Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 655 - 538: Flintlock Rifle (Requesting Monthly Tickets)_1

Chapter 655: Chapter 538: Flintlock Rifle (Requesting Monthly Tickets)_1

Yu Hongshang pondered for a moment: "How to deal with Liang Heng is a decision that should be made by the emperor. However, I could try to replace some of those people in the Jingying. If Li Xuan, you have any good candidates, you can recommend them to me."

When she said that, Yu Hongshang gave Li Xuan a sideways glance: "Let’s leave it at that. During the time when Liang Heng is at home, if there is no need, you shouldn’t provoke him deliberately, lest you give people a chance to gossip."

She knew how ruthless and overbearing Li Xuan was toward his enemies.

But after all, Liang Heng is a famous general who has made contributions to the Yu State. If he cannot be removed in a legitimate way, the court will inevitably be infamous for the mistreatment of meritorious officials.

This would create a great uproar in the court and may even have endless troubles later.

Even Li Xuan himself would pay a heavy price.

"I know." Li Xuan responded with a smile: "Your man hasn’t been stupid enough to do that yet. But, during the two months that the Emperor is in seclusion, I hope you can help me keep him out of the court."

Man?

When Yu Hongshang heard this word, she sneered coldly.

But she nodded slightly afterward: "As long as I’m the regent, he won’t be able to return."

This matter is actually simple, just delay the case of Liang Heng’s secret meeting with key ministers as much as possible.

Yu Hongshang, who served as a regent for the first time, was swamped with work and didn’t have time for idle talks with Li Xuan. After she was clear on the issues about the sudden illness of the Crown Prince and General Liang Heng, she sent Li Xuan away.

After Li Xuan came out of the Taihe Gate, he momentarily felt at a loss.

At this point, he should have been going to the Liudao Division Yamen or the Court Martial Judge Yamen office to work.

But he has his Second Mind presiding over these places, this divided form is fully capable and energetic, much more diligent than Li Xuan’s original form.

As for the girls around him, Yu Hongshang had to handle government affairs; Xue Yunrou went to Dushi Castle in the north to oversee the Array; Yue Qianqian was busy in her Yamen; Leng Yurou spent her days in her workshop, which was boring; Jiang Hanyun was following the left deputy Venerable to investigate the case of the Duchenghuang’s Seven Poisons;

And Luo Yan, wasn’t she right beside him?

Li Xuan suddenly felt that he had plenty of time.

Even the case of the Crown Prince’s sudden illness was clear at the beginning. They just needed to capture the Illusionists and the mistress in Li Yueer’s memory, and the case could be closed.

They don’t even need to capture them, they just need to verify the identity of this woman, which would be enough for the Emperor.

The object that the Jingtai emperor sought was not evidence; the Emperor simply wanted to know who the enemy was and where he should vent his anger.

But Li Xuan really wasn’t good at searching for people.

He had found quite a few clues in Li Yueer’s memory. But to dig out the so-called ’Gumu’, it was necessary to carry out a large-scale dragnet search, which only the Xiuyiwei and Inner Jishi Institute could do.

The Liudao Division had this ability, but did not have the leisure to do it -

Li Xuan was mainly concerned about the source of the seven poisons from the Duchenghuang Temple. However, the left deputy Venerable completely sealed off the Duchenghuang Temple inside and out, holding all the human testimony in his hand, leaving no room for him to intervene.

Li Xuan did not want to use this slow method to investigate. He has a method to directly open Hell and let them enter the Underworld to see what’s going on.

However, this requires the help of the Jinping Dharma King. The holy instrument ’Life-passing Golden Bottle’ in the possession of the Dharma King, coupled with Xue Yunrou’s ’Nine Heavens Ten Earths Pimo Divine Shuttle’, can help them break through Hell.

It’s easy to persuade Xue Yunrou, but the Jinping Dharma King will not arrive in the Capital City until tomorrow.

At this time, the court’s delegation has finalized the system of transmigration with the various Dharma Kings of Tubo. The Jinping Dharma King is about to lead a large delegation to the capital to accept the Emperor’s ’golden edict letters’, setting it as a permanent system.

He still needs to cooperate with the court to refine two ’Golden Bottles’.

