White-robed Minister

Chapter 185 0183 [Firearms]

Han Qi's current position is Judge of Yongxing Army and concurrently Military Commissioner and Pacification Commissioner of the Four Routes of Shaanxi. His office is located in Chang'an.

At first, Han Qi's attitude was wavering.

It wasn't until Guo Kui gave him a detailed report on the situation at the front that Han Qi finally changed his stance, resolutely opposing the abandonment of Suizhou, and ordered the construction of fortified villages along the border.

In fact, he had more solutions, but they were all blocked by the court officials, and some of them were even rejected by Zeng Gongliang.

Zeng Gongliang used to listen to Han Qi in everything, but now he doesn't care who Han Qi is anymore.

Faced with this situation, Han Qi became disheartened and began writing letters to resign, wanting to return to his hometown to retire as soon as possible.

"Lord Han, good news has come from Qin Feng Road!" His subordinate, Liu Hang, happily reported.

Han Qi, who was writing her third resignation letter, didn't even look up when she heard this: "What good news?"

Liu Hang said, "First, Wang Shao persuaded 10,000 Qiang people from the Shuyang tribe to submit, and now Xu Lai has personally persuaded 120,000 Qiang people from the Yulongke tribe to submit. The situation has been turned around!"

"Oh?"

Han Qi finally put down his pen and took the official document handed to him by Liu Hang.

This official document was jointly sent by Xu Lai and Cai Kang, and it was sent later than the report sent to the imperial court.

Han Qi was delighted after reading it, and then continued writing his resignation letter.

Even Zeng Gongliang doesn't listen to him anymore; there's no place for him in the Song Dynasty court. The Western Xia won't launch another major invasion this year, so what's Han Qi still doing here? Resigning sooner rather than later would be better for everyone.

No sooner had he finished writing his resignation letter than another official came to report: "Lord Han, the Weizhou Military Works Bureau has sent two new weapons and insists that you personally come out of the city to inspect them."

Muskets and cannons are here!

After Shen Kuo took office, the border situation became tense, and he devoted most of his energy to developing traditional military equipment.

At first, he could only improve the gunpowder in his spare time.

The "Complete Essentials of Military Classics" records three gunpowder formulas, which Shen Kuo improved upon.

These three military gunpowder formulas all contain approximately 50% saltpeter. They could potentially explode in a sealed environment, but the explosive force would be extremely small.

Shen Kuo continuously adjusted the proportions, finally raising the saltpeter content to around 75% by December of last year. He finally succeeded in producing gunpowder!

Then, he took time to develop firearms and cannons.

Because the drawings Xu Lai produced were all external depictions, lacking any representation of the internal structure, Shen Kuo, after understanding the principles, still had to design the structure himself.

He thought muskets were the simplest to make, but after some experimentation, he discovered that cannons were even easier to manufacture.

Anyway, both weapons have been developed, but there are still various problems.

Han Qi went to the training ground outside the city out of curiosity and found two iron lumps, one large and one small, placed in front of him.

The artisan from the Weizhou Imperial Workshop introduced it, saying, "Lord Han, this is a cannon. It is cast from pig iron and encased in wrought iron hoops, weighing eight hundred catties. It can launch an iron ball more than a mile away."

The maximum range is more than one li, and the effective range is only two or three hundred meters.

"Shoot the iron ball more than a mile away?"

Han Qi found it quite novel and asked the performer to demonstrate it on the spot.

The artisan summoned several craftsmen, who worked together to perform a series of operations that Han Qi couldn't understand.

"Lord Han, please step back about ten paces and cover your ears," the acrobat reminded him.

The craftsmen were clearly frightened; they placed several supply wagons behind the cannons. After lighting the fuses, they immediately hid behind the supply wagons.

This is because the cannon barrel had exploded during a previous test, killing one person and injuring three others.

The cast iron cannon barrel, made using the clay mold method, contained numerous honeycomb-like pores. Furthermore, due to inaccuracies in the amount of gunpowder, an excessive amount was added once, causing the cannon barrel to explode on the spot.

Afterwards, Shen Kuo added wrought iron hoops to the cannon barrel, reduced the amount of gunpowder loaded, and took various protective measures, which prevented further test-firing accidents.

