The two sat down, and Du Zhongxiao said to Tao Seventeen: "It is thousands of miles from Yexian County to here, and the road is hard. ”

Tao Seventeen said: "It's not hard. Xianggong didn't know that in the past few months, I have been to the rest of the iron prisons many times, and I am used to it. Xiangzhou went more smoothly, and the Laiwu Supervisor on Jingdong Road and the Liguo Supervisor in Xuzhou had to go to the capital first, and it would take several days on the road each time. ”

Large-scale military reform, the need for weapons is not comparable to the past, in addition to the normal production of Baiting Jian and Xiangzhou, the imperial court vigorously transformed Laiwu Jian and Li Guojian, so that they become the production of weapons. Tao Seventeen, as one of the most important technicians of the Baiting Prison, escorted equipment to these two places many times. In the past six months, half of the north of the Yellow River has been there.

The soldier brought tea, and Tao Seventeen said: "By the way, I brought some tea to Xianggong, all of which were specially brought by the Xinyang Army because of the bitter cold on Hequ Road this year, and it is not good to drink green tea in winter." This tea is specially made by the iron supervisor in the selected tea mountain, and it is not available outside. ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled and shook his head. When he built the Xinyang Army Tea Farm, he deliberately chose the tea mountain, and the good tea Changping Division made was used to entertain past officials. Later, the Transit Envoy Department, the Shipping Department and other institutions followed the example and went to Xinyang Army to buy tea as part of the minister's money, which was part of the welfare of these yamen officials. Later, some yamen and iron supervisors in the capital also learned to do this. Now part of the tea mountains of the Xinyang Army are designated by the yamen, and the good tea will be taken away, and the rest will be sold to the shopping mall.

Now the tea produced in the Xinyang Military Tea Farm, part of the top tea is tribute tea, and the other part belongs to the yamen, and the good tea produced in the tea mountain controlled by the mall itself will flow to the market. Because the quantity is not large, most of them are bought by wealthy families, and it is difficult to buy top-quality tea on the market. Even Du Zhongxiao's home is a part of the good tea sent by Chashan himself, and it is not good to buy it from outside.

Giving gifts and giving good tea has become a trend on Jingxi Road. Tea has benefits, one is to pay attention to the origin, and then the grade is clear, and the top can be raised to a sky-high price. At this time, Tao Seventeen and others, who were very important in the iron prison, showed their benefits.

After tea, the two chatted some gossip. Du Zhongxiao talked about some interesting things about the battle of Hequ Road, and Tao 17 introduced the changes in the iron prison.

When the wine and food came up, the two of them talked while drinking, and they were happy.

After three rounds of drinking, Tao Qiqi suddenly said: "Xianggong, you know that the most important thing for Bai Tingjian now is not to make cannons, but something else. Guess what? I can't guess it! ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "What can't you guess? Nothing more than an invincible thunderbolt. ”

Tao Seventeen was stunned: "Ah, how can Xianggong guess?" When the future river meander, Xianggong never wanted to use this artifact! ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Which told you that I don't want to use it?" I think it's just hard to use. Not to mention the invincible thunderbolt, it is an ordinary artillery truck and a grain truck, how much does it break in a few months? If you really use a thunderbolt, you don't have to fight, you take care of them every day. ”

Tao Qiqi nodded: "Xianggong is right, although that artifact is extremely powerful, Guo Zhijian has spent countless efforts, but it is still too easy to break." I changed it countless times, I tried it a few days ago, and it was barely usable within three hundred miles. No matter how far it goes, it breaks too often, and it is better to use heavy artillery. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "I know, Guo Zhijian said it in the letter. It was I who suggested to the Privy Council that an army of thunderbolts could be formed near the capital to defend the capital. Defending the city, three hundred miles is enough, and the control range is thousands of miles, and the capital can be impregnable. ”

Tao Qiqi nodded repeatedly: "Exactly, exactly!" The Privy Council ordered the Iron Warden to produce Thunderbolts, in addition to guns, and that fifty of them should be produced within two years. What they said was to build such an army in the capital. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "This is a good thing. Guo Zhijian's invincible thunderbolt is indeed powerful, but it is not perfect, and it is not easy to use along the border. If it is not used in the army, then it will be difficult to perfect and become a dead knot. The layout around the capital is barely usable, and it can be improved while using it, and maybe it will really work in a few years. If this thing is used on this battlefield, it will be a different kind of war in the future. ”

The Invincible Thunderbolt is similar to tanks and armored vehicles, and the armor is not thick. If it can really be used in field warfare, it will be invincible for the surrounding cold-weapon army. No matter how you arrange your troops, a row of thunderbolts will run over directly, and it will be useless to have many people. Of course, offense and defense on the battlefield are a pair of contradictions. Thunderbolts are afraid of artillery, and as long as there are enough artillery, Thunderbolts are no longer invincible.

