Liu Xin looked at Wei Yan and couldn't help laughing, although his figure was tall, he couldn't hide the childishness on his face, he was clearly still a half-old child, but his enterprising spirit was still very strong, so he said: "Okay, you also clean up, the affairs of the Huotou Army will be handed over to others first, you go to General Xu Chu, and follow him to do things first." ”

On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the research institute began to work, because the war was imminent, many weapons had to be produced quickly, Liu Xin also brought Xu Huang, Huang Zhong, and Zhao Yun to the research institute to check the production of stone throwing surfaces and other equipment, considering that the army may have to attack some checkpoints in the north, coupled with the good performance of trebuchets in the battle of Jiangzhou, Liu Xin was ready to carry 500 trebuchets to Luoyang,

After the end of the Battle of Jiangzhou, the research institute concentrated a lot of manpower and began to produce trebuchets in large quantities, and now, 500 trebuchets have been produced, and after the research institute has been debugged, it will be disassembled into various components, loaded into wooden boxes, so that they can be easily transported, and then reassembled into trebuchets when they arrive at the battlefield.

Although the research institute has a five-day holiday, Xiang Lang only has two days off this Spring Festival, he is now one of the core figures of Liu Xin's group, and knows many top secrets, Liu Xin's plan to send troops north in February naturally did not hide from him, so this Spring Festival, Xiang Lang is also very attentive, and stays in the research institute almost all day.

Liu Xin was very satisfied after watching the trebuchet, and said: "With these long-range weapons, the soldiers can suffer a lot less damage, and it is easier to storm the city and seize the pool." ”

Xiang Lang arched his hand and said: "Lord Qi, according to the order of the lord, in the past year, the research institute has made a lot of improvements to the bow and crossbow, and the latest strong bow produced, ordinary archers can enter the elm wood half an arrow three hundred steps away. ”

The effective range of ordinary bows and arrows is about one hundred and fifty steps, and some strong bows can shoot up to two hundred steps and still have lethality, the compound bow developed by the research institute according to Liu Xin's ideas has an effective range of two hundred and fifty steps, and it has also shown its might in the battle of Jiangzhou, but I didn't expect the research institute to produce a strong bow with a longer range, Liu Xin was surprised, and asked: "Are you sure you just said a bow, not a crossbow." ”

Xiang Lang beckoned behind him, took a bow from a craftsman next to him, and said, "Lord, look, this is it." ”

Liu Xin didn't know how to use bows and arrows, he glanced at it slightly, and felt that this bow didn't look much different from ordinary compound bows, so he turned behind him and asked, "Which of you will try it." ”

Xu Huang, Zhao Yun, and Huang Zhong behind him were all good at making bows and arrows, and after listening to Xiang Lang's words one by one, they were already eager to try, and if they heard Liu Xin ask, they said in unison: "I'll come." ”

Liu Xin glanced at them and said, "Hansheng, you come and try." ”

Huang Zhong stepped forward to take the strong bow, shook it in his hand, and said, "This bow is lighter. ”

Xiang Lang said with a smile: "General Huang, this bow is for ordinary soldiers, and if it's heavy, I'm afraid they won't be able to pull it open, so you can try it." ”

On the shooting range, Huang Zhong had one arm and his bow turned like a full moon, and he peeked at the target drawn on the elm wood three hundred steps away, and shouted: "Go." ”

The arrow flew like a fly, hit the bull's-eye, the whole arrow shaft has penetrated deep into the elm tree, only the eagle feather of the arrow tail shook there slightly, and everyone applauded in unison,

Huang Zhong returned the bow to Xiang Lang's hand and said, "Xiang Yuanzheng, there is something to ask for below, can you help you make a nine-stone hard bow according to this." ”

Xiang Lang hesitated for a moment and said, "It can be done, but it will take a year." ”

Liu Xin sent troops to the north, and several people who came to the research institute today were going to bring them, he knew Huang Zhong's magic shot, and hoped that Huang Zhong could have a suitable treasure bow, so he asked puzzledly: "It's just a bow, why do you need so much time, hurry up and strive to do it well this month." ”

"The lord doesn't know that although this kind of bow is similar to an ordinary compound bow, the materials used are carefully selected, and it does take a year of hard work to make." Xiang Lang arched his hand, pointed to the bow in his hand and said, "My lord, please see, the materials used in this bow include dry, horn, tendon, glue, lacquer, silk six materials, each material must conform to the time of day, in order to make the best bow, dissect the bow stem in winter, treat the horns in spring, treat tendons in summer, close all the materials in autumn, put the bow arm in the bow box in the cold winter, repair the appearance in the severe winter, the quality of the bow is the best, it takes more than a year, even so, the bow made is not the best, It is not until the spring of the following year that the bowstring is installed and stored in the cellar for a year before it can be called a good bow. ”

Liu Xin was dumbfounded, it turned out that making a good bow was so complicated, and he couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "In this way, it takes more than two years before and after a bow, but a good bow on the battlefield may be able to atmosphere the battle situation and save the lives of many soldiers, no matter how time-consuming it is, you have to make a good bow, Juda, you not only have to help Hansheng make a hard bow, but also produce this strong bow in large quantities, and other bows can stop production." ”

Xiang Lang hesitated: "The bow produced in this way is not only time-consuming, but also expensive......

