（0061）

Xu Xingxia thought for a while, and then said, "Zhao Mengji, do you know how to make Lu Mi Gong?" ”

Zhao Mengji shook his head and said, "My lord, I'm sorry, my subordinates don't understand." The technical information about Lu Mi Gong is completely secret, and only the Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of War and the War Bureau of the Inner Government have it. The production of the barrel has always been a secret. The subordinate's father used to be involved in the manufacturing, but he never told the subordinate. ”

Liu Guangliang said in a low voice: "My lord, even if someone knows how to make Lu Mi Gong, they are not allowed to make it privately, and once they are discovered, they will be punished." The craftsmen of our guard can only make firearms such as the Flying Bird Gun, the Thunderbolt Gun, and the Three-Eyed Gun. ”

Xu Xingxia nodded and didn't mention it again. He knew a little bit about the technique of the Rummy Gun. The most critical technology of the Lumi gun is the double-layer gun tube, which has a very small caliber, which makes the projectile have a relatively high speed of discharge, a long range, great power and high accuracy. Compared with firearms such as the Flying Bird Gun, the Thunderbolt Gun, and the Three-Eyed Gun, the advantages of the Lumi Gun are obvious. However, the shortcomings of the Lumi gun are also quite fatal.

Due to the small size of the barrel, it is very difficult to reload, and the projectile must be pushed into the barrel with force, which results in a slow re-firing and a high chance of barrel damage. A well-made Rumie gun, after twenty or thirty shots, the barrel is scrapped. The production cost of a Lumi gun is about twenty taels of silver, and it can only be fired twenty or thirty times, almost one tael of silver at a time. Such consumption, not to mention Xu Xingxia, even the imperial court can't afford it. It is not for nothing that Lu Mi Gong has not been popularized within the Ming army.

Since the imperial court did not have the financial resources to equip a large number of Lu Mi guns, Xu Xingxia naturally had no financial resources. Instead of being equipped with a Lumi gun, it is better to directly load the rifled gun, which is more powerful, has a longer range, and is more durable. Of course, now talking about rifled guns, it is still far away. At the very least, rifled guns could not be mentioned until flintlock pistols were worked out.

In the end, Xu Xingxia emphasized again: "Your name must be engraved on all weapons and equipment!" Otherwise, I don't receive it! Not only will I not receive the goods, but I will deal with you seriously! I hope you don't play with it! ”

Once again, the four artisans felt the heavy pressure. Of course, they don't dare to play with it. No one would think that Xu Xingxia was just threatening them, and there was no real action. Xu Xingxia had shot dozens of Tartars, and every word he said could not be as simple as a threat. They were convinced that if the weapons and equipment they made were not up to par, they would end badly.

Fortunately, the profit of two taels of silver is indeed very attractive, and it also gives great encouragement to the craftsmen. For the sake of these two taels of silver, no matter how much pressure there is, they have to bear it. If you want to get money, but you don't want to take responsibility, such a good thing, here in Xu Xingxia, there must be no market. If you don't do it, I'll do it again.

For Xu Xingxia's request, none of the four craftsmen refused. So, Xu Xingxia paid four hundred and fifty taels of silver in one go, first the money and then the goods. After taking out this silver tael, his own savings were almost emptied. He kept three hundred taels of silver for his family, and he brought six or seven hundred taels with him. Now Xu Xingxia is a little hopeful, and the Tartars will come quickly, so that he can kill them and sell them for money. Damn, poor!

The five of them continued to discuss for a while and made stipulations on some details of weaponry. Most of the time, Xu Xingxia listened carefully, occasionally making some suggestions of his own. Time passed quickly, and before I knew it, the sun had reached midheaven, and it was time for lunch. Today, but on the first day of the implementation of the new kitchen and canteen in Niujiaodun, I have long smelled the smell of fragrant horse meat.

As the landlord of Niujiaodun, Xu Xingxia felt that it was necessary for him to greet these artisans with a good lunch and advertise a dozen for Niujiaodun to attract more people. He stood up, smiled and said, "Okay, you go to dinner first." When you're done, go back to work. If there is any good news, come and inform me immediately. ”

The four craftsmen followed him with great joy.

The noon meal was the beginning of Xu Xingxia's implementation of the food standard of one pound of horse meat per person and steamed rice to be full. When Xu Xingxia and his party arrived at the canteen, in the humble canteen, the other soldiers of Niujiaodun were feasting. It was Yu Lijun and Gao Meng who took the lead. Zhang Quanfu was not there because he needed to be on duty there.

The new kitchen of Niujiaodun was built improvised only yesterday, and there are two stoves. The equipment is a water tank, two cauldrons, three wooden barrels, four wooden basins, and some other miscellaneous things, which look very simple. It's these simple things, which were only rummaged out of the utility room yesterday, and before, they were all stuffed in the corner waiting to rot.

