Chapter 552: The Art of Rain Protection |
Release Date: 2026-06-01 03:26:00
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Dou Wenda hid himself far away, unwilling to provoke appeasement bandits like these. Pretending to be terribly busy, he hurried off to direct the village militia in treating the wounded and cleaning the battlefield.
With him gone, everyone found it easier to talk freely.
Cheng Xu shook the water droplets off his armor. “Damnit! Fighting in this heavy rain, and in winter at that – I’m frozen half to death! Quick, find me a clean spot to change clothes and soak in a hot bath.”
White Cat chuckled. “Come on, let’s head to our barracks first and rest awhile.”
The three walked towards the barracks together, chatting as they went.
Wang Er offered, “The drought here in Shanxi isn’t as severe as in Shaanxi. Rain does come occasionally in these parts.”
Cheng Xu nodded, his expression growing serious. “But if rain falls often like this, it would seriously affect the combat power of Gaojia Village. Our firearm soldiers really don’t like rainy days.”
Wang Er nodded in agreement. “That truly is a major issue.”
Just as he said this, the Cloth Doll Deity sitting on White Cat’s shoulder suddenly laughed and spoke up. “Solving this problem is actually not difficult. Over a hundred years ago, during Japan’s Warring States period, they devised a very cheap and convenient method.”
Cheng Xu, Wang Er, and White Cat all jumped in surprise. They quickly greeted, “Pay respects to the Deity!”
The Cloth Doll Deity chuckled. “No need for formalities. Let’s get to the point. The issue of firearms being unusable in the rain does indeed need attention. The prolonged drought meant everyone was unprepared for this. That simply won’t do.”
The generals immediately put on solemn expressions. “What was this Japanese method the Deity speaks of?”
The Cloth Doll Deity commanded, “Bring me a writing brush. I’ll sketch it for you.”
All three of them looked at the Deity’s spherical hands…
Staring!
The Cloth Doll Deity: “…”
An awkward silence fell over the scene.
Well, this was embarrassing.
The Cloth Doll Deity coughed. “Bring me a large bowl of ink.”
The three hurried back into a room in the barracks. They didn’t even stop to change their wet clothes first, going straight to fetch a large sea bowl and filling it with ink. They set it before the Cloth Doll Deity.
The Cloth Doll plunged its entire spherical hand into the inkwell, soaked it fully, and then pulled it out. Ah, that should do it.
Using this inky hand, it first drew a long tube on the ground. “This is the firearm.”
The three nodded.
Then, at the “flintlock mechanism” position of the firearm, the Deity drew a square box. “This is a square box made of wood or bamboo. It can be clipped over the mechanism of the firearm. This ensures the flintlock pistol’s powder won’t get wet from rain while firing.”
Although the drawing was crude, the three generals used their imagination and immediately understood. This thing was indeed quite handy!
Cheng Xu remarked, “If we give every soldier a large bamboo hat, the brim alone would offer some rain protection. While loading ammunition, they could prop the firearm upright under the hat’s brim to pour in the gunpowder. Once loaded, they could use the wooden box or bamboo box shown in the picture to cover the flintlock mechanism, then raise the firearm to shoot.”
Wang Er added, “This design is incredibly convenient!”
The Cloth Doll Deity, however, laughed. “Such a solution is ultimately just a stopgap, good for emergencies only. To truly solve the rain problem, the best approach is to upgrade all firearm soldiers to Sharps Rifles.”
The three generals chorused, “We obey your command!”
The Cloth Doll Deity fell silent, saying no more.
Only then did the three generals quickly strip off their wet clothes and change into dry ones. They warmed themselves by the fire for a while, wrapped up in thick cotton coats, grabbed oil-paper umbrellas, and returned to Pingyang Prefecture.
Pingyang Prefecture was still chaotic. Large numbers of porters were diligently cleaning the battlefield in the rain, hauling away bandit corpses. Others were refitting the city walls with rolling logs and stones, ensuring supplies were ready for the next bandit attack when it came.
Dou Wenda was also soaked through, bustling about everywhere. Seeing the three generals return, his first concern was their ammunition. “Generals! Since reinforcements have arrived, you surely brought a good stock of ammunition too?”
White Cat smiled reassuringly. “Rest easy, Excellency Dou. Ammunition worries are behind us now.”
Dou Wenda let out a long sigh of relief. “That’s excellent news.”
But Cheng Xu immediately made him tense again. “We’re not here just to stubbornly defend the prefectural city. We must take the initiative and go rescue the civilians trapped in the surrounding counties.”
Dou Wenda exclaimed, “What?! You only have two thousand men and you plan to go on the offensive?! Outside… there are at least two hundred thousand! Two hundred thousand! General, I implore you, do not risk your forces solely for merit. We must wait until the main imperial army has encircled them!”
Cheng Xu snorted coldly. “Wait for the imperial army to encircle them? Then the bandits will just run away again. We’ll chase them… then they run again… and we’ll be stuck forever just running after them.”
Dou Wenda sighed deeply. “You speak true reason. Ever since Bai Shui Wang Er rebelled in Year Seven of Tianqi, these bandits have plagued us for over five years now. The officials keep pursuing, the bandits keep fleeing… this scourge seems endless! General, I understand the meaning behind your words earlier. But with only two thousand men… even if exceptionally fierce… you ultimately cannot finish off an army of two hundred thousand bandits. If your force gets isolated and surrounded deep in enemy territory… your ammunition won’t be enough to kill all two hundred thousand! The risk is too great. Do not court such danger!”
Cheng Xu: “Ah!”
Wang Er: “Ah!”
White Cat looked up at the sky. “Heaven rewards us with rain now. Who knows how many common folk, hearts full of hope, are dreaming of planting their fields well come next spring? If we could just quell these bandits within this winter… how wonderful that would be.”
He spoke what was in their hearts; it was the shared wish among them.
Yet within the Cloth Doll Deity’s cloth head, thoughts were different: You all think the drought is over now? Far from it. The worst drought has yet to come. Ah… the common folk’s suffering is still far from ended.
…
Outside the window, raindrops fell relentlessly, pitter-patter, continuing unabated for three days and three nights.
This unforeseen rain lasted longer and persisted far beyond anyone’s expectations.
The initial torrential downpour settled into a persistent drizzle.
The entire world was shrouded in misty rain.
While the Sharps Rifles remained usable even in the rain, the rifled firearms were far less reliable. Cheng Xu, therefore, couldn’t launch any offensives and could only remain within Pingyang Prefecture.
He directed the porters to chop wood and bamboo, fashioning small, rain-proof boxes for the firearms using wooden and bamboo sheets. Making these gadgets proved relatively straightforward. Within a few days, all fifteen hundred firearm soldiers were equipped with their rain-sheltering boxes. They also crafted large, rain-shielding bamboo hats with extraordinarily wide brims – like holding an umbrella right above their heads.
Three days passed. The bandits did not return. However, Xing Honglang’s forces arrived.
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