Zhao Xingde looked up and saw that four hundred steps away, there was a pile of more than ten meters long and two feet high, and a flag was planted on the earthen barrier. There were also various targets scattered around the ramparts, and thousands of soldiers made of straw bundles lined up in a neat phalanx in front of the barracks, and there were horse teams arranged with straw puppets on the left and right of the phalanx. The north wind blew flags and hunted as if there really was an army ahead.

"It seems that this is the target for the trial of the power of the artillery later." Zhao Xingde said secretly in his heart. He placed his hand on a cannon, the smooth surface of which showed the sophistication of the casting. Obviously, the gunner took great care of it, not only polishing the gun to a shiny finish, but also carefully applying a thin layer of grease.

Zhao Xingde noticed that the lines on the bodies of these cannons were simple and consistent, unlike the iron barrel cannons seen in the Imperial City of the Great Song Dynasty, each of which had a unique and exquisite pattern. This shows that the artillery of the Xia Kingdom was cast from a unified mold, or even cast from the same mold. The quality of the artillery was ensured, while the cost of casting was significantly reduced.

"You two, be careful." The gunner not far away saw Zhao Xingde's hand on the cannon and warned loudly. Zhao Xingde turned his head and smiled apologetically at him, and took his hand back. Although Zhao Xingde retracted his hand, the gunner still yelled towards this side: "Stand far away, be careful of exploding!" He was stocky, wearing a short jacket and trousers similar to those of a craftsman, and like a craftsman, he was covered with all kinds of gadgets, and hurried to the front of the artillery in three or two steps, glaring angrily at Zhao Xingde and Wang Tongdeng.

When did Wang Tongdeng eat this kind of deflated, he said angrily: "Your grandmother's." "This gunner is not a good official, but he yells at the Marquis of Che, which is really annoying.

The gunner replied unceremoniously: "If you want to save your life, don't mess around!" While taking out a piece of silk cloth from his pocket, he carefully wiped the place where Zhao Xingde had touched just now. The marching division arranged for the sergeants who were about to enter the artillery battalion to visit and familiarize themselves with the artillery, but these former gunners and gunsmiths looked at these sloppy sergeants like thieves.

Ordinary artillery battalions were mostly stationed in cities and fortresses, with only gunners. The newly established artillery battalion was composed of three parts, one of which were the test gunners brought out by the gunsmiths, who were turned from craftsmen to sergeants. The other part is the elite gunners who were originally stationed in the city. The last part is the elite sergeants in the field legions. The reason for this arrangement is that precious artillery needs to be protected, so each artillery battalion is also protected by an infantry battalion. Just like the Liao people arranged the Tiebi battalion next to the artillery battalion.

Seeing that he was despised by the gunner, Wang Tongdeng couldn't hold back at that time, stepped forward, put his hand on the muzzle of the artillery, turned his head and smiled at Zhao Xingde: "I was ordered to come to watch the artillery, but we must also do things carefully, so as not to see clearly and understand half-understood." As he spoke, he knocked his finger twice on the copper cannon, and pretended to say: "Yes, barely usable." ”

Zhao Xingde didn't feel it, although Wang Tongdeng was suspected of causing trouble, but those old gunners were too concerned about the sergeants who had just come into contact with artillery, and several sergeants had quarrels with gunners. He smiled and said: "Wang Jun, be careful, it's cold, be careful to stick your hands to the copper cannon." Wang Tongdeng smiled and said, "Exactly." Then he picked up his hands and clasped them to his chest. The gunner was angry, raised the brush that brushed the cannon chamber, swiped it a few times where Wang Tong Dengshi had just touched it, and said in a rough voice: "Dodge, dodge." The brush was raised high in front of Wang Tongdeng, and a piece of oil-stained sewage was sprinkled on his military bubble.

"What a bold man!" Wang Tongdeng shouted angrily, reached out and grabbed the gunner's collar, and raised his fist to beat him.

But the gunner's eyes widened, and he said loudly: "Beat the robe, don't you want to stay in the artillery battalion?" "Although Wang Tongdeng's title is higher than his, elite gunners are more scarce than sergeants who are good at charging and killing, and in the event of a conflict, the firearms department is likely to transfer the sergeants instead of firing the gunners. The elite gunners, on the other hand, are usually monitored and protected by the Military Intelligence Department.

Looking to the side, I saw a group of people walking along the artillery column, some of them were wearing military robes and large coats, and some were wearing narrow sleeves and short jackets and leather robes. Walked over, this person is in his fifties, square face, his face and chin are shaved iron, and a pair of eagle-like sharp eyes under the eyebrows of the lying silkworm are daunting, Wang Tongdeng looked at the insignia on his military robe, it turned out to be the general Shangqing, and immediately let go of the gunner, and said in a loud voice: "Lord Qiqi, this person is rude first, and the last general just wants to reason with him." As he spoke, he showed the stains on his military robes to the public.

The gunner shouted, "It is clear that he touched the cannon indiscriminately, and I just washed the cannon and accidentally splashed some water on him." but he will hurt with his hands. Master, please call the shots for the villain! "He was a gunner trained by the master of cannon casting, and he felt that he was superior to ordinary gunners. Seeing this, he immediately shouted injustice, there was a scarcity of gunners in the artillery battalion, and he was not afraid of making a big trouble, and if it was too big, the reckless officer would leave.

Unexpectedly, the master didn't look at him at all, but stared behind the gunner, his eyes revealed a look of surprise, and his hands trembled slightly, looking very excited. It turned out that this person was Chun Yuzhen, a cannon caster that Zhao Xingde had met when he was in Xianyang, and he followed Zhao Xingde's instructions, and after several tests, he finally succeeded in the test, greatly reducing the weight of the cast iron cannon. Because the weight loss was so staggering, it attracted the attention of the Ordnance Division. The Ordnance Division immediately allocated him a large sum of money to focus on the more expensive and useful bronze cannons.

