The Military Governor in Dream of the Red Chamber

"Haha~~ My lord, with your three hundred elite troops, plus the one hundred handpicked retainers from my Sun family, we should be absolutely safe." Sun Shaozu laughed loudly. "As for the safety of Zhenqiang Fortress, my lord can rest assured. This year will probably be even colder than last year. Even if the northern barbarians invade from the south, they won't be able to get here until spring. I plan to set off in two months, that is, in November, and I'll be back just in time for spring. As for the profit sharing, it's thirty percent and thirty percent, that's settled."

He Liding nodded.

The Zhenqiang Fort was nominally garrisoned by 1,500 troops, and under his command were two captains and four lieutenants.

In reality, the number of soldiers was only about a thousand, which included the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled.

This is because there are more people in the border towns and fortresses.

In other places, the manpower shortage is even greater.

Even so, only about six or seven hundred men could be deployed to defend the city, and only about three hundred could fight.

That is, the three hundred elite troops that He Liding just mentioned.

As for the quality of this elite talent?

I won't say more.

At least the three hundred best men under He Liding.

In order to gain benefits from this trip for the Sun family, He Liding even disregarded the safety of Zhenqiang Fort and sent out the main force defending the city.

With only the remaining elderly, weak, sick, and disabled remaining, the defenses of Zhenqiang Fort were weak, and the city might fall if the northern barbarians marched south.

But He Liding didn't care about any of that.

After the heavy snow blocked the roads, the northern barbarians would indeed not move south, and even if they did, it was a rare occurrence in history.

He Liding didn't believe he would run into this.

On the third day after Jia Chen returned with the pig iron, the grain promised by Liu Tianwang and the grain bought from Lin Heqing arrived one after another. With the grain, everyone felt more at ease.

Along with the grain came a group of firearms craftsmen that Liu Tianwang had promised Jia Chen.

This group of craftsmen consisted of seven people, led by an old craftsman named Lu Dahai.

Lu Dahai is sixty years old this year. He has worked in firearms manufacturing all his life and can be considered a master craftsman.

Of course, in addition to the craftsmen, there was also a batch of gunpowder and more than fifty three-barreled guns.

To Jia Chen's surprise, there were more than thirty muskets.

There were also some swords, spears, armor, and so on.

The current Qianshan Fortress is fully equipped with weapons such as swords, spears, bows, and firearms, enough to equip about four hundred men.

Including the three-barreled guns that were already in use, there are now nearly a hundred three-barreled guns in total.

Of course, after deducting some of the low-quality ones, there are probably about sixty usable ones left.

Under Lu Dahai's inspection, 23 of the bird guns were found to be usable, even after some repairs.

……

Jia Chen kept examining the musket in his hand; it was still so crude.

The inside of the gun barrel is rough and uneven, with varying diameters and wall thicknesses. This also causes significant problems with airtightness during firing, resulting in a substantial reduction in power.

This is one of the better muskets that Lu Dahai picked out.

Jia Chen also knew that the batch of firearms Liu Tianwang sent him must have undergone a selection process, otherwise the quality would probably be even worse.

Those inferior muskets were basically unusable.

"Master Lu, could you improve this musket?" Jia Chen asked Lu Dahai.

"Sir, I can't do the improvements you suggested yesterday," Lu Dahai shook his head.

Jia Chen gave a wry smile.

He was being a bit unreasonable.

Yesterday he suggested improvements to the musket barrel, including airtightness.

He considered himself to be somewhat conservative, and did not propose the manufacture of flintlock muskets at this time.

But now it has been discovered that even with these improvements to the gun barrels, Qianshanbao still lacks the necessary resources.

Jia Chen had a clear direction regarding the future development of his army.

That means equipping them with firearms. As long as the quality is guaranteed and the scale is achieved, it will be a game-changer for both the Later Yuan and Later Jin armies.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to get started now.

