Lou Zheng mainly changed the material of the crossbow blade of the old Dawu Dynasty bow and crossbow, and modified the crossbow body and increased the trajectory.

Don't look at the changes that have not been much, but the power is more than two or three times greater than the original bow and crossbow.

General Lou stood in the center of the training ground, and a hundred paces away was a human-shaped arrow target made of straw.

Picking up the bow and crossbow and aiming at the arrow target, the soldiers who came to watch became silent one by one, all holding their breath, waiting for the general to shoot the arrows in the bow and crossbow.

In the face of the three sounds of breaking the sky, three black arrows quickly flew out, and the next moment they were nailed to the humanoid arrow target.

"Good!" General Lou took the lead and shouted a good word.

Suddenly, the entire martial arts arena was boiling, with these powerful bows and crossbows, if you encounter the cavalry of the Tuhun people again, it will not be a unilateral beating by the border troops!

General Lou was about to ask the guards around him to put away the bow and crossbow, and the old guard who sent the bow and crossbow stepped forward and said: "General, when I came down, the little lady specially explained that this kind of bow and crossbow must be three hundred steps away before it can be effective.

What the!

Three hundred steps!

Isn't that a joke?

Even if it is the most powerful eight-bull crossbow, the farthest range at this time is only more than three hundred steps, and now a small bow and crossbow will have a range of three hundred?

General Lou's face froze, then he became more solemn, he turned around and ordered, "Move the arrow target three hundred steps away." ”

The little soldier hurriedly ran away, with irrepressible excitement on his face.

When the arrows fired from the crossbow were nailed to the target again, this time there was no one in the eyes of these officers and soldiers who did not glow green. These little calves in the army are eager to get their hands on this powerful weapon now.

The range of 300 paces means that our soldiers have more time to attack when fighting the enemy, and at the same time ensure their own safety.

So that the whole army has a better chance of winning.

General Lou's eyes swept over these guys with beautiful eyes, and laughed, "This bow and crossbow will be used as a reward for tomorrow's training leader!" ”

Suddenly, the entire martial arts arena was jubilant.

The small bow and crossbow had already been disguised by General Lou himself, and now the old guard had brought out another larger wooden box from another carriage.

When the old guards have packed all the parts in the wooden box, even the recruits in the barracks who have just enlisted for less than a year will know what this is.

Eight Bull Crossbows!

No, this is no longer the old-fashioned eight-bull crossbow they are familiar with.

Although the appearance is still there. But many details have been changed.

The eight-ox crossbow is considered the most lethal weapon in the army. On the battlefield, it takes nearly ten people to work together to operate.

This time, General Lou didn't use it himself, but he saw several veterans with the Eight Bull Crossbow standing next to the Eight Bull Crossbow.

"General, a few of our old subordinates will demonstrate this for you."

General Lou nodded, but he didn't react until he nodded. What do you call a few of you. Shouldn't the Eight Bull Crossbow be operated together by ten people? Why are there only three people standing next to this eight-bull crossbow now!

Everyone has this doubt in their hearts. But after seeing the power of the improved bow and crossbow, they didn't dare to speak casually.

When the three of them skillfully controlled the eight-bull crossbow and shot the three heavy arrows, a special soldier went to measure the distance. There are actually seven or eight hundred meters!

Oh, my God! Even if it is an eight-bull crossbow controlled by ten people, the range is only half of the current eight-bull crossbow!

All around was the sound of gurgling and swallowing.

"Damn, if you can use this thing to hit those strong wolf-like Tuhun people, it's not a one-shot shot! Hahaha! A general standing next to the martial arts arena laughed rudely and arrogantly.

General Lou and Zhou Bi both had bright eyes, and ordered their subordinates to put away the two improved weapons, and then rode back to the Shuai Mansion.

Such a powerful weapon must be mass-produced!

At this time, Lou Zheng was helping him take care of the herbs that had just sprouted in the small courtyard of Lu Hongxiu's mansion.

At this time, the weather in Liangzhou has slowly warmed up, although it is still very cold, but it is much better than the cold in February, which can't even stretch out your hand.

The warm and soft sunlight sprinkled in the small courtyard, shining the crystal clear two-petal leaves of the herb seedlings just emanated, and Lou Zheng bent down to weed this palm-sized place.

The medicine slave hurriedly ran in with a small bamboo basket.

"Little lady, what you wanted, the slave maid bought it back for you."

Lou Zheng didn't even raise his head, "Put it on the stone table by the well first, and I'll go over to see it after I've removed the grass."

