Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 35 2.12 How about promising Baochai to him?
Volume Two

2.12 How about promising Baochai to him?
"Hoo-drink!"

In the early morning, in the garden of the guest room of the Xue family, Zhou Yang's sword was shining brightly, waving continuously against the rising sun. Several different sets of two-handed sword techniques were performed alternately. His whole body seemed to have endless strength, and even the sound of the sword's whistle seemed louder than the sound of the sword. It was usually so loud that the maid assigned to serve him stood aside, her face a little pale.

The residence of the Xue family is not so much a "house" as a "manor". It is not in Jinling City, but not far from the Xuanwu Lake Royal Garden. It occupies a very large area and is divided into three sections. The area is the residence of the family, followed by the reception area and functional area of ​​the main courtyard in the middle, and the servant and miscellaneous area arranged around the entire courtyard on the outermost layer. The restrictions are very strict.

For example, the "family banquet" Zhou Yang attended yesterday was in the main hall of the inner courtyard; the main hall where the Xue family receives distinguished guests is in the middle main courtyard, facing north and south of the center line; except for special circumstances, the male servants will stop in the outer courtyard. It is a guest room and functional area, and only specially arranged valets can come in, such as Zhang Dehui who delivered a medicinal bath last night.

"Hahaha, little brother Zhou is really a magic sword!" While he was exercising, Xue Tu's hearty laughter came from the garden door, "As the saying goes, a day's plan begins in the morning, little brother Zhou has lived up to this good time!"

"Xue Gongmiao praised it!" Zhou Yang took a few more moves to slow down before entering the closing position. He sheathed his sword, turned around and bowed to Xue Tu, "I also want to thank you for the medicinal bath last night. The effect is indeed extraordinary. It cost Mr. Xue a lot."

"It's a trivial matter, don't worry about it. This ancient recipe was originally found by the old man for Pan'er. Unfortunately, this kid has no intention of martial arts. It's a waste to lie in the box. Brother Zhou thinks it's good." Xue Tu didn't care. With a concerned smile, "This time, the old man has prepared a total of [-] sets. According to the dosage once every three days, it is enough for little brother Zhou to use for two months. I just need to trouble you to stay for a few days!"

"This - thank you Mr. Xue!" It was once again "Don't bite me if there are too many lice, and don't worry if I have too many accounts." It was obvious that Xue Tu was optimistic about it, so he increased the "investment". Zhou Yang hesitated and accepted it. At worst, I'll just take care of it from now on. If it doesn't work, just change the title of "Xue Gong" to "father-in-law". Anyway, you won't suffer any loss.
"Hahaha, it doesn't matter!" Xue Tu waved his hand indifferently, obviously not taking this expenditure seriously, "Originally I didn't want to disturb little brother Zhou's rest, but when we talked about Western firearms yesterday, it seemed that little brother had some I don’t know if I can let you know today.”

"It's all right!" Zhou Yang nodded happily, "But these things are too complicated to describe simply orally. It's better to ask Mr. Xue to move into the room and let the juniors draw them, so that they can be explained more intuitively. I just need to trouble Manager Zhang to prepare a few things. A charcoal pencil and white paper.”

"Oh?" Xue Tu looked interested, "Then I'll bother you little brother!"

It’s not that Zhou Yang doesn’t care about keeping secrets, but the first time he learned about the current status of the hot weapons of the Great Zhou Dynasty yesterday, he realized that the “feudal army reform” he had seen on the modern Internet was basically gone, at least relying on the existing The gun barrels are equipped with sandeye blunderbuss, the Tiger Crouching Cannon and Fran Machine Cannon handed down from the Ming Dynasty, as well as the long-outdated gunpowder cans, Swarm of Bees, and Divine Fire Flying Crows. Improving combat effectiveness is pure nonsense.

Since he cannot base himself on the current conditions, he will definitely enter an official career or take up a military position in the future. If he wants to achieve "hot weaponization" and build a strong army as the basis of his career, he can only create the conditions himself, but in a short time Inside, he has neither the resources nor the status to engage in these things. It just so happens that the Xue family is a good "tool man".

What's more, this is not his pure "use", but a life-saving grace. If there are no accidents, Xue Tu in the original work should have died in this ambush, leaving only Mrs. Xue and a pair of children. The orphans and widowed mothers could not support the huge family business. In the end, the Xue family was completely defeated and had to give up its foundation in Jinling and go to the capital to join the Jia family.

A moment later, in Xue Tu's study, Zhou Yang used a charcoal pen to draw a sketch of the British "Brown Bay" flintlock musket in real history on a piece of white paper. It's not that good, but he can see the general idea anyway, and he replaced the original flint ignition mechanism with a matchlock ignition, because in his position, he can't hold on to something that is too advanced, and it probably won't end well.

