The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 611 Spring Plowing

In March, grass sprouts finally emerged from the ground in western Liaoning, willows sprouted new buds, and the mountains turned green. The people were busy in the fields day and night, sowing wheat, and the troops stationed in Ningyuan City also stopped training and went to the fields to work.

In addition to the Beijing Camp that guarded the capital, the local troops of the Jin Dynasty had to participate in farming in order to achieve self-sufficiency. The local troops were called Wei Suo and the border troops were called Juntun.

Of course, due to the heavy defensive tasks, border troops have to guard against and resist foreign invasions most of the time. It is impossible to achieve self-sufficiency relying solely on military settlements, and they have to rely on continuous transfusions from the central government's finances.

For example, Xiong Tingbai spent millions of taels of silver in the past two years in Liaodong. He spent money like water. Unfortunately, this defensive strategy was slow to take effect. After a long time, some people would definitely be dissatisfied. Xiong Tingbai was in Liaodong twice. The first time, he spent too much money but the effect was not significant. In the end, he was replaced by the court officials and the retired emperor Kangping who were eager to make a profit.

As the saying goes, the economic base determines the superstructure, so if Jia Huan wants to sit firmly in Ningyuan, he must develop the local economy and achieve self-sufficiency to the maximum extent. At the same time, he must show certain achievements to the emperor and the officials in the court. Otherwise, after a long time, he will probably have to pack up and leave.

Of course, now Jia Huan has Sun Chengzong supporting him, and Sun Chengzong has Ye Gao, the chief minister of the cabinet, supporting him. So Jia Huan is much happier than Xiong Tingbai. Basically, he can get money and people whenever he wants.

One day, Jia Huan went to the fields to inspect and returned to the military headquarters. He found that the "workaholic" Mandarin was at home, sitting at her desk, concentrating on writing and drawing. Her golden hair was covered with iron filings and dust, and her originally sweet and charming face was rubbed dirty by oil, which made people laugh and respect her at the same time.

Jia Huan came forward curiously and found that Mandarin was drawing a blueprint with strange formulas written next to it. He seemed to understand it but not quite. It should be something about ballistic mechanics.

The foreign maid must have encountered a problem at this time. She frowned and suddenly threw the charcoal pencil, tore the drawing into pieces and threw it on the ground. She leaned back angrily and hit Jia Huan's chin. The latter groaned.

Mandalin then realized that Jia Huan was standing behind her and asked in surprise, "Jia, when did you come back? Oh, I'm sorry!"

Jia Huan covered his chin and smiled bitterly: "My dear Miss, why are you so angry again?"

Mandalin looked at Jia Huan's chin and found that it was just red, but not broken or bleeding. She breathed a sigh of relief, made a bitter face, and said pitifully: "Jia, I have a problem!"

"Don't be anxious, tell me what you have to say, even though I may not understand." Jia Huan reached out and hugged the foreign maid into his arms, comforting her softly.

Mandalin snuggled in Jia Huan's arms, frowning and saying, "The first batch of rifled flintlock rifles have been made, but the burst rate is too high. Five out of ten rifles burst. Oh my God, I'm going crazy!"

Jia Huan frowned and said, "That's indeed too high. We wouldn't dare use this thing even if we made it. So what's the reason for the explosion? Is it because of the poor quality of the barrel?"

Mandarin shook her head and said, "I also thought it was the quality of the barrel at first, but after a reverse inspection, it turned out not to be the case."

"Could it be that the rifling is too deep? Or is the winding too high?"

"Oh my God, Jia, you actually know the tangle?" Mandarin widened her sapphire eyes and looked at Jia Huan in surprise.

Jia Huan smiled and said, "You only know a little bit. Don't forget, I was the one who taught you how to draw the three-dimensional diagram. Let's go and take a hot bath first. You look so dirty. This kind of technical problem can't be solved in a hurry. It needs to be verified through a lot of calculations. You must always keep a clear mind and not let your emotions control you. Let it go for a while and relax your nerves. You may get a clue." Mandalin rolled her eyes when she heard this, and she leaned close to Jia Huan's ear and whispered in a sweet voice, "Jia, you have to take a bath with me. Hehe, you have to go all out, like a cow plowing a field."

Tsk tsk, this hoof!

Mr. Jia was immediately enraged and wanted to pick up his gun and mount his horse to fight for three hundred rounds.

Facts have proved that there are only tired oxen but no plowed land. After just two rounds of fighting, our military commander fell into a deep sleep on his bed, while the foreign maid was full of energy. She drank two glasses of wine and continued to write furiously at her desk.

It was unknown how much time had passed, but when Jia Huan woke up, he was greeted by the foreign maid's overwhelming kisses and excited cheers: "Jia, I figured it out, I figured it out!"

Mandalin hugged Jia Huan's neck, her excitement was beyond words. Jia Huan smiled bitterly and said, "If you want to figure it out, just figure it out. Why are you so excited? Do you want to suffocate me to death?"

Mandarin smacked Jia Huan's lips and said with a grin, "Jia, you are indeed my catalyst. Hehe, I have to go back to the workshop right away." After that, she put on her clothes and ran away in a hurry.

Jia Huan couldn't help but laugh and cry. Is this considered as destroying the bridge after crossing it?
…………

In the afternoon, a spring rain was falling. In the fields around Ningyuan City, farmers could be seen working in the rain everywhere, creating a bustling scene.

Wearing a bamboo hat and a straw raincoat, Dorgon walked alone on the muddy official road, slowly approaching the direction of Ningyuan City. What he saw along the way made him secretly clench his fists: "These damn Liao people, they refused to shave their heads and become the subjects of my Great Jin, but worked hard to cultivate and produce food on the land of Jin."

It turned out that since Dorgon took over Jinzhou in place of the second prince Amin, he had never relaxed his vigilance and reconnaissance of Ningyuan. Recently, scouts had been reporting that several new artillery towers had been built in Ningyuan City, and that a lot of "big guys" had been shipped in by ship, and that the Jin army was also building large-scale projects on Juehua Island. So Dorgon disguised himself and went to Ningyuan in person to investigate.

It has to be said that Dorgon was indeed very courageous. He dared to run to the vicinity of Ningyuan City alone, which was something Jia Huan had not expected.

Dorgon took advantage of the cover of the spring rain and slowly came to the foot of Ningyuan City. He then walked around the city as if nothing had happened. However, when he saw the two newly dug trenches more than ten meters wide outside Ningyuan City and the four artillery batteries rising from the ground at the four corners of the city, his face darkened.

"Damn it, Xiong Tingbai is gone, and here comes Jia Huan. It's a pity that my father the Khan didn't listen to my advice and took over Ningyuan City. Now that this kid Jia Huan has established his foothold, it will be difficult to capture Ningyuan again." Dorgon couldn't help but feel sorry. He was about to turn to the south of the city to see what the Jin army was doing on Juehua Island, but he saw a team of cavalry coming from a distance. So he lowered his head, walked to the field ridges near the road, put down his burden and pretended to work.

The Jin army cavalry did not suspect anything and galloped straight past. Although Dorgon was brave, he did not dare to stay any longer. He slipped away after the cavalry went far away and headed quickly towards Jinzhou. After about an hour, he finally met up with his personal soldiers who were waiting to support him.

Dorgon threw away the disguised burden, climbed onto his horse, glanced back in the direction of Ningyuan City, and said coldly: "Jia Huan, no matter how strong your tortoise shell is, you still have to go out of the city to farm, right? Just wait and see, don't even think about growing crops in peace."

(End of this chapter)