Guo Shao got a copy of the book from the eunuch, but it was from the hand of the harem empress concubine Zhang.

He looked at the neat writing on it, and felt very refreshing, and thought that this Zhang family was the aunt of Cao Bin, the leader of the ** in the south, so he immediately took a look at the content. Zhang said that she was pure-hearted and quiet, and wanted to become a monk in Sanqing Palace, and took the Taoist name "Xuanzhen Immortal Master".

Guo Shao didn't know Zhang, and his only impression was that she was related to Cao Bin, and he thought that he should be treated well. However, in the harem, he knows too few people, and he doesn't ask much about the harem, but he feels that the water is relatively deep. immediately returned the recital to the eunuch: "Leave it to my imperial sister-in-law to dispose of." ”

…… In the imperial study, there are some things that Guo Shao uses daily, and next to the case is a copy of the Book of Changes, a (later) Jin Dynasty compiled the Book of Tang; There is also a volume of the Great Zhou official system file, and a list of civil and military officials above the fifth rank in the country.

There are also swords, bows, crossbows and other weapons in the corner, a few days ago, a minister wrote that it is not good to place weapons in the palace, but Guo Shao ignored it, because he likes these things.

Guo Shao has not read the Book of Changes and the Book of Tang, and the reason why he has placed them here is that he has always wanted to see them. There is a very strange situation, Guo Shao has been in ancient times for several years, but he actually lacks an in-depth understanding of the cultural ideas of this era, and the profession of a martial artist has been fighting for a long time, and he has not been exposed to these things; But now that he is the emperor, since he is the master of the world, he always feels that he should really understand the ancient Chinese ideology, so he wants to gradually read some classics.

In Guo Shao's thoughts, even if he is busy every day, he will always have a lot of free time to flip through books. But in fact, this is often not the case, many things in front of you will make the mood very impatient, and I feel a little tired when I am free; And those books were very difficult to read, so he didn't turn a page for a long time.

Fortunately, you don't have to put too much effort into dealing with the piece, otherwise you will have to be dragged back.

Guo Shao turned his head and glanced at Zuo You, who was sitting in front of the desk, Zuo You was holding a brush, attentive and indifferent, sometimes lifting the pen to meditate, and sometimes writing like a cloud. I admire these civil officials, but they are very determined in the face of piles of cases.

But maybe they're having fun. The bright and clean temple on this high pedestal, the sunlight spills in from the finely carved windows, the antique and atmospheric and exquisite environment, and the fragrance of ink inkstone wafts in the air; Moreover, it is the center of the state and the center of power, which the world calls "heavenly", which in itself gives it a high meaning. People are exposed to wise thoughts, important speeches that influence the world, and are elegant and courteous in words and deeds...... For people, these are also a kind of enjoyment in themselves.

Guo Shao retracted his gaze, put down the brush in his hand, got up and picked up a crossbow in the corner of the wall and played with it in his hand.

He was a marksman, but he usually used a bow instead of a crossbow...... Operating a crossbow also requires a lot of effort, but it is very untechnical. However, the technical content of making a crossbow is not low, and the crossbow in Guo Shao's hand is a composite crossbow used by individual soldiers, and the structure is relatively complex, and it is not light.

The disadvantages of crossbows are: first, the manufacturing cost is very high, and skilled craftsmen are required; The second is heavy, and it is easy to damage, the animal skin rubber is also very afraid of the tide, and the small brown cord is not afraid of the tide. Consumable crossbows also require a large number of craftsmen to make. In short, the materials and costs are very high, and a large number of armies equipped with crossbows are very expensive and logistically stressful. The advantages are also obvious: the quality of the soldiers is not very demanding, and it is easier to train crossbowmen.

…… On the imperial case in front of Guo Shao, there was a booklet of his. The handwriting is still not very good, but now he writes more neatly.

It records some of his military thoughts: the agrarian dynasty dealt with nomads like the Liao army, not because of its inferiority, but because its national strength, population, and resources were difficult to effectively transform into force.

Just like the current Zhou army, more than 100,000 elites are elite soldiers trained in decades of melee, and they naturally have combat effectiveness; However, after successively annexing the territories of Shu, Southern Tang, and Nanping, the economy and population increased several times, but the force did not increase substantially. It is because elite soldiers and strong generals cannot be inflated by money and food alone.

There is only one way to use a large number of people and resources to quickly transform them into force: a strong man can form a combat-ready army with a few months of training.

Therefore, Guo Shao's eyes are focused on the crossbow in front of him, this kind of weapon, can realize that kind of military thinking relatively inefficiently, if there are 100,000 elite, hundreds of thousands of crossbowmen with combat effectiveness in his hands, and can continue to be replenished by soldiers, the country's war potential will be very strong...... In addition, before defeating the Liao State, we must not rush to use civilian politics, and we must maintain the militaristic system in order to ensure sufficient combat effectiveness.

…… There is also something that can replace the crossbow, and Guo Shao's booklet has two big words written on it: fire | gun.

Guo Shao didn't know how to make this thing, because he hadn't studied this kind of thing in his previous life.

But he understood what a fire gun was: from the perspective of the long-term development direction of human weapons, hot weapons must be a royal road. However, when the technology is immature in the short term, the gun is not necessarily more effective than the bow and crossbow.

Even if it is built, the shortcomings in the early stage are that the range, rate of fire, and accuracy are far inferior to bows and crossbows; The advantage is that the cost is definitely lower than that of a bow and crossbow, and even the cost of training is lower, and the armor-piercing ability at short distances may be stronger than that of a bow and crossbow.

