open sea

Chapter 116
Xu Erjin's gunpowder ratio, no, it should be said to be Qi Jiguang's gunpowder ratio, which is very close to the best ratio of modern black powder.

It was also this gunpowder maker who made Chen Mu understand that the best ratio of gunpowder may not be the best, nor may it be the most suitable.

Gunpowder, gunpowder, and letterpowder have different emphasis due to the different needs of weapons. To achieve the best effect, it is necessary to slightly change the ratio according to local conditions.The same ratio of gunpowder can of course be used on all weapons, but the effect may not be the best.

It was not until the gunpowder was granulated that the size of the powder particles could finally be used to determine the speed at which the gunpowder burned. At this time, the power of the gunpowder with the optimal ratio could be highlighted.

Xu Erjin has a special set of brass molds, which are opened and put in strips of cloth, closed and filled with lead water and waited for a while, the melted lead pellets are formed with the cloth.

This is not Qi Jiguang's method, but the whimsy of the gunpowder maker.

Very useful.

On the fourth day of July, Sun Ao, deputy thousand householder, led three hundred households under his command to drive more than [-] boats around the Qijiang River to the back of Huangliangdu, infiltrating Huangliangdu and cutting off the internal and external connections of the thieves. The Hundred Banners marched out in formation, winding along the official road all the way to Huangliangdu.

The county magistrate Zhou Xing took the county officials of Xiangshan County to the side of the horse road. Seeing that this ceremonial system is similar to that of the guards, but they are wearing those nondescript objects, they don't know what to say.

"Chen Qianhu's banner army is so poor?"

Zhou Xing asked in a low voice, watching the flag soldiers passing by with their rucksacks neatly hung on their waists, but without any armor on their bodies, some with knives on their waists and some with spears, but they didn't even have a hat.

Although the fighting spirit is high and the formation is neat, it is not as pleasing to the eye as the army with bright armor.

What's more, the clothes and colors of the carrying equipment are different, and the army formation will look messy no matter how strict it is.

Only military officers above the general banner have iron armor, and even the small banner can only wear a leather armor on the chest, which is very simple.

Zhou Xing was puzzled and said, "Chen Qianhu has been doing a lot of construction work in Xiangshan, and he has never slack in training and preparing his troops. Why doesn't the Banner Army even have decent armor?"

The officials in the same company also sighed constantly. They heard that Chen Qianhu bought cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks, but they didn't expect that the banner army of Xiangshan Guards looked like this.

"Go back and send a message to the state government, asking them to remove some armor, or some copper and iron if there is no armor, this is to send the flag army to die!"

The magistrate of Xiangshan finally knew why Chen Mu repeatedly emphasized that even if he was only facing the local bandits in Huangliangdu, he must practice for three months, because his guard had no iron armor at all.

Chen Mu, who was drifting away, didn't know what Zhou Xing was thinking, so what could he do if he knew?
The state government didn't have extra armor allocated to him, and he couldn't afford to buy it himself.Originally, the iron seized in the warehouse could be used to make some armor and helmets, but the delivery to the state capital was delayed by one month, and it was too late to make armor.

Fortunately, he has Li Dan's help, and he has figured out the core force of the youngest Xu who is entrenched on Lao'an Mountain in Huangliangdu in advance. According to Chen Mu's plan, there would not be too many casualties in attacking Lao Anshan, where dozens of people were entrenched.

Even the dispatch of troops this time is not even considered a war. For the Xiangshan Qianhu Institute, it is at best just training troops and suppressing places.

Xiangshan Qianhusuo is close to Guangzhou but far from Haojing. Huangliangdu is close to Haojing and far from Xiangshan County. They dispatched troops in the morning and marched for more than half a day before reaching Huangliangdu. It is still more than half an hour away from Lao'anshan footsteps.

Seeing that it was getting late, Chen Mu didn't order a forced march, and simply asked his banner troops to set up camp in Jinji, the capital of Huangliang.

