Yang Fan turned around in surprise and saw an old man standing there with a group of people behind him, smiling.
When Yang Fan saw the old man, he immediately saluted respectfully and said, "It turns out to be Mr. Zhang. Why did you come to Jiuyuan City?"
It turned out that the old man opposite was the Zhang Wudian family whom Yang Fan personally inspected the first clipper ship equipped with a steam engine last year. He took Chen Xi to Hangzhou and met him on the broken bridge.
At that time, Zhang Wudian and his wife took their daughter-in-law Huo Shi and their granddaughter Zhang Fengyi to visit there. At that time, they even had dinner together. Afterwards, Zhang Wudian wanted to inspect Yang Fan's steamboat, and Yang Fan agreed. But Yang Fan was not there, so he went to Suzhou Fucheng to meet him.
Zhang Pu went and was received by Chen Xi.
Later, I heard that Zhang Fengyi saw a steamship and cannons, and there were more than a dozen female soldiers on board. The uniforms of these soldiers were very beautiful, and both the male and female soldiers were brave and heroic, with a military temperament.
She was immediately envious and insisted on staying in the navy. However, her mother carried her by the neck and carried her away like a chicken. Zhang Fengyi burst into tears and refused to leave. But her arms could not twist her thighs. She was even kicked by her mother.
A few feet.
As Chen Xi narrated at that time, the fire of gossip was blazing in his big eyes. At the same time, he marveled that Mrs. Zhang was really a hero among women. Her daughter was also a practicing girl, and under her hands, she was like a kitten grabbed by the back of the neck, unable to resist.
Sure enough, behind the old gentleman, there was her daughter-in-law Huo Shi, and a girl in smart clothes, it was Zhang Fengyi. When Yang Fan looked at her, he stuck out his tongue and made a face. Then he was kissed by her mother
After a glare, he became honest.
Zhang Wudian was the Minister of War in the Wanli Dynasty. His son Zhang Quan was the Minister of War in the Taichang Dynasty, and later died in the battle in Liaodong. The Zhang family was full of loyalists. Zhang Fengyi even followed her grandfather in leading troops to fight with the Mongols outside Yanmen Pass at the age of thirteen, and even fought.
After being a slave.
The Huo family was skilled in bow and horse, and her daughter's horseback riding skills were all learned from her. In the original history, Li Zicheng entered Shanxi with hundreds of thousands of people, and various places fell one after another. The Huo family organized regiment training and rural soldiers alone, held on to Zhangjiapu, and broke through
The king led tens of thousands of troops, but failed to attack more than a dozen times, and finally retreated.
A few years later, Li Zicheng came back with an even stronger force. Huo would rather die than surrender. In the end, he died in battle and Zhangjiabao was razed to the ground. At that time, Zhang Fengyi led troops to pursue Wang Jiayin and was fighting in Henan.
Although there were too many people who betrayed and betrayed the country in the late Ming Dynasty, there were also many loyal ministers and good generals who did their best to serve the country and the nation regardless of personal and family gains or losses. Yang Fan had the greatest respect for them.
Zhang Wudian said with a wry smile: "Uncle Dingyuan conscripted all the civilians in Shanxi. He asked a young man who had never fought in a war to take him to fight against Zhao Wangcheng. What kind of fancy job did that boy do of infantry and cavalry? I heard that he was dead.
Half of the people have been killed. Who dares to bring the newly recruited civilian husband here? Shanxi officials passed the blame on each other, and finally the blame fell on me, an old man who has been retired for seven or eight years."
Yang Fan sneered, the Jin party had a guilty conscience, they were afraid. They were afraid that they would deal with them if they came.
The army is outside, and your life is not in your favor. Please bring out Shang Fang's sword and find a reason to kill them. They will die in vain. The emperor will not avenge them. The officials who can come here are at most fourth or fifth grade.
Yang Fan bowed with some embarrassment and said: "I have made Mr. Zhang suffer."
"I'm too tired to talk about it, but I can still go out for a walk with this old bone. I have been a civil servant all my life, but I just like the military. Last time we got together in West Lake, we had a great conversation. Now I am like Uncle Ruding Yuan
There are not many people who understand military affairs like this."
"Anything that Mr. Zhang is interested in, Jiuyuan City can be made public to Mr. Zhang. Mr. Zhang can look at it as he pleases."
