After Wang Yunzhong encouraged his generals, he led a group of officers and craftsmen to continue the inspection. Chun Yuzhen said in a low voice: "After the artillery drill, I still have something to discuss with Mr. Zhao." There were many people here, and it was not a place to speak, so he followed behind Wang Yunzhong. The gunner just now was greatly surprised to see that he was actually acquainted with Chun Yuzhen, and saw that the officer had no intention of investigating deeply, so he no longer insisted on making a big fuss.

Because most of the onlookers had not seen the power of artillery, in order to prevent accidental injury, Wang Yunzhong gave the order to clear the field. The gunner just now came over and asked Zhao Xingde and Wang Tongdeng to retreat, until they retreated to the position of the ammunition truck behind the artillery position. This time, his tone was much weaker, and he looked at Zhao Xingde with a hint of fear in his eyes.

Wang Tongdeng and Zhao Xingde took more than ten steps back, looked at the back of the gunner, and said in a low voice: "The artillery battalion has been stationed in the city for many years, and it has been dyed with snobbish philistine habits. ”

Zhao Xingde smiled and said: "Brother Wang, from now on, we will also be in the artillery battalion." ”

Not far away, the gunner began to check the chamber for the last time, refill and reload. In addition to the gun commander, five gunners stood next to each gun, and four people on the side of the ammunition truck were responsible for carrying the ammunition. However, Zhao Xingde found that the division of labor among the gunners was not very clear, and his actions were a little hectic. Rao is like this, watching the bags of gunpowder and heavy projectiles being filled into the barrel, and the muzzle of the black hole is pointed straight out, which still makes people feel faintly excited.

Watching the gunners light the fire according to the order, all the sergeants unconsciously held their breath. I don't know if there was a reason for the conflict with the gunner just now, Wang Tongdeng muttered in a low voice: "Amplify the artillery battle." ”

Zhao Xingde smiled slightly, and was about to speak, when suddenly "Boom!" With an earth-shattering bang, a cannon began to roar, and then the roar was so loud that only the ears of the people who were shocked were buzzing, and it seemed that the ground under their feet was also trembling. The mountains around the arena echoed, and the artillery rose in a cloud of smoke.

Before the smoke obscured his vision, Zhao Xingde saw that many projectiles directly hit the earthen fortress in front of him, and pieces of earth and stones were flying indiscriminately, and two cannonballs were shot into the grass puppet phalanx, and directly penetrated the entire phalanx, knocking down and breaking the grass puppet like two alleys. There are also projectiles shot into the grass puppets pretending to be horse teams, which are also directly knocked down.

Just when the sergeant in the back was shocked by the power of the artillery, the gunner in front was already busy resetting the gun that had retreated with the force of the shock, and the two gunners were holding wet and dry gun brushes one after the other to quickly wash the gun chamber, and the gunner waiting next to the ammunition truck quickly carried the shells and gunpowder packs forward, while the gunners in front punched the powder bag next to the gun, pushed the powder bag into the bottom of the gun chamber again, and then loaded and ignited. Almost before Zhao Xingde and Wang Tongdeng noticed that time had passed, another round of roaring began.

Five rounds were launched like this, and the sound of the earth shaking and the mountains only stopped, and the ears were still buzzing. And in front of the artillery position, there was already thick black smoke. There was a choking smell of gunpowder in the air, and Wang Tongdeng, who was still saying "firing artillery" just now, stared at the smoke in front of him, unable to speak.

By the time the smoke had cleared slightly, the mound had been beaten two corners, the top had collapsed, and most of the flags had fallen down. The sergeants were allowed to walk up close to the target and watch, only to see that next to the earthen ramparts, the horse team and the military formation arranged with straw puppets were also badly destroyed by the projectiles. Although the iron projectile is round, under the inertia of the huge momentum, it actually breaks the rows of wooden stakes in unison, and the scattered straw is scattered everywhere, if it is on the real battlefield, it is a bloody stump and a severed hand.

Many sergeants witnessed the power of artillery for the first time, and their faces were amazed, and Wang Tongdeng even said in a loud voice: "Amazing, amazing!" ”

Zhao Xingde was also shocked in his heart, he didn't expect that the power of Xia Guo's artillery had reached such a point. In addition to the projectiles that hit the earthen ramparts and military formations, the iron projectiles that did not hit the target flew farther, about two miles away. Zhao Xingde looked down for the scattered craters, guessed the trajectory of its flight from the location of the crater, and looked back at the damage it caused along the way, and his heart was secretly shocked. At this time, he was tapped on the shoulder, and Zhao Xingde looked up, but it was Wang Tongdeng who smiled at him: "From now on, we will be the artillery battalion." ”

After the artillery drill, Chun Yuzhen deliberately asked his apprentice to take Zhao Xingde to the craftsman's room, retreated from others, and bowed his head: "Engong is above, please allow the villain to worship." Zhao Xingde hurriedly helped him up, and said continuously: "Mr. Chunyu is serious, how can this be made." ”

Chun Yuzhen sighed: "If it weren't for Mr. to come to the rescue, Chun Yuzhen would have become a lonely ghost, his family would be ruined, and he would have to be ridiculed by the world." If it weren't for Mr. Guiding and Helping, how could there be a pure earthquake today. As the No. 1 cannon casting master in the Xia Kingdom, many high-ranking officials of the imperial court also respect him very much, and he speaks much more than before. But the stubbornness of this person's temperament has not changed at all. He insisted on giving a big salute to thank him, but later, Zhao Xingde had to bow down to him and avoid it sideways.

