Chapter 42: The Power of Firearms

  After entering the adjacent council chamber, the five men looked at each other and then all knelt down on one knee, shouting: "Master is above, please accept our bow."

  "Everyone, get up quickly!" Li Jiancheng walked over and pulled several people up. "From now on, you are all my family generals, just call me Young Master, don't be too polite."

  "Since our lord has given an order, we will obey." The five men said in unison.

  "Since I still don't know you all, why don't you introduce yourselves?" Seeing the five of them being so obedient, it had to be said that the intimidation from earlier was quite effective.

  "Young master, I am Qin Hu, originally the deputy general of Taiyuan City." The middle-aged man who stood in the middle of the martial arts stage just now came out to introduce himself.

  "Young master, my name is Sha Bao. This is my younger brother Sha Liang. We were originally the personal guards of Vice General Qin." The other four middle-aged men who looked more refined said, pointing to a middle-aged man standing beside him who looked similar to them.

  "Young master, I am Song Wen, the guardian general of Taiyuan East City Gate!" a tall and robust man said.

  "Young master, I am Yang Wei, the guardian general of Taiyuan's South City Gate!" said another tall and robust man.

  "If that's the case, your original positions weren't low either. Why did you all give up your positions to come and train these orphans?" Li Jiancheng asked in puzzlement.

  "Young master, we originally just wanted to train these orphans to earn some money to support our families. But then the former Taoyuan guardian found out and asked us to give our positions to his relatives. We were so angry that we left immediately and accepted Mr. He's invitation to continue training these orphans." Song Wen said hastily, seemingly still indignant about their experience.

  "Now that you're following me, I won't let you down. In the future, there will be opportunities to bring honor and glory to your ancestors, as long as you work hard, there is still a way forward." Li Jiancheng encouraged them to say.

  But looking at them, they don't seem to care, he also understands that since the weather is still calm today, they think they have no way out for themselves. Of course, after a few years, heroes will rise in all directions, and Li Jiancheng can't tell them anything. Anyway, when the time comes, they will understand.

  "Alright, next I'll talk about selecting the 20 orphans. Earlier I mentioned those requirements that you all know, good martial arts skills are useless if one doesn't have a nimble mind and a strong physique to adapt to changing circumstances. As for how to choose them, it's up to you all to handle, I hope you can do well, at that time I'll also pass on a few secret techniques to help you improve your cultivation." Li Jiancheng said slowly.

  "Thank you, young master!" The five of them exclaimed in unison. Everything else is empty talk; only improving one's own strength is the true principle.

  "Alright, there's nothing else. You all go and prepare. I'll go with Uncle He to check on the craftsmen." Seeing that there was no more business to discuss, he let them all leave. Although Li Jiancheng had dismissed them, they had gleaned an important piece of information from his words - his form of address for He Taichong. From his referring to He Taichong as "Uncle", they realized that their relationship was not ordinary. Originally, they had thought it was just a superior-subordinate relationship, but now they would have to change their view of He Taichong.

  He Tachong's face was also flushed with excitement. To think that previously, they had all looked down on him to some extent, treating him like a businessman. How could he have endured that? Now, being spoken of by Li Jiancheng in this way, his status had been subtly elevated, and so he felt even more grateful towards Li Jiancheng, throwing himself into his work with renewed vigor. This was also Li Jiancheng's intention. Earlier, he had noticed that the few people seemed to have a poor attitude towards He Tachong, and through these words, he raised He Tachong's status. Firstly, it could make He Tachong work more diligently; secondly, and most importantly, with He Tachong's elevated status, Li Jiancheng's words would be better executed through him. If those people had looked down on He Tachong and not followed his instructions, it would have become a joke.

  These thoughts were fleeting, and upon seeing them all leave, Li Jiancheng said to He Taichong: "Uncle, let's go take a look at the situation with those craftsmen." Seeing that Li Jia'an was going to see the craftsmen, He Taichong walked ahead to lead the way. The living quarters of these orphans formed a semi-enclosed circle, trapping the craftsmen inside, which could prevent outsiders from entering and also prevent the craftsmen from leaking out any information.

  After walking for a while, we arrived at the gathering place of craftsmen. Behind it is a coal mountain, and nearby there is an iron mine, which makes it convenient to extract materials. Moreover, it's easy to defend and hard to attack, it seems that the person who chose this location was also a talent, knowing how to choose a good spot.

  First, they came to the place of gunpowder, where all were alchemists. Normally, they couldn't eat their fill or wear warm clothes and were in danger of losing their lives. Now, Li Jiancheng let them eat their fill and wear warm clothes, and also made their work safe, so as soon as they heard He Taichong's introduction and knew that Li Jiancheng was the boss behind the scenes, they became very excited, and one after another bowed down, saying he was a Bodhisattva reincarnated to save them. This left him speechless - if it weren't for their skills, would Li Jiancheng care about their lives or deaths? There were many more people in this world who suffered more than they did; if he took care of all of them, he would have gone bankrupt long ago.

