Zhou Xian couldn't get up early in the morning, and Guo Shao had already gone to Jinxiang Hall as soon as the sky was bright.

When the sun rose, Li Chuyun and a few other generals said goodbye in the study, first bent down and walked a few steps backwards, and then turned around and went out. The eunuch Cao Tai opened a file decorated with silk noodles, rubbed his finger on it, looked at it carefully, and whispered next to Guo Shao: "Your Majesty, the guest provincial envoy and the military supervisor Zan Jurun, it is time to wait outside the palace for summons." ”

"Xuan." Guo Shao said immediately.

Every day is busy in the morning, and I can be more free after lunch. When I go back to Tokyo, I do this almost every day. Guo Shao didn't feel tired, and this kind of routine made him feel at ease...... Because he understands that his great task is not yet done: to regain the lost land, unify the world, and rule firmly.

How to realize the dream in his heart, Guo Shao is not sure. But as long as he tries his best every day and spends his time and energy on it, he will not panic or regret it. This is a long march, not a certain period of enthusiasm and determination, but a long-term and unremitting trek!

Guo Shao started as a guard, and to this point, he has already walked more than half of the way, and because there is an opportunity that cannot be replicated, there is no reason to stop halfway; For the sake of his professed prosperity, too many people have died to give up.

He sat in front of the imperial case, looking at the records of all aspects of the Liao State presented by the minister little by little. Guo Shao has never been very accustomed to this kind of half-written article written vertically without punctuation, it is very slow and laborious to read, but this is nothing, it just takes a little more time.

"Chen Zan Jurun knocks on Your Majesty, my emperor has no borders." A minister in front knelt in front of the desk.

"Flat." Guo Shao raised his head and said. His gaze was bright, but his expression was peaceful.

Zan Jurun got up, picked up a piece of music in both hands, waited for the eunuch to come and get it, and said: "Your Majesty, the Ordnance Supervisor has cast a total of 327 Longxiao cannons from last year to this year, and more than 200 have been broken and invalidated when attacking Jinyang, and the rest will not be used for long before they will break." The ordnance superintendent suggested that the military should be used to rebuild the cannon in case it was needed. But the minister thought that the dragon cannon was not durable, and the casting method had to be improved. ”

Guo Shao nodded yes, one of the advantages of artillery is durability, and dry methods like the current one are really not durable than catapults; Catapults are easily damaged after a battle, but they can be reused if they are repaired. The cast-iron artillery barrels were all cracked and had to be scrapped...... As for the reason, it is definitely a matter of the material.

The problem is that Guo Shao does not know much about metallurgy, and has dabbled in the knowledge of the structure of metal materials such as austenite before, but he is not very proficient.

Zan Jurun said: "The minister has ordered the Beiyuan workshop to use bronze to try to cast the dragon cannon, and then try it after the casting is completed." Weichen's proposition is to stop the construction of cannons in the Bianshui Workshop area first, and wait for new cannons to be tested. ”

Guo Shao immediately said: "Just follow the invitation of the envoy." ”

He immediately picked up the brush and calculated on the paper, according to the previous weight of the Longxiao cannon of six hundred catties, it may be slightly heavier after switching to bronze (copper has better heat dissipation, it will thicken and lengthen the barrel), and one hundred guns need 60,000 catties of copper.

Guo Shao's first thought was copper, because he knew that China lacked copper ore, especially in ancient times, because it could only mine open-pit mines. What kind of order of magnitude is 60,000 catties, and will it cause difficulties?

At this time, the copper coins weighed between one and two coins, and 60,000 catties of copper were equivalent to six million copper coins, which was only 6,000 yuan. Although there was a shortage of copper at this time, the imperial court minted money in the order of millions, and the copper consumed by the copper cannon was not a large amount.

As soon as Guo Shao calculated, he would not mention the matter of copper materials at the moment, and the officials would definitely be able to think of a way to solve it.

Zan Jurun took out another thing made of wood and offered it: "This is a thing made by the craftsmen of Beiyuan according to His Majesty's will. ”

Guo Shao took the wooden thing from the eunuch, which was a arquebus mechanism. At that time, he roughly described the intention of lighting the fire with an arquebus, but they made a model so quickly, and sure enough, what the emperor personally asked, the officials would be very active.

Some things are not driven by the will or needs of those in power, and technological progress will be very slow. Thousands of years of technology have not progressed much in essence.

Guo Shao took the model in his hand, quickly found a place similar to a trigger, and pulled it with his finger, and the wooden strip with the rope on it immediately pressed down and touched the upper part of the wooden rod; And the trigger is very elastic, and it returns to its original position as soon as it is released.

"Huh!" Guo Shao immediately let out a voice in surprise.

Zan Jurun was even more comfortable when he heard it.

Guo Shao pondered it in his hand, this mechanism mainly has two connection points and two zigzag wooden strips. The tail of the lower strip is the trigger, which can be attached to the rivet in a movable rotation in the middle; The head is connected to the upper bending mechanism of the fire rope, and the connection can be rotated. The upper and lower strips are fixed and riveted between them.

