The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 310 Granny Liu Reports

Waves of cheerful laughter echoed over the back garden, and the sky was filled with all kinds of kites.

At the foot of the hill, Lin Daiyu and others were enjoying the fun of flying kites.

"boom!"

The sound of a musket shot across the sky, startling a large flock of birds and waking up Lin Daiyu and others who were immersed in the joyful atmosphere.

"Oh, it's Brother-in-law Lin who's back!" Shi Xiangyun was the first to react.

Before he finished speaking, another shot of gunfire was heard.

Shi Xiangyun blinked her eyes several times and looked at Lin Daiyu: "Sister Lin, let's go and watch Brother-in-law Lin fire the new musket."

As soon as these words were spoken, Jia Yingchun, Jia Tanchun, Jia Xichun and Xue Baoqin all looked at Lin Daiyu expectantly, and even Xue Baochai had a hint of anticipation in her eyes.

Lin Daiyu hesitated for a moment and said, "You can only watch from a distance, and you are not allowed to get close."

Shi Xiangyun blinked her eyes and said, "The muskets are fired forwards. We will be fine if we hide behind Brother-in-law Lin." Then she hugged Lin Daiyu's arm coquettishly and begged, "Please! Good sister~"

Jia Xichun looked at them with some envy.

Lin Daiyu was so annoyed that she pinched her face and said, "Go ahead and make a scene. The gunpowder hurt your face. Let's see how you can find a husband in the future!"

Everyone laughed.

Shi Xiangyun blushed: "You are so bad."

Everyone laughed even more.

Lin Daiyu took the small silver scissors handed to her by Zijuan, and said with a smile, "Let's fly the kite and take the bad luck with it." As she spoke, she cut the kite string, and the kite flew away.

Everyone flew their kites and followed Lin Daiyu towards the grove.

On the other side, Li Hu, holding a musket that was emitting white smoke, walked forward to check the bullet marks on the tree trunk. About 150 steps away, the bullet was embedded in the bark.

Li Hu shook his head. It was still due to the lack of craftsmanship that the airtightness was not very good and the armor-piercing power was far less than that of a muzzle-loading rifle.

"Xiang Ling."

Xiangling ran over and handed a cylindrical paper bullet to Li Hu.

Li Hu pushed aside the flint to reveal the chamber, took the paper shell ammunition handed to him by Xiangling, bit open the paper roll from the top, poured a small amount of gunpowder into the chamber, and then covered the chamber with the flint. Then he opened the breech, loaded the gunpowder bullets in the paper bag into the breech, closed the breech, raised the gun and aimed at the big tree in the distance, which was estimated to be more than a hundred steps away, and said, "Cover your ears."

"Cover it up!" Xiangling had already covered her ears with her hands and hid behind Li Hu.

Li Hu pulled the trigger, and with a "bang", bark and wood chips flew everywhere!

"Wow!"

With a cry of surprise, Shi Xiangyun pulled Jia Xichun and ran over like a gust of wind.

Lin Daiyu and others also came over.

Shi Xiangyun looked at the musket in Li Hu's hand and said, "Brother-in-law Lin, is this the new musket? It looks the same as the homemade musket."

Li Hu: "You know shit."

Shi Xiangyun's face flushed: "You, you are vulgar!"

Li Hu smiled and said, "Change it to something less vulgar. You know nothing!"

"You~Sister Lin, you need to take care of Brother-in-law Lin, he's a bully!"

"Hey, it's broad daylight, don't slander me! Everyone can testify."

Lin Daiyu rubbed her forehead, thinking that none of them could make her worry-free.

Xue Baochai spoke up to help: "Well, don't you want to see the new musket?"

Shi Xiangyun was reminded and looked at the musket in Li Hu's hand, but was too embarrassed to speak, so she could only look to Lin Daiyu for help.

Li Hu would not embarrass Lin Daiyu, so he smiled and said to Shi Xiangyun, "Want to fire the musket?"

Shi Xiangyun nodded subconsciously.

Lin Daiyu was a little angry: "Xiangyun!"

Shi Xiangyun reacted and realized that Li Hu had tricked her, and glared at him fiercely.

Li Hu smiled proudly at her and said, "You are too young to fight with me!"

Jia Xichun spoke up: "Brother-in-law Lin, can you fire the musket for us to see?"

Jia Tanchun and Xue Baoqin also came over, blinking their eyes at Li Hu. With such a beautiful woman in front of him, how could he say no? He loaded the ammunition, raised his gun to aim, and pulled the trigger, all in one go. In the middle, he even reminded them to cover their ears.

Fragments flew everywhere, and the gold hairpins were stunned.

Shi Xiangyun said excitedly: "Brother-in-law Lin, let me let it go for a while!"