At that point, the war has become a contest of national strength between the two sides, which is completely different from before. Now the artillery, the Khitan and the party can still tighten their belts to make it, and when it comes to thunderbolts, they have no way to smash pots and sell iron.

According to the information obtained by Du Zhongxiao, in the past six months, both the Khitan and the party have been making all-out efforts to build artillery. Especially the Khitan, which itself is not short of iron, suffered a big loss of artillery, Yelu Chongyuan and Yelu Hongji tried their best to build artillery together. The two emperors have been standing side by side for more than half a year, and the two sides have not fought hard, which is one of the reasons. The heavy cities on both sides are piled up with a bunch of artillery on the city, and without enough artillery, there is no offensive capability at all.

The Khitan cannon was made from the obtained Song army artillery according to the cat and the tiger, and it was directly cast, and there was no ability to finish it. The gunpowder formula was leaked out by Song Jun, which was roughly correct, but the process was rough. The Khitan artillery was similar in power to the light artillery of the Song army, but it was much heavier, and the field battle was not the opponent of the Song artillery at all. Used to defend the city, the range and power are too far from the heavy artillery of the Song army, and it is not a threat to the Song army.

The party's artillery is worse than that of the Khitan, and due to the lack of iron in the territory, even if the iron pot of the people is smashed, it will not be able to cast many cannons. There is no way, a lot of bronze cannons have been cast. At present, there is no currency circulating in the market within the territory of the party, and it has returned to the era of physical money. The gunpowder also came from the Song army, and due to their good luck, the level of gunpowder was stronger than that of the Khitan.

In such a big battle, it is impossible that the technology of artillery and gunpowder does not flow out. After suffering such a big loss, the Khitan and the party also wanted to get the relevant technology at any cost. Money is moving, no matter how strict Du Zhongxiao is, he still can't prevent someone from greedy for money and leaking technology. It's just that they have limited technology, limited productivity, and now it's the limit. As for equipping muskets on the same scale as the Song army, it is simply impossible to do it in a short period of time.

The armed forces still need to be comprehensively improved in terms of organization, training, military morale, equipment, and other aspects. Only when the army as a whole is on the way can weapons play their due role.

Listening to Tao Qiqi talk about the recent incident of the iron prison, Du Zhongxiao said: "Recently, the army has set up several military academies to train the whole army, just like I did in Suizhou back then. In fact, the first school to set up such a school was in the iron prison, and it taught various techniques. Taking advantage of this time, did the iron supervisor propose to the imperial court to set up such a school throughout the country? The school was no longer run by the iron supervisor himself, but was changed to be run by the imperial court. ”

Tao Seventeen said: "Xianggong, that can't be done." It's not the iron prison itself, the people who teach it are not suitable for the iron prison, and besides, they may not be able to do things in the iron prison after they learn it, and they will do business outside. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Can you prevent doing business outside now?" In the past few years, how many people have worked in the iron prison, learned how to do it, and went outside to start their own industries. The imperial court office has the advantages of the imperial court office, which can be exempted from the restrictions of the iron prison, and the content of teaching and learning is more extensive. Of course, at the same time, the iron supervisor can also run it himself, and it is not contrary to the school run by the imperial court, wouldn't it be good? ”

Tao Qiqi smiled: "This kind of thing is not what I think. I work in the iron prison, and I don't have the court officials, can I control that? ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Aren't you a trick officer now?" Why isn't he an official of the imperial court? ”

"Xianggong, the trick officer is used by the official rank, and I am still working in the iron prison, so I am naturally a person in the iron prison."

Du Zhongxiao listened, nodded, and understood what Tao Seventeen meant. Although the status of the trick officer has improved, in the eyes of the imperial court, it is far from being compared with ordinary officials. To really improve the status, it requires a broad class of technicians, independent of the bureaucracy.

In the words of later generations, it is necessary to form a class of engineers, which can be widely mobilized in the government industry, and can be placed alongside the officials of the management and operation system. Once this class is formed, the right to speak will rise, and the technical officials can really take shape.