Chapter 1646

The difficulty of making guns mainly has two points. First, the material must have sufficient toughness to withstand a certain amount of pressure and temperature, etc. Second is the precision of processing parts, such as the processing of rifling, such as the gaps between parts, all of which affect the power and service life of the firearm.

Wang Yan's cheat was a bit small; if he wanted to make guns, he had to start from the most basic steel refining. And wanting to solve the problem of steel refining meant already having to solve quite a lot of problems. Raising the temperature of the furnace, the formula of steel alloys, the quality of personnel, and so on.

Because the time was still short, it was not enough to establish a perfect firearm industry chain, and the process problems had not been solved, so for such a long time, it could only be considered that less than two thousand qualified firearms had been hand-rubbed out.

This time, what Wang Yan made was the famous Mosin-Nagant rifle, known as the "Water-Linked Pearl." Undoubtedly, this is an excellent firearm design, and at the same time, it was also an old friend of Wang Yan's, which he had used for a long time.

However, these more than a thousand guns could only be considered preliminary products, and in terms of performance, they were still not as good as those produced by proper industrial assembly lines. After all, whether in terms of materials or craftsmanship, there was a big gap, and there were many various problems, and they were not stable.

But even so, it was enough to deal with the Taiping Army.

In the final analysis, it was still that sentence: everything is a matter of cost and benefit.

The Heavenly Kingdom's army of hundreds of thousands came to fight, and even if Wang Yan were a celestial being reborn, he would have no way to resist, but for the Heavenly Kingdom, that was quite uneconomical, and even a money-losing business.

So after this wave of attacks by the Heavenly Kingdom passed, they would discover that tolerating Huoshan's existence was more appropriate than painstakingly taking it down; only then could everyone truly communicate and cooperate peacefully.

Instead of looking at Huoshan with a condescending attitude like now...

As time passed, and as the forces of Huoshan and the Heavenly Kingdom approached, sporadic fighting began to occur between the two sides. Most were conflicts on small paths in the Dabie Mountains, all fighting in small groups.

In this regard, Huoshan held absolute initiative.

Because within the entire range of the Dabie Mountains, in the past period of time, under Wang Yan's continuous dispatch of personnel to survey, everything from a valley to a cave in the Dabie Mountains had been clearly investigated.

Plus the Mobile Corps Commander tactics Wang Yan always instructed, they were elusive in the mountains, beating the small groups of the Taiping Army until they had no temper. They didn't even fire many shots, relying on arrows to solve the problem.

After all, even if the Heavenly Kingdom was wealthy and had the help of foreigners, they hadn't reached the point where everyone had a gun and could wash the ground with artillery fire. Guns and cannons played a decisive role at this time, and they wouldn't send out firearm teams or artillery teams to fight casually; most of the time, it was still mainly cold weapon combat.

This kind of small-scale fighting continued until the end of June. The main force of the Taiping Army didn't take too long to take Lu'an and Shucheng, and then the main force clamped down from two directions, threatening Huoshan. In other mountain roads, small groups of troops harassed them.

It was also at this time that Wang Yan knew who the person leading the team on the opposite side was: Li Cheng, the Ying Wang, the mainstay of the Heavenly Kingdom. In Anqing, there was also the famous Yi Wang, Shi Dakai, and other high-level generals of the Heavenly Kingdom.

This was the Heavenly Kingdom's Western Expedition strategy, intending to control Xiang and E. Because the Heavenly Kingdom had fought all the way from Guangxi, but the places they occupied were not many, now they were trying their best to unify Jiang Nan, divide the river with the Qing court, and stand on equal footing...

"I am Chen Lin, Assistant Regional Commander under the Ying Wang, greeting Old Master Wang."

"Here to persuade surrender?"

Chen Lin looked at Wang Yan, who was drinking tea behind the desk, and cupped his hands: "Old Master, my Heavenly Kingdom's army of twenty thousand has already surrounded Huoshan, with countless guns and cannons. Once the war starts, Huoshan's good situation will instantly become rubble and ruins, and countless commoners will be harmed as a result. Now, the best way is for the Old Master to lead his troops to surrender to our Heavenly Kingdom. Please rest assured, Old Master, all the promises Miss Su gave you still hold."

Wang Yan smiled and nodded: "In all fairness, if you were in my shoes, General, do you think I should surrender?"

"Naturally, you should surrender!" Chen Lin said decisively, "Old Master, the Qing demons cannot be relied upon; they only know how to bully the good, exploit the commoners, and leave the commoners with no way to survive. Especially, they even tolerate foreigners selling opium, causing how many families to be broken?

