Zhao Hao left the capital on the first day of September.

When passing Dagukou, he inspected the progress of the Tianjin Port project and saw five rough stone concrete piers extending from the shore to the quiet harbor like an open palm.

Bohai Bay is an inner bay with calm winds and seas, which is very conducive to construction. After more than four months, the main construction of the wharf has been completed.

On one side of the wharf, rows of granaries and warehouses have been built, and workers are busy cleaning up and finishing. In a few days, the first batch of grain shipped by sea will arrive at Tianjin Port.

A grand arrival ceremony will be held at that time, and the Minister of Revenue Ma Butang and the new Minister of Hecao Pan Zhongcheng will attend.

However, Zhao Hao did not plan to wait. Although he was the head of the Ming Royal Shipping Company, showing up in such an occasion would only make the adults more embarrassed.

The big shots wanted to save face, so it was no big deal if they flattered Mr. Zhao in private. But in public, they really couldn't bring themselves to do that.

So Master Zhao prepared to meet Qi Jiguang at Hu Shouren's place and then set off.

This time, Qi Jiguang finally regained his demeanor as a general, with an imposing manner, free and unrestrained, and even a higher tone. He was completely different from the previous General Qi who was confused and cautious.

He was now the chief military officer and commander-in-chief of Jizhen. The officers and soldiers of Jizhou, Changping, and Baoding were all under his control. His immediate superior, the Governor of Ji and Liao, was his mentor Tan Lun, and the Grand Secretary in charge of military affairs was his benefactor Zhang Juzheng. Qi Jiguang was finally free of all constraints and could show his talents and do something great.

Of course, real problems cannot be solved by spirit alone, you have to rack your brains to find solutions.

Qi Jiguang, the general of Jizhen, was mainly responsible for guarding against the three Duoyan guards in Liaodong and the remnants of the Oirat. One of the biggest problems he encountered was that the enemy was composed of cavalry, while the Ming army was mainly composed of infantry, so he could only passively defend. Moreover, the mandarin duck formation that made him famous also lost its power in front of the Mongolian cavalry who came and went freely.

Qi Jiguang found that the reliance on firearms in the north was far greater than in the south. However, the firearms of the Ming Dynasty were not enough for the soldiers to trust.

Cannons had poor mobility and were not suitable for field battles, while the dazzling array of firearms were not only easy to explode, but were usually only effective within fifty steps. In panic, the soldiers often fired beyond the range, and it was too late to reload, so they could only watch the Tartar cavalry rush over...

Only the imitation bird-beak gun had a long enough range, but the firing procedure was cumbersome. Soldiers were fine during training, but once on the battlefield, facing the overwhelming cavalry charge, they would immediately be in a panic, often firing two shots before being hit by the cavalry... The bird-beak guns in their hands, which were made with a lot of money, became firewood sticks.

In order to improve this problem, Zhao Hao was entrusted by Zhang Juzheng to supervise the Nanjing Ministry of Industry's Arsenal as a member of the cabinet to improve firearms. Only then could he legitimately transfer skilled craftsmen from the Nanjing Arsenal to establish a firearms research institute on Xishan Island and legitimately manufacture guns and cannons.

Although the quantity he produced was indeed a bit large, in the one year since the Longqing style was finalized, a total of 3,000 guns had been produced, and they were standardized with interchangeable parts.

The Firearms Research Institute can't always take advantage of the court without producing any results, right? Moreover, Zhao Hao also sincerely wanted to lend a helping hand to Qi's army, pacify the northern border as soon as possible, and let the people of the Ming Dynasty suffer less. So during this meeting, he specially asked someone to prepare 100 Longqing-style rifles and gave them to Qi Jiguang.

He had never intended to keep this first generation of flintlock rifles secret from the court from the beginning, otherwise he would not have named it "Longqing style". Besides, it was impossible to keep it secret. The security team had basically completed the conversion to Longqing style rifles, and it was hard to guarantee that a few rifles would leak out. If the court asked about it, it would be a big deal.

~~

Qi Jiguang really knew what he was talking about, and immediately picked up a Longqing-style rifle and went outside. Following the process Zhao Hao had described, he took a paper-shell bullet, bit through the tail of the bullet with his teeth, poured the gunpowder into the priming pot, and closed the pot lid. Then he pulled out the cleaning rod, put the bullet into the barrel, and compacted it with a cleaning rod.

Put away the cleaning rod, raise the gun, aim, and shoot!

With a bang, a poor little sparrow fell from a willow tree a hundred steps away, and was beaten to a state of being no longer a bird.

But Qi Jiguang did not stop shooting. He continued to repeat the above actions until he had fired five shots in a row. The whole yard was filled with white smoke. Then he put away the gun and cleared the chamber while praising: "Good gun, it saves two steps. It is much faster than the bird-beak gun. And if the first shot does not go off, you can fire again. This is a great improvement. And it should be able to fire even in the rain, right?"

"The Marshal has a keen eye. This gun is indeed not afraid of wind and rain." Zhao Hao nodded with a smile, but his eyes couldn't help but glance at the left forehead of Qi Jiguang, where there were several scratches.

Qi Jiguang was so alert that he immediately realized that he had subconsciously pushed up his black hat to make it easier to aim, revealing his unspeakable shame.

At this point, it would be too obvious to pull it down any further, so he just laughed dryly to cover it up, "It was scratched by a cat."

"Oh, I see." Zhao Hao nodded, indicating that he believed it.

"Alas, there is no need to hide it from my brother. The grape trellis in my brother's house has fallen down." Qi Jiguang smiled bitterly.

