This night's answer was later called the "Shenglong Pair". It pointed out a basic strategic direction for the later development of Huang Zide Group. Although there have been many changes since then, and this strategic concept has not been fully realized, its impact is undeniable.

But this is a long-term plan, and the current thing still has to be done. In the days that followed, Xuan Yi took Dang Shouyi to visit other nearby Zhuangzi, and successively brought back more than 500 stones of grain. Coupled with some of the grain purchased before, it can barely support the next year's autumn harvest.

In the following days, the cottage was quite calm on the surface, and in addition to farming, it was to further improve the mandarin duck array. Because of his outstanding performance in the blocking battle, no one in Huang Zide's army now doubts the power of this formation. However, the Mandarin Duck Formation in Huang Zide's army is not a truly authentic Mandarin Duck Formation now, because they still lack two vital weapons in their Mandarin Duck Formation. One of these weapons is a bird gun, and the other is an artillery.

In Qi Dashuai's mandarin duck array, there is also a weapon called "Tiger Squat Cannon". This is a small cannon cast from pig iron, weighing only about forty or fifty pounds. The cannon fires shotguns, killing and wounding dense enemy forces, and is easy to move. At the beginning, Qi Dashuai invented this in order to facilitate its use in the hilly areas of the Jiangnan water network. Of course, the range of this thing is quite urgent. My war book says that this thing can fight 500 steps. But in reality, this is estimated to be the so-called maximum range, that is, the maximum distance that the projectile it fires can fly at. But at this distance, there is no power at all. In his previous life, Xuan Yi had also seen this kind of light artillery, and knew that the real effective range of this thing was about 100 steps. If the enemy is wearing heavy armor or holding a shield, the effective range will drop to fifty paces or more. However, Qi Dashuai used it to deal with the Japanese Invaders, who did not have field artillery, and this range was enough. It's just that after Qi Dashuai, this thing gradually became the standard weapon of our Dazhao official army, and the Ministry of Industry habitually cut corners, causing the soldiers to dare not pretend to be full of fire in order to avoid exploding. Medicine, now the power of this thing has further declined, so that when fighting with the Jin army outside the gate, this thing has almost become a large firecracker, and it is almost useless except for listening to a sound to strengthen the courage.

However, if it is a well-made Tiger Squat Cannon, in the hands of a well-trained gunner, it is still a very threatening weapon. It's still very helpful for combat. In previous battles with the official army, Huang Zide's rebels also captured several tiger squat cannons from the official army. However, due to the lack of gunpowder, these tiger squat cannons were quickly abandoned.

Obviously, whether it is a bird gun or a tiger squat cannon, it is impossible for today's Shenglong Village to make it by itself. There is only one blacksmith in Shenglong Village, (plus Liu Jiexuan, there are only two) He repaired weapons and farm tools, and he was already very busy, and he didn't have time to roll the barrel of the gun, or ponder the tiger squat cannon or something.

According to Xuan Yi's suggestion, it is temporarily replaced by archers. In Xuan Yi's opinion, it is best to replace the bird gun with a strong bow and heavy arrows or a strong crossbow, but the bows and arrows in the rebel army are all captured from the official army. For many years, the most common combat opponents of the officials and troops of the Jokhang court were "bandits" or "barbarians" who lacked armor, so the arrows they used were more light arrows against such opponents, and the bows they used were also small bows that were more suitable for firing light arrows. Heavy arrows can be made by themselves, but strong bows and crossbows suitable for firing heavy arrows are not easy to make yourself. So at present, it can only be used alive.

On the contrary, it is the tiger squat cannon that has a substitute.

This alternative is called "elm cannon", and according to Huang Tian, this is also the idea provided by Wang Mang:

Wang Mang said, find a big elm tree and cut the trunk in half. Hollowed out in the middle. Then close it again and tie it with wrought iron. Stuffed with gunpowder, stones, and medicine plugged into it, it became an elm cannon. It's just that this cannon is not very safe, and it is easy to explode if there is too much charge. And it can't be used repeatedly, it's basically disposable. ”

Xuan Yi didn't know that in another time and space, a certain guerrilla army had widely used this primitive firearm to fight against the invading Japanese invading army, and achieved some results. So he was skeptical that this line of thinking was feasible. Still, he decided to give it a try. In the future, the rebels will always be equipped with artillery, and it is not bad to practice with elm cannons now.

