Mixed with salted fish in Hongwudang

Chapter 589 Isn't fighting for money!
Timur camp.

Although there are lessons from the disastrous defeats of the Beiyuan and Chagatai Khanates, Timur's army still maintains high morale.

During dinner, the officers and soldiers in the barracks talked and laughed, full of longing for the upcoming war.

Because according to the tradition of the Timurid Empire, as long as they win this war, whether they are low-level soldiers or middle-level officers, they will receive very generous rewards.

Coupled with Li Ben's "frankness", they are even more confident about the future battle.

Li Ben didn't care about fighting at all. Whether the Ming army defeated Timur or Timur's defeat of the Ming army were not enough to shake his heart for cooking.

Compared with Suiye City, he prefers Timur's barracks.

At least here he enjoys the honored guest treatment, lives in a single tent, and there are two soldiers standing guard for him outside.The food is freshly roasted mutton and light wine.

While he was enjoying his meal, a drunken Timur officer came over and asked in broken Daming.

"Warrior, are you Ming soldiers as strong as us?"

Li Ben shook his head without thinking.

"No!"

"We are not as strong as you, one of you can beat both of us!"

The officer laughed and asked again.

"Warriors, do you think that if we meet your Ming army, what chance will we have of winning?"

"At least ten percent!"

"Our Ming army is vulnerable, how can we be such an elite opponent as your country?"

Seeing that Li Ben was so honest, the officer generously handed him a jug of wine, and then translated what Li Ben had just said under the adoring eyes of the soldiers in the headquarters.

When the other soldiers heard Li Ben's answer, they became happier one by one, and some of them even started to plan how to spend their rewards.

Only a trace of contempt flashed in Li Ben's eyes. Although he didn't care about fighting, he still knew the black cannons in the Ming army.

The cannon weighed several thousand catties, or even tens of thousands of catties, and a shell alone weighed tens of catties, and it was difficult for a thin person to move it.

When the cannon fired, the mountains shook and the ground shook.

In a real fight, these barbarians may not even be able to touch the headquarters of the Ming army!
But he won't tell the truth. It's okay to talk to the upper class of the barbarians. Even if the upper class doesn't believe it, they won't touch him.But it's hard to say to the soldiers at the bottom. If you say something that makes them unhappy, they might kill you when you sleep at night!

Li Ben has no other skills, but he knows too much about the thoughts of soldiers at the bottom.

Because he is the bottom!
Just when Li thought he could finally calm down for a while after dismissing the officer, an old man with a gray beard in a Mongolian robe came over.

He had an impression of this person. When he met that Emperor Tie, it seemed that this person was standing by the side and acting like a dog's leg.

But he pretended not to recognize him, and continued to eat meat and drink on his own, until Hao Haida wanted to take the initiative to greet him, and then he pretended to look over.

"you are?"

"We just met at the side of His Majesty Sultan, and I translated for you..."

"Oh, you are that smart old man, I have an impression of you!"

Li Ben enthusiastically grabbed the mutton on the table and handed it over.

"Come here, I'll treat you to some meat!"

Hao Haida looked at Li Ben's dirty hand, hesitated a little, took it and started to eat it.

To be honest, when he was eating with His Majesty Sultan just now, he was really not full.

Li Ben was only being polite at first, but he never thought that this barbarian nobleman in front of him would not dislike him at all, which made him feel a little bit pained.

But Li Ben was kind after all, he squeezed out a kind smile and handed over the wine he just cheated from the officer.

Hao Haida wanted to be polite, unscrewed the lid and poured it.

This made Li Ben feel a little distressed, blinking his small eyes, reminding the other party to slow down in a low voice.

Hao Haida laughed when he heard the words, he had already seen Li Ben's careful thinking, and he was just teasing him on purpose.

"Don't worry, I won't drink it all in one go, I will definitely leave some more for you."

Li Ben waved his hand embarrassingly when his mind was punctured.

"Look at you talking like I'm such a stingy person!"

"You drink as hard as you can, and you'll be fine if you drink it all!"

Hao Haida really wanted to finish the drink in one gulp, and then look at the face of this stingy Daming man.But he is old after all, not as massive as when he was young.

In addition, he has more important things to do, and he doesn't have time to drink with Li Ben all the time.

"Warrior, in front of His Majesty Sultan just now, it is inconvenient for me to ask some questions."

Li Ben said carelessly when he heard the words.

"Then you ask now!"

"The old man's question may be a bit difficult, I'm afraid you won't dare to answer it."

Li Ben snorted coldly when he heard the words.

"You underestimate people, don't you?"

