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"Hey!" "Ha!" "Hey, ha!" …
In a flat area outside Suzhou, the temporary capital of Anhui, a large group of regiment trainers were yelling and shouting as they trained. The weather was hot, and these people were all wearing short jackets. The drillmasters wearing Chu Yong uniforms shouted at the newly joined regiment trainers, "Stand up straight!" "Walk faster!" If anyone couldn't perform to the satisfaction of the officers, the officers would scold them, or rush up and beat them with their fists, legs, and sticks.
This wasn't the only training ground. Basic training such as formation and stick training didn't require much space, and many people could gather in one place. Firearm training was a high-level course, and it was impossible for many people to train together. Hundreds of young men training with sticks and spears face to face, it was called vigorous and lively. Hundreds of young men training with guns face to face … it was called cannibalism.
In Vézé's army, firearm training also started with a five-man team. The training in Suzhou, Anhui was the same. Five people needed to maintain a line and complete the movements of squatting, standing, and loading at the same time. This required a considerable amount of training.
Closer to the city wall, there was a seemingly more advanced training ground. There were less than 100 people in the Qing Army on this ground. This level was not low. Led by Anhui Inspector-General Jiang Zhongyuan, Jiangnan Commander-In-Chief He Chun, and the officials in charge of regiment training in Anhui were all watching the two Qing Army officers busying themselves on the training ground.
Beside these two officers stood the editor of the Hall of Martial Heroes, Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang anxiously stared at the two Qing military officers who were fiddling with two flintlocks. That uncontrollable anxiety made it seem as if they had put all their belongings on these two flintlocks.
According to reason, Li Hongzhang, as a second-rank Jinshi, an editor of the Hanlin Academy, and an editor of the Hall of Martial Heroes, shouldn't be here. The war disrupted everything. Last year (1853), the Taiping army captured Luzhou and captured Anhui Inspector-General Jiang Wenqing. Xianfeng ordered the Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Works, Lv Xianji, to go to Anhui to handle regiment training and defense. He accompanied assistant minister Lu Xianji back to his hometown for group training.
Without waiting for Lv Xianji, the Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Works, to set up the regimental training in Anhui, Vézé continued to march north from Luzhou and soon controlled a large area of land south of the Huai River. Then came the Taiping army's northern expedition. The Qing Army in the north was unable to take care of the Anhui region. In the end, they sent Jiang Zhongyuan as Anhui's Inspector-General. Jiang Zhongyuan himself had relied on organizing and training Chu Yong to start his career. With him as the Inspector-General, the matter of organizing and training regiments was naturally transferred to Jiang Zhongyuan to manage.
Li Hongzhang's father, Li Wenan, and Ceng Guofan were Jinshi in the same year. Li Wenan asked his son to be Ceng Guofan's disciple and lived in Ceng Guofan's residence in Beijing. At that time, Ceng Guofan's good friend, Jiang Zhongyuan, also lived in Ceng Guofan's residence. Li Hongzhang and Jiang Zhongyuan became old acquaintances. Jiang Zhongyuan had originally relied on organizing and training Chu Yong. When Li Hongzhang went to Anhui to organize regimental training, he naturally became Jiang Zhongyuan's subordinate.
"Milord, it's ready!" The older of the two junior officers in the Qing Army finally said to Li Hongzhang.
Li Hongzhang's nervous expression had not completely disappeared. He said to the officer in a low voice, "Wang Qinian, I recommended you because I think you really have the ability. Don't make me lose face."
"Milord, please rest assured. I really do know how to make flintlock guns. Milord, you've seen it before. "Wang Qinian also said to Li Hongzhang in a low voice.
At this time, Li Hongzhang's words were to give himself courage. Since Wang Qinian was so confident, Li Hongzhang moved back a little, allowing Wang Qinian and his brother Wang Qisheng to demonstrate the flintlock guns.
Vézé's army had powerful firearms, and the style of the firearms was different from the current popular firearms. Wang Qinian took out a flintlock gun with a firing mechanism. The butt of the gun was the type that Vézé's army used. In other words, it was the type that was popular in Europe and America. The two brothers each picked up a gun, loaded it with gunpowder, loaded bullets, and loaded a spring. They aimed at the target in front of them and pulled the trigger.
