93 muskets

"I want the Black Flag Army to be invincible on the battlefield, unstoppable by anyone."

Once on the street, Su Yubai wanted to buy everything she saw, and so did Shen Suqin. Even though she didn't need to wear flowers in her hair, she wanted them every time she saw them.

"That butterfly with kingfisher feather decoration is beautiful."

"That flower looks so realistic."

Su Yubai and Shen Suqin argued endlessly, neither willing to give in.

“Otherwise, we’ll just buy both,” Su Yubai said. “It’s not like we can’t afford them.”

Shen Suqin nodded: "Indeed, isn't the point of making money to spend it?"

After saying that, she took both of them from the stall, turned around and handed them to Xiao Pingchuan, saying, "Pay up."

Xiao Pingchuan resigned himself to taking the money, handed it to the guard behind him, and then took out a money pouch from his pocket and gave the money to the shopkeeper.

Behind him were three or four guards, each carrying a pile of things, including Su Yubai's fried cakes and sugar paintings, Shen Suqin's pearl flowers and rouge, and a whole bunch of other miscellaneous items.

Unfortunately, these two richest people in Ningyuan are both incredibly stingy, deliberately making the poorest Xiao Pingchuan pay for everything.

They strolled around until noon, close to lunchtime, and then the three of them went back.

Upon arriving at the gate, Su Yubai saw that red Spring Festival couplets had already been pasted on the door. He immediately became furious and rushed in to demand, "Who put up my Spring Festival couplets?"

Shi Ye was putting up the Spring Festival couplets on the kitchen door when he heard this, so he turned around and said, "I put them up, what's wrong?"

Su Yubai held back for a moment, then blurted out, "It's pasted quite well."

Shen Suqin sneered at him from behind, not expecting that the guards carrying things into the courtyard would be caught red-handed by Yan Lin.

"Who among you recklessly spent money to buy this pile of junk?" Yan Lin asked, standing at the kitchen doorway with a plate of dishes in hand.

Shen Suqin walked past him casually and said, "It was General Xiao's money."

Yan Lin grabbed her shoulders: "General Xiao is wearing a beaded flower, isn't he?"

Xiao Pingchuan opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he swallowed it back.

Shen Suqin hesitated and said, "Perhaps he likes it?"

Su Yubai also said, "That's right."

Yan Lin waved his hand somewhat irritably: "Go inside, dinner's ready."

After everyone sat down, Shen Suqin raised a glass first, saying, "May we have a peaceful and prosperous year ahead, and make lots of money."

“Yes, make lots of money,” Su Yubai agreed.

Shi Ye didn't agree, but simply picked up his wine glass and said calmly, "May the country be prosperous and the people at peace."

Xiao Pingchuan clinked glasses with him.

"Come on, cheers!"

"cheers."

After a hearty meal, Xiao Pingchuan, as usual, took Shen Suqin to set off fireworks in the courtyard.

These fireworks were made in Laomaoling. For those experienced craftsmen, making fireworks was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

With a bang, the fireworks exploded, illuminating half the night sky.

The people of Ningyuan City opened their windows and looked up. One by one, the rooftops were gradually illuminated. The mountains were far away, the waters were wide, the sky was like a canopy, and the stars were in full bloom. This was the beginning of Ningyuan's true path to prosperity.

After the fifteenth day of the lunar year, Xiao Pingchuan led his team back to Shule River.

Shen Suqin and Luo Su went to Liangzhou together and gathered the people on the list for a meeting.

After that, Luo Su stayed in Liangzhou, while Shen Suqin returned to Ningyuan to follow up on cotton and wheat seeds.

In late summer and early autumn last year, Shi Ye sent a team out of the pass to search for seeds.

Just before the Lunar New Year, the team sent a letter saying that everything was going well and they would return before the spring planting season.

If I count the days, it'll be in the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, the cotton clothing workshop in Guzongfang was also under construction, still overseen by Gong Shunan.

