Chapter 27: Craftsman Foreman Li Maosen

Wang Dou returned from Dongjiazhuang with the long spears and three-eyed guns. He had already decided to forge a batch of weapons himself. The next step was choosing which types of weapons. Whether from the perspective of actual combat or his own financial situation, he had to sort out this line of thinking first.

Grandfather Qi once said that axes, battle-axes, hammers, dagger-axes, halberds, and hook-sickles could be used by those bold and highly skilled, for charging alone into enemy formations on horseback, but they must not be taught to rank-and-file soldiers, nor could they be used to openly confront a major foe. As for trident-spears, great clubs, and line-guns, these were mostly used on horseback, so Wang Dou set all of these aside for the time being.

In the end, Wang Dou selected the waist saber, the long spear, the shield, and the fire-gun as his weapons. These were economical and practical, combining long and short, providing both defense and offense, and would allow his troops to advance and withdraw in battle.

For ranged weapons, Wang Dou abandoned the bow and arrow and chose the fire-gun instead — not because the bow and arrow was not deadly, but because the cost of manufacture and purchase was far too high, and qualified archers were too difficult to train. It would take years to see results, and Wang Dou did not have that kind of time.

Training fire-gun soldiers was simple, a single fire-gun was relatively cheap, and using firearms was the future tide of history. Wang Dou had no reason not to choose the fire-gun.

Wang Dou currently had eleven three-eyed guns on hand, but what he inwardly longed for was to possess bird guns. The effective killing range of a three-eyed gun was only about twenty-odd paces, whereas a bird gun reached far further — a fine-quality bird gun had an effective killing range of up to eighty paces.

Grandfather Qi once praised the bird gun as the foremost sharp weapon on the battlefield: its power could pierce armor, its shot could hit its mark, something the bow and arrow could not match. Historically, when Qi's army trained bird-gun soldiers, they would set up a five-foot-high wooden placard at eighty paces; a bird-gun soldier who hit three out of ten shots, or seven out of ten, was considered highly skilled.

However, the manufacturing process for bird guns was complex and demanded considerable skill from the gunsmiths, so it was necessary to find some good craftsmen. If there were craftsmen inside the fort who could manufacture bird guns, Wang Dou would gradually stop using the three-eyed guns altogether.

Wang Dou currently had a batch of great swords and long spears captured from the Later Jin army, as well as the long spears bought from Dongjiazhuang. Both would need to be forged in the future, but constrained by finances, he would have to take it slowly.

There was a group of artisan households inside Shunxiang Fort who had forged weapons for generations; presumably some among them could manufacture bird guns. Wang Dou dispatched Han Chao and Qi Tianliang to go there, hoping to use Shunxiang Fort's Company Commander Du Gong to get a few craftsmen over. Wang Dou knew that Du Gong was greedy and fond of goods by nature, so before they left he gave Han Chao some silver and told him to prepare a generous gift once he reached Shunxiang Fort.

Wang Dou was preparing weapons to train the soldiers, and Han Zhong and the others naturally approved with both hands. Only Han Chao had some doubts about Wang Dou's plan to forge bird guns, but he said nothing, and after receiving Wang Dou's orders he set off with Qi Tianliang for Shunxiang Fort.

……

A few days later, Han Chao and the other man returned, bringing back six or seven craftsmen. One of them was even a craftsman foreman, who claimed he was thoroughly skilled in the forging of bird guns.

At this moment, these several men stood before Wang Dou. Every one of them had coarse hands and feet, their faces weathered by wind and frost, the padded jackets on their bodies tattered and torn. They kept stamping their feet and exhaling white breath — the weather was truly too cold. Seeing that their faces were frozen blue-purple, Wang Dou had them first go down and drink some hot water.

After they had recovered their breath, Wang Dou summoned them over to talk.

The craftsman foreman was called Li Maosen, around forty-five or forty-six years old. His build was quite stocky and robust, but his face bore a shrewd expression. Wang Dou asked him whether he could forge bird guns.

Li Maosen said, "Replying to my lord, it is no boast from this humble one: back in the day, in the Guard City Armory Bureau, when it came to forging weapons and fire-guns, I was ranked among the very best. Even after arriving at the Battalion Commander's post, the skill in these hands has not been neglected."

Wang Dou watched his face as if he were reminiscing, his expression at once proud and bitterly resentful. He had originally been in Bao'an Guard City — how had he ended up running to this Shunxiang Fort? No doubt there was a complicated story behind it. But that was not what Wang Dou cared about; he casually asked him some questions about the knowledge of manufacturing bird guns.

