Starting from his vigorous old age, he began to conquer Liaozhai.

The next morning, Cao Xiong finished his early morning cultivation and was preparing to bring some meat back to the Cao residence to try and win over the Fu family.

Wang Er suddenly burst into the barracks, "Uncle Cao, it's done!"

Cao Xiong looked at the flustered Wang Er and a thought popped into his head: "You're a father of two, can't you be a little more composed?"

"Has the short musket been successfully improved?"

Wang Er nodded repeatedly, took out the wooden box containing the short flintlock pistol from his pocket, and said, "Uncle Cao, I tried your method and it worked!"

"Uncle Cao, I think you're truly amazing!"

Cao Xiong took the long wooden box, automatically ignoring Wang Er's flattery.

Only after Wang Er saw Cao Xiong holding the short musket did he begin to explain the modification process to Cao Xiong.

"Uncle Cao, you see, we first improved the gun barrel. When making the gun barrel, we forged layers of iron sheets, then stacked them together to forge the whole barrel."

"This method of manufacturing results in a smooth barrel surface, which reduces the number and force of the lead bullets colliding inside the barrel when they are fired, greatly improving the accuracy of the short flintlock musket."

"Secondly, as you said, the gunpowder used to propel the lead bullets was changed to gunpowder pellets, which significantly increased the thrust."

As Cao Xiong examined the short musket, he listened to Wang Er's explanation and was very satisfied with the improved version. "Have you tried it? How's its power now?"

Wang Er smiled and said, "Hehe, I'm both fierce and accurate within thirty meters. Even if the enemy is wearing iron lamellar armor, I can guarantee that I can penetrate the armor."

"Okay, let's go out and give it a try." Cao Xiong led Wang Er to the shooting range.

Then Wang Er was instructed to retrieve two sets of armor from the storeroom: one set of lamellar armor for ordinary soldiers and junior officers, and the other set of water-polished, waist-length steel armor for general officers.

Wang Er placed the two sets of armor onto the wooden targets.

Cao Xiong stood about 30 meters away from the wooden rake.

After Wang Er placed the armor on the wooden rake, he stood to the side and behind Cao Xiong, holding a wooden box containing lead bullets.

Cao Xiong picked up a lead bullet, loaded it, raised his hand, and aimed.

"Bang!"

With a puff of blue smoke, the lead bullet flew out and struck the iron lamellar armor.

Afterwards, Cao Xiong and others reloaded a lead bullet after the gun barrels had cooled down, and aimed it at the water-polished waist-high steel armor to fire.

Both lead bullets hit the armor.

"Not bad. It can penetrate iron lamellar armor and water-polished steel armor up to the waist from thirty meters away. Its power is stronger than I imagined."

"Uncle Cao, this is the result of Master Lu's repeated testing." Wang Er was also shocked by the power of this short musket.

Cao Xiong put the short flintlock pistol back into the wooden box. "It's just that it takes a little longer to cool down. Logically speaking, a short flintlock pistol should cool down in a shorter time than a regular flintlock pistol."

"However, this problem can be improved gradually. For now, let's mass-produce this short musket."

"Yes, sir!" Wang Er secretly kept the heat dissipation problem raised by Cao Xiong in mind, preparing to come up with an improvement method as soon as possible.

"By the way, if we focus all our efforts on building short muskets and abandon muskets, how long would it take to forge one?" Cao Xiong wanted to produce enough for all officers and soldiers as soon as possible.

"Uncle Cao, now only Master Lu can forge short firearms, and he also has to make weapons for others."

"It will take at least three days to forge one!"

Wang Er hesitated for a moment before speaking.

Cao Xiong had also thought about the problem Wang Er raised.

He needs not only blacksmiths skilled in forging, but also doctors, martial artists, and even scholars proficient in arithmetic and writing; he needs talents from all walks of life.

Take the last bandit suppression as an example. Many wounded soldiers did not have serious injuries at first, but they did not receive timely treatment, which led to their injuries worsening.

