Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 509 The Unwavering Dedication from Top to Bottom
Just ten days after Emperor Longyou issued the order allowing Dingguo Mansion to recruit 800 private soldiers, the training ground on the west side of the mansion has already taken shape.

The style is completely different from the carved beams and painted rafters on the other side, and the sound of rain pattering on banana leaves. The ground of the training ground is made of compacted loess, then covered with fine sand, which is non-slip but not loose, which is conducive to the formation of drills and long-distance running training.

In addition, Yue Ling also displayed various kinds of equipment used in the past for training individual combat skills on the training ground.

They truly used their past life's experience to train this personal guard.

On the east side of the training ground stood a command platform, in front of which stood a large black banner with a huge "Yue" character embroidered in gold thread, fluttering in the summer heat.

On both sides of the command platform, there are long weapon racks with all kinds of weapons on display, including wolf-tooth rakes and halberds used to wipe out Japanese pirates in the past.

On the south side, there are many wooden dummy stakes, as well as stone locks and stone weights of various sizes used for strengthening muscles and bones.

On another carved red lacquered table, there was the largest stone lock, which was also carved with patterns, clearly intended for everyone to test their strength.

However, apart from Yue Ling, no one else has been able to lift it successfully.

In the distance to the west, several rows of targets stand, their bullsiers filled with arrows.

At that moment, there were already more than fifty people practicing in the field. When they saw Yue Ling walk out from behind the ceremonial gate, they stopped holding their spears, gathered their troops, and came forward to greet him.

"Your humble servants pay their respects to the Duke, and greet Madam Yue and all the young ladies."

The young girls from the manor who followed were all like curious children, looking around at the scene.

Lin Daiyu, on the other hand, maintained the demeanor of a senior wife, keeping her eyes straight ahead and nodding slightly with her chest slightly bowed.

Many of these people look familiar to Lin Daiyu.

After all, they were all trusted confidantes selected from Cangzhou. Back then, she often went out with Yue Ling and witnessed the city of Cangzhou being rebuilt little by little from its initial dilapidated state.

She even personally drew up the plans for the renovation and planning of many buildings.

Just as they treated Yue Ling, the people of Cangzhou also genuinely loved and respected her.

Yue Ling glanced around and sighed softly, "Have the rest of them already gone to the mountains outside the city?"

A centurion stepped forward at the head of the group, bowed, and reported, "They are being led by General Shi to the capital's main camp to practice firearms."

Yue Ling nodded slightly, looked down at Shi Xiangyun beside him, and said, "It's not that I look down on you, nor that I'm trying to be perfunctory. Now that you're so frail, it would be more useful for you to practice some crossbow shooting."

"Someone, go and fetch a crossbow."

Two people immediately stepped out from the back of the line and took a crossbow from the weapon rack. Even Shi Xiangyun, who was short, could easily hold it with both hands.

In Yue Ling's hands, the crossbow was like a toy; he raised one hand and came to the side of the target.

With one eye open and the other squinted, aim at the crosshair and fire, hitting the bullseye.

Shouts immediately rang out from the ranks.

Yue Ling smiled and turned around, saying, "Come on, come up and try. Hold it with both hands, brace your body against the crossbow, aim forward, and pull the trigger."

The arrow shot out, but it went way off course and stuck directly into the mound of earth.

Shi Xiangyun looked embarrassed, glanced at her sisters around her, and stuck out her tongue, saying, "My lord, am I really that untalented? This looks so simple, yet you hit the bullseye on the first shot, and I..."

Yue Ling smiled and rubbed her head, saying, "It looks easy—just cock the crossbow and pull the trigger. But the accuracy of a crossbow is far inferior to that of a bow and arrow. Without fletching, it has a significant impact."

"However, this can be made up for through training. As long as you can hit the target within thirty steps, you can be considered to have achieved some success."

Shi Xiangyun, with her competitive spirit, raised an eyebrow slightly and asked, "Is it just about hitting the target?"

Yue Ling nodded. "Hand crossbows are generally not used at a distance of thirty paces. They are usually used at close range. You can hit the target at thirty paces. If you want to kill someone at close range by launching a surprise arrow, it will be a piece of cake for you."

Shi Xiangyun nodded repeatedly, "Okay, this is good, then I will learn this. Even if I can't fight on the battlefield, at least I will know something."

Yue Ling didn't say that if firearms made significant progress, the standard experience gained with hand crossbows could be quickly adapted to the use of firearms.

After all, in this era, pursuing individual martial arts skills has become a low-level pursuit, as it represents a shift from cold weapons to firearms.

