Outside Jinling City, outside a valley in the Purple Mountain, as well as on the slopes and hills on both sides, there were flying tiger troops wearing helmets and armor, and the vigilance was very tight.

In the valley, Li You and the others were watching around some thick cast iron objects, these bulky guys were the early 17th century British guns that matched the sail battleships.

According to the weight of the projectile, it was divided into heavy guns 32-pound (14.5 kg) guns with an effective range of 1800 steps, medium guns 24 pounds with an effective range of 1200 steps, and light guns 18 pounds with an effective range of 700 steps. The projectile is black spherical and is divided into solid and flowering bullets.

Li You didn't shy away from Pei Dilan about anything, and even brought him over to watch the test artillery. When Pei Dilan saw these iron guys, he couldn't figure out what they were for, so he asked, "Lao Li, what kind of weapon is this?" What is it for? ”

Li You smiled: "Don't worry, we'll know later." ”

Then he said to Li Duan: "You guys start!" ”

Li Duan said: "Lord Wang, Your Highness, please stand back. ”

Li You and the others took a dozen steps back and stopped, waiting to watch the artillery shooting performance.

Seeing Li Duan and the others busy working there, Pei Dilan asked puzzledly, "What are they doing?" Why don't we just come and see? I can't see it here. ”

Li You smiled: "Didn't I tell you, don't worry, we'll know later." ”

Li You saw Li Duan holding a torch to light a cannon twist, his mouth was open, and his hands were covering his ears. Pei Dilan was engrossed in observing the movements of Li Duan and the others, and did not notice Li You's movements.

There was a loud "boom", the earth trembled slightly, and the sudden sound made the unsuspecting Pei Dilan startled, and sat on the ground. Li You couldn't help but laugh when he saw his embarrassed appearance.

Li You deliberately didn't tell Pei Dilan, and even brought him to watch the artillery today, it was deliberate. The Great Food Empire is too big, Li You doesn't want to fight with them, and the purpose of letting Pei Dilan watch the artillery firing today is to warn Pei Dilan, the future ruler of the Great Food Country, and let him weigh the price of turning his face with the Tang Dynasty.

Pei Dilan didn't care about Li You's ridicule, he was dumbfounded, his face was pale, and it took a while to regain his strength, and he asked in shock: "Lao Li, what kind of weapon is this?"

Li You said: "This is called thunder. "At this time, the artillery continued to fire.

After the shooting stopped, Li Duan came over and said, "Your Royal Highness, please go and see the effect of the artillery."

Li You and the others got on their horses together and galloped towards the position of the artillery target.

The heavy artillery fired just now was about 800 paces away from the artillery, and in this era, naval combat was mainly based on hand-to-hand combat by jumping gangs, and this distance was sufficient.

The first target was a wooden plank more than two inches thick, and the plank was hit by a solid bullet, which not only made a large hole in the middle, but also cracked the entire plank, which showed that the impact force of the shell was very huge. The second target was a wooden hut made of thick logs, which was blown apart by a flowering shell, and some of the heavy logs more than a foot long were blown up more than two feet away.

Li You was satisfied with the power of artillery, and he felt that in this era, such power was enough. "Yes," he said, "I'm satisfied." Li Duan and the others were relieved and very happy when they were praised by the prince.

Pei Dilan was shocked again to see that the power of this cannonball was so great at such a distance, and he was silent, blinking his eyes there, not knowing what he was pondering.

On the way back to the Yangzhou Governor's Mansion, Pei Dilan kept silent, his eyes were rolling around, and he opened his mouth several times to say something, but he kept holding back and didn't make a sound. It wasn't until he entered Jinling City and was about to arrive at the Governor's Mansion that he finally couldn't help but say, "Lao Li, let's discuss something." ”

Li You knew what he wanted to say, he deliberately pretended to be stupid and asked, "What's the matter?" You say. ”

Pei Dilan said with a smile: "Lao Li, can you give me a few doors with this thunderbolt?" ”

Li You shook his head like a rattle and said, "This is not good, Lao Pei, if you want gold, I will give you a car; If you want a beautiful woman, I'll send you two cars. This one definitely won't work. We're good brothers, and I don't want you to use it against me in the future. ”

Pei Dilan knew that Li You was telling the truth, and he would not give such a thing to him if he had changed it.

Seeing Pei Dilan's disappointed look, he said: "Old Pei, we are good brothers, if you fight with others in the future, I can send someone to help you with thunder." ”

Hearing Li You say this, Pei Dilan's mood improved a lot, and said: "A word is a certainty." ”

That night, Li You had insomnia, and he had been thinking about one thing in his mind, and today he was deeply worried after seeing Pei Dilan's performance. Since such an important thing as artillery and gunpowder has been obtained, someone will definitely fight its idea, and it must be ensured that its secrets are not leaked, otherwise, it will be a huge hidden danger.

After dawn, Li You sent someone to call Li Duan as soon as he got up. After breakfast, Li Duan came to the Governor's Mansion. Li You inquired in detail about the process of developing artillery and gunpowder, as well as about its storage and transportation, and especially asked about secrecy.

Li Duan said: "The prince can rest assured, the most important problem of secrecy is gunpowder, without gunpowder, it is useless to make artillery." The entire configuration of gunpowder, each item was carried out separately, and the final synthesis was done by the minister himself, and in order not to let others figure out the secret, the minister not only asked the craftsmen to prepare sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter, but also prepared five or six other things that had nothing to do with gunpowder, and others couldn't guess what the gunpowder was synthesized from? You can rest assured that it will never leak out. ”

Hearing this, Li You was very happy and said, "Good job." You're still an earl, aren't you? ”

Li Duan said: "Yes, Lord Wang, the minister is now the uncle of Changshan County." Li Duan is Li Daozong's distant nephew, and the promotion of his status cannot directly touch Li Daozong's light, plus he has no military merits, so the promotion of the title is relatively slow.

He is not like Zhang Guigui, Cheng Chuliang and Hou Cheng and others, they can directly touch the light of Lao Tzu, plus they have established a lot of military achievements over the years, therefore, Li Duan is only an earl now, and they are all already national princes now. It seems that Li Duan is a little aggrieved.

Li You said: "Over the years, you have made a lot of contributions to the imperial court, not to mention those, just by virtue of the development of artillery, your status should also be improved, so let's get you a marquis first." ”

Li Duan was overjoyed, and hurriedly saluted and said, "Minister Li Duan thanks the prince for his grace." ”