Hong Bi, the general bannerman of Ningshan Wei who came from Zezhou, squatted on the ground, holding the waist knife high above his head, with an expression on his face as if he had eaten a fly.
The forty flag soldiers behind him also looked similar. They were all squatting on the ground, each looking more useless than the other.
The two Hongyi cannons were placed on carriages, and the cannon bodies and frames were transported in separate vehicles. Only the cannons and one cannon shell had no gunpowder. A total of four vehicles were loaded and transported by eight horses.
This should be an easy delivery mission.
From Zezhou to Xizhou, the road is not difficult and you can carry a lot of food. It is still within the province.
There were also hundreds of households who rewarded this delivery with four cents of silver each.
On the way, General Hong Qi thought that if a hundred households were willing to give them twenty taels, then the commander would allocate at least fifty taels.
But it’s not bad. Their family is a good person. In fact, isn’t that what people are like? The eldest brother eats meat, and the younger ones just have a mouth of soup to drink in the back.
Besides, it's not a military transport, it's just transporting something to an official in Xi County, so there's no need to be very tight on time.
The biggest danger came from the frontier troops who had returned from King Qin's defeat. They were a little more energetic on the way, but after waiting all the way, the deserters didn't come.
So Hong Zongqi walked very comfortably. He was on the road every day. When it was time to sleep, he slept, and when it was time to eat, he ate. If there was a sumo show in the countryside or a temple fair, he would take the brothers to see it.
There is a teahouse on the roadside where brothers can take a rest and quench their thirst with a bowl of foam tea.
After all, this artillery cart cannot rely solely on mules and horses. People also have to push the wheels beside it, which is very tiring.
Just now, he decided to rest at Sangbi Mountain. Not far from his destination, he asked the brothers to have a sip of tea and sent two cavalrymen to inform the master, so as not to scare the people when the officers and soldiers crossed the border.
He knew very well that the people were more frightened when they saw officers and soldiers than when they saw thieves.
After drinking tea, take a rest and wait for Mr. Huo to send someone to meet you. If there are local people with him, it will not disturb the people.
He had just cut a penny of silver for the tea stall owner, and he always felt that he had lost money. He wanted Dr. Tea to find him another ten-word treasure, when he saw his confidant Banner Army hurried over and whispered: "Brother! The border army is coming.
."
I turned around and saw, what a good guy.
Tangqi put a small flag on his back and stood by the road.
The official road was quite spacious, but from a distance, a line of three cavalrymen could not be seen, each riding a tall horse, wearing red cotton armor, with iron armbands on their arms, and the helmets and spears on their heads were almost reaching the sky.
.
Grandma, Mr. Hong Qi is really greedy for the equipment.
He also went to ask Tang Qi and asked the brothers which general's subordinate he was. Unexpectedly, the young man from Tang Qi glanced at him with his nostrils and turned his head without squinting.
Mr. Hong said in his heart: Elite.
He quickly asked all the brothers to get up, get out of the way by the official road, bow down and salute.
He was used to it along the way. He might meet an official's car and sedan along the official road at any time, and just salute at the side and that would be it. No one else was interested in talking to him anyway. At most, he would send someone to look at his official documents.
It was not a good thing to meet someone who really took care of him. He was given a total of 20 taels by hundreds of households for doing this job. After sharing it with the banner army, he still had 4 taels left.
It cost less than one tael to accommodate the brothers on the way, plus food and tea, and it was estimated that it would cost another one tael when we got back. In the end, he had only two taels left, and he had already planned how to spend it.
I bought a rouge brocade cloth for my mother-in-law in Linfen. I promised her before I left.
In the end, there was only one tael left, so he could buy the pair of suede boots that he had been longing for in Zezhou's Cangyunsheng. He had been looking forward to it for two years, but he couldn't spare the money to buy them.
As a result, I met an eunuch on the road and was blackmailed by his followers.
Well, the joy of buying boots is gone.
There is nothing we can do about it. Although the emperor has abolished all the local guarding eunuchs, there is a tendency to reuse eunuchs after last year's changes.
Hong Bi didn't understand these idiots. He heard them mentioned by thousands of households while drinking. In fact, no matter how the emperor treated the eunuchs, he had no way to deal with them.
I can only be grateful that the eunuch took time out of his busy schedule to hurt him.
That was the only one who talked to him.
He didn't want the general to talk to him, because if a cannon was about to leave, he wouldn't be able to keep it.
So I knelt down and lowered my head, watching the series of horse hooves passing by.
As long as you lower your head, they won't see me.
Hong Bi never thought about encountering thieves. He had just passed through Xizhou City and there was peace outside the city.
Now we are not far from Yonghe County, and we are on an official road. How could we encounter thieves?
And it’s impossible for this thief to look like this. They should be naked and holding a hatchet.