"Okay, start with arrows without tips, be careful not to hurt yourself. Of course, even just practicing with crossbows requires some arm strength, so we'll practice slowly."

Shi Xiangyun took the arrow box, lay down on the haystack, and began to practice aiming seriously.

Yue Ling looked around again and asked the others, "Is there anyone else who wants to try again?"

The girls all shook their heads. They had little interest in fighting and killing, and they found it hard to accept that someone like Shi Xiangyun would disregard her appearance and neat clothes and lie on the ground.

They were just a group of young girls curious about new things. After seeing it, they lost interest. Yue Ling smiled and nodded, "Alright, let's go back to the room first. Let her study here. Cui Lu, you take care of her here."

"Yes."

Cuilu curtsied and watched the girls leave with Yue Ling.

On the surrounding training grounds, the guards had retreated to the other side, practicing military formations and close combat under the shade of the trees.

Under the blazing sun, only she and her silly master were exposed to the heat, and soon they were drenched in sweat.

“Girl, why did you have to learn this damn bow and arrow? They all go to their rooms to drink herbal tea and eat iced porridge. The two of us will be as black as charcoal in just a few days.”

Cuilu fanned herself with her hands, but the scorching heat made the air feel hot and didn't cool her down at all.

Even so, it couldn't dampen Shi Xiangyun's enthusiasm. She shot out a box of arrows, then took out another box and continued to draw the bowstring.

Her delicate fingers were rubbed until they turned red and a few drops of blood were visible. Shi Xiangyun simply put them in her mouth and licked them before continuing her practice.

"As long as I shoot it not too far from the target, I'll go back with you."

Cuilu pouted and said, "I'm afraid he fainted from heatstroke and still couldn't hit the target. The Marquis said it's not that easy."

Shi Xiangyun shook her head and said, "I don't think it's that much of a difference. Since the Marquis isn't trying to fool me, I can't do things half-heartedly either. The Marquis must have his reasons for making this choice. Once I learn, he can teach me even more."

Cuilu was persuaded by Shi Xiangyun, and she picked up the arrows on the ground and put them back into the arrow box.

"Girl, why do you insist on learning these fighting and killing things?"

The only thing she couldn't understand was this. Although she knew her daughter admired those chivalrous novels, wanting to try it was another matter entirely. "Sister Lin can manage the household, Sister Bao can increase the income, Sister Qin can communicate with the foreigners, Sister Keqing can manage the official gazette, Sister Yan'er can deliver babies, Master Miaoyu can preside over ceremonies, and Third Sister can work in the workshop."

The string-pulling motion slowed down, and Shi Xiangyun paused before saying, "These past few days, whenever I have a sleepless night, I always think that I can't do anything in the manor, I can only eat and sleep, just like Xueyan."

"But Xueyan is now the number one contributor to the manor."

"Even if I bring out my best needlework from the old days, it can't compare to Qingwen's exquisite skill. I can't stay like this forever, just a nobody, can I?"

Cuilu twitched her lips, never expecting that the usually carefree girl had secretly harbored so many secrets.

Especially since the maid and the young lady are essentially one, how could she not be moved by the young lady's ambition?

"Well, even if you learn this, the Marquis won't actually send you to the battlefield."

Shi Xiangyun didn't care about that. She clicked her tongue indifferently, then painstakingly pulled back the bowstring, aimed at the bullseye, and said, "Who can know what the future holds? Even if we can protect our sisters in a sudden situation, that's a skill we can rely on."

With a pull of the trigger, the arrow pierced the air.

Extremely lucky; although it didn't hit the target, it hit the base right under the target.

"My fingers are numb, let's call it a day and go collect all the arrows."

Cuilu, who had been in a daze, finally came to her senses and nodded hurriedly, saying, "Okay, I'll do it."

In the distance, the guards of the Duke of Dingguo, who were sitting on the ground to cool off during a break from training, watched in surprise as two girls picked up arrows back and forth at the other end of the training ground.

"Is she truly worthy of being the girl chosen by the Duke? She's practicing with this crossbow under such a scorching sun. It would be better if the weather cooled down a bit."

"Once it gets cooler, the wind will pick up. If the crossbow bolts have no fletching, they'll miss way. But what you said in the first part is right. Whether it's Madam Lin or this young lady, they both seem to be just like the Duke, with a kind of stubbornness in their bones."

"Hehehe, I wonder what has forced this young lady to practice martial arts. I think we should practice more diligently, so as not to embarrass ourselves here and end up not even being able to protect the Duke's family!"

"Yes, get up, next round!"

The soldiers helped each other up, and the shouts rang out again in the training ground...