I heard that the Old Master doesn't allow people to sell opium in his territory, nor does he allow his subordinates to smoke opium; if one case is discovered, it is dealt with. The Heavenly Kingdom is the same. I also heard that the Old Master treats the commoners extremely well and doesn't allow anyone to bully them at will; the Heavenly Kingdom is still the same. Old Master, in the Heavenly Kingdom, you can realize your ideas, and the Heavenly King will definitely support you."

Wang Yan waved his hand: "Relying on others' charity won't last long; grace comes from above, and naturally, it can be taken back at any time. I heard that the Heavenly Kingdom doesn't allow men and women to sleep in the same room, but the Heavenly King, as well as the Eastern King, Western King, etc., are not restricted. Then you tell me, if I go, will I be restricted?"

Chen Lin was silent for a long time; this matter really couldn't be brushed aside. If Wang Yan surrendered to the Heavenly Kingdom, he wouldn't be allowed to sleep with his wife, only sleeping together one day a month.

He braced himself and said: "The Heavenly King has already considered this matter; perhaps it will be abolished."

It was indeed abolished, but that was also because it couldn't be suppressed anymore; the suppressed soldiers even started playing with each other. Establishing the Heavenly Kingdom and setting the capital in Tianjing was a good thing, and the brothers all thought they could live a good life, but the result wasn't much better; this was a huge powder keg...

Wang Yan laughed: "The Heavenly Kingdom's problems are not just here. You are a high-level general of the Heavenly Kingdom; you should have your own views and insights on some things. Your hesitation proves that what I said is correct. Of course, I didn't say the Manchu Qing was very good either.

But I am definitely good myself, just as you insist that you are correct, so how could I doubt myself? And currently, it seems that the commoners following me are living quite well. If you hadn't come, they might have lived even better.

Not to mention anything far away, just take tea leaves; although we can transport them out, this year's price is only thirty percent of previous years. If it weren't for the savings of the past two years, I'm afraid people wouldn't be able to survive now.

General Chen, you had better go back. If no one dies, not to mention the Heavenly Kingdom, even your Prince won't respect us. He thinks that once he makes a move, we will be beaten into a rout with no power to resist? Let's fight and see!"

Wang Yan waved his hand, and a clerk politely invited Chen Lin out.

Chen Lin sighed, didn't say any more nonsense, and left Huoshan...

Recruiting surrender before the war is the power of the strong side. Even if the Taiping Army was at a disadvantage in the previous small-scale battles, the force of more than twenty thousand was real, and for Huoshan's four thousand troops, it was a crushing situation.

Thus, after the recruitment failed, with the battle reaching this point, there was absolutely no reason not to fight.

This was a confrontation without technical content. The battlefield of both sides was in the mountains outside Huoshan. Both sides fought around the mountains outside, with Huoshan County defending and the Taiping Army attacking.

But at the same time, because Huoshan County's defense was comprehensive, even with few people, they basically took care of the overall situation with both light and heavy forces, making it impossible for the Taiping Army to send surprise troops to tear open the defense, stubbornly turning this battle into a tug-of-war.

Especially in the exchange of firearms, the weapons in Wang Yan's hands gave the Taiping Army a cross-era shock. Smokeless powder, fixed ammunition, firing pin ignition, rapid loading... and the long range and great power. Not long after the battle started, the Taiping Army felt the despair of being suppressed.

Their weapons didn't shoot as far as the others, weren't as powerful, and large-scale charges couldn't withstand the other side's dense rain of bullets. Even when they got close, both sides engaged in close-quarters combat, and the combat power of these people in Huoshan County was not weak at all. They were all experts who could escort goods; if they were unarmed, fighting two or three people wasn't a problem. Even with knives, relying on quick reactions and tacit cooperation, they were better at fighting than the Taiping Army soldiers.

Even though the Taiping Army had more troops, because of the home-field defense and the higher quality of their own soldiers, the two sides reached a stalemate.

And the key factor that changed this battle was the surprise force led by Erhu that crossed the Dabie Mountains and ran directly to Anqing.

"Prince, news from Anqing: a force of about a thousand men went out from the mountains and caught Anqing off guard, and their firearms are very good; it is estimated that they came from Huoshan. Yi Wang sent a letter saying that after that enemy force raided Anqing, they went north, and it is estimated that they want to cut off our retreat, ruin our supplies, and ask the Prince to be careful in responding."

In the camp, Assistant Regional Commander Chen Lin reported the information received to Li Cheng.

Li Cheng stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the sand table in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh: "They actually divided a thousand people to cut off our supplies..."

"Yes." Chen Lin couldn't help but sigh along, "I just can't understand, how can their firearms be even better than the foreigners'? Fortunately, they don't have artillery, only muskets; otherwise, I'm afraid we would be finished."

