Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Chapter 29 Unexpected Events

Wang Huadu waited at the boat shop for several days but did not see Zheng Guozhen of the Third Residence. Helpless, he had no choice but to return to the Shao residence first.

On the tenth day of the month, Shao Shuyi returned from Liujiagang to practice archery.

Cheng Ji arrived as scheduled, bringing the bronze hand cannon; his intentions were quite clear.

Shao Shuyi still really liked this "toy". After discovering that a wooden handle was attached to the hollow part of its tail socket, he held it with one hand and gestured a couple of times.

"It's a bit heavy," he chuckled, "It's not something you can hold for long."

"Hold it with both hands," Cheng Ji said. "In the army, one person usually lights the fire while the other holds it with both hands."

Shao Shuyi was somewhat dumbfounded. Such a small "pistol" actually required two people to operate? But upon closer inspection, it made perfect sense.

He weighed it in his hand and found that the bronze handgun weighed about seven pounds and had an inner diameter of about two or three centimeters, close to three centimeters.

The front part is the barrel, which appears to be less than 20 centimeters long.

The muzzle connects to the propellant chamber. This is where the gunpowder is loaded; it is an ellipsoidal bulge with a small hole on top serving as a touch hole for igniting the propellant.

The rear section features a buttstock-shaped socket for gripping.

Both the muzzle and the chamber are reinforced with hoops, the purpose of which is simple: to prevent explosion.

To be honest, it's quite interesting.

As a modern person, Shao Shuyi really liked this little gadget. After all, it was a firearm, which gave him a strange sense of familiarity.

"Twenty-five strings of cash, that's the least I can offer," Cheng Ji said somewhat embarrassedly. "I'll also give you a cupping jar, some gunpowder, bullets, and fuses."

"What is cupping?" Shao Shuyi asked.

Cheng Ji took out a small iron can from his bundle and said, "You can hide fire in this and ignite the gunpowder in battle. The Jurchens used this in the past, but back then they ignited a fire tube, which could only scare people with flames."

So it was a spark. Shao Shuyi understood, and then asked, "What about the bullet?"

"It's mainly iron pellets, and there are also stone pellets, but fewer. I've heard that there are copper pellets in Dadu, but they're too expensive, so they're probably used even less." Cheng Ji took out a few iron pellets and handed them to Shao Shuyi.

Shao Shuyi took a look and found that it was an oval-shaped bullet, about the same size, and he didn't know how it was made. Fortunately, the surface was polished relatively smoothly, so it should be able to fit into the barrel, right?

"When loading the gunpowder, point the muzzle upwards and pour in the gunpowder," Cheng Ji said, pointing to the musket in Shao Shuyi's hand. "Then, insert an iron bullet, preferably just one, but it doesn't matter if you insert more."

Shao Shuyi was a little stunned.

In the era of matchlock muskets, if a soldier put more than one lead bullet into the chamber, he would probably be demoted by the officer. How can this pistol hold more than one bullet? The airtightness must be very poor, right?

However, he quickly came to terms with it.

In this era, there were no sophisticated firearms or mature tactical theories. Everyone used these new things instinctively. Seeing a fire, hearing a sound, and then blasting the enemy in the face at close range during sieges or defenses was probably the mainstream tactic.

"I'll buy it. Twenty-five strings of cash it is, but you have to teach me how to use it." Shao Shuyi said, counting out a stack of banknotes with a pained expression.

"Of course I'll teach you," Cheng Ji said somewhat embarrassedly.

He was kind-hearted and felt that selling such a useless brass pistol to the other party was a bit excessive.

"Let's go try it in the backyard," Cheng Ji said, packing up the cupping jars, gunpowder, and iron pellets.

******

As darkness fell, wisps of smoke began to rise from the village chimneys.

First one share, then two shares, then three shares...

Shao Shuyi had bought a cured chicken on the way, along with some pots and pans, and then asked Wang Huadu to call Yu Yuan over. The four of them sat down to eat and drink together.

Having eaten at the Shao family's house many times, Cheng Ji no longer held back, devouring two bowls of rice in no time.

There was no way around it; he was quite tired after a whole day of classes and needed to replenish his energy.

