Don't look at it now, Gao Renhou has taken Dongchuan and become the envoy of Dongchuan Festival. But in the dozen or so states of Dongchuan, he does not control even half of the places.

So far, he really controls Zizhou, Mianzhou, Suizhou and Puzhou;

The assassin of Hezhou is Zheng Junxiong, who is considered his ally;

Jianzhou and Longzhou were actually controlled by Shannan Xidao;

The remaining places such as Yuzhou, Changzhou, Lingzhou, and Luzhou are all semi-independent, and some of them are very dissatisfied with Gao Renhou, some remain neutral, and some have a good relationship with King Shou.

For example, in Yuzhou, because Liu Qi's younger brother Liu Lin served as Sima in Yuzhou, and Yuzhou originally belonged to Yang Shili's side before the assassination of Yuzhou, after Gao Renhou occupied Dongchuan, his attitude began to change to King Shou.

So don't look at Gao Renhou as the envoy of the Dongchuan Festival, but he is only in the land of Sizhou, so he naturally has no confidence to be the enemy of the Tiance Army.

However, the position of Jianzhou is very critical, and Jianzhou, which is controlled by the Tiance Army, is like a sharp sword hanging over Gao Renhou's head.

At that time, the initiative will be in the hands of Tiance Junshou King, which makes Gao Renhou naturally uncomfortable. Even at the risk of war with the Tiance Army, he had to control Jianzhou in his own hands.

"The last resort can't be like Xichuan asking for help, this is our own business."

Speaking of Chen Jingxuan, Gao Renhou was also very dissatisfied. Now he is the envoy of the Dongchuan Festival, and he is logically equal to Chen Jingxuan, but Chen Jingxuan still criticizes him, which makes him very dissatisfied.

If it weren't for the Tiance army by his side, otherwise as soon as the imperial court returned to Chang'an, he might have started a war with Chen Jingxuan.

Cooperating with Chen Jingxuan is to seek skin with the tiger, and he does not want to introduce Xichuan's army into Dongchuan unless it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, it will be easier to invite God and difficult to send God, but it will be troublesome.

"But without Xichuan's help, with the strength in the hands of the marshal, it may not be so easy to recapture Jianzhou alone."

After conquering Dongchuan, Chen Jingxuan transferred his descendants back to Xichuan. Gao Renhou's current army, in addition to the thousands of people in his hands, has also expanded a part, and the total number is only 15,000.

But the Tiance army has more than 15,000 troops in Lizhou and Guozhou alone.

With these 15,000 people, it is no problem to sit firmly in the position of the envoy of the Dongchuan Festival, after all, there are only thousands of soldiers and horses in other states. The strongest was Zheng Junxiong, who occupied Hezhou, but there were only 5,000 people.

"So to recapture Jianzhou, you must be fast, so fast that the Tiance Army can't react. And we must take the Jianmen Pass, only the Jianmen Pass is in hand, relying on the natural danger of the Jianmen Pass, we can be invincible.

Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the efforts to win over the generals of Jianzhou, and do not be reluctant to give up money. Ben Shuai didn't believe it, those generals were really not interested in money at all. ”

Although the Sword Gate Pass changed hands twice before, it was breached from the side. Naturally, he will not make this mistake, he will definitely strengthen the defense on the side, and when the time comes, there will be a natural danger of the Sword Gate Pass, even if the Tiance Army wants to attack, he will have to weigh whether he can break through the Sword Gate Pass head-on.

Gao Renhou's move was a bit risky, but if it was successful, it would be beneficial for him.

ァ新ヤ~(8)~1~Chinese 網ωωω.χ~8.~1zщ.còм

Therefore, for Jianzhou, Gao Renhou is bound to win.

。。。。。。

"This is the artillery developed from firearms?"

Looking at the improvised cannon in front of him, which was about three feet long, Li Ye couldn't help but ask.

The cannon was indeed simple, with a barrel about three feet long and made of bronze. However, the cannon was not poured in its entirety, the barrel was made up of two together, and then the outside was clamped.