The canteen of Niujiaodun is even more simple. That is, four long wooden boards, after the surface is brushed clean, the two ends are erected by wooden shelves and used as tabletops. The feet of the wooden shelves are all pointed stakes, which are deeply embedded in the earth. On either side of the plank, there are long benches for seating. Basically, there are four long tables like this, which can seat about 50 people. Such a design was naturally copied by Xu Xingxia from later generations.

The person in charge of the spoon is a soldier named Lao Yang. This Lao Yang really looks like a master, and he does have a lot of kung fu in stewing horse meat. So much horse meat stewed in the pot, constantly bubbling, the aroma is overflowing, as long as people are close, they will be attracted by the aroma of stewed horse meat. He himself was also smoky, with a smile on his face.

"Lord Baihu, please come here."

Lao Yang saw Xu Xingxia appear and hurriedly came up to greet him.

"Yes, yes, Lao Yang, did you release the wolfberry?"

Xu Xingxia walked in front of the cauldron, looked at it carefully, sniffed it again, and was very satisfied. Of course, the horse meat is not stewed alone, Lao Yang should have put some wolfberries and some radish. Of course, radishes are worthless, and wolfberries can also be dug at the foot of Helan Mountain. As soon as these two things were put away, the taste was completely different, and Xu Xingxia couldn't help but have a big appetite.

"My lord, let it go a little, let it go a little." Old Yang said with a smile.

"Good! Well done! Xu Xingxia nodded and praised again.

The smile on Lao Yangtou's face was even brighter.

The four craftsmen who followed behind Xu Xingxia naturally had a greater appetite. Under Xu Xingxia's greeting, the four of them hurriedly sat down. Lao Yang used a large bowl of sea to give each of them, and filled a large bowl of stewed horse meat, with a small half bowl of aged vinegar. When some people eat stewed horse meat, they like to dip it in aged vinegar, which is a custom brought by the Jin merchants. As for the steamed buns and rice, they are in the wooden basin next to them, so if you want to eat them, you can do it yourself, and there is no limit to the amount of food. However, taking away is not allowed.

"Come, eat!"

"Take the steamed buns as you like!"

"All-you-can-eat rice!"

Xu Xingxia greeted boldly.

He had already prepared enough weight for Liu Guangliang and the others, of course, he didn't have to worry about taking away the weight of other soldiers. The entertainment expenses are all counted in Xu Xingxia's account, and Yu Lijun, Gao Meng and others naturally will not have any opinions. On the contrary, they still have a little admiration. Like Xu Xingxia, there are too few commanders who have a clear distinction between public and private and do not take advantage of soldiers.

After saying hello, Xu Xingxia buried his head in eating meat. Liu Guangliang and the others were also hungry, so naturally they were not polite, and they all bowed their heads and ate. The stewed horse meat with radish and wolfberry is fragrant and rotten, melts in the mouth, and everyone eats it happily, feeling that they have never eaten it with an open belly like this in their lives. Some people can't finish eating, and they have already begun to burp, but they are still reluctant to put the bowl down, and they have to hold on to everything.

After eating a bowl of stewed horse meat, Xu Xingxia ate two more steamed buns, feeling very full. However, Liu Guangliang and other artisan households almost all ate five or six steamed buns, and Zhao Mengji even ate a bowl of rice, which was really unimaginable that he could eat so much. In the end, the four craftsmen had a solid meal, and then went back happily.

After eating, Xu Xingxia paced back and forth on the third floor of Niujiaodun. The large amount of silver taels that were spent just now made Xu Xingxia feel that he had to find a way to make money. And at the moment, the best way to make money, of course, is to start with the Tartars. The head of a tartar is thirty taels of silver, and as long as one hundred more tartars are killed, there will be an income of three thousand taels of silver, which can support a short period of time. But relying on one's own strength, I am afraid that it is unlikely to accomplish this task. Tartars are not fools either, and they cannot always rush to the front of the horns to die.

What Xu Xingxia is most worried about now is that the Tartars will move south in a big way, and with a strong force, they will wipe out all the horn piers in one fell swoop. To do this, he had to strengthen the defenses of the horn mound as much as possible, so that the Tartars would not return. For the time being, don't count on bows and arrows or anything like that. There are so many people in Niujiaodun, and there are not many people who are good at bows and arrows.

The only thing that can be counted on is a rifled gun. As long as you get the flintlock pistol and then the rifling, you can get a batch of rifled guns. In just six months to a year, he will be able to train the first batch of firecrackers. If there was a team of musketeers armed with rifled guns, Xu Xingxia could do many, many things.

Of course, before the invention of rifled guns, archers were still very important, especially archers who were good at mounted archery. Obviously, this is something that Xu Xingxia can't train by himself, and can only be recruited from the outside world. In Ningxia Town, it is estimated that there should be more than a thousand such cavalry archers, and there should be quite a few other military towns. The key is how to attract these people to their command and make them work for themselves.

"That's right, Wang Qinian!"

Xu Xingxia suddenly thought of something and clapped his hands vigorously.

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