Chapter 175: Firearms Research Bears Fruit

As the days passed into the seventh month of the tenth year of Chongzhen, Wang Dou suddenly received word from Shunxiang Fortress: Yao Long and others had successfully developed a self-opening and closing fire-door mechanism for the powder pan, and Li Maosen had also successfully devised a water-powered apparatus that could drive a steel drill for boring gun barrels.

Hearing this news, Wang Dou was quite pleased and immediately prepared to go to Shunxiang Fortress to see for himself.

Under the escort of his personal general Xie Yike and others, he rode out of the city. Just as he passed through the south gate, he heard a woman's coquettish cry from behind: "Wang Dou, Wang Dou—"

In Baoanzhou City, no one dared call Wang Dou by his full name, especially a woman. The moment he heard that alluring voice, Wang Dou knew who it was. Sure enough, when he turned his head, he saw Young Lady Ji, escorted by several household retainers, spurring her horse in his direction.

Wang Dou was somewhat surprised. He had always seen Young Lady Ji riding in a carriage. He never expected that, coming from a Military Defense Circuit family and being a woman with bound feet, she could actually ride a horse.

Young Lady Ji spurred her horse up to Wang Dou and, seeing his astonished expression, could not help but smile smugly: "Commander never imagined a mere girl could ride? Hmph, I am no delicate, timid young lady!"

Wang Dou glanced beside her. She was accompanied by several household retainers and maidservants, and he could see that their expressions were all rather helpless.

Wang Dou said: "So it is Young Lady Ji. Do you have some important matter to seek me out for?"

Young Lady Ji was dressed today in a light green thin robe. She said with high spirits: "Wang Dou, I want you to teach me to shoot again."

Her smile was like a flower, and with her clothes so thin, her skin under the sunlight was creamy white as suet. That coquettish look made Xie Yike and the others stare with eyes gone straight.

But for a man of Wang Dou's experience, a woman's looks alone could hardly move him. He placed more weight on a woman's inner substance.

Last year in the twelfth month, he had escorted Young Lady Ji back to Lucheng along the way, and afterward he had forgotten about it. A few days ago he heard this young lady had come to the prefectural city again, but he paid it no mind. He never expected that today she would seek him out and again demand he teach her to fire a gun.

He frowned: "I have important matters to attend to. How can I amuse you? Young Lady, please do as you wish."

Young Lady Ji gave a faint smile. She looked at Wang Dou, her eyes rippling: "Wang Dou, where are you going? I want to come too!"

Wang Dou said: "I am handling official business, so it is not convenient to bring you along."

He said sternly: "Young Lady Ji, you are the precious daughter of the Military Defense Circuit household. If you accompany me and some mishap occurs, how would I explain it to His Excellency the Military Defense Commissioner?"

Young Lady Ji cast a coquettish glare at Wang Dou: "With our Commander here beside us, what mishap could there be? Lord Wang, you have no confidence in yourself, oh."

Wang Dou said: "Between men and women there should be no improper intimacy. I am a married man—if you run about following me like this, I fear there will be idle gossip from outsiders."

Young Lady Ji burst out giggling, like a flowering branch trembling. She said loudly: "I never imagined our great hero Wang would be such a conventional man. I, a mere girl, am not afraid, yet you, a dignified man, a great husband, are frightened. I am disappointed, oh."

He never expected that a traditional official-gentry family like the Military Defense Circuit household would produce such a rebellious young lady as Young Lady Ji. Wang Dou glanced at her: "If you're not afraid of hardship, then keep up."

Young Lady Ji let out a cheer and hurriedly spurred her horse to ride beside Wang Dou. She cried: "Staying in the residence all day is stifling to death. Finally I can come out and get some fresh air."

Wang Dou watched her, full of high spirits, her horsemanship not bad, and secretly wondered how she had learned it. He knew the Great Ming was nothing like the Great Tang; customs were relatively conservative. For a girl to study music, chess, calligraphy, and painting was understandable, but to learn riding and archery was rare even among military families.

Young Lady Ji looked at Wang Dou and smiled: "Commander, would you mind if I asked you a question?"

