In September, at the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, when the mountains and forests near and far are gradually dyed gray, Jishan County ushered in the last lively moment of the previous year. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The morning star flag on a black background fluttered in the wind, and a large caravan of horses gathered here, as well as rice merchants who came with the boats, and the bustling crowd mostly carried longbows and swords. After a few years of operation of the Black Flag, after talking with the Ni people, several trade routes near Liangshan have been relatively peaceful, but for the merchants of the Wu Dynasty, trade between Liangshan and the outside world is still a dangerous thing that cannot be carried out without courage, strength and background.

With the transport of horses from the Wu Dynasty, most of them are grain, cotton and linen, as well as copper and iron, and those transported away are often mainly iron cannons, but also beautifully processed bows, crossbows, swords and other things, often bring hundreds of pack horses of goods, and bring back several iron and wood cannons, some cannonballs - for the outside world, the Black Flag Army has exquisite craftsmanship, although the iron cannon is expensive, but now it is a sharp weapon that the outside army has to buy, even if it is the original wooden cannon, after the Black Flag Army mixed steel and many crafts "upgraded", Stability and durability have also been greatly increased, and even if used as a consumable, it can more or less guarantee victory in future battles.

The three-year bloody battle of Xiaocanghe is the best propaganda for the new weapon of "cannon", and the confrontation with the Jurchens will not talk about it first, pseudo-Qi, Tian Hu and others millions of people came one after another, and as soon as the artillery sounded, countless soldiers were scared to the ground and were scared to pee, and according to recent intelligence, the artillery of the Jurchen side has also begun to enter the military ranks, and if anyone does not have this thing in the future, the war will basically be eliminated.

In addition to the various forces of the Wu Dynasty, Liu Yu's regime in the north is actually one of the customers of Xiaocanghe's current transactions. At present, this line is relatively hidden, and the transaction volume is not large, mainly because the distance between resources is too long, the cost is too great, and it is difficult to ensure the smooth transaction -- since the Wu Dynasty army secretly bought artillery from Xiaocanghe, the warlords of the puppet Qi have also sent several caravans, and they do not transport grain, but are willing to transport strategic materials such as steel to Xiaocanghe in exchange for iron cannons, so that there is more exchange.

Xiao Canghe pretended not to know about the forces behind these transactions, but last year, Guan Shihu, the general of Qi State, sent an army of 500 people to transport iron ingots over in exchange for twenty iron cannons, and this army transported iron ingots and directly joined the Black Flag Army. Guan Shihu was furious, and sent someone to secretly come over to negotiate with Xiao Canghe to no avail, so he spread rumors in private, and the generals of Qi State heard about this and secretly laughed, but the trade between the two sides still failed to work normally after all, and it was maintained in a state of piecemeal small fights.

The trade with the Dali side was not only maintained on the equipment of war.

Although it was the strong attitude of the Black Flag Army that initially opened the door of Dali, and the most attractive materials were these steel equipment, but soon after, the demand for military equipment on the Dali side had declined, and the corresponding rise was a large number of beautifully printed, almost "artistic" books, decorative objects, perfumes, glass containers and other items in this era. In particular, the well-papered "collector's edition" of Buddhist scriptures is in short supply in the aristocratic market in Dali.

Although the upper echelons of Dali always wanted to close and restrict the trade of the Black Flag, when the door was knocked open, the traders of the Black Flag lobbied and exaggerated in Dali, making the trade door impossible to close at all, and the Black Flag was able to obtain a large amount of food to solve the internal needs.

At this time, Jishan is already a city with a total of nearly 60,000 residents and soldiers, the city is distributed in a long and narrow form from north to south along the small river, there are military camps, fields, and dwellings in the upper reaches, and the middle section is the commercial area by the river wharf, where the office of the Black Flag personnel is, and the mountains to the west are concentrated workshops, smoking, smoking, and gun factories, and there are also some military, glass, and paper printing factories in the downstream, and more than ten water turbines are connected by the river, and the chimneys erected in each factory area are spewing black smoke outward. It is a novel scene that is difficult to see in this era, and it also has an amazing momentum.

Since Ning Yi came to this era, from his own exploration of physical and chemical experiments, to the research of small workshop craftsmen, and experienced the coercion and baptism of war, more than ten years of time, today's Jishan is the industrial foundation of Black Flag.

Due to the participation of the residents of the northwest and the refugees from the north, there are some small workshops and various restaurants run by themselves, but most of them are the industries currently operated by the Black Flag.

