Sweep Yuan

Chapter 55 Invincible Bronze General

The wealthy households in Lingbi who were forced to donate each had their own businesses. Some had large grain reserves, some were engaged in lending, and some ran general stores. However, none of them could raise all the supplies needed by the army.

Shishan was aware of this situation, so he only gave the approximate amount of all the supplies needed, leaving the rest to the big players to argue about.

If there is a shortage of a certain material and it cannot be raised in a short time, other materials can be used to make up for it. Anyway, if you don’t sign the pledge today, you can forget about leaving the county government alive.

Speed ​​is of the essence in war. In order to reduce resistance and quickly gather the necessary supplies for the expedition, Shi Shan and Xue Xian did not intend to empty the family fortunes of these people when they set the required quantities of various supplies. They simply wanted to "gather" the military supplies.

Therefore, although the matter was not handled in a dignified manner, the final result could be considered a "satisfactory ending." After the guests each claimed the types and quantities of military supplies that their families needed to donate, Xue Xian let them go home.

Gathering so many supplies is not something that can be done in a few words, and time is tight, so we need to give others time to prepare.

To prevent these wealthy households from playing tricks, Xue Xian specially assigned people to keep a close watch on them throughout the process. He then focused his efforts on confiscating the property of convicted officials, Mongols, and Semu people, and releasing wrongfully convicted criminals—things that "greatly pleased the people."

As for whether these matters will involve the major donors with deeply entrenched interests, that's a matter for the next step—we need to make these people "willing" to complete the military supplies collection first.

That night, the city was quiet, and nothing major happened.

Although the wealthy families were heartbroken at having such a large chunk of their lives cut off by the thieves, they were fortunate enough to survive, and for the time being, no one wanted to provoke the ruthless bandit leader.

Shishan didn't worry about these things. The city's defenses were taken over by Xue Xian's troops. After the wealthy households made donations, Shishan returned to his camp to continue training his soldiers.

Lingbi County was already small and dilapidated, with government and civilian buildings packed tightly together. With the addition of more than 3,000 outside troops, killing a group of nobles to free up their residences and squeeze in would barely be enough to accommodate them, but there was truly no suitable place for the large army to train together.

Shi Shan then led his troops to the eastern suburbs, where they trained while simultaneously arranging for people to deliver resettlement funds and provisions to the homes of the young men who had joined the army. Along the way, they also spread the word extensively, further expanding the influence of the "Red Heart Camp" in Lingbi County.

In this way, the efficiency of conscription was greatly increased.

By the afternoon of the third day (the second day of training), the planned force of two thousand men had been completed.

No one would complain about having too many soldiers, and Shishan was no exception, so he kept the recruitment point outside the West Gate to continue recruiting.

In the past few days, supplies donated by wealthy families in the city have been arriving one after another.

Besides organizing training, Shishan focused his main efforts on receiving these supplies and preparing for the march.

During this period, the properties of gunpowder in this world were also tested.

The Cao family, who started out selling raw medicinal herbs, had a small firecracker workshop outside the city. They kept a hundred or so catties of black powder in stock. Shi Shan had high hopes for this and, after ordering them to fetch it, he couldn't wait to organize an experiment.

The results of the experiment were not ideal.

Gunpowder burns relatively quickly, and it can explode when ignited in a sealed earthenware jar. However, the smoke and dust produced during combustion are quite large, and the explosive power is relatively small, with limited destructive force. Don't expect that loading a hundred or so kilograms of this gunpowder will be enough to collapse a city wall.

To gain a detailed understanding of the gunpowder production process, Shishan specifically summoned the master craftsman from the firecracker workshop for questioning. This old craftsman was somewhat cunning; he was knowledgeable about the saltpeter-making process that had long been circulating among the people, and he also answered questions in detail about the raw materials and production process of his own gunpowder, but deliberately avoided mentioning the specific proportions of the gunpowder that were crucial to his livelihood.

In fact, Shishan didn't care about the Cao family's gunpowder formula because they made a mistake in the selection of raw materials—the nitrate soil was not purified enough, and they also mixed in two useless impurities, soapberry and poria cocos.

Moreover, the saltpeter-making process mastered by the Cao family is extremely labor-intensive and resource-intensive, making it unsuitable for large-scale production.

However, the Cao family's gunpowder-making techniques were still very instructive and inspired Shishan.

As early as the Northern Song Dynasty, gunpowder was already widely used in military applications.

After more than two hundred years of development, gunpowder formulations have become increasingly sophisticated, and military technology has continued to evolve. In addition to various incendiary, smoke, and explosive weapons, metal-controlled firearms have also emerged.

Shi Shan had heard that some elite Yuan troops were equipped with muskets called "Bronze Generals," which were said to be able to "pierce through a hundred arrows and make a sound that shakes the heavens." This was obviously an exaggeration, but their power should have been considerable.

Ishiyama was well aware of the future trends in military technology and naturally wanted his troops to be equipped with firearms as soon as possible.

It's not a big pity that we can't directly use folk techniques. After all, knowing the correct formula and then studying the specific proportions only takes more effort.

However, without a stable base capable of mass-producing steel and saltpeter, the effectiveness of gunpowder weapons would be greatly diminished.

If the imperial court or other rebel armies were to use the improved gunpowder technology and leverage their resource advantages to mass-produce it, and then use "high-tech weapons" to overwhelm us, it would truly be a case of shooting ourselves in the foot.

In short, this matter needs to be considered carefully.

Time passed quickly in a flurry of activity. By the afternoon of the fourth day, seeing that more and more people were being sent to the military camp to report for duty, Shishan put down his work and went to the west gate to check on the recruitment situation.

Before even leaving the city, Shi Shan saw Zeng Xing arguing with a young man who was holding a carrying pole and seemed somewhat agitated.

Zeng Xing was already a squad leader, and the fastest-rising soldier in Chulan Station was Wu Liujin. He was usually very reliable in his work, so he shouldn't have gotten into a conflict with the young men who came to join the army over such a trivial matter.

"Captain Zeng, what happened?"

Upon the arrival of Commander Qianhu, Zeng Xinghe and the clerk in charge of registration quickly stood up straight and respectfully replied:
“Reporting to the commander, this man wants to join us, but he wants to take the grain home first before coming back. I told him we are setting off tomorrow, and his home is too far away to wait. I advised him to join General Xue's army, but he wouldn't listen.”

Everyone wants iron discipline in the military, but strict discipline can't just appear out of thin air. In this era, talking about ideals and beliefs with ordinary people is too lofty and unrealistic; it's more practical to have sufficient material support.

Without a stable base to provide logistical support, and with no clear direction or even a sense of impending doom, it is suicidal to demand strict military discipline from a hastily assembled feudal army while ignoring human relationships. This will only lead to the disintegration of morale and the loss of the army's morale.

Therefore, after confirming that Zeng Xing had not abused his power, Shi Shan waved his hand, letting the soldiers who had surrounded him return to their places, before turning to look at the young man who had argued with Zeng Xing earlier.

The man had dropped his carrying pole and knelt on the ground when he saw the Red Turban Army "high-ranking official" arrive, and hadn't dared to raise his head.

(End of this chapter)