Li Cheng said: "What's there to not understand? You don't know that this Wang Yan has always been recruiting craftsmen and refining steel. I heard he's been at it for two or three years; I didn't expect him to really make something of it."

"But I see their musket production isn't high, and they aren't stable to use; I've seen several barrels explode." Chen Lin picked at the flaws.

"That's still better than ours... We can shoot two hundred paces, they can shoot three hundred paces; we can't reach them at all. The advantageous terrain here is all occupied by them, supporting each other. We rely on having more people to surround them, but before long, we are beaten back by them..."

Speaking of this, Li Cheng listened to the gunfire outside and couldn't help but shake his head, "I'm afraid this battle can't be fought anymore."

"Prince, I feel that Wang Yan truly doesn't want to find trouble with us; he just wants to live his good life steadily."

Li Cheng heard it; this was his subordinate finding a way out for him, and he couldn't help but laugh: "Now it seems that not wanting to find trouble with us is true, and having no good feelings for the Manchu Qing is also true, but to say he is steady is a joke. If he were truly steady, how could he have the power of thousands of soldiers today?"

Chen Lin hesitated and said: "Maybe it was to protect himself, and he developed bit by bit? Prince, isn't our Heavenly Kingdom the same? How many people were there when we first started the uprising in Jintian? We grew bit by bit to what we are now."

Li Cheng was silent, listening to the gunfire outside, looking at the sand table in front of him.

After a long while, he turned and went to the desk to sit down, licking his brush and absorbing ink to write a letter...

Erhu was a bit naive, but he had his wisdom.

That was listening to Big Brother.

Wang Yan was not a Pang Qingyun who treated words like farts. Everything he did was resolutely supported and upheld by Erhu. Or it wasn't just Erhu; people with normal brains and normal concepts should all uphold him. Because what Wang Yan did was always things that benefited the majority of people. He created value for others to let others lift him up and uphold him.

So under Wang Yan's instruction, Erhu resolutely executed the order, leading a force of a thousand to harass the Taiping Army's logistics, and even occasionally being more aggressive, fighting all the way to Shucheng to scare people.

This increased the Taiping Army's supply costs, also affected supply efficiency, affected combat power, and Huoshan County couldn't be taken for a long time, with casualties increasing day by day...

By this time, just as Li Cheng said to his subordinates, they began to believe that Wang Yan had no intention of being an enemy of the Taiping Army. Otherwise, with the strength Wang Yan currently displayed, perhaps the momentum he could stir up wouldn't be weaker than the Heavenly Kingdom.

And this was still Wang Yan actively defending, not having come out to launch an attack at all, only sending out one unit to harass. If another one came to harass from the direction of Lu'an, what would they do? If Wang Yan mobilized troops from outside and swept up commoners to fight them, what would they do?

These were all things Wang Yan could do, but he didn't.

Li Cheng was also a victorious general who had fought all the way up, a second-class powerful Prince of the Heavenly Kingdom, and his combat power was widely known. He fought so hard, with thousands of casualties in more than a month of fighting, but achieved nothing; this battle was meaningless.

Because the cost was greater than the harvest.

No! There was no harvest!

Although Shucheng and Lu'an were taken, the cities were basically empty. They were the second wave to come, and there was another wave of Northern Expedition; the commoners knew the Taiping Army had come and hurried to run away...

Thus, the intensity of the battle between the two sides became weaker day by day, and the battle had no energy at all. Later on, they just fired two shots every day to listen to the sound and mean something.

But the Taiping Army didn't withdraw; they didn't dare to withdraw. If they just withdrew like this, what if Wang Yan pursued them? Then the casualties would be too great.

The situation remained deadlocked until August, and finally, peace talks were held.

"Old Master Wang, it's been many days since we parted, and your style is even more magnificent than before." Su Zixuan, dressed as a young lady from a wealthy family, came to Wang Yan with a fan. She took the initiative to pour tea with the teapot next to her.

Then she held the teacup with both hands, looking pitiful, "Old Master Wang won't hold it against a young woman like me, right? You won't be angry with this young woman, right?"

Wang Yan took the tea and drank it: "Miss Su is truly heartless. The first day I saw you, not two days later, someone poisoned me. You still dare to sway in front of me; I think you are truly tired of living?"

"Would the Old Master have the heart to kill this young woman?" Su Zixuan was pitiful, on the verge of tears.

"Playing with fire is truly easy to burn yourself." Wang Yan pulled her into his arms, a large hand wandering over her body. Because it was the turn of summer and autumn, she was dressed very thinly, and the touch was very real...

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