The study of flintlock pistols was proposed by Deng Ming to various arms dealers after the opening of the imperial government, but it took so many years to produce a sample with an acceptable rate of fire. In the beginning, the arms dealers in Chengdu were actually blacksmiths, and they had no ability to make guns at all, and all they could do was repair broken swords and armor. Later, relying on Deng Ming's various policy support, it was considered to have developed, but the expansion rate of the Ming army far exceeded the development speed of these commercial houses, and the business of repairing equipment was too busy, and no one was going to make new equipment, let alone research a new weapon that did not know when it would return to its original value.

For a long time, Deng Ming rarely stayed in Chengdu, and most of his income was used to develop the Fifty-One Pavilion and the private guard, and did not continue to invest in arms dealers, so the research progress of the flintlock pistol was as slow as a turtle crawling. It wasn't until two years ago that the expansion of the Ming army slowed down slightly, and the war was so rich that both the army and soldiers began to consider better equipment, and the main business of Chengdu arms dealers began to change from repairing old equipment to producing more new equipment.

But until a year ago, the profits of arms dealers repairing were still the same as the production of new weapons, because the Kui Dong Army obtained more equipment, and the Kui Dong Army had even worse industrial capacity, and many arms dealers went to Yuan Zongdi and Li Laiheng's territory to make money by helping them repair equipment, and these people also had the ability to pay the bills with grain, salt, subsidies given by Deng Ming, or other production.

On the way back to Sichuan, Deng Ming handed over the samples of flintlock pistols sent by western Sichuan to the musket troops for testing, and also brought all the officers to watch.

"After equipping the flintlock pistol, our army can adopt a side-to-shoulder rifle formation, and there will be no problem of open flames igniting gunpowder; The rifle also reloads three times faster than the firebolt. Deng Ming triumphantly introduced this cutting-edge weapon to his subordinates, and the success of the flintlock pistol proved his foresight, and his subordinates did not think that the weapon Deng Ming had described could really be made.

"It's really good." Mu Tan, who considers himself an expert on firearms, rarely admitted his mistake to Deng Ming in this regard: "How much is the output? ”

Mu Tan, who was born in the Fujian army, once said that the fire gun must be ignited with an open flame, and the kind of weapon described by Deng Ming is completely unrealistic fantasy. It was Moutan's skepticism that made the Imperial Government reluctant to share the cost of the arms dealers' research—money was used everywhere, and the Arms Dealers were reluctant to invest heavily in a project whose success or failure was uncertain, and the Imperial Government was no different

"I think we can produce 50 to 100 pieces a month." Deng Ming's tone sounded a little hesitant, and the officers who were familiar with him all guessed that fifty might not be able to reach it, and one hundred was even more out of reach.

"So little?" Mu Tan looked at the rifle again: "That is, this barrel is troublesome, right?" This flintlock trigger doesn't seem to be difficult, not much more difficult than the arquebus trigger. ”

"yes, but it's too expensive." Deng Ming hesitated for a moment, and told everyone why the production of flintlock rifles was so low, because the arms dealer set a price of 8,000 yuan per flintlock rifle.

"It's so expensive!" All the officers exclaimed, the crossbow machine that Zhang Changgeng sold to Deng Ming was only converted into a few dozen taels of silver, which was about three or four thousand yuan, and now the arquebus used by the Ming army was only sold for two hundred yuan.

"Because arquebuses are basically captured from Myanmar and then handed over to arms dealers for sale, many of the so-called damage is due to the butt being touched, and if it cracks and needs to be replaced, it is considered very strict. What can be the cost of what is stolen? And this is all made by Chengdu itself, because there is no precedent, so they are all used very good teachers, as well as the wages of researchers in recent years, all of which have to be included in the cost. Deng Ming explained that if it can be produced in large quantities, the price can be greatly reduced, after all, the research cost of the cost is a fixed value, as long as the production is large, the price can be quickly lowered.

However, Deng Ming did not have so much money in his hands, and Chengdu's finances invested heavily in education as soon as there was a surplus, and Deng Ming's private money would not be used in vain to help the imperial government pay its bills. Now that the battle is over, the army has suffered little losses, and the weapons have a great advantage over the Qing army, it may be difficult to get the Imperial Diet to agree to another special tax under this circumstance, and it may be difficult to buy a large number of rifles - besides, only Deng Ming knows that rifles will completely eliminate bows and arrows, armor, broadswords, and spears, and in the eyes of others, it is to buy this kind of weapon that has not been tested in actual combat, and the cost of other equipment is still not saved.

