Zhang Qi was very interested in artillery, looked at it carefully, and remembered that Tao XVII fired a few more cannons, but he was still not satisfied.

In order to be cheap and easy to carry, Du Zhongxiao is now making small cannons. Because the barrel was forged, the process conditions also limited the production of larger guns. In Du Zhongxiao's eyes, the current artillery is a larger musket, and there is still an extremely long distance from the impression that the cannon will shake the ground and shake the mountains. Seeing Zhang Qi so excited, Du Zhongxiao couldn't help but be a little skeptical of his thoughts.

Waiting until Zhang Qi returned to his side, Du Zhongxiao said: "Eunuch, the projectiles emitted by the artillery are only the size of a small bowl, and it is naturally enough to pierce the enemy through armor, but it is only stronger than a bed crossbow." In my opinion, defending the city is useful, but it is just a few more crossbows. Relying only on these to defend the city is still somewhat insufficient. I wanted to try my hand at the cannon first, and then forge the cannon next year—"

Zhang Qi said with a smile: "It's naturally good to have cannons, but now these cannons are enough." Knowing that the army has not been in battle, I don't know the power of such sharp weapons as bed crossbows. A few years ago, when I was on Linfu Road, as long as there was enough grain and grass in the city, a few bed crossbows, and some archers, tens of thousands of thieves came to attack, I couldn't help a small village. Tanglong Town occupies a favorable geographical position, located on a high platform, and the army cannot be used. If there are dozens of such artillery, I will garrison it with three or five hundred elite soldiers, and the western thieves will attack the country, so I can't help it! ”

Du Zhongxiao was stunned when he heard this, and he was a little suspicious of Zhang Qi's bragging. But if you think about it carefully, Zhang Qi became famous in the battle against the party on Linfu Road, and defended the city several times. Every time he brought really not many people, in the end, the party retreated in embarrassment.

In fact, don't talk about the party, even the Khitan lacks the means to attack the city. As long as the city is strong, most of them rely on crowds, using ancient ladders to brave arrows and stones to rush to the city. The greatest role of artillery is not to kill and damage the besieging army, but to break the enemy's siege equipment. Now artillery is naturally not powerful enough to siege cities, but it is more than enough to defend cities and smash all the siege equipment that comes close.

The siege battles in Du Zhongxiao's memory mostly come from movies and television. The people of Wuyang Wulang rushed forward without fear of death, and all kinds of siege equipment were densely packed. An ancient but powerful trebuchet that broke through the sky, stones rained down on the city walls. A sturdy and powerful chariot that rushes to the gates with a fierce Predator. The arrows were shot like locusts. Such a scene, these cannons in front of him, are really like children's toys, and they can't give Du Zhongxiao confidence.

But in reality, none of the above images can appear. No matter how stupid the army is, it has always chosen a few places in the city to make key breakthroughs. Correspondingly, the forces defending the city are also very concentrated. Since the attackers were attacking from the back, trebuchets either did not have them, or they could not hit the city, and the falling stones would crush their own people and cause roadblocks. There are no strong soldiers at all, and they can stand under the city and fire a volley at the top of the city.

In real siege warfare, either the defender slacks or makes a mistake, allowing the attacker to open a gap. Either with the help of various siege equipment, such as wells and rams, they suppressed the defender's fire on the one hand, and relied on strong protection to get close to the city wall on the other. As long as the defenders can always knock out these tools, it is almost impossible for the attackers to get close to the walls. Approaching the city walls, there was no fire support and it was impossible to climb.

Without actual combat, Du Zhongxiao really couldn't imagine the war of this era, and the pictures in his memory were reliable.

After thinking for a while, Du Zhongxiao said to Zhang Qi: "The capital eunuch said so, it won't be too far behind. I also have dozens of muskets here, and although they are not as powerful as artillery, they can kill people with one shot. The capital supervisor will take a look to see if it is useful to defend the city. ”

After saying that, he ordered Tao XVII to gather the selected musketeers and go to get the guns.