"boom!"

It was like a thunderclap on a clear day.

Caught completely off guard, Han Qi followed the advice to cover his ears, but it was only a perfunctory gesture. His ears immediately rang, and his mind went completely blank.

Han Qi stared in disbelief. What the hell was this?

His entourage stood there dumbfounded for a long time before someone finally went to measure the distance.

That last shot, fired at nearly a 45-degree angle, landed about a mile away.

Next, they performed a horizontal shooting demonstration, using many wooden planks as targets. The acrobats, fearing they would miss, placed the planks very close together.

In the area between 200 and 300 meters, the wooden planks were directly cracked and pierced by the shells, and many more planks were damaged along the way.

Then, they performed a shotgun shooting demonstration.

This time, a large number of scarecrows were placed at a distance of 50 to 100 meters, and filled with a lot of gravel. When the smoke cleared, many scarecrows were found scattered all over a fan-shaped area.

Han Qi, imagining the artillery's performance on the battlefield, couldn't help but ask, "How much does this artillery piece cost? How long does it take to build?"

"The cost is 100, and the construction period is more than three months," the official replied.

The cost of 100 strings of cash for the foot-mounted gunpowder seemed a bit expensive to Han Qi, but upon closer inspection, it seemed reasonable. However, manufacturing and storing gunpowder also cost money, as did manufacturing those cannonballs.

Transporting something weighing 800 jin (Song Dynasty jin), plus a lot of cannonballs and gunpowder, was quite a hassle.

Han Qi then asked, "What about those muskets?"

The musket drove Shen Kuo crazy; it was far more difficult to design and manufacture than cannons.

Its effective range is 40 to 80 meters, with a maximum range of about 200 meters. A matchlock gun costs 25 strings of cash and takes about three months to produce.

By comparing the two, we can know which one to prioritize.

Han Qi said, "Ship it to the capital!"

This state-of-the-art weapon cannot be directly equipped to Xu Lai; it needs to be decided by the imperial court first.

The muskets and cannons had not yet been transported to the capital, and Yu Longke was still on his way. The imperial court had already sent officials to Tongyuan Army to verify the information.

Also, bring along the promotion documents for Xu Lai and the others.

Xu Lai had no time to worry about any of that; he, Wang Shao, Hou Ke, and the others were all busy getting things done.

They wanted to change the surnames of the Qiang civilians who had migrated there to Han surnames, then register them as households and allocate wasteland. They also wanted to provide Qiang serfs and slaves with designated wasteland for military settlements.

At the same time, policies should be formulated and announced to promote the shared origins of the Han and Qiang peoples and to ease tensions between them as much as possible.

This is because in the ancient Weizhai and its western, northern, and southern surrounding areas, the Qiang population far outnumbers the Han population. The smaller Han population, in turn, genuinely despises the Qiang.

If ethnic policies are not properly formulated and strictly implemented, serious conflicts will erupt before long.

To encourage intermarriage between Han and Qiang people, Xu Lai even announced that any Han-Qiang couple who married would be rewarded with a sheep, five catties of salt, five bolts of hemp cloth, and five mu of wasteland. This five mu of wasteland would be exempt from taxes for three years and subject to tax reductions for two years.

After this policy was promulgated, the number of intermarriages between Han and Qiang people increased rapidly.

When Xiang Bao led three thousand archers to the site, they immediately saw a vigorous land reclamation movement, and they frequently encountered weddings along the way.

Wang Shunchen, who had become a close confidant of Xiang Bao, clicked his tongue in amazement and said, "This place is run extremely well; it's bustling with activity everywhere."

Xiang Bao laughed and said, "As expected of the top scholar, you really have some skills."

Wang Shunchen said, "There's been a rumor all along that 120,000 Qiang people from Yulongke's tribe have submitted. Is it true or false?"

"Yu Longke has definitely surrendered, but it's hard to say whether he has 120,000 men." Xiang Bao shook his head.

Wen Yanbo didn't believe it, nor did Xiang Bao and Wang Shunchen.

Because this matter is too bizarre.

Upon hearing that three thousand Han archers had arrived, Xu Lai was overjoyed and personally led Wang Shao out of the camp to greet them. The usual courteous and warm greetings were once again performed.

