Li Zicheng smiled secretly in his heart, it is true that John Tang is a top engineer, but his understanding of artillery has always been his own words, others have never seen it, maybe the current Europe, in addition to the Ming Dynasty, is the most developed place, in many modern application technologies, the Ming Dynasty is also far behind, the most advanced artillery in Europe, perhaps the most advanced artillery in the world.

But the artillery that Li Zicheng needed had to go beyond what is now Europe, including the Holy Roman State.

"What kind of artillery can Mr. Tang make?"

"I can build the most advanced artillery in the world, the 'red-clothed cannon' used by the Ming court, as long as I am given a period of time, no more than a month, I can show it in front of the Grand Duke," Tang Ruowang looked a little proud, and he kindly reminded: "However, I want to say that the 'red-clothed cannon' is not the most advanced artillery at present!" ”

"The 'red-coated cannon' is indeed not the most advanced artillery, it has been introduced to the Ming Dynasty for decades," Li Zicheng smiled faintly, took out a remade drawing from his arms, and handed it to Tang Ruowang, "Mr. Tang, take a look, can you cast this kind of artillery?" ”

"What kind of artillery? I'll take a look," John Tang took the drawing, his eyes fell on the pattern, his eyes became bigger and bigger, his face was calm at first, and soon there was undisguised surprise and surprise, "Dadu, is this artillery?" This shell ......"

"This is indeed a kind of artillery," Li Zicheng was very satisfied with Tang Ruowang's expression, the more surprised he was, the more he could explain that this was an artillery that he had never seen or even heard of—it was beyond this era, how could Tang Ruowang have heard of it? "Don't look at it, it's much shorter and more powerful than the 'Red Cannon', but its power is heaven and earth!"

Tang Ruowang hesitated and said: "The barrel is only one meter—it's not difficult to make it, and this base is ...... Grand Governor, even if such a cannon can be cast, I'm afraid it can't compare to the 'red-coated cannon', let alone ......"

"The 'red-coated cannon' weighs more than 3,000 catties, not to mention that Xining does not have enough copper and iron, even if it can be cast, it is extremely inconvenient to move, Xining, Gansu, and Longyou regions are either mountains or rivers," Li Zicheng sipped tea and said: "So the artillery must be miniaturized and practical!" ”

"The Metropolitan Governor is right," John Tang nodded, and said, "But in this way, the power of the artillery will decrease, if you fight against the 'red-clothed cannon' on the battlefield, unless you have an absolute numerical advantage, you will only be afraid of ......"

Tang Ruowang, who has always been sharp, seems to be suffering from a mouth disease today, Li Zicheng laughed secretly, and it also shows the anti-heaven nature of this howitzer from the side, "Mr. Tang is wrong, although the artillery is miniaturized, the power will definitely not decrease," he pushed the drawings of the artillery to the young man beside Tang Ruowang, "Tang Jin, Jiacai, you can also take a look!" ”

"Yes, Grand Duke!" Lian Ren took the drawings and carefully considered them, and after a long time, Tang Jin suddenly let out an "ah" sound, which startled everyone.

Tang Ruowang glanced at him, his brows tightened, and the wrinkled word "Chuan" on his forehead seemed to hide a big "? ”

Tang Jin subconsciously covered his tongue, first glanced at Li Zicheng, saw that Li Zicheng was smiling, obviously not angry because of his gaffe, and then looked at Tang Ruowang, "Mr. Tang, look at this cannonball......

Tang Ruowang was taken aback, he only cared about looking at the barrel just now, and was particularly surprised by the rifling structure inside the barrel, but he didn't pay attention to the shell, whether it was a solid bullet, a shotgun bullet or a grape bullet, there was no difficulty for him.

He took the drawing and set his eyes on the shell, the picture was nothing special, but when he looked at the text description on the side, he was stunned, is this still a shell?

Tang Ruowang read these instructions word by word, but still had no clue, so he raised his eyes and looked at Li Zicheng, "Governor, this is ...... Can it really be cast? ”

"Yes!" Li Ziguo nodded decisively, and said in his heart, how to cast is your business, if I can cast, will I easily leak such a confidential matter to you?

Although there are complete drawings, but because of the limited industrial level of the Ming Dynasty, it is really difficult for ordinary craftsmen to cast, at this moment, he understood that the central country of later generations is not the most advanced country in the world scientifically, and the Nobel Prize in science is even rarer, but it does not prevent the central country from becoming the world's first manufacturing power.

Science and technology complement each other, science is science, technology is technology, science needs to ask a problem, and then solve it in the laboratory or on drawings, but to transform it into actual products, produce economic, social, and scientific benefits, it also needs technical support, and it needs technical experts - engineers to transform drawings into real products and prove them from practice.

John Tang is the best engineer in the Ming Dynasty at this stage!

This is the best gift God has given to the Heavenly Mandate Army, even if he uses three thousand soldiers, Li Zicheng will not exchange him!

Tang Ruowang shook his head, his brows did not stretch, his eyes fell on the drawings and almost did not move, Li Zicheng's heart sank, could it be that the best engineers in the Ming Dynasty were also helpless?

Suddenly, John Tang raised his head, his eyes were introverted, his brows were still tightly locked, he already had some clues, as if God had injected him with a hint of inspiration.

This inspiration came from the bullet that was developed for the Xining rifle last time!

