If the technique of casting the cannon amazed Sun Yuanhua, then the shooting of the bird gun made him throw himself to the ground in admiration. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info81Δ Chinese Ω net He completely forgot the purpose of getting off the boat to find Xia Nan, excitedly grabbed Xia Nan's wrist, and said: "Such a sharp weapon, if it is dedicated to the imperial court and refined into tens of thousands of troops, why be afraid of the Tartars' cavalry!" ”

Xia Nan quietly withdrew his hand and said calmly: "Master Sun thinks too much. Whether it's this artillery or a bird's gun, apart from yourself, who in the imperial court will really care? Where did the silver come from for the cannons and guns? Who can guarantee that this cannon will not cut corners and be shoddy? ”

These three sharp rhetorical questions were like a basin of cold water, which instantly extinguished Sun Yuanhua's passion. He thought about it, and couldn't answer any of these three questions with confidence. Indeed, in the imperial court, except for him and Xu Guangqi, other officials did not attach much importance to and did not understand the importance of firearms; The imperial court levied a Liao salary every year, and millions of taels of silver were spent on the Guanning front every year, and there was no extra money to buy cannons and birds; Even if the silver is allocated to make firearms, the officials who supervise the manufacture of firearms, from the court bigwigs to the military officials, everyone has to share the profits, and at most 30% of the silver really used for manufacturing is left, and the money is not enough, and the consequence is naturally to cut corners and make the firearms unusable.

Sun Yuanhua tried to justify: "Today, the saint is working hard, and the officials may be inspired by the saint to change their bad habits and work together to make firearms against the Liaodong Tartar......s."

"Hehe, I said Master Sun, I'm afraid you don't believe this, right? Thousands of miles of officials are only for money, so that officials at all levels will not drift away the silver here, unless the sun hits the west and comes out! Xia Nan said with a smile.

Sun Yuanhua was speechless. Even he himself, in order to cater to the unspoken rules of this kind of officialdom, had to be with the light, and took out one percent of the silver from the purchase of military horses to get through the officials at all levels of the imperial court, and was so ironically speechless by Li Jiucheng that he was speechless.

"Lord Sun, you might as well think about it carefully, even if you return to the capital this time, even if you are lucky enough to save your life, can you guarantee the reinstatement of the official? If people are soft-spoken, who cares if the guns you recommend are sharp, and whether the household department can allocate this money? ”

Sun Yuanhua raised his head with a tragic face: "Knowing that he can't do it, the old man only wants to be worthy of the grace of the saint and the people, it is better than stealing his life and doing nothing." ”

Xia Nan patiently persuaded: "If you know that you can't do it, you are reckless." Lord Sun, instead of going back to death like this, why don't you stay this useful body and change your way to contribute to the life of the people in this world? ”

"Another way?" Sun Yuanhua was a little dazed for a while.

"Lord Sun, what do you think of these twenty gunslingers?"

"It's more elite than my patrol pacesetter barracks, and it's not much better than the border army. The key is that this bird gun can be loaded quickly, and it is ten times stronger than the bird gun of officers and soldiers. ”

Xia Nanqing coughed: "It's not a secret, there are three hundred people under such skilled guns, ...... below."

Sun Yuanhua trembled, three hundred elites! None of the generals in Shandong had so many elite soldiers, and Zhang Keda and Zhang Tao had any of these 300 soldiers, supplemented by a few thousand elite soldiers, which was enough to defeat more than 10,000 rebels -- except for a few thousand old people in Dongjiang Town, the rest of the rebels were just prisoners and scoundrels.

He looked at Xia Nan intently, "You...... What is the intention of training so many private soldiers? ”

"Master Sun, don't worry, I don't want to rebel. If you have this thought, the capital city of Qiongzhou has already been knocked down by me. He beckoned to Wei Lian in the crowd and asked him to come over, "Wei Baihu, tell Master Sun a brief story about how we met." This Lord Sun is not simple, the official to the right is the governor of the imperial history of Denglai, and he is a feudal official. ”

Wei Lianheng replied embarrassedly: "Lord Sun, the small one is a hundred households in Qiongshan, because the Qin prefect believes that Master Xia is plotting against him, so he asked the Guangdong Metropolitan Division to send the guard army to Gao Jin to suppress ......."

"Oh, that's it? How many troops did you send at that time? ”

Wei Lianheng said with little confidence: "1,800 guards and 1,600 counties and towns, a total of more than 3,400 people. Although he was not to blame for the defeat, it was not a glorious history for him.

Sun Yuanhua gasped: "Three hundred against three thousand? And then you were defeated? ”

"It's not that disparity, plus the three hundred Li soldiers who have been subdued, plus the two hundred men who have been temporarily recruited from among my tenants. Of course, the main force is still these three hundred musketeers. Summer South interjected.

"It's a shame to say that Master Xia only sent two hundred people, divided into two groups, and used light artillery fire to attack along the way, almost breaking up the army. Then there was a head-to-head duel, and in less than an hour, the army of 3,000 was completely defeated. ”

More than 3,000 guards and village bravery, even if they were unbearable, in the face of hundreds of troops who were only a fraction of their own, they could not form an army. Sun Yuanhua imagined for a moment, even if he changed to a battalion soldier, he was afraid that he might not be able to win. He asked Xia Nan: "Such a strong private soldier doesn't want to rebel, so what do you want to do?" ”

"After the war, the prefect of Qiongzhou came to appease me, but I didn't agree. It's not that I don't want to be appeased by the imperial court, but I don't want to be appeased by a mere prefect. As long as I am given a few years, I will definitely be able to train a strong army and serve the imperial court, no matter what Tartars or thieves are. "Summer Nan half-truthfully fooled Sun Yuanhua.

Sun Yuanhua was skeptical: "If you really want to serve the imperial court, it will naturally be a blessing to the saints and a blessing to the common people." But even if you are appeased, how sure are you that the imperial court will allocate money to cast artillery for you to train your troops? ”

"Hehe, Wei Baihu also asked this question. At present, I have a textile factory, which spins and weaves cloth by machine, with low cost and high output, and can earn 20,000 taels of silver every month when it is sold to Guangzhou. ”

Although Zeng Gui was the governor, holding great power and being well-informed, Sun Yuanhua was still shocked again and again today, earning 20,000 taels a month!

In order to organize and train the new army, he went through countless twists and turns, and he was able to get only tens of thousands of taels of silver every year, and these silver not only had to be paid, but also had to buy firearms and horses, and often could not make ends meet, and he was overstretched. A businessman can easily earn 20,000 taels of silver a month, which is more than 200,000 taels a year, no wonder he can cast guns and train elite private soldiers.

"Therefore, I don't lack silver, nor do I lack the art of casting and concocting guns, I only lack a reasonable and legal identity, but the power of the Qiongzhou prefect is limited, at most give me a sesame official like an inspection, and there are only dozens of people in the army, how can I train soldiers?" (To be continued.) )