Therefore, the flintlock pistol can only be redressed slowly, and there is still a long way to go to replace the bow and arrow with it, and it needs to rely on actual combat to make the officers generally recognize its power, and now only some real troops can be built. Of course, this kind of redress will keep the price of the rifle high, and this weapon developed to meet Deng Ming's personal interests cannot be produced on a large scale, so the production cost will not be reduced, and the process improvement will be slow.

Upon hearing of the high price of this weapon, many officers lost interest, and most did not think that it was too early to replace the familiar bow and crossbow with such a completely unfamiliar weapon, even if the bird gun looked much more reassuring than the rifle, let alone the staggering military cost.

"A total of twenty samples were delivered, and this is the last one." After the demonstration, Deng Ming put away the last flintlock pistol, originally these samples Deng Ming planned to buy them out of his own pocket, the firm of Ann Lesi has been studying for so long, if Deng Ming is too expensive to pay for it, then no one will be willing to spend energy to research new weapons according to his requirements in the future.

However, the remaining nineteen Deng Ming asked An Lesi to send them to Jiangnan Jinshen, if they were willing to buy it, Deng Ming would not have to pay too much private money. After all, this thing has a name for firearms, and in the minds of the Jiangnan gentry, firearms mean powerful, otherwise the Qing court would not prohibit the green camp from owning firearms.

At the beginning, Deng Ming didn't expect the flintlock rifle to be so expensive, so he casually said to An Lesi that he needed two hundred rifles to equip his real army, and he might need one hundred rifles per month in the future. But now that Deng Ming had retreated, he felt that it would be good to have fifty weapons for the officers to approve first, and asked An Lesi to reduce the monthly output. Deng Ming only guarantees the purchase of 20 sticks per month, and the excess Anlex needs to be sold in the market by himself.

An Lesi said that his weapons had passed through Wuchang and were being transported downstream, and once they arrived, Deng Ming could begin to form a real force.

Deng Ming sighed: "One hundred and thirty guns, that's one million, how much jade do you have to sell to make money?" ”

……

After arriving in Huzhou, Anlesi was warmly received by the banker. The Ming history case has been plaguing the dealer for several years, and Wu Zhirong and Zha Jizuo's complaint is like a sword hanging over the banker's head, which may fall down and kill people at any time. In order to save himself, the dealer no longer knows how much silver to send to the county, government, and province, but he has never been able to completely remove this threat, and all he can do is to keep the sword from falling for the time being.

Recently, the wind direction has become more unfavorable to the banker, Zhejiang Xuezheng who has been sheltering the banker for two years, and the governor of Jiangnan suddenly refused to see the banker's messenger, especially Liang Huafeng, who said to the banker many times that he could settle this kind of trivial matter with a word, and even didn't want the banker's silver, as long as Liang Huafeng smeared two more strokes for him in the book. But now even the vassal and elegant Liang Huafeng avoids the dealer, which obviously shows that the shape is very severe.

At first, the dealer also thought that An Lesi was on behalf of Deng Ming to help him dredge, but after hearing about An Lesi's intention, the head of the family, Zhuang Yuncheng, hesitated, not knowing what to do.

"As far as we know, this case was personally interrogated by the auxiliary minister of the Qing court, and if we are not mistaken, Ao Bai has specified that the three halls will try the case, and then report the results to the imperial court." The information in the hands of An Lesi was no less than that of Zhao Guozuo, the governor of Zhejiang, or Liang Huafeng, the governor of Jiangnan, and as soon as these words came out, Zhuang Yuncheng's face turned even pale.

"Since it is the auxiliary minister who asks about it, then a big rebellion will definitely not be able to escape. Moreover, in order to deter the gentry in Zhejiang, those who slandered the Qing court had to be killed and set an example, and all those who were listed in the school would be included in the reverse case. It can be seen that the Qing court's move is not entirely silver, and it is useless for you to stuff silver. An Lesi took out all the information in his hand and shared it with Zhuang Yuncheng: "Zhao Guozuo, the governor of Zhejiang, intends to sentence eighteen people to Ling Chi, five hundred people to be beheaded, and three thousand seven hundred people to be exiled and confiscated. After the intercession of the Duke of Baoguo, Zhao Guozuo was willing to reduce it to eight people Ling Chi, one hundred people were beheaded, and the rest were exiled to Ningguta - when crossing the river, the Guogong would arrange for someone to rescue you, if you are willing to go to Sichuan. ”

Zhuang Yuncheng was stunned for a moment, and suddenly cried loudly: "Wronged, my father and son never wanted to create an anti-emperor Qing, how to talk about this great rebellion." Thinking that this case would also affect a large number of scholars in Zhejiang, Zhuang Yuncheng blamed himself even more.