"As long as I know, you can ask, there is nothing I dare not say!"

"But I have no official or position in Daming, just an old servant in the general's family, and I don't know much."

Hao Haida nodded to hear the words, affirming Li Ben's honesty.

"You are an honest man."

"How many generations have you improved your Ming's firecrackers?"

Li Ben asked back with a puzzled face.

"What generation is it?"

Hao Haida frowned and asked another question.

"It's the firecrackers you use now. Do you use matchlocks or flints?"

Hearing this, Li Ben immediately looked at the old man in front of him with admiration, and gave him a thumbs up.

"Expert!"

"Most people really don't understand what you said. Fortunately, I followed my general and saw it at the Ordnance Bureau. There really are the flint firecrackers you mentioned."

"However, the fire of that kind of firecracker is unstable, and the flint can't be used after it gets wet or rained. It's not much better than the matchlock. The Ordnance Bureau has produced a few batches and it's not good enough to produce."

"Oh oh oh..."

Hao Haida wanted to hear the words and secretly calculated that if the Ming army still used a large number of matchlock firearms, the rate of fire would be much slower. With the level of bows and crossbows of the Timurid Empire, even if they could not beat Daming, they would not be so weak. Lost too badly.

However, Li Ben's next words completely shattered Hao Haida's dream.

"Now Daming has a more powerful firecracker, which can shoot out ammunition without matchlocks and flints!"

"what?"

Hao Haida was stunned on the spot when he heard this, and looked at Li Ben with suspicious eyes.

"Are you fooling the old man?"

"Is there really a firecracker in this world that can be fired without lighting it?"

"Yes, I have!"

"This kind of gunpowder puts gunpowder and flint together. When the bottom is struck, the primer is ignited, and the primer ignites the gunpowder. Whatever force the gunpowder produces, the projectile can be shot out!"

"Anyway, it's amazing. Our general has a firecracker like that. He cherishes it like that. It's better than his wife. Take it out and wipe it with oiled paper every day..."

"This……"

Hao Haida roughly understood Li Ben's theory, and silently recognized the feasibility of this theory.

After seeing Daming firearms, he has been collecting Daming firearms from various sources, and looking for skilled craftsmen to imitate them.

The imitation of firecrackers in the Timurid Empire was also facilitated by his constant lobbying.

Now that he heard that there was another kind of the most advanced firecracker in the world, he felt like a kitten scratching his heart, wishing to see the beauty right away.

"Warrior, can you get a shotgun of that kind you speak of?"

Li Ben shook his head and refused without thinking.

"cannot!"

"Our army has more than 3000 people, and only our general has one."

"This thing is so rare in our Ming Dynasty, how can I, who is a servant for others, have the ability to get this thing!"

"If you can get a gun like this, I'll give you 1000 taels of gold!"

"Ten taels?"

Li Ben's eyes lit up when he heard this.

1000 taels of gold is enough for him to buy a thousand acres of land!

Although Daming does not allow individuals to buy too much land now, he can go to Guihua City to buy it.

Buy thousands of acres of grassland, and then hire a few barbarians to herd cattle and sheep. Wouldn't those days be more comfortable than farming?

Moreover, it is said that the imperial court now encourages the people of Ming Dynasty to go to the border to graze. Not to mention selling an acre of grassland for a free acre of land, it also exempts various taxes and fees for ten years.

But when he thought of how much his young master loved that firecracker, Li Ben shook his head dejectedly.

"no!"

"I can't do it, I don't have the ability..."

Hao Haida wanted to see that Li Ben was indeed incompetent, so he could only settle for the next best thing.

"How about this, you draw the blueprint of the firecracker you saw, and I will give you ten taels of gold!"

It was 1000 taels just now, but it became ten taels in a blink of an eye, which made Li Ben feel very disappointed.

"Is there only twelve taels left?"

"Of course!"

"If you can get the real thing, I will still give you 1000 taels!"

Li Ben was contented and happy, so he immediately responded to the errand.

"Twelve taels is ten taels, it's better than nothing."

"But I don't know how to draw, so I can't be disgusted if I don't draw well!"

"No problem, as long as you draw an outline!"

Seeing that the other party was so easy to fool, Li Ben immediately picked up a pen and began to draw on the paper.

Hao Haidayu was a little bit hopeful at first, but Li Ben asked with a puzzled face after he dropped the paintbrush.

"Drawing?"

"I'm done drawing!"

"That's it?"

"Yes, that's it!"

Hao Haida wanted to pick up the drawing with a disappointed face, but at first glance, he couldn't see any connection between this thing and the firecracker.

