Su He led the troops into the garrison. This place looked more like a small town than a military location.
They broke through the earthen wall gate of the guardhouse, and there was no suspense in the battle.
The military households in the guard station did not put up much resistance, and most of the military households were captured.
A small number of them ran fast and hid in buildings.
Zhang Yuliang's men led the way, and Su He easily controlled the guard workshop, warehouse and granary.
Su He saw the warehouse full of grain, sulfur, saltpeter and linen and cotton.
This time we made a lot of money. With all this sulfur and saltpeter, we don’t need to worry about raw materials for black powder.
Su He asked the second company commander Su Shan to guard the warehouse while he led the troops to continue attacking the residential area.
As soon as they approached the residential area, they heard screams and crying inside. This was the broken soldiers looting the people.
"Su Hu, immediately lead the team to control the situation, and any defeated troops who plunder the people will be executed directly."
Su Hu received the order and led the troops to suppress the defeated troops.
The situation was quickly brought under control and all the defeated soldiers were executed.
The people closed their doors and hid in their homes.
"Zhang Yuliang, take me to your home to have a look."
Su He saw Zhang Yuliang coming up from behind in a carriage, and he stepped forward to make a request.
"Commander Su, I will take you to my home. I am the only son of my father, and he is also very disappointed with the Ming Dynasty.
I was advising from the side that my father should join our team."
Zhang Yuliang knew why Su He wanted to go to his house.
He also understands that his current identity is that of a rebel thief. Only by increasing the scale of the rebel thief can he obtain sufficient benefits.
Zhang Yuliang pointed the way in front, and soon came to the door of a blue brick house.
This is one of the few blue brick houses in the residential area, and it is more gorgeous than other adobe houses.
Su He saw an old man with some gray hair lying on the courtyard wall holding a Rumi gun.
There was also a defeated soldier lying in a pool of blood outside the gate.
Zhang Yuliang burst into tears when he saw the old man and shouted, "Dad, I'm back. Is everything okay at home?"
The old man raised his head in disbelief. He rubbed his eyes again and saw his son coming back.
He immediately jumped off the wall, opened the door of the house, and ran towards Zhang Yuliang.
"Little bastard, you are still alive. Li Dazhuang came back and said that you died in the rebellion. Your mother's eyes were swollen from crying."
He looked at Zhang Yuliang sitting on the carriage and squeezed Zhang Yuliang's arms and legs with his hands.
He asked with concern: "Are you injured? Is it serious?"
"I was a little dizzy at first, but I'm much better now. I think it will get better after a few days of rest."
After Zhang Yuliang answered his father's question, he continued to ask: "Dad, are our family okay?"
The old man said domineeringly: "What's the matter? Those gangsters still want to rob our house. I have a musket in my hand. I can kill one of them with one shot and scare the others away."
When Zhang Yuliang heard that nothing was going on at home, he felt relieved and began to introduce:
"Commander Su, this is my father Zhang Dezhi. He was the one who led the people to forge the cannons of the guard station."
"Dad, this is Commander Su Hesu."
Zhang Dezhi looked at Su He's attire, and when the defeated troops arrived, he shouted, "The rebels are coming."
He immediately understood Su He's identity and why his son was alive.
"It's good to be alive, it's too difficult to live in this world." Zhang Dezhi said with emotion.
He turned to look at Su He and said: "I know how to forge cannons, and I will cast cannons for whoever I cast them for."
Su He immediately stepped forward and said with a kind face: "I have heard of Mr. Zhang's name a long time ago, and I hired you to cast cannons for us.
I am only responsible for providing money and people, and all the cannon-making work is under your command."
Zhang Dezhi gave a thumbs up: "No wonder, you can succeed. You have a broad mind and know how to use people. You can go further!"
"Please come in and have a cup of tea."
Zhang Dezhi opened his mouth to invite Su He.
"OK!"
Su He agreed, and he was also wanting to know about issues related to cannon casting.
He walked into Zhang's house with his messenger Su Que and two guards.