Wang Huadu recounted his observations at the docks, becoming particularly animated when discussing the spices and rare treasures brought by the foreign merchants. He even mocked some of the merchants for their stubbornness, who had actually brought in a large quantity of timber from overseas. Although it was eventually sold, he argued that such efforts were clearly thankless and arduous.

Yu Yuan cautiously explained that he had been kept at home by his elder brother to study recently, and had sneaked out tonight. He added that the recent crackdown on fugitives had implicated many ship owners, causing the provincial government considerable trouble, and they had no choice but to request a temporary halt from the provincial authorities.

Hangzhou did not allow it, but agreed to issue a batch of wealthy people as seafarers and dispatched 30,000 households of troops to suppress them. These were the "Jiaxing Pizhou Central 10,000 Households Garrison", the "Songjiang Lower 10,000 Households Garrison", and the "Jiangyin and Xupu Interpreter Han Army Lower 10,000 Households Garrison". This was a mixed land and water force, which came from the northern tribes who had migrated south to join the Southern Song Dynasty in history. Most of them were Liaodong people from the former Jin Dynasty and were fluent in different languages.

Mentioning this matter, everyone sighed. The status of seafarers was not static, because there were occasional incidents such as ships capsizing at sea, bankruptcy and escape, being killed for resisting, and extinction due to disease. Therefore, every few years or decades, the government would issue a batch of households as seafarers.

In recent years, most of those granted visas were wealthy households, with the aim of enabling them to purchase ships and undertake grain transport tasks—some were even willing to give them ships for free—while bankrupt, fleeing, or extremely poor seafaring households were pardoned or stripped of their status as commoners.

Cheng Ji mentioned that after assisting in clearing up arrears last time, the army gained almost nothing and there was a lot of resentment. He was afraid that they would not obey orders next time.

Upon hearing this, Shao and Wang both said "That's right," while Yu Yuan chuckled to himself.

The meal was enjoyed by everyone, and the gathering lasted for quite some time before everyone dispersed.

After an unknown amount of time, Shao Shuyi, who was writing the "Entries of the Contract Book" to prepare for the future, heard some noise from the window and immediately looked up.

Under the dim moonlight, a dark figure was pressed against the tattered window paper, peeking inside.

He jolted awake, grabbed a boot from under the bed, and threw it toward the window.

With a "thud," the boots landed on the ground, and a soft cry came from outside the window.

Yu Yuan was also startled awake, rubbing his eyes groggily.

Shao Shuyi grabbed him and shouted, "Get up! There's a thief!"

Yu Yuan cried out "Ah!" and turned pale with fright. Seeing Shao Shuyi staring at him, he scrambled off the bed, knocking over several things in his haste, before finally finding a kitchen knife in a crack in the wall.

Footsteps sounded outside the window. A moment later, a huge figure appeared outside. He remained silent and began to pound on the window with brute force.

The dilapidated window could not withstand such a violent impact and swayed precariously with a groan.

"Little Tiger, what happened?" Wang Huadu's voice rang out from the west room.

"Thief! Watch out!" Shao Shuyi shouted.

A series of crashing sounds and cries of pain came from the west room, indicating that Wang Huadu and Cheng Ji had gotten up.

"What are you standing there for? Go up and block them." Shao Shuyi turned to look at Yu Yuan and shouted in a low voice.

Yu Yuan walked forward dumbfounded and slashed the window with the kitchen knife.

"Bang!" The not-so-sharp knife struck the window frame, sending two splinters flying.

Clearly, Yu Yuan had no idea what he was doing; his mind was completely blank. However, it was precisely his actions that startled the burly man outside the window, who instinctively took a few steps back.

Shao Shuyi found the tinderbox and tried to light the oil lamp that he had accidentally extinguished, but in his haste, the usually obedient tinderbox became unruly and took quite a while to ignite.

When the dim light came on, he let out a long sigh of relief. His forehead, face, and back were covered in fine beads of sweat, and even his hands were trembling slightly.

The "thump thump" sound rang out again, and not only he, who lived in the east room, heard exclamations from the west room as well.

Shao Shuyi is no longer able to manage others.

He forced himself to calm down and pulled out a pistol, a flamingo, a fuse, a gunpowder canister, and bullets from under the bed.

"Brother Shao, he's here again," Yu Yuan called out from behind the window, his voice trembling with tears.