Nearly 9,000 Black Flag elites are gathered here to ensure that the technology here will not be easily probed away by the outside world, and it also makes the dart masters, soldiers, and Ni people who come to Jishan dare not make mistakes here easily, no matter what kind of background they have.

Over the past few years, although the specific technology has not been leaked, the Black Flag has been open to the outside world for the basic concept of Gewu. In the market, pamphlets such as "A Preliminary Study of Gewu" and "The Principle of All Things" originally compiled by Ning Yi and others were sold very cheaply, and the basic principles of physics, chemistry, and mathematics finally rendered that as long as there is enough computing power and in-depth exploration, the prospect of everything in heaven and earth can be exhausted...... The development of these theories in Europe may be extremely tortuous, but in the East, people do not have many taboos in terms of Gewu, and Ning Yi has already made such a big rebellion as killing the king, so the outside world can look at these things more calmly.

These pamphlets flowed out of the shadows, and the forces of the Wu Dynasty, Dali, the Central Plains, and the Jurchens had studied a lot in private, but the most important ones were probably Junwu's Gewuyuan, and the Jurchen Wanyan Xiyin's side. Dali is a peaceful country, there is little interest in making weapons, the people in the Central Plains are not happy, the warlords have a strong purpose, even if they take a few of these pamphlets and throw them to the craftsmen, the craftsmen who have no foundation are also confused, as for the many officials and Confucians of the Wu Dynasty, they are often burned to ashes after reading them at will, on the one hand, they feel that this kind of fallacy and heresy is not good in the world, and they obviously have no reverence for the world, and secondly, they are also afraid of leaving a handle on people. Therefore, even if the literary style of Nanbu is prosperous, it is okay to insult the country at many literary meetings, but the discussion of these things is still a great rebellion.

Gathering mountains and one place, the discussion of Gewuxue within the Black Flag industrial system has formed an atmosphere, which was first rendered by Ning Yi, and later by the propaganda personnel of the Political Department, and now, people have stood at the source and vaguely seen the physical future. For example, building a cannon and piercing the mountain with one cannon, such as the prototype of the steam engine that Ning Yi has foreseen and is currently the focus of the attack, the chariot that can gallop without horses in iron armor, the giant airship that is larger in size and equipped with guns, etc., many people have believed that even if they can't do it now, they will definitely appear in the future.

Located near the upstream barracks, in the Jishan Gewu Research Institute of the Engineering Department of the Huaxia Army, a discussion meeting on Gewu was going on. At this time, the engineering department of the Huaxia Army included not only industry, but also agriculture, wartime logistics support and other part of the matter, the research institute of the engineering department was divided into two parts, the main body was in Hedeng, which was internally called the upper courtyard, and the other half was arranged in Jishan, generally known as the lower courtyard.

In the past few years, this is probably the most extraordinary seminar for the research institute, and after a few years, Ning Yi finally appeared in front of everyone.

“…… As for the future, I think the most important node lies in an independent power system, as mentioned earlier, the steam engine...... We need to solve the problem of cutting steel materials, castings, lubrication, and sealing...... In the next few years, fighting a war may still be the most important thing for us at the moment, but we might as well pay attention to it as a technology accumulation...... In order to solve the problem of exploding, we need to have better steel, the carbon content is more reasonable, and in order to have greater shell power, the shell and the bore must fit more closely. These things are used in muskets, and the bullets of muskets can reach more than 200 zhang, although there is no accuracy, but the big chamber that was blown up, one or two failures, are all the accumulation of technology in this area...... In addition, in the application of the waterwheel, we have improved a lot in terms of lubrication, and every link has improved a lot......"

“…… In addition to physics, in chemistry, explosions are already quite dangerous, and everyone in charge of this should pay attention to safety...... But there must be a way to use it safely, and there must be a way to make it on a large scale......"

“…… In terms of agriculture, don't always feel useless, we have been running around in the past few years, and this aspect of things needs time to precipitate, and we have not yet seen practical results, but I think that this is the most important part of the future......"

The seminar was basically a progress report on the current research of the Huaxia Army, and after the report, Ning Yi made a summary in front of him. More than 200 people below, most of them are craftsmen, many of them were not even literate at first, in the first few years, Ning Yi could only explain the task, but there was no need to discuss, in the last three or five years, the initial enlightenment of Gewu was gradually completed, and some of the young students taught by Ning Yi himself were also added, and the meeting had the meaning of this kind of prospect. Some people below have shining-eyed eyes and nodding their heads, while others blink and try to understand.

