The rise of the poor

Chapter 1993: It will get worse in a few days
Because he wanted to become Zhu Ping'an's disciple, Yu Dayou rushed from Zhenhai to visit him yesterday when he heard that Zhu Ping'an was about to arrive in Shaoxing. However, because he was waiting for the governor and others to visit him first, and Zhu Ping'an's father-in-law and his party to arrive, Yu Dayou did not want to disturb them, so he came to visit him early this morning.

From the moment he asked someone to prepare breakfast, Yu Dayou felt that his choice was the right one. This kind of care and attention was something he had never experienced in his previous visits.

"Master, I have been practicing martial arts since I was young, and I have a big appetite. Although I have already had breakfast, these breakfasts are no problem."

Yu Dayou said with emotion.

"No need, General Yu. Too much is as bad as too little. It's not good to be full. Since I've already had breakfast, I'll take it away and save it for my lunch. The chef's cooking skills are good. I'll have a good taste at noon."

Zhu Ping'an waved his hand and said with a smile.

"Thank you for your concern, Minister Zhu. I have not yet congratulated you on your promotion. I know that you are good at using firearms. It happened that I was fighting against Japanese pirates at sea some time ago. Although I suffered some losses, I destroyed a Japanese ship and killed several red-haired Japanese pirates. I seized a pocket musket from one of the red-haired Japanese pirates. I specially presented it to you for self-defense. I would like to congratulate you on your promotion."

Yu Dayou presented an exquisite box, and when he opened it, he found a pocket-sized Western musket, which could barely be called a pistol.

This pistol is about 40 centimeters long, heavier than modern pistols, but much smaller than muskets, and can be easily put into the sleeve or worn around the waist.

The decoration on the gun body is very exquisite. The barrel is inlaid with vine patterns, and the gun body has embossed and gold-plated decorations, as well as a wolf head emblem, which may be the family emblem of the owner of this pistol.

This pistol was considered advanced in the Ming Dynasty. It was not a matchlock ignition, but a spring wheel ignition device. However, it was not a flintlock. It used a spring wheel as the ignition device, which was a bit like a clock.
This may be the spring-loaded pistol in the evolution process from the European matchlock to the flintlock. Its main components are the grinding wheel and flint. The firing principle is to wind up the grinding wheel while pulling the flint clamp. In this way, when the trigger is pulled, the flint clamp and the flint will hit the rapidly rotating grinding wheel, generating sparks, igniting the primer, and then igniting the propellant to fire the projectile.

Compared to the matchlock gun, the wheelgun is certainly an improvement. It gets rid of the matchlock and improves its practicality.

However, its craftsmanship is too complicated and precise, with too many parts and too complicated to manufacture. It is expensive and cannot be mass-produced. Only the royal family and some nobles can afford it for hunting, self-defense or assembly. The emblem on this spring wheel pistol also confirms this.

This pistol can be given to Ou Zhige and his team for research, and it may help them to open up some new ideas and be of some help in their development of the flintlock rifle.

Thinking of this, Zhu Pingan took the spring-loaded rifle handed to him by Yu Dayou without hesitation, and thanked him with a bow, "Thank you, General Yu. This item will be useful for the Zhejiang Army Equipment Battalion to develop firearms, so I will accept it with audacity."

"Mr. Zhu, you are too kind. It is my honor." Yu Dayou clasped his fists in return.

"A few months ago, at the Sea Sacrifice Ceremony, you and I fought side by side. It is still vivid in our minds. From now on, you and I can fight side by side again. General Yu is a veteran, and we will have to rely on General Yu a lot in the future wars in Zhejiang." Zhu Ping'an poured a cup of tea for Yu Dayou and said with a smile.

"The word 'rely on' really embarrasses me." Yu Dayou gave a bitter smile, then said with a serious face, "On the day of the Sea Sacrifice Ceremony, the Japanese pirates hid in secret and suddenly attacked at night in an attempt to disrupt the Sea Sacrifice Ceremony. If it weren't for you, the Sea Sacrifice Ceremony would have been a bloodbath and a laughing stock. At that time, I was also embarrassed by the Japanese pirates' sudden attack. Thanks to you, you stood up and turned the tide, we were able to turn defeat into victory. And the great victory in Suzhou not long ago was achieved by Minister Zhu alone. If we have to rely on you, we will rely on you in the future. With you in charge, Zhejiang will definitely be refreshed."

