The heavy snow did limit the movement of the Ming army, and both the movement of troops and the transportation of materials were hindered to a certain extent. In front of the dangerous passes of Tongguan, Wuguan, and Luling Pass, there were a large number of Ming troops stationed in front of the dangerous passes, and they were unable to move forward.

Normally, the Ming army would not start a war in winter, but as the Ming army recovered the north, it recruited a lot of northern soldiers, especially the Datong army against Jiang Xiang, and the righteous army in Shanxi completed the reorganization, which greatly increased the strength of the northern army and had the courage to start a war in winter, but in the end it was blocked by the weather.

In mid-November, the weather was cold, and most of the Ming troops on the front line were nested in the camps, and some had retreated to various states and counties to temporarily avoid the cold snap. The weather changed, and there was a certain blow to the morale of the Ming army, so Wang Yan left Luoyang in order to boost morale, went to the front line of the battalions, and then went to the smelting and cannon casting workshop near Xin'an County.

One of the biggest problems restricting productivity in this era is that transportation, especially the exploitation of various mines, relies entirely on manpower to carry a frame on his back, pushed by a wheelbarrow, and a trip down the mountain for more than ten miles, and a person can transport up to three or four hundred catties of ore in a day.

These three or four hundred catties of ore remove the moisture content, remove the impurities contained in the ore, and then remove the consumption, and there is not much left. Therefore, if the problem of transportation is not solved, the iron production will not be too significantly improved. Coal mining is more troublesome than iron, and it is even more difficult to go deep into the mines.

Henan Xin'an, Shiyan, Anyang have iron ore, Shanxi has coal, the Ming army in order to facilitate transportation, in Henan built many smelting blast furnaces, in order to reduce the cost of transportation, the Ministry of Industry directly sent more than 500 craftsmen, to Henan to cast cannons.

The Ming Dynasty seems to have a kind of paranoia about artillery, and since the Apocalypse, it has been very keen on making artillery, and the current Ming Dynasty has obviously inherited this gene.

History is sometimes determined by people's hearts and human nature, and after people have gained an advantage on one side, they will often be keen to expand and maintain this advantage, while ignoring the development of other aspects, and eventually be surpassed by others.

After the Ming Dynasty gained an advantage in artillery, it also fell into this situation, after all, artillery can solve it, so what else can be done.

The cannon made by the Ming Dynasty in Henan was not an eighteen-pound red-coated cannon, but a giant cannon used in the Battle of Xuzhou. In addition to the traditional long-barreled cannons, the Ming army also began to cast siege mortars with short barrels and thick holes.

After inspecting the barracks and calming the hearts of the soldiers, Wang Yan led a group of people to Xin'an County, and saw several huge blast furnaces standing outside the city from a long distance, and columns of smoke were billowing out from the blast furnaces.

"Jianguo, that's the iron-smelting workshop in Xin'an County, and the cannon casting workshop is just north of the workshop. You Youlun rode to Wang Yan's side and asked.

Wang Yan did not make his carriage during this inspection, and the soldiers were freezing on the front line, and he sat in a comfortable and warm carriage to condole, which was a little unusual. He knows how to sell people's hearts and distinguish the situation. When he treats the people, he should maintain a proper sense of majesty and a sense of mystery, but when he treats the army, he should be closer to them and share their weal and woe.

Galloping all the way, Wang Yan was refreshed, for a person like him, who spent most of the year sitting in the palace to deal with government affairs, occasionally galloping like this, his mood would become very comfortable, which reminded him of Su Shi's "Left lead Huang, right Qingcang, brocade hat mink Qiu, thousands of horses roll Pinggang." ”

At this time, Wang Yan was excited, he reined in the reins of the horse, and said with a white breath: "Let's go to the cannon casting workshop first!" ”

After speaking, he pulled out the reins of the horse, clamped the belly of the horse between his legs, and put the hot coal horse under his crotch, and rushed out with a "boom". Thousands of cavalry behind him, flocking to him, followed closely behind, heading towards the smoke-emitting workshop in the distance.

After a short time, everyone bypassed the smelting blast furnace and arrived at the cannon foundry.

The whole cannon casting workshop includes the smelting and purification of crude iron and brass, the casting of artillery, the manufacture of cannonballs, and the shooting range for test cannons, covering an extremely wide area.

Wang Yan restrained his horse outside the cannon foundry, and the cavalry behind him also stopped, while the officials of the cannon casting workshop were already waiting outside.

"Humble Xia Wenbin, see the prison country!" A short-bearded official under the age of thirty, leading more than a dozen small officials, saluted excitedly and respectfully.

