The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 348 Take him to see
Upon entering Chuzhou, Qin Hui observed that the city was not yet wealthy or prosperous.

Because there is a lot of construction going on in the city.

But it's not poor here; at least you can't see any beggars on the road, and no one is lying on the roadside in rags waiting to die.

"Aren't there any beggars here?"

Yue Wenxuan laughed: "Where can you find beggars? As long as they have hands, they're all out making money by packaging bullets. Even those who don't have hands, only feet, are hired by textile factories to gin cotton, because the ginning rollers can be turned with feet. The wages for disabled people can be lower, and the shopkeepers love to hire them."

Qin Hui heard a new term: "bullet bag".

"What's the purpose of packing bullets?"

Yue Wenxuan smiled and said, "I have a connection with Lord Qin, so I'll take you to see him."

He led Qin Hui, making several turns, and soon arrived at the military camp outside the city.

Next to the barracks, there was a workshop guarded by a large number of soldiers.

"This is the bullet-packing workshop," Yue Wenxuan explained. "Because it's a military enterprise, it's guarded by soldiers. Any unauthorized personnel who try to spy on this place will be treated as spies and dealt with accordingly."

spy!

These two words stung Qin Hui's nerves. He was a spy for the Jin Dynasty. If he went into this workshop to spy, would he be shot on the spot?

I'm a little scared!
But Yue Wenxuan had already invited him, so wouldn't not daring to go in only further confirm that he was a spy?
We had no choice but to bite the bullet and go in.

As soon as he entered, he smelled a strong gunpowder odor.

The passageway leading into the workshop was marked with many large characters: "No fire, no running, no wearing fur clothing." A guard at the gate said to the crowd, "Please take out your tinderboxes and put them in the basket over here. They will be returned to you when you leave."

An old soldier said, "Didn't you see that it's Young Master Yue and Lady Gong?"

The gatekeeper said, "Young Master Yue told me this himself last time. Even if he comes in person, I still need to remind him about the tinderbox, lest he forget."

Yue Wenxuan smiled and said, "Well done! The reminder was necessary."

The people accompanying him started reaching into their wallets, and after some fumbling, they actually found two tinderboxes.

Qin Hui shrugged, indicating that he had nothing, but the guards still searched him to make sure he had no flammable materials and that his clothes were not likely to spark before letting him go.

I finally got into the workshop.

Qin Hui didn't even dare to breathe loudly anymore...

Inside the workshop, there were many people, men and women, old and young, and even people with disabilities in both legs. They were all sitting in front of a long wooden table, on which were small, round lead bullets, black gunpowder powder, a small scale, and a thick stack of paper.

A man with a disability in both legs carefully picked up a handful of black gunpowder, weighed it on a scale, then took a piece of paper, rolled it into a tube, sealed the bottom, first put the black gunpowder into the paper tube, and then put in a lead bullet.

Then he rolled the paper up tightly, even squeezing it a little.

"This is how you pack bullets?" Qin Hui exclaimed in surprise. "It looks a bit like making firecrackers."

Yue Wenxuan chuckled: "You should know that my Northern Song army once defeated the Jin army, right?"

Qin Hui immediately straightened up, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and said with a look of great admiration, "The Great Song army has swept away the barbarians, which is a blessing for the world."

Yue Wenxuan: "We used a type of firearm to kill the Jin soldiers, you must have heard of it."

This time, Qin Hui didn't say anything nice. Instead, he exclaimed, "Eh?" and asked, "Is this bullet for firearms?" Yue Wenxuan nodded and said, "Put this bullet into a long iron tube, and 'bang,' the Jin soldier will fall from his horse and die."

Qin Hui's eyes were deformed, becoming as large as a cat's pupils.

Yue Wenxuan waved and said, "Come on, let's go see something fun."

He led Qin Hui and his entourage through the bullet production workshop and to the back.

There is a small room where workers hand in their packed bullets. Several old craftsmen sit here, checking whether the bullets are properly packed. After they have been inspected, the bullets are collected into a large basket and then sent to the warehouse.

Yue Wenxuan and his group walked into the warehouse and said to the warehouse pipes: "Disburse one hundred rounds of ammunition, write a receipt, and I'll sign it."

The warehouse manager quickly bowed, wrote out a receipt, and wrote: "One hundred bullets issued, recipient: Yue Wenxuan".

Qin Hui discovered something: when the warehouse manager was writing the invoice, he actually wrote Yue Wenxuan's full name, instead of something like "Young Master Yue," "Young Master Yue," or "Lord Yue," which showed that the process was very rigorous.

Yue Wenxuan, carrying a bag of bullets, walked out of the bullet workshop with Qin Hui and his group, and came to the barracks next door. He smiled and waved to the soldiers: "A few musketeers who are itching for a fight, come on! I brought some bullets for you to practice with."

With a loud "whoosh," dozens of musketeers immediately surrounded them.

Yue Wenxuan took out bullets and said with a smile, "We have a guest today named Lord Qin. He just fought his way out of the Jin Kingdom and suffered a lot along the way. Let's all show off our marksmanship to Lord Qin as a way of welcoming him back to the Song Dynasty."

The musketeers laughed. They could tell that Young Master Yue had emphasized the word "kill," deliberately changing his tone... clearly with a mocking undertone.

Qin Hui and his entourage naturally understood as well, and their expressions became somewhat awkward.

One of the musketeers said in a sarcastic tone, "What are you going to show Lord Qin?"

Another musketeer said, "Of course, we're going to fight the Jin soldiers!"

"Hahahaha! That makes sense, let's fight the Jin soldiers."

The musketeers immediately brought out a moving target, which was a horse made of straw, with a person made of straw sitting on its back. The straw person was wearing the leather armor commonly worn by the Jin army's cavalry, and it looked quite lifelike. There was also a small cart under the straw horse, with a long straw rope tied to the front of the cart.

A soldier, holding a straw rope, ran around the drill ground, dragging a scarecrow of a Jin Dynasty cavalryman as it moved with a rumbling sound.

"Make the rope longer, or you might get hurt."

"Yes, yes, make the rope longer."

The soldiers laughed and joked for a while, and soon the moving target was ready.

The musketeers also began their preparations.

Qin Hui and his entourage stared wide-eyed. This was one of the few times they had the opportunity to see the Northern Song army's "secret weapon" up close. As they were on a mission to become spies for the Jin dynasty, they had to watch closely.

The musketeers loaded the bullets they had just packed in the workshop into their muskets, lit the matchlock, aimed, and pulled the trigger. The trigger, along with the burning matchlock, ignited the priming powder, followed by a series of loud bangs.

Qin Hui and his entourage quickly covered their ears, terrified by the enormous explosion.

Meanwhile, straw fragments kept puffing up from the straw man opposite the shooting range...

The gunfire stopped shortly afterward!
Yue Wenxuan laughed and said, "Alright, drag the scarecrow over here and let Lord Qin take a look."

(End of this chapter)