Today, Gongsun Sheng's gunpowder workshop can produce about 80 catties of gunpowder per month, and if the materials are sufficient, there is still room to increase the production capacity.

Xu Shiyang filled each wooden cannon with one pound of propellant, and produced 10 wooden cannons every month, but only 10 catties were used.

Coupled with the amount of musket training, the consumption of the 15 tun system is about 30 catties, and the total consumption of gunpowder supplied to the family and wooden cannons to the outside family is about 60 catties.

Excess gunpowder is used to make various throwing explosive devices - usually a clay pot filled with 1 pound of gunpowder mixed with 3 pounds of gravel and the like to increase the lethality.

Nicknamed the "Ten Thousand Enemies", this kind of thing is very useful when defending a city, and is no less threatening to the enemy under the city than a real artillery, but it can hardly be used on offense.

The other weapon is a cone-shaped wooden box, which the soldiers call the "Earthquake Thunder", which is filled with only 1 pound of gunpowder and is mainly used against the enemy's earthen wall - when used, you only need to dig a pit in the earthen wall and stuff the tip of the Earthquake Thunder cone upwards into the pit.

This kind of thing has already taken part in several actual battles, and it turned out that the walls of a stockade or dock fort against bandits were sufficient.

Xu Shiyang ordered the production of 10 earth-shattering thunders or 10,000 enemies every month, and the remaining 10 catties of gunpowder were stored for backup.

With gunpowder reserves, Xu Shiyang naturally began to delusionally dream of a real cannon, but he didn't have copper in his hand now, so he could only try to make iron cannons.

For this reason, Xu Shiyang specially transferred Tang Long away, forgave him for his previous sins on the grounds of his previous merits in building arquebuses, and then ordered the former Western Army Ordnance Supervision craftsman to try to make a metal cannon, which can be reloaded and fired.

In order to reduce the difficulty of manufacturing, the new gun looks like a simple year-on-year enlargement of a musket, except that the rear seat of the stick is eliminated at the rear, and a pair of gun carriages with two wheels are installed underneath.

The iron cannon has a barrel length of about 1.3 to 1.5 meters, and fires the same 3-kilogram projectile (equivalent to a 4-pound gun) as the Mark II wooden cannon, or a double shotgun.

Because it can be reloaded repeatedly, and the safety of the metal cannon barrel is much stronger than that of the wooden cannon, the calibrated propellant can reach about one and a half catties, so the same bullet weight, the power of the iron cannon is much stronger than that of the wooden cannon.

The disadvantage of the iron cannon is that it does not extend well, especially this light gun with a thin barrel wall, which has to stop dissipating heat almost every 5 shells fired.

Xu Shiyang asked Tang Long to control the weight of the whole cannon below 500 catties under the condition of ensuring that it does not explode and the basic performance, so that he can easily drag an iron cannon with two horses, so that the artillery marching speed is not lower than that of wooden cannons, and can provide strong fire support for the attacking troops.

He had other expectations for the new artillery—given that the new army would not be able to obtain high-quality cavalry and horses for a long time foreseeable, Xu Shiyang hoped that this light artillery would be able to set up a mount for mounted artillery to support his half-hung cavalry against the ferocious Tatar cavalry.

Of course, it's too early to say this, the first real cannon is just a shape, even if everything goes well, it will have to be built next month, and then it will have to test the gun, adjust the parameters according to the actual situation, compile the firing table, and so on, and then enter the mass production stage.

Don't be in a hurry, don't be in a hurry, or it will be self-defeating. Xu Shiyang persuaded himself over and over again in his heart: "Let's take it step by step first, and now, let's build the shelf of the new army first!" ’

……

Li Kui felt that he was particularly confused now.

He walked down the street of 153 Tun, following the crowd in a daze, carrying a wooden stick on his shoulder and carrying a very small package, which contained the lord of the castle, no, half a cake of miscellaneous grains issued by the previous lord of the castle; a worn-out garment with patches everywhere; A pair of newly knitted straw sandals, and ......, uh, no and, plus Li Kui himself, this is all he had when he came to 15 Tun.

Originally, he still had some other assets, but when he left his home, his brother thought that he would never come back again, and it was just a waste to take too many things, if it wasn't for his mother's distress for him, if he had to stuff him with another coat and a pair of straw sandals, Li Kui wouldn't even have that small package.

Li Kui raised his head blankly and looked around, this fort was not much different from his original village, but the people were completely different, and there was no acquaintance in the bustling crowd - he was the only one who came to them.

On either side of the road stood a group of half-grown children, carrying sticks and yelling at them to march in as much as possible for the newcomers.

But Li Kui didn't know how to line up, he always walked a little ......, or was the person next to him a little turning? Anyway, every few steps, the two of them can always take turns stepping on each other's feet.

Li Kui is very strong, and he is also very fierce in battle, in the past, neighboring villages fought for water, and he once beat 7 or 8 strong men of the other party to the head and bleed.

The bandits attacked the village and the previous time the Dock Fort coalition attacked the bandits in turn, and he also killed people, and killed a lot.

It stands to reason that he shouldn't be afraid of anything anymore.

But he just felt scared, completely unaccompanied in a completely unfamiliar place, and in this dazed situation, it was not easy to have no sense of fear in his heart, right?

What's more, the castle owner of the 15 Tun is a ruthless man, Li Kui scratched his back unconsciously, and there seemed to be a feeling when he was beaten with a military stick by the people of the 15 Tun for violating military discipline some time ago.

At that time, Li Kui was the one who received the most military sticks, just because he always wanted to rob a little lady and be a wife to his brother......

My wife always looks forward to holding her grandson, but the family is poor, and no one wants to marry the girl to her family, so she has to find a way to grab one.

My brother always thought that he was a fierce man, and he would definitely be able to rob a girl to go back to him, even if he couldn't grab a girl, it would be good to rob a widow.

Li Kui did work hard for this, in exchange for every time he broke the bandit village, he had to be beaten with a military stick in the end, and there were many times, even Xu Shiyang knew what was going on with this fool, so he never really cut him.

In the last few times, after capturing the village, the soldiers of the 15 tuns couldn't even wait for Li Kui to violate military discipline, and as soon as the village was broken, they tied him up first, found a wicker and whipped him a few times, and punished him for violating military discipline.

Li Kui knew that this approach was more like a joke, but it was indeed a good way to prevent him from violating military discipline, if he continued like this, who knows when Xu Shiyang's patience ran out and directly took off his head once and for all?

It's a pity that others are so good to him, but his own brother is angry with him because he didn't bring him back a mother-in-law.

This time, the 15th tun of the Xu family in Juzhou was "recruited" in the fort of his family, and Li Kui's own brother was angry and reported his name without his knowledge - the owner of the castle promised to give some benefits to those who voluntarily left their hometown to go to Juzhou, and Li Kui left, and the benefits fell into the hands of his brother.