The renowned scholar Mr. Zhang Pei once said that this world never lacks intelligent people, nor does it lack those who think they are intelligent but are actually not, especially those standing on the sidelines who often believe themselves to be very clever.
Previously, Zhu Jinsong sold a portion of the captured flintlock guns to Chen Tailai. The various leaders in Menglianggu did not object because flintlock guns had too many flaws, and these leaders disdained them. Moreover, Menglianggu was equipped with percussion cap guns, so selling them off was not opposed by anyone.
However, when Zhu Jinsong intended to sell percussion cap guns to Chen Tailai, the leaders of Menglianggu became somewhat unwilling. They all felt that Zhu Jinsong must have some serious mental affliction to make such a decision.
Zhu Jinsong, of course, could guess the thoughts of the others. After all, the power of percussion cap guns was evident. Zhu Jinsong himself had used the rifled percussion cap guns made in Menglianggu to snipe the son-in-law of Qian Long, the old dog, Na Wangduo Erji, and the Censor-in-Chief, Asihai. It was natural for people to have such concerns.
He had two percussion cap guns of similar appearance brought over and said, "Take a look, what are the differences between these two percussion cap guns?"
Liu Huaiwen glanced at them and immediately lost interest in looking a second time. "The percussion cap gun on the left has rifling in the barrel. Its range is slightly lower than the one on the right, but its accuracy is higher. The one on the right has a longer range, but because it lacks rifling, its accuracy is lower."
When it came to familiarity with firearms, among all the leaders in Menglianggu, besides Zhu Jinsong, the unparalleled leader, Liu Huaiwen was the most knowledgeable. After hearing Liu Huaiwen's explanation, the other leaders lost any desire to observe further.
Zhu Jinsong, however, hummed and looked at Liu Huaiwen, saying, "Besides the rifling, what else is different about these two percussion cap guns?"
Liu Huaiwen hummed, took a couple of drags from his water pipe, and said, "The biggest difference between these two types of percussion cap guns lies in the ammunition."
"The rifled percussion cap gun can be fitted with a bayonet and uses Menglianggu ammunition. After firing, there's no need to clean the barrel like the captured flintlock guns. There's no need to consider the amount of gunpowder, and loading is easier."
"The non-rifled percussion cap gun cannot be fitted with a bayonet and uses gunpowder and bullets. The amount of gunpowder must be carefully controlled each time. The barrel must be cleaned after each shot."
Zhu Jinsong hummed again and then took a saber from behind a guard and placed it on the table. "If the percussion cap guns run out of ammunition, or if it's a rainy day, which is more powerful, the percussion cap gun or the saber?"
For the leaders in the room, Zhu Jinsong's question was entirely redundant.
The advantage of percussion cap guns was that they eliminated the ignition time of the flintlock gun, shortening the firing interval. However, they did not solve the drawback of gunpowder being susceptible to moisture.
If it rained, the advantage of percussion cap guns over flintlock guns would cease to exist. Even the percussion cap guns and Menglianggu ammunition made in Menglianggu could not completely solve this problem.
For example, when my Great Qing attacked Burma, the Great Qing officers and soldiers used flintlock guns, while the Burmese side used percussion cap guns. My Great Qing relied on the rainy weather to equalize the gap between the two and force Burma to negotiate peace.
To put it bluntly, if fighting in rainy weather, whether it was a flintlock gun or a percussion cap gun, its function on the battlefield was not much better than a fire poker.
The method to solve the problem of a firearm becoming inferior to a fire poker when out of ammunition was simple: either have the soldiers carry more ammunition and equip them with bayonets like Menglianggu percussion cap guns, or have the soldiers carry an extra saber.
However, after Zhu Jinsong's question, the leaders in the room suddenly understood.
It seemed that selling the non-rifled percussion cap guns to Chen Tailai was also not a problem?