At this time, the gun refers to a weapon with a wooden rod and a metal head, which is similar to a spear, and is divided into a long gun and a short gun. The spear is actually a spear, and it is a powerful weapon on the battle array, and it is forbidden for the private people to possess it. As for the short gun, it is similar to the red tassel gun in the impression.

How did Zhang Qi know what a musket was? After listening to Du Zhongxiao's words, he said with a smile: "Zhijun, when defending the city, the spear is not of much use. The soldiers defending the city use forks, but there are ladders, and the forks are pushed down. If an enemy army occasionally goes up to the city, push it down with a fork. ”

When defending the city, it is very nervous, where there is time to cut and stab the enemy, knives and guns are a last resort. The defenders of the city used strange weapons such as forks and chain hammers, not to kill and injure the enemy, but to force down the city walls. If you fall, you will either die or be disabled, so why bother with your own efforts.

Du Zhongxiao knew that Zhang Qi had misunderstood, so he hurriedly waved his hand and said, "The musket I am talking about is not the purpose that Du Jian intended, but it is similar to a cannon." ”

As he spoke, he saw Tao 17 and his party turn back, and pointed: "Look, it's a musket." ”

Zhang Qi turned his head and saw that twenty or thirty people were carrying spears, with bright bayonets in front of them, and shook loudly: "Zhijun, your gun is not in the right shape!" The rod length is too short, the tip is too long, and it is too sharp and thin, which is not conducive to armor penetration. ”

When Du Zhongxiao heard this, he couldn't cry or laugh for a while, and said, "The capital prison misunderstood, this musket is not used like that. ”

Tao Qiqi stepped forward and sang a promise, and Du Zhongxiao said: "The musket projectile is too small, you should set up some wooden planks dozens of steps in front of you, and let the capital monitor take a look." ”

Tao XVII promised, looked at the surrounding planks, and had to pull out some fences, tie them together, and the trees were in front of everyone.

Seeing Du Zhongxiao nodding, Tao Seventeen shouted the order, and a group of musketeers knelt down to load their medicine and ammunition, and stood in a row with their guns. With Tao Seventeen's loud shout, more than 20 muskets fired a salvo together, and for a while, black smoke rose, and the smell of gunpowder smoke choked.

Zhang Qi was dumbfounded, and after a while, he said: "This is obviously a cannon, how can it be a gun!" ”

How does Du Zhongxiao know why the name of this weapon is a gun? Seriously, it was the earliest gunpowder weapon that appeared in the Song Dynasty, and it was named the assault musket, although it was only a fire-breathing one. However, the name of the gun is deeply ingrained in his mind, and it will never be changed by the association.

The two cannons just now made Zhang Qi think about it, and even thought of how to use dozens of guns in the city, and even countless thieves came to attack the picture of being bombarded by the cannons, but he didn't expect Du Zhongxiao to show up something new. Shaking his head, Zhang Qi stepped forward to check the fence that had been hit by the platoon of guns. It's a pity that no projectiles were seen on the fence, and either they passed through the gaps or smashed the branches to pieces.

Taking a breath of cool air, Zhang Qi said: "The power of this musket can easily break through armor?" ”

Du Zhongxiao followed behind and said, "That's natural, it's more powerful than the general hard crossbow in the army." ”

Zhang Qi nodded, was silent for a while, and suddenly turned around and said, "Wei Dianzhi, didn't we catch a few looting people on the way?" Bet them all on! I put armor on them, and I hit them with a musket to see if the shot could break the armor! ”

Du Zhongxiao was taken aback: "Eunuch, do you want to use someone to test the gun?" How does this make! ”

"How not?" Zhang Qi asked strangely. "How do you know that you can kill someone without anyone trying? Let people wear heavy armor, if the projectile can also penetrate the armor and shoot people to death, this musket is much more useful than a hard crossbow. ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled bitterly and shook his head: "After all, it's human life-"

Zhang Qi finally understood what Du Zhongxiao meant, and couldn't help laughing: "These looting people deserve to die!" I kept them only to find out which tribes they came from, and that they were dispensable. If it's damned, what's the point of being killed with a musket! ”

While talking, he urged Wei Dianzhi to quickly bring people up.