After crying bitterly, Zhuang Yuncheng finally made up his mind: "How many weapons and armor does Boss An have?" The old man wants it! ”

The Zhuang family who were watching were all shocked, and some people came out to persuade the head of the family to think about it in the long run, but Zhuang Yuncheng had already made up his mind: "Since I bought all these weapons, the old man wants to send a few grandsons to Sichuan first, I wonder if Boss An can arrange it?" ”

"No problem." An Lesi agreed.

When Zhuang Yuncheng asked people to carry the silver to An Lesi, he explained to a few shocked sons: "I know you think this is too risky, once you take this step, it will definitely be a full house; However, in my opinion, what this Boss An said is not a lie, it is similar to the situation we inquired about, and the left and right sides are not able to live, so it is better to be vigorous. And Bao Guogong seems to want to stir up the restlessness of Zhejiang chickens and dogs, and the old man will give up this life to make Bao Guogong satisfied, so he has to take care of my grandchildren, right? ”

If it weren't for Zhuang Ding's lack of combat effectiveness and the lack of time, Zhuang Yuncheng would have pondered about raiding Huzhou and turning the world upside down. After accepting An Lesi's weapon, Zhuang Yuncheng immediately organized Zhuang Ding's training, and the instructors were also as many as possible, the sooner the better. At the same time, at the first time, he sent away one of his grandchildren in each room.

"Mr. Zhuang doesn't need to be in a hurry, this case will probably not start until March, and you still have two months." An Le Si told Zhuang Yuncheng that although the Qing court and the southeastern provinces had a case of dealing with the people involved in the case in the middle of last year, they were suddenly interrupted because of the Ming army. Now the Qing court may not agree to the southeast government before recruiting the Jiaodong Righteous Army and believing that the Yangtze River area is safe. An Lesi estimated that he would have to wait until March: "The instructor that Mr. Zhuang wants, I also sent a letter to ask for it." ”

An Lesi used the post station system of the Qing court, which could not only be used, but also could even be sent to Sichuan for an eight-hundred-mile expedited.

"Thank you." Zhuang Yuncheng took out a sample of a flintlock pistol: "This thing costs one hundred and twenty taels of silver, right?" ”

"Not bad." An Lesi also felt that this rifle was too expensive, and even if it was easier to use, it could not compete with the bird's gun of two taels of silver. However, his firm still spent a lot of money on research and manufacturing, and he and other shareholders regarded it as an emotional investment in Deng Ming—proving that Amnes and his partners took Deng Ming's affairs to heart the most, not only spending time and energy on research, but also establishing a production team, and even as soon as the emperor placed an order, they could start production immediately.

As soon as Zhuang Yuncheng got the gun, he asked Zhuang Ding to try to use various weapons, for these people who have no military training at all, the crossbow machine is slightly better, and the hard bow cannot be mastered, that is, the crossbow machine has not been practiced hard for a year and a half, and it is difficult to reach the level of the regular army. Compared with the crossbow arrows flying around, the flintlock rifle is amazingly accurate - the hit rate of the bird gun at the same distance is about four or five times that of the bow and arrow, and the flintlock rifle is more than ten times more accurate than the crossbow arrow in the hands of the dealer after being sealed with silk. Moreover, with practice, the progress of this weapon is obvious, and the power is even more terrifying, and the thick wooden shield used as a target can be shattered with a single shot.

"Okay, I don't know how much Boss An still has? How many flintlock rifles do the old man want. ”

"I still have ......," said An Lesi, who had already produced one hundred and fifty flintlock rifles, and then planned to produce them slowly at a rate of twenty per month, which could meet the needs of Deng Ming's experimental troops. If Deng Ming had bought all these rifles, the munitions store would have recouped its investment, and the sales of twenty rifles a month would be used to maintain the production line, and the firm did not expect to make money from this thing.

