Luo Chong noted down, one by one, the new firearms that would need to be developed in the future, then began writing a reply to Qu Bing.
In the letter, he explained his decision: to equip them with a batch of Double-Barreled Hunting Rifles and establish a bounty hunter system. From then on, any civilian who killed a giant ape could bring its head to the Government Office and claim a bounty of thirty yuan.
A thirty-yuan bounty was no small sum—it was nearly a worker's monthly wage. But even at that price, the Han Tribe could absolutely buy giant apes until they were extinct.
He also instructed Qu Bing to first lead the Shence Guard back to Heyuan Commandery, then organize militia shotgun training together with You Ye. During training, they could practice with the Eight-Shot Shotguns issued to the Shence Guard. Once the Double-Barreled Hunting Rifles had been delivered, Qu Bing could lead the troops back.
Luo Chong also specifically instructed them not to distribute all two thousand double-barreled shotguns at once. Under the Shiwu System, one gun was to be issued to every five households, with the households taking turns using it. The number of firearms distributed should preferably not exceed fifteen hundred; the remaining five hundred were to be kept by the Government Office.
The first purpose was to replace firearms that broke. The second was to keep some on hand, in case the civilians caused trouble with their guns. If someone went on a rampage with a firearm while the Government Office did not have even one gun in reserve, the consequences were easy to imagine.
The bullets also had to be strictly controlled. Everything each bullet killed had to be recorded. The armed civilians were not to fire recklessly. Even if they killed some