But when I think of the resources consumed by the crossbow, which must be squeezed from the people, the social contradictions and hunger brought about by it; and that the nail may leak in the medium to long term. Guo Shao firmly believes that fire and guns are the way out!

Guo Shao had thought about firearms several times, but he had never had a clue, and this time there was an incident of the enemy country stealing the armor-making technique, so he was even more eager to consider this matter.

Even if my opponent has plate armor one day, but I have a musket, as long as I keep my skills ahead, my opponent will never be able to catch up with me.

…… Guo Shao didn't know how to make a gun, but he knew that this thing must be made without industry.

In feudal society, scientific and technological progress was very slow, and the gap between science and technology between the Song and Ming dynasties was not obvious...... Anyway, there were shotguns in Qi Jiguang's time, and firearms were used on a large scale in Western Europe before the Industrial Revolution. Obviously, it's not something that is produced with industry and machine tools.

Guo Shao immediately summoned Zan Jurun, the ordnance supervisor and privy councilor.

When Zan Jurun followed the eunuch and bowed into the imperial study, he didn't see Guo Shao, and the eunuch guided him, so he walked into the back room...... Behind the Imperial Study, where the archives were originally stacked. But now it's different, with pictures and notes plastered on the walls. The notes were written, but the minister clearly couldn't look up at the wall.

After the etiquette, Guo Shao said: "I want to hand over one to Gong Zan to do." ”

"Don't da......re, don't dare," Zan Jurun hurriedly bowed, "Your Majesty's errand, the minister must do his best." ”

Guo Shaodao: "I want to build an arsenal workshop, this workshop will not make anything for the time being, as long as I try according to my ideas, we will develop a new weapon...... First of all, we must learn a lesson, this time we must keep it secret, and we must not let it leak easily. ”

Zan Jurun bowed and said: "The minister should keep it in mind. ”

Guo Shao stood in front of a layout map of the imperial city with various house patterns, and pointed to a place, "Just in the northwest corner of Beiyuan, draw a place in the imperial city and repair the separation wall." Ordinary people have no chance to sneak into the Imperial City. ”

"Whoa." Zan Jurun responded.

Guo Shao said: "There are not too many craftsmen, but they must be carefully selected." Those who have no problem with their origins should be listed in the register, and the young craftsmen who are clever and intelligent. You can bring a wife and concubine to live in the North Garden, and it is strictly forbidden to enter and leave at ordinary times; If there is a special reason to take leave, it needs to be escorted by someone from the Internal Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. ”

Zan Jurun bowed down and asked, "Your Majesty, what do you need to prepare for this weapons workshop, and what kind of craftsman is the craftsman?" ”

Guo Shao blurted out: "Blacksmith." ”

Zan Jurun didn't pay attention, and his expression was slightly strange. Guo Shao also remembered that one of his names was called "Guo Blacksmith", so he looked at Zan Jurun for a moment. Zan Jurun immediately lowered his head and bent down in respect.

Guo Shao waved his hand, and Zan Jurun bowed to Xie En, and walked backwards out of the back room.

Guo Shao sat on the stool, looking at the drawings and pieces of paper around him, as well as the various files presented on the wooden shelf, rubbing his forehead, only to feel that his brain was a little confused.

But he is still a competitive martial artist, and he said in his heart: Lao Tzu doesn't believe in evil anymore, I have done everything as the emperor, and I can still be bullied by the Liao State?

Guo Shao felt that he had a mysterious power that transcended the present and the ancient, and he was even more self-inflated under the stimulation of the name of the Son of Heaven! He feels that he is omnipotent and has unlimited power, but he has been trapped by some inexplicable limitations and has not been able to give full play, and he must realize his ability! It's like a Ph.D. in mathematics who is unwilling to teach only elementary school math and will feel depressed because his ability is useless......

He lifted the brush, easily drew a barrel on the paper, and stopped. Of course, he knew what the gun looked like, but first of all, the barrel made him a little confused. What method did the ancients use to make the barrel of the gun?

Guo Shao first ruled out the process of drilling holes in iron rods...... Apparently impossible. It's not a question of how much work it takes, it's simply not possible. Not to mention the use of manual drilling, drill bit tools and technology are difficult to solve; Even with modern machine tools, can you drill such a long pipe on an iron bar? The middle must be biased, there is a little direction error, the deeper the drilling, the greater the deviation distance, I am afraid it is difficult to do with a machine tool.

There are only two ways left, casting and grinding, or forging and wrapping?

Guo Shao wrote down two methods on a piece of paper and analyzed them one by one...... It is not possible to cast iron and then polish it, he especially remembers the lesson he learned not long ago when he made toys, the iron casting things were not evenly cooled and there were a lot of sand holes. Unless it is made of the kind of thick and short fire gun without airtightness, the inner wall of the thing made by this method is too rough and difficult to process.

The forged barrel, Guo Shao is also very suspicious of the ability to resist pressure, after all, it is not a seamless barrel, will it not be able to withstand the ** pressure and explode?

Guo Shao thought about it for a long time, and he was a little confused about how the ancients realized the manufacture of muskets. Imagination alone is definitely not enough, and he plans to try it himself...... Because they dare not believe too much in the systematic innovation of ancient craftsmen, because they have not seen anything related, they can only imagine out of thin air, and they do not have systematic theoretical knowledge; Craftsmanship is all taught by the experience of predecessors, so thousands of years of technological progress is a very slow process.

If it were so easy to go from concept to practicality, it would not have taken more than a thousand years to go from the ancient Greek "steam ball" to the steam engine.