"Sigh..." Zhao Hao sighed along with the other, looking like he felt the same way.

"Humph, madam, you are going too far!" Hu Shouren couldn't hold it in any longer. Seeing that the Marshal had finally made the matter clear, he shouted, "What man doesn't have three wives and four concubines? The Marshal is now the Left Commander-in-Chief, a high-ranking official. If you take a concubine and keep her outside, you will be like a thief all day long. If you don't do it right, you will be beaten!"

"Well, well..." Qi Jiguang glared at Hu Shouren, the big mouth, and explained to Zhao Hao with a red face: "Brother, don't listen to his nonsense. I am not lustful, and I have a good relationship with my wife. It's just that, in order to continue the incense, I have no choice..."

"The hereditary position of the Marshal must be inherited by someone." Zhao Hao nodded, showing his understanding. After all, even Hai Rui was so poor, didn't he have to take a concubine in order to have a son?

However, it is better not to compare these two together.

He remembered that Qi Jiguang had five sons, all of whom were born to concubines secretly without telling his wife, Wang. And Mrs. Wang didn't know about this until her sons grew up.

In his later years, Qi Jiguang said in a "prayer" dedicated to his ancestors that in order to continue the Qi family's descendants, he "came up with a brilliant plan and worked very hard." It can be seen that he fought with wisdom and courage and endured humiliation for this matter.

However, Hai Rui said that he had no choice but to follow his mother's orders to take a concubine to continue the family line, and Zhao Hao believed it. After all, Han was not very pretty.

But Qi Jiguang said that he just wanted to continue the incense, but Zhao Hao didn't believe it.

In the 42nd year of Jiajing, Qi Jiguang took a concubine named Shen without his wife's knowledge. But after a year, Shen still did not give Qi Jiguang a son, so Qi Jiguang took another concubine named Chen. Chen gave Qi Jiguang three sons in a row, namely Qi Zuoguo, Qi Anguo, and Qi Baoguo. Later, Shen also gave birth to a son, whom Qi Jiguang named Qi Changguo.

In other words, Qi Jiguang now has four sons, so he doesn't have to worry about the incense problem anymore! But he took in a third concubine, Yang, this year, so it's not easy to push it to feudal ethics, right?

If you are lustful, just say it directly. It's no big deal. Well, for Qi Jiguang, it seems that it is really a big deal.

It is said that Qi Jiguang's wife, Wang, was of noble birth, skilled in martial arts, and had a fiery temper. She never showed mercy when beating her husband. No matter if you were a national hero or not, she would kneel on the washboard if asked to do so, and she would never show mercy if asked to slap you in the face.

It is difficult for an honest official to judge family affairs, so Mr. Zhao wisely chose to keep silent. Hu Shouren was still angrily saying, "I must teach Madam a lesson this time. Why not let the brothers fully armed and drive to the Marshal's house together next time to show the Marshal's authority and let her know that the Marshal is inviolable!"

"What a rotten idea..." Qi Jiguang thought to himself. You guys will just walk away and I'll have to kneel on the washboard. He quickly stopped talking about this shameful topic and pointed at the bayonet on the barrel and asked Zhao Hao, "What is this groove used for?"

Zhao Hao held back his laughter and took a short blade about a foot long from Gao Wu. The short blade had no handle, but instead had a tail ring that was almost as thick as the muzzle of a gun. He inserted the short blade into the gun, and with a click, the tail ring was stuck on the muzzle, and the tail of the blade hit the handguard.

"Great!" Qi Jiguang's eyes suddenly lit up. The problem of the musketeers' inability to fight in close combat was solved so easily.

He brandished the Longqing-style rifle with a bayonet and made several thrusting and blocking movements. Although it was certainly not as convenient as a spear, it was definitely useful.

Qi Jiguang was very satisfied with this, as if the bayonet was more important to him than the flintlock, and he immediately said that all bird guns must be equipped with bayonets.

~~

Qi Jiguang was very grateful for the gift brought by Zhao Hao and believed that his invention would be of great benefit to improving the combat effectiveness of the government army.

However, in Qi Jiguang's opinion, the Longqing-style flintlock device was still too sophisticated. Given the skills of the craftsmen in the Arms Bureau of the Ministry of Works, it would take a long time to copy it. And even if it was copied, it would probably not be as good as the original gun, so it was better to add a bayonet to the bird gun, which would have a more immediate effect.

Zhao Hao was not surprised by this. The introduction of any new technology would be resisted by old ideas. Even a military genius like Qi Jiguang could not realize in an instant that this revolutionary invention would completely change the form of war.

In fact, the Frenchman Mahan had invented this percussion flintlock rifle 20 years ago, but many French generals opposed the use of flintlock rifles, arguing that "a rifle must be ignited with an open flame, and how can the sparks from the flint ignite black powder?"

It was not until decades later, when they suffered a heavy loss from the Spanish flintlock, that they gave up their obsession with the matchlock. In the middle of the 17th century, European armies completely phased out the matchlock and replaced it with flintlocks, which they used until 1848.

When the British launched the First Opium War, the Brown Bess rifles they equipped were essentially no different from the Longqing type. Both were muzzle-loading smoothbore, fixed bullets, and flintlock rifles with bayonets.

Zhao Hao has done his utmost to give such weapons to the Ming Dynasty. If they still cannot defeat the Tartars, then it is really a systemic problem…

In fact, the institutional problem is also a false proposition. The root cause is the lack of combat effectiveness.

Namo Gatling Bodhisattva, with six pure big pipes, can beat Li Chuang's wild boar skin into a sieve.