……

"Zhao Hao and Liu Xianglian have managed things quite well in Liaodong, but this letter did not mention that the Jianzhou Jurchens intended to launch a large-scale invasion southward. It only mentions small groups of cavalry that appear every summer and autumn when the grass is lush and the horses are fat."

"Why launch a large-scale invasion when we only need to be careful at the border?"

"In my opinion, it would be better to strengthen military preparedness, be on high alert, and combine this with economic warfare to cripple the Jurchens' current upward momentum."

"In spring and summer, we will purchase rare Chinese medicinal herbs such as ginseng from the Jurchen people at high prices, and fully induce the lower-level Jurchen people to harvest abandoned crops. We will recapture Khorchin and block the land routes connecting the barbarians with Liaodong. In autumn, we will close the trade markets and withhold grain, forcing them to march south to fight, thus waiting for them to tire themselves out."

"I can think of this more proactive approach, and His Majesty must have thought of it too. Could there be some hidden reason behind allowing the Second Prince to lead the troops into battle?"

Yue Ling paced back and forth in front of the hall, carefully considering what had happened during this period. Thinking back to His Majesty's cryptic attitude during his last visit to the palace, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

"Zhao Hao and Liu Xianglian should send someone south to the Shanhaiguan line to wait for them, so that they can report military intelligence as soon as possible. Otherwise, they will not be able to grasp the situation and will be no different from blind dogs."

With this in mind, Yue Ling went into his room to write down the document, intending to send it to Liaodong so that people could prepare in advance.

Whenever Yue Ling pondered the current situation in the capital, he always felt that, without anyone noticing, a huge chess game had been woven in the capital, and he was just one of the pieces, shining brightly, with everyone's attention focused on him.

And this was precisely the mission he was meant to accomplish, especially after taking command of the personal guard, his power in the capital became so immense that everyone was wary of him.

"My lord, I'm back. The Ministry of Works has approved our use of gunpowder. But I think it's better to keep the cooperative workshop more secret, so I haven't revealed everything."

"With our current financial, material, and human resources, as long as we have enough resources, I think it wouldn't be difficult to develop the firearm that the Marquis envisions."

As she spoke, Xue Baoqin spread out the drawings on Yue Ling's desk. "My lord, look, these are the drawings that the craftsmen redraw according to your requirements."

"The flint and the ignition switch were hidden in the butt of the musket. When the trigger was pulled, the flint and steel would strike each other to create a spark that would ignite the priming powder, thus firing the ammunition."

"The ingenuity and secrets of its mechanisms are so amazing that even the master craftsmen are amazed and praise the master as a celestial being who could have come up with such a structure."

Xue Baoqin's eyes were full of smiles as she showered Yue Ling with praise, as if she herself was honored and excited by his compliments.

Yue Ling blushed at her words; this kind of master-level design was certainly not his idea.

He was simply standing on the shoulders of giants.

In layman's terms, I learned about the structure of firearms and the history of ancient firearms when I was in police academy. The flintlock musket was a very important topic for the exam.

The matchlock gun was transformed into the flintlock gun.
"Someone actually saw through its intricate design?" Yue Ling asked. "Do you know which master it was?"

Xue Baoqin tapped her forehead and pondered, "It seems his surname was Bi, his given name was Maokang, and his courtesy name was Menghou. After failing the imperial examination, he studied firearms and even wanted to teach at Qingfeng Academy, but he was recommended by his fellow townsmen to work in the Ministry of Works."

"He joined us because of the title of Marquis. Of course, another reason was that he was attracted by our previous translation of foreign works on machinery, and he resolutely resigned from his official post in order to pursue knowledge and progress."

"Bi Maokang?"

Yue Ling read it aloud in astonishment.

He vaguely remembered that this was also a scientist who was recorded in textbooks. He had tried to improve the flintlock gun at the end of the Ming Dynasty, but the misfire rate was too high and it was ignored by Emperor Chongzhen.

Later, due to factional infighting, they lost support, and without money, they couldn't even talk about developing weapons.

It's truly a stroke of luck that such a talented person unexpectedly joined my team due to the shift in the timeline.

Yue Ling snapped out of his daze and hurriedly recited, "Summon Xi Chun again. Precision components, like spark springs, are better dissected and redrawn. There can be no mistakes."

"Okay, I'll go right away!"

Seemingly eager to witness a great invention, perhaps even one that would lead the world, Xue Baoqin was so excited that she left the house without even touching the ground.

Before the girls arrived, someone else showed up instead.

Lin Ruhai stepped over the threshold and said, "The matter I was asked to investigate earlier has been resolved today! I have indeed heard of those three clans!"

(End of this chapter)