After all, although Chen Tailai occupied more than half of Yanzhou Prefecture and a small part of Caozhou Prefecture, his current focus was entirely on winning over gentry and scholars. He equipped his soldiers with a small number of flintlock guns, and more with sabers and spears.
It wasn't that Chen Tailai didn't want to equip his soldiers with percussion cap guns, but that Chen Tailai had no way to buy them, nor the technology to manufacture them himself.
If he sold the non-rifled percussion cap guns to Chen Tailai, it would appear to increase Chen Tailai's strength on the surface. However, in the long run, if percussion cap guns could be bought with money, would Chen Tailai still spend a fortune to have them manufactured?
Once Chen Tailai completely got used to buying instead of manufacturing, if Menglianggu cut off the gunpowder supply, Chen Tailai's percussion cap guns would become fire pokers. Even if Chen Tailai's army was still equipped with sabers, could sabers compete with percussion cap guns in range?
Seeing that all the leaders had figured it out, Zhu Jinsong then said with a chuckle, "How about it, does anyone still object to selling the non-rifled percussion cap guns to Chen Tailai?"
The leaders nodded frantically, only Liu Huaiwen remained silent, continuously puffing on his water pipe.
Selling the non-rifled percussion cap guns to Chen Tailai was certainly not a big problem. The only issue was that the output from Baizhang Cliff was insufficient for large-scale supply.
To manufacture non-rifled percussion cap guns in large quantities, the scale of Baizhang Cliff would need to be expanded, which meant more equipment and manpower. Both equipment and manpower required money.
Therefore, Liu Huaiwen, the chief steward of Menglianggu, was very troubled.
And heartbroken.
...
Chen Tailai had been quite busy recently.
After taking over more than half of Yanzhou, Chen Tailai first paid a visit to the Duke Yansheng in Qufu.
Chen Tailai's original intention was to invite the Duke Yansheng, Kong Xianpei, to call upon scholars across the land to rebel against the Qing. However, he did not expect that the Duke Yansheng of my Great Qing, Kong Xianpei, was so loyal to my Great Qing. Even when faced with Chen Tailai's threat of either calling upon scholars across the land or starving to death, the Duke Yansheng of my Great Qing solemnly declared that even if he, Kong Xianpei, starved to death or was beheaded, he would absolutely not help Chen Tailai, the rebel.
Only then did Chen Tailai realize that he had been tricked by that scoundrel Zhu Jinsong earlier.
When they agreed to divide Yanzhou earlier, the surname Zhu said he would give him all the territory west of the Si River, and he, the surname Zhu, would march out from Tai'an and jointly resist the Tatar with him.
At that time, he secretly laughed at how stupid the surname Zhu was, because as long as he could persuade the Duke Yansheng to call upon scholars across the land to rebel against the Qing, he could to some extent gain legitimacy and righteousness.
Now it seemed that the surname Zhu had probably long anticipated the difficulty of handling the situation if the Duke Yansheng did not cooperate, which was why he had given him all the territory west of the Si River.
However, what made Chen Tailai despair was that the matter was settled. The territory west of the Si River now belonged to him, and the Duke Yansheng's family was also under his jurisdiction, yet he could neither beat nor scold them. It was truly infuriating!
Chen Tailai had also considered killing Kong Xianpei or starving the entire family to death in the Duke Yansheng's mansion, to uphold their loyalty to the Tatars. But upon thinking of the consequences, Chen Tailai couldn't help but feel uneasy. Helplessly, Chen Tailai chose to play along with the advice of his subordinates and temporarily spared the Duke Yansheng's family.
Of course, sparing the Duke Yansheng's family was not without benefits. After all, afterwards, Chen Tailai's reputation among the scholars in Yanzhou improved significantly, and some frustrated scholars did defect to Chen Tailai.
Chen Tailai took advantage of this opportunity to accept these scholars, then listened carefully to their opinions, and finally summarized a Chen Tailai-style anti-Qing strategy.
First, secure a foothold in Yanzhou and Jining, then expand territory.
