I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 541 The Beginning

"Also, are the various materials and workers for building the railway ready? The operation will begin the day after tomorrow..." Zhu Houxuan asked.

"Please rest assured, Your Highness! The necessary materials and workers will be prepared before the operation the day after tomorrow!" Chen Hong said firmly.

"That's good!"

……

"Ready!" An officer raised his command knife.

Guan Dali quickly leveled the musket in his hand and aimed at the target in the distance...

The officer swung his command knife and shouted, "Fire!"

Guan Dali pulled the trigger without hesitation, and then he felt the familiar huge recoil on his shoulder...

"Bang, bang, bang!" The entire team was enveloped by a thick, choking white smoke, which was then quickly blown away by the wind...

"Very good! Take a five-minute break! Everyone performed very well!" said the officer with a smile.

Guan Dali carefully put away the musket in his hand. He liked this flintlock rifle very much. It was made of solid materials, easy to operate and very powerful.

This is much more useful than the matchlock gun he used back then. They have been training in formation and volleys for most of the day. Although he has been out of the army for seven or eight years, these things have been engraved in his bones. Today's training has awakened his instinctive skills.
However, their queues are now tighter than before, which makes him a little uncomfortable, because before he retired, he used a matchlock. When using a matchlock, the queue cannot be too dense, because the matchlock can accidentally ignite the gunpowder of teammates. This is a bloody lesson.

But now that they were using flintlock rifles, there was no such concern. They stood shoulder to shoulder in a dense formation. Although Guan Dali was not quite used to it, he felt the collective strength from this formation.

"More military supplies have been delivered!"

Someone shouted from a distance.

The soldiers who were resting rushed over
"Are these the helmets? Although these helmets are made of steel, they look so strange and ugly!" said a soldier as he picked up a helmet.

The soldier's words won a round of approval from the surrounding soldiers.

"It's like a small iron pot!" Guan Dali picked up a helmet and put it on his head and said.

"Brother Xia, am I ugly?" Guan Dali asked.

"It's ugly!" Xia Songshan said seriously.

"I think so too. Our military uniforms look good, but it's weird to wear this helmet." Guan Dali said with a pout.

"No, it's too ugly! I'd rather wear a military cap on the battlefield." Guan Dali said. His behavior was soon followed by others. They already knew that there was no armor and quickly accepted it.

These helmets were discarded by the Old Guards.
These helmets were made by Zhu Houxuan based on the steel helmets used in World War I and World War II. They were bare and looked like an upside-down iron pot, so it was no wonder that the old guards disliked them.

However, this type of helmet is destined not to play a big role under current technical conditions.

This style became popular in later generations because the infantrymen at that time began to squat in trenches, with only their heads exposed for observation, aiming and shooting. In addition to the fragments of various shells and grenades, wearing a helmet could indeed increase the survival rate.

But the current technical conditions are different. Flintlock rifles can only be loaded while standing, so the whole body is exposed to the enemy's shooting range during combat. In this case, the role of the helmet is not that great.
"Our mission today is to go outside Andingmen and deter the enemy so that the railway workers can build the railway with peace of mind." Ma Desheng shouted standing on a high platform.

"Build a railway? Shouldn't we attack the capital and rescue His Majesty? Why do we have to start building a railway again?" shouted an old Guards soldier.

"How do you attack the capital? Do you get a ladder to climb up? The siege has been arranged, now obey the orders!" said Ma Desheng.

The old guard soldier thought about it and retreated.
They quickly packed up and headed towards Andingmen. Their unit's next stop was a place called Madian Village, ten miles away from the capital.

Xia Yingyong left the warm barracks reluctantly, gritted his teeth and rushed into the cold wind outside with a musket on his back. He climbed up the city wall of the capital and saluted a comrade on the sentry post.

"Everything is normal!" The comrade said and hurriedly handed the horn and a telescope to Xia Yingyong.

Then he rushed down the city wall and went to the barracks to warm up.

Xia Yingyong took the things and stood on the sentry post. There were 24 similar sentry posts on the city wall 120 miles inside the inner city, and they were guarded day and night.

Xia Yingyong quickly adapted to the temperature outside. His military coat was very thick and helped him keep out the cold.

He picked up the telescope and looked outside, but he didn't see anything new. The city had been sealed off for more than half a month. A few days ago, he could see people moving around outside, but for some reason, he hadn't seen any people moving around in the past few days. The capital seemed to have become an isolated island.
Maybe it's too cold, I'm staying at home for the winter and dare not go out.
Xia Yingyong thought secretly.

Then his thoughts gradually drifted away and he began to think about recent events.

There's something unusual going on lately.
He was still in the Tongzhou camp half a month ago. Normally, the guards would not enter the capital. Usually, there were only about 10,000 guards stationed in the capital.

But half a month ago they were urgently transferred to the capital, and then the city was closed down, and he began to take turns standing guard every day.

Then the whole capital city became a little panicked. First, there was the news that His Majesty was ill and had to rest. Then there were some bad rumors about the King of Wu. The King of Wu had been in Dalian for more than 20 days and had not returned, which seemed to verify the truth of the rumor.
Then, Prince Heng came to the capital. Empress Dowager Zhang took in the prince on behalf of the late emperor. His Majesty still did not show up. It seems that he is seriously ill.
This information was summarized by him listening to the conversations of his comrades, and today Admiral Jiang Binjiang issued another order, ordering all troops not to spread rumors.
Xia Yingyong shook his head. These had nothing to do with him. He knew that he just had to stick to his post. Thinking too much about other things would not do him any good.

Then he picked up the telescope and looked outside again, and this time he suddenly saw a bright red color between the white sky and earth in the distance.

At first he thought he was seeing things, but after rubbing his eyes hard, he found that the red color in the distance was becoming clearer and clearer.
Above that red spot were black smoke columns, which stood out against the white sky and earth.
"Woo--" Xia Yingyong blew the horn in his hand.

As the horn sounded, the sleeping capital began to move.
(End of this chapter)