Wang Yan jumped off his horse, threw the horsewhip to the guards, and said with a smile: "Come and see your newly cast artillery, what should you do and what to do, don't be nervous, leave Master Xia to accompany Gu to observe, it's okay." ”

At the moment, the army of big guards stayed outside, Wang Yan led more than a dozen officials, and nearly a hundred guards, accompanied by Xia Wenbin, entered the cannon casting workshop.

"Director Xia is the first phase of the Ministry of Engineering, right?" Wang Yan asked casually.

Xia Wenbin led everyone to visit the cannon casting workshop, he listened to Wang Yan's words, and saluted with a hint of excitement: "Back to the prison country, the minister lost the imperial examination in the first year of the reign of the minister, and then entered the Ministry of Industry School. ”

Wang Yan bowed slightly, "I have some impressions, what is the expression of Director Xia?" ”

"Yuanjie!"

Seeing that he was excited, Wang Yan replied with a salute and said with a smile, "Oh, Yuan Jie, you don't have to be restrained, take Gu to see the cannon casting workshop first." ”

When the next group of people took a turn in the casting workshop, they saw the craftsman's busy casting mold demolding along the way, and saw the red molten iron poured into the mold.

If a person can easily master the entire process and process of casting guns, Wang Yan does not need to deliberately set up a school of engineering.

Although Wang Yan didn't understand anything, he always kept smiling all the way, and asked a few nonsense questions, but Xia Wenbin explained to him that he actually didn't understand, and he didn't even know what he asked.

Everyone just watched it casually, and it wasn't until Xia Wenbin was about to lead him to see the refining of crude iron that he said, "Yuan Jie, I'll see it next time." Lone heard that you have made a new cannon, has it been successful? ”

Xia Wenbin was stunned for a moment, and then understood what Wang Yan was talking about, so he replied: "Actually, it's not a new cannon, it's just a bit bigger, the Portuguese craftsman is called a mortar cannon, and we call it a bowl." ”

"Bigger, how big?" Wang Yan asked, "Is there a finished product?" ”

Compared with looking at how to cast here, Wang Yan still looks directly at the finished product is more intuitive, he doesn't need to know how to make a cannon, just look at the power and whether it can play a role.

"After building a few guns in front and firing a few cannons, they all exploded, but after the ministers and craftsmen improved the casting process, the latest batch has been successfully tested." Xia Wenbin bowed down and asked: "The prison country will go here, and the minister will take the prison country to the shooting range to have a look, and the prison country will know the size." ”

Wang Yan had already intended this, and was taken to the shooting range with everyone at the moment. There was no target in the shooting range, but a wall of 50 zhang long and 3 zhang and 6 feet high was built.

The artillery cast by the cannon casting workshop was mainly for the attack on Guanzhong, and the military department put forward a requirement for the cannon casting, that is, it must be able to shake the city defense of the Jin State.

Wang Yan looked at the broken city wall, although there was only one section, he could still feel his majesty, it should be a target wall cast according to the specifications of Tongguan.

All eyes were drawn to the wall, but then they slowly noticed that a mile away from the wall, there were several strange creatures, short and thick, like iron stabs, placed diagonally on the gun carriage.

I am used to seeing the slender body of the red-coated cannon, and then looking at this kind of short-barreled cannon that is thicker than a bucket and can penetrate two people with the muzzle, I am really a little unaccustomed.

These cannons were extremely stout, and their appearance was also very different from the mouth of the bowl, not only more than ten times larger, but also the body of the cannon became thicker and thinner, thickening the thickness of the tail breech.

Wang Yan looked at him being mounted on the gun carriage, the axis was close to the bottom of the ear to adjust the angle, and next to it were several huge round shells, he couldn't help but be a little worried, such a short barrel, whether the shells could be shot out.

Wang Yan stepped forward and touched the iron cannon with the height of others on the cannon body, and said with a question in amazement: "With such a short cannon body and such a large projectile, can it hit far?" ”

He was really a little worried, and as soon as the cannon was fired, the shell fell directly to the ground.

From the immediate point of view, Wang Yan was still a little disappointed with this kind of cannon, after all, he had seen the giant cannon that attacked Xuzhou, and he didn't know what the use of this cannon was.

Xia Wenbin replied affirmatively: "Jian Guo, this kind of siege mortar cannon, the range is naturally not as good as that of a long-barreled red-coated cannon, and it can only hit about a mile, but the red-coated cannon, most of which is a direct shot, is difficult to kill the enemy troops on and behind the city wall." This kind of cannon is built according to the requirements of the military department, and it is to throw out cannonballs, which can hit the back of Tongguan and attack the defenders on the city wall. The most important thing is that the workshop also made flowering shells for him, and when the people from the military department came to inspect the cannon, they were very satisfied, and we have already hurried up the time to make it!

When Wang Yan heard him say this, he suddenly became interested, "Come, let's shoot first, let Gu take a look······"

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