Chapter 7 At Sea

  The day after buying the revolvers, Deng Zi Xuan led a group of good men to a forest on the outskirts of the public concession. Deng Zi Xuan distributed the revolvers he brought to each person and said: "Today we will familiarize ourselves with firearms and practice shooting. Before the formal shooting, I want to say a few words. You may have been deeply harmed by foreign guns. Don't underestimate these small bullets, one shot can be fatal, no matter how high your martial arts skills are, you cannot resist or dodge the penetration of bullets!"

  "Master Deng, my flying knife is fast enough, but compared to bullets, it's far inferior. This thing is really damn evil." Deng Zixuan smiled and said: "Actually, our ancestors in the Song Dynasty invented firearms because we invented gunpowder, which gave us the conditions to manufacture firearms. Firearms were widely used in the Ming Dynasty, but due to historical limitations at that time, firearms could not surpass cold weapons, and cold weapons are the knives and swords in your hands."

  Seeing everyone's ears perked up and fully attentive, Deng Zixuan continued: "In the early years of the Qing dynasty, the firearms we developed were in no way inferior to those of foreigners. However, the Qing emperor was afraid of firearms and thus stifled their development. Although the Qing court retained research on cannons, progress was extremely slow. The Qing court had always emphasized the importance of cavalry, but the so-called invincible cavalry was defeated miserably in the face of foreign guns and artillery. The best example is the occupation of Beijing by the Anglo-French coalition 10 years ago."

  Big guy Zhang Man-Chang echoed: "Young Master Deng is right, last year we were chased by the Huai Army's foreign rifle squad, and one of my good brothers was killed by a bullet to the head. The bullet came from over 200 meters away, and since then I've been afraid whenever I see the foreign rifle squad." "No wonder you little guy runs faster than a rabbit when you see the foreign rifle squad! It turns out you were scared!" Ghost Machine Spirit Wan-Chuan teased, and everyone burst into laughter.

  Bai Sheng rolled up his sleeves and said, "Master Deng, look at this! This is what the Huai Army's foreign rifle team did to us. If I hadn't run fast, I would have been dead by now." Then everyone started talking about their own experiences of escaping.

  Deng Zixuan smiled and said, "Running fast is not shameful. Avoiding the enemy's killing to preserve yourself can fight more effectively. Later, I will slowly tell you how we use firearms to fight. Now, I'll demonstrate, you guys watch carefully!" Deng Zixuan disassembled the revolver last night and studied it carefully. Then he slowly disassembled the revolver into a mess, with parts scattered all over the ground.

  Deng Zixuan took the parts and explained them one by one, then reassembled them. "Now it's your turn to disassemble the guns in your hands, watch my movements!" At first, they were a bit clumsy, but after all, they were high-ranking martial artists with high comprehension, and soon they were able to disassemble and reassemble with ease. "Haha! I thought it would be much harder than that!" Wang Xia'er, the youngest, said proudly. Deng Zixuan smiled and walked to the front of a tree, then took out a dozen sheets of paper from his pocket and hung one on the tree trunk. The crowd looked at the paper on the tree in confusion, unsure what it meant.

  He turned around and walked 20 steps backwards, stopping to say: "The paper hanging from the tree up ahead is the target. You see that big circle surrounding a smaller one? That's for testing your marksmanship accuracy. If you hit the small circle in the middle, it means your shooting skills are superb. To be honest with all of you gentlemen, I'm also shooting for the first time, and my shooting technique is basically non-existent, but I do know how to shoot." After finishing speaking, Deng Zixuan aimed at the target and fired.

  After a crisp gunshot, Ghost Machine Spirit Wan Chuan ran forward to check: "Young Master Deng, you didn't hit it!" Deng Zi Xuan knew he wasn't cut out for this and said: "Shooting is also a matter of innate talent, but it must be honed through bitter practice. Just like your martial arts training, it's not something that can be accomplished overnight. Alright, everyone follow my movements and fire another shot." After another round of gunshots, Fast Knife Hand Leng Yi Fei hit the best with 8 rings, Chen Jin Tang came in second with 5 rings, and Cold-Faced Killer Bai Sheng hit 4 rings. Everyone else except for Pei Ge Jin, who fired a blank shot, hit the target. Deng Zi Xuan knew that stability was crucial in shooting, and these people undoubtedly possessed innate talent for shooting.