Under the barrel, according to Li Ye's previous requirements, there is a wooden frame, and the entire cannon is tilted upwards at a small angle, which is like the artillery in the film and television and historical materials of the previous life, but it looks very simple.

This is also normal, after all, it is the first artillery, and it is not easy to make it.

When Li Ye asked, Wang Hui on the side was also puzzled why King Shou was so interested in seeing the strange and long bronze product in front of him, and the excitement on his face was very obvious.

"Back to Your Highness, this is a cannon developed by firearms, and it is made of bronze." Qingyangzi looked at Wang Hui behind Li Ye and explained seriously.

After Zhang Chengye left, Qingyangzi became the secretary of the Ordnance Division. However, his focus is still on firearms, since Li Ye opened a door to a new world for him here, he has been very concerned about gunpowder and firearms, and the other offices of the Ordnance Department have been handed over to the two young men to be in charge.

In addition to this, Li Ye's emphasis on Taoism made him very happy.

"How's the performance? The main ones are range, power, and cost. ”

"Returning to Your Highness, this cannon has already been test-fired. Since it was the first time, the firearms institute made two doors, this is the second one, and the first one was blown up during the test firing. ”

"What about the dead and wounded?" Li Ye said with concern.

"One craftsman died, and several remained."

"The aftermath must be done well." Although Li Ye felt a little pity, it was normal to blow up the chamber, after all, it was the first time, and there were many problems, which had to be solved step by step, "How many times did that gun fire?" ”

"Five times, the sixth time it exploded, it should be that the sealing is not done well, and the poor road has asked the craftsmen of the firearms institute to find a way to improve it."

"What about range?"

"At the moment it is being fired with lead bullets, and the range is about thirty paces."

Thirty steps is a distance of 90 meters, and if it is used for siege, this distance will definitely not work. However, as a defender of the city, it is acceptable.

"Didn't you make a flowering bomb?"

Be careful, don't think that artillery is the one that fires the kind of shells that came after you.

In the early artillery, there were three main types of shells, namely solid shells, scattered shells, and flowering shells.

Solid bullet is to fire a solid cannonball made of iron or lead, without gunpowder, sometimes can fire stone projectiles, mainly used for siege holes through the city wall fortifications, the range is long, but the lethality of personnel is not large, unless it hits directly or by hitting other objects, so that it is broken and splashed, causing indirect casualties;

Shotguns, at that time, were high-powered shells of field artillery, composed of several catties of lead and iron pellets, and also filled with gravel, when firing, a dozen large pieces, mainly anti-personnel personnel, but shotguns have a fatal weakness, that is, the range is short, and the effective killing is about 300 meters (one says within 500 meters);

Flowering projectiles, another name for explosive projectiles that contain gunpowder inside, get their name from the shrapnel that shoots like a flower blooming when it explodes. Historically, since the early Southern Song Dynasty, there have been iron-shelled flowering bombs in China, and their improved versions have been used by the Yuan army to conquer Japan. Shells were widely used in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, such as the Ningjin victory, which is a successful example of the use of this kind of shells.

It was really the kind of artillery shells that we commonly used to use gunpowder explosions as lethality, and that was in the 18th and 19th centuries. You must know that the red-coated cannons of the Qing Dynasty mainly used solid bullets.

In the solid bullet, the current research on firearms is lead bullet, and there are very few iron bullets. The main reason is that the melting point of lead bullet is low, the melting point of more than 300 degrees can quickly make solid lead bullet, and Xingyuan Mansion produces lead.

The choice of solid bullet is naturally the metal with low melting point and cost, it stands to reason that solid iron bullet is the best, but unfortunately the melting point of iron is high, and the ironmaking workshop of the Ordnance Department has not completely overcome the relevant technology, so the iron bullet production is more troublesome.

Therefore, most of the shells tested by firearms are lead bullets, stone bullets and scattered bullets.