A cavalry team passed by, another cavalry team passed by, and another cavalry team passed by... The cavalry team stopped?
A pair of straight-seam cowhide boots came closer and closer before his eyes. Hong Zongqi raised his head cautiously and saw a young man dressed as a general.
The young officer smiled at him and asked: "Do you have money for tea?"
"Here, here, here, I gave you one dean of silver. Dr. Cha asked me for ten pieces of Tongbao from my humble post." Hong Bi did not dare to get up. He just asked, "Hong Bi, the general of the Ningshan Guards, my humble post, does he know who the general is?"
/p>
"My surname is Liu. You are the one who transported two cannons from Zezhou to Huojiapu. Let me take a look at the official documents."
Liu Chengzong almost burst out laughing in his heart. As soon as he stretched out his hand, Mr. Hong quickly took out the official document.
He looked at it and saw that there was nothing written on the official document. He simply folded it and put it in his arms: "Okay, I received the cannon. You can go back."
"No, general, this won't work. I am under the command of a humble official to deliver the cannon to Huojiazhuang. I must send the cannon to Huojiazhuang."
Then Hong Zongqi's soldiers were disarmed.
A group of people squatted beside the teahouse's official road, raising their weapons high above their heads, and were taken away by the Lion Battalion sergeants.
Then many people came down from the mountain. They looked very much like the guardsmen. They all wore helmets with the word "Yong" on their heads. Some wore earth-colored jackets, and some wore nail armor on the outside.
Those who came down to drive the carriage, and those who escorted the people, went straight to Huojiabao.
From beginning to end, Dr. Tea stood aside and did not dare to say anything.
The officers and soldiers had no intention of paying any attention to him.
The division of labor in the Lion Battalion is very clear. The battle sentry is responsible for Qiu Wufang. To put it simply, he just ignores the people.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Interacting with the people depends on the outposts, and it has nothing to do with other people. The officers restrain them, as long as they can not cause trouble to the people.
So until these "official troops" took away the people and the cannons, Dr. Tea didn't know what happened in his teahouse.
After realizing it later, the teahouse clerk asked the boss: "Sir, what happened just now?"
The shopkeeper said: "Maybe the commander-in-chief made a mistake? Just don't care about our business, just don't say anything."
When people meet, timing is very important.
When Liu Chengzong had just defeated the Fenzhou Guards and other banner troops, and saw Hong Zongqi, a banner soldier who drank tea and paid for it, he suddenly felt that hope for the world had returned.
He really planned to let General Hong Qi go, but General Hong refused to leave and insisted on delivering the cannon to Huojiabao himself. Liu Chengzong had no other choice but to take the cannon and the people away with him. p>
"Mr. Hong Qi, do you know that thieves from Shaanxi have entered Shanxi?"
Seeing his subordinates being disarmed and himself being taken away in vain, General Hong Qi felt very unhappy, but he did not dare to show it, so he could only nod his head and said: "Is that general a soldier from Shaanxi who came to suppress thieves? I have hundreds of households with these cannons."
As I said, I have to send my humble post to Huojiabao in person, and I hope it will be convenient for me."
He could tell that Liu Chengzong's accent was not very similar to that of Shanxi. Although the accents of the two places were relatively similar, he could still hear some differences.
Unexpectedly, Liu Chengzong ignored him until the team turned up the mountain road from the official road, and then he said to him: "I am not a genocide soldier from Shaanxi, I am a thief from Shaanxi."
Does this general like to joke so much?
The key is not funny.
But Mr. Hong still laughed cooperatively: "General, you really know how to joke."
"I'm serious, those who carry the cannon are hungry people in Shaanxi, and the earth-colored coats they wear are made by themselves."
Liu Chengzong was actually very surprised as to why the commander-in-chief didn't think of him as a thief at all. It was so cute.
Even now, Hong Zongqi doesn't believe it. He has been carrying out the orders and prohibitions, and Qiu has done nothing wrong. He analyzed all aspects of the armor and uniforms, and finally said: "These are obviously border troops, and those are guard troops."
"We used to be soldiers from three sides of Shaanxi. Some deserted and some surrendered. Look at those helmets. They were captured from the defeat of the Fenzhou Flag Guard Army a few days ago. Those bastards were really bad. They massacred two villages on the way here.
”
Hong Zongqi's mentality has changed.
His neck was a little stiff. He turned around and looked for his own banner troops in the formation, and found that his own banner troops were all treated the same as him.
That is, everyone has at least two border soldiers wearing armor and holding swords beside them to accompany them and talk.
"General, general, are you telling the truth?"
"Really, my name is Liu Chengzong." Liu Chengzong looked at him and asked, "Have you heard of this name?"
Hong Bi shook his head.
"It's okay. I'll find out later. You're unlucky. If you don't leave, you won't be able to leave now."