Chen Tailai had already planned that as long as he rallied under the banner of restoring the Ming Dynasty and occupied Yanzhou and Jining, patriots and righteous people across the land who wished to rebel against the Qing and restore the Ming would respond to him. Then he would find an orphan of the former Ming imperial family to put on the throne, and after the great cause of restoring the Ming was successful, he would have him conveniently die.
It was simply perfect.
Based on the premise of first securing a foothold, Chen Tailai sent people to connect with the Bagua Sect, preparing to jointly divide Caozhou with them. He then intensified efforts to organize farmer associations with the gentry and scholars of Yanzhou and Jining.
That's right, he was organizing farmer associations with the local gentry and scholars of Yanzhou and Jining.
Although Chen Tailai initially wanted to learn from Zhu Jinsong and establish farmer associations, under the earnest persuasion of those scholars, Chen Tailai finally soberly realized that his foundation was the gentry and scholars, not the impoverished masses. Therefore, Chen Tailai's version of farmer associations was led by the gentry and scholars.
In addition, following the suggestions of these scholars, Chen Tailai began to research the autumn tax of the forty-ninth year of Qianlong's reign.
These scholars analyzed it clearly: to rebel, one needed an army, and to have an army, one needed provisions and funds. To get provisions and funds, one had to spend money to buy them. Without money, what kind of rebellion could be launched?
Unfortunately, Zhu Jinsong had previously plundered the Jining Prefecture Yamen, the Yanzhou Prefectural Yamen, and the county yamens under Chen Tailai's command. Even if Chen Tailai wanted to imitate Zhu Jinsong now, he couldn't get much profit.
Then, these scholars suggested that Chen Tailai first exempt the spring tax of the forty-ninth year of Qianlong to win people's hearts, and then collect the autumn tax of the forty-ninth year of Qianlong.
Chen Tailai considered that what these scholars said was indeed correct. Exempting the spring tax of the forty-ninth year of Qianlong was an act of benevolence from this Governor. Collecting the autumn tax of the forty-ninth year of Qianlong was for the purpose of rebelling against the Qing. It made perfect sense!
As for the people of Jining and Yanzhou having already paid taxes to Qianlong for decades to come... that was collected by the Tatar government, what did it have to do with Governor Chen?
These miscellaneous matters seemed simple to discuss, but they were very troublesome to implement. Fortunately, these defecting scholars made it so that Chen Tailai did not have to scramble.
Fortunately, with the help of these scholars, the autumn tax of the forty-ninth year of Qianlong was indeed collected by Chen Tailai. After all, the gentry in the Yanzhou Farmer Association and the Jining Farmer Association had preserved their property and even advanced further. Actively helping Chen Tailai collect taxes was considered their due obligation.
With the money, Chen Tailai's ambition grew even bolder.
Chen Tailai planned to confront Zhu Jinsong to repay the great grudge of being tricked regarding the Duke Yansheng's mansion. However, after the earnest persuasion of those scholars, Chen Tailai soberly realized that the most important thing at the moment was to rebel against the Qing. The petty matters between him and Zhu Jinsong could be left for later study.
Therefore, when Zhu Jinsong sent people to express his intention to sell percussion cap guns to Chen Tailai, Chen Tailai happily agreed: "However many percussion cap guns your Menglianggu has, I want them all. After all, we are allies in rebelling against the Qing."
"However, your great leader previously played a trick on this Governor, tossing the hot potato of the Duke Yansheng's mansion to me. Should there not be an explanation for this matter?"
The people sent by Zhu Xiaosong understood Chen Tailai's implied meaning. Therefore, they calmly replied, "For each percussion cap gun, an additional ten rounds of ammunition will be included."
Chen Tailai, however, pouted and said disdainfully, "Twenty rounds, and this matter is settled. From now on, our two sides will join hands, work together with one heart, grow stronger, drive away the Tatars, and create brilliance together!"