A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 96
On May [-]th in the ninth year of Chongzhen.

At night, the sky is full of stars.

It's been a long time since I looked up at the starry sky and found it so beautiful.

In later generations, Wang Dou remembered that when he was a child, he liked to look up at the vast starry sky. He always used his little finger to count the stars in the sky, but he couldn't count them all.In addition to counting the stars, Wang Dou also likes to catch fireflies and watch them float around in the night sky. I don't know if they are stars or fireflies.

It's just that after growing up, it's rare for him to look up at the starry sky in the sky. He has been in this world for so long and is busy every day, and Wang Dou seems to have forgotten that there is a sky above his head.

It was a sweltering night, Wang Dou saw that Xie Xiuniang couldn't sleep, so he proposed to take a walk outside, and the couple walked all the way to the city wall.

The two leaned against the city wall and looked up at the starry sky. A few guards in the distance were scattered in the darkness, looming.

The cool breeze blowing on the city wall is quite refreshing.

Wang Dou looked at the vast starry sky, and suddenly a shooting star pierced the night sky. Although it was only for a moment, it was so wonderful.

Xie Xiuniang next to her clasped her hands together, not knowing what she was reading.

Her stomach has already swelled up, and she will be able to give birth in a month or so.

Wang Dou smiled and said, "Xiu Niang, what wish did you just make?"

Xie Xiuniang said shyly, "Brother, it's nothing."

After a pause, she said, "I just made a wish and asked God to give me a son."

She said: "I heard from my mother-in-law that when I was pregnant, I saw the stars flashing in the sky. If I make a wish at this time, a boy will be born. This child will also be the reincarnation of the star flashing."

"When the star flashed by, I just made a wish."

Having said that, Xie Xiuniang laughed happily.

Wang Dou smiled and said, "That's a good thing."

The two leaned against the city wall, Wang Dou pointed to the stars in the sky, and explained to her the story of the constellations in the sky. Xie Xiuniang looked at Wang Dou adoringly, and felt that her husband knew everything, which was really amazing.

Xie Xiuniang said, "Brother, can you play the flute for me?"

Later generations Wang Dou liked to play the flute. Some time ago, when Wang Dou went to Zhoucheng, he had an inspiration. He bought a flute and played a few tunes when he was free.

Xie Xiuniang liked the tune he played the most.

Wang Dou said: "Okay."

He took out the flute from his bosom and played it slowly, the melodious sound spread far, far away.

……

On June [-]st of the ninth year of Chongzhen.

With the place where nitrate was collected, nitrate soil was collected to make gunpowder and mines were opened, and the iron production rate of Koujiagou Iron Works increased a lot.Of the 100 miners, now only [-] are needed for mining, and the rest can be freed up to build new iron smelting furnaces, or to help transport coal and iron.

Originally, there were more than 170 bird guns and new-style fire guns in the Shunxiang army, and more than 70 pairs of iron armor.

In April, Li Maosen led the craftsmen to make another 30 firecrackers and more than [-] pairs of armor.

In the month of May, due to the rapid increase of iron materials and the additional manpower dispatched by Wang Dou, Li Maosen led all the craftsmen to make 230 firecrackers and more than 70 pairs of armor.In this way, by the end of June, the armored firecrackers possessed by Shun Xiangbao can greatly exceed the original target set by Wang Dou.

Now the Shunxiang army has a total of 50 firecrackers, not to mention one of the four outposts in Shunxiangbao, even the newly formed sentry sergeant in Jingbianbao, those firecrackers also have one.Now only Dongjiazhuang's team of [-] firecrackers does not have the new firecrackers, but it will not be long before they will also have firecrackers.

By the end of June, Shun Township Castle will have more than 100 guns in stock.

If Wang Dou's history is not mistaken, when Wang Dou was looking at the stars yesterday, Huang Taiji had already sent [-] soldiers of the Eight Banners, including King Azig of Duoluo Wuying County, to attack Ming. At the end of June, they would arrive at the border of Daming.

Fortunately, in the middle of May, the new two sentinel sergeants in Shunxiang Fort, and the new sentry army in Jingbian Fort, had already started martial arts training.

Especially those firecrackers, their daily training, in addition to being familiar with the loading and shooting steps of the firecrackers, and the related queue training when shooting, each person must shoot at least forty rounds of live ammunition.With the fire gun, Wang Dou's idea has also become a reality.

