Now in the eyes of the people, no matter what profession, there is no researcher in popularity.

Not only is the income huge, but it also usually does experiments, and it doesn't need to make any effort at all.

But as researchers, Wei Lu and they are still under a lot of pressure, because Zhao Rui's previous reforms have refined the direction of their experiments, and now each group is basically responsible for a detailed project.

Wouldn't it be too ugly if the other groups had completed the experiment and one or two groups would drop the chains?

Therefore, these so-called researchers are also holding back their energy and want to complete the experimental project as soon as possible.

Now Weilu and his team are not easy at all, and they are doing experiments on several key projects of steam engines at the same time, but fortunately, there are directions and drawings, and they are making progress day by day, so that they can feel at ease.

And the Makqin team that Zhao Rui was looking for was the saddest, after Zhao Rui left, they were like headless flies, although there were drawings, but so many small parts, how to assemble it became a problem.

After all, there is no specific size of the parts, which can only be judged according to the proportion on the drawings, and then it is a cast and casting, and it has to be polished finely, and the steam engine has achieved good results, while Makqin can be said to have made no progress.

That afternoon, when all the teams were in the workshop, Zhao Rui came back in the dust.

Didn't ask about the progress of the individual projects, but ordered everyone to start working on what mortars? The people in the Makqin team knew that they would not be a Makqin but a mortar, and they all felt relieved.

Zhao Rui still split the difficulties of the mortar and gave them various teams to experiment.

For example, the shell pouring group made several shapes and tails according to the drawings, and when the time came, the large-caliber primer processed by the bullet production line in Yongpingzhai was used to try which one flew far and steady.

In addition, the fuse device was divided into more groups, and the shell carved out of wood was used to carry out the test with **, and the fuse made by that team had a higher detonation rate.

With the comparison, there is also a sense of competition, each team designed different fuses, and then connected to the 7.92 primer transported from Yongping Village for testing.

"Whoosh~boom!"

"Whoosh~"

Not to mention that the structure of the mortar is simple, it has been achieved in a few days, and although the fuse has been made in many varieties, most of them can be detonated.

So Zhao Rui found a fuse that was more suitable for mass production and improved it to achieve the best effect.

The next step is the production of sand molds, for which Zhao Rui also recruited a lot of porcelain craftsmen, they are ingenious, carved a lot of wood models, so that they can be directly covered with a mixture of sand and earth, directly out of the mold.

Because the sand mold is smashed when it reaches the finished product, how much **** is produced, how much sand mold is needed, so the demand is still very large.

However, with the wood model, the efficiency can be greatly improved, which also alleviates the difficulty of manual labor to a certain extent.

The firing device for the mortar is even simpler, it is a cylinder, and there is no need for rifling or anything, plus the base, and the bracket is ready.

Only five days have passed, and the first batch of finished products has been produced.

Zhao Rui presided over the test launch in an open field, Zhao Rui was excited, and felt that the efficiency of the team's research was high, and he did not waste his efforts to set it up in vain.

The target of the test launch was on the low hills north of Wanyazhou, which were also places where the blacksmiths had been judging that there were mineral deposits and had not yet excavated them.

"Aim for ......," Zhao Rui shouted the password.

Someone put the shell into the barrel and waited for the next order.

"Put!"

At the sound of an order, all the loaded people let go at the same time, and twenty mortars fired a salvo!

It was the feeling of two kicks, "Teng", the bottom fire was fired in the barrel, and the barrel made a crisp sound with a trembling sound, and then the shells flew out like rockets.

"Knock Knock Knock ......"

In the distance, the mountain was covered by an explosion, and the smoke and dust were everywhere in the distance.

"It's done! Hahaha! Zhao Rui shook his fist fiercely, and his heart was extremely excited.

The dust and smoke dissipated, and Zhao Rui clearly saw that the entire mountain had been cut off in half, which showed that the power was very huge, and at the same time, the black ore in the mountain was exposed, and it was obvious that this was another iron mine.

Then Zhao Rui asked people to rush to work, and made thirty mortars, plus the fifty that were made before.

In addition, the **** produced at the same time also reached 500 rounds, and if he waited any longer, the number of shells would be more, but Zhao Rui couldn't wait, because he had been in Wanya Prefecture for a week, plus the delay in the way back and forth, it had been half a month since he went back to Tuojiang Town.

Zhao Rui remembered the battle situation in Tuojiang Town, and hurriedly mobilized a hundred troops from Wanya Prefecture to return to Tuojiang Town with him in a carriage.

Before leaving, Zhao Rui also instructed Wei Lu to let them study, and the production of mortars should continue, and at the same time, they should also increase optimization, and think about how to make a device for measuring the level, so that it is conducive to better aiming of mortars and the like.

It just so happened that Wanya Prefecture had a carriage transporting coal from Polynok Prefecture all day long, and it was a matter of the convenience for Zhao Rui to dispatch some.