Zhang Wudian cupped his hand to express his gratitude. He likes to study ordnance. The last time he visited Yang Fan's clipper ship and steam engine, he was as happy as a child.
"Brother Yang, can I see your warship this time?" Zhang Fengyi asked with a blushing face.
Zhang Wudian coughed and scolded: "Xiaoqing, don't be rude."
Yang Fan is a second-grade general who conquers the west. He is also a noble and has a high status. It is indeed rude for Zhang Fengyi to call him eldest brother.
Yang Fan waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter, we are of similar age and we are friends with each other. But you said warships, what kind of warships, where are they? There are no warships here."
Zhang Fengyi suddenly became unhappy and said angrily: "My grandfather and I saw it on the way here. A steamship was parked on the edge of the Yellow River, and there were cannons on the ship. It's the kind of red cannon on a navy warship."
Adjutant Hou Ping stepped forward and said: "Sir, it should be a submersible heavy gunship newly designed by the Naval Ship Research Institute. I don't know how it passed the Hukou Falls. Maybe the ship was dismantled and reassembled upstream of the waterfall."
Only then did Yang Fan remember that there was indeed such a thing.
Because water transport ships on the Yellow River are always shot with bows and arrows by the Mongolian cavalry along the coast. These elite cavalry from the desert Mongolia use rockets to burn transport ships. They even have heavy matchlock guns from West Asia and Europe. This is the reason why there have been so many casualties recently.
In order to escort, we also take into account the problems of future fighting on inland rivers. For example, the shallow water of Chuanjiang River, where the She'an Rebellion has not yet been quelled. It can be seen that inland river warships play a great role.
So Yang Fan put forward design requirements and asked the Ship Research Institute to modify it as soon as possible, or to redesign a shallow-water heavy gunship with a draft of one meter and no more than one and a half meters. It is a flat-bottomed, short-length-to-width ratio, shallow-water heavy gunship driven by steam engines for inland water divisions.
.
It seems that they have built a prototype ship.
"I'll go back and ask, if it is true that the shallow-water heavy gunship has built a prototype ship, it should come to the upper reaches of the Yellow River for trial navigation this time. I asked them to come over as soon as possible. Then, they can actually investigate Linhe City. Linhe City is also on the Yellow River.
On the edge."
As soon as Zhang Wudi heard about the new steamship, he immediately became interested and said: "I have come all the way to deliver grain and grass to you, Uncle Dingyuan. Uncle Dingyuan must let me board your ship to see it."
"
Yang Fan smiled and said: "Others can't do it, but Mr. Zhang can do it. Let Mr. Zhang see it, and I will personally lead the team when the time comes. Let's take a shallow water heavy gunboat and explore Linhe City at night, hahaha."
Zhang Wudian also laughed happily. The old man liked to study machinery and other things all his life. He was also very interested in various weapons. Last time, Yang Fan had a happy chat with him and gave his family more than a dozen Newcomen steam engines.
, used to extract groundwater to fight drought.
Nowadays, these steam engines have been installed on tens of thousands of acres of dry land owned by the Zhang family. Shanxi has suffered from severe drought in recent years. Although there is underground water, people are exhausted from using well water to irrigate the land, and they cannot irrigate several acres of land. These steam engines
As soon as it was installed, tens of thousands of acres of the Zhang family's land immediately became irrigated land.
The gentry around Zhangjiabao came to watch the excitement. They were all envious.
In Shanxi, irrigated land can guarantee a harvest regardless of drought or flood. These steam engines can pump groundwater for irrigation and drain waterlogging. The price difference between irrigated land and dry land is ten times. As long as there is sufficient water, there is no problem even with double cropping of wheat and rice.
It's a pity that they don't have such a prominent family background as the Zhang family, with poems and books passed down from generation to generation, and two generations of ministers of the Ministry of War.
Not only are they local tycoons, they are also loyal ministers and martyrs. They can talk to Uncle Dingyuan there. Now the Newcomen steam engine is a hot commodity, and orders have been scheduled for two years. There are even people from Jiangnan who are interested.
Come and buy it.
"Brother Yang, I want to go too. I want to see Brother Yang shelling Linhe City." Zhang Fengyi said happily.
Huo pulled her back and scolded her: "A girl, can you be a little reserved? Your skin is tight, isn't it?"
