At this time, Zhao Yunrang, the defense envoy of Ruzhou who returned to Beijing to report on his work, also came to the court, he was born in the royal family, the word Yizhi, the third son of Zhao Yuanfen, the fourth son of Zhao Jiong, the fourth son of Song Taizong.

He was the adopted son of Song Zhenzong for a while, and Zhao You, the son of Song Zhenzong, the Duke of Xinguo (posthumously crowned King of Zhou after his death, and posthumously registered as the crown prince after Renzong's accession to the throne) died early due to illness;

After the death of Zhao You, the palace was vacant, and the country was unstable, in order to cope with this situation, Song Zhenzong welcomed his fourth brother Zhao Yun, the third son of Zhao Yuanfen, the king of Shang, to the palace to raise him in the palace with a green car, in fact, as the adopted son of Zhenzong.

Later, after Zhao Zhen was born, Zhao Yunrang left the palace and was sent back to his biological father.

He said at this time: "Official, it is the duty of a soldier to protect the family and defend the country, and there is no need to say more; But the ancestral system cannot be violated, and the rebellious and rude young general in the hall must be punished. ”

Zhao Zhen said impatiently at this time: "Uncle Three Emperors, the top priority now is to discuss how to deal with Da Liao's provocation and blackmail, and postpone other matters." ”

Zhao Yunrang saw that Zhao Zhen's face was gloomy, and he looked displeased, so he retreated to the court and stopped talking.

At this time, Zhao Zhen asked Kou Zhun: "Master Kou, tell me your opinion." ”

Kou Zhun said: "Official, I think that Da Liao must be bluffing to enter the border pass this time, and he must not be disturbed by it and blackmailed by it." At this time, the main force of the Great Liao was attacking the Goryeo and Jurchen tribes, and the Liao Emperor Yelu Longxu could not have more than 60,000 elite troops, and as far as I know, the grain and grass reserves in Nanjing of the Great Liao were only enough for the 50,000 army for two months. So it's not a cause for concern. ”

After he finished speaking, it seemed that there was another look in front of him, as if he had other thoughts, and an expression that knew it in his chest.

I heard him say again: "Official, I think that this time the Liao Emperor went south, mainly to find the princess of Chen Guo, and there are two other purposes, one is to threaten and blackmail the Great Song Dynasty, he knows that the Great Song Dynasty will not give up the ten counties in Guannan, it is nothing more than to increase the New Year's coin; The second is to cheer for the Western Xia, that is, to show the Great Song Dynasty the Great Liao's assistance to the Western Xia. ”

After Kou Zhun finished speaking, the officials, the queen mother and the ministers in the court suddenly looked suddenly enlightened, and secretly praised him, it was really "Jiang is old and spicy", and the people's hearts in the court suddenly became settled, and the mood of "fear of Liao like a tiger" permeated in the court was swept away.

At this time, Meng Ming stepped forward and said: "Official, Chen Qiming, a science professor at the University of Tokyo, led his students to invent another magic weapon, which was displayed on the shooting range of the Royal Military Academy, and now Wechen wants to invite you to inspect and visit." ”

As soon as Zhao Zhen heard this, he disbanded the court, changed into civilian clothes and went to the Royal Military Academy, in addition to Meng Ming, there were also Xia Zhu, the privy envoy Xue Kui, the privy deputy envoy Zhang Dexiang and the chief and deputy commander of the three ya, as well as Lang Zhong of the Ordnance Department of the Ministry of Industry.

It took half an hour (an hour) for the group to arrive at the Royal Military Academy, and everyone followed each other until they arrived at the shooting range of the Military Academy, which was an independent courtyard, long from north to south, about four miles long; The east and west are short, about a mile long.

Everyone saw that there were eight two-wheeled vehicles on the shooting range, and on top of each car was a two-meter-long black and swarthy iron pipe, which was flooded with cold light from a distance.

The gun made by Chen Qiming is a breech gun, the gun shape is conical, gradually thickened from the muzzle to the tail of the gun, the gun chamber is cylindrical, and is composed of accessories such as gun lugs and tail buttons.

The breech gun is the main artillery of the black gunpowder period, this gun is a howitzer with a moderate barrel and a curved trajectory, it is cast from stainless steel, the bore wall is rounded by a lathe, the barrel thickness is moderate, and there is rifling inside.

This artillery is mechanically fired. In order to improve the efficiency of ignition, but also for the operation of bad weather such as rain and snow, a flintlock firing machine was used, which was used for firing breech guns.

The flintlock firing machine also belongs to the form of breech gun door firing, which can only be used in the upper part of the gun tail and cannot be used in the middle of the gun tail. This type of firing machine covers the breech gun fire gate and is based on the same principle as a flintlock musket, using a spring to strike the flint to ignite the firing gunpowder.