"Hold on!" Shao Shuyi roared, then took the fire pot and brought it towards the oil lamp, but stopped halfway through.

Damn! This isn't a battlefield where you need to preserve a fire for a long time. Isn't an oil lamp a kind of fire source?

He threw away the gunpowder canister, clamped the pistol between his legs to make it stand upright, then picked up the powder canister and poured gunpowder into the barrel.

"Crash!" The kitchen knife in Yu Yuan's hand was knocked away, making a crisp sound.

He frantically picked up a chair and slammed it against the window to prevent it from being smashed open.

Under the moonlight, the axe blade gleamed with a silvery light. Outside, a burly man with a ferocious expression swung his axe with all his might, smashing the remaining window frame to pieces.

He was a little anxious because breaking the window had already delayed him for quite a while. If he had known this would happen, he would have preferred to find a way to break down the door.

Roars and the clash of weapons could be heard from inside the west room, along with faint cries of pain.

Shao Shuyi felt like his head was about to explode.

Sweat dripped from my forehead, wetting my hair and blurring my vision, causing a slight stinging sensation.

My legs were really trembling uncontrollably, causing the gun barrel to shake as well, and gunpowder spilled all over the ground.

He gritted his teeth, his vision blurring, and used all his strength to control his legs as he continued to pour out the gunpowder.

With a loud crash, the overburdened window frame fell to the ground.

The burly man was covered in splinters of wood, flying window paper, and thick dust. He gritted his teeth and cursed twice before preparing to squeeze through the window.

Yu Yuan wiped away his tears and shouted, "Ya!"

His voice sounded fearful, trembling, and weak, but his actions were resolute; he grabbed a stool and smashed it down.

The burly man had just crouched down and climbed onto the windowsill when he saw a small stool coming towards him and instinctively dodged. After the stool flew off, his anger intensified, and he climbed up even faster.

Shao Shuyi had already thrown away the gunpowder canister. He really wasn't sure how much gunpowder he had poured into the powder chamber, or if it would cause an explosion; in any case, it was scattered everywhere, on the gun barrel and beside the bed.

He heard everything happening ahead, but had no time to pay attention. After pouring out the gunpowder, he swallowed hard, took out an iron pellet, stuffed it into the barrel, and used a wooden stick to push it in forcefully.

The enemy has climbed onto the window for the second time.

Yu Yuan threw a clay pot at him, and the burly man, wielding an axe, contemptuously smashed it to pieces.

Under the pale moonlight, his figure appeared unusually massive, his muscles bulging like a mountain of flesh. No one doubted that it contained explosive power, enough to easily subdue Yu Yuan, this helpless little chick, and then shatter Shao Shuyi's skull with a single axe blow.

Shao Shuyi picked up the tinder and lit the oil lamp.

The burly man almost ignored Yu Yuan and turned to attack Shao Shuyi.

The person opposite him sat on the bed, seemingly trying to stand up and escape, but his legs trembled weakly and could not support his body. In desperation, he could only raise the "short stick" in his hand, as if trying to cover himself.

The burly man smiled cruelly and was about to approach when Yu Yuan grabbed the hem of his clothes.

He angrily elbowed Yu Yuan backward, who fell to the ground with a scream.

The burly man turned to look at Shao Shuyi again, only to see that the other man had taken a tinder and was bringing it to the "short stick".

He was a little confused, but too lazy to think about it too much, so he just rushed over.

The other person's face was deathly pale, and their eyes were filled with anxiety; they seemed too frightened to move.

Without further hesitation, the burly man was about to raise his axe when a bright orange-red light suddenly appeared before him, followed by a loud "bang".

The burly man felt a sharp pain in his chest. Before he could react, he realized that all his strength was rapidly dissipating, like ice and snow melting away.

He tried to steady himself, but he couldn't.

I wanted to lift the axe, but I didn't have the strength.

The excruciating pain in his chest ravaged his nerves until everything went black, and he collapsed to the ground, convulsing unconsciously.

Another person appeared at the window, holding a short blade, staring in shock at everything that had just happened.

Without a second thought, Shao Shuyi endured the pain and turned the empty pistol toward the window.

The man cried out in alarm and fled in a panic.

A strong smell of blood gradually spread out, and the room returned to calm.