"However, the paper-tube fixed ammunition you mentioned is feasible," Lu Dahai said. "It can not only increase the rate of fire, but also improve the gas tightness of the barrel, allowing the lead bullets to shoot farther and with greater power. Most importantly, the amount of gunpowder can be controlled and standardized, which can better avoid hazards such as barrel explosions."

Jia Chen nodded. Improving the hardware of the musket was obviously not an option at the moment, so they had to look at other aspects.

The firing of the arquebusiers in the Great Hong Army is now extremely cumbersome. Because the gunpowder is not loaded in fixed quantities, the soldiers need to rely on experience to pour the gunpowder into the barrel. Once in battle, the tension can easily lead to an overdose.

Excessive consumption may lead to problems such as explosions and excessive smoke that can burn the eyes.

If there is too little gunpowder, the power will not be sufficient.

Logically speaking, a skilled arquebusier can fire twice per minute.

In reality, once a minute is considered good.

This type of paper tube ammunition simplifies the process and increases the rate of fire by loading a fixed amount of gunpowder and lead bullets into a single paper tube.

These are some of the improvements Jia Chen can make to arquebuses now.

In addition to these, Jia Chen also had to granulate the gunpowder.

Liu Tianwang gave himself powdered gunpowder, wanting to granulate it. The Da Hong Army's approach was to use liquor as a coagulation medium, and because liquor evaporates better, it could ensure higher quality gunpowder.

The cost of using spirits is too high.

Given the rampant corruption and embezzlement within the Da Hong Army, granular gunpowder was destined to be unable to be widely implemented.

Jia Chen couldn't possibly use liquor; he didn't have that much money.

Therefore, we can only use some low-cost methods, such as using rice water as a coagulation medium. As long as the steps and methods are correct, it can be done.

It's just that the quality is a bit worse than that made with spirits.

Even so, its advantage lies in its low cost, allowing for large-scale production.

Granulated gunpowder burns more completely, is more powerful, and produces less smoke.

Jia Chen assigned the production of paper tube ammunition and granulated gunpowder to a dozen or so relatively frail women.

They can't do heavy physical labor, but they can handle tasks that require some skill.

"Besides the paper tube gunpowder, the tiger squat cannon you mentioned can be improved. As long as the iron quality is sufficient, it can be mass-produced," Lu Dahai hurriedly added.

He was afraid that the young centurion would be angry, but he couldn't just say he wouldn't do anything, could he?

To be honest, he was sent here because his superiors disliked him.

Because he was unwilling to compromise and insisted on making firearms that met the standards, his costs were much higher than others.

This prevented those in power from deducting more money, so he was disliked.

Although he was experienced, he was basically no longer able to participate in firearms manufacturing.

Those who followed him were more or less disliked by those above.

Qianshanbao is a dangerous place; no normal person would want to come here.

"Oh, what about the breech-loading cannon?" Jia Chen asked.

These words made Lu Dahai ponder for a moment before replying, "Sir, given the current state of Qianshan Fortress, there's nothing we can do."

Jia Chen sighed inwardly.

Actually, he had expected this result.

Because he himself knew how to cast, and he was also aware that the current conditions did not allow it.

The breech-loading cannon was much more complex and demanding than the tiger-squatting cannon.

In contrast, the Tiger Crouching Cannon is more brutal and simple.

As long as the barrel quality is up to standard and it doesn't explode easily, the cannon is considered a success.

The breech-loading cannon required more technology than the tiger crouching cannon.

When Qianshan Fort was first built, there was no one and no other resources. Trying to cast breech-loading cannons was like trying to improve arquebuses—clearly beyond their capabilities.

"Then let's go with the Tiger Crouching Cannon," Jia Chen said with a smile.

This was originally what he preferred most, and it was also the most realistic option at the moment.

"Sir, do those methods you mentioned really work?" Lu Dahai asked. "Can you use coal instead of charcoal and just add quicklime?"