Wang Dou said: "If the Young Lady has something to ask, then ask."

Young Lady Ji said: "I heard that a few days ago that Assistant Regional Commander Mao came to Baoanzhou City and demanded you hand over several beautiful concubines, and you refused?"

Wang Dou said: "That is correct. I refused. How could my women, Wang Dou's women, be sent back and forth like goods?"

Young Lady Ji cast a sidelong glance at him and smiled: "Are you not worried that Assistant Regional Commander Mao will be displeased?"

Wang Dou gave a cold snort and said proudly: "I, Wang Dou, rose from a common soldier and have struggled to where I am now. I have never lived by watching others' expressions. Whether he is pleased or not, what difference does it make?"

Young Lady Ji raised her thumb to Wang Dou: "Good! A man of feeling and loyalty, of courage and daring. I, Ji Junjiao, admire you!"

The household retainers beside Young Lady Ji also looked at Wang Dou in surprise for a moment and exchanged glances.

Afterward, Young Lady Ji looked at Wang Dou again and said: "A pity, though. If only you, Wang Dou, were a bit more handsome."

Wang Dou said flatly: "Is it not good to be tall and mighty like me? Those young lordlings are all very handsome."

Wang Dou's words were rather coarse. Young Lady Ji immediately blushed crimson on both cheeks, so alluringly delicate she seemed about to drip. Seeing her seductive appearance, Xie Yike and the others all stared and swallowed hard, and they were also full of admiration for Wang Dou—even the young lady of the Military Defense Circuit household he dared to tease. Only the household retainers beside Young Lady Ji glared angrily at Wang Dou. Several of them even wanted to step forward and rebuke him, but after glancing at Young Lady Ji's expression, they held their tongues.

Young Lady Ji turned her head away, her face red, and said loudly: "It is just a pity. I was thinking, Wang Dou, if only you were a bit more handsome, a bit more refined, and also versed in music, chess, calligraphy, painting, and poetry, then you would be perfect."

Wang Dou gave a long laugh: "A perfect person does not exist in this world."

He cracked his horsewhip through the air with a sharp report and gave a great shout: "Hah!" In an instant his warhorse shot forward like wind and lightning. Young Lady Ji cried out coquettishly: "Wang Dou, wait for me!"

She hurriedly whipped her horse and followed.

When Wang Dou arrived at Shunxiang Fortress, Lin Daofu and the others were already waiting outside the city gate. Seeing Young Lady Ji and learning her identity, they could not help but panic. The young lady of the Military Defense Circuit household coming to their jurisdiction—this was a major matter. Reception, escort, safety, and all such matters required careful consideration. Lin Daofu was thrown into a fluster, but Wang Dou waved his hand: "The young lady's affairs need not concern you. Take me to the firearms workshop."

Lin Daofu glanced at Young Lady Ji and saw that she did not take Wang Dou's words to heart in the slightest. He could not help but secretly marvel. His eyes shifted between Wang Dou and Young Lady Ji, then he led Wang Dou and the others onward.

The group headed toward the northwest of Shunxiang Fortress. This area was packed with workshops of every kind—a gunpowder factory, a coal factory, an iron factory, a clothing factory, a firearms factory, a woodworking factory—everywhere a scene of bustling, fiery activity. Along the way, Young Lady Ji watched with keen interest and muttered: "This Shunxiang Fortress... is quite different."

The household retainers behind her also watched in secret wonder, whispering among themselves.

Soon the group arrived before the firearms factory. Wang Dou glanced at Young Lady Ji, and she understood. She said to the household retainers behind her: "You all wait here for me. No need to follow."

Those retainers immediately grew anxious: "Young Lady, how can this be? We are charged with your protection. If we do not stay by your side and something happens to you, how would we lowly ones explain it to His Excellency?"

Young Lady Ji gave a snort: "With His Lordship Commander Wang of Baoanzhou here, what could possibly happen? Right, Wang Dou?"

The latter half of her words were addressed to Wang Dou. Wang Dou nodded.