When he heard that Zhao Xingde had been fighting in the West for three years, Chun Yuzhen asked: "The heavy artillery used to attack the capital of the Rus Kingdom was cast by me in the 'Chun Yu Iron Field', have you ever seen it?" Zhao Xingde said with a smile: "I missed the Battle of Rus, but this giant cannon has been seen once in Haixi Port." ”

Chun Yuzhen nodded and said with a smile: "Each of these siege cannons weighs five thousand catties, the materials and charcoal fire cost more than two thousand guan, and the price ordered by the Ordnance Department is four thousand five hundred." However, only five doors were ordered. Unlike four-inch guns and three-inch guns, the Ordnance Department ordered more than 100 guns each. He spoke in a manner that was as clear as the bookkeeper reporting to the proprietor.

Zhao Xingde was surprised: "With such a generous profit, why doesn't the Ordnance Department cast it itself?" ”

Chun Yuzhen explained: "If the Ordnance Division casts it itself, each cannon will have to pay the apprentices, and the craftsmen and apprentices will have to be recruited again, so it is better to order them from us." He paused for a moment and said in a deep voice: "Just by reducing the weight of all kinds of artillery, the Ordnance Department has rewarded more than 3,000 catties of gold. These are all deserved by Mr. Zhao, and the villain invested some of the bounty in the blacksmith shop, and most of it was replaced by Fuhaixing's Jiaozi, and he didn't move a penny. Even my blacksmith should be more easily in the name of my husband. "When Zhao Xingde was in Chang'an, he donated a lot of money, which was enough to buy more than enough blacksmiths. Chun Yuzhen was grateful, so he said that the blacksmith shop was counted in Zhao Xingde's name. Over the years, I have thought about it in my heart, even if this blacksmith shop is Mr. Zhao's, I just managed it properly and verified the method of casting cannons with iron molds. He tried hard to find Zhao Xingde, but this idea never diminished, and he put it forward as soon as he saw Zhao Xingde's face.

Zhao Xingde saw that his face was solemn, not like a joke, his heart was moved, he stood up and waved his hand and said: "How can Mr. Chun Yu's painstaking industry be handed over." Mr. Zhao's Xinyi knew about it, and Zhao really couldn't accept it. ”

The two pushed back and forth, and in the end, Zhao Xingde had no choice but to take a bounty of thirty percent, but Chun Yuzhen's ancestral iron shop insisted on not accepting it. Zhao Xingde insisted that this cannon casting technique was really Chun Yuzhen's originality, and he was just helping a little. Chun Yuzhen had no choice but to give up, but he still insisted that for every time he cast a cannon, he still had to pay Zhao Xingde 20% of the apprentice money.

Chun Yuzhen was about to go home to get Jiaozi Zuo Coupon while speaking, Zhao Xingde couldn't help but be dumbfounded, and asked: "Has Brother Chun Yu always put the silver money in Fuhai Xing, and never thought about doing business rentier?" ”

Chun Yuzhen was stunned for a moment, and said in a deep voice: "These coins are all Mr. Zhao's, except for what the iron shop needs, I don't dare to use them." He paused for a moment and said with a smile, "I'm bent on experimenting with the art of smelting iron and casting cannons, and I don't know much about other industries. The investment in this cannon does not require a lot of money. Speaking of this, he couldn't help but laugh self-deprecatingly, the cannon casting workshop that was on the right track really didn't need much investment. And at the beginning, only a few failures in the experimental casting cannon were enough to push yourself into a corner.

At this time, artillery was not yet widely available, and after the Ordnance Department ordered this batch of artillery, it may be a long time before new guns are added. Therefore, there is no need to expand the scale of the artillery casting yard. However, Zhao Xingde felt that in addition to casting cannons, there were also some ways that could be pondered, and he muttered: "The advantages of artillery are that the cannon body is strong and the gunpowder is sharp. Now that the cannon casting technique in the workshop has taken the lead, it is better to increase the trial production of explosive gunpowder. After the power of gunpowder increased, the requirements for the gun body were also higher, so the Ordnance Department had to re-order the gun body to adapt to the new gunpowder. The two are cause and effect of each other, and the power of artillery is increasing. ”

Chun Yuzhen nodded and said, "Mr. Gaojian, it's just a trial production of gunpowder, and it won't use so much silver for a while." "I still have to insist on handing over the Jiaozi left coupon to Zhao De. He secretly said that this Zhao De's insight is indeed much farther than ordinary people. Originally, even if he paid attention to gunpowder, it was just to make it work better with the artillery he had forged, but he didn't think about it deeply. However, the manufacture and scale of experiments in this era were far inferior to those of later generations, and it was impossible to consume hundreds of thousands of silver coins in experiments alone.

Zhao Xingde said: "Although it is not costly to make gunpowder. But Chun Yu's old business, iron smelting can be regarded as a cost, right? ”

Chun Yuzhen was stunned for a moment and asked, "Did Mr. say that he opened a mine to smelt iron?" ”

Zhao Xingde nodded and said, "Exactly." His idea was that although Chun Yuzhen insisted on returning the money to himself, he was really ashamed to take away tens of thousands of Jiaozi. It is better to fold it into capital, show your strengths, and partner with Chun Yuzhen to make a living by mining and smelting iron. As it stands, this man is a good partner for his faithfulness.

Chun Yuzhen frowned and said: "The cost of opening a mine and smelting iron is huge, but the fierce competition in workshops around the country is a little more obvious. As long as there are good mines, they are either used by others, or the price is high and rare, and they do not make any money after bidding. His family's ancestral blacksmith shop buys iron ingots for use, rather than opening his own mines to smelt iron, but he is still clear about this kind of market.

Zhao Xingde said with a smile: "I just want to open an iron factory in Guanzhong. His words revealed great confidence, and Chun Yuzhen was also infected.