The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 618 Darling Bullet

It is said that after Jin Taizu drove the Tartars out of the Central Plains and established Beijing as the capital, he launched military campaigns outside the Great Wall three times. After Jin Taizong ascended the throne, he launched four northern expeditions and completely destroyed the Mongolian regime. Until now, in the ninth year of Qiansheng, Mongolia is still in a state of fragmentation.

If we have to divide it, it can be divided into three major parts: Mongolia south of the Gobi Desert, Mongolia west of the Gobi Desert and Mongolia north of the Gobi Desert. However, these three major parts are not unified. They are composed of many large and small tribes. These small tribes are independent of each other and have no jurisdiction over each other. In many cases, they even attack each other and compete for pastures.

The Mongolians south of the Gobi Desert border the Jin Dynasty to the south and the Jurchens to the east. The Chahar, Inner Khalkha, Khorchin, Tumed, and Ordos tribes are the main forces in the Mongolians south of the Gobi Desert. There are also other small tribes, which are numerous.

Among these tribes, the strongest was the Chahar tribe, and its leader was none other than Ligdan Khan, also known as Hutudun Khan in the Jin Dynasty.

Lin Danhan was a descendant of the Golden Family. He always regarded himself as the orthodox member of the Mongolian royal family. He was determined to unify the Mongolian desert and become the common leader of all tribes. Over the years, he also annexed many nearby small tribes. His strength became stronger and stronger, and even Nurhaci was afraid of him.

Therefore, the Jin Dynasty wanted to win over Lin Dan Khan to check and balance the Jurchens, which was undoubtedly a correct strategy. The problem was that Lin Dan Khan was not an easy person to deal with, and the Jin Dynasty could not win him over without paying a certain price. Therefore, Zhang Pu brought a large amount of gold and silver with him on this mission, which was a huge investment.

Lin Danhan was a greedy man, so this move was a way to please him. As for whether it would succeed in the end, it all depended on Zhang Pu's ability. Jia Huan hoped that Zhang Pu could accomplish this, because in this way, at least a few years of precious time could be bought for Ningyuan to recuperate, and the most important thing to build the Liaoxi defense line was time.

So Zhang Pu requested to send troops to escort them, and Jia Huan agreed immediately: "No problem, all the generals present are brave, brother Tianru, please let me know which one you like."

Zhang Pu smiled and said, "Then I won't be polite. I heard that Lieutenant General Wu once went deep into the Thirteen Mountains alone to rescue trapped soldiers and civilians. He is truly a lone hero with extraordinary courage. I have admired him for a long time!"

Wu Sangui was quite proud when he heard this, but he quickly said modestly: "Master Zhang, you are too kind."

"Brother Tianru has good vision!" Jia Huan smiled and looked at Wu Sangui and asked, "How about General Wu accompany Zhang Jieshi on this trip?"

"It's up to Lord Bingbei to make the arrangements." Wu Sangui immediately stood up and clasped his fists.

Wu Sangui was a man with a high spirit, and like Zhang Pu, he was unwilling to be inferior to others. Although this trip was risky, it was far less risky than sneaking into the Thirteen Mountains behind enemy lines to rescue people. How could he let go of such a good opportunity to make a contribution?
Zhang Pu raised his glass and said with a smile: "Thank you, Lieutenant General Wu, for your care along the way."

"Okay, okay!" Wu Sangui raised his glass and drank with Zhang Pu.

Lin Danhan's tent was located in the upper reaches of the Daling River, while Jinzhou was in the lower reaches of the Daling River, so the Jinzhou route was the most convenient and fastest. However, the Jinzhou area has been occupied by the Jurchens, so we can only take a detour and cross the Great Wall to the north.

On the second day, Jia Huan allocated 300 cavalrymen to Wu Sangui, who were responsible for escorting Zhang Pu to the Chahar tribe.

After seeing Zhang Pu off, Jia Huan took his senior brother Liu Yi to visit Ningyuan City and Juehua Island, and then watched the soldiers' training. The highlight was of course the cavalry and new firearms training.

Now the size of Ningyuan's cavalry has reached two thousand people. Ever since they annihilated a Niulu of Jurchen cavalry with real swords and guns last time, the morale of this cavalry has obviously risen, and their mental outlook has undergone a tremendous change. They hold their heads high and their eyes are full of murderous intent. It is obvious that they are a team that can and dares to fight.

In order to build an elite cavalry that could fight head-on against the Jurchen cavalry, Jia Huan spent a huge amount of money. The recruitment criteria were extremely harsh, and all the recruits had to be native Liao men under the age of 25.

These guys are young and strong, with sturdy physiques. As native Liao people, they have an extremely strong desire to defend their country. With excellent mounts and weapons, over time they will surely become an invincible Guanning Iron Cavalry that will terrify the enemy.

Of course, for now, this cavalry is still far from being strong enough. After fighting a few more tough battles and going through a few more mountains of corpses and seas of blood, the effect will be seen.

However, for a scholar like Liu Yi who had never been to the battlefield, the momentum of the cavalry under Jia Huan was already incredible. After watching a round of drills, he was so shocked that he wrote a poem about it, something like "dark clouds press down on the city, cold light cuts through the nine layers of heaven", which made Jia Huan himself feel a little embarrassed by the exaggeration.