If there were accompanying doctors, the casualty rate would definitely be much lower.

Each operation involved sorting out supplies, recording battle achievements, distributing rewards, and compiling statistics on fallen officers and soldiers, all of which required a large number of clerks.

Thinking about the upcoming zombie plague and the subsequent battle against the Tree Demon Granny.

Cao Xiong decided to recruit soldiers. This recruitment was different from the past. He wanted to recruit anyone with a skill into the Hundred-Household Office.

The current Hundred Household Offices are not short of money and grain, but they lack talent.

Without hesitation, Cao Xiong returned to the barracks and began drafting a recruitment notice.

The first priority is definitely the recruitment of martial artists. Currently, the entire Guobei County Hundred Household Office has three general banners and fifteen small banners.

However, there were only ten banner officers in total, leaving eight vacancies.

Ordinary officers and soldiers were not included in this recruitment. Since the end of the bandit suppression campaign, military households have also increased their training time.

The current military households are actually reserve personnel of the Hundred Household Office.

The second item concerns the recruitment of miscellaneous talents, including doctors, blacksmiths, carpenters, and scholars. Anyone with a skill can participate in this recruitment.

These people cannot be offered positions after enlisting.

Therefore, Cao Xiong planned to gather these people together and set up a separate small flag, with their monthly salary calculated separately.

It took Cao Xiong about an incense stick's time to finish writing the recruitment notice.

There weren't many officers and soldiers in the garrison at the moment, so Cao Xiong could only wait until Liu Mingzi and the others returned to the garrison before having others copy the notices and post them in every corner of the county town.

It even spread to the entire Guobei County.

Looking at the time, it was already close to noon. Cao Xiong took some meat from the storeroom, left the centurion's office, and returned to the Cao residence.

When Cao Xiong returned home, he saw Fu Qingfeng practicing martial arts in the yard as soon as he opened the gate.

Judging from her actions, she must have put in a lot of hard work these past few days.

Without internal energy, his movements were light and agile, and his speed was almost twice that of an ordinary person.

Cao Xiong couldn't help but applaud Fu Qingfeng.

"Uncle Cao, you're back!" Fu Qingfeng blushed and smiled when he saw Cao Xiong.

"I feel like something's missing. Uncle Cao, could you take a look and see if I've been practicing it incorrectly?"

Cao Xiong shook his head. "No, you've trained very well. The only thing you're lacking is that you haven't trained your body yet."

Fu Qingfeng lowered his head somewhat embarrassedly, "I thought I had practiced it wrong."

"I brought some game meat to deliver to you. Is Madam Fu not here?"

Cao Xiong approached the stone table, but heard no one else's voice, which puzzled him.

"Mother and Yuechi went out shopping, saying they wanted to experience the local customs and culture of Guobei County."

When Fu Qingfeng spoke with Cao Xiong, he was no longer as reserved as when they first met.

Cao Xiong sighed inwardly at the pity; he had hoped to make more of a good impression on Madam Fu.

"Then I'll give you this meat. You've just started practicing martial arts, and your body is expending a lot of energy. Eating more meat will only do you good."

Fu Qingfeng was deeply moved upon hearing this, never expecting that Cao Xiong would actually send her these things.

"Uncle Cao, how about I become your apprentice?" Fu Qingfeng looked at Cao Xiong with anticipation.

"Ah~" Cao Xiong was startled. If he could take Fu Qingfeng as his disciple, that would be the best thing ever.

However, the matter of becoming an apprentice involves too many complicated things.

Fu Tianchou, as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, was a second-rank official with great power and influence, while he was merely a martial artist at the Tendon Refining Realm and a sixth-rank centurion.

Cao Xiong didn't know Fu Tianchou's character well. If he was misunderstood as currying favor with the powerful, he would really be shooting himself in the foot.

"There's no rush to become my apprentice. You'll only be staying in Guobei County for a few days, and I haven't taught you much anyway."

"I think it would be best if you returned to the capital and had Lord Fu choose a good teacher for you."