After pacifying Guanzhong, Chen Cheng had already ordered people to start secretly developing artillery, and invested a lot of manpower and material resources.

In the process of manufacturing artillery, the Ordnance Manufacturing Bureau also put forward various whimsical ideas, but they were all rejected by Chen Cheng. Even if some of the proposals are reliable, the most they can do is to test them. In the end, there were only two types of finalized types: "Napoleon cannon" and "tiger squat cannon".

The name "Tiger Squat Cannon" sounds very powerful, and "Napoleonic Cannon" sounds terrible, but Chen Cheng didn't explain it to the people below, and forcibly passed this name.

Since Zhongping fled to Xiliang in six years, seven or eight years have passed now, and Chen Cheng has controlled the Western Regions, Liangzhou, Guanzhong, Bingzhou and Sili, and the total population is less than six million, which is really bad at this speed. In the same time, Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, died in Qin at the age of three, and destroyed Chu in four years, and he had already seized the entire world.

It took so long to finally light up the technology of "artillery", which can be regarded as a real feeling of a new era. When the artillery is installed on a large scale, what Yuan Shao and what Cao Cao can only be crushed under the wheel of history. Although Hebei has a large population, how can manpower compete with gunpowder and steel?

The Tiger Squat Cannon could be delegated to the infantry battalion, but the Napoleonic Cannon was to be used centrally. With the cannon, coupled with the Xiliang Iron Cavalry covering the flanks and the Ouroboros chasing and killing, flat pushing is not a dream!

However, the artillery has only just been qualitative, and it will take at least a year to complete the reloading. According to the experience of the Napoleonic wars, with four artillery pieces for every thousand people, an infantry battalion needs eight to ten Tiger squat guns. There are three infantry battalions in the tooth soldiers, so twenty or thirty tiger squat cannons are needed. Counting the 1st and 2nd Corps, a total of sixty infantry guns were needed.

The Tooth Corps, the First Army Corps, and the Second Army Corps each had to have a "Napoleon" artillery battalion, and a total of thirty-six "Napoleonic guns" were needed. There are so many cannons, but it takes a long time to get out. And the finished product rate of this era is not too high, full of calculations, and it is good to be able to equip three elite troops in a year.

Moreover, after being equipped with new weapons, the original establishment and tactics must also be improved. Artillery is a projectile weapon, which can replace the bow and crossbow to a large extent, but because the arquebus shooting technique is too bad, it has not been pressed for the time being, and the army still needs to keep a certain number of crossbowmen.

It will take time to figure out before the power of the new weapon can be fully realized. But in any case, with these weapons, the rest of the matter is much easier.

After the artillery was installed, the matter was not over. After all, the performance of black powder is poor, although it can be further strengthened by customization and granulation, but after all, it is still a little bit meaningless. Chen Cheng knows how to make things like yellow gunpowder and nitrocellulose, but limited by the technology of this era, it is okay to manufacture a little bit on a small scale without guaranteeing quality, and if you want to produce it on a large scale, it is almost a dream.

However, the goal can be set first, the route is determined, and the rest is only a matter of technology. It's just a technical adjustment, and everyone doesn't need to panic. Anyway, Chen Cheng is not in a hurry, of course it is better to be able to improve, if not, then temporarily use black powder to deal with it, and it can also kill people.

The imperial court was installing new weapons, improving its establishment and tactics, and training more officers. The army primary school has been running for five years, and hundreds of officers at the rank of commander and team leader have been sent to the army or re-reformed. The army middle school also ran for a year, mainly training officers at the level of the Quhe Department, with 500 people in one song and 2,000 to 3,000 in the other. Qu Chang only uses to manage the combat of a single class, and the level of the department already needs to consider the problem of troop composition.

After the artillery came out, how to coordinate the infantry, cavalry, and artillery was a new problem that had never existed before. Because of historical reasons, there are many generals in the Xiliang Army who are good at commanding cavalry battles, but they all rely on experience to command the army. And artillery is a weapon that has never been seen before, and the previous experience will not work, or even counterproductive.

Although the imperial court is constantly increasing its military strength, in the eyes of outsiders, the imperial court seems to have lost its enterprising spirit, only cares about its own one-third of an acre of land, and does not care about all the princes. Zhang Lu, the Taishou of Hanzhong, once wrote to the imperial court, wanting the imperial court to send a large army to destroy Yizhou Mu Liu Zhang, but Chen Cheng refused.

Liu Bei also once wrote a book, saying that he would once again jointly send troops to eliminate Cao Cao, who was entrenched in the north of Yuzhou. Cao Jun not only often rushed into Yanzhou to loot, but also often went to Xuzhou to rob, which made Liu Bei very angry, so he wanted to kill Cao Cao once and for all.

For such a request, Chen Cheng still refused, at most he issued an edict in the name of the Son of Heaven, so that everyone could maintain restraint and something. I heard that the general recently married the daughter of Situ Wang Yun, and married the daughter of Cai Yong, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and also accepted a concubine, who is said to have been the maid of the Queen Mother. People outside said that the general was indulged in the gentle township and no longer had heroic spirit.

Especially the "Halal Daily", which was controlled by the original court ministers, spoke ill of the general for three days. The printing location of the newspaper was seized four times, and finally the ban was lifted again under Cai Yong's intercession. After each seizure, the "Halal Daily" would be honest for a while, but it didn't take long for it to relapse into its old ways, and then it was seized again.