The retainers stared at one another helplessly and could only watch wide-eyed as Young Lady Ji followed Wang Dou away.

Entering the firearms factory, the manager Li Maosen and Lai Yuanlong, the newly transferred Director of the Baoan Guard Armory Bureau at Shunxiang Fortress, hurried out to greet them. Seeing Young Lady Ji, Lai Yuanlong stood there dully without much reaction, but Li Maosen and the others were awed by her radiant beauty. Still, a woman beside the Commander—who would dare ask who she was?

Seeing Lai Yuanlong, Wang Dou smiled: "Director Lai, have you been well since coming to Shunxiang Fortress?"

Lai Yuanlong was still as unkempt as ever. His ninth-rank official robe, embroidered with the flycatcher bird insignia, was still spotted with oil stains, and both sleeves were rolled up. Yet he was full of vigor, his face glowing with health. He said in a loud voice: "Good, very good. Your subordinate is truly well at Shunxiang Fortress. Everything your subordinate longed for, he now has. Even if your subordinate were to die right now, he would have no regrets—ah, of course, not so soon, though."

At his incoherent manner, Young Lady Ji could not help but burst out laughing. Lin Daofu and the others behind Wang Dou also smiled.

Lai Yuanlong was oblivious and only sighed with emotion: "This is all thanks to Your Lordship's patronage. Only thus could your subordinate fulfill his lifelong wish."

As he spoke, he bowed deeply to Wang Dou.

Wang Dou smiled and helped him up, saying: "I hear your research has yielded results?"

Lai Yuanlong said: "Yes, yes, yes."

He hurriedly led Wang Dou and the others to the firing range beside the firearms factory and, like presenting a treasure, brought out a firelock. Pointing to a part on it, he said: "The self-opening and closing fire-door mechanism on the powder pan that Your Lordship spoke of—your subordinate has successfully developed it. With this device, even if a fierce gale blows in winter, there is no need to worry that the priming powder in the fire pan will be blown away by the wind."

Wang Dou examined the part on the gun. To be honest, he did not fully understand it. He said: "Try firing a shot."

Young Lady Ji beside him immediately showed an eager expression, itching to try.

Lai Yuanlong acknowledged the order and smoothly loaded the powder and shot. Then he lit the matchcord and fired the gun with a boom. A cloud of sulfurous smoke spread.

Young Lady Ji laughed with delight and cried: "Good, good! Let me try, let me try!"

Young Lady Ji laughed merrily, and she said, "Alright, alright, I'll come, I'll come."

Wang Dou smiled at her and said, “When I have free time, I’ll teach you to shoot again.”

Young Lady Ji gave a soft “mm” and nodded lightly. In front of outsiders, she seemed quite obedient to Wang Dou’s words, which made Lin Daofu and the others stare in stunned disbelief.

Just now Wang Dou had not paid attention to whether Lai Yuanlong’s shot was accurate; what he noticed was the moment the fire-mirror fired. The flash on the fire door. The iron box flickered rapidly once, protecting the priming powder inside.

He focused his thoughts carefully: this fire-door device must work on the same principle as the self-triggering gun. With this fire-door device that can open and close automatically, when fighting in winter, his own matchlock guns would no longer become mere fire-poking sticks. This was what pleased Wang Dou the most.

He laughed heartily and said, “Truly ingenious! Ambassador Lai, you have rendered a great service.”

※

Old White Ox:

Thank you all for your support. I looked over the outline — only one-fifth has been written so far, and there are still long years ahead. Just a small sigh. Drawing on the lessons from Battalion Commander, I, the junior soldier, will persevere. So far I’m satisfied with the results: the highest subscriptions are over five thousand. Twenty-four-hour subscriptions are over two thousand, and average subscriptions are over three thousand. It’s just that sometimes the number of people posting in the book review section is a bit low, and I hope everyone will speak up more. That way I’ll have more energy when writing.

Also, a reply to the book friend One Old Fox: the question you are puzzled about, I actually already explained very clearly in Chapter 45 and the old chapter of this book. For related materials, you can also look up the book Classified Compendium of the Ming Veritable Records.