The Phoenix Legion has been stationed in Combrine to recuperate after Prokupree suffered a major injury. The originally noisy camp now looks a little depressed. Fortunately, Derj once again made the final decision in Smederevo, otherwise the Phoenix Army, which will not be fed in the coming year, may only be able to watch the Serbian rebels grow bigger again on the border. The new weapons that Lycaon brought from Thessaloniki can be said to be the only happy event for the Phoenix Legion this winter.

The guards at the gate of the camp knew Jeffrey, and even if he couldn't see clearly, he should have tasted something about this extremely luxurious shoulder. Within a few minutes, several Phoenix Legion generals stationed here came out one after another to welcome John in.

"Your Majesty, are you alright?" Giovanni did not return to Constantinople, but stayed in the camp to work with the Phoenix Legion, and the recruits practiced the techniques of mountain warfare day and night. It's only been more than half a year, and it's quite surprising that John, who was dying at the beginning, can stand here alive again.

"It's not healed, but it's also better. Giovanni, don't hide the treasure that Lucaon brought, take it out. ”

Hearing John's command, Giovanni suddenly became puffed: "Your Majesty...... Something has indeed arrived...... But ......"

"But what?"

"As you know, the Greek fire weapon developed by Urban this time is a half-finished product. Greek fire was originally used to equip the navy. It has been lost for so many years, even if the tools used by the infantry to fire Greek fire were made, and there is not much stock of ammunition raw materials in Constantinople. When several soldiers were test-firing before, because they were not familiar with this kind of thing, a lot of fuel had been wasted. I'm afraid it will take time to wait for the production to be completed in Thessaloniki and transported over. ”

The dispenser manuscript that Jeffrey provided to John is supposed to be an improvement of the eldest princess's blueprint, and the degree of improvement is not large, so the whole weapon is still in the most primitive experimental stage. The most basic raw material for Greek fire fuel is, after all, oil. After the recapture of the Balkans, the empire focused on iron and copper, followed by gold and silver, and the value of oil in this era was not as hot as in later generations. Even the very small amount of oil in Constantinople was not known to the treasurer for a long time.

"The value of Greek fire is still quite positive, although in the face of the city walls and agile cavalry troops, Greek fire may not be as effective as real artillery, but imagine the scene when the two armies are close to each other, and suddenly our soldiers have fire in their hands, burning the enemy and the infidels to ashes......" John made an exaggerated analogy, drawing a huge arc in the air with his hands, "Think about Giovanni, this is the real Phoenix Legion!" Such a weapon should not be called Greek fire, it should be called Roman fire...... Or phoenix fire! ”

"The Phoenix Legion with its deadly flames? Ha! Giovanni had certainly fantasized about such a plot countless times, or Francisco had more than once mentioned the heroism of Greek fire in past naval battles when describing to him the glory of the navy, and more than once lamented the loss of Greek fire. This time, the army was able to equip the navy with the new phoenix fire one step ahead, and probably as the admiral of the navy, Francisco was angry enough.

After Galinikos of Syria brought the craft of Greek fire to Constantinople, it did make the navy of the Eastern Empire invincible for a period of time, but Greek fire was a weapon that was greatly affected by the weather, and it was not only easy to accidentally injure friendly troops, but also extremely difficult to extinguish. The name of the unquenchable fire or eternal fire was spread.

The land was able to use Greek fire in a more limited way, because the Greek fire would burn more violently when it met water, so it was indeed a more suitable weapon for the navy, and secondly, the early engineering technology did not allow people to fire Greek fire like muskets, and if they were thrown, a large area of fire and continuous flames would also cause damage to their own soldiers. And if it is thrown with a trebuchet, it is a complete waste of resources, and it is more practical to directly throw boulders to damage the city wall.

And the solution given in the manuscript of the eldest princess, in John's eyes, is also quite creative now. Through Sophia's translation, it is roughly certain that Anna Komnenos not only secretly recorded the recipe for Greek fire in this manuscript, but also provided a hypothetical Greek fire firing tool. It should be the prototype of the research results of Urban this time. The core principle of this weapon is a reciprocating pump pressure and the direct firing of a burning Greek fire with the help of brass tubes. Such a weapon only needs two people to operate, one person to operate a brass tube to aim at the enemy, and one person to control the container where the Greek fire fuel is stored, and within close range of the legion, one side is armed with a spear and a short sword, and the other is spewing flames, so it is already clear what the outcome of the battle will be.

I'm afraid that the only drawback at the moment is how to have a control over the consumption of Greek fire. After all, even if people do not realize the value of oil, the Balkan oil reserves are limited, and the current extraction technology can only meet the needs of the empire to grab the oil resources floating on the surface. If the Eastern Empire imports from countries like the Mamluks all year round, people will naturally be able to smell it, and even if they don't know what you're doing with it, they will continue to increase their bargaining chips. The financial crisis of the empire is far from over, and open source is important, but throttling is the most fundamental problem.

"I will send a letter to Urban in a while, the launcher of this phoenix fire still needs to be improved, and the next fund will be used for the raw ore in Kosovo...... Oh yes, tell him directly, the raw materials of the phoenix fire are saved, if this thing really has a chance to be assembled on a large scale, the benefits will definitely be indispensable to him. ”

"Your Majesty...... You talk like that, you really look like a bandit leader. ”

"Now the empire is not a mountain bandit, sooner or later it will have to be bullied by infidels." John suddenly tapped his head, as if he remembered something again, "Giovanni, let me ask you something." ”

Seeing John's mysterious appearance, and Jeffrey, who kept glancing at him with a strange expression, Giovanni looked even more puzzled.

"Your Majesty, you can just say ......"

John smacked for a long time, and with a wave of his hand drove out a few of the guards, leaving only Giovanni, Vasica, and Publius in the camp.

"What do you think if I suddenly have an extra woman next to me?"

Book Keju Reading Website: