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Under a mound outside Lai'an County, Zhu Yuanzhang and the generals watched all of Shang Yu's current movements with serious faces.

Shang Yu was directing the soldiers to slowly lift the strange weapon called the ballista from the carriage, and Shang Yu also took out two crossbow arrows that were also made of stainless steel, but the style of this crossbow arrow was a little strange, the tip of the front end was not the tip of the arrow, but a steel ball about the size of a child's fist, the arrow was about three and a half feet long, one-third longer than the ordinary arrow, and the tail was also extremely thick.

After placing these two crossbow arrows into a box in the lower right corner of the ballista, Shang Yu ordered all the soldiers to retreat, turned around and clasped his fists at Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "Deputy Marshal Left, please allow Shang Yu to fire at the mound." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded immediately, still having some doubts in his heart about the power of the weapon that Shang Yu said, but seeing that Shang Yu's face was extremely confident, he said: "Shang County Cheng, you can fire the cannon now!" ”

The rest of the generals had been watching Shang Yu's movements, and they were very curious about the power of the weapons that Shang Yu said, if it was really as he said, it would play a very strong role on the battlefield.

But it was indeed too much to believe, and everyone watched Shang Yu with bated breath, waiting for the moment to verify the weapon.

After Shang Yu heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words, he immediately respectfully saluted again, and then said, "Please cover your ears before launching, and I will demonstrate it for you." ”

He stepped forward and waved off the soldiers beside him, then turned one of the winches of the ballista in front of him, and after turning it a dozen times, he began to adjust the direction of the steel pipe at the front end, and calculated the direction in his mind before finally nodding with satisfaction.

After gently pulling a joystick on the right side of the ballista, I heard a squeak from the box in the lower right corner, and then after a few breaths, a crossbow arrow shot out of the steel barrel, and a bright silver light flashed down in one breath and shot to the mound hundreds of meters in front of it.

An earth-shattering explosion was heard, and a blinding fire erupted from the mound, and countless pieces of dirt flew in all directions, and a breeze blew away the black smoke in the sky.

Zhu Yuanzhang rubbed his ears that were almost deafened, and opened his mouth wide to see a deep hole blown out of the mound hundreds of meters away, although Shang Yu had talked about the power of this ballista beforehand, but the results caused so far were really surprising to him.

At this time, Shang Yu ordered the soldiers to run to the mound in front of him to measure the size of the hole that had been blown out, turned around and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and the generals with shocked faces, and said, "Deputy Marshal Zuo, how do you feel about the power of this weapon?" ”

Shang Yu was not very satisfied with the power of the explosion, because there was no better material at hand to make explosives with stronger explosive power, so there were only ten such crossbow arrows, if Zhu Yuanzhang could be satisfied, Shang Yu could deploy materials from other counties and make the explosives needed for this kind of arrows in a straightforward manner.

"It's incredible! Brother Shang Yuxian, you have created a siege artifact, this kind of ballista is really of great use to our army, but it is inconvenient to transport, and such a heavy iron weapon is not conducive to transportation. "Zhu Yuanzhang really liked this kind of ballista at this time, if it is used to attack the city, as long as there are several such ballistas, he can attack the fortified city, but it is too heavy and makes him a little embarrassed.

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was a little worried, Shang Yu said with a smile: "Deputy Marshal Zuo, I'm in a hurry to show you!" In fact, it can be fitted with wheels and pulled by horses, and it can also be disassembled into hundreds of parts to be put together before the army, and I have already ordered someone in the workshop to make wheels, and I also have a legend on how to disassemble this ballista, which can be handed over to the left deputy marshal at any time. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang stepped forward and took a closer look at the structure of the ballista, and really found that the wheels could be installed at the bottom, and there was a steel ring at the front end that could be connected to the horse, and at this time, Shang Yu also sent a silk silk to him.

