4. Rare talents

(Ask for favorites and subscriptions, not much more.) ）

Each person is paid for their work based on the number of things they build, and how easy it is to craft them.

Settle their wages once a month, but the wages are not very much, one or two taels of silver, but they have already made all the craftsmen grateful to Dade.

But Li Zixiao's requirement for them is that when everyone creates an item, they must leave their respective number on the item for future verification.

If it is found that someone has made a defective product, the responsibility of the maker will be traced.

After listening to the rules of the cottage, these craftsmen agreed without saying a word.

In fact, Li Zixiao's regulations are not new, and those weapon manufacturing bureaus that built weapons in the government in the past also stipulated this.

Even this rule can be traced back to the Qin Dynasty, which also required craftsmen to do so.

Therefore, the quality of the weapons of the Qin army far exceeded the quality of the weapons of the six kingdoms of Shandong, and finally the Qin Dynasty won the world.

However, in the years of the Ming Dynasty, this system has long become a dead letter. 、

Because the officials in charge of the manufacturing bureau of the imperial court were often greedy for raw materials, so that the craftsmen could not obtain enough fine raw materials.

It is difficult for a skillful woman to cook without rice, and even if those craftsmen are excellent, they will not be able to create qualified and sufficient weapons without sufficient raw materials.

So much so that the system set by the imperial court has become a dead letter, and the quality of the armor created is not up to par at all, which has also become a stubborn disease, and it is difficult to return!

But the White Dragon Army here is really to implement the system, and the craftsmen are naturally willing to accept this management method.

And the piecework wage is very fair, take more for what you do, take less for what you do, and don't take it if you don't do it, everyone has nothing to say.

What's more, the White Dragon Army is quite good to them, not to mention three meals a day, and they are full, and the treatment is straight after the food treatment of the soldiers of the White Dragon Army.

Even their wives and children are in charge of two meals a day, which makes them very satisfied, so as soon as these people arrive at the White Snake Village, they devote themselves to work and are in full swing.

After inquiring about each craftsman, Li Zixiao finally found a craftsman who could make a bird's gun.

Among the blacksmiths they recruited this time, there were a total of six people who had done this business, and one of them, a blacksmith named Tie Pingliang, was highly valued by Li Zixiao.

This person was a craftsman who fled back from Liaodong, and was once a blacksmith in the official army of Liaodong, specializing in making bird guns for the Ming army in Liaodong.

A year ago, when the Tartars entered the customs, the officials and troops were defeated and fled, and these craftsmen were either taken captive by the Tartars or scattered into the interior.

But because these craftsmen themselves are lowly people, they are not welcomed anywhere.

So much so that even after they fled, they were discriminated against everywhere and could not find a stable livelihood at all.

In addition, they themselves are artisan households that have left their nationality, and the government will not be polite to them, and if they are caught, they will often be imprisoned.

There are even officials who, after catching such artisans as them, will directly reduce them to slavery and sell them to some large families as slaves.

So Tie Pingliang had to go all the way south, and later ran from Shanxi to Henan, but all the family members he brought with him starved to death on the way.

In the end, he was left alone, struggling to survive, if it wasn't for Li Zixiao giving porridge outside the mountain pass this time, it is estimated that Tie Pingliang would not have survived for a few days.

Basically, it can be said that it was Li Zixiao who gave Tie Pingliang another chance to live, which made Tie Pingliang swear in his heart a long time ago that he would sell his life to the White Dragon Army.

When Tie Pingliang was asked separately by Li Zixiao, he told his life experience one by one.

When Li Zixiao asked him if he could build a bird gun, Tie Pingliang patted his chest and said confidently: "Big boss, please rest assured."

When our Tie family was in Liaodong, we specially built this for the official army, and I also learned the craft from my father, and I have been doing this for more than ten years.

It's not a small bragging, at that time in our place, no one really dared to say that it was better than the bird gun I made, as long as the general gave enough iron material to the small one, the small one could make a good bird gun for the big boss.

It's not just birds, I saw that there are artillery in our cottage, and it just so happened that the small ones had also cast artillery for the officers and soldiers, and it was difficult for me to build bird guns and artillery.

However, it is very expensive to build a bird gun, and a bird gun needs to use up at least six catties of refined iron, and ten catties of coarse iron can be obtained after repeated beating.

In this way, a bird gun will use sixty catties of crude iron, if the iron given is not enough, even the small ones will not be able to create a fine bird guns, even if they are immortals.

Therefore, the small one must explain this to the general first, and the big boss can see that the birds in the court often blow up their chests, in fact, it is entirely because they cut corners.