Originally, the Jinping Dharma King was scheduled to enter Beijing five days later, but after receiving Li Xuan’s talisman paper requesting help, this person has left the mission and is advancing to the Capital City at full speed.

It is estimated that Li Xuan will be able to enter the Beijing Underground by the dawn of tomorrow at the latest, and see where the source of the Seven Poisons lies.

Li Xuan stood still for a moment and then, along with Luo Yan, turned towards the north of Forbidden City and walked towards Wansui Mountain.

His Left Shenji Battalion, with twelve thousand soldiers, were currently stationed here, occupying the high ground and controlling the palace.

Li Xuan needs to see what the situation of his subordinates is like now. Don’t wait until the entire Shenji Left Battalion rebels, and he, as their superior, wouldn’t even know about it.

Shamefully, Li Xuan has been in the position of commander of the Shenji Left Battalion for almost half a year, but he has only visited the Shenji Left Battalion less than twenty times. Each time he would just do a quick tour and then leave in a hurry.

The reason why the Jingtai Emperor and the Grand Secretary Chen Xun handed over the ’Left Shenji Battalion’ to Li Xuan to command, was naturally out of trust in him.

They also hoped that at certain times, there would be a reliable elite force in the capital.

But Li Xuan himself felt that he had failed to meet their expectations and felt guilty.

Luckily, the current ’Left Shenji Battalion’ is in good condition. The mansion of Earl Chengyi has deep roots and ample reserves. Half a year ago, when Li Xuan had just been transferred, Li Chengji had moved an entire team, nearly a hundred ’servants’ for him.

The term ’servant’ here is similar to the private army of fighters in Han and Tang Dynasties. Due to the deterioration of Weisuo army system and the lack of military allowance, the generals of the Jin Dynasty had to raise servants on a large scale to compensate for the shortage in Weisuo’s military strength.

Aside from being elite troops, they also had another role - to help their masters command the entire army.

The generals of the Jin Dynasty lacked control over their subordinates and even lacked trust in their subordinate officers. So at this time, they would insert their servants into the grassroots units on a large scale, serving as grassroots officers, to help the generals control the whole army.

This was also seen in another era in Ming. At the end of Ming Dynasty, Li Chengliang, a great general from Liaodong, had nine thousand servants, all of them well-equipped Iron Cavalry.

The ’servant’ system of the Jin Dynasty has not yet developed to this extent, but it is already popular among the entire noble class.

These one hundred ’servants’ that Li Chengji transferred over were all elites from the northern border armies.

Due to mass encroachment of fields belonging to the northern Weisuo soldiers, many military households have deserted and sought refuge with local large households. Additionally, after the battle of Tumu Fort, many people feared retribution from the court after escaping the encirclement and simply deserted.

The people Li Chengji recruited were all highly skilled in martial arts, proficient in battle formations, and had real skills, effortlessly leading a banner of fifty men each.

Li Xuan also made use of his connections and courted Wang Yuan, the previous defense commander of Nankou Pass, as his deputy commander.

—This was originally against the rules. The military system of the Jin Dynasty emphasized mutual constraints between superiors and subordinates. Li Xuan could install a large number of junior military officers, but positions like deputy commander, Canjiang, Qianhu and others require appointment by the court.

Yet, knowing his busy schedule, the Emperor made an exception and granted his request.

Therefore, although Li Xuan was not dedicated to his dutie, this battalion of the ’Shenji Left Battalion’ has been trained by Wang Yuan and his team to have the appearance of a professional army. Shaobao Yu Jie has inspected the army several times and has been satisfied each time, granting an ’excellent’ rating for three consecutive months.

When Li Xuan arrived, Wang Yuan was supervising the three Qianzongs at the outpost in the camp, practicing loading and shooting.

They were using newly produced flintlock guns, and they had to complete the loading process in the shortest time possible, with ten consecutive loads within one hundred breaths to be considered qualified.

There was also a spellcaster nearby to eliminate the explosive sound and smoke of gunshots.

Li Xuan flew to the scene, landing directly on the commander platform. As he surveyed the drill ground, he waved his hand slightly to indicate that the generals should not be overly formal.