Since the bullet of the rifle can be filled with gunpowder and can create a secondary explosion under the guidance of the detonator# tube, why can't a shell that is much larger than a bullet? It's a big deal to increase the amount of gunpowder and expand the volume of the detonator# tube!

In fact, there is a similar structure on the drawings, but it is not exhaustive enough.

But John Tong believed that since the Metropolitan Governor could design such a rebellious structure, he would definitely be able to develop Xining rifles, cement, glass, perfume, and distilled spirits...... He has seen one miracle after another created by Li Zicheng, none of which are failures, and he believes that along the direction of Li Zicheng's thinking, he will definitely be able to find the answer!

Tang Ruowang's heart relaxed, and a smile appeared on his face, "Dadudu, I understand, give me a little time, I will definitely be able to develop an artillery that satisfies Dadudu!" ”

John Tang's self-confidence finally put Li Zicheng at ease, and with John Tang, an engineer who has studied both Chinese and foreign, he can leave these complex technical problems behind.

From the perspective of the relationship between science and technology, Li Zicheng feels that he is like a scientist leading this era, and John Tang is the technical expert he needs the most!

If it weren't for this super anti-heaven engineer, he wouldn't know what he would be busy with, and he wouldn't have time to think about the future and general trend of the Heavenly Mandate Army, and he probably wouldn't have so much time to create people in the back office at night......

Of course, no matter how capable Tang Ruowang is, he is only one person and cannot overcome all the technical problems, so Li Zicheng asked him to equip him with assistants, Lu Rongda and Yu Xiao in bridge manufacturing, and Tang Jin and Zhao Jiacai who are with him today in artillery development.

As long as these assistants grow up, they will be the new John Tong, and the Mandate of Heaven Army will have countless John Tong!

"Tang Jin, Jiacai, you follow Mr. and learn the manufacturing technology of artillery well," Li Zicheng turned his mind and returned to reality, "Liu Fang, you also participate in the research and development of artillery, and provide all convenience for Mr. Tang!" ”

Out of the craftsman's workshop, Li Zicheng became infinitely relaxed, he took his own soldiers, and went to the market, Tian Fen had just come to Xining, and there was still some estrangement between him and the rest of the ladies, if he could give them some gifts...... In order to prevent disturbance of the people, he asked the soldiers who followed him to take off their military uniforms and wear ordinary merchant clothes.

The market square is in the northeast corner of Xining, that is, between Beimen Street and Dongmen Street, Li Zicheng took He Xiaomi, and four pro-soldiers followed, and the rest of the pro-soldiers, with the camouflage military uniforms they were wearing, followed from a distance, how could it not be a conflict, they were not the same people as Li Zicheng at all.

Coming out of the craftsman's workshop, a little turn, is Dongmen Street, on both sides of the street, mainly shops, occasionally mixed with one or two houses, all of which are high-rise buildings, obviously not ordinary people.

Li Zicheng didn't have the heart to take care of the houses in the city, although most of the wealthy merchants' families in the city lived in the southwest, forming a natural wealthy area, but there were no hard and fast rules in the city, and if the big families voluntarily chose to live in the city's fang district and slum area, no one could control it.

Wandering around a few shops, there was nothing agreeable, Li Zicheng walked all the way along Dongmen Street, seeing that there were still a few shops, that is, the end of the street, he saw that it was a silk village, so he was ready to buy a few silk for the ladies, although they were not short of food and clothing, but women never disliked their clothes too much.

The façade of the store is at least two meters wide, which is rare in Xining's shop, Li Zicheng just came to the door, Xiao Er warmly greeted him, "The guest officer is please, the shop is a famous silk village in Xining, there are all kinds of silk and satin, which one do the guest officers want to see?" ”

Maybe he saw that Li Zicheng had a lot of followers and was a big customer, and Xiao Er also made Li Zicheng a cup of hot tea.

"Xiao Er, your store has a very wide storefront, but now it is approaching the Singapore dollar, it should be the peak season, why is the store so deserted?" Li Zicheng looked around and found that there were no customers in the store except himself.

"This guest officer, do you know, it is now close to evening, and the shop is about to close, so there are fewer customers," Xiao Er quickly turned over all kinds of silk and satin, and the colors were very attractive, "The guest officer chooses this time best, if it is morning, there are too many people in the store, and the villain may not have time to take care of the guest officer alone......"

"Haha," Li Zicheng laughed, this little second is really clever, and said in his mouth: "I look at these silks, I don't know what the quality is." "If it is about color, he doesn't have to choose, just buy a few horses and go back, in Xining, there can be so much inventory, the foundation of the store is still good.

"Guest officer, please!" Xiao Er bowed down and led Li Zicheng to the front of the silk, "Guest officer, the left is silk, the right is brocade, and the shop is classified like this, so that it is convenient for customers to choose." ”

"Ao," Li Zicheng responded casually, first rummaged through the silk, felt that the texture was too bad, and took a few pieces of brocade, but he was also dissatisfied, so he frowned, "Xiao Er, do you have high-quality goods?" ”

Xiao Er was stunned for a moment, knowing that he had met a high roller, he hesitated for a while and then bowed down and said, "There are also some high-quality goods in the shop...... Guest, upstairs please! ”

Li Zicheng raised his feet and followed Xiao Er upstairs, "Haha, it turns out that there are boutiques hidden upstairs!" ”

"Don't hide it from the guest officer, these high-quality goods, because the price is more expensive, few people care about it on weekdays!" Before he knew it, Xiao Er had already led Li Zicheng to the warehouse upstairs.