At the beginning of the day after the snow, the sun shines on the snow, which is a little dazzling. The sky and the earth are white, and the whole world has changed.

Zhang Yu and Du Zhongxiao rode on horses, arrived at the foot of the hill not far from the pasture, looked at the two large piles of iron on the ground, and asked, "Zhijun, is that artillery?" It's just two piles of iron, what's so strange? Although this is not common, it is not common. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Let's put two cannons and take a look, okay?" ”

After speaking, he summoned Tao XVII, brought a few gunners from yesterday, and asked them to go over to fill the artillery. Another group of soldiers was sent to two large mounds of land more than 200 paces in front of the artillery.

Everything was ready, Du Zhongxiao said to Zhang Qi: "The artillery fire here can blow up the two mounds over there." It's just that the artillery is newly cast, and the gunner's operation is rusty, and occasionally misses. After practicing a lot, you can ensure that you can hit nine times out of ten. ”

Zhang Qi set up a pergola and looked at the mound of dirt in the distance, like a hill, which was particularly conspicuous in the snow under the sun. Shook his head: "With such two large piles of soil, what kind of cannon can be flattened?" I read it yesterday, and the gunpowder that Zhijun said is nothing more than flame nitrate, where is it so powerful. ”

"See it." Du Zhongxiao smiled and ordered his entourage to go over and let Tao Seventeen fire the cannon.

Tao XVII got the order, was a little excited, rubbed his hands, and commanded the soldiers to fill the gunpowder, fill the projectiles, and pound it firmly. Du Zhongxiao likes to start from the simplest, and the two cannons he began to cast did not have any fancy things, just two thick large iron pipes, with two wheels underneath. The cannon is not large, about 100 catties, in order to facilitate the transportation.

Everything was ready, loaded the medicine twist, Tao XVII covered his ears, and ordered the soldiers with fire around him to fire the cannons. The soldier raised his torch and carefully lit the twist. A few soldiers walked away from the gun carriage and watched the twist burn.

Du Zhongxiao said to Zhang Qi: "Be careful, the medicine twist will be burned out, and the cannon will be fired." ”

Zhang Qi didn't know why all this, nodded silently, and didn't speak. After a while, a muffled sound was heard, and a puff of black smoke rose from the artillery, and a string of fire burst from the muzzle of the gun. Zhang Qi didn't expect such a big movement, but he was taken aback.

Seeing the black smoke from the artillery dissipate, Zhang Yu was dumbfounded: "This is the flames?" - Did you set off a big firework? ”

Du Zhongxiao pointed ahead and said, "Look at the mound!" This time the shot was accurate, and the mound was flattened with one shot! ”

Zhang Qi turned around and looked at the two mounds piled up by the soldiers in front of him, only one was left at this time, and the other had become a pile of loose soil.

"W-how is this possible?!" The black smoke rose just now, and Zhang Qi didn't notice that a shell flew out of the muzzle.

Hit the horse with Du Zhongxiao, and when he arrived at the mound, Zhang Qi dismounted and inspected. I saw a round iron bullet smashed deep into the dirt, and the surrounding soil was as shallow as mud, and the huge mound of earth disappeared.

Zhang Qi looked left and right, and then carefully examined the iron bullet. It was made of pig iron, black and swarthy, and it was quite weighty.

Looking left and right, Zhang Qi pointed to the iron bullet and said to Du Zhongxiao: "This was sent out of the cannon just now?" So powerful! ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "If the eunuch doesn't believe it, you can go close and watch the soldiers load." ”

"Good!" Zhang Qi was not verbose, took his own soldiers, and arrived in front of Tao Seventeen.

Tao Seventeen forks sang a promise. Zhang Qi waved his hand and said, "You guys are tired, let's shoot again!" ”

Tao Seventeen saw Du Zhongxiao nodding, forked his hands and answered the order, commanding the soldiers to reload the medicine and load the iron bullet.

Zhang Qi looked at it very carefully on the side, for fear of missing a little. The range and power of the artillery are far beyond his expectations, there is really this kind of power, Du Zhongxiao said that the person who is the powder is not casually said. On top of the battle array, a single shot passed, and several rows of people were knocked down.