And Deng Ming really felt guilty about An Lesi, and this time he handed over a large number of seized weapons to An Lesi for sale, which was enough to make up for An Lesi's investment. Although Amles believes that it can be profitable in other areas, it is always good to be able to recoup some of the investment, and it is equivalent to Jiangnan Jingentry bearing the cost of improving the research and development of weapons.

Guogong said that he wanted a hundred rifles, but his face was very reluctant, obviously reluctant to spend money. Also, the emperor's ** team is going well, the money to buy a rifle is enough to recruit a few soldiers, and there will be complaints in the army, right? An Lesi quickly turned his thoughts in his heart, he almost blurted out just now that he still had thirty sticks to sell (one hundred and fifty sticks, excluding the one hundred sticks that Deng Mingyao had brought and the twenty samples that had been brought, there were only thirty sticks left that An Le Si could take out. ）

"I still have one hundred and fifty rifles." An Lesi decided to sell the rifle to Zhuang Yuncheng as much as he could, he recalled the rather reluctant smile on Deng Ming's face, and felt that the other party would probably be relieved after hearing that he had sold most of the rifles to others, and if Deng Ming really needed it, then An Lesi would produce it for him. Not only did he take out all the inventory, but Anlesi even counted the recent production: "But the road is far away, and it may not all be in good condition, and others may want it, and in the end there may only be one hundred and thirty pieces, Mr. Zhuang is not strange." ”

"No problem." Although the work of familiarizing himself with weapons was only one day, Zhuang Yuncheng's whole family believed that the flintlock rifle was the most powerful and easiest weapon to grasp in Anlesi's cargo, and as for the price, Zhuang Yuncheng didn't care about it at all: "Silver is not a problem. ”

Zhuang Yuncheng is not only a big landowner, but also a wealthy businessman, not to mention Zhejiang, even Liangjiang and Huguang also know that he is rich and rich, if it is not for the amount of silver and no place to spend, the dealer will not invite the world's celebrities to compile the "History of the Ming Dynasty", if he does not give enough money, he will not invite so many people. But Zhuang Yuncheng didn't plan to let the fleeing grandchildren take too much silver, because once they left Huzhou, the bloodline of those fleeing Zhuang families would be helpless remnants, and in Zhuang Yuncheng's view, their life and death were completely between Deng Ming's thoughts.

If the dealer puts all the astonishing wealth in the hands of these orphans, Zhuang Yuncheng feels that this is tantamount to calling others to seek wealth and kill them; So Zhuang Yuncheng only let his grandchildren take away the silver that could make them worry about food and clothing. If the rest of the money is not spent, it will be cheaper for the Qing court. Since Zhuang Yuncheng knows this very well, there is no need to worry about the price of weapons, and the only criterion for measuring it is whether it is good or not, and whether the lethality is large enough.

"Oh." After hearing Zhuang Yuncheng's words, An Lesi's heart moved, and he said tentatively: "These rifles have to be transported from the upstream, Mr. Zhuang is in such a hurry, I'm afraid he will have to add some extra silver, or don't you want rifles, buy more bows and crossbows, right?" ”

"No, the old man wants a rifle, and silver is not a problem. Well, is it enough to add twenty taels to each one? Although An Lesi claimed to be just a businessman from western Sichuan, he not only had information about Beijing in his hands, but also could take out armor, bows and crossbows, which were strictly forbidden to be owned by private individuals, Zhuang Yuncheng guessed that An Lesi must be Deng Ming's henchman, and the name of this merchant was just a cover.

"The more trouble I make and the more trouble I make for the governor of Zhejiang, the more satisfied Bao Guogong will be, and the more he will treat my grandson...... And I gave all the money to this person, probably to the Duke of Baoguo, right? Bao Guogong got most of my family property, and seeing that I did my best to fulfill his wishes, he naturally had to take good care of my family, otherwise who would be willing to give him his life in the future? Zhuang Yuncheng pondered in his heart, since the other party said that the government wanted eight people, Zhuang Yuncheng knew that the dealer would definitely not be able to escape the knife: "When does the silver not need to wait at this time?" It's a pity that there aren't thousands or tens of thousands of rifles, and I can't find enough bandits and robbers in a hurry, otherwise if I go to knock down the Huzhou Mansion, the family will have no money in the future, and the Baoguo Gong will have to take care of them. ”

"Twenty taels ......" An Lesi originally wanted to add a few taels to be about the same, if not counting the upfront investment, the cost of a flintlock pistol would not be so much: "No problem, I will send an urgent report, rent the fastest boat, the best horse, and ship it to you at full speed." ”

After negotiating the price and the expedited fee, An Lesi felt that he was in a dream, and the price he sold to Zhuang Yuncheng was much higher than what he could sell to Deng Ming.