Su He saw a woman in the yard, holding a two or three-year-old boy in her arms, staring at Zhang Yuliang.
"Yu Liang, you reunite with your family first, and your father and I will talk about some cannon-making related matters."
Zhang Yuliang and his wife experienced a separation of life and death, and they must have something to say. Su He asked him to reunite with his wife first.
"Thank you, Commander Su."
Zhang Yuliang did not delay, and he did not know how to cast cannons.
Zhang Dezhi led Su He and the others to the study.
They sat down separately, and Zhang Dezhi picked up the teapot and poured two cups of tea.
He took a sip of tea first and said, "Commander Su, if you have any requests, you can ask me.
When my son joins you, we are just grasshoppers on the same rope.
You should also know about our family background. Others who join the rebels can surrender and be recruited.
Our family doesn't have this opportunity.
In the past few years, it was possible to ensure that one would not die and one hundred hereditary households could be preserved. That was because there were still people in the court who could take care of them.
Now the Donglin Party is the dominant one, and we, the former opponents.
Even if they are minor characters, they don't mind stretching out a finger and crushing them to death."
Zhang Dezhi said so much just to pave the way for his son Zhang Yuliang.
He made it clear that there was no way out, so that his son could be reused.
I saw that a band of rebels could actually follow orders and prohibitions without disturbing the people.
Zhang Dezhi knew that rebel leaders were no ordinary people and would not do this without great ambitions.
Su He's expression did not change, nor did he answer Zhang Dezhi's question.
He asked directly: "Mr. Zhang, can artillery and matchlock guns be manufactured in large quantities?"
Zhang Dezhi waved his hand and said: "These cannot be manufactured in large quantities. I have the technology.
But our iron material is not good, and it will explode after being used dozens of times.
The iron ore mined for the guns my son uses comes from Qiongzhou Prefecture.
The production is very rare and we can't buy it here anymore.
I used good charcoal to make good iron to build these cannons and Rumi guns."
Su He understood as soon as he heard that the current smelting technology is underdeveloped and there is no way to remove impurities in the iron ore.
Most of the iron ores in Huaxia are high-phosphate ores, but only the Qiongzhou Shilu iron ore is a rare high-quality iron ore with very low impurities.
Smelting technology cannot develop in a short period of time. Only when the base area is stable can we develop technology.
"Mr. Zhang, this should be a problem with the quality of the iron ore, and I have a way to solve it.
Why do you use charcoal to make iron? The burning temperature of charcoal is very low.
The burning temperature of coal is much higher, and its reserves are still very abundant.”
In Su He's memory, coal was used for smelting. He wanted to know how to use charcoal.
Zhang Dezhi smiled as if he were looking at a layman and said: "The temperature of coal is very high, but it cannot make good iron.
Even the good iron ore in Qiongzhou Prefecture is a waste product after refining it with coal, and it can be crushed with just one force."
"You use coal directly for refining, not coke?"
Su He said subconsciously, and then he understood that the coking technology had not yet been mastered in the late Ming Dynasty.
Without the high temperature generated by coke, it is no wonder that smelting technology has not progressed.
"What is coke?" Zhang Dezhi looked shocked and asked anxiously.
He doesn't let go of any knowledge related to smelting, and this has become his obsession.
"A fuel with very few impurities and a higher burning temperature than charcoal."
A brief introduction to Su He.
After Zhang Dezhi heard this, he slammed the table excitedly.
"If this kind of fuel really exists, it should be able to produce good iron."
"There is indeed such fuel." Su He affirmed, "Mr. Zhang, you can experiment with it yourself when you have the opportunity.
We don't need iron, but can we use bronze to cast a qualified cannon?"
"There's no such thing as a prodigal son..." Zhang Dezhi took back all the words without saying anything, "Bronze cannons are simpler and have good performance, but they are too expensive."
Su He was very satisfied after hearing this. Zhang Dezhi was indeed the cannon casting talent he was looking for.
Not to mention copper coins, even if the silver can be used to make cannons, he doesn't even blink an eye.