Guo Shao received a report from the Hedong Branch of the Bing Cao Division, and reinforcements from the Northern Han Dynasty Guoshi, Fen, Xian, Xin and other places successively arrived on the north bank of Fenzhou in Jinyang City, and the Liao army returned to the north. At this time, wars broke out frequently in Liaozhou, and the headquarters of the Hedong Branch had been secretly set up in Xingzhou in the east, although it was farther away from the border of the Northern Han Dynasty, it was also safer.

After reading the report, he turned to Jing Niang and said: "In the name of Bing Cao Si, you ordered the Hedong Division, and if there is any news about the domestic military situation in the Northern Han Dynasty, you will directly send a copy to the Fu Zhaoxu camp. ”

Jing Niang took Poyu over and bowed with her fists.

Guo Shao looked at another copy of the ordnance supervisor Zan Jurun's recital, touched his abdomen and said, "It's time for the event." ”

In the past two days, Guo Shaocai suddenly found that the muscles on his stomach were not very touchable, but he had grown some softer meat, and he was a little depressed. He's only twenty-four years old, but he feels like he's going to be blessed if he goes on like this! If you sit and work all day long, and live a good life and eat well, it is inevitable to grow fat; Even in the past, people with more muscles were more likely to grow, which is why many athletes are easy to gain weight after retirement. The martial artists of this era don't care about the flesh on their bodies, but Guo Shao himself doesn't like to be fat, and he has gained weight in the past few months, and he always feels that no matter what he does, he is not as relaxed and flexible as before.

He decided to go out of the palace and take a look at the workshop city by the Bianshui River.

The itinerary was temporarily decided, there were pro-soldiers and horsemen to escort them, and the gate out of the imperial city was also chosen at will, and then went straight out of the city without stopping. This kind of random route and random time of impromptu choice made it difficult for even Assassins to seize the opportunity...... Moreover, with the level of espionage in this era, even if there are spies, under the supervision of the Internal Affairs Bureau of the Imperial City Division, Guo Shao feels that it is unlikely that he will get the news of the emperor's trip.

There is no emperor's honor guard at all this time, Guo Shao actually doesn't like the pomp and circumstance, he is still anxious sometimes, and feels that it is a waste of time to pretend slowly. He put on a pair of plate armor, and the joint was refined chain mail, and this armor was very heavy, more than sixty pounds; But Guo Shao still turned over and behaved very vigorously.

A group of ironclad cavalry went out of the city from Xihua Gate, and then went south by running horses on Yujie.

Out of the city of Tokyo, and then half an hour south of the race, a group of buildings by the Bianshui River is the workshop area. At this time, the workshop had expanded into a small city, and the scale was getting bigger, but unlike ordinary cities, this city was not inhabited by civilians, and even fences and patrols were set up within the radius to prevent civilians from approaching.

Even firearms-making workshops were set up here. There are separate workshop areas, garrison areas, artisan residential areas, school grounds for testing weapons, and cultivated land for growing vegetables...... Every day, from the Bianshui River, there will be people summoned by the ordnance supervisor to enter the city from the Bianshui Water Utilization Degree. This place is like an industrial area without machines, because Guo Shao holds the resources and power of the country, and it is not difficult to make such a city.

Before Guo Shao entered the city, he heard the sound of cannons, and heard that some people from the left wing of the Tiger Army were training firearms in the school field, so he immediately took the guards and officials straight to the school field of the workshop city. In the open space of the school grounds, hundreds of people were lining up to train in all directions.

At that time, the "Dragon Howling Cannon" was slightly improved, but it was found that the barrel was lengthened after the bore was not exploded, and a hundred guns had been cast! In addition, a gun lug was made, which was not used for aiming, but to mark the height (the middle is raised in a specific position, and the inclination of the muzzle can be adjusted, and thus the firing range can be adjusted. ）

The structure of this gun is very simple, the gun body is a thick and short barrel of thick-walled pig iron, and a small hole is drilled at the bottom (put a lead); Then there are wooden bases and stakes that hold the barrel of the gun, and so on. The technical content of casting is not high, and the craftsmen who can cast bells will cast cannons, that is, they should pay attention to the elimination and recasting of some sand holes that are too large and too rough; Because the barrel is thick and short, the caliber is large, and the air tightness is not good, even if the pig iron pipe wall is not too smooth and fine, it will not explode.

It is not the casting process that restricts the efficiency of casting dragon guns, but the fact that they are too heavy and require a large amount of raw materials, and the speed of transporting iron materials cannot keep up, so the scale is limited.

There is also a phalanx of more than 100 people nearby, standing there in three columns, and there is a flag embroidered with a tiger on the side, and there are words on it: Shenhuo Capital.