The imperial court does not have enough iron materials, but it still has to make enough bird guns, otherwise we will be punished, there is no way, they can only save raw materials, and finally make such inferior bird guns.

If the iron is sufficient, I can guarantee that there will never be an accident of exploding, and the small one will be willing to guarantee with his life. ”

Tie Pingliang has been in the official army for so many years, and he has long been clear about this, so what he is most worried about is that Li Zixiao also wants to be like the imperial court, so he told Li Zixiao this in advance.

After listening to Tie Pingliang's words, he was immediately overjoyed, this is really nowhere to find the iron shoes, and it takes no effort!

He had been searching for so long to find a craftsman who could make birds, and now he had made him a master among the homeless people almost effortlessly, how could he not be happy!

And this Tie Pingliang is almost an all-rounder, not only can he build bird guns, but even artillery can be cast, this is really a treasure.

Getting such a rare talent made him happier than letting Li Zixiao get a few thousand taels of gold, and at this time, Li Zixiao couldn't help laughing because he was so happy.

Although, Li Zixiao had already found a blacksmith master who could make bird guns, and that was Sun Tong.

However, Sun Tong is old after all, almost sixty years old, his energy is limited, and there are not many birds that can really be built by himself.

Rather, he passed on his craft to the blacksmiths and mentored them while honing in their new blacksmith shops that were dedicated to making bird's guns.

However, the blacksmiths who have just learned to craft the Bird's Gun are still very skilled, which makes them slow to craft the Bird's Gun.

Now, the three blacksmith shops they have built that specialize in making bird guns, seven or eight blacksmiths, can only make a dozen bird guns in a month, and Li Zixiao is certainly not satisfied with this speed.

Therefore, Li Zixiao urgently needs a blacksmith who is in the prime of life and proficient in the making of bird guns to share the pressure of the old man Sun Tong.

"You can rest assured of this, come here, give the iron master a seat, sit down and talk, and tell you nothing, I am looking for a craftsman like you everywhere during this time!

The hard work paid off, and finally let me find it, for iron materials or something, the iron master can rest assured that our White Dragon Army will not be like those corrupt officials in the government, greedy for ink.

If you are asked to build a bird's gun, it will naturally give you enough materials, and I also want to ask, in addition to the bird's gun, can the iron master also make a Lumi gun? ”

Li Zixiao was very happy at this time, and he no longer held his big boss's shelf, and immediately asked someone to bring a chair to Tie Pingliang, let him sit down and talk, and called Tie Pingliang Master Tie.

This made Tie Pingliang a little dizzy and flattered!

Although he is a skilled craftsman, their artisan household has always had a humble status in the Ming Dynasty, and has always been looked down upon, and even the status of the military household is not comparable.

After seeing Li Zixiao this time, this big boss actually valued him so much, not only gave him a seat, but also called him a master, which was very rare, which suddenly made Tie Pingliang a little flattered, and he didn't even dare to be a master.

Li Zixiao still had to let him sit down and talk, Tie Pingliang was really helpless.

After thanking Li Zixiao, he sat down on half of his buttocks on the chair that Quartz brought him, and Tie Pingliang replied to Li Zixiao: "I have heard of Lu Mi Xiao, and I have seen it in Liaodong."

It is indeed sharp, compared to the bird gun, this Lumi gun is heavier, and the gun tube is a little thicker, and it can shoot a hundred steps away.

The small one was also carefully watched at the time, but the method of the gun pipe seems to be different from the bird gun, and the others are easy to say, but if the small gun pipe is built, I'm afraid it will have to be explored slowly! ”

This Tie Pingliang is sincere, what to say, he didn't make a big deal at all, but after Li Zixiao heard it, he was slightly disappointed.

However, Li Zixiao also understands that there can be no all-rounders in this world, and Tie Pingliang is not a craftsman from the Ministry of Industry of the Imperial Court, so he must not have much contact with this kind of Lu Mi Gong, and it is not surprising that he will not be able to build it.

Lu Mi gun is a kind of arquebus invented by Zhao Shizhen, an outstanding firearms developer in the Ming Dynasty.

The prototype was an arquebus from the Turkish kingdom of Rumi, which was then the Ottoman Empire.

The Lumi gun, which was imitated by Zhao Shizhen, has a long range, great power, superior shape than the bird's gun, and a lot of progress in structure compared with the bird's gun.

The body tube is lengthened, the ignition device has also been improved, the faucet gauge is installed in the bed, the buckle gauge faucet falls on the fire door, and after the gunpowder is ignited, it raises itself.