After the filling was completed, the medicine twist was sorted out, and Tao Seventeen forked his hand to Zhang Qi: "Please give an order!" ”

Zhang Qi looked at it, thought about the procedure for firing the cannon just now, and was also verbose, and said loudly: "Ignite the cannon!" ”

The soldier, who was holding a torch on one side, stepped forward and bent down, lit a medicine twist, and took a few steps back. Tao Qiqi whispered to Zhang Qi: "Metropolitan Eunuch, the sound of the cannon is earth-shattering, and it hurts a little, so the Metropolitan Eunuch can cover his ears." ”

Zhang Qi waved his hand impatiently. He has been in battle for a long time, and he has been on the battlefield for 20 years, what scene has he never seen, and he will be afraid of big movements?

At this moment, the medicine twist burned out, only to hear a muffled sound, accompanied by the strong smell of gunsmoke, black smoke rose, and a string of firelight spit out from the muzzle of the cannon.

Zhang Qi didn't expect the movement to be so pretentious, and his feet were a little unstable. In the end, he had seen a big scene, and he was not shocked, but just stared at the muzzle of the cannon. It's a pity that in the firelight, I just vaguely look at a black shadow, where can I really see the shadow of the cannonball?

When I turned around and looked at the mound in the distance, I saw that the top had been cut off, and the whole mound was not broken up like just now.

Looking at Du Zhongxiao not far away, Zhang Qi said in a deep voice: "This cannon is a little bad, it's not as powerful as just now." ”

Du Zhongxiao said with a smile: "The loaded gunpowder is the same, how bad can the power be?" This shot is a little high. ”

Zhang Qi was noncommittal, and together with Du Zhongxiao, he went to the mound to check. When I got closer, I could see that it was really high, and the shell slashed through the top of the mound, smashed into the snow in front of it, and sank deep into the dirt. Zhang Qi carefully checked back and forth, and confirmed that the power was the same as last time, and then said to Du Zhongxiao: "Zhijun said that it was good, this time the fight was a little high." ”

After speaking, he stood in the snow, looked at the place where the artillery was, looked at the mound again, and then looked into the distance, and was silent for a long time. After being silent for a long time, he exhaled and said to Du Zhongxiao: "This cannon is so powerful!" Two hundred steps away, there is such power, it is better than an eight-bull crossbow. The bed crossbow can only be opened by several people or even dozens of people, but this cannon only needs to be loaded by a few people, and the fire is fired immediately, which does not require manpower. When defending the city, if there are dozens of artillery on the city wall, no matter how many armies come to attack, they will be scattered! Knowing the army, there are some artillery, what is it to defend Tanglong Town! ”

With the power of the current initial artillery, it is not much more powerful than a large bed crossbow. But a bed crossbow requires dozens of people to operate, and it occupies a huge space, and it can't be arranged in a small city at all. Artillery is different, it occupies less space, and dozens of guns can be installed on the walls of small cities, and one only needs a few people to operate, and the firepower density is not much stronger than a bed crossbow. Not to mention, in terms of cost, artillery is much cheaper than bed crossbows.

The barrel of wrought iron and the iron bullet cast from pig iron seem to cost a lot of iron, but compared to the bed crossbow, the cost is not worth mentioning at all. Therefore, Du Zhongxiao had doubts about the cost of using artillery, and always felt that it cost too much iron, which was not a problem at all in Zhang Qi's eyes. Fighting a war is spending money, Zhang Yu has been in the army for 20 years, and he knows this. With such a little iron, it has so much power, it is cheaper than a bow and crossbow.

After looking at it again and again, Zhang Qi turned around and asked Du Zhongxiao: "Zhijun, how much time does it take to make dozens of these artillery?" ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "This cannon is forged with wrought iron, and we have a water-powered forging hammer not far away, and there are always two or three guns a day." It's just that the Volcano Army doesn't have much iron, and it has to make artillery, guns, and farm tools, which is somewhat insufficient. ”

Zhang Qi laughed and said: "Hedong Road is full of smelting tools, how can there be a shortage of iron?" As long as you can make it here, I can transfer iron from the Baode Army and Fuzhou. Now the Yellow River has not frozen, and it will not take a few days to transport it by boat! ”

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