Li Maosen answered each one. He said, "My lord, for making bird guns, six catties is ideal, but it consumes a great deal of iron. Forty catties of crude iron will in the end only yield seven or eight catties of refined iron — the expense is not small."

By his estimate, adding the price of iron, the price of charcoal, the craftsmen's wages and food, plus other expenses and so on, the cost of one bird gun was between three and five taels — the sum required was no small amount.

Wang Dou nodded. He had read relevant historical records, and Li Maosen's estimate was roughly the same as his own. This man seemed an honest fellow. However, Wang Dou only cared about the quality of the bird guns. Historically, many Ming troops had suffered bird guns bursting at the breech, causing soldiers to develop a dread of using them. Wang Dou could not gamble with his subordinates' lives.

To Wang Dou's concerns, Li Maosen said, "My lord, the reason bird guns burst and suffer damage is, first, insufficient materials, or craftsmen cutting corners during manufacture, so that thickness and thinness are uneven. Especially in the welding of the gun barrel, many craftsmen lack the skill, causing the bird gun to burst at the bore. But this humble one naturally has none of these problems. So long as my lord provides sufficient materials, this humble one can forge fine-quality fire-guns for my lord."

Wang Dou nodded. He naturally could not rest easy on Li Maosen's one-sided word alone. Historically, the Great Ming's quality requirements for bird guns were actually very strict. Whether the Ministry of Works or the various guard battalions across the land, all military equipment they produced had to be inscribed with the markings of which ministry, which guard, which battalion, which year, and which season it was made in, and afterward it had to be recorded in ledgers for inspection at any time. Yet despite all these regulations, the quality of Great Ming military equipment was plain for all to see.

Of course, the reason the quality of Great Ming military equipment was so low was also tied to official corruption and the wretched artisan household system — but this was naturally something Wang Dou had no need to bring up.

He said, "Foreman Li, it is best that you say so. But we must still establish regulations. From now on, you will remain within the fort. Your monthly food and wages will not be shorted. In the future, for every qualified bird gun you produce, I will give you a reward. If any are unqualified, the corresponding monthly grain will be deducted to cover the material wastage. If any cause injury to soldiers, further punishment will be applied."

Li Maosen gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, let it be as my lord says."

Before Li Maosen came to Jingbian Fort, he had already heard Qi Tianliang boast until the heavens and earth spun, saying that once they reached Jingbian Fort, they would surely have ample food and clothing every day and eat their fill every day. At present, these craftsmen in Shunxiang Fort suffered hunger and cold daily. In these times, finding a place where one could eat one's fill was not easy. Li Maosen believed his own skill would make Wang Dou trust him.

The matter was thus settled. From then on, Li Maosen and his men would remain in Jingbian Fort. Wang Dou suddenly recalled something and said, "By the way, Foreman Li, apart from matchlock-ignited bird guns, can you manufacture those wheel-lock fire-guns or percussion fire-guns?"

Wang Dou roughly described the two types of fire-guns he meant — what he was speaking of were historically the wheel-lock arquebus and the flintlock arquebus.

The wheel-lock arquebus appeared around the mid-to-late sixteenth century; it used a gear-spring to strike sparks from flint to ignite the powder. The flintlock arquebus appeared in the early-to-mid seventeenth century; it used a hammer striking flint to produce fire, and it would be extremely popular for the next several hundred years. Wang Dou naturally wished to possess such sharp weapons as well.

Li Maosen thought for a long time. Although he found it strange that Wang Dou would think of such bird guns, in the end he still shook his head and said, "Ashamed to say, this humble one truly does not know of the firearms my lord speaks of. I must ponder them carefully."

Wang Dou nodded. Shunxiang Fort was, after all, a small place; it was unlikely that any profoundly skilled firearms talent would appear there. He had been too impatient.

Afterward, Li Maosen and his men were assigned quarters. Wang Dou gave each of them a dwelling room and also specially selected a site for them to serve as a weapons workshop.

Li Maosen and his men departed joyfully, curiously sizing up this newly built garrison fort along the way.

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Old White Ox:

Went out for a social engagement at noon and only just got back. There will be one more chapter before midnight. Thank you all for your support.

One additional note: some readers think the protagonist is located somewhere in Shanxi Province, but in fact the protagonist is currently in Zhuolu County, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, which in Ming times was called Bao'an Department. To the west it borders Wei County in Shanxi Province, to the east it borders Huailai County in Zhangjiakou City, and to the north it borders Xuanhua County in Zhangjiakou. Moreover, Bao'an Department was still some distance from the frontier, separated by the three places of Huailai Guard, Longqing Department, and Yongning Guard at the time — that is, present-day Huailai County and Yanqing County.

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