First, the gun barrel is too short, not much bigger than a slap.Secondly, where there is no medicine at all, where do you put the ammunition in?

Only the arc of the handle is roughly drawn, and the hook on the front of the handle should be the position of the trigger.

"What about the elixir you mentioned that is put together with the primer!"

Li Ben pointed to the dark lump on the paper.

"Here it is!"

"This is it?"

"Yeah, this is the closest I've ever drawn!"

Hao Haida was about to go crazy when he heard this. If Li Ben hadn't said that it was a elixir, he would have thought it was the ink that fell from his hands!

"Ming Warrior, you can't fool the old man like this, you haven't even drawn the inside of the ammunition yet!"

Li Ben quit on the spot when he heard the words.

"Old man, who do you think I am? If I have the ability to draw the inside of ammunition, I can still be sent by my young master as a messenger!"

"Uh uh..."

Although Li Ben's words are ugly, they are very reasonable.

It is indeed impossible for Daming to send a skilled craftsman to act as a messenger.

"Okay, the old man is impatient!"

Hao Haida wanted to take out a piece of gold from his sleeve and throw it to Li Ben.

"These should be worth 20 taels, all of which will be rewarded to you!"

Li Ben took the gold happily, and cupped his hands at Hao Haida.

"Hey!"

"The villain thanked the noble master!"

Hao Haida couldn't be bothered to accept Li Ben's thanks, so he took the ugly drawings and went to the craftsmen in the military camp to study.

Craftsman Abu looked at the drawings that Hao Haida wanted to bring, and shook his head with all his strength.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"No one in this world can make flint, gunpowder, and projectiles into such a small thing!"

"Even if a craftsman could do it, it wouldn't be used in the army!"

Hao Haida asked curiously to hear the words.

"Why?"

"Master Prime Minister, think about it, have you ever seen soldiers go into battle with exquisite jewelry to kill the enemy?"

"no!"

"This is the same as jewelry. If you don't care about the cost and time, the villain can combine gunpowder, flint, and projectiles into one to make such a small thing."

"But things consume at the same rate as bows and arrows. How many craftsmen like me can our empire have, and how many can we build every day?"

Hao Haida suddenly realized.

"Oh oh oh, the old man understands!"

"No wonder that Daming man keeps saying that this thing is also a rare item in Daming, and ordinary people can't touch it at all."

When the craftsman heard this, he immediately echoed.

"now it's right!"

"This thing can't be used on the battlefield at all. If you really see it on the battlefield, you should surrender or run away."

"Why is that?"

"My lord, you are not a craftsman, and you don't know the way here."

"If Da Ming really has the ability to manufacture a large number of these objects, then Da Ming will be invincible in the world!"

"Uh uh..."

Hao Haida fell into a long silence when he heard this. He has always been very concerned about Daming. Whenever he saw a merchant returning from Daming, he would enthusiastically go forward to chat and ask about the development of Daming.

He knew that Daming already had the ability to mass-build arrows with machinery, and forging ordinary weapons also used a lot of machinery.

But he really didn't know whether it was possible to mass-produce such ammunition and ammunition integrated with primer.

Just when Haohaida was wondering whether to inform His Majesty Sultan of this matter, Zhu Yunxie was inspecting the Ordnance Bureau in Gyeonggi, checking the latest batch of bolt guns produced.

"Your Highness, this is the latest bolt gun. Its performance and accuracy have met His Highness's requirements."

"How many of these new guns are there?"

"Ten thousand shots!"

"Order to continue to work overtime, make sure to produce [-] rods before the end of the month, and then quickly transport them to Tianshanwei!"

"This……"

"Double overtime pay!"

"middle!"

As soon as the old craftsman heard that the overtime pay was doubled, he agreed, but out of kindness, he still reminded him vaguely.

"Your Highness, it's easy to talk about firecrackers. As long as you have enough iron, you can have as much as you want. But the production speed of bullets is too slow. You can't do without enough bullets just to have this new type of firecracker!"

"bullet……"

The old craftsman also looked melancholy when he saw His Royal Highness, and he couldn't help but muttered to himself.

"The cost of bullets has never been reduced. The iron is too hard to be finely processed. Only copper with better ductility can be used."

"But the cost of copper is too high. The copper shot out of a bullet is enough to make a big coin of ten cents. Isn't this the same as playing money!"

Zhu Yunxi smiled bitterly when he heard the words.

"Master, what you said is right, isn't war just about fighting for money?"

"You don't have to worry about copper, Vietnam will support us with hundreds of thousands of catties of copper, enough for us to make millions of bullets!"

(End of this chapter)