Then, these archers were granted land.

None of the three thousand archers had horses, so they could only be organized into infantry for the time being. Ordinary soldiers were given one hundred acres of wasteland. Those with official ranks were given even more land.

The problem is that there aren't enough tenants, and if the archers have to cultivate the land themselves, how can they possibly manage to do all the work?

Xu Lai simply gave all the Qiang serfs and slaves to the newly arrived archers. Although it was still not enough, this was the only way for now; they would find a way to increase the number later.

Another month later, the two officials sent by the imperial court to verify the merits finally arrived.

They delivered the promotion document.

Yang Shu was rewarded for his meritorious service in building the fortress and repelling the enemy. He was promoted one rank and continued to serve as the magistrate of Chengji County.

Wang Shao recruited and pacified 10,000 Qiang people from the Shuyang tribe. He was promoted two ranks and continued to work as a secretary in the Qin-Feng Road, but was given the additional post of "Supervisor of Agricultural and Market Affairs".

In other words, all land reclamation and trade activities within the Tongyuan Army territory were handed over to Wang Shao for unified management.

Xu Lai's official rank was not promoted, but he was given an additional post: Pacification Commissioner of the Border Region of Qinfeng Road!

In the front-line area of ​​Qinfeng Road, Xu Lai held supreme military, financial, administrative, and personnel power.

With the power to appoint people, it's natural to promote cronies.

Yu Shanyuan, Li Shen and other civil officials were all promoted by him to the position of staff officer, which was the same type of document as Wang Shao's secret documents.

However, Wang Shao has the status of a selected official and is formally appointed by the imperial court. Yu Shanyuan and Li Shen, on the other hand, are currently contract workers and may be reverted to their original status in the future.

When Gao Zunyu heard about Xu Lai's new official position, he felt both disappointed and excited.

He was excited because there was a greater chance that the court would approve the position he had requested.

As for his disappointment, even if he gains military power over the Qiang tribe, he will still be under the dual control of Xu Lai and Cai Kang.

This was the case in the Song Dynasty, with civil and military officials checking and balancing each other at every level.

The advantage is that no one dares to rebel.

The downside is that it's not easy to get things done; a strong leader is required. For example, Gao Zunyu is under the dual control of Xu Lai and Cai Kang. If Xu Lai and Cai Kang have a conflict, whose side should Gao Zunyu listen to?

The officials sent by the imperial court to inspect the matter were the eunuch Li Ruoyu and the military general Dou Shunqing.

Xu Lai warmly received them and invited them to visit the Qiang people's territory.

Li Ruoyu quickly said, "There's no need to check with the Qiang tribe. I see many Qiang people here. Since the Qiang people who migrated here to cultivate the land are everywhere, the total number of Qiang people who have submitted must be quite large."

Dou Shunqing, however, was not afraid of death: "I will go and take a look at the Qiang tribe."

These two guys also investigated Wang Shao in history.

The military commissioner of Qinfeng Road at that time was Li Shizhong. He was the same Li Shizhong who carried out large-scale water conservancy projects and reclaimed countless wastelands in Guangxi, yet he made a complete mess of the Guangxi army.

Li Shizhong opposed Wang Shao's expansionist policies, and after a series of misleading statements, Li Ruoyu and Dou Shunqing, without even investigating, concluded that Wang Shao was lying. Ultimately, it was only through Wang Anshi's strong support that the work could continue.

Now that Li Shizhong isn't interfering, Li Ruoyu, the eunuch, is naturally too lazy to cause trouble—Xu Lai gave him money, and Dou Shunqing also accepted the money, but he plans to make a show of visiting the various Qiang tribes.

Regardless, Xu Lai was quite wealthy from the trade, and he fed the two men to their hearts' content. They didn't even wait to return to the capital before writing to the court to report that Yu Longke's tribe indeed had 120,000 men who had submitted.

The emperor was overjoyed and immediately promoted Xu Lai to a higher rank and granted him a minor post. However, the promotion was so excessive that it provoked strong opposition from many ministers.

The court was in an uproar again.

At this time, muskets, cannons, and Yu Longke arrived in Beijing one after another.

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