Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 11 Our Chance Has Come

"Wow, this car runs so fast, faster than riding a horse!"

"Speed ​​doesn't matter. What's important is that horses can only wear armor, but this car is made entirely of iron. People sitting in the iron car can't be hurt even if they charge into battle with heavy cavalry. This is a real weapon for battle!
"Thousands of years ago, Gongshu Ban was able to build a siege ram. Now he is even more powerful by building this battle array weapon. Brother Lu is worthy of being the descendant of Gongshu!"

On the way back, the people who were riding in a car for the first time were so excited that they kept shouting all the way.

"More than that." Zhang Wen gradually became familiar with the others and couldn't help but interrupt at this time.

"I can ride a horse, but if we were riding in armor, we would have to stop and rest after running for a while. Even if we could stand it, the horse couldn't run for that long. But this iron chariot knows no fatigue and can run very fast with the five of us!"

Listening to the chattering of the three young people in the back seat, Liao Yongan, who was sitting in the passenger seat, became a little interested and couldn't help but say to Lu Jin.

"Brother Lu, you said there are iron mines in Lujiang County. When we can smelt iron ourselves, can we make more of these mechanical iron vehicles?"

As if he was afraid that Lu Jin would be embarrassed, he added, "It doesn't need to be so exquisite and comfortable. As long as it can protect the soldiers and charge into battle, it doesn't matter if the people inside are a little uncomfortable."

Hearing that even the usually steady Liao Yongan said this, Lu Jin knew that it was time to pour cold water on them, otherwise the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment, which would be difficult to deal with.

"You think too simply. Let alone building such a car, even the one we are sitting in now can only be used once or twice at most. In the future, we still need to rely on people to fight wars. Don't expect to conquer the world with just a few cars!"

"Ah? Why?"

"Such a good car can't be used in the future?" Several people were shocked, and Liao Yongan looked at Lu Jin in confusion.

"Nothing can be obtained without hard work in this world. You drive the animals to work, and you have to feed them grass, beans and salt water. If you want to make this car run, you have to burn oil. Do you have oil?" Lu Jin explained.

"What kind of oil? Lamp oil? Vegetable oil? Or lard? The worst that can happen is that we can eat less oil. Can't we afford a car?" Zhao Zhongzhong said somewhat unconvinced.

The main reason is that I just experienced high-tech and suddenly they said I could only experience it once. This feels so uncomfortable.

Lu Jin could only continue to explain, "None of the oils you mentioned will work. This car needs to burn petroleum. The "stone" in "stone", do you know what petroleum is? It is a kind of mineral, just like copper and iron. If you have it in your place, you have it, and if you don't, you don't.

"What a coincidence! We have iron ore near Chaohu Lake, but no oil.

"Even if there is oil, it is buried deep underground. You have to dig a well several thousand feet deep to extract it. The oil that comes up is called crude oil, and it has to be refined before it can be used in vehicles."

"Is it so troublesome?" Yu Tonghai couldn't help but feel heartbroken.

Zhao Zhongzhong was puzzled, "Where did Brother Lu get the oil he is using now?"

Lu Jin made up a story, "There is an island called Java in the depths of the South China Sea. There is oil on that island, and it is in the form of oil springs, bubbling up from underground. I collected it there before."

"So far?! What a pity." Liao Yongan suddenly sighed.

Lu Jin became interested, "Do you know Java Island?"

"Oh, my family is a boatman, and sometimes we help people transport goods on ships. I heard those sea merchants traveling to Southeast Asia mention Java Island," Liao Yongan explained.

"I see!"

Maritime trade was well developed during the Yuan Dynasty, and a large amount of inland goods were exported, so people in the inland areas had heard some news about overseas.

Liao Yongan was still unwilling to give up and asked, "China is a vast country with abundant resources. Don't we have oil?"