  Pei Gejin belongs to the brainpower type, and it seems that he and himself are on the same level. Each person shoots five bullets, and each bullet must be carefully considered to find the shortcomings." After shooting five bullets, Deng Zixuan is the most embarrassing, with all five bullets hitting empty air. Fortunately, Pei Gejin has one bullet that hits the target. Zuoyifei continues to lead, with one bullet hitting the bullseye. Chen Jintang didn't hit the bullseye, but his performance was very stable, with five bullets hovering between the 5th and 9th rings. Bai Sheng's best score also hit the 8th ring, while Wang Xia'er, who performed the worst, still had one bullet that hit the 3rd ring.

  After the shooting ended, Deng Zixuan didn't have a gloomy expression at all, because his mind wasn't on the shooting. Seeing everyone was very happy, he said: "Today's shooting will stop here, go back and continue to familiarize yourself with firearms, tomorrow we'll continue practicing shooting. The requirement is that tomorrow you still shoot 5 rounds of bullets, within a period of 10 days, finish training after shooting 50 rounds of bullets." After Deng Zixuan finished speaking, he led the way back home.

  The next morning, Deng Zixuan came to the ear room and said: "Brother Chen, today you lead the brothers to continue training, and Brother Pei stays behind to handle something!" Chen Jintang didn't say a word, led the others out. "Master Deng! What do I need to do?" "Today is December 10th, go buy 9 tickets for the ship leaving for Guangzhou on the 15th. We're going to Guangzhou to do something big. I'll tell you what it is when we get there!"

  After sending away Pei Gejin, Deng Zixuan began to make a plan for the children's homework. He estimated that this trip to Guangzhou would take at least half a year, so he had to leave some work for them to do. On the same day, Pei Gejin bought back the ship tickets. At present, the direct cargo ships from Shanghai to Guangzhou were very convenient, especially the British passenger and cargo liners which almost set sail every day. The business of the British Empire was booming in the Qing Dynasty.

  "Going to Guangzhou, what are you going to do in Guangzhou?" Mother was shocked. "Mom! Can't agree to Zixuan's request. Guangzhou is so far away, what if something unexpected happens? Besides, you've never been on a long trip before, I won't be at peace!" Zi De vetoed it immediately. "Mom! Brother, I'm going to Guangzhou to find a teacher, and I'll be back in three months or half a year at most. This time I made a vow to myself that I must pass the imperial examination, to live up to Father's spirit in heaven, to meet Mother's expectations and brother's kindness. If I want to achieve success, I must work hard and persevere, only then can I be self-reliant."

  Deng Zixuan was eloquent and unstoppable. His older brother was speechless, unable to respond. Their mother said, "But I'm worried..." "Don't worry, Mom, several good men from the jianghu will accompany me, they promised to protect me!" Deng Zixuan added weight to his words. His mother sighed and said, "Xuan'er has this ambition, your father's spirit in heaven would also be relieved. Xuan'er growing up and going out to make a name for himself is fine, just go and come back early, take care of yourself." The mother felt at ease when she heard that those jianghu people were accompanying him.

  After Mother left, Zide still had lingering fears and said: "When going out, you must be more careful and take charge of things yourself. I've observed that those few Jianghu good men are quite skilled, having them by your side will reduce some troubles, Zixuan, you must take care of yourself. As the saying goes, 'poor family rich road', I'll prepare some travel expenses for you!" Deng Zixuan was somewhat moved and said: "Brother, no need, the silver given to me by the Gao family is enough!" Zide was a bit puzzled. How much money did the Gao family give him after all?

  A 500-ton steamship with a thick smokestack emitting dense black smoke slowly departed from the dock. The British captain shouted loudly, and several sailors were busy at work. The crew was complex, consisting of Europeans, South Americans, and people with Asian faces. Deng Zixuan gazed at the busy sailors, seemingly deep in thought, as if he had decided that they would need to have their own fleet for coastal transportation in the future.

