Wanli 1592

Chapter 877 A Different Lead Bullet
In Huating County, all the bureaucrats of Huating County and the main personnel of the Xu family gathered here to discuss the matter that the Zhennan Army appeared outside the city to block the county but not attack it.

"These people surrounded the county town and marched again and again. What is their intention? Master Xu, haven't you sent people to negotiate with this army? How could this happen?"

The magistrate of Huating looked at Xu Youqing suspiciously.

"Well, I really don't know, what are they going to do? They want to trap us in the city? There is water and food in the city, which is enough for us to spend for a year. Even if they surround it for a year, it won't work?"

Xu Youqing had some ominous premonition in his heart, but he didn't know what to say.

"What's the intention? This... this...Master Xu! Look quickly! That's a firecracker! It's a firecracker! It's a big firecracker!"

The county magistrate of Huating pointed down the city in panic, and Xu Youqing looked outside the city, his face turned pale with shock.

Five huge cannons emerged from the Zhennan Army's barracks. The cannons were one foot long, and their black muzzles pointed at the gate of Huating County, which was tightly blocked. They were full of deterrence.

"Are they going to attack the city?"

The magistrate of Huating turned pale with shock: "Master Xu, there are only three hundred soldiers in the city, and even including the guards of each family, they are less than one thousand. There are enough troops outside the city... this... this must be at least five thousand Counting, there are still such a big firecracker, this...we...what should we do?"

The county magistrate of Huating is usually the Xu family's echo, basically a puppet set up by the Xu family, pretending to show the common people, all the county affairs and even the things in the Songjiang mansion are discussed by them, absolutely protecting the interests of the Xu family.

Therefore, a few years ago, a small official who had just been admitted as a Jinshi and then released to be a county magistrate also wanted to hug the Xu family's thigh to seek a promotion.

His natural level is very poor, and he panics immediately when encountering things.

"Don't panic, even if they want to attack the city, they must have an explanation. I will send someone out to talk to them. Even if the negotiation breaks down, there must be an explanation!"

The ominous premonition in Xu Youqing's heart became stronger and stronger.

Shaoqing, an old-fashioned catapult came out of the Zhennan Army barracks, and then Xu Youqing saw the Zhennan Army soldiers under the city tossing about inside the city for a long time, then put a cloth bag into the frame of the catapult, and directly The cloth bag was smashed in with a trebuchet.

The cloth bag drew a beautiful arc and hit the tower directly, scaring a group of young and old.

When they found out that it was not a weapon but a simple cloth bag, they were puzzled, and the county magistrate instructed his men to open the cloth bag, and then...

"what!!!!"

The screams were endless.

Even Xu Youqing, who had slept with the emperor, was horrified by this.

Because he saw Xu Nianzu, in this cloth bag!
And it's not complete!

At this moment, in the barracks, Zheng Ying was inspecting a batch of munitions from Burma that had just arrived by sea an hour ago.

There are bird guns and various cannons, such as the super fire gun that Zheng Ying has been coveting for a long time—the Hongyi Cannon. There are five guns in total, specially sent for Zheng Ying to use in attacking cities and threatening the enemy.

The weapons sent in this batch are basically firearms, the quantity is large enough for Zheng Ying to use later, but there is a batch of small but very special firearms in this batch of firearms. This batch of ten flintlocks is followed by a This craftsman was carrying the badge of Xu Guangqi, head of the Burmese Firearms Manufacturing Bureau, so that he could find Zheng Ying as soon as he landed.

"Xu Guangqi? Isn't he making firearms in Myanmar? Why did you ask me to find me?"

Zheng Ying asked the craftsman strangely.

"That's right. What Director Xu means is that these flintlocks are the latest products. Soldiers on the battlefield need to try them out to test their performance. We have arranged for people to deliver them not only to you, but also to General Xiao in Hanzhong. .”

Zheng Ying curiously picked up a flintlock and looked at it.

"It's really beautiful. This carving must be made by a master craftsman, right?"

The craftsman said depressedly: "General Zheng, this is not for ornamental purposes. This is the latest flintlock made by our Firearms Manufacturing Bureau after two years of painstaking efforts. These flintlocks are all rifled!"

"Oh? Rifling?"

Only then did Zheng Ying pay attention, and looked inside the barrel, and there was indeed a rifling.

"There are only more than 2000 rifled flintlocks in our army, most of which are at the commander's personal guards. We only have a small number here, and I only have two hundred under my command. You... are too few. Right? Only ten?"

Zheng Ying looked at the craftsman complainingly: "Your firearms manufacturing bureau eats up 100 million taels of silver every year, right? Can you get more of this? This thing is accurate and far away. Fifty paces, I don’t know where to fly away from fifty paces. This thing can hit more than a hundred paces. If there are only one soldier on the battlefield, I can beat the enemy army to pieces with a single salvo! Give me a thousand I am eight hundred, so I can do business with my brothers!"

The craftsman was almost desperate with Zheng Ying.

"General Zheng, I'm not joking with you. An ordinary rifled flintlock costs 12 taels of silver! One thousand is 1 taels, and if there are no waste products, you know that a rifled flintlock How much effort does our master craftsman have to spend to make the flintlock?
Three or five master craftsmen with good craftsmanship can take almost ten days to get one out. The rifling is so difficult to get, and no one dares to say that it must be a good product that can go to the battlefield! "

Of course Zheng Ying also knows that this thing is not easy to handle, so there are few of them, he just said it for fun.

So he smiled.

"I know I know, I'm just joking! And then? What is your director sending you here for this time? To send ten flintlocks to my 5-strong army? Are you made of gold?"

The craftsman shook his head hurriedly, and then pulled out a wooden box from the ammunition pile.

As soon as he opened it, Zheng Ying saw that it was full of oiled paper bags, and took out a bag and put it in his hand, it was heavy.

"What? Lead pellets?"

"Be careful!"

The craftsman brought the oil-paper bag and opened it carefully. Zheng Ying leaned over to have a look: "Isn't it just a lead bullet? It looks like silver... Eh? Why doesn't this lead bullet look right? Why is it in this shape? of?"

The lead bullet that Zheng Ying saw was not the round bullets used in bird guns that he had seen in the past, nor the larger round bullets used in rifled flintlocks that needed a hammer to hammer into the barrel, but a cylinder with lower body and upper body. They are small lead bullets in the shape of a cone.

"What kind of lead bullet is this? Why does it look so... ouch, there is still oil?"

Zheng Ying couldn't help being curious and took one to his hand to read.

"General Zheng, this is the purpose of my coming here to find you. I need you to find ten best soldiers who use guns, give them this gun and this new type of lead, and let them try it out at three hundred Step away and shoot."

Zheng Ying froze for a moment.

"What? Three hundred steps? That's almost catching up with Fran's machine gun! How is that possible?"

"Nothing is impossible."

The craftsman picked up a lead bullet and said: "These blunderbuss and these lead are all our work for two years. After Mr. Xu came, he took us to rush out a batch. Before I set off, we tried it. The farthest One shot was three hundred paces away."

(End of this chapter)