Lou Zheng's hand pulling weeds suddenly paused, she reached out and plucked a small turquoise seedling, frowned slightly, and whispered to herself: "Isn't this a chili pepper?" ”

After confirming that this was the pepper seedling, Lou Zheng immediately found a small team of pebbles to surround the pepper seedlings.

The medicine slave stood not far away and watched the little lady tinkering, and asked curiously: "Little lady, what are you looking at!" ”

Although the medicine slave grew up in Yaowang Mountain like Lou Zheng, she has seen a lot of medicinal materials, but she can't tell what the one in the little lady's hand just now is.

After doing all this, Lou Zheng straightened up and walked towards the medicine slave.

She said as she walked: "A particularly important ingredient, you usually look at it, if it is plagued by animals or accidentally killed, you will have a lot less delicious food in the future." ”

The medicine slave likes to make food, and she is also talented, as long as Lou Zheng briefly talks to the medicine slave, she can remember it, and the cooking is delicious.

Therefore, the Dashuai Mansion no longer needs Lou Zheng to cook at all.

The medicine slave likes spices, but Lou Zheng didn't find cumin here in Liangzhou, otherwise slaughter a sheep and grill a lamb skewer, the medicine slave girl must be happy and wah-wah.

So when I heard that Lou Zheng was just serving a kind of spice, I immediately looked at those green seedlings as if I was looking at my father and mother.

Lou Zheng sat on the stone bench, uncovered the flower cloth on the small basket, and saw that the basket was a small bag wrapped in cloth. Lou Zheng picked up the small bag, dismantled and dismantled, only to find a small handful of gray crystals thicker and harder than a stone on the last piece of cloth.

"What is this?" Lou Zheng twisted one and put it to his nose and sniffed it.

The medicine slave is speechless, sometimes her little lady is very smart, but sometimes she doesn't even know common sense.

"Little lady, what else can this be, this is salt!"

What the?

This gray, hard thing, something that tastes bitter is salt? Tease me!

Lou Zheng stared at the medicine slave with wide eyes, "How come, the salt we eat on weekdays is not like this." ”

The medicine slave sighed. "Little lady. The salt that you and the general eat on weekdays is specially transported from Shengjing's fast horse, it is snow-white and delicate, and there is no astringency, it is the best salt. Such salt. Ordinary people can't afford it. ”

Lou Zheng's mouth opened. I had never noticed before that the salt she ate was actually different from the average person.

However, what the medicine slave said was an exaggeration. Is the salt the size of a millet grain still called delicate? Even if you want to clean the mouth, you have to use a small medicine pestle to grind finely, the medicine slave has not seen the salt of the later generations, and those sodium salts are called delicate and snow-white, soft as sand.

"The salt we eat on weekdays is always as much money as we can buy."

The medicine slave was speechless, staring at Lou Zheng's clear gaze before sighing and saying truthfully: "Little lady, where can you buy that salt with consistent money, one or two fine salts cost five yuan!" ”

Even in Shengjing, the capital of the Dawu Dynasty, money has always been able to buy twelve denier millet, and one or two fine salts are sixty denier rice!

Lou Zheng silently converted it in his heart, and then learned that this salt mining and selling salt is indeed a huge profit, no wonder there are so many corrupt officials and corrupt officials in history because of salt, and even turmoil.

"What about this?" Lou Zheng stretched out his hand and nodded some rough salt in the small bamboo basket, which was probably not as good as the industrial salt of later generations.

The medicine slave stretched out five fingers, "Fifty dollars." ”

Lou Zheng nodded, this kind of salt is really much cheaper, although the quality of salt is poor to a certain extent, but after all, it is much cheaper than fine salt.

"Fifty dollars to buy this salt is a conscience."

The medicine slave stretched out his hand and put half of the salt into the small bamboo basket, "Little lady, fifty dollars can only buy a small half of these salts." ”

Lou Zheng was stunned on the spot.

"Just this salt, or the welfare of our Dawu Dynasty people, those barbarians, Tuhun people want to eat salt, not even this kind of salt, I heard the ladies in the house say, those grazing barbarians don't eat salt, not only don't eat salt but also drink the blood of domestic animals, it's disgusting!"

The medicine slave trembled as he spoke, as if he wanted to shake off the disgusting feeling.

Lou Zheng pondered, there was a little salt in the blood of animals, which might be the reason why those barbarians could survive without eating salt.

Although those barbarians who herded cattle were ignorant, they still retained the most primitive survival methods passed down from their ancestors, otherwise they would not have survived to this day.

"Is there a restriction on the purchase of salt frost by the people of our Dawu Dynasty?"

