After a carriage passed through the bustling East Cross Street and the old Caomen Street, it was finally freed from the crowd, especially after leaving the old Caomen, the coachman drove the carriage faster, not because the owner of the carriage was in a hurry, but the two guests in the carriage had been urged three or five times, so the coachman had to use his whole body to make the carriage run faster, but this made the guards on both sides miserable, and they ran behind the carriage one by one, tired like a dead dog.

"Okay, brothers who can't run can take a break, anyway, they're going to the other courtyard soon!" Zhao Yan opened the window of the car and shouted to the guards who were galloping behind him, speaking of which, these guards were also dead-eyed, how could a two-legged person outrun a four-legged horse? What's more, Zhao Yanzuo's car is still driven by a four-horse horse king, and he can run faster.

"Don't worry, the king of the county, although Boss Lin is not here, but our brothers can't lose his people, the brothers can follow!" A young guard closest to Zhao Yan shouted loudly, and the guards behind him also agreed. The kid who spoke was named Du Qi, he was Lin Hu's old subordinate, it was said that he had carried Lin Hu out of the pile of dead, and he was also rescued by Lin Hu many times on the battlefield.

Seeing that the morale of those guards was so strong, Zhao Yan had no choice but to stop persuading, he wanted to slow down the coachman, but Shen Kuo and Su Shi in the carriage had been urging them to hurry, because they were both doubting whether what Zhao Yan said before was true, and they didn't believe that there was any weapon that could replace the bed crossbow used now. That's why I was anxious to see it with my own eyes.

The carriage galloped through Shangshui Village, crossed the Qingshui River and came directly to the door of the courtyard, and then Zhao Yan got off with Su Shi and Shen Kuo, as for Du Qi and other guards who were shouting bold words just now, they didn't even see a personal shadow, this is not to blame Du Qi These guards, after all, when manpower is eventually poor, no matter how determined they are, people's legs will definitely not be able to outrun the carriage pulled by four horses.

Lao Fu happened to be in front of the mansion gate at this time, and when he saw Zhao Yan's carriage, there was not even a guard around him. I just wanted to scold those guards for slacking off. But I didn't expect Zhao Yan to directly order: "Lao Fu, I will reward each of the guards who went out today with a hundred dollars, I am a little anxious to come back this time, but I have worked hard for them." ”

Although Lao Fu didn't understand what was going on. But nodded respectfully. Then send Zhao Yan and the three into the mansion. Shen Kuo and Su Shi saw that Zhao Yan cared so much about the guards around them. At the moment, they were all surprised in their hearts, and at the same time, they were even more suspicious that the rumors about Zhao Yan before were wrong, according to Zhao Yan's expression now. He is definitely a virtuous king with a benevolent heart.

Zhao Yan took Shen Kuo and Su Shi to a courtyard in the easternmost part of the front yard, as soon as they came to the courtyard gate, they heard the sound of knocking wood from inside, which made Shen Kuo and Su Shi a little strange, when they followed Zhao Yan into the courtyard, but now this courtyard is actually a place for carpentry, there is an old craftsman with a few young craftsmen are building things, most of which are some ordinary wooden furniture, and there are some miscellaneous things, Some even Shen Kuo and Su Shi didn't know what they were for.

"Zhu Hong, put the work in your hand first, I'll bring someone to see that thing!" Zhao Yan shouted loudly at the old carpenter who was concentrating on his work.

This old man is Zhu Hong, who fled to him due to the flood before, and those young carpenters are also Zhu Hong's sons and sons-in-law, and the last soap workshop needed to make a batch of tools and molds, so he let Zhu Hong and his family do it, and then Zhao Yan saw that Zhu Hong's craftsmanship was good, and there was a lack of a carpenter with good craftsmanship in the house, so he asked Lao Fu to ask if the other party was willing to stay in the house, usually only responsible for doing some carpentry work, and the treatment was the same as that of the steward, but Zhu Hong agreed without even thinking about it.

Speaking of which, although Zhu Hong is a well-known carpenter, but in the final analysis, he is just a craftsman, and he has been to work in the homes of many dignitaries and nobles before, but he is scolded by people at every turn, after all, the status of craftsmen is very low, and sometimes he is even made difficult by the managers of some nobles' mansions, so that when the work is done, the wages are swallowed by those stewards, and he does not dare to sue at all.

It can be said that Zhu Hong has lived for most of his life, and he has also suffered from the anger of those noble families for most of his life, and he has not accumulated any family property, and a flood forced him to flee. Now the county king actually took a fancy to his craftsmanship and wanted him to stay in the mansion, and he was suddenly promoted to the level of steward, and when he went out in the future, he was also the chief steward of the county king's mansion, and this identity was much more majestic than the stewards who bullied him before.

