Li Zhi looked at the gentleman surnamed Huang and asked, "Are you also here to participate in the bidding for railway infrastructure construction?"
The panicked gentry kowtowed to Li Zhi and replied: "My lord, although we are gentry, we have never evaded a penny of taxes since your father took over Tianjin. Those traitors
We did not participate in any of the rebellions. Now, we only collect a share of the donated land. We do not collect additional land rent at all, and we do not exploit any farmer."
When the other gentry sitting in the Qinzheng Hall saw Li Zhi talking to the gentleman surnamed Huang, they knew that this was a critical moment that affected whether they could participate in the bidding. They did not dare to ask for help, so they climbed down from their chairs and knelt on the ground.
.For a time, there were more than twenty people kneeling in the Qinzheng Hall.
The gentleman surnamed Huang looked at Li Zhi's face and said: "Master Guo, our family of more than thirty people have no income now. If this continues, we will really spend all our money and starve to death! We have no advantages in other places.
, I only have some experience in managing the people under management. If the Duke allows us to participate in the construction of a small section of railway infrastructure, our family will have found a place to use it."
Li Zhi was silent for a while after hearing what this gentleman said.
Li Zhi was not prepared to kill all the gentry who did not participate in the rebel activities and lived honestly according to Li Zhi's rules. These "good" gentry had money saved in the past, so naturally they wanted to do business. They just did ordinary small things.
The small traders who could not compete with them for buying and selling, who worked early in the morning and stayed late at night, naturally focused on big business such as railway construction that required capital.
Li Zhi said calmly: "Contracting for railway construction naturally depends on your bid document and ability. Every businessman participating in the bid must build a trial roadbed of one mile. The trial roadbed is qualified, the bidding document is well planned, and the cost is low.
businessmen will finally get the project."
After a pause, Li Zhi continued: "But I don't know what you think of your ability to manage your subordinates. We protect road construction workers. If you want to rely on fraud and bullying to manage workers, not only will the project be destroyed.
Take it back, and our court will deal with you in the end!"
The gentleman surnamed Huang saw that Li Zhi's words were very harsh and he was so panicked that he was sweating. He kowtowed to the ground again and said, "Don't worry, Lord, we will not deceive or bully workers!"
Li Zhi said: "In that case, you can participate in the bidding."
The gentry on the ground got up happily as if they had been pardoned.
Seeing that Li Zhi and the gentry had finished speaking, an official came to the stage and said loudly: "We are building a 1,500-mile railway in Liaodong this time. The railway roadbed will be divided into 37 projects and will be invited to bid..."
####
On the fifth day of June, in the wilderness twenty miles east of Nanchang Fucheng, the Jiangbei Army camped for more than ten miles. In each camp, the sounds of soldiers' drills could be heard one after another.
In front of a hundred human-shaped targets in the south of the camp, the gunmen of the Jiangbei Army skillfully loaded the ammunition and lit the match ropes. When the commander who directed the shooting gave an order, only a crackling explosion was heard, and a hundred soldiers
The gunman paused and shot at the human-shaped target fifty steps away.
Shi Kefa stood with his hands behind his back, waiting for the results of the test firing.
Behind Shi Kefa stood dozens of local gentry from Nanchang Prefecture who came to observe Jiangbei's army.
After the gunmen finished shooting, a dozen soldiers with small flags on their backs ran to the target to see the results. After a while, the results were counted, and a school officer ran over. He half-knelt in front of Shi Kefa and shouted loudly
shouted:
"A hundred people fired a volley, and sixty-seven shots were hit!"
Hearing the report from the messenger officer, the gentry behind Shi Kefa were all happy. These Jiangxi gentry had never seen such elite soldiers in their lives. Such precise shooting fired two rounds in front. What kind of enemy could withstand it?
Can you live in it?
An old civil servant who had become an official came out on crutches and said: "Shi Gong's Jiangbei Army is extremely elite. I am very happy to see it!"
Shi Kefa nodded, stroked his beard and said, "Good! Our Jiangbei Army has excellent shooting skills and can be put to great use."