I really didn't expect that Yu Dayou could speak so well. He didn't seem like a military general, but more like a scholar. Oh, now I remember that Yu Dayou passed the examination for the title of scholar at the age of fifteen. However, he never passed the imperial examination and finally had no choice but to inherit his family's hereditary title of a hundred households.

That makes sense.

However, since Yu Dayou was both a man of letters and martial arts, and was also good at speaking, why was he always disliked by his superiors and often suppressed in history? !

Zhu Ping'an was a little confused.

However, if I can't figure it out, I won't think about it anymore. As the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles tests a horse's strength, and time reveals a person's heart. I am the governor of Zhejiang, and Yu Dayou is the lieutenant general of Ningbo and Taizhou. I have plenty of time to understand Yu Dayou and find out the truth of history.

"General Yu, I have been away from Zhejiang for some time. When I came back this time, I didn't know much about the current situation in Zhejiang. Can you tell me about the Japanese invasion in Zhejiang?" Zhu Ping'an asked Yu Dayou.

"Of course. The Japanese pirates in our territory are mainly those under Wang Zhi. He is very powerful, with 70,000 to 80,000 Japanese pirates under his command. They have occupied Ligang as their nest and colluded with the Japanese pirates of Japan, causing great harm. In addition to Wang Zhi, there are more than a dozen small and medium-sized Japanese pirates, with troops ranging from hundreds to thousands. They are not under the management of Wang Zhi. Although their troops are not as strong as Wang Zhi, they are more brutal. In addition to the Japanese pirates entrenched in the coastal areas of Zhejiang, Xu Hai and Ma Ye of Takulin in Nanzhili have also caused great harm to Zhejiang. In addition to Jiaxing being broken by them, our counties and towns bordering Nanzhili in the north have also suffered from them!"

"A few months ago, after Wang Zhi's plot to coerce merchants with Japanese pirates failed, he launched a frenzied revenge. He frantically instructed his Japanese pirates, contacted other Japanese pirates, and colluded with Japanese lords to attract tens of thousands of Japanese pirates from Japan. They sailed more than a thousand ships and landed in Zhoushan, Xiangshan and other places in Zhejiang. They robbed Taizhou, Wenzhou, Ningbo, and Shaoxing, captured cities, killed and abducted residents, and committed all kinds of evil. The whole of Zhejiang was in constant flames, and smoke rose everywhere. Many counties had been captured by the Japanese pirates, and Taizhou was almost captured by the Japanese pirates."

"Japanese pirates plundered villages and towns every day, especially in coastal Zhejiang, where there was almost no peace."

Yu Dayou gave a detailed introduction to the distribution of Japanese pirates in Zhejiang and the situation of the Japanese pirates wreaking havoc. The current Japanese pirate problem in Zhejiang is very serious.

"I knew that the Japanese invasion in Zhejiang was serious, but I didn't expect it to be so serious." Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but sigh after hearing this.

"I'm afraid it will get worse in a few days," Yu Dayou continued.

"Will it get worse in a few days?" Zhu Ping'an was stunned.

"Sir, yesterday one of my men came to report to me that a large fleet of Japanese ships sailed from Japan to Songjiang Prefecture. Judging from the number and size of the ships in the fleet, there are more than 2,000 to 3,000 Japanese pirates on board. They must be the real Japanese pirates in Japan that Takulin Xu Hai and Ma Ye are colluding with."

"According to my understanding of the Japanese pirates, this group of pirates came across the ocean and rested for a few days before looting on a large scale."

"The Japanese pirates of Takulin, Xuhai and others have always been accustomed to attacking everywhere. The first to suffer from their scourge is of course Nanzhili, but the villages, towns and cities in northern Zhejiang that border Songjiang Prefecture and us are also not spared from the looting of the Japanese pirates."

Yu Dayou explained.

(End of this chapter)