At the back of the hall, thirteen-year-old Ning Xi sat there, holding a pen and burying his head in writing, and sitting next to him, there was also Min Chuyi, a girl who was inseparable from Ning Xi after learning martial arts with Hong. She blinked, her face was full of expressions of "I don't understand it, but I feel very powerful", and she seemed a little restrained about sitting next to Ning Xi.

Ning Xi had an innocent temperament when she was a child, and she often played with Min Chuyi, and for a while, she was an inseparable playmate. Seeing this situation, Ning Yi and the others also felt that it was a good thing, so Hongti accepted the junior high school with good qualifications as a disciple, and also hoped that Ning Xi could be protected by his side.

When they grew older, the personalities of the two gradually grew up different, Xiaocanghe fought for three years, everyone went south, and then the news of Ning Yi's death came out, in order to prevent the child from inadvertently telling the truth to be discovered, even Ning Xi, his family never told him the truth. After his father "died", Xiao Ningxi was determined to protect his family and immersed himself in studying, but he was more or less silent than before.

Min Chuyi's family was initially poor, and her parents were honest, even though Ning Yi and the others didn't care, but gradually, she also regarded herself as Ning Xi's guard. By the age of twelve or thirteen, she had already developed, a head taller than Ning Xi, Ning Xi took care of her brothers and family, and got along well with other children in the Black Flag Army, but she gradually felt awkward about Min Chuyi by her side, and wanted to throw the other party away from time to time. In this way, although Tan'er likes Chuyi quite much, and even has the idea of letting the two get married, Ning Xi and Min Chuyi are currently in a rather awkward period of getting along.

Recently, Ning Yi returned "suddenly", and Ning Xi, who once thought that his father was dead, was in a state of confusion. The last time he saw Ning Yi was four years ago, and his mood at the age of nine was completely different from that when he was thirteen, he wanted to get close but was mostly a little shy and annoyed by such crampedness. In this era, the monarch and the minister, the father and son, the juniors treat the elders, there is a large set of etiquette, Ning Xi has already received this kind of education, Ning Yi treats the children, but in the past, it was a modern mentality, relatively free and casual, and the kind that can play together from time to time, at this time, for the thirteen-year-old awkward boy, he is also a little overwhelmed. Within half a month after returning home, both parties could only feel the distance and let it be.

Get along with other children relatively well, ten-year-old Ning Ji is good at martial arts, swordsmanship and boxing skills are quite good, recently missing a few teeth, pursed his mouth all day long and did not speak, very cold, but he has no resistance to the stories of the rivers and lakes, and he also admires his father - Ning Yi told the children at home about the deeds of killing Lu Tuo and others on the road:

“…… He relied on his martial arts and wanted to get ahead, but in the fight in the woods, they had gradually lost the wind. Lu Tuo shouted there: 'You guys go quickly, they can't keep me', wanting his henchmen to escape, and a few knives to split your Uncle Du and Uncle Fang...... I blocked him, exchanged two moves with him, and then struck him on the head with a palm that turned the sky, and before his henchmen had run far, I saw him fall...... Now, we've got a few ...... back this time."

Ning Ji and the five-year-old Ning He's eyes lit up and admired it, and then Ning Yi told them about what they had seen and heard about the land of Tianhu in the north, and the competition between Lin Xichan and Shi Jin: "The fat monk didn't dare to come, otherwise he would look good" Yunyun.

Eight-year-old Wenwen is as her name suggests, she is a quiet little girl who loves to listen to stories, she has been carefully taught by Yunzhu, and since she was a child, she felt that her father was the most talented person in the world, and she didn't need Ning Yi to spread rumors and brainwash again. In addition, the five-year-old Ning Ke has a warm personality, and the two sisters Ning Shuang and Ning Ning are only three years old, and most of them get along with Ning Yi after two days.

On this day, Ning Yi came to Jishan to show up, and among the children, Ning Xi was the one who could understand Gewu and was also interested in it, and everyone walked all the way, and after the meeting, they walked around the streets and alleys of Jishan. The market not far away is looking lively, a group of vendors are blocked in the former county government of Jishan, the mood is intense, Ning Yi took the child to the nearby teahouse to see the excitement, but recently the iron cannon of Jishan announced a price increase, attracting everyone to inquire.

Black Flag's government officials are clearing their suspicions.