The medicine slave shook his head, "No, you can buy it with silver, but the fine salt like the little lady eats is not available to ordinary people." ”

Hearing the words of the medicine slave, Lou Zheng's eyes lit up.

"Medicine slave, you go and call Steward Wu to the study, and I'll go over."

Although General Lou told Lou Zheng that there were countless cattle and sheep there, and even General Lou Zheng took Lou Zheng to see it himself, those barbarians grazing on the grassland were stubborn, and no matter what the conditions, they could not impress those barbarians to trade with them.

It's not that I didn't want to kill people and grab money, but those barbarians live scattered, distributed on the prairie, the prairie is endless, once a small group of barbarians are killed, then all the barbarians grazing on the border of Liangzhou will leave quickly, they are naturally timid, and think that the Dawu Dynasty people are cunning, and they are unwilling to contact the Dawu Dynasty people, if they alarm the barbarians, then they can't find the barbarians to do business in the future.

So the top priority is to impress the barbarians with what items to make the barbarians believe in them and thus get their first deal.

Once you get off to a good start, the rest will be much easier.

Steward Wu quickly rushed over with two young men.

Lou Zheng was already sitting in the study at this time.

"Uncle Wu, I wonder how much of this coarse salt we have enough money left now?" Lou Zheng directly handed the cloth bag in his hand to Steward Wu.

Steward Wu took a look and glanced at Lou Zheng in astonishment, "Little lady, what are you going to do, you are delicate and expensive and can't eat such coarse salt, even if it is our Shuai Mansion, we haven't used this kind of coarse salt for a long time." ”

Lou Zheng waved his hand at Steward Wu, "Uncle Wu, I know, you just tell me how much you can buy." ”

Steward Wu nodded, "The little lady forgives her sins, it's the old slave who is abrupt." This kind of coarse salt, if you put all the silver in the house, you can buy 6,000 catties. It's just that although the imperial court did not prohibit the sale of this coarse salt, there were restrictions, and each household could only purchase a maximum of 5,000 catties per month, and it had to be filed with the local government. ”

Lou Zheng pondered, "Steward Wu, you will buy five thousand catties of this salt tomorrow and come back." ”

Steward Wu answered, but he was a little hesitant.

Lou Zheng looked up and found his state, laughed, got up and walked to Steward Wu's side, "Uncle Wu, don't worry, I have a great use, not a whim." You see, I came to Liangzhou but there was one thing that I did on a whim. ”

Hearing Lou Zheng say this, Steward Wu's brain moved, and after thinking about it, it seemed that he really found that everything that the little lady did when she came to Liangzhou was well-founded, even if it was bizarre, it was only admirable afterwards.

Steward Wu didn't think much about it, hugged his fist at Lou Zheng, and led people out in a hurry to run errands.

Lou Zheng asked the medicine slave to go out and buy a few catties of such coarse salt, and then took a few catties of coarse salt and went to the stove.

Let the medicine slave bring the simple tools to use.

The medicine slave went to heat the pot under the command of Lou Zheng, and there were only two people in the small stove room, Lou Zheng and the medicine slave.

This girl has long become a miser, as long as Lou Zheng enters the kitchen, she will kick out all the people in the kitchen, for fear that the little lady has made some secret recipe and will be seen by these nasty women.

The secret recipe of the little lady is hers, she is the most trusted slave girl of the little lady, and she will follow the little lady for the rest of her life, so in the eyes of the medicine slave, she is not an outsider at all, because even she herself is a little lady!

Pour the pieces of salt into the pestle, try to chop as finely as possible, then pour the mashed coarse salt into a large bowl, add water, and dissolve thoroughly.

Wait until the solution is saturated, and then filter it with a double-layer linen cloth, so that it is repeated twice, and the saturated brine obtained has been preliminarily purified.

Lou Zheng took another piece of gauze, wrapped the broken charcoal in the gauze, stuffed it into the funnel, and then filtered the salt water through the funnel, this step is very important, it is detoxification, there are many impurities and minerals in coarse salt that are not good for the human body, in fact, it cannot be used directly.

The solution obtained after filtering from the funnel is poured into the already heated pot.

The medicine slave was confused when he watched from the sidelines, only to see the little lady pouring bowls of salt water back and forth, and constantly hugging the gauze filter.

"Little lady, what are you going to do, this coming and going is not a glass of salt water."

Lou Zheng smiled mysteriously, "You'll know what I'm going to do in a while, go and light the fire!" ”

A quarter of an hour later, the medicine slave screamed in amazement as she stared at the little lady scraping a layer of frosting from the pot with a small silver spoon. (To be continued.) )