Dominate the Country

The waiting time is always so hard. Xu Shilian and Wang Jun were fighting each other, and Li Zhao, who was far away in Lushan, was so anxious that he wanted to intervene and shout: Don't make any money, I'll pay for it!

But Li Zhao really couldn't do that.

So Li Zhao had to wait. This wait lasted until the end of September. The Ruzhou Camp, which had completed the assembly, finally got a price that satisfied them. With hundreds of men with signs, dragging two Weiyuan General Cannons, they slowly set off on the road to Lushan.

It's not that Xu Shilian and his men didn't want to drag better cannons, but that the Ruzhou Camp was not qualified to equip the General Cannon.

There was not a single 2,000-jin General Cannon in the entire Nanyang Town. This thing only appeared in the Mancheng and the border army, as well as key cities such as the capital and the provincial capital. Nanyang Town is located in the heart of the Central Plains. Why does it need such a sharp firearm as the General Cannon? Is it useful?

Whether from the perspective of practicality or from the perspective of suppressing the Green Camp’s military power and controlling the balance of military power, the Qing government would not deploy such a powerful thing as the General Cannon in Henan. Even compared with European artillery, the General Cannon is already far behind.

The Weiyuan General Cannon is an absolutely small cannon, weighing only 330 kilograms. The cannon body is made of copper, about six feet and six inches long (about 2.2 meters), and the barrel caliber is about three inches and three fen (about 110 mm). It is an absolutely light cannon. With a two-wheeled gun carriage, the ideal range is 400-500 meters. In fact, it is a blessing to be able to shoot two or three hundred meters.

And this was in the early and middle period of Qianlong's reign. The Qing Dynasty's officialdom had not yet gone through the disasters of Heshen and adults. If it was in the later period, or in the Jiaqing and Daoguang years, such a small cannon could shoot a hundred meters. The shoddy workmanship and material and the shoddy workmanship on gunpowder, the impact on firearms is unimaginable.

The Chen family, who was temporarily isolated to the west of Fenghuangtai, did not know this information because Xu Pengqiu did not Did not tell the Chen family about this.

Not only that, the "paving the way" that the Xu family had just started was also stopped by Xu Pengchun, the top leader of the Xu family.

Whether your Chen family really has 3,000 laborers and craftsmen, you should deal with the following crisis first. After passing this threshold, the Chen family will be qualified to take the next step.

As for the Xu family not telling the Chen family about this news, Xu Pengchun didn't want to tell it. Why did the Xu family tell the Chen family about the news? Why did he take this risk? The Xu family has a position in Lushan County. The Xu family can do some things that other families can't do. But some behaviors that cross the line, the Xu family should also stay away from.

Luyang Pass, Gao Family.

Ever since Gao Pengqi came back from Ruzhou and beat a hair in Lushan County, he has been sick since returning to Luyang Pass. The direct descendants of the Gao family are all honest. Hiding in Luyang Pass, being a "filial son and grandson" in front of Gao Pengqi.

No one cares whether Gao Pengqi is really sick or faking it. This is a gesture made by the Gao family. Just like Chen Ming's father-in-law has closed the school where he has devoted more than ten years of hard work, and is also "sick at home".

"Dad, Ruzhou Camp has dispatched hundreds of officers and soldiers, and dragged two cannons. This is not comparable to the militia that is not even as good as private salt dealers. If my uncle is completely unaware, he will suffer a great loss suddenly. Do you think we should..." Gao Pengqi's eldest son Gao Yanjing whispered to his father.

Although the Gao family was cheated by the Chen family, Gao Pengqi did fall ill after returning to Luyang Pass from Lushan County. The entire Gao family was really dissatisfied with the Chen family's "falling into the wild". But after calming down Think about it, becoming a bandit is really a way for the Chen family to save themselves, otherwise the Chen family would have been swallowed up by Chang Rui and Li Zhao.

The Gao family still has feelings for the Chen family, and even the connection is still there.

At least Gao Pengqi's position seems unlikely to be passive before the Ruzhou government has not wiped out the Chen family. Gao Yanjing is the eldest of the next generation of the Gao family. When Gao Pengqi was away, he was responsible for taking care of the entire Gao family. In his eyes, the Chen family has a lot of existence. It's because of the close relationship between the two families and because of real interests.

The Ruzhou militia, which claims to have 800 people, could not move forward in front of Fenghuangtai. In a small battle, the Chen family broke the morale of the militia. This news could not be concealed from many local snakes in Lushan County. The environment where the Gao family was originally excluded and squeezed became comfortable. Gao Yanjing knew why!

"Don't act rashly. This Lushan County is still the world of the Qing Dynasty. Don't underestimate Chang Rui, he is a poisonous snake." Gao Pengqi decisively rejected his son's meaning. He couldn't take the risk of the entire Gao family. Who knows if Chang Rui has sent someone to watch them? "You find an opportunity to send a message to the Huang family, and ask them not to move lightly." As for the Li family, forget it. Gao Pengqi didn't think Li Xiucai would make any "extra" moves.

So, when Tumenji was controlled by the militia, the Gao family and the Huang family were all dead, and the Xu family "turned a blind eye", the Chen family was deaf and blind. Chen Hui really didn't know that hundreds of officers and soldiers from Ruzhou Camp had dragged their cannons south.

Of course, in the vast land east of Fenghuangtai, there were also real Chen family members. Chen Guang, who had escaped from Zhoujiakou, was now hiding in Xuzhou. Of course, he knew the news that Ruzhou Camp was moving south, but the tragedy was that he didn't know that the Chen family didn't know such news!

Tiezhai Parade Ground.

The troops assembled and began to replace equipment. Yes, replace equipment.

Not everyone has changed to muskets. To be honest, the Chen family now has 200 to 300 muskets. The firearms workshop was originally small in number. As the Chen family's materials and manpower have shifted to firearms production, the total number of people in the firearms workshop has reached 100. But some of these 100 people are in the artillery department. The total number of people in the musket department is only 63, and there are three groups of long and short guns and rifled guns. The production capacity is worrying. For such a long time, only more than 200 muskets have been stored in the Chen family arsenal.

Of course, the current strength of the Chen family is also very weak. Compared with the current strength of the Chen family, the muskets in stock are enough to arm most of the Chen family's troops. However, the Chen family has guns but no gunpowder!

The artillery unit is a big consumer of gunpowder, especially when testing and formulating gun tables, which requires hundreds of firings to complete. Chen Ming never thought that he would stand against the Qing court so early. Gunpowder was stored, but it was not listed as the first necessity. As a result, there are only more than 500 barrels of gunpowder left in the mountain. One barrel of granulated black gunpowder is 50 jin, which is 60 jin. More than 500 barrels of gunpowder only have less than 30,000 jin. This is the total gunpowder reserve including the mines.

It looks like a lot, but it is not enough.

Therefore, the Chen family's firearms troops only have a certain number of artillery and relatively elite but small number of musketeers. Most people still have to wear breastplates, pick up swords, shields, and spears to become standard cold weapon troops.