With a loud bang, a ball of flame erupted from a sleek bronze tube, and in the blink of an eye, the towering arrow tower six hundred paces away was slashed away by a black shadow. When the sawdust flew to the ground, the true face of the black shadow was revealed, and it was just a stone ball about an inch in diameter.

"There is no missing fire within 600 steps, and the range of this cannon is indeed twice as far as that of ordinary stone cannons." Guo Jia stood under a pergola a hundred steps away from the bronze long pipe, commenting on the demonstration with an excited face. Obviously, this is not the first time Guo Jia has watched such a demonstration of gunpowder-related weapons, and he has long been accustomed to the loud explosion sound produced by gunpowder. And the Zhichong Zhonglang General Tai Shici and the ordnance engaged Duan Zhi who were standing next to Guo Jia also had a happy and calm expression.

"Not only is it twice as much, although ordinary stone cannons claim to be able to throw stones at 300 steps, in fact, the winner of the bid accurately is only 200 steps. And the artillery can shoot at a maximum distance of 800 or even more than 1,000 paces. Duan Zhi corrected Guo Jia proudly.

It is important to know that in this era, trebuchets are also called "cannons". In order to distinguish the new invention from the trebuchet, the Ordnance Department officially named it "artillery", which means a cannon that uses gunpowder to fire stone projectiles. As the initiator of the development of this thing, after seeing the word artillery, Cai Ji had to reply to a big word "read" on the paper, in addition to sighing at the reincarnation of other things.

Speaking of which, the first thing that comes to mind for the military derivatives of gunpowder is explosives, and the second thing that comes to mind is artillery. And the latter was far more powerful than the former in her impression. Therefore, after Duan Zhi and others mastered the formula of black powder, Cai Ji couldn't wait to put the research and development of artillery on the agenda. In the previous life, Cai Ji had seen all kinds of old artillery in museums and memorial halls many times. There are iron, brass, and bronze. In view of the smelting technology in the late Han Dynasty, Cai Ji decided to start the research and development with bronze cannons. And the same bronze cannon, the body of the 16th and 17th century Europeans was significantly more slender and smooth than that of the Chinese. Therefore, Cai Ji took it for granted that the inside and outside of the barrel were advanced technology, and the barrel was decorated with complicated patterns and backward technology. So she finally used a 17th-century European bronze cannon as a prototype and painted it to Duan Zhi and others as a reference.

Since Cai Ji had introduced a lot of strange techniques to everyone before, Duan Zhi and the others were like gods to the patterns and precautions provided by Cai Ji. In order to achieve what Cai Ji said, the barrel should be smooth inside and out, the craftsman not only strictly polishes the barrel and the chamber, but also cleans it with vinegar to remove impurities on the surface. Its shape is also not much different from the pattern provided by Cai Ji. Take this cannon at this moment as an example, this cannon is about five feet long, the caliber is about fifteen minutes, and the bronze barrel weighs 400 catties. There is a small fire hole at the bottom of the breech, and the exit of the fire hole is the ignition powder pool. As for the bronze barrel, it was mounted on a two-wheeled wooden gun carriage for easy movement. Of course, this is only in terms of appearance, as for whether the tin content of the bronze barrel is up to standard, and how much bore pressure it can withstand, it is only a matter of heaven.

However, although the Eastern Han Dynasty people did not have the concept of chamber pressure, it did not mean that they did not encounter an explosion accident. No, just when Duan Zhi was gushing about the advantages of artillery over trebuchets, Tai Shici asked Zhong Miao without worry, I heard that the last time I tried the cannon, the barrel of the cannon suddenly exploded, killing and injuring many people. And now this cannon will still blow up? ”

Duan Zhi was asked by Tai Shici, and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and argue that the last time the barrel exploded was because the shots were too frequent and the barrel was overheated. It's not inevitable, either. It has been shown several times that when the barrel is raised, it is a precursor to overheating and exploding. At this point, as long as you stop firing and let the gun body cool down, you can fire again. However, remember not to splash the barrel with cold water to avoid deformity. ”

"That is, it can't fire continuously." Guo Jia touched the beard on his chin and summed it up for Duan Zhi.

Duan Zhi immediately muttered with an embarrassed expression, "It's okay to shoot slower." It's better than trebuchet throwing. ”

"But the stones it shoots are smaller than those of trebuchets. In this way, I am afraid that the damage to the city wall will be limited. What's more, trebuchets only need to consume wood and leather ropes to build. However, this cannon needs to be cast in copper, and it is difficult to build and use it as casually as a trebuchet. Tai Shici casually picked up a stone bullet and weighed it and commented.