He slowly pulled the trigger again, and found that the lower strip was riveted through the tail and pushed the upper strip. The upper wooden strip is curved, and when pushed, it is pressed downward like a chicken pecking rice; In order to touch the position of the "fire door" to achieve the purpose of ignition.

The lower strip is pressed against a reed, so it is elastic to pull and return to its original position as soon as you let go...... The reed is not a spring, in fact, it is very simple, it is a "V" shaped wrought iron metal sheet, the slight pressure will not deform the metal, can return to the original position.

Guo Shao observed it and felt that the ancient craftsmen were still very capable of doing this kind of mechanism. They don't understand the "mechanical principle", but with experience and craftsmanship alone, there are a lot of mechanisms that can be made in the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang.

"Just forge the mechanism according to this model, and try it with the firecracker." Guo Shao said immediately.

Zan Jurun bowed and said: "The minister obeys the order." ”

Anyway, the Beiyuan workshop area is for testing firearms, and a small amount of production is constantly trying, and it will not consume too many resources...... At first glance, this mechanism looks like that, but Guo Shao guessed that there would be problems with actually making arquebuses, so he could only gradually explore it. Because in the past few years, he has tried to make new armor weapons, and according to experience, countless problems have arisen, even the most backward equipment, there are too many specific difficulties from scratch; There is always a gap between what is actually done and what is imagined.

Guo Shao left the model, looked up and said, "As soon as there is any progress in the ordnance superintendent, it will be reported." ”

Zan Jurun listened and bowed: "The minister's order, bow back." ”

As soon as Zan Jurun left, the eunuch Cao Tai reminded Wang Pu and others to be summoned according to the arrangement, and reminded Guo Shao to discuss the deployment of the "Bing Cao Division" to send an undercover agent to the Liao State.

Since the beginning of the army last year, Cao Si has sent many spies to the Liao State as a merchant; After the Battle of the Northern Han Dynasty this year, there was new progress. The spies who were originally mixed into the Northern Han Kingdom, because of the defeat of the Northern Han Kingdom, some officials fled to the Liao State, and a large number of fine works of the Northern Han Dynasty also transferred to the Liao State.

Guo Shao waited for Wang Pushang to submit a new specific plan. He picked up the model and played with it for a while, and then buried his head in the whistling cannon idea that Zan Jurun had just played.

In contrast, Guo Shao had greater hopes for artillery battles.

Muskets are of little use in recent times, and I remember that there was a debate between the English longbow and muskets, at that time the technology and tactics of muskets were relatively mature, and they still did not reach the point of completely winning the bow and crossbow, otherwise they would not have argued. It can be seen that the firearm will not fundamentally improve the combat effectiveness of an army.

But the artillery is different, and in the process of attacking Jinyang, the whistling cannon played an important role. Guo Shao not only attaches importance to the technology of casting artillery, but also summarizes the artillery battle tactics explored in actual combat...... According to the plan of attacking the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, the rapid capture of Youzhou City is a crucial part, and Guo Shao has long been examining the feasibility of the upcoming war.

……

Within a few days, the Dragon Boat Festival arrived. There is a scene of dragon boat racing on the Bianshui, there are many people inside and outside Tokyo, there are crowds of people, Guo Shao takes the queen's concubines and civil and military ministers to watch, the honor guard guards are mighty, and the people are happy in the festival.

When he returned to the imperial city, Guo Shao watched the lantern dance on the royal street on the Xuande Gate.

......The sound of gongs and drums and the cheers and clamor of the people can be clearly heard even on the high towers, and the atmosphere permeates every corner of the city. In this situation, Tokyo has a scene of peace and prosperity.

In the past ten years, wars have been frequent, and the burden on the people is still extremely heavy; However, from Taizu Guo Wei to Chai Rong and Guo Shao, the Great Zhou Dynasty has been attacking the Quartet from the Central Plains, and the war has hardly affected the Central Plains, and the population has increased.

Guo Shao watched the scene in front of him and thought: population is the foundation of the prosperity of all countries at this time.

In addition to the effects of the war, the climate is also a factor.

The people in the city celebrated the festival happily, but Guo Shao sat under the yellow umbrella, very quiet.

On a whim, he sensed a vague indication, a baseless speculation that the world might have entered a period of good weather after the middle of the tenth century...... The economic prosperity of the two Song Dynasty was difficult to achieve without the smooth weather of agriculture; Even the tribes of the steppes from the east to the west rose in turn, and it was also a stage of population accumulation and growth, and the Mongols swept the world.

No empire of any nomadic people can be strong without a sufficient population. The grassland economy is very fragile, and any natural disaster could lead to a large reduction in herders or even the extinction of entire tribes.

Guo Shao's gaze looked slightly to the north from the crowded royal street, and in the invisible place, the first to rise and strengthen the Liao State threatened everything here; What's worse is that the Jin Dynasty lost the country first, and now Hebei is a flat horse, facing the northern iron cavalry with an open chest.

Can't stop there! Missing this opportunity will inevitably cause greater trouble. The creatures and prosperity of the world are inferior to ants under the wheels of war.

At this moment, Guo Shao not only felt the pressure, but also faintly excited in his heart. The possession of violence and power can indeed be obsessive, and he has been fighting all these years, and has invested too much enthusiasm in the war itself.