Shen Suqin has also asked Zhou Baihu to negotiate the purchase of the land east of Ningyuan City. Once the land is bought, they will start preparing to build a flour mill.

The greenhouses inside Guzongfang will be completely demolished and rebuilt into an ice mill after the last harvest is completed after the New Year.

Shen Suqin and his colleagues discovered that, probably because of the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed), ice blocks could be sold in winter, although not in large quantities.

However, the ice workshop did not want to take up too much land. After demolishing the greenhouse and converting it into an ice workshop, Shen Suqin planned to use the land to build a brewery.

If the wheat is grown, the distillery can't possibly not be established.

However, she only intends to brew this for her own family to drink, and does not plan to sell it.

However, later, because the wine was so good and famous, people offered high prices to buy it, and Shen Suqin had no choice but to expand the business and start selling wine. But that's another story.

In short, Ningyuan spent the entire spring in a state of constant demolition and construction.

After spring plowing, wheat and cotton were successfully planted.

Just as Shi Ye had predicted, the planting area was not as large as expected, but it was still sufficient.

On the day of the Beginning of Summer, the iron smelting workshop produced its first musket.

Yan Lin immediately called Shen Suqin and the others over to take a look.

The musket in his hand was larger than expected, and the barrel was also thicker. Shen Suqin touched it and felt that the inner wall was a bit rough.

"Was it ever blown up?" she asked.

An experienced chef honestly replied, "It's been fried."

"What about this one?"

"We tried it, and it didn't explode."

"How far is the range?"

"Theoretically, it's one hundred steps."

"What about in reality?"

"Sixty steps."

Shi Ye had only seen what a musket looked like on paper; he had never seen one in person.

The grayish object, about the length of his forearm, was something he couldn't fathom how powerful it could be.

But Shen Suqin particularly admired it.

"You tell me how to use it." Shen Suqin handed the item back to him.

The master craftsman took it and, while explaining, demonstrated: "First, fill in the gunpowder, tamp it down with a mallet, insert the iron beads, tamp it down again, open the touch valve, light the gunpowder, close the touch valve... that's it."

Shen Suqin nodded, "Let's go, let's try it on the back mountain."

The research and development of firearms was carried out in the gunpowder workshop, which was connected to the iron smelting workshop by a secret passage, and the two sides had close exchanges.

Shen Suqin's ironworks currently smelt pig iron mainly for manufacturing firearms, not for sale.

Upon reaching the back of the mountain, Shen Suqin took the musket and aimed it at the distant battlements.

Yan Lin stopped her: "You're not allowed to move." He beckoned to Lian Guoxi, "Find someone who knows how to use him."

Lian Guoxi nodded hurriedly.

Shen Suqin did not insist, and consciously stepped back to wait and see the power of the musket.

Soon, someone who knew how to use a musket arrived. After a few maneuvers, the musket fired with a bang, and a large hole appeared in the low wall a hundred paces away.

Shi Ye's expression was solemn; the so-called musket was more powerful than he had imagined.

"What do you think?" Shen Suqin asked Yan Lin.

"If it's used on the battlefield, the initial reloading time is too long, which might cause delays," Yan Lin said.

Where is His Highness?

Shi Ye pondered carefully: "If we make this musket bigger, wouldn't it be more powerful, like a catapult?"

Shen Suqin looked appreciative. “Indeed, but it is different from a musket. The advantage of a musket is that it is light and portable, and one person can move and use it; while the one you mentioned requires four or five people to push it with wooden wheels, which makes it less mobile on the battlefield, but it is extremely powerful.”

"After that, I planned to develop artillery, but only after the musket was ready."

After Shen Suqin finished speaking, he called over the master craftsman and pointed to the gun barrel of the musket, saying, "We can add a sight here, front and back, to aim at the target. Then we need to think of a way to make the gunpowder and iron balls into one that only needs to be loaded once."

