Of course, anyone with a little ambition and ambition will come to Guo Wei's step in Guo Wei's status and the national conditions of the Later Han Dynasty. If God does not take it, he will suffer it, and it is not worth sinning.

Now, although the environment around Dahan seems to be even worse, the interior is much more stable, and under Liu Chengyou's painstaking management, the power is in hand, and the military and politics are basically under control.

In such a situation, as long as it develops normally, Guo Wei can only be a loyal minister of Liu Chengyou in the court.

To the southeast of Daying, there is a large mountain range, which belongs to the branch of Zhongtiao Mountain. Several of the sloping lands were bare compared to the surrounding forests, and only a few messy stumps, dead trees, and weeds were cut down to build the fortress under the city east of the river.

In the meantime, there was smoke and smoke.

Under the slope, separated by a distance of nearly 30 zhang, there are several artillery carts, which are stone-throwing carts, but this time they are not throwing stones, but some specially disposed clay pots. Obviously, this is a temporary weapons testing ground.

The general in charge is named Li Tao, in his forties, with deep eyebrows and thick hair, and is the colonel of the Longqi Army, under the command of Ma Quanyi.

"Your Majesty." Liu Chengyou came to the palace, and his people immediately greeted him with several subordinates.

"How's the experiment?" Liu Chengyou looked at the fireworks on the slope in the distance, sniffed the choking smell in the air, and asked casually.

"Your Majesty, please observe!" Li Tao didn't talk nonsense, and was directly invited.

Liu Chengyou just appreciated this capable style, nodded and retreated far away, looking at the drill, a very familiar picture......

Put the clay pot on the grenade belt, ignite, next to the stone thrower, the squad leader ordered the flag, fifty soldiers shouted slogans, pulled the cannon rope together, the "cannonball" suddenly took off, rushed towards the slope in the distance at high speed, visible from afar, fell to the ground, the pot shattered, a place of flames, suddenly erupted. The rising flames, blazing, were imprinted into the pupils, and although they were far away, Liu Chengyou could feel the hot fire poison in between.

This fire bomb was made by the ordnance room under the instruction of Liu Chengyou. The urn jar is used as a container, and flammable materials such as grease are built, and of course, the most important thing is the fire oil.

In this era, the military use of fierce fire oil was already common, but it was basically used for defending cities. Knowing the situation, Liu Chengyou proposed to use it on the offensive side, and the use of stone throwers has become popular, and it is not difficult to transform fire oil bombs.

Although Liu Chengyou didn't know how to make it, he only described the shape and effect of the matter, and the difficulty was how to control the time after ignition.

This is the origin of "artillery" in the army.

This time, it was to conduct another test before the actual attack on the river, and I originally wanted to fire a few cannons into the city, but in order to be surprised, I held back.

The stone throwing machine that fired this fire bomb is a double-tip throwing machine, which can throw 20 pounds of stone bullets at a distance of 80 paces, and replace them with slightly lighter fire oil bombs, which can go even farther.

In order to protect the safety of the operators, the firing positions need to be specially structured, and sand pits are set up behind the stone throwers. In the previous operation, there have been several accidents. Fierce fire oil is a strong thing, and it can't please if it is touched, and the end is absolutely miserable.

During this period of time, in order to operate artillery trucks, especially the "artillery" with a high degree of danger, Liu Chengyou separately mobilized tens of thousands of sergeants to drill and exert force together, and basically used them as "artillery".

"Throw it from the middle of the village, it should be able to be thrown to Hedong City!" Liu Chengyou gestured a little and asked Li Tao.

Li Tao replied with a look of conviction, and replied with assurance: "Back to Your Majesty, although Hedong City is strong, it is not high enough, and the large army has been forced forward. ”

Basically, as long as this fire oil bomb hits the city and explodes, there is no need to worry about its own power, and it will be a purgatory-like scene.

"We must strengthen the training of the soldiers, and do not make mistakes!" Liu Chengyou instructed: "At the same time, take precautions, and if there is an accident, there must be a way to deal with it in time!" ”

"Your Majesty, rest assured! The last general has been ordered to take precautions! ”

"It's a pity that there are too few fire oil bombs...... Liu Chengyou couldn't help but sigh.

Before the Western Expedition, the Ordnance Supervisor's reserves were exhausted, and only about 400 fire oil bombs were produced. The artillery carts placed under Hedong City are more often used to fire stone projectiles.

Looking at the stone thrower that required forty or fifty people to launch, Liu Chengyou muttered again: "It still needs to be improved......

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In the imperial tent, Liu Chengyou carefully read the music from Tokyo, thousands of miles away, and he could only understand the dynamics of the Tokyo court through the music.

During this period of time in the pro-conquest, Tokyo as a whole has been quite stable, Liu Chengyou's arrangements before leaving have still worked, Wang Zhang, Guo Wei and other ministers are also dedicated, and most importantly, the Empress Dowager Li has appeared from time to time to stabilize people's hearts.

Recently, Tokyo's military administration has been mainly focused on three things.

One of them is naturally to continue to raise food and equipment, transport the front line, and support Liu Chengyou to quell the rebellion, which is the most important thing for the Han Dynasty at the moment.

The second is Youzhou, hearing that Li Shouzhen rebelled, the Han court mobilized a large army to quell the rebellion, and the Khitans couldn't hold back after all, and sent troops to the south to attack Youzhou. It's a bit ironic to say that Li Shouzhen's allies who are actively contacting, Xiazhou, Xishu, and Southern Tang have not moved, but the Khitan who has not been contacted has sent troops to "support". This time, it was not Yelu Ruan who personally marched, but sent the northern privy envoy Yelu An's generals to the south. The imperial court defended its place with the three sections of Lulong, Chengde, and Henghai. Judging from the news from the north, the Liao army is more like going south to fight the grass valley, after all, in the south, the autumn harvest is coming.

The third is the autumn harvest and the collection of autumn taxes. The word "money and grain" made the Han courtiers, especially the third division, break their hearts.

In addition, I mentioned a little bit about the situation of the system. According to the time set by Liu Chengyou before the expedition, he should not be able to go back. Su Fengji asked about the exam questions, and Liu Chengyou didn't care about other examination schools, but replied with "Qianyou's New Deal" and ordered the candidates to make a policy.

Putting down the letter in his hand about the preparations for the autumn harvest of the imperial court, a subtle doubt appeared in Liu Chengyou's calm face. The impact of the war on agricultural affairs was still too great, and the troops were dispatched to quell the rebellion, and it was not only the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians on this side of the river who were mobilized. The autumn harvest is approaching......

"I still have to break Li Shouzhen as soon as possible!" Liu Chengyou's eyes were full of determination.

However, there is one point, the autumn harvest is approaching, and the collection of grain and straw before the army can relieve the pressure of many rear transporters. The subordinate counties in the river, this autumn, still look ripe. It is also counted as being an enemy because of food.

After thinking about it, Hu Yanke entered the tent to meet him, and with one mouth, he brought a piece of good news to Liu Chengyou: "Your Majesty, the matter of the West Village of the Thief River has progressed!" ”