  Ignore them, from among these alchemists, they found a leader named Qingyun. This was his Daoist name. Unable to make a living, he became a Daoist to avoid taxes and get by. Why not?

  "Master, this way!" Qingyun said as he led the way. This was Li Jiancheng's request, to have them all address him as "master". If they called him "owner", it sounded like they were back in a slave society. Qingyun led Li Jiancheng to a slightly cooler room and opened the door for the two of them to enter. Finding a cool place to store things was also one of Li Jiancheng's requirements, otherwise a pile of explosives would be placed together, and on a hot day, these people would all be gone, and it would take who knows how much time to find more? These were hard-won finds after all.

  Li Jiancheng walked in, looking at the boxes of explosives packed in wooden crates with excitement. He opened one of the boxes and looked at the packages wrapped in oiled paper, his inner excitement was palpable, these were all secret weapons. Therefore, he immediately ordered that except for Qingyun and He Taichong, no one else was allowed to enter, and people from the orphanage were brought in to guard around the clock. If someone tried to force their way in, they would be driven away first, and if they still didn't listen, they would be killed without mercy. These things had to be kept safe, otherwise, once something went missing, the consequences would be immeasurable.

  "Uncle He, starting from tomorrow, have someone dig a tunnel underground that's large enough for people to live in. In the future, if any powerful individuals come, we can transfer everything down there and hide." Li Jiancheng instructed.

  "Good!" He Tao responded promptly. However, he thought to himself: What is this master doing here for no reason? But he still obeyed Li Jiancheng's words, so after Li Jiancheng left, he passed on the order.

  After instructing, Li Jiancheng let He Taichong find someone to bring some explosives to the place where firearms were made. He only said that it would be useful and didn't say much more, leaving several people deeply puzzled by his actions.

  "Qingyun, as long as you manage this place well, you will have great merits and benefits in the future. Also, if anyone can develop more powerful and stable explosives, there will be a heavy reward. I hope you won't disappoint me." Li Jiancheng believed that under his financial attack, they would all make innovations, after all, the saying goes "under heavy rewards, there must be brave men!"

  "Alright, young master!" Qingyun nodded in understanding. Then Li Jiancheng and He Tai rushed to the steel-making place, which was also an important location. Before firearms were mass-produced, this could be considered a high-end arsenal.

  "Master, his name is Tang Tong, he's in charge here." After arriving at the iron smelting place, Mrs. He pointed to a dark-skinned but sturdy man and said so.

  "What does Young Master want to know?" Tang Tong asked Li Jiancheng.

  "I only need to know two things. Firstly, using refined iron, let's call it steel from now on, how effective are the newly made weapons; secondly, how many such weapons can be produced every month?" Li Jiancheng asked simply and clearly.

  "It's not an exaggeration to call Young Master a divine being!" Tang Tong first praised Li Jia'an, then continued: "The steel manufactured using the method Young Master provided is incredibly hard and durable. When it clashes with previous iron-made weapons, the steel-made ones remain unscathed, while the iron-made ones break in two! It's truly a divine creation!"

  Tang Tong paused halfway through his speech to express his admiration again before continuing: "At our current pace, as long as we have enough materials, we can produce 50 units per month. If we have more people, perhaps we can make even more. Of course, if we all work overtime, maybe we can produce around 100 units per month."

  Li Jiancheng thought for a moment, "50 for now is still okay, but once the war breaks out, I'm afraid it won't be enough." "Uncle, pass on my order, whoever can come up with a way to make weapon production faster and more powerful will be heavily rewarded!"

  "Alright, let's build it!" Mrs. He responded promptly.

  "Tang Tong will be fine, and in the future, you won't lack benefits." Li Jiancheng encouraged Tang Tong again and came to the most important place this time, which was where the fire gun was made.

  "Young master, this is Wang Tiezhu, also the leader of these craftsmen. At the same time, he is one of the most skilled among them." He Taichong said in detail, it seems that he was well-prepared, no matter where he went, he could explain everything clearly, and he had a good intention.

  "Young master, I don't know what use these things you've had us make are?" Wang Tiejun asked.

  "You'll know soon enough!" Li Jiancheng said with a smile, maintaining an air of mystery. Then he had someone bring over a slightly larger animal, and opened the explosives that had been brought earlier. At the same time, he picked up a fire gun, and silently prayed in his heart that it would be effective, or else all their efforts would be wasted.

  After a while, a worker brought over a dog. Then Li Jiancheng loaded the gun with explosives and an iron bullet, took aim at the dog, and pulled the trigger. The dog started barking frantically as soon as it was aimed at, as if sensing danger. When Li Jiancheng pulled the trigger, there was a loud "bang", and the dog let out two mournful cries before falling to the ground.

  A gust of wind blew by, and the onlookers around all broke out in a cold sweat...