Chapter 129: The Exercise (First Update)

At the end of September, at the foot of a hidden mountain outside the capital.

Zhu Xu stood atop a fortification, running his hands over the pitch-black long gun in his grip, eyes gleaming. If not for his still-small arms and legs, he truly wanted to fire a shot to try it out.

Not far below the fortification, a hundred "new soldiers" stood at attention, their uniforms brand new, looking quite imposing—though lacking a bit of killing aura.

"Your Highness, everything is ready."

Cao Wenzhao, clad in the Embroidered Uniform Guard's fish-dragon robe and looking equally majestic, spoke from behind Zhu Xu.

Zhu Xu surveyed the hundred men below. Each held a long gun standing at his feet, perfectly uniform, not a trace of disorder. Before them, a young silver-clad officer stood facing the wind, looking somewhat slender.

From his attire, Zhu Xu could tell he was likely a Vice Chiliarch, a Company Commander.

Curious, Zhu Xu turned to Cao Wenzhao and asked, "Who is that one leading them?"

Cao Wenzhao's expression flickered, then he said composedly, "Reporting to Your Highness, this man is my nephew, named Cao Bianjiao."

Zhu Xu's brow immediately rose, his gaze shifting to Cao Bianjiao below, secretly delighted in his heart: 'So it's him—I'd actually forgotten about him. Not bad, not bad…'

Seeing the unusual look on Zhu Xu's face, Cao Wenzhao's heart suddenly tightened, and he hurriedly dropped to one knee: "If Your Highness finds it inappropriate, your subordinate will have him transferred away at once!"

Zhu Xu quickly waved his hand and said with a smile, "No need, no need. I think well of him. It's fine—train him properly, have him read more military texts. Let's begin."

Seeing Zhu Xu's brilliant smile, not one of guarded suspicion, Cao Wenzhao's face relaxed. He acknowledged with a sound, took up the flag at his back, and began to wave it.

Seeing this, Cao Bianjiao below swung his long gun and shouted loudly, "Begin!"

At his command, the hundred men shouldered their long guns and charged forward at a sprint.

Cross-country running, river crossing, horizontal bars, barbed wire, wall scaling… every obstacle Zhu Xu could think of was here. The hundred men looped around once, then formed up in three ranks. Gunfire erupted on all sides, and the targets three hundred meters away were all knocked down.

Cao Wenzhao was also seeing such an exercise for the first time, and said joyfully to Zhu Xu, "Your Highness, the power of these firearms is far greater than those in Liaodong. If they could truly reach Liaodong, they would surely teach those Tartars a harsh lesson!"

Bi Maokang followed up: "Your Highness, although the accuracy is still not high, if we can truly lay out barbed wire and trenches, we can certainly stop the first wave of a cavalry charge, and then use infantry to finish them off!"

Zhu Xu listened to the two men's words, smiling without speaking. He

was fairly satisfied with the current state of affairs, but sending them to Liaodong now was unrealistic. And after all, Bi Maokang had never been on a battlefield. A cavalry charge was indeed fearsome, but there was something even more important—its mobility. It wouldn't just stand there letting muskets shoot at it.

Therefore, the flintlock could only remain in a defensive phase for now, coordinated with cannons to strip a cavalry charge of its power. To truly form combat effectiveness capable of besieging cities and breaching formations, the first step was still to increase range, then mass equipping, while simultaneously training a high-quality army of over thirty thousand men!

When the volley of shooting ended, the original target range was completely transformed—all the targets had been shot down to the ground. Zhu Xu roughly calculated: the targets should number over three hundred, and the time taken was under three minutes.

After finishing his shooting, Cao Bianjiao shouted loudly, led the group in quickly reforming ranks, and jogged to the base of Zhu Xu's fortification, calling out at full volume, "Reporting to Your Highness, the exercise is complete!"

Zhu Xu smiled with satisfaction and said loudly, "Excellent! This prince is very pleased. Each man is rewarded thirty taels of silver, with a half-day off—today there's wine and meat!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Cao Bianjiao shouted, thrusting his long gun skyward.