There was a steel knife at the foot of the gun, which was turned upside down and could be used as a horse sabre in close combat, and the Lumi gun was undoubtedly one of the most prominent firearms of the time.

However, in Li Zixiao's view, the matter of building Lu Mi Gong can be completely solved, but it just needs some groping process.

As long as the time permits in the future, he can discuss this issue with Tie Pingliang, so he then asked, "I see, so has Master Tie ever heard of a flintlock pistol?" ”

Although the arquebus is considered an advanced weapon in this era, the arquebus itself has many inherent shortcomings.

Not to mention the cumbersome operation and loading, when the arquebus is operated, the shooter must first ensure that the arquebus is in a burning state.

Sometimes the slightest mistake can cause a misfire, and arquebuses are very affected by the weather.

When it rains, it becomes a scrap metal and cannot do anything but use it as an iron rod.

Not only rainy days, but even windy weather will seriously affect the use of arquebuses, and often the primer will be blown away by the strong wind, resulting in blind fire.

Therefore, arquebuses will also be blinded in large numbers on windy days, resulting in unusability.

Another reason is that when the arquebus is used at night, it is necessary to light the arquebus and standby.

Therefore, the target will be exposed at a long distance at night, and it will often cause passivity to the side using the arquebus when it is necessary to fight at night.

For example, in the famous Battle of Salhu in history, the Ming army was because the arquebus needed to be ignited, and as a result, the torches were always held in the dense fog, exposing the Ming army's target.

As a result, the Ming army suffered a heavy loss from the Eastern Tartars, causing the Ming army to lose a crushing defeat in this battle, and most of the elite of the official army was lost.

So Li Zixiao has been pondering, trying to get a flintlock pistol to equip his musketeers, so as to overcome the shortcomings of many arquebuses and give greater play to the maximum combat effectiveness of musketeers on the battlefield.

At that time, musketeers armed with flintlock pistols were the real masters of the battlefield of the future, and arquebuses at this time, even if they did not explode, were too limited.

"Flintlock pistols? The little one has never heard of! After listening to Li Zixiao's inquiry, Tie Pingliang replied confusedly.

At this time, Li Zixiao came to his senses, how could Tie Pingliang know about the flintlock pistol.

The flintlock pistol is the name of Western Europe, and although it may have been developed now, it should not have been introduced to China yet.

So it's definitely not surprising that someone like Tie Pingliang hasn't heard of a flintlock pistol.

As for the flintlock pistol in this era, what is it called after it was introduced to China? Li Zixiao couldn't think of it for a while, so he had to give up.

And Li Zixiao also knows that at this time, it is not realistic for him to want to make a flintlock pistol, so let's focus on the present first, and then consider the flintlock pistol later!

Although Tie Pingliang didn't know how to build a Lu Mi gun, and he hadn't heard of a flintlock pistol, Li Zixiao was still very happy.

Immediately took Tie Pingliang to see Sun Tong, arranged a few blacksmiths who also knew how to make firecrackers, and handed them over to Tie Pingliang to lead, so that they could immediately start using the materials at hand to build bird guns.

At the same time, repair the faulty bird guns they are using now, and make the White Dragon Army equipped with more firearms as soon as possible.

According to Li Zixiao's plan, if the first batch of bird guns created by Tie Pingliang were fully qualified after he personally accepted them.

Then, in the future, he will hand over the affairs of building the bird gun to Tie Pingliang, and let the old man Sun Tong free his hands and take charge of the craftsman workshop of White Snake Village.

At this time, there are more and more craftsmen under Li Zixiao, and it is impossible to be attached to the logistics department anymore and let Old Master Wei take charge of it, so it is time to go out independently and set up a new department.

Li Zixiao has already thought of the name of this new department, and he wants the Weapons Manufacturing Bureau, which is domineering enough.

In the future, the Weapons Manufacturing Bureau will be able to completely produce its own weapons, such as bows and arrows, waist knives, spears, shields, armor, bird guns, reluto guns, thunderbolts, artillery, and so on.

Li Zixiao didn't want to be controlled by others in terms of weapons, and in later generations, Li Zixiao would not see the republic suffer losses in this regard, and he had to learn some lessons as soon as possible.

However, Li Zixiao also knows that in order to achieve this step, he still needs to go a long way, and he has to eat the rice bite, take his time, and he firmly believes that he will be able to do it sooner or later.

And Tie Pingliang was also very happy about Li Zixiao's attention, which made him very grateful to Li Zixiao, but also felt that there was light on his face.

Man! In addition to food and clothing, in fact, everyone subconsciously wants to be respected.