Tai Shici's remarks can be regarded as naming the defects of the current artillery compared to the trebuchet. Indeed, at present, the human trebuchets used by the princes of the Central Plains are not as direct as the counterweight trebuchets that can throw people and animals directly, but there is no problem in throwing stones the size of watermelons. In order to fire a stone projectile of the same size, the corresponding cannon would be more than twice as large as the current finished one. In this way, it is natural that more copper will be consumed. For the Eastern Han Dynasty, which had a shortage of money due to the shortage of copper materials, casting a weapon with 400 catties of copper was already a luxury. It is also 400 catties of copper, and it is estimated that it will be cast into countless inferior small coins to fill the treasury when it encounters Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shu. As for Ma Teng, Han Sui and others, most of them will turn them into weapons. Although bronze is not as good as iron, it can be regarded as a metal weapon. And in this era, some tribes of the Xiongnu, Xianbei, and Wuhuan didn't even have a metal pot.

In addition, as Tai Shici said, although the trebuchet is bulky, its structure is simple and the material selection is convenient. As long as there are enough craftsmen, trees can be cut down anywhere to make trebuchets. In contrast, the casting of artillery is much more complicated. What's more, Tai Shici, as a military general, has been counting on artillery from the beginning to replace trebuchets to attack cities and plunder, if the power of artillery is not as good as large trebuchets, then it is better to save some money to build armor weapons.

As the developer of artillery, Duan Zhi naturally couldn't tolerate Tai Shici's questioning of artillery. saw that he immediately sent someone to take out several black iron balls the size of stone bullets from the wooden box behind him, and then straightened his chest to refute General Dao Ziyi's words. Although trebuchets can be built and used at any time, they are not durable, and after a battle, there are very few people who can be intact. And my cannon, made of bronze, is durable, and equipped with wooden wheels, and it is not necessary to fight wherever you want to hit it when you put it on your horse. As for the fact that the catapult is not as large as the trebuchet, it does not matter. Our artillery can fire such iron bullets. It is a hundred times more powerful than ordinary stone projectiles. If General Ziyi doesn't believe it, he can surround a section of the city wall that day and let Zhi fire a shot. ”

When Tai Shi Ci heard Duan Zhi say this, he immediately became interested again, but when he saw him stepping forward and weighing the iron bullet that Duan Zhi had mentioned, he couldn't help frowning again and said, "This bullet is only a pound in weight, how can it have such power?" ”

"It's the magic of artillery." Duan Zhi said triumphantly. In fact, he didn't know that the so-called "magic" was due to gravitational acceleration.

"If that's the case, Ziyi, you can transfer some young people to build a section of the city wall outside Huangxian County to test the power of this iron bullet." Guo Jia didn't know when he squatted in front of the iron bullet and looked carefully. But compared to the power of the iron bullet, Guo Jia seemed to care more about the cost, but after seeing him fiddle with the cannonball, he said to himself, "It's a little more expensive, but it can be used repeatedly." ”

And Tai Shici on the side also echoed and said that in fact, stone bullets are not harmful, with this range, as long as the artillery is mounted on the city, it can destroy trebuchets, chariots and other objects without much effort. In addition, it is more than enough to pull to attack the arrow tower, watchtower, array and so on. ”

"Or bombardment with artillery from a high altitude while the enemy is in a big formation." Guo Jia tilted his head sideways and imagined the scene of cannonballs flying into the dense crowd of flesh and blood.

"That's not going to do with just one or two guns."

"After all, it's still a matter of lack of copper and iron."

Duan Zhi saw that Guo Jia and Tai Shi Ci were exchanging words on how to use artillery, and he couldn't help but lean over and ask, "How?" Is this reusable? ”

Tai Shici clapped his hands and stood up, saying Although it is not perfect, it is still a big killer. ”

"It's still expensive." Guo Jia also patted the dust on his body and stood up, then glanced meaningfully at the sunset that was gradually falling westward, and muttered, "But I don't know what happened to the other big killing weapon of the lord?" ”

In the spring of the third year of Jian'an (198), at the same time that Yuan Shao broke through the capital of Yijing, Cao Cao also waved 20,000 troops all the way south to defeat Yuan Shu under the banner of Emperor Han. Yuan Shuping, who had been prepared, gathered more than 30,000 soldiers and horses, and set up a position with the Cao army who came to attack on the shore of Huaishui. In terms of numbers, Yuan Shu's side seems to be more than Cao Cao. But the Cao army, which had just exterminated Zhang Xiu, was at a time when his momentum was high, and he was far superior to Yuan Shu's rabble in terms of mental outlook and equipment.

But even so, Yuan Shu changed into a majestic golden armor on the day of the battle, and sat on a sedan chair carried by twelve biao-shaped men to the battlefield. Completely ignoring the ragged soldiers in his own camp, how he felt when he saw this palanquin decorated with fine brocade. But on the other hand, Yuan Shu's sedan chair inspired the morale of Cao Cao's side. Before the battle began, some of Cao's soldiers were already privately discussing how to divide the brocade on the palanquin.

