate can be improved, but the degree of improvement is limited.

The ignition mechanism of the matchlock is to pull the trigger to let the burning matchstick fall into the medicine pool filled with priming powder, the priming powder will burn, and the gunpowder in the gun tube will be ignited through the fire door to launch.

The ignition mechanism of the flint is to store power through the reed, and use the hammer and flint to strike to generate sparks, so that the sparks ignite the priming pool and launch.

The power of the hammer is small, and the fire rate is low; the power of the hammer is large, and the vibration of the gun body will make the accuracy poor.

The reliability is poor, manifested in two aspects.

On the one hand, its parts are more and more complex than those of matchlock guns, and are subject to greater force and are more likely to be damaged.

On the other hand, in the process of intensive queue use, the accident caused by the low fire rate.

As long as the matchlock gunner ensures that the matchlock falls into the medicine pool, and the priming medicine in the medicine pool is not blown away, the firing can basically be guaranteed.

When the hammer of a fusilier shoots down, it may not be able to ensure the firing. It is easy to see whether a fusilier has fired or not when using it. However, in a row of fusiliers in an array battle, errors may occur during the salvo. Sentence, repeated loading of ammunition into the gun tube, resulting in explosion chamber.

In terms of their attitude towards the use of firearms, the two Liu brothers are strikingly similar.

Both were more than willing to use firearms at any time outside of combat, but both relied more heavily on the bow in combat.

Liu Chengzu returned the blunderbuss and asked, "How small is the small-scale equipment?"

"Four to five hundred? It's easier to make than the Buddha wolf mobile gun I made earlier, and it's also suitable for horse soldiers."

Liu Chengzong shook his head and smiled as he spoke: "It takes three to five years to train a good rider and shooter, but it only takes three to five months for a person to be proficient in using this on horseback, and it only takes [-] labors to make two of these."

The most difficult part of making bird guns is to drill the barrel smooth and straight, so that it is exquisite and durable, and this is also the most labor-intensive part.

Compared with the handgun with only half of the four-foot-long barrel, the production time is significantly shortened.

"But those three to five years are the three to five years that they can practice at home, and these three to five months are the three to five months of training in your training camp."

Liu Chengzu added: "How much is the cost in the middle?"

Training costs are more expensive than equipment, so although the cost of the flintlock is two or three cents higher than that of the matchlock, it can be ignored in Liu Chengzong's eyes.

The cost of a gun can be as cheap as six or seven renminbi, and as expensive as one or more or less than two liang of silver.

This little money is only enough to support soldiers for a month or two.

Liu Chengzong smiled and said: "So we teach students according to their aptitude and adapt measures to local conditions. We have few people. How many heroes can be found around here who can practice riding and archery skills at home for three to five years?"

"The use of firearms is a big trend, times have changed."

As Liu Chengzong spoke, his breath condensed into white mist in the air, he stuffed the musket back into the leather case next to the saddle, put on thick gloves, and looked at the snow-capped mountains in the distance.

"The skills honed for ten years have been honed day by day. On the battlefield, they may be killed by a single shot before entering the range of bows and arrows. The old era when tens of thousands of elite troops can conquer the world is getting farther and farther away."

Liu Chengzu thought so, but they were not born in that era.

Since they went to the battlefield, the rules of war have long been combined with hot and cold, but for them in the past, facing the northern captives, skilled fighters are still invincible.

Just seeing the Hequ horse reminds me of the era when armored horses galloped across the battlefield.

Liu Chengzu's cheeks were flushed from the cold. Compared with the Lion Army stationed outside, Xiningwei was a better place. He wrapped his fur robe tightly, and the two of them walked to the shelter, sniffling and asking, "Are you really going to give this to me?" Beilu sells knives?"

Beside the ruined wall of the river valley that had been abandoned for many years, the guards lit up a bonfire, and the two brothers tied up their horses. Liu Chengzong picked up a few pieces of damp wood and put them beside the bonfire, and asked, "Did you go looking for you?"

Throughout the twelfth lunar month of the third year of Chongzhen, the leaders of the Lion Army were discussing the establishment of factories and opening of the market.

Setting up a factory is not a big deal. They have the best technology in Northwest China, and they can hand-manufacture everything in this era without technical barriers.

The only thing that can limit them is the small number of senior craftsmen and the lack of raw materials.

So which factory they set up depends on what raw materials Qinghai Tuda can provide them.

Now the three bureaus of weaving, weapons and Baigong have been finalized.

Among them, the Weapons Bureau is naturally making weapons, and the Weaving Bureau is in charge of weavers such as clothing, white handkerchiefs, and blankets.

In Liu Chengzong's vision, the Baigong Bureau was mainly used for trade with Mongolia, employing craftsmen from Xining and Tusi, accepting orders from the Mongolian Ministry, and making daily necessities.

Needs with low technical content, such as agricultural tools and jewelry, were all completed by Baigong Bureau.

The only thing they could argue about was iron.

Blocking Mongolia with iron tools has always been the national policy of the Ming Dynasty. Now the leaders of the Lion Army are all from the Ming Dynasty, and this point is naturally unavoidable.

It's just that the situation forced them to stop the iron pot. Selling weapons to the Mongols was the key to their argument.

My father was troubled by this.

"Da Da came to me and asked about the situation of Huoluochi Babu."

The two brothers sat by the bonfire to keep warm. Liu Chengzu took off his fur gloves and roasted by the fire. He turned his head and said, "I'm worried that the knives you sold will be chopped on the heads of the people in Hezhou in the future. How can I bear it?"

"I've thought about it too, but Qinghai and Mongolia have knives, so they can't help it."