Zan Jurun said on the side: "The ordnance supervisor has contacted Li Chuyun, the general of the front division of the palace, and asked the front division of the palace to send someone to train and take over the firearms. Li Chuyun personally came here, and after seeing the power and usage of firearms, he sent these people, most of whom were recruited by the front division of the palace this year, and they didn't know how to bow and horse martial arts......"

"Anyway, it's useless for someone with a firearm to shoot an arrow." Guo Shao said casually. He immediately stepped forward to watch, and Zan Jurun advised Guo Shao to stay away fifty paces, for fear of accidentally hurting ...... Because the effective range of this firearm is only forty paces, and the damage to the armor-clad is only twenty paces.

There are 100 people in each one, divided into three columns, and at first glance, their tactic is to shoot volleys in turn with three shots, which is a tactic used with crossbows when Guo Shao did not have firearms. The structure of the capital has also changed according to the tactics, and there are only three teams in the capital, each of which has more than 30 people under 10 generals (the original team is more than 20 people).

The soldiers wore four pieces of plate armor: helmets, shoulder armor, breastplates, and arm armor. Because these parts are things that can be forged in batches in the armor workshop, it is less manpower than chain mail. In addition to the vital parts, the only protection in other places is leather armor.

They still had a lot of small bamboo tubes tied with ropes hanging on their bodies, and at this time, a military general on the side raised his hand and shouted: "First step! Check the fire pot. ”

All the soldiers pulled out of their pockets an iron can, which was wrapped around it with a damp cloth; Everyone pulled open the wooden lid with an air hole and looked at the charcoal inside. Some of them went out, so they hurriedly raised their hands to signal, and the lieutenant general and the tenth general at the head of the line hurriedly carried a ceramic container over, and took the tongs to pick the charcoal and replaced the soldiers with red-hot charcoal.

Then the general shouted again: "Second step! Loading ammunition" everyone tore off a bamboo tube from the bamboo tube string hanging diagonally on their bodies, and then busily pulled out the straw paper blocked in the mouth of the bamboo tube, and poured all the ** from the stubby bronze gun; The bamboo tube is not thrown away, but stuffed into a cloth bag around the waist. He took out a lead pellet wrapped in straw paper or rags from the cloth bag and stuffed it through the mouth of the gun.

"Step 3! with wooden strips. The soldiers took a stick of wood from their waists, poked the paper-wrapped lead pellet into it, and carefully compacted it. These steps were designed by Guo Shao at the behest of the Ordnance Superintendent, and they changed them according to the actual situation, but Guo Shao knew why they did it...... The lead pellet wrapped in paper is relatively large, and it needs to be poked into it with a wooden strip; But it can be filled relatively tightly at the bottom of the firebolt, and neither the ** nor the projectile will be easily poured out.

"Do the fourth step in the first row!" The guys took out the lead and stuffed it into the hole in the back.

At this time, the commander of the command drew his waist sword and shouted: "Ready! ”

At this time, the scene was very strange, and more than 30 people in the first row picked up the mace-like bronze sticks flat and sat waist-high. There was a wooden handle behind the "mace", and everyone used their right elbow to hold the wooden handle, and the palm of their right hand held the top of the wooden handle upwards to stabilize the firecracker.

Then pull out the fire pot from the waist pouch with his left hand and bite the plug open with his teeth. In his left hand, he held a jar containing coals.

The general looked at it, waved his knife and pointed at the arrow target in front of him, and shouted: "Release!" ”

More than 30 people lit the fuse with charcoal in the fire pot, and then they heard a "crackling" explosion, and a line of white gunpowder smoke filled the air.

The military general didn't care whether he hit or not, and shouted: "Change the team!" Go to the end of the first row, remember to stuff the fire pot first, don't go off! Second row ready! ”

When the three platoons were finished, the general shouted: "Kill!" The crowd carried the mace-like bronze guns, followed by the sword of the military commander shouted and rushed forward, and when they reached some mounds, a group of people scrambled to beat those mounds with maces with both hands.

Guo Shao looked at it, his face was cloudy, and he couldn't tell what it was like. No wonder Li Chuyun sent some recruits and miscellaneous soldiers over after seeing it, this musket seems to be quite difficult to use.

It may seem like a hassle, but it's not completely useless. At least people who don't know any martial arts can still be used as a long-range soldier as long as they are trained, at least twenty paces can be fought forty paces away, and the spear has never seen a length of tens of meters...... Another advantage is that although it seems that there are many steps, each step is simple and does not require much skill, and it does not require much physical effort.

But it is conceivable that this kind of soldier encounters a cavalry charge, or even if the infantry is short-handed, the combat effectiveness may be very poor...... The mace is an antique weapon that has long been eliminated by the war, and it is not very useful.

Guo Shao didn't want to equip too many "musket" soldiers for a while, so he used all the troops for actual combat drills.