The gun can use several shells, including solid, flowering, shotgun, or howitzer.

Meng Ming called Chen Qiming's student Lu Changli at this time, he was the deputy chief designer of this artillery, he carried out the debugging and testing work before the gun was fired at this time, and then he called the gunners to test the guns together, and now the Royal Military Academy has set up an artillery department to train gunners.

In this three months, more than 30 gunners have been trained, and today eight outstanding gunners have been selected to prepare for artillery drills.

Today artillery uses solid and flowering shells, firing first with flowering shells, and then with solid shells.

There was a shooting range just four miles in front of the artillery, in which two sick cows and ten old sheep were encircled; There are also more than a dozen towering trees around.

Meng Ming said to Zhao Zhen, who was observing the artillery: "Official, this is the so-called divine weapon, I named him Artillery, with it, the defeat of Western Xia is just around the corner, and the recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun is not a problem." ”

Zhao Zhen smiled noncommittally at this time, he looked at Meng Ming a little strangely, as if he felt that Meng Ming was different from usual, and of course he didn't believe it.

When the other people heard this, they all scoffed and laughed, among which Xia Zhu said: "Meng Juma has always been a low-key and stable person, why is he high-profile today, and he still says some big things that are not boundary. ”

I heard that the people around him suddenly echoed, all pointing at Meng Ming, secretly sneering, most of them said that he was crazy and said some nonsense.

Meng Ming didn't care, he hurriedly asked the gunner to hurry up and prepare, and then asked Zhao Zhen and the others to evacuate the scene and go to a safe place to watch the test gun.

He took out two earplugs and handed them to Zhao Zhen, and then said: "Official, please plug these two earplugs in your ears, this cannon is very powerful, the sound is like thunder, if you don't bring the earbuds, it will hurt your ears." ”

Then he gave the earbuds to the others, and let them take them.

Then he gave instructions to the gunner, and when he saw that the gunner was skillfully loading the ammunition, he waited for Meng Ming to give the order.

At this time, Meng Ming was holding a yellow pennant, then shook it violently, and then shouted loudly: "Pre... Prepare... Fire. ”

I saw that the gunner hurriedly pulled the firing machine, and then I heard eight muffled sounds of "dong dong", and I saw eight cannon barrels spit out dazzling tongues of fire, and then I heard the shells flying towards the shooting range with a piercing whistling sound.

Meng Ming hurriedly put on earplugs, covered his ears, and heard eight loud noises from time to time, and at this time, the sound and waves on the scene shook like a tsunami. Where the shells exploded, the flames rose, and the splashes of earth fell to the ground, and you could feel the earth shake under your feet.

Meng Ming led everyone to the shooting range in a hurry, they were immediately shocked by the tragic situation in front of them, this saw the blood stained all over the ground, the scene could no longer see the complete remains of cattle and sheep, broken meat and bones scattered everywhere, and the surrounding trees were cut off, falling to the ground horizontally, and there were even some internal organs and severed limbs of cattle and sheep hanging on the branches...

It took a long time for everyone to regain their senses and come back to their senses, and they saw the privy envoy Xue Kui burst into tears, and shouted in a gaffe: "God bless the Great Song Dynasty, He Xi Guan's family, with this divine weapon, the Great Song Dynasty will no longer have the suffering of boundless troubles, Xixia is just a trouble under the armpits, and the recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun is also a matter of raising your hands." ”

At this time, Xia Zhu, the governor of the political council, also said: "Congratulations to the official family, but Weichen wants to remind me that this magic weapon is best kept strictly secret, and the enemy country must not be allowed to go, first, when we attack Western Xia, we will use it quietly, kill and injure the troops of Western Xia as much as possible, and destroy their will to resist." I hope that when the time comes, the attack on Western Xia and the recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun will be carried out at the same time. ”

Zhang Dexiang also said: "Official, what Xia Shenzheng and Lord Xue said is extremely true, Weichen believes that the imperial court should abolish the redundant army within five years, organize and train 100,000 new troops, and equip all of them with divine weapons, then the Western Xia and Youyun Hometown will go down in one go." At that time, it will not be a problem to expand the territory. ”

Since the establishment of the Great Song Dynasty, Taizu Zhao Kuangyin has the ambition to recover the lost land of Yanyun, but unfortunately Taizu went early before he could realize it.

After that, Emperor Taizong also wanted to recapture the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun by means of war, but he fought with Da Liao several times in a row, and ended up in defeat. The continuous wars caused the Song Dynasty heavy losses and huge economic consumption, and finally Taizong had to abandon his plan to recover the sixteen states of Youyun.

At this time, Zhao Zhen heard the congratulatory words of the ministers, and he was also overjoyed, he was a teenager, and he was still full of ideals and ambitions, and he also hoped to recover the sixteen states of Youyun and complete the legacy of his ancestors.