“? Barium Sac Spring?? How can a broomstick pump cut against a fault? How can I resist the evil of the tax? Mellow?? Street? Badger Mo Fierce Taste? Boat Close? Horned Monster Brother Liao Xingyao Enough Machine Mo Fierce Seal?
"Fire one more shot!" Li Hongzhang said, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. After listening to Li Hongzhang's order, Wang Qinian and his brother once again loaded the gunpowder and bullets, aimed at the target and pulled the trigger again. Both muskets fired successfully again.
With two successful shots, Li Hongzhang was finally relieved. He straightened his body, his face appeared to be playing it down, but in fact, it was completely to show that he was playing it down. "Lord Jiang, the guns have been made!"
Jiang Zhongyuan did not look overjoyed. He walked forward and took the gun from Wang Qinian's hands, and fired according to the procedure. Flintlocks were not treasures in China. These years, China had imported many beautiful flintlock guns from other countries. If one wanted to imitate a flintlock gun, it was not particularly difficult.
Jiangnan Admiral He Chun did not look happy. He did not even look at the flintlock gun and said: "Listening to this sound, it is different from the guns used by the Cantonese bandits. Are you guys lying to us? "
After being scolded by He Chun, Wang Qinian was so scared that he did not dare to make a sound. He had met Vézé in Yongxing before. At that time, Vézé had saved the life of Wang Qinian's brother, Wang Qisheng. Wang Qinian had also helped Vézé modify the flintlock gun. With a master craftsman like Wang Qinian, it was not difficult for him to learn the basic production of a flintlock gun. Because he thought that Vézé's maggot healing technique was a black magic, Wang Qinian left with his brother. He had always looked down on traitors like Vézé. When his brother was treated like this, Wang Qinian became more and more angry. At that time, the Qing Army was chasing the Taiping army. Wang Qinian and his brother were half active, half passive, and became the Qing Army. They followed the Qing Army all the way from Hunan.
After the battle of Changsha, Wang Qinian and his brother joined Jiang Zhongyuan's Chu Yong. He did not dare to reveal too much about himself. After all, he was regarded as an unruly commoner in Guiyangzhou. He had also helped the famous Vézé do many things. After seeing the flintlock gun, Wang Qinian knew that this kind of toy would not be able to fight against Vézé's troops equipped with flintlocks. But in this day and age, making a new type of gun would arouse suspicion. Wang Qinian could not find a reasonable explanation for why he knew how to make a flintlock gun.
Until the Xianfeng Emperor allowed the Governor of Anhui, Jiang Zhongyuan, to establish the Huai army, Li Hongzhang asked for an expert blacksmith to make a new type of gun that could fight against the Cantonese bandits. Only then did Wang Qinian and his brother accept the list.
After making the new gun, Wang Qinian was also anxious and fearful. In the face of Jiangnan's Admiral He Chun's unreasonable accusations, Wang Qinian did not dare to make any excuses.
Wang Qinian did not dare to refute, but Li Hongzhang did. He said coldly, "Admiral He Chun, we wanted to make a new type of gun. We didn't say we wanted to make the Cantonese bandits' guns. Your words are ridiculous."
In the face of Li Hongzhang's rebuttal, He Chun only snorted and did not say anything else. As the general of a defeated army, He Chun had, with great difficulty, broken through the encirclement of the Taiping army under the protection of his bodyguards and escaped to Suzhou. The Emperor had already stripped him of his Jiangnan Admiral title and ordered him to wait in Suzhou for his punishment. Although Jiang Zhongyuan had guaranteed that He Chun would have a chance to make a comeback, He Chun did not have much confidence in this.
When Jiang Zhongyuan went to Anhui to take up his post, he had brought more than two thousand Chu Yong soldiers with him. In addition to the more than ten thousand newly assembled regiments, 14,000 people was not a small force. However, He Chun was not optimistic about the combat ability of these people. Moreover, He Chun had just experienced the easy annihilation of 12,000 people. If these 14,000 Huai army were to be deployed to fight the Cantonese bandits, they would probably be completely annihilated.
