Read Novel Full Chapter 902 - 37: Divine Machine Camp
Chapter 902: Chapter 37: Divine Machine Camp
Bang! Bang! Bang!
After three loud blasts, a hole appeared at the center of the three targets ten feet away.
Zhao Yao was very satisfied with his bullseye result and whistled proudly.
Seeing this, Shen Sen and the others hurriedly raised their firearms and pulled the trigger at the targets three feet away.
After a few loud blasts, Chu Huan and the others did hit the targets, but not in the center.
Seeing this, Zhao Yao gently shook his head: "You guys are no good, not a single bullseye."
Chu Huan was not convinced. He shot arrows accurately, but his aim with firearms was unexpectedly poor.
"Boss, we just started practicing, of course it’s not accurate," Shen Sen defended himself, "Give us some time, we will definitely hit the bullseye."
"Exactly, as long as we practice diligently, we’ll definitely hit it," Zhang He said, unwilling to concede.
Song Jicai said, "Give this young master a few days, and I’ll definitely hit the bullseye."
Chu Huan said nothing, raised his firearm, and continued shooting at the targets.
Seeing the disgruntled expressions of his four juniors, Zhao Yao laughed and said: "Alright, I’ll give you all a month to practice. After a month, whoever hits the most targets, I’ll hand over the Divine Machine Camp to him." Zhao Yao planned to establish a firearms troop called "Divine Machine Camp." This name, of course, was inspired by the historical Divine Machine Camp of Emperor Yongle from Zhao Yao’s dream.
Upon hearing Zhao Yao’s words, Chu Huan and the others immediately became very excited.
"Boss, are you serious?"
"Boss, don’t deceive us."
"Boss, I want to be the head of the Divine Machine Camp."
"Boss, keep your word."
"Why would I lie to you?" Zhao Yao said seriously, "A month from now, I will hold a shooting competition for you, and whoever of you four wins, I’ll hand over the Divine Machine Camp to him."
Chu Huan and the others glanced at each other and saw the competitive spirit in each other’s eyes. Although they were brothers, there were no brothers on the competition field. He was determined to win the shooting match a month later.
"Also, I will select five hundred soldiers. Starting tomorrow, these five hundred soldiers will also begin shooting practice. They will undergo training for a month just like you. After a month, I will choose the best two hundred from the five hundred to become the first batch of soldiers in the Divine Machine Camp."
"Boss, choosing two hundred from five hundred is a little too few, isn’t it?" Shen Sen thought the Divine Machine Camp, being an elite force, would be too small with only two hundred people.
"Boss, two hundred people are too few," Zhang He agreed with Shen Sen’s view, "The Divine Machine Camp, being a kingly force, should at least have twenty thousand."
Song Jicai said, "Even twenty thousand is too few, it should be at least a hundred thousand."
"Boss, the Divine Machine Camp should have at least a few thousand people," Chu Huan thought a few thousand seemed more reasonable than tens or hundreds of thousands.
Hearing the four juniors, Zhao Yao rolled his eyes at them.
He said with exasperation, "Do you think I don’t want a tens of thousands strong Divine Machine Camp? Where would you find me tens or even hundreds of thousands of men?"
Zhang He naively said, "Isn’t it easy to find tens of thousands? The neighboring Lingnan Camp has hundreds of thousands, doesn’t it?"
"I didn’t know I had such abilities to casually ask for soldiers from Lingnan Camp," Zhao Yao did not tell the four juniors he had the Tiger Talisman of Lingnan Camp. Not even He Lianfang knew. "Even if I could get tens of thousands or a hundred thousand, do you want the court to think I’m rebelling?"
Hearing Zhao Yao’s last words, Shen Sen and the others remembered that a prince could have at most a five-thousand-man guard. If it exceeded five thousand, it would be assumed as having rebellious intentions.
Song Jicai kindly reminded Zhao Yao, "Boss, haven’t you forgotten that the force you’ve put us four in charge of already numbers ten to twenty thousand, far exceeding the five-thousand standard for a prince’s guards?"
"Exactly, boss, your private army already exceeds five thousand."
"You were talking about tens or hundreds of thousands just now," Zhao Yao glared at Song Jicai and the other three, "If I had a private army of a hundred thousand and the court found out, I’d be accused of rebellion, and even washing in the Yellow River wouldn’t clear my name."
Shen Sen and the others wanted to say more, but Zhao Yao interrupted them.
"Do you think firearms are like cabbages, with tens or hundreds of thousands of them for everyone to have one?" Zhao Yao raised his firearm, fiercely addressing Chu Huan and the others, "Do you know how much it costs to make a firearm? Do you know how difficult it is to produce one? The firearms you hold are ones I and Zheng Cheng made after numerous experiments and improvements. Do you know how often we got injured or nearly died during experiments?" If he weren’t wealthy, he couldn’t afford to produce firearms.