Zuo Liangyu and Wu Sangui looked at each other, bowed their hands to Shi Kefa, and said nothing.
Seeing that the two generals were not happy, Shi Kefa couldn't help but ask: "Sixty-seven rounds were fired from fifty steps away. This result is better than before. I, Jiangbei Army, have been practicing shooting skills hard in the past few months. Can we do it?"
It is said that the results are remarkable. Why are the two commanders so unhappy?"
Wu Sangui cupped his fists and said, "It's gratifying to be able to hit sixty-seven shots, but compared to Li Zhi's sharpshooter, these fifty-step shooting is meaningless."
With a wave of his hand, Wu Sangui said: "Li Zhi's sharpshooters can shoot from 300 steps away with great precision. Moreover, these shooters load their ammunition very quickly. Every time our army advances forty or fifty steps, they will be defeated by these sharpshooters."
Shoot once. Calculated this way, our shooters will never be able to rush in front of Li Zhijun and shoot."
Hearing Wu Sangui's words, the gentry in Nanchang Prefecture were stunned. They started shooting three hundred paces away. Is this a divine general? They looked at each other for a while, but no one could say anything.
Shi Ke** was stunned, lowered his head, walked a few steps forward, and took a breath.
After a long time, he turned around and said, "In view of Uncle Chang's wishes, how can we fight against Li Thief's gunman?"
Wu Sangui held up his hands and said: "We can't beat Li Zhi no matter what the shooting distance. The current plan is to shorten the killing distance of Li Zhi's marksman, and we can have a slight chance of winning."
"How to shorten Li Zhi's killing distance?"
Wu Sangui clasped his fists and said: "The general believes that only by imitating the heavy armor soldiers formed by the Qing Dynasty and using two layers of heavy armor to protect the soldiers rushing into the formation can Li Zhi's sharpshooter be unable to use it."
Shi Kefa nodded and motioned for Wu Sangui to continue.
Wu Sangui said: "During the Battle of Jinzhou, Li Zhi's muskets encountered the Qing's double-layered heavy armor, and they could only break through the armor and kill the enemy within eighty steps. It was precisely because of the protection of these heavy armors that the Qing's cavalry was able to break through Li Zhi's heavy armor.
Li Zhi's first layer of musket formation washed away the first layer of soldiers and horses in front of Li Zhi."
"Li Zhi's soldiers and horses are all wearing steel armor. I'm afraid our matchlock guns will take thirty steps to kill the enemy. But with the protection of heavy armor, the soldiers will not be killed until eighty steps. It only takes eighty steps to kill them.
Once you reach within thirty steps, you can start a duel with Li Zhi."
Shi Kefa nodded and said: "Good! We will build 40,000 double-layered heavy armors like this. When the time comes, we will choose strong soldiers to wear heavy armor and charge into the formation. They will surely be able to rush to Li Zhi's formation and shoot!"
Wu Sangui cupped his hands and said: "Even so, the general thought that we could not defeat Li Zhi. Li Zhi's artillery often numbered in the thousands, and the muskets were more sophisticated than ours. The general thought that our Jiangbei Army would double its size, and at the same time attack the Red Army again.
Only by buying more cannons can the Yi truly compete with Li Zhi."
Shi Kefa pondered and said: "If we double the manpower, I'm afraid that the silver Mr. Qian left behind will not be enough."
Wu Sangui looked at Shi Kefa and said with a smile: "My lord, how difficult is this? My lord wrote dozens of letters to officials in various places, saying that to fight against Li Zhi, we need to raise military pay. Now the soldiers hate Li Zhi.
It’s deep into my bones. With the character and prestige of this soldier, I’m afraid tens of millions of taels of silver will come from all over in a few months.”
Before Shi Kefa could speak, the gentry from Nanchang Prefecture stood up. The old official who was appointed to the official position raised his hands and said: "Shi Gong, don't worry about food and salary. Fighting against Li Thief is a matter of life and death for the gentry in the world. At this critical moment of life and death, I
The gentry of Nanchang Prefecture were the first to donate money to Shi Gong to expand the Jiangbei Army."