"Your Highness, the scatter bomb has been made, and the effect is just as Your Highness said. It's just that the flowering bomb has not been made at present, and there have been accidents in the previous tests, which are too dangerous to launch and not easy to operate. Qingyangzi explained.

"Let's develop more practical solid and scattered bullets first, but we can't relax in the research of flowering bullets. Tell the craftsmen below that whether it is in the development of artillery or shells, as long as the finished product is produced, there will be a lot of rewards, money, land, and even official positions and titles. ”

Qingyangzi said in a deep voice, "Please rest assured, Your Highness, Poor Dao will definitely live up to Your Highness's expectations." ”

The conversation between Li Ye and Qingyangzi did not avoid Wang Hui, and Wang Hui was also quite shocked when he heard Li Ye's assurance, obviously he didn't expect Li Ye's courage to be so great. This made him even more interested in the artillery.

The previous ones were all listening to Qingyangzi and then talking, but hearing was empty, and seeing was believing, so Li Ye asked Qingyangzi to take out the second bronze cannon to test it, and he also wanted to see the effect.

Qingyangzi nodded, and then gave an order to the test personnel on the side.

While these craftsmen were charging, loading, and adjusting the angle of their shots, Wang Hui found that several rows of planks were erected directly in front of this 'artillery', at a distance of about twenty-five to thirty paces, which should have been adjusted according to the range of the previous gun.

Solid bullets are mainly used for fortification, but it is also very troublesome to build a wall, although sooner or later the city wall will be used for experiments, but the intuitive effect of wooden planks is more obvious.

"Ready!"

"Launch!"

Under Wang Hui's gaze, a wire at the bottom of the copper tube known as the 'cannon' was ignited. Before he could react, an earth-shattering loud noise came, and the opponent was shocked to see the copper pipe spewing flames, and then the lead ball in the copper pipe flew out, and the wooden plank in the distance was directly smashed through several layers, and the sawdust flew sideways, and the effect was amazing.

Wang Hui's face turned pale with fright, and even a few of the surrounding soldiers were nervous, although they had heard this earth-shattering sound more than once, but they hadn't heard it once, and their hearts were trembling.

Wang Hui was not frightened by the smashed wooden plank, but by the earth-shattering loud noise, like thunder on the ground.

This was also an early artillery effect, and the deterrent effect was greater than the actual lethal effect. Just like on the battlefield, both humans and horses will panic when they hear this loud noise, and solid bullets are not very effective in terms of killing effect.

Seeing the pale Wang Hui, Li Ye knew that the deterrent effect he wanted had taken effect.

"It's okay, but it's still not good for combat." Li Ye affirmed this artillery, but also put pressure on Qingyangzi, "Later, cast the cannon barrel as a whole as much as possible, this effect will be better."

It is also necessary to improve the gunpowder recipe and find ways to increase the range, which cannot be used for siege. The king's requirement is to have a range of at least 50 paces, and of course the farther and farther.

There is also the caliber of artillery, which can also be expanded, so that the power can also be increased。。。。。 ”

Although Li Ye did not understand the specific production of artillery, the knowledge in his mind could guide the craftsmen of the firearms institute in the right direction, so that he could avoid many detours.

In addition, under the temptation of money and land, the artillery that Li Ye wanted and could go to the battlefield could be developed faster.

Li Ye also inquired about the production of muskets, compared to the iron muskets, which made no progress, the bamboo assault rifles made rapid progress. Samples have been made, but the distance is still some distance for combat, the main reason is that the bamboo tube cannot withstand the burning of gunpowder a few times, and it will become very fragile, and even explode, which is tantamount to suicide.

However, Li Ye is still very interested in this kind of bamboo musket.

It won't take a few times to blow up, then I'll use it once or twice, anyway, bamboo is not valuable, and it is everywhere in Shannan West Road.

Although muskets and artillery cannot be put into combat for the time being, for Li Ye, at least there is hope. It is believed that in the near future, his secret weapon will be put into battle, and he will have to see who can defeat him.

(End of chapter)