That night, Fu Yuan brought back the news that Bai Yuanjie was trying to transfer the craftsman.

In the next two days, in addition to patrolling and setting up cards at Feishui Bridge, Xiaoqi was pounding gunpowder like garlic outside, and it happened that Shao Tingda was transferred to the gunpowder warehouse by Bai Yuanjie in the past to help make sub-medicine, basically Chen Mu's gunpowder did not fall in any process except for the proportion. When the gunpowder dried the next day and was ready to try, the craftsman sent by Bai Yuanjie also arrived.

There are three people, but there is only one craftsman, named Guan Yuangu, who is fifty years old and has gray hair, and his right hand is missing a tail finger for unknown reasons; The other two are not craftsmen now, but Guan Yuangu's Yu Ding, who is also the son of the old craftsman, the eldest son Guan Zun'er and the second son Guan Zunban.

The name sounds majestic, and it feels like there are more scholars than craftsmen. In fact, it is nothing more than Guan Lao'er and Da Lang Erlang.

Outside the inn, the carriage returned the way it came, and the three of the Guans were counting their salutes with the help of several post guards, such as carpentry boxes, ironwork furnaces, mine baskets, and iron ingots. When he came, Bai Baihu said that he came to Anyuan Station to listen to Chen Xiaoqi's intention to make things, and after the things were completed, Bai Baihu also mentioned that he wanted them to stay in Chen Xiaoqi. If it is the employer of Corporal Lixian, this is not a good thing for the Guan family father and son.

In the past, in addition to living as craftsmen, some craftsmen also had to bear the obligation of class craftsmen, that is, they were sent free of charge in the Beijing Military Bureau or other places in March in one year, two or three years. It was said that it was three months, but it would take them three or five months to go from Guangzhou to Beijing, and it would take another three or five months to return, and a year would have passed inside and out. A few years ago, the emperor issued an edict allowing them to exempt the class craftsmen from being sent with four and a half cents of silver per year, but where did the four and five cents of silver come from? This almost meant that they had to pay one stone of rice a year to be exempt from dispatch.

In addition, there are also housekeepers, who have to work for the guard house for ten days a month, and the rest of the time can only take on some odd jobs to make ends meet, and if they don't want to be a housekeeper, they can only hand over a penny of silver every month, so that the guard can hire others to work.

And the identity of being a military craftsman in the guard determines that he can't rely on his craft to open a shop and make a lot of money like the craftsmen inside and outside the city in his life, but can only help the military households repair their armor in their spare time, and the poor military households only have a lot of money? He was only paid for some food a year, not enough money to pay for the government and the guard.

In this case, that is to say, if this Xiaoqi surnamed Chen wants to hire them, he needs to pay a total of 127 yuan of silver to the government and the guard every year, and pay them a monthly salary - 500 tongbao.

The wages are not high, and even more than half the wages of skilled military craftsmen in the market.

The Guan family father and son need such an employer very much, just like Bai Baihu said, this Xiaoqi surnamed Chen is very rich, rich enough to settle their entire year's wages at once!

In Guan Yuangu's heart, he felt that since Chen Xiaoqi was in a hurry to ask Bai Baihu to transfer them, he must be in a hurry, and he might be able to pay some courtesy to Corporal Xian, but the truth didn't seem to be what he imagined.

There were only a few post guards who led them, and they thought that the Guan family father and son were relatives of the officials who came and went, and the post guards led by them asked with a smile: "Old man, what is your trip?" ”

"Yes, Lao Er was invited by Qingyuan Wei Bai Baihu to come under Chen Xiaoqi. I heard that Chen Xiaoqi was on duty at Anyuan Station, I don't know ......" Guan Yuangu reached out and asked, "Where is Chen Xiaoqi?" ”

"It's Chen Junye's subordinates!"

After a few days, the post guard named Ke Ze'er was already familiar with Chen Mu and his party, and pointed to the official road on the east side of the post house with a smile: "Old man, Chen Junye is in the forest, and I will lead you over." ”

A few people walked not far before they saw a few young men dressed as military households on the side of the road, some pounding medicine and some covering their ears, followed by a bang.

"Bump!"

Gunsmoke rises from the mouth.

In Chen Mu's words, Lao Guan's family was fortunate to see the world's most scientifically proportioned gunpowder in this era sounded for the first time in the forest of Anyuan Post Station, a subordinate of Qingyuanwei, the capital of Guangzhou. It's just that apparently, the performance of gunpowder is not so satisfactory.

In order to avoid exploding, Chen Mu asked Shi Qi to aim at the target fifty paces away with a better quality bird's gun, and did not load the gun tube with three coins as usual, but only two coins. In Chen Mu's expectation, a more scientifically proportioned gunpowder is used as a propellant, and two coins should be enough to achieve the effect of three coins.

Not really.

With a bang, the lead shot crossed a distance of fifty paces and accurately hit the pre-aimed tree trunk, and even in Chen Mu's position, he could see a piece of wood chips splashing on the trunk. But Wei Balang ran over, but instead of using a knife to buckle the lead pill on the tree, he lowered his head and searched under the tree for a while, and then happily raised his hand high for them to see.

Apparently, the lead shot failed to break through the bark and penetrate the trunk, leaving a small crater in the trunk and falling to the ground.

Chen Mu took a deep breath and said to Shi Qi, who was holding the gun: "Three coins, thirty steps." ”

In his expectation, even if he had less than three percent of the medicine, it should not be enough to shoot through the bark of a tree fifty paces away, and even if the original gunpowder was less loaded, it would have been able to achieve this effect. Not being able to hit the trunk means that you can't inflict penetrating damage to the enemy after the armor is pierced.

Did you overestimate the explosive power of the optimal ratio of gunpowder, or did you go wrong in the process of pounding gunpowder?

These problems were solved after the charge of the three coins was punched out by Shi Qi, which was louder, less smoky, and recoiled, and the lead shot accurately hit the trunk of the tree thirty steps away, Wei Balang ran over and looked for a long time, and finally found a transparent hole in the thick trunk of the bowl, and the lead pill did not know where to fly.

"Pierced!"

Chen Mu's attention was not on the tree trunk that hit, but on the bird gun in Shi Qi's hand, just now he had been worried that the bird gun he got from Zhang Yongshou would not be able to stop the gunpowder explosion and explode, but now it seems that as long as the bird gun of the Ming Dynasty is done well, the quality seems to be okay.

Relieved in his heart, Chen Xiaoqi suddenly found that there were three outsiders standing next to Lin Bian Road, just as he looked at it with puzzled eyes, the old man led by him arched his hand and said: "Lao Er was sent by a hundred households, I heard that Chen Xiaoqi can make a sharp weapon for cutting rice?" ”

"It turned out to be a military craftsman, what do you call my husband? Come on this side please. Chen Mu said and walked forward quickly, he needed a craftsman too much, waved his hand and asked Shi Qi to carefully put a few more guns to test whether the barrel was durable, took out two pieces of wooden board outlined by charcoal, and stepped forward and smiled at the craftsman: "I didn't expect Baihu to send the craftsman so quickly, old man, look, the structure on this board may be understood?" One is a long sickle and a cloth bag to hold the rice; The second is the rice bed, which can beat the ears of rice and peel off the rice - it may be made? ”

The sickle plus the bag is his idea, but the rice bed is not, this thing was available in the Ming Dynasty, and even the Ming Dynasty had a more advanced pedal rice stripping machine than the rice bed, Chen Mu only knew that Qingyuanwei did not have it, and that was enough.