He Chun had personally faced the high-speed gunfire of Vézé's troops. That kind of storm-like firepower, as well as the terrifying artillery fire of the Cantonese bandits, was something that He Chun had no idea how to defend against. He very much agreed with Jiang Zhongyuan's idea of developing a new type of gun, so He Chun was even more picky about this flintlock.
Ignoring He Chun and Li Hongzhang's argument, Jiang Zhongyuan ordered, "Bring me the bullets!"
Very quickly, a few paper bullets that imitated Vézé's troops were brought over. Jiang Zhongyuan followed the firing method of Vézé's troops. First, he used his teeth to tear open the end of the paper bullet, poured some gunpowder into the fire, and then loaded the bullet into the chamber. This time, Jiang Zhongyuan fired five shots in a row, before finally igniting the gunpowder in the fire chamber. After igniting the gunpowder in the fire chamber, it did not burn fiercely, and did not pass through the hole to ignite the gunpowder inside the gun chamber.
Jiang Zhongyuan put down the gun, and loaded the other gun with ordinary gunpowder. He only had to press the spring once before he fired the gun. Throwing the gun in his hand to the serving Wang Qinian, Jiang Zhongyuan replied with regret, "The new gun is not bad, but it still can't compare to the guns of the Cantonese bandits."
Hearing Jiang Zhongyuan's evaluation, Wang Qinian's heart was in a great mood. He had interacted with Vézé before, and they had worked together as blacksmiths. He knew that Vézé was extremely skilled in mechanical design. When they were in Yongxing, many of Vézé's ideas were limited by the conditions and could not be realized. Now that two years had passed, the territory under Vézé's control had become so large, it was completely possible to manufacture more advanced guns.
Even knowing this, Wang Qinian still secretly learned Vézé's flintlock guns. But hearing the governor of Anhui bluntly say that Wang Qinian could not compare to Vézé, Wang Qinian still felt a strong jealousy in his heart.
Jiang Zhongyuan's attention was completely focused on the gun, and did not notice the minute changes in Wang Qinian's expression. He said, as if talking to himself, "These bullets will do just fine in our muskets. But they are not as fast as the guns of the Cantonese bandits. This new gun is a lot faster, but it cannot use these bullets. "
Such a realistic choice not only made Jiang Zhongyuan feel difficult to choose, but the other Huai army generals also felt the same dilemma. If they had not seen the weapons used by Vézé's troops, the flintlock guns would be enough to make them happy. But comparing people to people would be odious, and comparing goods to goods would mean throwing them away. With this comparison, things that could have made them happy became unhappy.
But Jiang Zhongyuan was, after all, Jiang Zhongyuan, so he did not worry about this for too long. Turning his head, Jiang Zhongyuan asked Wang Qinian, "How long will it take for you to make three thousand of these guns?"
"About three months." Wang Qinian replied.
"Three months … … Then you can first be a nominal guerrilla. If you can give me three thousand guns in three months, I will let you have what you need! "Jiang Zhongyuan threw Wang Qinian a huge meat pie.
Overjoyed, Wang Qinian immediately knelt down in front of Jiang Zhongyuan, and he deeply kowtowed and replied, "Yes, sir!"
After dealing with this matter, Jiang Zhongyuan brought the unhappy He Chun and the very happy Li Hongzhang back to the city. On the way, Jiang Zhongyuan said to the two: "We have received news that the Cantonese bandits have taken down Hongze and are about to attack Huaiyin. It is said that the governor of Jiangsu has already submitted a memorial to impeach me for letting the enemy go, what do you think? "
He Chun was silent, but Li Hongzhang immediately replied: "Lord Jiang, after the Cantonese bandits took down Xuyi, you have already sent a letter to the governor of Jiangsu, telling him that the Cantonese bandits will attack Hongze sooner or later. They did not listen, and now they are biting back. As long as Lord Jiang writes a memorial to explain this matter to the emperor, it will be fine. As for the Cantonese bandits attacking Jiangsu, I think it is a good thing for us. "
When Li Hongzhang finished speaking, before Jiang Zhongyuan could say anything, He Chun had already cast a very disgusted look at Li Hongzhang.
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