The horse convoy carried the mortar to Tuojiang Town with Zhao Rui, Zhao Rui was looking forward to the power of the mortar in his heart, thinking that the stone-throwing truck of the Angkor people was going to be unlucky!

However, the west gate of Tuojiang Town is not very optimistic, since Zhao Rui left for half a month, many soldiers were injured, not directly smashed by the boulder, after all, they were killed if they were smashed, most of their injuries were injured by the gravel broken by the boulder, because the artillery still had to be operated by people, and people must be left on the city wall, but the direction of the gravel could not be judged, so the number of injured soldiers was also increasing.

It seems that the catapults have made some achievements, and the Angkor people have sent more catapults for a while, plus the original damaged catapults can be repaired, so that the number of catapults has doubled and more than doubled.

The top of the hill opposite the west gate has lost its head, and the threat of artillery to the catapult is getting smaller and smaller.

In this regard, even Zhao Gong and Arjuna, who are experienced in war, have no good way, so they can only hold their positions and always guard against whether the Angkor people will attack on a large scale.

The most sad thing for Zhao Gong is that there is not much ammunition left for the artillery, if it has not been replenished, the artillery will soon face the embarrassing situation of having no artillery to fight, and if the Angkor people attack again, the west gate of Tuojiang Town is estimated to be unable to be saved.

"We can't sit back any longer! I'm going to take a troop of cavalry out and give them the Angkor colours!" The speed of the cavalry is very fast, and there will definitely be no damage! ”

Arjuna understands that the generals are outside and the military orders are not subject to the reason, and feels that the situation is critical now, and it is time to change the strategy.

Although Zhao Gong was moved by Arjuna's words, he always remembered Zhao Rui's instructions, so he refused directly, looking at Arjuna was still a little angry, Zhao Gong had no choice but to say: "Arjuna, you have to believe the young master, I estimate that he will come soon!" ”

The boulders are still falling, and although the city wall is blessed with adhesive, after all, it can't stand the collision like this all day, and there is a feeling that it is going to fall apart.

"Wait two more days, I will have to act in two days, otherwise, you know, the city gate will not be able to hold on......"

Zhao Gong nodded and did not answer, because he knew that Aruna was right, and the city gate was estimated to not be able to hold on for long.

"Hey! Hurry up to repair the wall, and the north side is shattered again! Zhao Gong found the damage and called out to the repairers under the city in time.

The Cochin men who repaired the city walls had become "journeymen" these days, and they came up with bricks and adhesives.

Before, the repair could last for several days, and when the adhesive hardened, it could resist the boulder, but now it feels like the frequency of repairs is becoming more and more frequent.

Everyone knows what is going on, as the Angkor people continue to shoot, they are also correcting according to the landing point, so their hit rate is also greatly improved, fortunately, the size and weight of the boulder are different, otherwise the city wall would have been broken by them.

"General Zhao, now you are using spare ammunition! It is estimated that it will last for two days! ”

After a while, the soldier who was transporting the shells stepped forward to report.

Zhao Gong pondered for a moment and said: "Reduce the firing frequency by half, and leave another hundred shells as a retention, and when the Angkor army attacks, we must have artillery shells available!" ”

"Yes!"

After another day, the people of Angkor clearly felt that there were fewer shells from Tuojiang Town, and that they were less threatened by the back of the mountain, and now the small number of shells made them feel like tickling.

It must be that there is not much ammunition in Tuojiang, and the hearts of the Angkor people are also excited, and there are still a lot of stone-throwing trucks on the road, and one day will arrive, and then they will launch a fierce attack on Tuojiang City.

The Angkor people have even formulated tactics, and when more catapults come, the original ones will speed up the frequency of attacks, and other catapults will be pushed out to attack, so that the dense attack is afraid that there is no space for them to fire on the city wall, and then after the city wall is captured, and then send elephant soldiers to attack, then Tuojiang Town is bound to win.

Arjuna is ready to attack, her clothes and armor are all put on, ready to open the city gate at any time!

Fortunately, at this time, Zhao Rui finally arrived in Tuojiang Town and brought a large number of mortars.

When Arjuna saw Zhao Rui coming, she was happy and reported the battle situation to Zhao Rui, saying that she was ready to attack, and asked Zhao Rui to agree.

"Haha, you don't have to go out, we can beat the Angkor people in the city, you just wait to see the show!"

Zhao Rui's optimism made Arjuna a little surprised, he was still anxious when he left, why did he seem to be a different person after coming back?

As soon as Zhao Rui came, Zhao Gong, Arjuna and the soldiers seemed to have more backbones, and they were not so worried, since Zhao Rui came, he would definitely have a way.

Now the whole army is looking forward to Zhao Rui, Zhao Rui is not only the prince, but also their spiritual leader.

After eating and resting, Zhao Rui ordered fifty mortars to be erected in the open space within the city wall, and Zhao Rui also deliberately leveled the ground for the sake of level requirements.

It's just some iron pipes, right......

Many soldiers and officials of the common people came to the city wall to watch the excitement.