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

The hundred men also waved their long guns and shouted at the top of their lungs, their voices shaking the heavens, echoing without end.

Zhu Xu's smile grew wider. He stood facing the crowd for a while longer, then turned and descended the fortification.

"Your Highness," Cao Wenzhao said as he walked behind him, "the men have all been recruited—all young and strong, in excellent physical condition. However, these firearms are still insufficient; some of them are modified pieces, not built to Master Bi's blueprints."

Zhu Xu nodded. With firearms like these needing to be manufactured on a large scale while still keeping things secret, there was naturally no way to be fast. Producing fifty or sixty in over two months was already decent.

Bi Maokang hurriedly continued, "Your Highness, what's lacking now is gunpowder. With the year's end approaching, it should become much more convenient. After the New Year, we should be able to produce five hundred."

"Good." Zhu Xu also let out a breath inwardly, his pressure greatly relieved. He smiled: "Good. Come, let's go look at the cannons."

Hearing this, Bi Maokang's spirits lifted, and he said, "Your Highness, please follow me."

For the convenience of the exercise and to avoid detection, this place was very far from the capital and from any populated areas.

Bi Maokang led Zhu Xu to an open wilderness where two black cannons were mounted among stone piles, looking pitch-black and cavernous—a full size larger than anything Zhu Xu had seen on television dramas.

Bi Maokang walked up close, pointed at one cannon, and said, "Your Highness, this red barbarian cannon came from the Dutch. After it was discarded, it was sent to me. This one is my imitation—I improved it considerably, and its power is also greater."

Zhu Xu stepped forward and ran his hands all over the cannon Bi Maokang had imitated. This one weighed at least two or three tons; its power could hardly be small.

Zhu Xu examined it front and back for a good while, then turned to Bi Maokang and said, "Can we fire a shot now to test it?"

Bi Maokang pulled a small booklet from his bosom and said, "Your Highness, the imitation isn't ready yet. As for this red barbarian cannon, I've made my calculations, and I've recorded all the data here according to your requirements."

Zhu Xu took the booklet and flipped through it, nodding from time to time.

This red barbarian cannon did have sights, with a range of about two thousand meters. According to what was described in Bi Maokang's booklet, the imitation would change the barrel's length and material, as well as the casting method, allowing the range to be extended to over three thousand meters, with effective lethality also greatly increased.

However, Bi Maokang had not mentioned the power of the shells, and Zhu Xu had no way to address that either. Increasing the power of gunpowder would still require professionals.

His thoughts drifting, Zhu Xu soon thought of the Battle of Ningyuan and muttered inwardly, 'When the time comes, can we directly bombard densely and catch Nurhaci off guard, blowing him to death?'

Seeing Zhu Xu staring blankly, Bi Maokang said, "Your Highness, the soldiers will soon be eating. Would you like to go over and take a look?"

Zhu Xu raised his head and only then realized—Bi Maokang wanted him to put on a show of sharing joy with the troops.

"Alright, let's go." Zhu Xu tucked the booklet into his bosom and said with a smile.

While Zhu Xu headed to the soldiers' great mess hall, Wei Zhongxian in the capital had not a moment's peace.

Inside the Directorate of Ceremonial, he had been summoned in a rush. Looking at the memorial in his hand, his face was livid, his eyes filled with nothing but icy killing intent.

This was a memorial submitted by Supervising Secretary Chen Liangxun, chiefly impeaching him.

He looked at the memorial and read word by word: "A power-wielding eunuch ruins the state; the nation's fortune draws to its end! Fine, fine, fine…"

"Your Excellency, these people mean to wipe us out completely! We absolutely cannot tolerate this any longer!"

"Exactly—if we don't show them a thing or two, they won't know their place!"

"Your Excellency, you can no longer be soft-hearted. We must kill a few of them before they'll quiet down!"

The eunuchs of the Directorate of Ceremonial were also burning with rage. The outside officials, sparing no effort, were striking at them from every direction—this truly could not be endured.