In March, Wang Dou asked Han and North Korea to form a team of sentry scouts who would not accept them at night. Most of these cavalry were originally servants of Shunxiang Castle, and there were also soldiers with outstanding skills from the two sentry veterans. After several months of hard training, they The skills are even more outstanding.

When Wang Dou came to these training grounds that were closed all night, Han and North Korea were training them to throw throwing axes and javelins on horseback, and they were also training to shoot hand guns on horseback.

There was roaring and cheering in the arena, but it was Xie Yike who was riding on a war horse, just running happily.Wang Dou remembered that when he first took office last year, Xie Yike was not very good at riding a horse, and his movements were very clumsy on a horse. He did not expect him to be so flexible now.

He rode his horse and ran, holding a throwing ax in his hand. When he rushed past, there was a sudden sound, a cold light flashed, and the throwing ax had accurately crossed the neck of a scarecrow in front of him.

Everyone applauded, Han Chao smiled at Wang Dou: "Brother Xie has practiced very well after this period of training, and he is now the elite of our team."

Wang Dou was also very happy, he smiled and said: "This is Brother Han, you are well disciplined."

Han Chao clasped his fists and said, "The subordinates dare not take the credit, it all depends on Brother Xie's own efforts."

Wang Dou patted him on the shoulder and shouted to Xie Yike: "Boy, come here."

Xie Yike heard Wang Dou's voice, he dismounted happily, ran over and called, "Brother-in-law."

Wang Dou frowned, Xie Yike touched his head, and said embarrassedly: "My lord."

Wang Dou looked at his strong body and nodded with satisfaction: "You did a good job. I will reward you today. You haven't seen your sister for a while. Let me let you go today."

Xie Yike exclaimed happily: "Thank you brother-in-law!"

……

In mid-June, crops were harvested one after another in Baoan Prefecture, and Wang Dou also breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the Qing soldiers had not yet arrived at this time.

On June 27, the walls of Xinbao in Shun Township and Jingbianbao were completed.

The completed Shunxiangbao New Fort took over from the western fort wall of the Shunxiang Old Fort. The fort wall is about one thousand meters long and eight meters high. The whole body is densely rammed with loess without bricks.On the west side of the fort wall, there is a city gate.Outside the fort wall, a deep moat was dug.

Not only that, but in the surrounding area of ​​Baoxinbao in Shun Township, there are densely packed loess craters, each one to several feet deep.Especially in front of the west city gate, there are not only suspension bridges and ditches, but also many large loess pits. When the military households in the fort want to leave the city, they have to take the zigzag, rugged loess path, which is very difficult to walk.

Although the fort wall is only eight meters high, which is three meters shorter than that of the old fort, when the new fort was built, the loess platform was built first, and the loess platform was more than ten feet high. The fort wall appears slightly higher.

The same is true for the new fort wall of Jingbian Fort.

After the construction of the new castle in Shun Township, the safety of the thousands of newly arrived military households will be guaranteed, and everyone is extremely happy.
On this day, a grand celebration ceremony was held in the castle, and firecrackers were set off to celebrate the completion of the new castle.

No matter in the old castle or the new castle street, there are running water mats on the street this day, and the soldiers and civilians in the castle can eat and drink freely. Wang Dou and other officers are also smiling and toasting along the street.Everyone was laughing, when a cannon shot suddenly made everyone tremble.

Everyone looked towards the direction of the beacon fire at the south gate of the city, but there was another cannon fire, which made everyone tremble again.

The cannon fired five times in a row, and five beams of wolf smoke rose straight from the city, which was really shocking.

Faintly, it seemed that the surrounding area was also ringing with cannons.

Everyone looked at each other, their faces were all pale, Wang Dou didn't say a word, but just led them to the top of the wall.

The flames of war were raging in front of the eyes, and above the piers of the castle that could be seen everywhere, five beams of wolf smoke rose high, and the shrill sound of beating and banging went straight into the hearts of everyone.

Lin Daofu tremblingly said: "Five beacons and five cannons, the slave army is above ten thousand people, above ten thousand people..."

Wang Dou stood up quietly, but at this moment his mood was calm. The Qing soldiers finally arrived. After two years of preparation, he finally waited for this day.

(End of this chapter)