Next, Liu Yi watched the new flintlock rifle drill. He was so excited that he even fired two shots himself. He asked Jia Huan with great interest, "Ziming, this flintlock rifle can indeed shoot much farther than a matchlock rifle and has greater power, but loading the ammunition seems to be more laborious."

Jia Huan nodded and said, "This is indeed a problem. Big Brother, look at this barrel. Due to the addition of spiral rifling, it is naturally more difficult to insert the bullet than a smoothbore rifle."

Liu Yi took a look at the muzzle of the gun and saw some tiny spiral lines on the inside of the barrel. He frowned and said, "Is this the rifling? What's so special about it?"

"The rifling allows the bullet to rotate at high speed when it leaves the barrel. On the one hand, it offsets wind resistance, and on the other hand, it makes the bullet more stable, greatly improving the range and accuracy of the bullet," Jia Huan explained.

Liu Yi shook his head and said, "It's true that different trades are like different worlds. I don't quite understand what you're saying, but can't the lead be made a little smaller? That way, it would be easier to fill."

Mandalin, who had been silent all the time, couldn't help but chuckle and shrugged, saying, "Liu Hanlin is really an outsider. The lead bullet is too small and the barrel is leaking. How can it shoot far?" Jia Huan hurriedly shouted, "Mandalin, don't be rude!"

Liu Yi said with a little embarrassment: "It's okay, Miss Man is right. I am really a layman when it comes to firearms. Could you please explain it in detail, Miss Man? If the emperor asks, I will be able to answer it, right?"

Mandarin pouted her lips and turned her face away, saying nothing, and even started to throw a tantrum. This foreign maid became arrogant because of her favor.

Jia Huan could only cough lightly and said, "The lead bullet must be made to fit the caliber of the gun barrel and fit exactly into the rifling, so that it won't leak, and when fired, the lead bullet will rotate along the rifling. In other words, the lead bullet cannot be too big or too small. If it is too small, it will leak, and if it is too big, it will not fit in, and even if it fits in, it may cause the barrel to explode."

Liu Yi suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. How do we solve this problem? Although this rifle is much more powerful, its loading speed is obviously not as fast as the original matchlock smoothbore rifle. Is it really true that we can't have our cake and eat it too?"

Jia Huan shook his head and said, "Not entirely. Manman and I are trying to find a solution to this problem, and we have made some progress."

Mandarin glanced at Jia Huan happily. Now the latter called her Manman in private, and she also liked this affectionate nickname. At this moment, Jia Huan called her out casually, which naturally made her happy. Her temper was immediately lost. She took out a conical lead bullet from the ammunition she was carrying and waved it proudly at Jia Huan.

Jia Huan's eyes lit up and he blurted out, "Did you make it?"

Mandalin nodded proudly. Jia Huan was overjoyed and asked quickly, "Have you tried it? How is the effect?"

"It's more effective than the original lead bullets, and has a longer range." Mandarin raised her chin and puffed out her chest proudly.

"Really?" Jia Huan couldn't wait to take the new lead bullet from Mandarin and looked at it carefully. The generals couldn't help but come closer to watch.

The lead bullets used originally were all round. In order to ensure airtightness, they had to be made to fit the rifling of the barrel. When loading, they had to be pushed in with a poker, or even hit with a small hammer. Therefore, the loading speed was much slower than the original sliding gun.

In order to solve this problem, Mandarin and Jia Huan pondered for a long time and finally came up with a solution, which was to make the round lead bullet into a cone shape with a hollow bottom.

In this way, the lead bullet can be made slightly smaller than the inner wall of the barrel, making it easier to load. Since the bottom of the lead bullet is hollow, it will expand when fired, causing the edge of the lead bullet to embed into the rifling, thereby ensuring airtightness and allowing the lead bullet to gain rotational momentum, killing two birds with one stone.

This genius idea was what Jia Huan and Mandalin had discussed in recent days. Jia Huan had not verified it personally yet, but Mandalin was so decisive that she actually made this new type of lead bullet. From what she said, it seemed that she had obviously verified it.

Without further ado, Jia Huan immediately loaded the new lead bullet into the flintlock rifle and tried two shots. He found that the range did not decrease, but increased by 10 to 20 meters. The effective killing range reached about 120 meters.

"General Zu, you try it!" Jia Huan happily handed the flintlock rifle to Zu Tianshou, who fired three bullets in one go and couldn't let it go, saying, "Excellent! Not only has the problem of loading lead bullets been solved, but it can also shoot farther. Miss Man is amazing!"

"Miss Man, that's amazing!" The generals gave her thumbs up, their expressions full of admiration.

The foreign maid raised her pretty face proudly again and straightened her towering chest, making all the rough guys stare at her in amazement.

Mandalin then realized something was wrong, and quickly shrank back, angrily saying, "What are you looking at? Believe it or not, I'll gouge your eyes out!"

"Cough cough cough!" A burst of coughing sounds suddenly rang out all around, and a group of rough men looked around and talked about other things.

Jia Huan couldn't help but laugh and cry, and waved his hand and said, "Don't gather around, just go about yourselves!"

All the generals scattered like birds and beasts.

Zu Tianshou smiled awkwardly and changed the subject, "Master Jia, this new type of lead should also be given a name."

Jia Huan glanced at Mandarin and said casually, "Since it was invented by Manman, let's call it Darin Bullet!"

Mandarin's eyes suddenly lit up.

(End of this chapter)