When he opened it, he saw that the complex structure of the ballista was on the silk, and Zhu Yuanzhang was immediately taken aback and said: "This ballista is so complicated, it is actually composed of hundreds of parts, it can't be disassembled, if it is disassembled, it will be difficult to install, or it is better to install it on wheels and be dragged by a horse." ”

The ballista made by Shang Yu was too complicated, and the parts were all very strange in style, and under the different sizes, it was difficult to restore them in a short time if they were disassembled.

Shang Yu was slightly stunned, knowing in his heart that Zhu Yuanzhang was worried that he would not be able to install it, so he couldn't help but smile slightly: "Deputy Marshal Left, this person who uses the ballista must also be properly trained, and a special person will use and maintain it. ”

"If Deputy Marshal Zuo can agree, Shang Yu is willing to make ten of these ballistae for you, and train a group of soldiers to operate these ballistas, do you think it's okay?" Shang Yu saw Zhu Yuanzhang's face stroking the ballista with joy, and couldn't help but ask.

At this moment, the soldiers at the mound in front ran back and said respectfully to Shang Yu: "Lord County, the pit is two zhang square and about one zhang deep!" ”

Shang Yu nodded and waved his hand to signal the soldiers to retreat.

"Brother Xian! This is really wonderful, Ben Shuai really needs such a weapon, with this kind of ballista, he will be able to drive Yuangou back to the grassland in a short time. Brother Xian, Ben Shuai will go back to Chuzhou tomorrow, and immediately promote you to the county commander of Lai'an, I hope you can make ten such crossbows as soon as possible. Zhu Yuanzhang stretched out his big hand like a fan and patted Shang Yu on the shoulder.

Shang Yu was not strong at this time, and he almost sat down to the ground under this beat, Zhu Yuanzhang saw it and hurriedly helped Shang Yu down, and said with concern: "Brother, your body has not fully recovered?" ”

After returning to the county seat, all the generals looked at Shang Yudi's eyes changed again, they had already seen the power of the ballista, if they were in the battle of Weicheng, they could definitely reduce a large number of casualties, and give the enemy a great deterrent and shock.

If Shang Yu was originally just a young boy in what they thought he was, at this time he was a person with great talent in his chest, and they had all seen the construction diagram of the crossbow and bow separately, and there were as many as hundreds of parts that made all the generals feel dizzy.

The level of complexity was hard for them to imagine, and they couldn't understand that they had thought that it would be a complete ballista, that could be broken into hundreds of parts, and that if one part was broken in the future, it could be replaced with a new one.

After dinner, the generals rode out of the city and returned to the camp, while Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Shanchang continued to stay in the county office, preparing to rest in the city.

"Brother Xian, this time you have made such a divine crossbow, which is a hundred times more powerful than the five-string bow of that day, what kind of mystery is there in your little head? I'm curious, how do you know these many skills? After Zhu Yuanzhang took a sip of tea, he asked Shang Yu with some puzzlement.

"Big brother, this is what my master has passed on, I just use the skills left to me by my master, in addition to this ballista, I also want to create something connected in the big military camp, that is, hundreds of miles apart, the armies can also be connected to each other, but that kind of thing is not easy to make, even if it is not a fraction of a second, I have recently thought about it and am ready to make it for the eldest brother." Shang Yu thought of something and couldn't help but say it in passing.

"Can you be connected hundreds of miles away? Brother Xian, aren't you talking nonsense? How can there be anything in this world that can be connected hundreds of miles apart? Zhu Yuanzhang immediately opened his eyes and said in disbelief.

"Big brother, have you ever heard of the bell tower in the center of the Shaolin Temple?" Shang Yu saw that Zhu Yuanzhang didn't believe it, so he was ready to use an example to explain it to him.

"The bell tower of the Shaolin Temple? I know that in order to mix rice and eat I had been a monk in Huangjue Temple, if the bell of Shaolin Temple rings, about half of the temple bells in the world can also make a sound at the same time, according to legend, this is a miracle of my Buddha, why did the virtuous brother mention this matter? Zhu Yuanzhang replied a little inexplicably.