"Very good!" Li Xuan’s eyes lit up, "There has been a great improvement since over a month ago. Basically, everyone can now fire within seventy breaths."

Firing ten times within seventy breaths—this rate was terrifying on the battlefield.

In the world Li Xuan came from, even the elite forces of the British army using flintlock guns in the modern era could only fire four shots per minute.

In this world, Wu cultivators were quicker, so loading was even faster.

After hearing this, Wang Yuan complimented with a smile, "This is all thanks to your ingenious idea of fixed loading ammunition, which has at least halved our loading time."

As soon as he finished speaking, a chorus of compliments arose from the generals around him.

"Exactly, the idea of fixed loading ammunition is ingenious and original. Pairing it with flint ignition indeed increases the firing rate by at least double compared to before."

"Your excellency is wise. If this method could be spread throughout the entire army, the musket will be of great value."

"The power of a single flintlock gun can be equivalent to a fourth-stage Wu cultivator specializing in archery. But training a qualified archer would take at least ten years, while training a gunman would take at most five months."

Li Xuan smiled slightly, unconcerned by the compliments from the generals.

This method of ’fixed loading ammunition’ was just picking up the wisdom of predecessors, there was nothing to be proud of.

In ancient times when loading a musket, not only did one need quick movements, but also the right amount of gunpowder. If the amount of gunpowder was too small, the firepower would be weak. If it was too large, the barrel would burst.

Later, someone came up with the idea of wrapping a set amount of gunpowder with quickly burning paper.

This not only ensured the power of each shot but greatly reduced the loading time.

This method thus significantly increased the destructive power of a single musketeer.

Li Xuan continued to observe and personally walked into the ranks to talk with the soldiers.

After a while, Li Xuan frowned, "Hasn’t the rifled flintlock gun from the Ministry of War arrived yet?"

The rifled flintlock gun works by engraving lines in the gun barrel, greatly increasing the power and range of the flintlock gun, making it more precise.

Wang Yuan chuckled, "The Ministry of War rejected it. The Junqi Bureau said that casting rifled flintlock guns is time-consuming and laborious, and they don’t have spare craftsmen. The Shenqi Union offered a price of 1,200 teals of patterned silver per gun, which the Ministry of War said they could not afford. However, the bayonets that Your Excellency mentioned, the ones that can be attached to the muzzle of the flintlock gun, have been produced in large quantities by the Junqi Bureau."

Li Xuan couldn’t help but frown. He had thought that the court would be more generous after amassing a fortune this time.

1,200 teals of patterned silver is not expensive, considering that runes need to be suppressed onto the gun barrel, lines need to be engraved, and a special kind of steel is needed. The cost of 1,200 teals of patterned silver is quite reasonable, especially given its power surpasses many low-grade thunder talismans.

Li Xuan estimated that 3,000 such guns would be sufficient to allow the Shenji Left Battalion to contend against several times their numbers of Mongolian cavalry in the field.

"Forget it, I’ll talk to Shangshu Yu about the rifled guns myself."

Looking somewhat helpless, Li Xuan then asked, "What about the new formations? Do you have any ideas?"

After glancing at each other, Wang Yuan and the other generals in the room finally said, "Your Excellency, attaching a bayonet to the muzzle of the flintlock gun is equivalent to having a spear that is about eight feet long, with this, we could save some spear soldiers, and the battle tactics will definitely have to change, but we have yet to think of a foolproof method for how to change."

"As for using an open square formation to counter the Mongolian Iron Cavalry as you suggested, we have rehearsed it a few times, but we do not know how it will fare in actual combat."

The so-called ’open square formation’ is a modern tactic where musketeers effectively counter cavalry.

Just as Li Xuan was about to instruct Wang Yuan to lead his men in a demonstration, he noticed a signal talisman flying over from a distance.

He immediately reached out and caught the signal talisman.

Then, confusion emerged in Li Xuan’s eyes.

This signal talisman came from Peng Fulai. Old Peng asked him to return to the Liudao Division as soon as possible to meet a familiar face—’Sword Rain’ Hua Shenxiao, one of the Seven Sages of Quanzhen.

This person had come to seek his help for ’Princess Xixue’, the other person of the Double Princess of Quanzhen, and it seemed to involve Duke Wen Zhonglie.