"Another kind of fine iron? And there? Guo Qi asked Tie Shan.

Tie Shan took Guo Qi to the warehouse of the iron mill, and in a corner Guo Qi saw a piece of fine iron billet, and there was a war knife on top of this iron billet.

Guo Qi will pull the knife out of the scabbard, in terms of weight and appearance, this knife is no different from other war knives, but when he picks up this knife, the knife surface of this knife is not straight, but has some arcs, but because the knife surface is relatively wide, and the blade is thicker, the arc is not very obvious; Guo Qi also saw a big gap on the blade, obviously the hardness of this knife is not very good.

Guo Qi held a knife in his hand, walked around the treasury twice and said, "Fifth son, go and find a few pieces of rice paper and a brush for this king." ”

"No!"

After the pen, ink, paper and inkstone were brought, Guo Qi spread the rice paper on the bookcase at the door of the warehouse, and used a brush to spend a long strip on the paper, and there were two protrusions on both sides of the strip, like an arrow, but it was much more sleek than the arrow.

"Can this thing be made for this king?" Guo Qi handed the drawings to Tie Shan and asked.

"This is simple, and the humble position can be created immediately, but I don't know how long the prince will be?"

"About 4 feet! This piece of iron can't be too thick, and it's about the same as a five-point piece. ”

"No! Humble duty understands, this is built. ”

"Wuzi, you go find a few bowstrings."

"No!"

After Li Wu left, Ling Jing asked Guo Qi, "Lord, are you planning to use this soft iron to make bows and arrows?" ”

"What? Why not? Guo Qi smiled weirdly.

"But, that's great." Ling Jing said happily.

After leaving the warehouse, Guo Qi waited in the iron workshop, watching Tie Shan and several blacksmiths not far away make the war knife step by step into the shape painted on the drawings; It was very hot in the iron workshop, and after standing for a long time, Guo Qi's clothes were soaked, watching the blacksmiths beating with their bare arms, Guo Qi silently decided in his heart to further improve the treatment of craftsmen in the future.

After being busy for more than half an hour, the iron bar that Guo Qi asked for was finally built, and even the burrs on it were polished, but it didn't look good, and now it was in the testing stage, and it didn't care about it, as long as it was easy to use.

"Five sons, tie a sleeve to each end of the bowstring and put it on the bow arm."

After hearing Guo Qi's order, Li Wu and his two guards immediately set their hands on it, first putting the bowstring on one side, then bending the bow arm, and putting the other end on the other end, a simple iron arm bow was considered to be completed.

"Go and get an arrow, and the king will try his bow."

"Lord, let's try it first!" Li Wu pleaded.

"Just let your kid have a good time, be sure to pay attention to safety."

"Humble, understood."

Li Wu picked up the iron arm bow and lifted it, this bow also weighed four or five catties, not much heavier than the ox horn bow used by the Yongjun now; After Li Wu let go of his right hand that drew the bow, he only heard a "whoosh" sound, and the arrow flew far away, shooting into the plank sixty paces away (Note 1), and even the arrow was shot into the plank.

"Lord, the power of this iron arm bow is too great, and even the plank half an inch behind it has shot through sixty paces away." Ling Jing was the first to run to the plank in the distance and shouted after looking at it.

Although Guo Qi was also very pleased, he didn't show it, he just said lightly: "Find someone else to try it again, see how far the farthest range is, what the effect of the farthest armor piercing is, and try all kinds of arrows." ”

"No! Humble position, take people to try. Li Wu commanded.

After a quarter of an hour of testing, Li Wu returned to Guo Qi with the results of the test and reported: "My lord, the range of the Iron Arm Bow is about one hundred and sixty steps with light arrows, and the range is about one hundred and twenty steps with heavy arrows (armor-piercing arrows), and the heavy arrow can penetrate the leather armor at a hundred paces away, and penetrate a layer of iron armor at a distance of eighty steps, which is much higher than the armor-piercing ability of the Ox Horn Bow. ”

"Well, that's good." Guo Qi nodded and said: "After the Iron Mountain, this kind of soft and refined iron will also be refined in large quantities, Ling Jing immediately found a craftsman who made bows and arrows to redesign the iron arm bow, the principle is to use the least amount of iron materials, to achieve the longest range, in addition to the bow, you can also make crossbows; As long as it is done, this king will definitely reward him. ”

"No! Commanded by humility. Ling Jing replied with Tie Shan.

"Tieshan, although this king has just promoted you to a first-class duke, you also have credit for the making of this iron arm bow, and now this king will give you another promotion to a third-class baron."

"Humble thanks to the lord, the lord is a thousand years old, a thousand years old, a thousand years old."

"Get up!" Guo Qi then said to all the craftsmen in the iron workshop: "People say that craftsmen are the most lowly people, but in this king, you are the same as everyone else, and you will also be rewarded for meritorious service, titles, gold and silver, women, as long as you work hard, you will have more meritorious service." ”

"Chitose Wang, Chitose Wang, Chitose Wangye......"

Guo Qi's simple sentence mobilized the enthusiasm of everyone in the iron workshop, these craftsmen are the same as those ordinary people, they are some people who are very easy to satisfy, they only need to promise them, and when they meet the requirements, they are willing to give their all.

Guo Qi didn't stay in Baili City for long, and returned to Yongcheng on the same day, and at the same time brought back the bow and the remaining soft iron, and handed them over to the **** craftsmen in the Yongcheng workshop.

——————

Inside the Yongcheng Workshop.

"Did you hear that? Yesterday, the prince went to Baili City and promoted a craftsman there to a weapon supervisor.

And he was knighted as a third-class baron! ”

"Not really! I also heard that it was an old blacksmith who made two kinds of fine iron from Tieshan before he was knighted. ”

"By the way, Chang Ying, I remember that you didn't make a bow out of bamboo before? can shoot very far, but it's just a little bit accurate, why don't you go to the supervisor, maybe I can make an official with you! ”

"That bow is too big, and the head is not good, can it work?" Chang Ying said a little vaguely.

"Go ahead and try it! How can you know if you don't try! ”

"Okay, I'll give it a try."

Chang Ying returned to his lodgings and took out the large bow he had made at his leisure, which was indeed very large, six feet long (note 2), and this was the length of the bow after it was made, and if the bow was straightened, it could reach more than seven feet; Chang Ying took his big bow and sent it to the Supervisor Lord, who transferred it to Ling Jing's hands, and finally sent it to Guo Qi.

"Lord, this big bow has been tried, it is not conducive to direct shooting at all, it can only be used for projectile, but the distance of the projectile is very far and the effective range can reach two hundred steps, but the accuracy is not very good, after all, the distance is relatively far, and it is a projectile." Ling Jing reported.

"Is it difficult to make?"

"My lord, this kind of big bow is very simple to make, I have already asked about it, you can use bamboo, fir wood, and elm, and you don't need to use tendons or skin for the bowstring, you only need ordinary soaked hemp rope."