Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 70 Learning the Sword and Turning Itself (4)

The bang bang bang bang bang bang sounded until the night, when the moon rose on the east wall, wandering between the bullfight and Zhao Xingde's tired clothes were soaked, and he was almost exhausted.Two thousand army soldiers worked hard for a day, wounded 12 people, wounded one person with military sticks, and counted 120 seven firecrackers that could withstand double doses of 'drug' powder.Zhao Xingde immediately ordered people to cover the two layers of infantry armor on the wooden post, and within thirty steps, fired the gun, not only piercing the double layer of infantry armor, but also left a big hole in the wooden post, Zhao Xingde finally gasped In a calm tone, he ordered Wang Yan's personal soldiers to invite Master Commander to come again to watch the power of the firecracker.

In order to leave a deep impression on Wang Yan, he specially selected ten steady soldiers and taught them on the spot the three movements of standing, raising the blunderbuss, lighting the fire, and retracting the blunderbuss. .

When Zhao Xingde was training the soldiers, Han Tiedan, the blacksmith foreman, came over happily and bowed: "The shape of the iron gun head has been made, please take a look at it." The craftsman behind him carefully presented a firecracker, Without waiting for instructions, he disassembled it and gestured twice.

"This is..." Zhao Xingde looked at this weird thing and said that it was a bayonet attached to a firecracker, and it would be better to simply change the firecracker into a seven-foot spear, but the front two feet or so are all made of pure iron The barrel of the gun looks a little weird.A wooden stick is attached to the back of the iron gun head with a ring. The upper end of the stick is slightly thicker than the muzzle, and three grooves are carved into it. Just use the gaps in the grooves to align with the three small copper protrusions welded on the muzzle. The wooden stick was inserted into the barrel, and then the tip of the iron gun was rotated to let the copper protrusion slide to the bottom of the groove, and the tip of the gun was firmly stuck on the barrel.If it weren't for the short wooden handle behind the wooden pole of the firecracker to withstand the recoil, it would look no different from a seven-foot spear.

"Isn't your lord talking about this thing?" Seeing that Zhao Xingde hesitated, Han Tiedan took the firecracker from the craftsman, removed the tip of the gun, and hung a rope ring at the end of the stick of the gun head on the body of the firecracker On the lower hook, the head of the iron gun was stuck on the ground, and became a stick for firing the firecracker.Only now did Zhao Xingde realize that the wooden stick behind the gun head was remade from the support stick of the original firecracker, and he couldn't help admiring the ingenuity of the craftsman.

Seeing that Zhao Xingde still did not nod in agreement, Han Tiedan couldn't help but feel a little uneasy, because someone had just eaten the army stick this afternoon.He stammered and explained: "The front of this firecracker is iron and the rear is wooden. The front is heavy and the rear is light. From the perspective of a villain, it seems more appropriate to add an axe, a mace and other heavy weapons before the barrel. In addition, The long-armed soldiers who are falling in front are equipped with a dagger head, which is beneficial to the horizontal hook. However, if the adults want to change it to a long spear, the villain can only change it to the spear. If there is something wrong, as long as the adult speaks, the villain can go Do it, no problem, no problem."

Zhao Xingde didn't expect that there were so many morals and exquisiteness here. After thinking for a while, he felt that since the cold weapons attached to firearms are ever-changing, only one spear will be left in future generations, so it's better not to change it lightly.He murmured carefully and said: "A musket shoots directly dozens of steps away. It is an extension of a long spear. When it rushes to the front, it is naturally used as a long spear. This is called the same line, so there is no need to change it." He made it up indiscriminately. After giving a reason, he felt that he could not be trusted, so he handed the firecracker with the iron tip to Su Wenyu casually, and said, "Do you want to try it?"

Su Wenyu received it with a happy face, danced a few times, and stabbed forward a few times, and said with a smile: "Compared with the long spear, the front is a bit heavier, but it's okay, it's very easy."

Han Tiedan also praised: "Mr. Zhao's words are very reasonable. The villain is like a toilet." He was originally a blacksmith who had never studied, but because of his ingenuity and exquisite workmanship, he was promoted to be the head of the craftsman. Yuandao talked to Shangguan I want to drop some book bags to decorate the appearance, but unexpectedly, the flattery that I finally wrote down, suddenly enlightened me, thinking it was like a toilet.

Su Wenyu was so suffocated that he almost lost his breath, Zhao Xingde said with a wry smile, "I'm overwhelmed." After thinking about it for a while, he felt that he should respect the suggestion of the ordnance craftsman, and changed his words: "Since the front is more important than the back, it is better for axes and daggers. , let’s add an ax to the three hundred gun heads, and add a spear to the three hundred gun heads.”

Han Tiedan smiled and said, "My lord, it's okay, it's okay." But he thought to himself, "What's the use of adding another weapon? You just need to add a casted short iron halberd head to the firecracker." The ax is a bit troublesome, maybe it needs to be welded to make it durable.” However, he has always kept these thoughts in his heart, and he has always said “no problem” when dealing with Shangguan, but because the things he completes are often better than Shangguan originally envisioned. It's even better, but no one insists on him being obedient and obedient.

When Zhao Xingde was looking for other soldiers to try the remade iron spear, Wang Yan with a tired face came, he was sullen and didn't say a word, Zhao Xingde was busy ordering the ten soldiers who had been rehearsing to perform in line and fire.Although the burning of the 'drug' started first and then later, in a very short period of time, ten gunshots were fired, and the iron bullets bombarded the iron leaves of the five sets of infantry armor placed thirty steps away. Straight ring.