As Liu Chengzong spoke, he raised his hand and pointed in the direction of the camp in the distance: "I've talked to him a few times. There is a place in Yarkand to the west of Hami. It can not only make soldiers, but also muskets."

"Yarqiang?"

Liu Chengzu chewed on this rather strange name: "The name sounds very powerful."

Liu Chengzong shook his head: "In the Jiajing year, the leader was a Mongolian Erchuanzi who came from the Mughals in India. He brought the monarch [-] soldiers, sold the monarch to Kazakhs, and exchanged [-] troops. The total is about the same as mine. Three melons and two dates people, went into the desert and established a country.”

To the north are Oirat and Kazakhs, and to the east are Daming and Tumed. They are trapped in a large desert. The location is very tragic and the environment is very harsh.

Daming in the east is the most elegant and easy-going. In principle, whoever dares to touch me, I will do it.

Oirat and Kazakh fight every day, and these two are ruthless characters who I will fuck whoever is next to me.

At that time, Alda Khan, who commanded [-] households on the right wing, had a fierce temper, and it didn't matter whether he was next to him or not. He was a prairie overlord who would fly over to fight as long as he wanted to.

In such an environment, Yaerqiang could only tremble, and if he couldn't beat others, he would only be in civil strife. Therefore, according to Bai Yantaiji, Yaerqiang's current military strength is not as large as Liu Chengzong's.

Liu Chengzong pointed north again: "To the north of Yarkand are Kazakhs and Oirats. These two are powerful characters. Farther to the north, there is the Ob River. On the west of the river, there is a group of barbarians and robbers from the Raksha Kingdom. Orus, there are muskets and cannon."

"Zungar in Oirat surrounded a salt lake and fought with barbarians and bandits for more than 20 years, so Junggar also has guns."

After finishing speaking, he took off the waist knife and put it on his lap, and looked at his elder brother: "Brother is in Xining, do you know about the smuggling over there? Tell me, one of these can be exchanged for one camel or nine livestock."

The elder brother's eyes widened.

When Liu Chengzong first heard about the smuggling of soldiers and the simple and rude prices from Bai Yan, he felt similar to his brother.

The bow and quiver are equal to three livestock.

A waist knife, a pair of wrist armor or a firecracker is equivalent to five livestock.

One helmet or one high-grade sword is equal to one camel or nine livestock.

A full set of armor is equivalent to ninety livestock.

Some time ago, another younger brother in the south of Qinghai Lake married his daughter, and the son-in-law’s family gave a dowry. According to the rules, to marry a daughter, the dowry needs fifty cows and one hundred sheep.

Later, the son-in-law's family took out two sets of armor, and the daughter married.

"How much profit is there?"

Liu Shizi shook his head and said: "We can't stop this, even if we don't do it, it will still be there, but if we stretch our hands forward, we can control a part of it."

"Bring those who are willing to follow us, form a coalition to weaken the enemy, and sell one knife in return, enough to make ten guns."

Liu Chengzong was satisfied with his brother's expression, nodded slowly and said: "In the long run, we will have a large number of skilled craftsmen, gain a large market, and enough wealth to pay the army, return through the market, and even issue our banknotes. .”

Liu Chengzu heard it with relish in front of him, but now he asked in amazement with disgust on his face: "Precious banknotes?"

"Isn't it a joke to expect the people to spend the precious banknotes as money when the imperial court collects taxes and asks them to pay silver?"

Liu Chengzong laughed, then spread his hands and said, "We are different. We have 30 taels of silver, and we can issue 30 taels of bills. As long as the market is in our hands, credit is very simple. Our market only accepts bills. "

"Qinghai is vast and sparsely populated, so it's not safe to carry silver, but bills are easy to carry, and you can build a warehouse to purchase materials, and even later..."

Liu Chengzong narrowed his eyes and laughed out loud: "I can print [-] notes and find [-] Mongolian soldiers to help me fight a battle."

Liu Chengzu leaned forward and backward with laughter when he heard the words, and hurriedly wrapped his fur robe tightly when the cold wind poured in: "I believe they will fight a battle for you for the ticket, but I don't believe you can find [-] Mongolian soldiers."

"That's what it means, maybe you can understand it."

Liu Chengzong also laughed, waved his hands after laughing and said, "Just selling weapons doesn't prevent them from robbing us, so wars are inevitable, but if we sell daily necessities all over Qinghai, everyone will listen to us."

The expression on Liu Chengzu's face was very complicated and very puzzled.

He didn't understand why his younger brother was so keen on controlling the Mongols. He asked, "You plan to use the Mongols to fight Daming? In the final analysis, the rebellion is a matter of our own family's quarrel, and it is impossible to bring in the neighbors, right?"

Liu Chengzong was very interested in his brother's statement, and said with a smile: "To overthrow Daming is of course our own business, but this neighbor who is safe and grazing is being bought by that restless neighbor in the east. Do you remember the Daiqing that Chen Qindai said, Mobei Mongolia."

"There are a group of Mongols in Monan who have already taken refuge with Huang Taiji of Houjin. It's not his turn to deal with his own affairs, right?"

Liu Chengzong said solemnly: "Take a step back and say that the two neighbors cannot join forces to deal with us, so trade, each takes what he needs."

Liu Chengzu heard the overtones and asked, "How about further?"

"further?"

Liu Chengzong said: "This neighbor used to be our boss, and they became shabby, why can't we be their boss?"

After finishing speaking, he turned his head to look at Liu Chengzu and said, "Brother, do you plan to find me a Mongolian sister-in-law?"

　good afternoon!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)