"Also, the cause of the barrel explosion could be that the barrel wall is too thin or too rough. Moist gunpowder in the barrel can also cause the barrel to explode. Please pay close attention, experienced mechanic."

“What the master says is true.”

After giving instructions to the master craftsman, Shen Suqin led Yan Lin and the others out.

Nowadays, no one is allowed to approach the gunpowder workshop within a ten-mile radius, so the three of them had no choice but to take a carriage into the city after they came out.

The three of them fell silent in the car.

“Those firearms,” Shi Ye spoke first, “you mean…”

"If it succeeds, we must first give it to the Black Flag Army to blow open the gates of the Shatuo capital and bring the Shatuo under the control of Daliang," Shen Suqin said. "This is just the beginning, Your Highness. Rest assured, when firearms are truly available, I will make the Black Flag Army invincible on the battlefield, with no one able to stop them."

This was the first time Yan Lin had heard her say these things.

In the beginning, when she handed over the ironworks and gunpowder workshop to him, he only managed them as ordinary workshops, managing the people inside, checking on the progress, and supervising what they were doing, nothing more.

Later, after the first successful long-distance explosion of gunpowder, he vaguely realized what Shen Suqin was planning.

Then came today, the musket was successfully made. He seemed to see the distant Shatuo royal court ablaze with flames, and the Black Flag Iron Cavalry stepping onto that sandy land, returning in triumph with the hatred of their fathers.

“He told you, didn’t he?” Shen Suqin was referring to Xiao Pingchuan. “We are irreconcilable enemies with the Shatuo. There is no possibility of reconciliation. Sooner or later, the Black Flag Army will return to the Shatuo royal court.”

“He said that this was one of the promises he made when he traded the power to mobilize troops for me. As long as I am in power, I will fully support him in fighting the Shatuo and never negotiate peace.” Shi Ye paused here, “But to be honest, it is only today that I truly see the hope of our victory.”

Shen Suqin laughed: "You have so little faith in him?"

"No, of course he's very capable. It's just that war has taken too many things into account, and he's been held back for many years."

Shen Suqin nodded, "Don't worry, with me here, he can gallop freely on the battlefield. It's just a small Shatuo, it's not difficult."

Yan Lin, who had been silent until now, interrupted her: "You're talking big again."

Shen Suqin: "I call this looking ahead, and also to give Your Highness some confidence."

As the weather warms up, the ground begins to turn green again.

With the construction booming in Guzongfang, Shen Suqin would often stroll around there when she had nothing else to do.

Cotton is harvested in September and October, so Gong Shunan doesn't have much time left.

Gong Shunan hadn't slept well for several days. His wife was providing him with money and manpower as needed, but the workshop's progress was not satisfactory.

The construction team had not considered the issue of the ground freezing in winter. The subsequent emergency installation of underfloor heating caused the ground to soften and become uneven, posing a significant safety hazard to the building.

If the house is a small, low-ceilinged room like a regular house, then there's no need to worry about this problem at all.

However, Shen Suqin requested that the workshop not only occupy a large area but also have a high ceiling, which placed high demands on the strength of the foundation.

Gong Shunan was not without experience in laying foundations. He had organized the construction of palaces for His Majesty, and the foundations were made of several layers of stones before the houses were built on top.

Ningyuan obviously doesn't have the necessary conditions right now, so they can only dredge stones from the river.

As a result, the construction period was delayed for longer and longer, which made him very frustrated and irritable.

"Lord Gong, how's the progress? Will it be completed before the Mid-Autumn Festival?"

"Mid-Autumn Festival," Gong Shunan pondered for a moment, then honestly replied, "I will do my best."

Shen Suqin knew the reason for the slow progress and didn't want to rush him too much, but the workshop really couldn't be delayed.

So she said, "Perhaps I can send you some more people?"

Gong Shunan thought for a moment, then said, "Alright."

On her way back, Shen Suqin made a detour to Zhou Baihu's place and asked him to help recruit workers for the cotton-padded clothing workshop.