Xie Jing was able to send Li Xin a firecracker, which means that he definitely has more than one there, which means that he is already on the way back to the capital with a firecracker.

The structure of the firearm is not complicated, as long as there is a sample to bring back, those old blacksmiths in the capital can easily imitate it, and the most critical gunpowder is also under development in the capital, so Li Xin and the other three people saw this thing, and their faces were a little unpleasant.

Li Shuo immediately half-knelt on the ground and said, "General." In the past few days, the 500 firecrackers of the Ningzhou Army have suffered more than 20 casualties and three are missing......

Li was a little helpless in his confidence.

The two sides are in close contact in the city, and the firearm is not a panacea, it is normal to be shot by the enemy's bow and crossbow, and it is inevitable that the firearm will be lost, but even so, he felt a little uncomfortable after mocking the uncle of the wastewood country like this.

"Xie Jingken left half of the Hanzhong army in Xiangyang City, most of it is for this, no wonder you, you get up and speak."

Li Shuo got up from the ground, bowed his head to Li Xin, and said in a deep voice: "General, the general has been using firecrackers for the past few days, the advantage of this firecracker is that it is easy to use, even if it is a teenager, it can hurt people, but when it comes to lethality, it is still not comparable to a bow and crossbow......

Li Xin frowned slightly, and said in a sullen voice: "The question now is, how is the gunpowder of the imperial court, the samples I left for them last year are only about half the power of our own gunpowder, if they are just imitated to that extent, even if they have firearms, they are basically not lethal." ”

Speaking of this, General Li slowly exhaled.

"I just don't know if those skilled craftsmen in the capital can improve gunpowder to the point of southwest gunpowder."

Mu Ying lowered her head and frowned: "General, do you want the last general to take someone out to chase after you, it's best to chase this thing back, I have few people in the southwest, and the lives of soldiers are precious, so I can't just make a fire gun for the people of the imperial court." ”

"I'm afraid it's not easy to chase......"

Li Xin shook his head helplessly: "The Hanzhong army is not the same as the rabble that attacked Hanzhou back then, although they were defeated in Xiangyang City, but they are not without combat effectiveness, you lead people to catch up, don't give them a way to live, the Hanzhong army will become a mourning soldier, and they may not be able to bear it if they kill a horse." ”

"Don't worry, the general won't chase deeply, just chase it out and give it a try."

Li Xin hesitated, nodded and said: "Then you go out of the city to chase it, remember one thing, don't fight hard with them, take advantage of it if you can, take advantage of it a little, if you can't take advantage of it, you will come to Xiangyang, and there are many things to discuss with you." ”

Mu Ying bowed his head quickly, strode away, and then led the elite of the 20,000 Southwest Army to chase after him from the east city of Xiangyang City.

After Mu Ying left, Li Xin was still standing on the city tower and glanced back at Li Shuo.

"If you make such a fuss to Xie Jing, your Ningzhou Army's merits will be discounted."

Now that the two brothers are nearby Meizu outsiders, Li Shuo smiled bitterly, lowered his head and said, "It's the younger brother who didn't think it through and ruined the elder brother's affairs." ”

"It's not a bad thing, you also said it, the fire gun can't change anything, at most it can only be regarded as the icing on the cake, Huzi still has new things over there, if you can successfully get it, the fire gun or something, it's all irrelevant."

From the first time he made gunpowder in Yongzhou, to the next ten years, the formula of gunpowder has always been held in his hands, but after he handed over the gunpowder sample to Yuan Zhao Tianzi last year, the secrecy work is not as important as before.

Because as long as there is gunpowder, these things will be made sooner or later, and what Li Xin has to do now is to enter the capital and control all the situations before the imperial court has time to get the things that should be done.

Speaking of this, Li Xin said in a deep voice: "How many cavalry are there in your Ningzhou army?" ”

Li Shuo bowed his head respectfully: "Brother Hui, in the past few years, the Ningzhou army has been one after another, adding up to a total of about 2,000 cavalry. ”

"Being able to afford 2,000 cavalry means that you have lived a very prosperous life over the years."

Li Xin said quietly: "From today onwards, you will draw a thousand people from the cavalry of the Ningzhou Army, and one thousand people from the cavalry under Mu Ying, and hand over these two thousand cavalry to me to personally command, is there any problem?" ”

"Nope."

Li Shuo bowed his head respectfully: "Tomorrow, the junior brother will let a thousand people report to the elder brother." ”

Li Xin squinted his eyes, looked at Mu Ying, who was leading the troops to pursue under the city, and said slowly: "This matter is not in a hurry, wait for Mu Ying to come back and do it together, you help me send some people back to Jincheng, bring Brother You'an to Xiangyang, and say that I have something important to discuss with him." ”

"Yes, the younger brother will do it himself."

……………………

The victory of the Southwest Army in Xiangyang is naturally something worth celebrating, but for the imperial court, this is a defeat, a big defeat!

The defending side had the superior forces, but the southwest army, which was weak, broke the city within three days!

No one can explain this matter, even Xie Jing, who is the uncle of the country, can't afford to be guilty.

Therefore, after the Hanzhong army withdrew from Xiangyang, Xie Jing broke away from the Hanzhong army early, and rushed back to the capital with a fire hammer alone.

In order to explain to the emperor, Xie Jing traveled very fast along the way, and when he returned to the capital, the military report of the defeat in the southwest had only just returned to the capital.

In Weiyang Palace, the still young son of heaven looked at the military newspaper that had just been sent back from the southwest in his hand, and then looked at his maternal uncle who was kneeling in front of him, and he couldn't see any expression on his face.

"What does General Xie mean is that the Hanzhong Army lost Xiangyang within three days because of this iron pipe in your hand?"

"It's not just this iron pipe."

Xie Jing knelt on the ground and kowtowed: "Back to Your Majesty, the main thing is that there is a kind of thunder in the southwest that can be thrown by catapults, and the city walls of Xiangyang City are useless. ”

"Twenty steps?"

Yuan Zhao Tianzi said coldly: "General Xie chooses one of my three guards to test the arrow, and he can shoot at least fifty steps, what is the use of twenty steps?" ”

The most significant feature of thermal weapons is that the threshold for use is relatively low, even if it is a three-year-old child, holding a pistol can easily kill a strong man, on the contrary, a three-year-old child will have to practice hard for at least a few years or even more than ten years before he can train himself into a qualified archer.

Xie Jing knelt on the ground and trembled: "Your Majesty, this thing is in the hands of the southwest, it is like a divine object." ”

"Hundreds of them entered Xiangyang City, and after only two or three rounds of coming down with this thing in their hands, our troops suffered heavy casualties."

"The minister sacrificed tens of thousands of people to get this firearm from the southwest army."

He knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, there are countless skilled craftsmen in the capital, I implore Your Majesty to get this thing out as soon as possible, if there is no such thing, the southwest will soon be able to enter the capital!" ”