  The ship had just left the dock and sailed for a short while when Deng Zixuan saw Chen Jintang clenching his fists, with the muscles on his face twitching slightly. This was because he saw the British captain beating up a sailor with a dark complexion and a braided queue, who was obviously from the Qing Dynasty. Chen Jintang could not accept this kind of bullying. Looking at others, their faces were also filled with indignation. The British captain was beating the sailor while loudly cursing him as "Qing dog" and "stupid pig". If Chen and his friends could understand what he was saying, they would probably be unable to control their emotions.

  "This is not a good phenomenon, this group of men are hostile to foreigners and have no good impression of them. If they get agitated, it won't be good." "You few come over here!" Deng Zixuan shouted immediately. "Damn it, the foreigner is too arrogant, should we teach him a lesson?" Zhang Manchun, the big-headed one, exclaimed. "No need for you to take action, I can beat the foreign devil until he's picking up his teeth from the ground!" Wu Baotian, the long-legged one, stepped forward. "Don't be reckless, a small mistake can ruin the whole plan. I've told you before, don't forget!" Deng Zixuan frowned.

  Pei Gejin said, "Deng Gongzi is right. Just now we were all somewhat lost in reason. Gongzi is young and has such composure, this is a blessing for everyone." Chen Jintang apologized, "Gongzi, brother knows his mistake, please instruct me!" Deng Zixuan said warmly, "Brother Chen, you are the model for everyone, no matter what situation arises, you must think thrice before acting. Since you take me as your leader, you must listen to my command!" Everyone nodded in agreement.

  "After the brothers dispersed, Deng Zixuan said to Chen Jintang and Pei Gejin: 'Two gentlemen, those who achieve great things cannot be bound by trivial matters. Such scenes will happen repeatedly in the future, so we must have a calm mind. Remember that one day, I will make foreigners bow their heads before us.' 'Young master! Rest assured, I will remember your words.' 'Young master! Pei humbly thinks he is meticulous, but compared to Master Deng, he is far inferior and feels ashamed.'"

  At dusk, the cargo ship sailed south along the coastline with a rumble. After dinner, it was dark, and other brothers probably didn't adapt to the tossing on the sea and fell asleep early. Deng Zixuan was also traveling at sea for the first time, but he didn't feel uncomfortable. Probably due to excitement, he walked up to the deck again. Due to the small tonnage of this coastal passenger-cargo ship, there were only over 30 passengers on board. To be honest, the ticket price was very expensive, and ordinary poor people couldn't afford it. Probably all the people on the boat were dignitaries, so the British captain was more relaxed with the guests and didn't restrict their freedom much.

  With his hand on the railing, looking out at the dark sea surface and listening to the crashing waves, Deng Zixuan felt a little anxious. The trip to Guangzhou might not yield any results, but he had to give it a try. As they set sail into the distance, it marked the official beginning of their grand plan. "Young master! Are you lost in thought?" Deng Zixuan turned to see Chen Jintang, "Big brother, you're not asleep?" "I saw you come out and couldn't help but worry!" In the darkness, Deng Zixuan could feel the concern and affection from the other person. At this moment, any extra words seemed pale in comparison, so he simply reached out to touch Chen Jintang's hand as a gesture of gratitude.

  "Deng Gongzi, brother has something to say but doesn't know if it's right or not?" "You and I are brothers, so speak freely!" "I feel like you don't trust us?" "What do you mean by that." "The trip to Guangzhou, what was the real purpose? The so-called visit to a famous teacher is just an excuse. You and I are brothers who share a heart, why hide it?" Chen Jintang spoke frankly and sincerely. Deng Zixuan hesitated for a moment before saying: "Brother! This matter is of great importance, therefore I must be extremely cautious. Since brother asked me, I won't hide it from you. The story goes like this..."

  "Gongzi! Are you certain?" Chen Jintang was slightly excited in the darkness. "To be honest, I don't dare to be certain, but we have to take a gamble. As for not telling you in time, one reason is that I'm afraid of leaking the information, and the other is that I myself am not sure, we can only confirm after arriving in Guangzhou." Just as Deng Zixuan finished speaking, voices came from the side where the rope was tied, and the two people turned their heads simultaneously.

  。