1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 42 First Shot

The small wooden cannon was made very quickly; in just four days, blacksmith Wu and carpenter Qin had finished making one.

This small wooden cannon is made of lychee wood with a diameter of just over 30 centimeters and a length of about 1.5 meters. The cannon barrel is slightly smaller than a tennis ball.

At Peng Gang's request, the inside of the cannon barrel was lined with cast iron pipe to enhance its strength, and nine iron hoops were used to secure the cannon body. A fire hole the size of a chopstick was drilled at the breech for ignition.

Peng Gang had Wu the blacksmith cast a tennis ball on the spot and polish it to be used as a cannonball.

Although lychee wood is hard and the barrel is lined with cast iron, Peng Gang was still not confident in the strength of the wooden cannon, which was his first time using it.

After much deliberation, Peng Gang only dared to put in less than three ounces of gunpowder.

After loading the gunpowder and inserting the iron ball into the cannon barrel, Peng Gang mustered his courage, lit the fuse, and watched from a distance as the shell flew out of the barrel.

With a muffled thud, the shell suddenly shot through the air, tracing an arc before landing in the dense forest below the slope.

The wooden cannon was able to fire, perhaps because the amount of gunpowder was too small, or perhaps because the gunpowder used by the Green Standard Army was of poor quality.

The initial velocity of the shell was visibly low, the trajectory was as weak and feeble as a seventy or eighty-year-old man urinating, and the range was pitifully short, only about 160 or 170 meters.

After firing the cannon, Peng Gang returned to the lychee wood cannon and carefully examined the muzzle. Several fine cracks had appeared at the muzzle.

Clearly, this thing is good for intimidating people, but its practical value is very limited.

Wooden cannons are ultimately only for emergencies; they can only be fired a few times before they have to be scrapped. After firing one cannon and satisfying his craving, Peng Gang was reluctant to continue firing them. He told Huang Dabiao and the other two boys from the second group to carry the cannons back, and pointed to the dense forest below the slope, saying, "Tomorrow, your second group should cut down all the trees down there, and while you're at it, find the iron balls that were fired."

"With this cannon, we can keep the bandits and outlaws in the mountains in check and prevent them from daring to attack our mountain territory." This was the first time Xiao Guoda had witnessed cannon firing up close.

That shot just now left a very deep impression on him.

"You have to be strong yourself to forge iron. This thing can only scare ignorant people," Peng Gang said, pointing to the valley floor to his left.

“That’s Wang Zuoxin’s mountain territory. Compared to mountain bandits and outlaws, I’m more worried about Wang Zuoxin, the head of the Zijing Mountain gang. Wang Zuoxin and the God’s Society have always been at odds, and I’m a member of the God’s Society.”

Compared to ordinary mountain bandits and outlaws, Peng Gang is most afraid of the local militia of Zijing Mountain.

The militia had homemade guns and cannons, and even the standard weapons of the Green Standard Army.

It seems we need to find a sales channel as soon as possible and sell the charcoal to Jiangkou Market.

Only in this way can Peng Gang reduce production time, free up more time to conduct military training for the young men, and even expand the scale of the mountain area to recruit two more groups of new people.

Although Xie Bin and his soldiers are relatively reliable, relying on them for security is not a long-term solution.

“That’s true. When I was in Tongguchong, I heard that since the leader arrived in Xunzhou Prefecture, the conflicts between the followers and Wang Zuoxin have become more and more frequent. Last year, they even smashed the Leiwang Temple, which is a temple worshipped by the Wang family of Mengchong. Wang Zuoxin will not let this go.” Xiao Guoying said with a worried look on his face.

“We didn’t smash the temple, and besides, we’re just insignificant figures within the sect. If Wang Zuoxin wants revenge, he should take it out on Xiao Chaogui and Yang Xiuqing first,” Xiao Guoda said.

"We haven't provoked the Wang family, and we have no grudges against them. Surely the Wang family wouldn't make a fool of us."

"I hope so." Peng Gang also hoped that Wang Zuoxin was not focusing his attention on him.

But who can predict the future? We still need to prepare in advance.