Regardless of how much difference there was in the morale of the two armies of Yuan and Cao. When the sun rose into the sky, the two Chinese brothers of the same origin brandished their weapons and killed each other. This has been the case more than once in this ancient land, but the parched earth still greedily sucks not an inch of blood. It is true that Yuan Shujun had an advantage in numbers, but the melee lasted about three quarters of an hour, and Yuan Shujun showed signs of rout. And not long after, another shocking and reasonable news completely crushed the last bit of fighting spirit of Yuan Shujun.

"Yuan Shu ran away"

In fact, those soldiers were only half right, Yuan Shu did escape, but he did not flee in the middle of the battle, but sneaked out of the battlefield at the beginning of the battle. The so-called twelve-person sedan chair and the like are just a disguise deliberately thrown by Yuan Shu. When the soldiers saw the exaggerated sedan chair from afar and thought that their lord was still on the battlefield, Yuan Shu himself had already changed his disguise and went straight to Guangling with a group of cronies. Yuan Shu's family had been waiting there for many days, including Duan Rong and his ship.

"It's windy here, so my mother still has to rest in the cabin. When the father arrives, the child will report to his mother. On the sea ship named Yuantong, Yuan Yao, who was the eldest son of Yuan Shu, persuaded his mother Feng to enter the cabin to rest.

Yuan Shu's main room, Feng Nai, was the daughter of Feng Fang, the great Si Nong during the Ling Emperor period. In addition to serving as an executive such as Shang Shulang, Da Si Nong, and Si Lixiaowei, Feng Fang is also one of the ten permanent attendants, Cao Jie. A eunuch will have a daughter, but now there is no way to verify. But Feng was born in such a family, so he naturally had been exposed to a lot of power schemes since he was a child, and he also experienced a series of power changes in the late Han Dynasty. Therefore, when he heard that Yuan Shu was called his father, Feng immediately told his father with a blank face. We are about to send someone to the fence, why do you still call this tyrant what you do? ”

Yuan Yao was reproached by his mother like this, and he thought to himself that since his father had decided to abandon the foundation of Yangzhou and go north to Qingzhou to join his uncle Yuan Shao, it was really inappropriate to call himself the emperor again. So he hurriedly changed his tone and bowed deeply to Feng Shen, and said that his mother was right, his father had already decided to sacrifice the jade seal, and he really shouldn't call himself the emperor again. ”

Seeing a reluctant look, Feng couldn't help but sigh and shook his head, "Father Ru is really getting more and more alive, and he has already become a big man with the daughter of the Lu clan before. And now on a whim, he suddenly went north. Hmph, is your uncle a good person to get along with?

"The disasters of Shouchun are all caused by Lu Bu's jackal nature, and they have nothing to do with Ah Ling." Yuan Yao muttered quietly.

"That's all the right thing to say, the daughter of the Lu clan has been taken away by her father, and you want to see her in your life," Feng glared fiercely. In her opinion, Yuan Yao's character is too cowardly, and it is okay to do idle duties, but it is still far from being able to pick up the burden of the head of the family. As for the identity of the crown prince and the like, it is a big joke. In fact, Feng was not optimistic about Yuan Shu as emperor from the beginning. It's just that Yuan Shu at that time had already been dazzled by the shiny jade seal, where could he listen to the original words. Even because of Feng's attitude of "ignorance of current affairs", Yuan Shu has ignored him all these years and turned to marry concubines for pleasure. Thinking that he could neither stop the emperor nor make the decision for the marriage, and now he was about to embark on a road of no return with an unknown future, Feng had to turn around and sigh while walking towards the cabin, "Cough~~~ The old ones are missing roots, and the small ones are unreliable." I don't know where this old bone will be buried. ”

Facing his mother's incantation-like nagging, Yuan Yao couldn't help but feel a little uneasy in his heart. After all, his uncle Yuan Shao is not very powerful in the rumors of the outside world, and it has been common for the dragon chair to kill each other since ancient times. Father took the jade seal to the uncle, of course, it is a way to get out of the current predicament. But after the uncle gets the jade seal, how will he treat his father, who was once the emperor? All kinds of questions always shrouded Yuan Yao's heart like a haze, but he did not say this uneasiness, but silently sent his mother away.

And at the moment when Yuan Yao turned around, a team of dusty men appeared on the floor line not far away. As the team of men and horses galloped closer and closer, Yuan Yao soon took the lead, the bamboo hat cloak, which was his father Yuan Shu who had come all the way from the Shouchun battlefield.

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