“…… At the beginning of July, everyone knew about the turmoil in Tianhu's forces, after the Tianhu change, the 'hungry ghost' launched an attack north of the Yellow River, and in the south, Xiangyang fought for the second time, and the Beiwei army defeated the Jin and Qi coalition forces. Although the Jurchens have reprimanded Shen Zhen internally, there has been no action so far, and according to the reaction of the Jurchen court, it is likely that there will be a big move......"

“…… Outside, you can say that the Wu Dynasty and the Huaxia Army do not share the same sky, but even if we kill the emperor, we still have a common enemy. If the Jurchens come, we don't want the Wu Dynasty to be defeated, once it fails, it will be a misery and the heavens and the earth will be overturned! In order to deal with this, we have decided that all the workshops will go all out to rush to work and start preparing for the war regardless of the loss! The price of iron cannons has risen by 30%, and at the same time, our scheduled shipments have also increased by 50%, you can not accept it, and when the fight is over, the price will naturally be lowered, and it will not hurt for you to buy it again-"

“…… The situation is critical, the decision to increase the price, the black flag will not be changed in two years, and the price of iron cannons will only rise and will not fall! As before, prices are subject to change, and everything is subject to our agreement at the time of signing the contract. You go back and tell the adults behind you, buy it or not, we don't force it......"

Where are you willing to accept this kind of explanation, all kinds of voices in front of you are noisy, some people reprimand the black flag for sitting on the ground and raising the price, and some people say that in the past, everyone went to the mountains to transport grain, but now the black flag is ruthless, and naturally there are people who rush to sign a contract with the black flag, and the scene is noisy and lively. Ning Xi looked at all this, frowned, and asked after a while: "Dad, are you going to fight?" ”

"It's still early, don't worry."

"Hmm." Ning Xi nodded sullenly, and after a while, "Dad, I'm not worried." ”

Ning Yi looked at the children beside him, suddenly smiled, and understood. For a long time, the propaganda of the Black Flag has been tragic and generous, even if it is a child, there are not many people who are afraid of war, I am afraid that it is the mainstream who wants to fight. He patted Ning Xi on the shoulder: "This war may end after your generation is successful, but don't worry, we will defeat those bastards." ”

"Hmm." Ning Xi nodded sullenly again.

Everyone looked upstairs for a while, and Ning Yi said to Ning Xi, "Why don't you go out and have fun first?" Ning Xi nodded: "Okay." ”

"Take the first year of junior high school to the market, you are a boy, you have to learn to take care of people."

Ning Yi said with a smile. When he said this, Ning Xi became a little cramped, a young man of twelve or thirteen years old always seemed awkward to the girls around him, the two of them originally had some heart barriers, but when Ning Yi said this, it was even more obvious. watched the two go out, and sent a few more entourages around him, and when the door was closed, only him and Hongti were left in the room.

There was still some noise outside the window, Ning Yi sat down on the chair and opened his hand to Hongti, who just pursed his lips and came over to sit in his arms. Ning Yi does not follow the law of etiquette, for the two of the old husband and wife, such intimacy has long been accustomed to.

In the two years that Ning Yi was away from Hedeng County, Yunzhu and Jin'er and others more or less went to see him secretly, but only Tan'er and Hongti had not seen each other for four years. On the day they first arrived home, Ning Yi and Tan'er went to Su Yu's tomb to pay respects, and Hongti led people to further clean up the moles, and when the matter was done, late at night, Ning Yi waited for her to come back, whispered for a while, and then willfully pulled her and Tan'er to sleep together.

Hongti and Tan'er didn't refuse, but the three of them were lying together, but they didn't have the mood to mess around, holding hands and chatting in a low voice until the early hours of the morning, snuggling up to each other and falling asleep, and the next day, Ning Yi felt that it was more emotional to sleep separately.

The family has been separated for too long, and they also have an adaptation period with each other, after Ning Yi came back, he was not idle, these days while doing things while looking at the few people around him, now it can be regarded as stealing half a day of leisure, Ning Yi usually likes to see the shy and obedient appearance of this martial arts wife, but sitting here today, he didn't do any small actions between husband and wife, listening to the sound outside, he poured himself a cup of tea, chatting with Hongti, while waiting for something to happen.

"I always feel that it will be a little bad to calculate my own children." Hongti rested her chin on his shoulder and whispered.

“…… Oh, yes. Ning Yi took a sip of tea.

……

Ning Xi walked through the street one after the other, the thirteen-year-old boy was actually delicate, his brows were slightly locked, and he looked a little calm and majestic, but his eyes were a little annoyed at this time. As she walked through a relatively secluded spot, the girl behind her leaned over.