What if Wang Zuoxin avoids the strong and targets the weak, preferring to pick on the easy targets in Honglianping?
"The remnants of the Heaven and Earth Society who fled down the Dahuangjiang area have already escaped into Zijing Mountain and Pingzai Mountain. You need to be extra careful." Xie Bin, an official from Shangdongtang, climbed up Honglianping with a fish-head knife slung over his shoulder and said, shaking a small cloth bag at his waist. "The higher-ups sent down some gunpowder to exchange for some silver to supplement the family income."

The soldiers of Shangdongtang benefited from Honglianping, and Xie Bin himself also had a 10% stake in the mountain area, so they were quite interested in Honglianping.

Upon learning that the remnants of the Heaven and Earth Society had entered Zijing Mountain and were at peace in the mountains, Xie Bin immediately informed Peng Gang.

"I have no money, and all my charcoal is still stockpiled in the warehouse. I haven't had time to take it out to sell." In the two months since he came to Honglianping, Peng Gang has become quite familiar with the soldiers of Shangdongtang.

Peng Gang had some money, but not much; he wanted to save it to buy grain.

Peng Gang preferred to barter, exchanging charcoal for a small bag of gunpowder from Xie Bin's waist.

“Charcoal is fine, but do you have any good charcoal? The profit margin on mixed charcoal is too thin. Last time you sold our mixed charcoal, we worked ourselves to the bone carrying it to Bitanxun and nearby villages, but we didn’t earn much money. People want good charcoal,” Xie Bin said after thinking for a moment.

"How about I exchange this bag of gunpowder assemblies for an equivalent amount of charcoal?" Peng Gang said with a smile.

"Gangtan? Done!" Hou Jiyong said excitedly, rubbing his hands together.

After the deal was finalized, Peng Gang invited Xie Bin to dinner and took the opportunity to inquire about the fighting in the Dahuangjiang area. As Xie Bin was in a lowly position, his access to information was very limited.

The only way to get information was by asking Hou Jiyong, and we didn't know how many times he had passed on the information.

The battle at Dahuangjiang took place half a month ago.

The leaders of the boat army, Luo Dagang, Zhang Zhao, Tian Fang, Su Sanniang and others, led their troops to gather near Jiangkouwei, attempting to capture the wealthy Jiangkouwei and seize its resources as funds for the Heaven and Earth Society's uprising.

However, Jiangkouwei was a key tax-collecting area for Xunzhou Prefecture, and the Xunzhou Prefecture authorities paid close attention to its defense. In addition, the Heaven and Earth Society had lax internal discipline, leading to the leak of information.

From the very beginning of this uprising, Luo Dagang and his men had already lost the initiative.

The uprising of the Heaven and Earth Society's boat army ended in failure once again, thanks to the joint suppression by Wang Ji, the patrol inspector of the Huangjiang River, and Li Dianyuan, the deputy commander of Xunzhou.

Although the Guangxi Green Standard Army reported only good news and not bad, the news that the Xunzhou detachment had lost one guerrilla, one commander, two centurions, and four battalion commanders still spread quickly.

Despite receiving advance notice of the Heaven and Earth Society's uprising and making prior preparations, they still lost eight Green Standard Army officers, one of whom was a guerrilla.

Such a record is hardly impressive, let alone a great victory.

Xie Bin, a low-ranking officer in the Green Camp, had no access to information from within the Green Camp. However, Peng Gang was certain of one thing: with eight officers dead, the casualties among the soldiers below him must have been considerable.

It seems the Green Camp in Xunzhou Association has now reached a point of severe damage.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was able to succeed thanks in large part to the Guangxi Heaven and Earth Society.

The Green Standard Army in Guangxi was already in a state of disarray, and the few capable elite members of the Green Standard Army were basically consumed in the intermittent uprisings of the Heaven and Earth Society.

In the first few months of the Taiping Rebellion, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom faced the Guangxi Green Standard Army, which had been weakened by the Guangxi Heaven and Earth Society.

Furthermore, the Guangxi authorities did not take the God God Society seriously, treating it as an ordinary Heaven and Earth Society to be suppressed. Not only did they fail to achieve any results, but they also provided the God God Society with a large number of valuable standard-issue weapons.

(End of this chapter)