After receiving the funding of the Ordnance Division, Chun Yuzhen strengthened his wings, and after reducing the weight of the bronze artillery with a caliber of four inches and firing a ten-kilogram projectile to less than three thousand catties, the weight of the artillery with a caliber of three inches and firing a five-kilogram projectile was greatly reduced. What's even more gratifying is that he pioneered the use of iron molds instead of sand and mud molds, and each casting mold can be used many times, so that the cast copper cannon is the same size, which is extremely suitable for unified measurement of various parameters, and is greatly beneficial to the establishment of a large-scale artillery army. Therefore, the Ordnance Department attached great importance to Chun Yuzhen, and not only asked the Academy to promote him to a master, but also specially selected a group of elite gunners to be trained by him. The establishment of the artillery battalion of the new army for the whole training is of great importance, and the master of the artillery casting has also been specially invited to come to guide him.

Chun Yuzhen stared at Zhao Xingde for a moment, but he was too excited to speak. At this time, everyone saw that the two of them were acquainted, Zhao Xingde was a little embarrassed, arched his hand, and said with a smile: "Mr. Chunyu, farewell to Chang'an, long time no see!" ”

Chun Yuzhen woke up from his memories and sighed with emotion: "It's been a long time, Mr. Zhao, I'm looking for you so hard!" He recalled that when the test of casting cannons failed, so that he went bankrupt and almost committed suicide, Zhao Xingde came to help, not only pointed out the trick of casting cannons, but also took out 10,000 yuan of silver. Afterwards, he brushed off his clothes and left, leaving no address. After Chun Yuzhen successfully cast the cannon, he once painstakingly searched for Zhao De in Dunhuang, but there was no news. More than three years passed in a flash, and he almost gave up hope of finding Zhao De, but who would have expected to suddenly meet him at the test field.

Chun Yu Zhen had mixed feelings, and some forgot the occasion. Including the general of the firearms department, more than a dozen officers and seven or eight craftsmen from the firearms department, the marching department, and the ordnance department all looked at these two people strangely. Zhao Xingde didn't want to show it in front of people, so he intercepted Chun Yuzhen's words, smiled and hugged his fists and said: "The last general and Mr. Chun Yu reunited after a long absence, so that they lost their sense of proportion and delayed the artillery drill. I hope that you will forgive me. He said, glaring at Chun Yuzhen.

Chun Yuzhen suddenly realized that Zhao De's seemed to be quite reluctant for others to know that he had the art of casting cannons. Since he was looking for Zhao De to come to him, he once pondered his words and deeds that day, and was particularly impressed by the sentence "The husband is not guilty, but he is guilty". He is also a shrewd person, but he usually devotes himself to casting cannons, which makes him a little unreasonable. After Zhao Xingde's reminder, Chun Yuzhen also smiled: "Exactly, the contemptible people forget their feelings for a while, and the generals forgive their sins." His tone of voice was very different from Zhao Xingde's, as the No. 1 artillery caster in the Xia Kingdom, even if he was a general of the Firearms Division and the Ordnance Division, he had to give him a few thin faces.

Wang Yunzhong, the general of the Firearms Division, smiled: "The reunion of the old people is a gratifying thing. He looked Zhao Xingde up and down and asked, "What is your name, and which army is it from?" ”

Zhao Xingde said solemnly: "The last general, Zhao De, was originally a centurion of the Chengying Army, and he had seen the general. ”

"Oh, the Shadow Army." Wang Yunzhong nodded slightly, he looked at the title emblem on Zhao Xingde's chest, and said with a smile: "Yes, he is already a marquis." Then he asked Wang Tongdeng, "What about you?" ”

Wang Tongdeng also said solemnly: "The last general, Wang Tongdeng, was originally the centurion of the Chengying Army. ”

"Okay," Wang Yunzhong turned back to the other officers and smiled, "Two centurions from the shadow, it seems that the artillery battalion also hides dragons and crouching tigers." The officers laughed together. looked at Zhao Xingde and Wang Tongdeng, and his eyes were much more kind.

The original artillery of the Xia Kingdom was heavy, and it was placed in the barracks and not used in field battles. And with the strength of the Xia army, few strong enemies can come to the city. Therefore, the gunners of the Xia State had almost no chance of meritorious service in battle. Over time, the artillery battalion was sparse and lazy, and was despised by the armies. However, since the founding emperor, the emperors of the Xia Kingdom have attached great importance to firearms, and even listed the artillery battalions separately and placed them under the jurisdiction of the Firearms Department of the General's Office. In the past, the Firearms Division only had 10 city fire artillery battalions under its jurisdiction, and it was not only far less powerful than the generals in charge of the various military divisions, but also inferior to the general generals of the general military divisions. Even the commander of the Praetorian Guard was reluctant to be promoted to this position, so he had to be promoted to the general of the firearms department from the ordnance department and the general army command envoy. And the captains of the artillery battalions themselves often have no chance of becoming generals at all because of their meagre military merits.

Now the General's Mansion has set up an artillery battalion for field warfare, and Emperor Chen Xuan attaches great importance to it, and Wang Yunzhong also regards this as a good opportunity for the firearms department to turn over, as long as the artillery can go to the battlefield, there will be a chance to make meritorious contributions. And the Chengying Army, which has always been above the top, is also willing to stuff the soldiers over, which is enough to prove that the artillery battalion is widely favored. Thinking of this, Wang Yunzhong couldn't help but feel a little secretly proud. He patted Wang Tongdeng and Zhao Xingde on the shoulders and encouraged: "Do a good job, there is also a great opportunity to make meritorious contributions in the artillery battalion." ”