Lu Jin hates to hear the words "vast land and abundant resources" the most. China's resources are indeed abundant, but the quality cannot be said to be very good, and there are not many things that can be advantageous, especially oil.

But China actually had oil production at that time!

"Yes, there is. In the Northern Song Dynasty, there was an official named Shen Kuo who discovered oil when he was an official in Shaanxi. He also recorded it in his book Mengxi Bitan.

"In the present Yuan Dynasty, Shaanxi's oil has become a tribute, but they don't know how to dig deep wells, so they can only collect the little that comes out. Every year, they produce only a few hundred kilograms, and all of it is given to the foolish emperor in Dadu as medicine, and used to treat ringworm in cattle and horses." Lu Jin explained.

"Shaanxi? So far!"

"Only a few hundred kilograms a year, that's too little."

Several people were quite disappointed when they heard this.

Liao Yongan asked again, "Is there no other solution?"

"There's really nothing we can do now. If the world were peaceful, give me a few decades, maybe I could really produce it and find more oil. But what kind of world is this now?" Lu Jin curled his lips and then comforted them.

"But you don't have to be discouraged. The government troops and other rebel armies don't have chariots. Will they stop fighting without chariots? When we have iron ore, we can make more armor and weapons.

"And even if I can't build a car, I can still build firearms! I can make muskets and cannons. They are more powerful than bows and arrows. They can penetrate armor from a hundred steps away. There are so many weapons for fighting. Why do I have to build a car?"

"That's true."

After hearing what Lu Jin said, they felt better.

As this topic came up, Lu Jin took the opportunity to ask, "By the way, does Zuo Junbi have many archers? Does he have any firearms like muskets?"

Speaking of the serious business of fighting, Liao Yongan suddenly became serious.

"There are some bows and arrows, mostly infantry bows. Some cavalry also use bows and arrows. There are about two or three hundred of them in total. I don't know if they have firearms, but I haven't seen them use firearms in the past few times, so I guess they don't have any."

Lu Jin nodded, "That's good."

Lu Jin had some understanding of the level of firearm technology at that time. The Song Dynasty first saw the emergence of the fire lance, which was a tube that only sprayed fire but did not hold bullets. This was the first stage. The second stage of the matchlock gun had already arrived at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. At this time, people knew how to put bullets into the tube, but the structure was still the same as the fire lance, and most of them were cast. The famous Ming Dynasty three-barreled gun did not appear until the Yongle Dynasty.

Lu Jin had seen some Hongwu Dynasty fire guns in museums, and they were all single-barreled matchlock guns. Let alone flintlock guns, even a matchlock gun could beat them.

As they were talking, the car had already bypassed the North Bay of Chaohu Lake, turned south, and soon entered the control area of ​​the Chaohu Navy. Lu Jin was afraid of being discovered halfway and losing the suddenness of the tactics, so he finally breathed a sigh of relief when he returned to his own territory.

Before he could even exhale, he saw Yu Tongyuan riding a horse and galloping towards him. Lu Jin braked and stopped where he was, lowered the window and asked him, "Tongyuan? Where are you going?"

As soon as Yu Tongyuan saw Lu Jin, he felt relieved.

"You are finally back. Today, Zuo Junbi's cavalry suddenly increased in number and killed some of our people. My father had to fight with them before he drove them away.

"My father was worried about you, so he asked me to come look for you."

Several people frowned when they heard this. Yu Tonghai was also very worried when he heard that his father had gone to fight, so he asked quickly.

"What happened? Did Zuo Junbi call? Is our father okay?"

"They didn't attack us, but they often came to spy on us and wanted to capture our people. I guess they came to spy on military intelligence. But they didn't catch anyone alive, and instead shot two of them to death. My father is fine.

"Oh, by the way, this morning, Brother Hua sent someone to deliver a message. I don't know what it said, but it seemed like they were also beaten."

Lu Jin was confused after hearing this, and turned to look at Liao Yongan, who was frowning, "Who is Brother Hua?"