As soon as the firing was finished, Wang Yan ignored the dissuasion of his followers and went to inspect the effect of the bullets in person. When he saw the huge crater made by the iron bullets on the wooden stakes in the infantry armor, he was silent for a moment, and said to Zhao Xingde Said: "This firecracker does have merits. It's just that it's not too late. I'll give you [-] soldiers and train them for fifteen days. Is it worth fighting?" huge damage.Ordinary bows and crossbows, even if they 'shot' through iron armor, as long as they miss the vital points and pull out the arrows at the wrong time, there will be no serious problems.Therefore, there are fierce generals in the army, with more than a dozen arrows in their bodies, they are still fighting endlessly.There is also a saying that "it is better to take three arrows than to take one shot, and it is better to suffer three shots than to exchange one shot".The iron bullets of this firecracker are different from the clusters of arrows. If they hit a hard wooden post, they will also be a hole. If they hit a person's body, they will definitely be a blood hole, which is more severe than pulling out the arrowhead on the spot after being hit by an arrow.

"If you use lead poison or mercury poison to temper the projectile, maybe it will be more powerful." Wang Yan thought to himself, even if the Liao people's iron wall camp has a strong armor and thick skin, they will definitely be embarrassed to fight again.The soldiers were also wearing heavy armor, which made it inconvenient to avoid the blunderbuss. Five of them were strung together with iron chains.What's more rare is that this firecracker can just be changed into an iron gun, and it can be used for hand-to-hand combat after firing.Because the firecrackers do not rely on the physical strength of the crossbowman to fire the bullets, and they are almost inaccurate when fired at close range, let alone worry about consuming the archers in hand-to-hand combat.

"Fifteen days?" Zhao Xingde was stunned, and he heard the Liao army's bombardment and the distant fire flashing in the distance, finally nodded and said: "The last general will try his best!"

"Okay!" Wang Yan said in a deep voice, "I will go out of the city in fifteen days to invite the Liao army, so that the Liao people can also taste the power of my Great Song firearms." Anyone who vents about this matter, beheaded. Anyone who hears about it by chance, sit together and beheaded too!" All the soldiers trembled in their hearts, and agreed in a deep voice.Only then did Wang Yan's tone soften, and he said to Zhao Xingde: "Don't bother the two masters with one thing, the [-] soldiers of the Zhenbei Second Army who came to test the firecrackers today will be under your training command. I will allocate another [-] elite soldiers to you. This The archery range will give you a 'drill' to practice the firecracker battalion. If there is no order from my general, anyone who trespasses will be killed. If you don't respect the order in the firecracker camp, I will pay you back as much as you kill."

Zhao Xingde's expression changed, and he thought that the news about the use of the army stick in the afternoon might have reached Wang Yan.But Wang Yan said: "Follow me back to the Yamen first, and report the details of the inspection of the firecrackers."

"Why didn't you kill Zhuhou Wu on the spot?" This was the first sentence Wang Yan said after entering the ruling yamen.

Zhao Xingde was stunned for a moment, bowed and replied: "Zhu Hou's five crimes are not worthy of death." Su Wenyu said that he committed the 74 beheading of the fourth army, but in fact he was hated. To cut in half.

Wang Yan's face was sinking like water, looking at the slightly shaking candle flames, he turned his head to the next quarter, and said slowly: "At the second quarter of the ugly hour, Zhuhou Wu of the Second Army of Zhenbei was patrolling the city. Hit by an arrow from the back of the Khitan, he stumbled and fell off the top of the wall, and his bones were never found."

"What?" Zhao Xingde turned pale with shock, he looked at the omission marking the time, now half an hour away from the ugly fashion, Wang Yan said so, to get rid of Zhuhou Wu's trouble for him.Tonight, Zhu Houwu, who had received thirty military sticks, must lie down in the camp to recuperate his wounds, and he would not be able to get up if the house was on fire.

"Zhu Hou Wu is just a collateral branch of the Zhu family in Bianjing. He fell to the city and died, and the Zhu family will not make a big move." Wang Yan said while flipping through the military books, "If he is saved, I will bear the grudge in my heart." , go back and get relatives to help him, the trouble will become bigger and bigger, maybe it will really become a big trouble. Yuan Zhi, as a general, you can't have the benevolence of a woman."

"However, this is not in line with the military law and the court system!" Zhao Xingde argued forcefully. He couldn't believe that the ruler Wang, who he admired so much, would execute his subordinates without going through the court system.

"Military law, system?" Wang Yan raised his head, stared at Zhao Xingde, and saw that he felt 'hairy' in his heart, before he said slowly: "Then when Zhu Houwu violated the military law based on his family background, what was the court system? system, that is the method used by the imperial court to govern the people. In this world, there are some people who are outside the national legal system, or who think they are above the national legal system. Yuan Zhi, whether you like it or not, there is only one kind of relationship between you and them. The system, the former Han Wengong said clearly, the weak meat, the strong food."

Zhao Xingde's hands and feet were cold, and he seemed to be forced to face a reality that he had been unwilling to face up to, and he heard Wang Yan say: "Do you want to be a law-abiding commoner and seek shelter from the strong, or accept this system of the weak and the strong? These two paths, you Choose yourself, if you don’t want to be a strange man who saves the world, helps the people, and protects the common people, then don’t try to push yourself in everything from now on. It depends on your contribution to choosing the firecracker, and I’ll say that.” Wang Yanfan looked at Jin Yanfu worked carefully to find out the situation of the Liao army outside the city, without raising his head, he said: "Let's go out first. The training of the Huobao battalion is of great importance, and there must be no delay."