Chapter 99: The Source of Confidence

Chen Xie had always hoped to stay out of things, but this hope was not something that could be achieved by human will alone. From the initial simple life goal of making money to live a rich person's life, to now, this goal could be considered basically achieved. After this goal was realized, Chen Xie found that he could no longer stop. The methods he once thought were clever had now become the force that compelled him to take the next step. If he stopped and did not move forward, countless ravenous mouths would pounce, devouring everything he had.

Before the wheat harvest began, Chen Xie's return played a stabilizing role in the team. After the sweet potato harvest, the harvesting of 5,500 acres of wheat was no longer a major challenge.

The "miracle doctor" still habitually held an autumn harvest meeting, and the local gentry, Mr. Zhang, was invited to attend. The attendees included both men and women, which made Zhang Yao feel very uncomfortable. Fortunately, she had already gotten used to Chen Xie's peculiarities. When she saw Chen Xie, whose hair had grown back and was tied with a hair tie, sitting in the central position, she realized that this child could no longer be viewed as before.

The purpose of the meeting was to formulate a wheat harvest plan. This meeting seemed a bit redundant, but it was not. It was a method Chen Xie used to cultivate team collaboration. Almost every time they encountered similar matters, they would hold a meeting beforehand. This was one of the things Chen Xie valued most in the past ten months. Without talent, he could only cultivate it himself. The literati of the Ming Dynasty would not lower themselves, and they were not the type of talent Chen Xie needed. These people were good at writing moral articles, but their practical experience was basically nonsense. This was not to say that all literati of the Ming Dynasty were at this level, but the majority were.

The meeting began with Chen Xie giving a speech, commending the performance in the previous sweet potato harvest and fulfilling the promised rewards. Then, the discussion on the organization of the wheat harvest began. The discussion process was characterized by free and open speech. They first formulated a rough plan as the framework, then gradually added and improved the details.

Zhang Yao was very quiet during the meeting, observing the attendees. Chen Xie was in charge of the overall planning, and the two maids were responsible for logistics preparation and transportation and storage, which seemed a bit unbelievable. However, no one had any objections.

"Based on the experience from the last harvest, the human resources for the wheat harvest are relatively abundant. I think the focus should still be on transportation, drying, and storage. We must act quickly to prevent changes in the weather. For this, we must prepare no fewer than fifty four-wheeled carts, and we currently have 135 carts available. Therefore, we can make an adjustment to increase the number of people involved in the front-line harvesting," Yu Zhu said confidently. Zhang Yao found it surreal, wondering if this was the same little maid from her home.

"We can put the militia into the front-line harvesting, and the logistics team will handle the transportation," Chen Xie decided, and Yu Zhu sat down. Yu Huan recorded the decision skillfully.

"The transportation team will ensure there are no delays. I can guarantee this with my head," said Mengzi, who had been saved by Chen Xie and had been his assistant for about half a year before being transferred to the militia logistics team as a team leader.

"I will take responsibility for the personnel arrangements. If there are any problems, you can punish me, sir," said Gu San, Xiaoxuan's father. Although he was illiterate, he had organizational skills and could work with a literate young assistant. Chen Xie lacked talent, so he had to make do with what he had.

The basic framework was established, and then Chen Xie invited Zhang Yao to the study to wait while the team discussed and supplemented the details. Zhang Yao held her teacup and, looking at Chen Xie's calm expression, remarked, "Sihua, you have taught them well. These people have changed so much."

Chen Xie smiled and shook his head. "Actually, it's not that complicated. Correct guidance, organized planning, and making sure everyone knows what they need to do beforehand. The first time is unfamiliar, the second time is familiar, and the ability naturally improves. What I need to do is make them understand that individual ability is limited, and a closely cooperative team is the guarantee of success. This principle applies to any field."

Zhang Yao hesitated and asked, "Sihua, is your militia also like this?"

Chen Xie nodded matter-of-factly. "The military has never been a place where individual bravery dominates. The Zhao Zilong in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a fictional character. Comrades can trust each other with their backs. The power of a team, under strict discipline and close cooperation, is a highly efficient killing machine."

Zhang Yao did not ask further and stood up. "I'm going to rest."

The wheat harvest began with a ceremony. Chen Xie took a sickle and made a few symbolic cuts, then left. The carts took him to the foot of Long Mountain, where he often used explosives to blast rocks, making it the secret training base for the artillery. This was a bit funny because the gunpowder on the island often became damp and unusable. After a few attempts, Chen Xie made a change.

The camp was at the foot of the mountain, with six steel rifled cannons and two 12-pound cannons as the entire artillery. In practice, the Napoleonic 6-pound and 12-pound cannons, in terms of transportation convenience on the roads of the Ming Dynasty, were inferior to the steel rifled cannons in front of them.