"Xue Gong, please see, this is the firearm most commonly used by Westerners." Zhou Yang pointed to the simple diagram and began to explain, "Basically, the principle is the same as the bird gun of the Zhou Dynasty, but there are a lot of improvements, such as this ignition At the top, there is a match rope clamped on the top of the probe rod linked to the trigger. After the trigger is pulled, the match rope is inserted into the medicine pool to complete the ignition.

The medicine pool is specially deepened. The probe rod in front is the upper cover of the medicine pool and is linked to the match rope probe rod. Once the match rope is put down, the ignition probe rod will knock open the upper cover of the medicine pool. When the fire is not ignited, it will protect the medicine pool and prevent it from being blown by the wind. Blow away to ensure practicality. "

"Just these two simple improvements have significantly improved the practicality of firearms!" Xue Tu suddenly realized, pointing to the sketch and said, "Although these Westerners are not convinced by Wang Hua, this strange skill is quite advisable. At least it looks good."

“Mr. One is to shorten the barrel and enlarge the caliber, so that the total length is less than five feet; the other is to add a shoulder stock to ensure stable aiming of the gun." "In this way, the weight of the firearm is reduced and the size is easier to carry. The gunman can even prepare a backup first, and once used, light the match rope and start shooting in a short time!" Xue Tu said in surprise, "Does the little brother mean that in the future, you only need to prepare a few carriages in advance and let the guards follow? Available at any time?”

"If it is used at close range, the barrel can be shortened again, so that the gunman can stand ready in the car with the weapon and fire it if necessary." Zhou Yang said cheerfully, "This way, it can be concealed as much as possible. , only about ten people can achieve huge results in the form of a surprise attack!"

"Hiss—" Xue Tu and Zhang Dehui looked at each other and took a breath of cold air at the same time. They both figured out the effect of this kind of surprise attack. Basically, if they only faced a small-scale assassination or even an ambush like the last time, , After a maximum of three rounds of shooting, the battle will almost be over. All that needs to be prepared is a few more sets of firearms and two carriages!
"It seems that this Westerner's amazing skills do have merit." Xue Tu said slowly, "With such preparations, I no longer need to worry too much about assassination."

"Muskets alone are not enough, it is better to have artillery." Zhou Yang deliberately did not look at the faces of the two people and drew a simple drawing of the Napoleon cannon. On the wheel frame, it can be pulled by mules and horses at any time. If it is deployed in a strategic location, three or five doors will be enough. Plus twenty or thirty gunmen, it can stop a surprise attack by hundreds of people."

"Brother Zhou is really well-informed!" Xue Tu and Zhang Dehui looked at each other again and praised with smiles, but neither of them responded, "I didn't expect that Westerners have such means, but they looked down upon them before."

"Not only that, Westerners have also made great progress in ironmaking." Zhou Yang smiled and continued to show off, drawing a stick figure of a small blast furnace, "It is roughly this form, the principle is not complicated, but it is a pity I can’t tell the details, but Xue Zihao has many master craftsmen and manpower, so it’s not difficult to make it.”

"Westerners no longer use the backward boiled salt, but sun-dried salt. The general principle is"

"If you want to make salt, you can't do without something that Westerners call 'cement'. Otherwise, you can't build a salt pond. The principle is very simple."

"I've also heard that Western weaving has moved away from the original method of one person per spinning wheel. Instead, one loom is equipped with eight spindles. This requires the use of the 'flying shuttle' principle, roughly speaking."

"Of course, if you want to study these things, I'm afraid it won't work in Jinling City. It would be too easy to leak the secrets. I heard that Mr. Xue has been doing sea trade? That's right. Just above the East China Sea, not far from the Yangtze River Estuary, there is a There are many large islands in the continuous islands. You only need to control one to ensure absolute safety."

Zhou Yang spent the whole morning in this state of "magnifying the cannon". He drew dozens of stick figure "drawings" back and forth. These things have only principles, and it is absolutely impossible to use them directly. He released them on purpose , and then describe the "broad prospects", you can naturally fool the Xue family into funding research and development.

The effect is good. Seeing that Xue Tu and Zhang Dehui were almost covered in cotton wool when they left the study, Zhou Yang smiled proudly. He did not expect them to successfully develop all of them. As long as he could come up with a few, he would become an official in the future. After that, you can have a good start and save a lot of time.

That night, in the bedroom in the inner courtyard of the Xue family.

"Master, what's the matter with you? You've been bored at home all afternoon, but what's the trouble with your business?" Mrs. Xue looked at her husband puzzled, "If possible, why not tell my concubine, maybe it can help Up?"

"Huh? Oh, don't worry, madam. I'm just thinking about something. Brother Zhou gave me a lot of ideas this morning. I've asked Zhang Dehui to go down and make arrangements." Xue Tu was obviously distracted, so much so that he ignored his family, "I was just thinking about it. , Brother Zhou is so capable, if you recruit him as your son-in-law, how about promising Baochai to him?"

(End of this chapter)