Liu Xin said categorically: "It's worth spending any money, increasing the range by a hundred steps, at least you can shoot two more arrows than the enemy, you can kill and injure the enemy more, save yourself, there is nothing more precious than the life of a soldier." ”

Huang Zhong thought this bow was too light just now, but now that he heard that it took two years to build another one, he hurriedly said, "Why don't you give me this bow first." ”

Xu Huang and Zhao Yun also said in unison: "Xiang Yuanzheng, you can't hide how much you have, you have to get one for us." ”

Liu Xin glanced at the bow in Xiang Lang's hand and asked, "Juda, the research institute has made a total of several now." ”

Xiang Lang bowed and said: "There are only six trial productions, all of which are samples. ”

Liu Xin waved his hand and said, "Give one to each of them, you keep one for the sample, and I will take the other two away." ”

When Xu Huang and the others heard this, their faces all showed joy,

Xiang Lang instructed the craftsmen to take the bow, and asked Xu Huang to try it out to see how many stone hard bows they needed to order, and said to Liu Xin: "The crossbow that the lord said, there is a crossbow in this dynasty, although the range is long, but the launch is more time-consuming, and the parts are easy to damage, however, according to the instructions of the lord, the production of parts has been standardized, and can be replaced and repaired at any time, this aspect is not a problem, as for the crossbow car, his subordinates found a copy of "Mozi" from Mr. Cai, which is recorded, mainly a city defense instrument, The specific process has been lost for many years, and the subordinate craftsmen are organizing research on it. ”

Liu Xin nodded and said: "A sophisticated weapon may be able to save a soldier's life on the battlefield, it must not be underestimated, step on the crossbow to speed up production, this time I will take three thousand to the north." ”

After returning from the research institute, Liu Xin's confidence was even stronger, 500 trebuchets and 3,000 crossbows were all long-range weapons, even if he attacked the pass, he would not be defeated.

Lujiang City is a busy scene, Yuzhang's army has also been transferred to half, plus Lujiang's own troops, Sun Jian has gathered nearly 30,000 horses, of course, so many people he can't take all of them to Luoyang, he is ready to leave 10,000 people to guard Lujiang, Lujiang north is Yuan Shu of Runan, west of Jingzhou Liu Xin, these people are holding heavy troops, Sun Jian is not at ease with his lair, he specially ordered someone to send the family to Yuzhang County in the south, although the defense is weaker, but the transportation is inconvenient, There are no strong forces around,

Sun Jian now what he lacks most is grain and grass, he wants to borrow from Jingzhou, that is, he values Jingzhou's roads that extend in all directions, which can save the time of marching, and naturally consume less grain and grass, he doesn't know Liu Xin's personality, and it is more of a hearsay situation in the capital in those years, but his Lujiang is close to Jingzhou after all, and he also knows that Jingzhou is relatively wealthy, and Jingzhou has been very generous in paying taxes to the imperial court in recent years, so he started to borrow grain from Jingzhou, and he is ready, If Liu Xin didn't borrow it, he would rob it, anyway, now that the imperial court exists in name only, he has nothing to worry about.

The messenger came back from Xiangyang, Liu Xin really didn't agree to lend him grain, and even refused to borrow it, Sun Jian couldn't help but be furious, and said: "The army set off immediately, went straight to Jiangxia, took the Jiangxia treasury, and then turned north. ”

Cheng Pu persuaded: "Lord, Liu Xin has many elite soldiers and strong generals, at the beginning of the year he sent troops to attack Ba County and Qike County, all of which were easy to get, Yizhou Mu Liu Yan has not dared to squeak so far, if our army looted the Jiangxia Treasury, the two sides will inevitably fight each other, when our army goes north to crusade against Dong Zhuo, Liu Xin must take the opportunity to take my Lujiang River to avenge this, the lord must not be careless." ”

Sun Jian muttered: "I also know that now is not the time to fight Liu Xin, but I can't swallow this evil breath. ”

Huang Gai offered a plan: "My lord, we can lead the army to cross from Jiangxia, try not to disturb his county and county, if he does not send troops to stop it, it will be fine, if you dare to block the passage of our army, our army will take the opportunity to take Jiangxia, and the division will be famous." ”

Sun Jian turned his head to look at Han Dang and Zu Mao, and asked, "What do you two think?" ”

Han Dang and Zu Mao are all brave warriors, and they all arched their hands and said: "Since the ancient soldiers came to block, the water came to cover the earth, I am afraid that he will do something, and this Jingzhou road is not his Liu Xin's own, what can we go." ”

Cheng Pu still wanted to persuade again, but Sun Jian had already slapped his thigh and shouted: "Okay, all the generals will prepare separately, and they will not send troops to Jiangxia." ”

Since Liu Xin implemented the new tax policy in Jingzhou, the active surname of farmers farming has risen, in previous years, most of the farmers are still nested at home, too lazy to go to the ground, but now it is different, in order to have a good harvest, after a few days of the New Year, many farmers began to get busy, trimming ditches, preparing fertilizer, seeds, and more diligent, the family also raised a few pigs, a few chickens, even the New Year is not idle,

When Sun Jian took the people and horses from the Lujiang River, there were still a few people in the field, as soon as he entered the territory of Jiangxia, there were more busy people in the fields, these people saw Sun Jian's men and horses, and ran back after throwing away the work in their hands, Sun Jian knew that these people were ordinary people, and it was not easy to arrest them, and they would not report to the local officials, so they let them escape,

Who knows, the first thing these people did after fleeing back was to report what they saw to the chief, and soon, Zhang He and Dian Wei received the news of the invasion of Sun Jian's army, and immediately picked up their men and horses and went straight to this side.