Volume One, Chapter Seventeen: The Three Servant Families of Great Qi
Musket!
Is it highly technical?
Actually, not at all! To be precise, it’s the most rudimentary musket, with very low technical demands.
To put it bluntly, as long as you have gunpowder and an iron tube, stuffing in a stone that can be ignited, you can call it a cannon or a gun.
Of course, to make a musket, you first need a fully enclosed barrel capable of withstanding the explosion of gunpowder.
Secondly, near the rear end of the barrel, there must be a small ignition hole, just a few millimeters wide, used to ignite the powder.
The technical difficulty lies entirely in the barrel; the stock’s role is merely to provide support.
That said, although this piece looks finished, from the perspective of Li Jize, a military engineer with a doctorate...
It won’t do! It’s too crude!
The length of quenching and the strength of forging result in uneven barrel wall thickness.
If used forcefully, it might hold up once or twice, but over time, it could burst.
Obviously...
First, the craftsmen are inexperienced in making such a thing for the first time.
Second, Li Jize himself lacks experience!
He’s a doctor, not a blacksmith. He knows the general process, but has never forged iron with his own hands!
In such a primitive operation, manually forging a barrel—how clumsy would that be?
A philosopher once said, what distinguishes modern humans from primitives?
Is it the possession of guns and cannons?
No! Throw a modern person into a primeval forest, and they would revert to the Stone Age just like the natives.
Ultimately, modern humans differ from ancient ones mostly in their knowledge and insight!
Li Jize also wanted to start with an AK-47 or a Gatling gun spewing blue fire, but that’s not realistic.
After demonstrating the procedure to many craftsmen—how to forge properly, apply even force, and create uniformly thick barrels...
Li Jize left!
The heat inside the forge was unbearable; while the workers could sweat it out, he simply couldn’t endure.
Li Jize was more accustomed to sitting in an office. Unless people encounter things completely alien to them, they simply can’t produce them!
He certainly wouldn’t forge a prototype himself.
Stepping outside the forge, Li Jize watched the refugees bustling back and forth.
Some were busy farming, others stood at attention!
Yes, relying on a hundred acres, Li Jize had taken in dozens of skilled men.
Skilled men need to eat, marry, and have parents and children, after all.
Although he was trying hard to select single men without families…
What about the craftsmen?
Those blacksmiths, with their skills, at least had food and surely brought their families along.
Li Jize couldn’t only want single men while ignoring the craftsmen!
Watching the men shouting slogans while running, standing at attention, and the women and children working the fields in the distance, Li Jize felt somewhat dazed!
This looked like a paradise, not a chaotic world.
Of course, he understood that this was merely an illusion.
Only his own plot of land was like this; elsewhere, drought, floods, emaciated peasants, and cannibalism were playing out.
“Your Highness…”
While Li Jize was lost in thought staring ahead, a man behind him spoke, pulling him back to reality.
Turning around, he saw a man with a scar running from his left eye to the right corner of his mouth, looking troubled and hesitant.
The scarred man was named Chen Xiaodao.
What was his story?
In the Great Qi realm, he was like Lu Bu!
Not a compliment for bravery, but a “slave of three masters”!
Chen Xiaodao came from a military family but detested the military leaders who seized their underlings’ fields, forcibly collecting tenant farmers.
In a fit of rage, he killed the military leader and became a fugitive.
Later, he joined the “Northern King’s” rebel army, rising up with them.
But then—
He couldn’t stand the rebel leaders forcing refugees to act as cannon fodder for siege work.
In anger, he took advantage of the rebel leader’s sleep, killed him with one stroke, and fled!
This man was utterly lawless—killing officers and rebel leaders alike, he even dared to blend in with refugees and flee to the emperor’s doorstep.
By rights, anyone would refuse to employ such a three-times traitorous “slave of three masters.”
Yet—
Li Jize was no ordinary man! He took Chen Xiaodao in.
Because he understood that whether it was military leaders seizing subordinates’ fields or rebel leaders forcing civilians into cannon fodder, these were all harsh realities!
In this era of Great Qi, there was no so-called “righteous army” left—only competition over who was worse.
Chen Xiaodao was indeed a “slave of three masters,” but his heart held a sense of “righteousness,” driving him to strike down the unvirtuous.
Otherwise, he could have turned a blind eye, going with the flow.
Why risk his head to kill superiors and run away?
Seeing Chen Xiaodao’s troubled expression, Li Jize smiled slightly and asked, “What is it, Old Chen? Is there a problem at the estate?”
Chen Xiaodao smiled awkwardly.
He knew his status and understood the positions of those living here.
Technically—
They were all refugees, graciously given a meal by the prince, so they shouldn’t make demands.
But...
“Your Highness, you’ve taken in too many refugees! And many able-bodied men aren’t working; they’re just drilling…”
He was embarrassed to mention the prince’s bizarre training methods, standing still as if rooted to the spot—what use was that?
After a pause, Chen Xiaodao continued, “Everyone drills intensely, and the rice fills their bellies! Now... there isn’t much grain left in the estate! I’m afraid…”
Li Jize froze, suddenly realizing—the grain was running out!
An army isn’t easy to feed.
Although there were only dozens here, food, gunpowder, and pig iron all cost money.
The small stipend from the empress was enough for an ordinary person to live comfortably.
But to maintain an army, it was a drop in the ocean—throwing a stone into the sea without a ripple.
Li Jize’s funds were exhausted!
To carry out his rebellion, dozens of men were far too few; as the numbers grew, where would the money and grain come from?
Seeing the prince fall into thought, Chen Xiaodao sighed helplessly.
“Your Highness, the brothers all know your kind heart and that you’ve done your best. If things don’t work out… the brothers could take on some hard labor to earn money and help out.”
Hard labor?
What a joke!
Li Jize wanted professional soldiers—killing machines.
Sending them off to do hard labor would be a waste.
“I have my own solutions for the money and grain!”
“This...”
Chen Xiaodao looked at the prince, knowing Li Jize was not a corrupt official before and now had lost favor with both the emperor and the Li family—where would the money come from?
Li Jize grinned, suddenly wearing a sinister smile, and asked Chen Xiaodao, “Old Chen, have you ever heard of being ‘forced onto Liangshan’?”
Chen Xiaodao: “???”