"You ......" Ning Xi didn't want to go side by side with her, he is now in a sense, although he can be regarded as the "prince" of the Black Flag Army, but in fact he is not too squeamish - at least not on the surface - he is usually easy-going, likes to help others, and follows the suffering and dead scenes when everyone goes south, so that he cherishes the people around him very much, and many times he helps to do things, and he is not afraid of hard work, and he is unwilling to stop until he is covered in stinky sweat.

It's just that for the girls around me, it's a different emotion. He didn't like the idea that his peers were always thinking of "protecting him", as if she was inferior to himself, and everyone grew up together, why should she protect me, and what if she died if she met an enemy—of course, if someone else followed, he often didn't have such awkward emotions, and the thirteen-year-old boy didn't notice these things at the moment.

"Someone is following...... "Chu Yi lowered his head and whispered. The young man's eyes calmed down, and he looked at the alley in front of him, ready to shout at the first sight of the patrolman.

However, things happened faster than he thought.

The figure behind suddenly approached, and Min Chu turned around and drew his sword: "What person-" The man's voice was hoarse: "Haha, Ning Yi's son?" ”

The figures were staggered, and the sword light of the girl who had obtained the true inheritance of the red ti flew, but the man's fierce fist wind had knocked down a shed, and wood chips were splashing. Ning Xi walked forward and shouted: "Spy-come-" picked up a wooden stick on the side of the road and turned around, Min Chu said: "Ning Xi go quickly-" Before the words fell, the person was imprinted on her shoulder.

Min Chu took a few steps back, almost hitting Ning Xi, and said, "Go!" Ning Xi shouted: "Take him down!" Holding the wooden stick, he hit, but it was only two moves, the wooden stick was broken by a punch, and the huge force surged, Ning Xi's chest was tight, his hands hurt, and the man's second punch slammed in.

Min Chuyi rushed up from the side, the long sword forced back the fist, Ning Xi took two steps back, Min Chuyi also exchanged two moves with the masked man in a hurry, and the fist wind roared like a river rushing, and it was about to hit Ning Xi's head. He has been taught by famous teachers since he was a child, and in terms of martial arts, he has studied with masters like Hongti, Watermelon, and Chen Fan, even if his talent in this area is not high and his interest is not strong, it is enough to see that the other party's skills are terrifying, at this moment, Ning Xi just waved the broken stick and returned the stick, Min Chu pounced over and hugged him, and then the two of them flew out, and blood sprayed on his face.

"Let's ...... away"

The girl's voice was almost moaning, and Ning Xi fell to the ground, her head going blank for a moment. After all, he has not been on the battlefield, facing the crushing of absolute strength, where can he react quickly in the moment of life and death. At this moment, I could only hear someone shouting from behind: "Who-" "Stop!" ”

The sound of a fight rang out, and another one after another, and the assassin flew away, fleeing out of sight in an instant. Ning Xi sat up from the ground, his hands were trembling, he picked up the girl's soft body, watched the blood come out of her mouth, dyed half of her face, the girl smiled at him hard, he was stunned for a while, and tears flowed out: "Hey, hey, you...... Doctor, come on......"

After a while, he tried his best to gather his mind, and when he saw how the girl was doing, he picked her up, and ran out of the alley while shouting......

……

“…… Oh, yes. In the room of the teahouse, Ning Yi took a sip of tea, "It's a pity...... There is no normal environment for him to grow up. There are some setbacks, let's simulate them first......"

Hongti looked at him for a while: "You are also afraid." ”

"Well, I'm scared." Ning Yi held her hand and used force, and after a while, "I'll tell him when he's thirty." ”

The sound of commotion in the distance came, Hongti stood up, Ning Yi nodded at her, and his wife's figure had already jumped out of the window, flying along the eaves and tiles, and disappeared into the streets and alleys in the distance after a few ups and downs.

Ning Yi pushed the door out, frowning, the people around him had already followed, and he went down quickly: "What's wrong, tell everyone to hold their positions, what are you panicking...... The surroundings have already begun to move.

The early winter sun hangs lazily in the sky, and Liangshan is like spring all year round, without scorching heat and severe cold, so winter is also very good. Perhaps thanks to the weather, the assassin incident that occurred on this day did not cause much damage, and Min Chuyi, who was protecting Ning Xi, suffered some minor injuries, but he just needed a good rest for a few days before he would get better...... (To be continued.) )