With a maximum range of 1,500 meters, these cannons might not be the farthest-shooting of their time, but they were certainly the most portable. With skilled gunners and pre-packed ammunition, they could fire five rounds every two minutes, making them the fastest-firing cannons of their time.

These cannons had their flaws, however. They could not fire canister shot or lead balls directly; they could only fire lead projectiles with a concave bottom and a cork at the back. If not for the considerations of range and accuracy, rifled cannons had no advantage over smoothbore cannons. This time, Chen Xie mainly aimed to solve these two problems. One was to lengthen the rifled cannon barrels to increase the range, and the other was to shorten the barrels and remove the rifling to order the production of special lead balls. This would create a relatively reasonable artillery structure with rifled cannons for long-range suppression and canister shot for close-range damage.

While accuracy was not a current requirement, rapid firing was essential. Although Chen Xie knew that relying too much on modern steel cannons was not a long-term solution, he had no choice for now. Casting cannons was not within his capabilities. Among the blacksmiths provided by Qian Duo, many were skilled craftsmen from the Nanjing Military Equipment Bureau, who could cast some tiger cannon. Considering the potential trouble that casting cannons might bring, Chen Xie abandoned this opportunity. He only set up a steel furnace and found a few literate young assistants to help the old blacksmiths solve the problem of the brittleness of the iron. The cause of this problem, according to modern technical data, was the high sulfur content in coal and the presence of sulfur and phosphorus in the iron ore. This issue later troubled the Ming Dynasty's technical official Sun Yuanhua, whose solution was to thicken the cannons, making them extremely heavy.

Leaving aside the details, the team leader, Weng Zhengqing, led his 100 subordinates to demonstrate their training results. One of the guarantees of the combat effectiveness of modern armies is the reduction of logistical pressure, which is even more evident in the artillery. A 120-person artillery team, with half of the personnel dedicated to transportation and support.

The first step was the artillery's march drill. Weng Zhengqing commanded his subordinates to demonstrate a five-kilometer rapid march for Chen Xie. The blacksmiths of the Ming Dynasty were not inferior, and Chen Xie's idea of integrating ammunition carts and cannons for marching was realized. The two-wheeled ammunition carts were connected to the cannon frames with hooks, forming a four-wheeled vehicle. Two draft horses pulled it, with two more as spares, ensuring a minimum speed of five kilometers per hour even on the rural dirt roads of the Ming Dynasty.

After entering the pre-set position, with the logistics team still lagging behind, the role of the ammunition carts was fully demonstrated, and the shooting preparations were completed in just five minutes.

The red flag was raised and lowered, and the orders were given. The six cannons fired in sequence, sending dust flying from the designated targets on the hillside. Although the first shots missed, Chen Xie was deeply satisfied with the gunners' skilled operation and close cooperation.

Water was poured into the cannon barrels, and a few swipes were made, with the reset work being done simultaneously. The process was smooth, and after a brief adjustment, the second round of firing was different, with two out of six shots hitting the target. In the third round, four out of six shots hit.

Not bad, the results were excellent, considering this was a makeshift team. The only member of the entire artillery team with live-fire experience was a gunner from the Dengzhou naval camp, who had only used the so-called "Great General Cannon." He had never seen a high-end cannon like the Red Coat Cannon.

After the artillery team completed three rounds of firing, they immediately stopped and quickly moved to a new position. This training subject was required by Chen Xie, as he was concerned about the possibility of a longer-range cannon. Staying in one position for too long would be dangerous.

Three people dragged the cannon, two dragged the ammunition cart, and one was in charge of directing. The speed of the position change was very fast, and Chen Xie thought there was no need to watch the rest of the exercise. This was the source of his confidence! If Zhang Keda was a reasonable person, Chen Xie would not mind using money to make him turn a blind eye. If he was not reasonable, Chen Xie would not mind using those who did the dirty work. If things really got out of hand, he would have to raise the flag and rebel. Whoever came, he would beat them back.

The 24 bronze cannons and 5,000 Minié rifled muskets stored in the warehouse were Chen Xie's greatest confidence. As the saying goes in "Water Margin," "To become an official, one must kill and set fires to be pardoned." Of course, this was the last resort.

Chen Xie did not think Zhang Keda would be so foolish as to attack the famous gentry of Dengzhou, Chen Xie, without any warning. After all, he was a military officer. The current highest official in Dengzhou was the military inspector Wang Tingxi, and the prefect of Dengzhou was Xiao Yu. These two had received a lot of silver from the joint business association, making it difficult for Zhang Keda to pass through them.

Chen Xie was just being overly cautious!

The wheat harvest went smoothly, everything was as calm as before, until the evening of November 18th, when Zhang Keda quietly arrived at the Zhang family estate with several attendants, "requesting" to see Chen Xie. Yes, requesting to see him!

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