"Big brother, in fact, that's because those bells are made from a mold in one place, and when one of them is struck, the others will sound at the same time because of induction, if I can make an array of instruments for the army that can make sounds at the same time, and use different sounds and rhythms of different lengths to express different meanings, I can make the army get in touch from a distance, and if it succeeds, I can resist the enemy who is several times larger than our army, and it is not impossible for the big brother to dominate the world." Shang Yu couldn't help but explain amusefully when he saw that Zhu Yuanzhang called Tongzhen (today known as Gongzhen) a miracle.

"I see, the bell of Shaolin Temple and the bell of other temples are all from one place, so there is a miracle saying, this is my lonely and unheard, hehe! Brother, what you said should be done in secret, and it is better not to spread this kind of thing, this will be another magic weapon to make our righteous army an invincible army! Zhu Yuanzhang immediately thought of the importance of Shang Yu's contact information.

"Big brother, in addition to making ballistas, I will train some soldiers for you who can distinguish the meaning of the voice, you can completely make them separate under the command of the generals, if it is successful, thousands of soldiers will be scattered in the south of the Yangtze River, they can be like an arm, and they will definitely be like a cow to deal with the enemy army." Shang Yu saw that Zhu Yuanzhang clearly agreed with his opinion, so he said.

"Brother, you are really my great help, not only to create a divine crossbow but also to come up with such a way to connect with the place, if the eldest brother can really command the army to expel the Yuan court from the Central Plains in the future, you will be the greatest hero of my Han Dynasty and tens of millions of people." Zhu Yuanzhang stood up at this time, and looked at Shang Yu with an appreciative look in his eyes.

"Big brother, you are complimenting your little brother too much." Shang Yu said with a slight blush.

"Where, the virtuous brother didn't expect that what your master Mr. Lu learned in his chest was so amazing, and when he returned to Chuzhou, the elder brother would definitely ask him to keep him in the army as a military aircraft counselor." Zhu Yuanzhang said with admiration.

"Big brother, what I have learned is not taught by Master Lu, but another miraculous gentleman, but I was instructed by him not to say his name, please forgive me, big brother." Shang Yu saw that Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to have some misunderstanding, so he explained.

"I see, if the Shang Alliance had such weapons, wouldn't it have supported the rebels from all walks of life to fight the Yuan Dog and not be able to enter the Central Plains, the other master of the brother must be a hidden master, since he instructed you not to tell his origin, then you must not say it, respecting the teacher is a must." Although Zhu Yuanzhang was taken aback, he felt very understanding that Shang Yu could not say the name of another master.

Shang Yu saw that Zhu Yuanzhang no longer asked about Liu Xingbao, so he relieved himself, but after remembering something, he asked Zhu Yuanzhang again: "Big brother, I heard that you are going to find trouble with Marshal Du after returning to Chuzhou?" Is this true? ”

Zhu Yuanzhang's face sank after hearing this, and he asked in a deep voice: "Brother, where did you hear these remarks?" ”

Shang Yu couldn't help but be a little scared when he saw that Zhu Yuanzhang's face had changed, but he still stubbornly said, "I heard it from Mr. Li. Big brother, now you can't turn your face with Marshal Du, if you find out the matter with Marshal Du, our army will be attacked by Liu Futong and Chen Youliang, this is what Mr. Li is most worried about, and the younger brother is also afraid that you will be impulsive and put the whole army in crisis. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said: "Brother Wei just wants to weaken his military power after returning to Chuzhou, not to turn his face with him. ”

"Brother don't worry, you just need to make the crossbow and the utensils used to communicate, and train the relevant personnel, maybe in the future, my brother will have to rely on these two magical things to fight with Yuangou, if my brother can fight Jiqing Mansion in the future, I will take you over as the prefect of a state, but it's a pity that your divine power is gone, otherwise you can kill Yuangou on the front line with your brother's army." Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Shang Yu with pity and said.