In addition, the treatment of the county palace is also very good, the most important thing is to ensure the harvest of drought and flood, and even Zhao Yan personally promised that they can take on some private work in their spare time, and the income only needs to be handed over to the palace for two successes, and the rest is theirs, which is much less than the filial piety they used to give to those noble family stewards, so Zhu Hong agreed to stay in the palace without even thinking about it, and the courtyard where Zhao Yan and the others came is where Zhu Hong and them usually work.

Hearing Zhao Yan's words, Zhu Hong immediately ran over happily and said: "You haven't been here for a few days, and that thing is still in the backyard, but I and my sons and sons-in-law are incompetent, and we are helpless about the last step, so I really have the trust of the county king." ”

When he said the last few sentences, Zhu Hong also showed a little guilty look on his face, but Zhao Yan explained with a smile: "Zhu Hong, don't blame yourself, it was also the king's inconsiderate thinking at the beginning, the last step of that thing is no longer capable of you carpenters, so it has not been completed for a long time, but it doesn't matter, from today on, you don't have to worry about this matter anymore, naturally there are special people to complete the last step." ”

Hearing Zhao Yan's words, Zhu Hong finally showed a somewhat relaxed look on his face, he was just a carpenter, and he was really powerless about things other than carpenter's work, and now that His Royal Highness the King of the County can invite a special person to be in charge of this matter, he can finally put this matter in the back of his mind. It's just that Shen Kuo and Su Shi, who were beside Zhao Yan, heard the conversation between the two of them, but they were even more confused, and they couldn't figure out what the two were talking about?

At that moment, Zhu Hong took Zhao Yan and them through the front yard full of wood chips, and then came to a heavy courtyard at the back, only to see that although it was not as big as the front yard, it was not small, and the ground was very clean, except for a shed near the east wall, and there was a big guy covered with a white cloth under the shed, the rest of the places were empty.

I saw Zhu Hong go straight to the shed on the east side, and then reached out and tore off the white cloth on the big guy, but Su Shi and Shen Kuo, who were still guessing what was under the white cloth just now, were shocked, and they looked at Zhao Yan with a little vigilance in their eyes, because they saw that under the white cloth was a very complete bed crossbow.

The Great Song Dynasty was very strict about the management of weapons, and even had detailed regulations on the size of knives held by private individuals, and as for the bow and crossbow, it was the standard equipment of the army, and private possession was absolutely not allowed, let alone a bed crossbow with amazing lethality. Although Zhao Yan is the king of the county, if he holds a weapon like a bed crossbow privately, his identity will not only not help him, but will also be suspected of having bad intentions, so Su Shi and Shen Kuo were so shocked when they saw this bed crossbow in Zhao Yan's courtyard, and they even wondered if Zhao Yan was preparing to rebel with the bed crossbow hidden?

However, Zhao Yan smiled slightly and said to Shen Kuo and the two: "Please see, this is the new weapon I designed, if it can be successful, even if it cannot completely replace the bed crossbow, but the cost is much lower than the bed crossbow, and the construction period is much shorter!" ”

Hearing Zhao Yan's words, Shen Kuo and Su Shi were both stunned, and Su Shi was the first to ask a little puzzled: "King of the County, isn't this a bed crossbow?" ”

"Huh? No, this weapon is similar to the bed crossbow, but it is a little different in key places! Shen Kuo is worthy of being one of the greatest scientists in history, with extremely keen observation, and in a short period of time, this "bed crossbow" has actually had many differences from the real bed crossbow, and the most important thing is the difference in the crossbow arm.

The crossbow arm of the bed crossbow is actually an enlarged bow arm, and sometimes when the elastic power provided by a bow arm is insufficient, a few more bow arms will be added to it, such as the most famous is the three-bow bed crossbow. But the crossbow arm of the bed crossbow in front of Shen Kuo and them is completely different, its crossbow arm is not an enlarged bow arm, but two very strong hardwoods, which don't seem to be elastic, and at the root of the crossbow arm, there are two very special equipment, which look like two wooden boxes, and I don't know what is inside?

"King Jun, this bed crossbow has its shape, but the most critical crossbow arm has been replaced by two hardwoods, I'm afraid it's impossible to shoot crossbow arrows out of such a thing, right?" Su Shi finally realized the difference between this bed crossbow at this time, but in the end, he was just a scholar, and he had not had much contact with weapons before, and all the knowledge of weapons was made up during this time, so he didn't care too much about the special nature of this bed crossbow.

In contrast, Shen Kuo was much more professional, I saw him walk to the side of the crossbow arm, and then pushed hard, but although the crossbow arm is difficult to push, but the root of the crossbow arm has an elastic force, which makes him also stunned, the crossbow arm has elastic force, which means that this bed crossbow should be able to shoot crossbow arrows, but this elastic force does not come from the crossbow arm itself, but from the two wooden boxes at the root of the crossbow arm, which makes him more curious about the structure in the box.

Seeing Shen Kuo's appearance, Zhao Yan also nodded with satisfaction, clapped his hands and smiled at the moment: "Okay, let's try the power of this new weapon first, and then the two of you will make a judgment!" (To be continued......)

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