There is also gunpowder on Elm Mountain, and it is not completely impossible to get it. Of course, this method is not to build any nitrate field according to the method provided by Wang Mang. That kind of approach is too technically demanding, and it takes too long. It takes nearly a year for a nitrate field to be built and it begins to produce nitrate steadily. Xuan Yi knew that Huang Zide would not squat in this deep mountain for so long. The main way to get gunpowder is to spend money on it. Theoretically, the Jokhang Dynasty's control over gunpowder was still quite strict. These things cannot be bought and sold casually. However, the demand for gunpowder among the people of the Jokhang Dynasty was also very large. (such as making firecrackers, fireworks, etc.) and in the army of the Jokhang Dynasty, there were a lot of firearms, and gunpowder was stored for this purpose in various places. In many cases, the officials in charge of gunpowder would scrap the good gunpowder in the powder magazine and sell it on the market on the grounds of "training attrition" and "natural attrition". Some officials even felt that this was not enough, and took out some of the remaining gunpowder, and then added the same amount of charcoal powder back and stirred well. In this way, when I looked at it above, the amount of gunpowder was still not small at all. Of course, the power of such gunpowder naturally decreases further. However, the army was not averse to this kind of gunpowder, as it effectively reduced the chance of a bore.

Therefore, as long as you have money, you can buy gunpowder effortlessly in the market, and the quality is better than that of the Dazhao official military.

Xuan Yi talked about this idea with Huang Zide and them. Huang Zide was very interested in this. When he led the rebels everywhere, he suffered the loss of artillery, and he also saw the power of the cannons of the imperial court. So he always wished he could have a cannon to use.

"On the contrary, just as it is getting cold today, the ground is almost turned over, and idleness is idleness. Why don't you take advantage of this time and try this thing? Huang Zide finally made a version.

So Xuanyi got busy again, first choosing a big tree. If you want to find an elm tree with tight wood, fewer scars, and relatively straight, it is better to have cut it down and leave it to dry in the shade for a year or two. There were also some carpenter-born people in the rebel army, and Xuan Yi took them to the county seat first and bought some wood back. Then it's time to make the cannon.

Xuan Yi himself was not very familiar with carpentry, and Huang Tian also didn't know much about it. Fortunately, their requirements are not complicated, and it is not difficult for the carpenters to achieve their goals.

The carpenters quickly dug out the first elm cannon and planed its outer layer into a cone with a thick back and a thin front. Then there was the matter of the blacksmiths, who were to attach a few hoops to the cannon. It's as simple as making an iron hoop out of wrought iron, then placing it on a cone-shaped cannon body, and then hammering it tightly, as if it were a wooden barrel.

Soon, the first elm cannons were built. Xuan Yi chose an auspicious day to prepare for the test gun.

The elm cannon was secured, the gunpowder was loaded in, and then compacted with strips, and then a cloth bag was stuffed in, and the bread in the cloth bag was all gravel. Then, a long fiery rope was inserted. The arquebus was surprisingly long, more than four feet long. This is naturally to give the person who lit the fire a quick run away.

A hundred paces in front of the muzzle were set up wooden targets, which were to be used to test the power of the elm cannon.

Everything was ready, and everyone except the soldier in charge of the ignition retreated to a hundred paces. There was a trench there, and all the spectators had now taken refuge in it, revealing only their heads. The soldier in charge of lighting the fire lit the rope with the torch in his hand, then threw down the torch and ran behind without looking back.

More than twenty paces behind the gun emplacement, there was a large pit that had been dug. The soldier in charge of lighting the fire, after lighting the fire rope, rushed to the edge of the pit after a few steps, and jumped down at once. Then he cautiously stuck his head out and looked over the elm cannon.

At this time, the fire rope was actually only about a foot less, and there was still a while before the cannon sounded.

Liu Jiexuan watched the soldier jump into the pit and waited again, but the cannon had not yet sounded.

"Could it be that the arquebus was damp and extinguished?" Liu Jiexuan said, "Why don't you let people go over and have a look?" ”

"It's not out yet." The party said righteously, "There is still smoke rising." ”

His voice had just fallen. There was a cannon shot, and a long tongue of fire erupted from the muzzle.

"It's fired! It's loud! Liu Jiexuan jumped from the trench to the ground, "I'll go see how the target is!" ”

"I'll check it out too!" Liu Erhu followed Liu Jiexuan, and ran towards the target, shouting as he ran: "Brother Liu, wait for the brother to ......."

Huang Zide looked at Liu Jiexuan and Liu Erhu who were running wildly over there, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. He turned his head and said to Xuan Yi, who was standing beside him: "That year, on the Ningzhou side, we fought a victory and captured a cannon of the official army. Well, authentic general cannon. Lao Liu likes it like a baby, if he wasn't afraid of being crushed to death by it, he would have hugged it to bed. It's just that then we had to go somewhere else, and the cannon was too heavy to bring at all, so we smashed the cannon to make iron, and Lao Liu was distressed and didn't eat well for several days. Well, Dao Chief, let's go check it out too. ”

When Xuan Yi heard this, he said, "Dare not obey your fate." ”

The two walked over there together, and after a while, they walked to Liu Jiexuan, who was checking the target.

"Lao Liu, how is it?" Huang Zide asked.

"Not good." Liu Jiexuan said with a frustrated face, "Look at this power, it's not as good as a tiger squat cannon."