Lin Daiyu: "Stop it, this is not a firecracker."

Li Hu winked at her and asked Shi Xiangyun with a smile, "Want to release it?"

Shi Xiangyun: "Yeah."

Li Hu grinned wickedly and said, "Come on, hold it steady." Then he handed the musket to her.

Shi Xiangyun became even more excited: "Brother-in-law Lin, you are so nice! Oh~" She stumbled and fell to the ground with her musket.

Lin Daiyu and others were frightened and became flustered.

Seeing that Shi Xiangyun was fine, Lin Daiyu went to pick up the musket on the ground and was surprised: "It's so heavy?"

Li Hu picked up the musket and said with a smile, "The new musket has a double barrel. It is more than six feet long and weighs about seven or eight pounds. If you add a bayonet, it will be even heavier."

Shi Xiangyun knew what was going on and looked at Li Hu angrily.

Li Hu smiled. How could a rich lady like Shi Xiangyun, who couldn't lift or carry anything, have such strength? Thinking of William and others, he shook his head. The water mill had been built. The speed of forging was much faster than manual labor, but the most time-consuming and laborious part was drilling the barrel. This had to be done manually. The most skilled craftsmen could only produce three or four qualified barrels per month. In addition, the cost was high, three times that of a muzzle-loading musket, thirty taels.

Thinking of Emperor Yongchang's painful expression, Li Hu smiled bitterly. In order to complete the mausoleum of Concubine Xian before the end of October, he waved his hand and gave her 100,000 silver coins. Doing so is not good for the country!
In order to give the musketeers close combat capabilities, Li Hu invented the bayonet, which was about one foot long and sword-shaped. The bayonet blade was inserted into the metal sleeve fixed on the side of the new musketeer head, so that the musketeer could shoot with the bayonet. In addition, including the musketeer, the total length reached more than six and a half feet. In this way, the musketeers could line up against the enemy like pikemen.

Li Hu suddenly remembered: "This musket will be kept at home from now on. Come, I will teach you how to fire the musket."

Lin Daiyu was slightly stunned: "This, it's hard for me to hold it."

Li Hu: "You can put it on the table."

Lin Daiyu: “Oh.”

Under the envious gazes of the other rich girls, Li Hu taught Lin Daiyu how to fire a musket step by step.

While I was busy, Xiao Ni came over excitedly.

Xiao Ni: "Second Master, Miss, Granny Liu is here."

Li Hu smiled and said, "Grandma Liu is here to give us a Mid-Autumn Festival gift."

Lin Daiyu also smiled: "Where are the people?"

Xiao Ni: "Waiting in the main hall."

Li Hu: "What good stuff did you bring?"

Xiao Ni: "Grandma came here in a horse-drawn carriage this time. She brought not only fresh vegetables and dried vegetables, but also chickens, ducks and geese that she raised at home."

Li Hu waved his hand and said, "Let's go and take a look." Then he led the group of golden hairpins to Lin Daiyu's yard.

When she saw Li Hu coming, Granny Liu hurriedly pulled Ban'er forward to pay her respects, and then bowed to Lin Daiyu and all the golden hairpins.

Looking at the many golden hairpins surrounding Li Hu, Granny Liu's smile widened, thinking that she was right last time, the Second Master was so blessed.

After some jokes, Granny Liu said to Li Hu, "I have something to say to you, Master."

Lin Daiyu waved her hand and led the group of golden hairpins into the warm room.

Granny Liu: "Second Master, you know that our village is close to the emperor's hunting grounds. Now, something strange has happened recently."

Li Hu became interested: "What's strange?"

Granny Liu: "I have to thank the Second Master's daughter for her kindness. I used the money given by the Second Master's daughter to buy a cow and a dozen sheep. When I have nothing to do, I take Ban'er and Qing'er to drive the cows and sheep out to graze. This dung is a good thing. How can we country people do this? Those people are not good people at first glance."

Li Hu's eyes flashed. The Second Prince's people? No wonder the Third Prince's people couldn't be found. It turned out that the darkest place was under the lamp!
Granny Liu: "These people are so brave that they dare to steal things from the emperor's hunting ground. Is this helpful to you, Master?"

Li Hu was indeed touched: "It helps, it helps."

Granny Liu smiled and said, "It's good to be of help."

Li Hu smiled and thought of a way to reveal the news to the Third Prince. Oh, by the way, didn't the bad guy Wang Ren make friends with the Third Prince? He's the one. Although the deficit in the Grand View Garden project was made up, it was still known to Jia Mu and others. Now, all matters related to the project must be approved by Jia She first.

Thinking of this, Li Hu stood up and looked towards the warm room, "I have something to go out for." Then he said to Granny Liu, "You don't have to go back today."

Granny Liu smiled widely: "Hey!"

(End of this chapter)