Sun Ao, who was the first to advance, had been waiting in Huangliangdu for a long time. When he saw Chen Mu, he clasped his fists first and said, "Qianhu, Huangliangdu has set up checkpoints on all the main roads, and several settlements in the capital have also sent troops to guard and control them."

After all, Sun Ao put down his hands and said: "Thanks to Qianhu's foresight, there are many people in the city who are colluding with thieves, and there are dozens of messengers running around day and night. —Going door to door, more than 200 swords, spears, bows and crossbows were collected, and there were more than 30 firecrackers and bird guns.”

Chen Mu glanced appreciatively at Li Dan who was sitting in the military tent.

It wasn't that he had anticipated the opportunity, but that Li Dan, who knew the details of Xu Lao Yao by his side, saved them from a possible disaster.

Whether there are thousands of households in the entire Huangliang City is a problem, but now there are weapons that can arm two or three hundred people. scattered.

The youngest son of a bitch, even a grassroots bandit like Xu, knows what it means to hide soldiers from the people?

"Willingly search for weapons, you may encounter resistance." Chen Mu guessed that resistance would be indispensable, so he simply asked, "How many casualties are there?"

Sun Ao smiled and said: "Three were injured, and there were dozens of resisters. Some were killed and some were caught. They were all headless flies. Seeing the officers and soldiers set up a trap, they were terrified. How could they dare to resist? Most of them were caught when they fled for the road."

Courage, human courage is not constant, because the environment changes more or less.

Perhaps these villager organizations who have been pirates can explode fearsome fighting power under the leadership of Xu Laoyao, but when they are separated from Xu Laoyao, and the government and army blockade various intersections so that they cannot gather together, their courage is lost. exist.

Since ancient times, the great military strategists have never written only military books. Pointing out the weakness of human nature in war has always been one of the necessary talents for leading an army to win.

Chen Mu paused, and said: "Call the elders of Huangliangdu, declare that the past is past, and let the people stay at home with peace of mind, and don't go out, because if you go out, you will run into danger."

"Martial law on the roads, select four key points and important roads, set up the general flag for warning, three small flags are on duty every four hours, and two small flags are patrolling in rotation. In the past few days, all those who walk in groups and act sneakily will be caught. , carrying weapons on their bodies or fleeing to resist shall be executed.”

"The other two general banners are scattered to Lao'an Mountain. We must find out the mountain road before noon tomorrow."

After finishing speaking, Chen Mu turned around and said, "Dan'er, send an order for Lou Baihu to lead his headquarters to be on duty tonight, and tell Deng Qianhu to bury the pot for cooking tomorrow morning and attack the mountain at noon!"

The yellow beams are not big, and the sentries formed by the four general banners are enough to block the settlements of the villagers everywhere. No matter Lao Anshan or Xiangshan Jiuduyifang, they have no way to escape.Dozens of local thieves, if they dared to escape into the sea, would save Chen Qianhu time and effort—two sailors under the command of another Chen Jun in Guangzhou Mansion are always at sea.

Chen Mu was looking forward to him running to the sea.

But Xu Laoyao obviously didn't run away indiscriminately like he imagined.

At noon the next day, after eating and resting for a while, some bannermen who touched the mountain road fled back and prostrated themselves on the ground and reported to Chen Mu: "Qianhu, the local bandits didn't run away. The little one went up the mountain and saw them. They have knives and guns. , the earth barrier is set up and waiting for us to attack!"

"It's better not to run, not to run."

Chen Mu fastened the last armor button on his body, filled the gunpowder with the gunpowder and the short gun, pinned the gun to his waist, held the short gun in his hand, and stepped out of the tent.

"The thieves on the mountain didn't pay attention to you. He set up a wooden archery tower to wait for you. Have you rested yet?"

As Chen Mu spoke, he raised his finger and swept across the ready-made banner army.

"Get up when you're done resting! Thousands of households obey the order and attack the mountain with Chen!"

(End of this chapter)