Hong Bi swallowed his saliva and saw that the mountain road became narrower and more desolate as he walked, and the scenery on both sides of the road became more and more desolate. He couldn't help but said: "General, general, don't kill us. I am just a little general, and my brothers are also like this."
I have no money and no food, look at my boots, my toes are almost exposed!"
Mr. Hong’s cloth-covered soap boots are indeed almost exposing his toes.
It’s not that he is really poor. In fact, he still has a pair of old leather boots at home. It’s just that he has to walk a long way and he can’t bear to wear good shoes.
I never thought this would come in handy.
Liu Chengzong didn't care about his shoes, and he didn't want to kill them. He waved his hand and said: "Be honest, I won't harm you, and I will let you go in a few days. How much reward did the commander give you for transporting these two cannons?" p>
"The reward, the reward is given, twenty taels."
Mr. Hong Qi's heart was beating loudly. He considered whether it would be appropriate to say less, but he didn't dare. He quickly touched his arms and said: "Sixteen taels will be given to the flag army. On the way, the eunuch master's entourage asked for one tael.
I spent one tael and I..."
He held two taels of silver and a handful of copper coins in his hands: "This is all I have left, and I hope the general will accept it."
Puchi.
Liu Chengzong couldn't hold it back and laughed out loud: "Who do you think I am? Haha, keep your little money and be honest. I will give you two taels each when you go back. Don't talk nonsense when you go back."
They said the cannon was delivered, do you know?"
It doesn't matter whether you talk nonsense or not. Liu Chengzong left these people behind just to leave free time for the transportation of materials to Shaanxi.
They are going to Fenzhou Prefecture. Before that, they cannot be allowed to complain to Pingyang Prefecture.
Once they pass the Luliang Mountains, these banner troops can complain wherever they like. It won't matter at that time.
Don't tell them to go back to Zezhou. In fact, it's just Liu Chengzong who thinks about them.
As for the two taels of silver, on the one hand, I feel sorry for these flag soldiers, and on the other hand, I can stabilize their minds and stay in peace for a few days, which is good for everyone.
Hong Bi's eyes twitched. Hearing what Liu Chengzong meant, he seemed to have no intention of killing them, so he asked, "What about Mr. Huo?"
"Master Huo?" Liu Chengzong turned to look at him: "He can't sue you anymore."
When Hong Zongqi and his gang really delivered the cannon to Huojiabao and placed it on a hill not far away, they were not treated badly except that they had no weapons.
They are indeed very well-behaved.
If I have to tell you what Hong Zongqi feels in his heart, well... horse meat is delicious when grilled.
Cao Yao has been waiting in Huojiabao for a long time.
As soon as the two red cannons were transported into the mountain road, this guy ran over and just wanted to pounce on the cannons.
Liu Chengzong smiled and said: "How about you hold it and sleep with it at night."
"Okay!"
Cao Yao took it as a matter of course and directly gestured to his subordinates: "Send it to my tent at night, just this copper door."
It was only at this time that Liu Chengzong took a serious look at the two cannons.
The calibers of the two cannons are almost the same, but the iron ones are thicker and heavier. The cannons have inscriptions beginning with Shanxi Yiguo Iron Smelting Institute.
In fact, this inscription is very long. It first contains the time of donation and the name of the person, and then the name of the official who supervised the creation and the name of the person who made it.
Then the gun weight, the weight of the artillery powder, the type of artillery shells, the firing distance and the maintenance method were described in detail.
If it is not used for more than a year, simmer it with rice bran once.
There are more than 400 words written on the gun body, which is almost an essay.
This is the first time Liu Chengzong has seen the Hongyi Cannon. The shape is indeed better-looking than the earlier General Cannon, and the measurement of the narrow mouth and wide tail should be the model I learned from Wang Zheng when I was a teacher.
The cannonballs are very interesting. The total weight is four kilograms and eight taels, of which the large shells are two kilograms, and there are two kilograms and eighty taels of broken iron beans wrapped in cloth.
When firing, first pour in the gunpowder, then compact it with straw as a shell holder, then put in cloth-wrapped iron scraps, and then load the large shell.
Cao Yao said there was more than one loading method: "This is suitable for field battles. It is better to fire large iron bullets when defending and attacking a city. Moreover, this iron cannon is too heavy and is not very useful."
In fact, the iron cannon is not bad, but it affects their mobility very much. They can usually run seventy or eighty miles a day, but with this heavy cannon, they may only be able to cover sixty miles.
A distance of twenty miles may be enough to kill them.
"Let Chengyun send it back to Yan'an Guard. In fact, I think the best cannon is the 500-pound copper cannon. It is easy to run and can be put into military formations for field battles."
Liu Chengzong pointed to the iron cannon and then looked at the bronze cannon: "I think the cannon cart is not good. It needs to be changed to a two-wheeled one to run better on the mountain road."