In the autumn of the second year of Jian'an, Yuan Tan, who was in Yuzhou, finally couldn't bear the pressure of Cao Cao, so he resigned from Yuzhou and elected Cao Mengde to take over. In fact, Yuan Shao had already given Yuan Tan an order a few months ago, asking him to bring people back to Yecheng. It's just that Yuan Tan has been unwilling to fail like this, and he held out for a few more months, until he couldn't give the order to go to Caicheng, so he stupidly admitted the truth and fled back to Hebei in disgrace.

Cao Cao finally became the lord of a state again, and he returned to the chess game of the world and had the qualifications to play chess again. But at this time, Sun Ce had also pacified Jiangdong and established the rule of the Sun family in Yangzhou. Moreover, the matter of Cao ** leaving Yuan Tan just gave Sun Ce an excuse to no longer obey Yuzhou's orders.

He borrowed thousands of soldiers and horses from Yuan Tan, and now that Yuan Tan has been forced back to Hebei, the newly appointed Yuzhou Mu Cao Cao has nothing to do with him Sun Ce. Throwing off the last bit of restraint, Sun Ce, who was no more than in his early twenties, drew his sword and looked around, ready to find the next target to attack.

Soon, his eyes were on Jiang Xia. Attacking Jiangxia can not only avenge his father Sun Jian, but also occupy a stronghold to attack Jingzhou. Yangzhou, which is located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, will be suppressed by Jingzhou in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and in order to realize the ambition in his chest and for revenge, Sun Ce set his goal on Huang Zu in Jiangxia.

But now is not the time, at least until next year, when the armor is enough and the ships are all built, and then the troops and horses can be launched. Until then, he needs to find allies. Liu Biao once formed an alliance with Yuan Shao, and Cao Cao was also Yuan Shao's ally, both of which were on the side, and if they really fought, Yangzhou would inevitably be attacked.

On the boat of the Yangtze River, the young Sun Ce and the equally young Zhou Yu stood side by side, pointing in the direction of Chang'an and said: "Although the imperial court has not moved this year, how can the general be a person in a corner of peace?" There are Liu Biao, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao behind Huang Zu, then I will befriend Liu Bei and Chen Cheng, fight with them, and see who is the real hero! ”

Zhou Yu was dressed in a white shirt, and he looked even more handsome and outstanding. He shook the goose feather fan in his hand lightly, and said with a smile: "First take Jiangxia, then capture Jingzhou, and finally go upstream to capture Bashu, which is the extreme of the Yangtze River." In this way, you can sit and watch the princes of the Central Plains fight each other, wait until the world changes, and then order a general to lead the troops to the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, so as to become a king! ”

With that, Zhou Yu and Sun Ce glanced at each other, and then laughed out loud. A strong wind blew from the river, blowing the clothes of the two men into a hunting sound. At this moment, both of them felt that there was nothing in the world that could not be done, just like Cao Cao and Yuan Shao many years ago.

As soon as the laughter stopped, a beautiful girl in the boat poked her head out and shouted, "Brother, Sister Xiao Qiao has already boiled the tea!" ”

Sun Ce took Zhou Yu's hand and walked into the cabin with his head down. When Little Joe saw the two of them come in, he pursed his lips and smiled, and poured boiling water into the tea bowl. Tea dumplings are washed with boiling water and swirl and dance in the tea bowl. Then, she first handed a bowl of tea to Sun Ce, and then another bowl to Zhou Yu.

Sun Shangxiang on the side shouted: "Why don't you have mine? They didn't do anything outside, but I've been boiling water for you! ”

Xiao Qiao smiled, made another bowl of tea, and handed it to Sun Shangxiang.

Sun Ce looked at his sister who was being burned and fanned her hands repeatedly, hesitated in his heart, and then asked, "Didn't you say that you wanted to meet Wu Chengen, who wrote "Journey to the West"?" I'll send someone to Chang'an next year, do you want to go with me? ”

Sun Shangxiang tilted her head and thought for a while, Sun Wukong she liked very much, but she wanted to leave her mother and brother, which she didn't want. She thought for a while, then made up her mind and said, "It's better not to, Chang'an is too far away, then I won't be able to see my brother for a long time!" ”

Sun Ce's heart warmed, and he said with a smile: "Then don't go, when you are free one day, you will detain Wu Chengen's old man to Jiangdong and let him watch three times a day!" ”

Sun Shangxiang laughed out loud and said, "Who said that Wu Chengen must be an old man?" But he is really hateful, he only has one chapter in three days, this "Journey to the West" has been written for so long, and he still hasn't finished it! ”

Just when Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were on the river, Liu Bei had already made up his mind. Gongsun Zhan was his fellow senior brother and used to be his monarch, but now there are signs that he can't bear it, so he sent someone to ask Liu Bei. In addition, Cao Cao, the former enemy of life and death, has re-become the lord of a state, and is sharpening his knife, just waiting for when the knife will be fired.

And although he also trained a lot of elite soldiers and horses in Xuzhou, he did not have the confidence to stop Cao Cao, who was making a comeback. The last battle of Xuzhou had proved that his military talent was not comparable to Cao Cao, even if it was about Yu and Zhang Fei, who were thousands of enemies like him, he could only endure in the face of Cao's army's flood of offensives.

Therefore, he decided to take Zhang Fei to Chang'an. If you can't beat it on your own, you can only call for foreign aid.