Liao Yongan introduced, "Hua Gao, from Hexian, is General Zhao, the same Zhao Pusheng from the Maitreya Sect. One of his thousand households is now hiding in Hanshan with General Zhao. It is estimated that they have also been attacked by the government troops. Let's go back and take a look."

"it is good."

Lu Jin stepped on the accelerator and quickly brought everyone back to the shore near Laoshan Mountain in Chaohu Lake. Without even looking at the car, everyone gathered together for a meeting.

As the eldest brother among the generals defending the house, Yu Tingyu immediately introduced the situation.

"Early this morning, Zhao Pusheng received news that a man named Zhima Li in Xuzhou had rebelled. He now has an army of more than 100,000 and has captured several counties near Xuzhou.

"There is also news from the south that Zhao Pusheng's master, Monk Peng, has also started an uprising in Huangzhou Road, Huguang. The government troops may be afraid that we will support them here, so they have increased their surveillance on us.

"Zhao Pusheng also said that Kang Maocai's troops in Hezhou have made unusual movements recently and might want to attack them. Zhao Pusheng sent someone to tell us to be careful. If Kang Maocai really goes to attack him, we might need to send troops to support him.

"He also said that as long as we can hold on this time, when the Xuzhou Red Army and the Liu-Du Red Army in Henan are connected, and his master also attacks from the south, we can start an uprising here as well.

"When the time comes, all the rebel armies will unite, and the entire Central Plains and Jianghuai area will belong to us. The world will really change. When the new emperor ascends the throne, you and I will have served as his followers, and it won't be difficult to be awarded titles of nobility or dukedom."

"That's great!"

"Finally we're going to get out!"

"Why did so many soldiers appear in Xuzhou? Who is that Sesame Li? He is so powerful!"

When the generals heard this "good news", they were immediately excited. The reward for following the emperor could be awarded titles of nobility and dukedom. What a great temptation! Several young men started to make a fuss immediately.

Only Liao Yongan noticed Lu Jin, who remained silent and calm.

"What do you think, Brother Lu?"

After hearing this, everyone looked at Lu Jin and immediately noticed his abnormality.

"Ahem." Lu Jin cleared his throat and said.

"I'm not as optimistic as you are. Since Liu Du's troops took the lead in advocating justice, the imperial army has not taken any real action. If the imperial court really sends a general who knows military affairs and leads hundreds of thousands of soldiers, who can stop them?

"Don't underestimate Xuzhou's riots. The more riots Xuzhou makes, the harder it will be beaten. The imperial court will even ignore Liu and Du and still beat Xuzhou hard.

“As for the south, Monk Peng has been running the business for many years and has countless followers, so he might gain momentum soon. If they proceed step by step, they might be able to dominate the area.

"But if we expand too quickly and our foundation is not solid, we will soon end up like Xuzhou. The bigger the trouble we make, the worse the beatings we will receive. Maybe in less than half a year, we will be in the same situation as we are now, hiding in some mountains or lakes as bandits."

Everyone frowned when they heard this.

"Isn't this possible?"

"Brother Lu, don't you think too highly of the government troops? Previously, the Tartar Prime Minister sent his own brother to fight against Liu Du's Red Army, but the 300,000-man army was defeated as soon as they met."

The young men were all a little skeptical, but Yu Tingyu and Liao Yongan all had serious expressions, as if they agreed with Lu Jin.

At this time, Yu Tingyu also felt that Lu Jin was reliable and was not fooled by Zhao Pusheng's chicken soup and painted pie, so he asked Lu Jin.

"What do you think we should do?"

Lu Jin hesitated for a moment before saying, "This is a good thing for us."

"What do you mean?" Liao Yongjian also looked at Lu Jin.

"They are too far away for us to control, but Zuo Junbi is right next to us. We were thinking about how to lure Zuo Junbi to send troops before. Now the opportunity has come!"

(End of this chapter)