"I didn't expect rifles to be so popular with the gentry, and if I didn't have a gun in my hand, he would have asked for hundreds more. Well, I don't want to sell all the samples, go to a few more to see, if there are a few more such high-rollers, I will produce rifles in large quantities, and the cost will be reduced to a few hundred yuan in a few months, and then send a few guys to follow to see the actual combat effect, and then provide it to the emperor ** team - for our own people, of course, we must be as good as possible and cheap. In a few words, the transaction of tens of thousands of taels of silver was finalized, plus other equipment, the dealer needed to pay An Lesi almost 20,000 taels of silver, but the other party didn't blink.

"I don't know what else Mr. Zhuang needs?" Amros probed further. Not long ago, he heard Deng Ming say that he wanted to develop a light field gun that could accompany the infantry forward, but at that time, An Lesi did not take over, because his investment in the research of the flintlock rifle had not been recovered, and it was impossible to listen to the wind and rain and invest a sum of money in the field artillery. However, seeing that Zhuang Yuncheng is about to help him recover the cost of the flintlock pistol, if the other party purchases some more expensive goods, then maybe An Lesi can consider developing the field artillery needed by Baoguogong.

"Do you have anything else good?" Zhuang Yuncheng pointed to the flintlock rifle in his hand: "It's best to be as powerful as this rifle and be able to learn quickly." ”

"I have some scrap copper...... Oh no, it's the Tiger Squat Cannon. An Lesi just thought of the field artillery, and when he heard Zhuang Yuncheng ask, he naturally remembered the rags he collected in Chongqing.

Although he knew that Deng Ming had no interest in the Tiger Squat Cannon, he still asked the scrap company to help him buy the weapons of the Han Eight Banners as much as possible, and after getting the Tiger Squat Cannon, An Lesi planned to sell it to Zhang Changgeng with the permission of the imperial government to strengthen his strength. But Zhang Changgeng at both ends of the first rat hesitated, because his green camp could not be blatantly equipped with firearms, and since the other party was still hesitating whether to buy it or not, it was naturally more difficult for An Lesi to sell it at a high price.

"Tiger squat cannon?" Zhuang Yuncheng's eyes lit up: "Is it a cannon?" ”

"A kind of cannon, it is very powerful, and it is not a problem to kill more than a dozen servants with one cannon."

"So powerful? That's hundreds of people, and all those who didn't die in one shot will run out. Zhuang Yuncheng's imaginary enemy is still a local servant: "How many Boss An are there?" When will it arrive? ”

"I have three." Some of the scrap copper collected by An Lesi was placed in Wuchang, and five were transported to Anqing by him in an attempt to sell them to Zhou Peigong, the prime minister of Deng. Zhou Peigong was much happier than Governor Zhang, saying that he would buy it in the first month, one thousand taels of silver, and at least two - last year's profit from the suppression of Prime Minister Deng's yamen was divided by Liangjiang and Huguang, but from this year onwards, everyone agreed to leave more money for the suppression of Premier Deng's yamen to build a general team to suppress Deng, so by February, Zhou Peigong should have rich money. Although one thousand taels is obviously too expensive, except for the Ming army, Zhou Peigong has nowhere to buy tiger squat guns.

In view of the good relationship between Zhou Peigong and An Lesi, although the other party did not even pay the deposit, An Lesi felt that the two doors that Zhou Peigong might want should be kept.

"The old man wants it." Zhuang Yuncheng muttered to himself in his heart: "Didn't Baoguo Gong really want me to fight Huzhou?" Even the cannon will be sold to me. ”

After a slight pause, Zhuang Yuncheng remembered and asked, "How much silver?" ”

"Two thousand taels of silver for one door." An Lesi said in a long tone, if Zhuang Yuncheng calculated, he was ready to reduce the price again.

"Okay, if it can be shipped within a month, the old man will give you two hundred taels of silver for each door." Zhuang Yuncheng once again emphasized that silver is not a problem.

"Actually, I have five." An Lesi said: "Wuchang also has stock, so I will write to you to urge you." ”

Zhou Peigong didn't even give a deposit, which shows that there is no sincerity to really buy!

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