Chief Armaments Master of the Ming Dynasty

The days passed by.

The "arsenal" in Baoan Valley is growing larger and larger.

Lin Fan no longer forges iron himself.

His main responsibilities included technical guidance, quality inspection, and the development of new weapons.

Han Jinhu became the de facto head of the craftsman team, overseeing more than fifty craftsmen and apprentices.

Sun the blacksmith was in charge of classifying and initially processing the iron materials.

Carpenter Zhao was in charge of making wooden parts such as arrow shafts, gun barrels, and cannon carriages.

The leather craftsman was responsible for making leather products such as scabbards, quivers, and leather armor.

Everyone performed their duties in an orderly manner.

Lin Fan himself devoted most of his energy to improving gunpowder and artillery.

He set up a small "gunpowder workshop" that was responsible for the purification of saltpeter, the refining of sulfur, the burning of charcoal, and the formulation and granulation of gunpowder.

He established strict operating procedures—different processes were carried out in different sheds, smoking was strictly prohibited, and metal tools were strictly prohibited from colliding without cause.

To the craftsmen, these rules were so complicated they were almost harsh.

But Lin Fan persisted.

He knew that gunpowder was a double-edged sword.

One wrong move and the entire workshop could be blown to bits.

Under his strict requirements, the gunpowder workshop operated for several months without a single accident.

The quality of gunpowder is also steadily improving.

The power of granulated black powder was more than 20% greater than that of the original powdered gunpowder.

Lin Fan is also constantly making improvements to artillery.

He used better iron and more refined forging techniques to create the fourth and fifth cannons.

Each cannon was better than the last—the barrel was more compact, the range was longer, and the lifespan was longer.

He also tried to create a "shotgun"—using small iron beads and gravel instead of solid iron balls, specifically designed to kill densely charging enemies.

During the test firing, the shotgun shells riddled a wooden board with holes at a distance of fifty paces.

Li Zicheng's eyes lit up when he saw it.

"This stuff is great! It's perfect for repelling government troops' charges!"

He ordered that all artillery pieces be equipped with a certain number of loose shells.

---

Just when everything seemed to be going smoothly, a sudden change shattered the tranquility of the valley.

The first to fall ill was a new recruit.

I was fine in the morning, but in the afternoon I started to have a high fever, a splitting headache, and body aches.

By evening, my body was covered in a dense rash.

The next day, the rash turned into blisters.

On the third day, the blisters became infected and he started to smell terrible.

He died on the fourth day.

Next, the second, the third, the fourth...

In just a few days, dozens of people fell ill.

The symptoms are all the same—high fever, rash, blisters, suppuration, and death.

It is a plague.

Smallpox, or typhus.

In this era, they are all fatal.

Panic spread through the camp like a plague.

Everyone felt insecure, and morale plummeted.

Li Zicheng ordered that the patients be isolated in an open area deep in the valley, and that no one be allowed to approach them.

But it was too late.

The plague has spread.

Lin Fan stood at the entrance of the blacksmith's shop, looking at the quarantine zone in the distance, his brows furrowed.

He has a master's degree in materials science, not a doctor.

His knowledge was of little use in the face of the plague.

But he knew some basic epidemic prevention principles—isolation, cleaning, ventilation, and rodent control.

"Mr. Gu, we must completely separate the sick from the healthy," he told Gu Jun'en. "Burn all the patients' clothes and bedding. Clean the camp every day to keep it clean. Everyone must drink boiled water; no tap water is allowed. Also, exterminate the rats."

Gu Jun'en smiled wryly: "Master Lin, I know all that you're saying. But putting it into practice is too difficult. We have two thousand people, eating, drinking, and relieving ourselves all in one valley. How are we going to keep it clean? Exterminate the rats? The valley is infested with rats. How are we going to get rid of them?"

Lin Fan fell silent.

He knew Gu Jun'en was right.

In this era, in this poorly equipped valley, epidemic prevention is an almost impossible task.

All he could do was try his best.

"I'll give it a try," he said.

---

In the days that followed, Lin Fan and his team of craftsmen did what they could.

They sprayed lime water all over the camp—lime has a disinfecting effect, which was one of the few epidemic prevention tips Lin Fan knew.

They made a large number of simple rat traps and distributed them to the soldiers, encouraging everyone to exterminate rats.

They built several makeshift bathrooms using wooden tubs and bamboo pipes, allowing the soldiers to take turns bathing—although the water was cold, it at least washed away the dirt.

Lin Fan also had a large amount of mugwort collected, dried, and then burned throughout the camp.

Artemisia has the effect of repelling insects and warding off evil spirits; this is a folk remedy that Sun the blacksmith told him.

He didn't know if it would be useful, but doing something was better than doing nothing.

Miraculously, the plague did not continue to spread on a large scale.

The number of patients stopped growing after reaching just over one hundred.

But most of those who were infected did not survive.

People are dying every day in the quarantine zone.

---

Tian Ergou also fell ill.

When Lin Fan found him, he was already delirious with fever and had started to develop red rashes on his body.

"Ergou!" Lin Fan grabbed his hand.

Tian Ergou barely opened his eyes, saw that it was Lin Fan, and grinned.

"Master Lin...am I going to die too...?"

"Don't talk nonsense!" Lin Fan said sternly, "You'll be alright! You definitely will be alright!"

He took Tian Ergou to the quarantine area.

There were dozens of patients lying on simple straw mats, groaning and awaiting their fate.

Lin Fan went to see him every day.

Although he knew there was nothing he could do.

They could only watch as Tian Ergou grew weaker day by day, his blisters multiplied, festering, and emitting a foul stench.

"Master Lin..." Tian Ergou's voice was already as weak as a mosquito's buzz, "If I die, could you please... burn some paper money for my parents... They're back in their hometown, they don't know I'm dead..."

Lin Fan's eyes reddened.

"You won't die. Once you get better, I'll take you back to our hometown, and we'll burn paper money for your parents together."

Tian Ergou smiled and closed his eyes.

He never opened his eyes again.

---

After Tian Ergou died, Lin Fan sat outside the quarantine area for an entire night.

Han Jinhu came to find him and saw him sitting alone in the dark, motionless.

"Brother Lin..."

"Brother Han," Lin Fan's voice was hoarse, "Er Gou is dead."

Han Jinhu fell silent.

Then, he squatted down and patted Lin Fan on the shoulder.

"I know."

"He was only seventeen," Lin Fan said. "He followed me from Huanglong Mountain to Lubao Ridge, to Shanxi, and back to Shaanxi. He said he wanted to go home and burn paper money for his parents. I agreed..."

He couldn't continue.

Han Jinhu didn't say anything, he just sat with him in the dark.

In the distance, from the quarantine zone, suppressed groans and cries could be heard.

That was life's last struggle in despair.