Nanyang, outside the city.

Li Yan was watching Master Huang lead people to assemble two stone throwers. Half an hour later, it was finally assembled. The stone thrower has a rectangular base with four large wheels, the middle throwing rod is one zhang high, and there is a half-zhang high stop next to the front. The contact points of the throwing rod and the stop rod are wrapped in a thick cotton cloth.

There is an obtusely angled iron on top of the throwing rod. A leather pouch with two ends fixed to either side of the top end of the throwing rod, and a third rope loop of the leather pouch hanging from the iron.

Li Yan watched Master Huang instruct the soldiers to shout trumpets, twist dozens of ropes with arm rods, and then fix them. At this time, the arm pole stood upright, and the leather pocket on the arm pole was empty and drooping.

"It's not too small." Li Yan said.

Master Huang smiled and said, "If you get the return cannon back, it will be even bigger." This thing is good, not too heavy, and easy to move. If you want to increase the range, add some cow tendon ropes, and the winch is tighter. Good. ”

"How far can this go?" Li Yan asked.

Master Huang replied: "We have tried, and a twenty-pound tank of fire oil can be thrown out of more than 100 steps." If you add some cow tendon rope and change the throwing rod to a longer one, it is estimated that more than 200 steps will be enough. ”

Li Yan nodded and ordered, "Then try it." ”

Master Huang agreed, and began to ask the soldiers to hook the rope on the winch behind them to the hook on the throwing pole, and then slowly turned the handle and pulled the arm rod down. After the soldier put a stone of 20 pounds into his leather pocket and put the rope ring on the obtuse iron, a soldier pulled the mechanism, and the hook on the rope detached from the iron ring of the throwing rod, and the throwing rod bounced up with a whin. The leather pocket was quickly flung up.

After the throwing rod bounced to forty-five degrees, the rope loop of the leather pocket on the obtuse iron rod was detached from the iron rod by inertia, and the stones in the leather pocket broke away from the leather pocket and flew forward, and after a while, it fell on the open space outside the moat with a bang.

Li Yan asked people to measure it, and when he came back to report, it was about one hundred and ten steps. Li Yan nodded with satisfaction: "Yes, yes, it's even better than expected." ”

Master Huang arched his hand and said, "It's good that the handsome man is satisfied." It's just that this cow tendon rope is lacking, and it can't be manufactured in large quantities in the short term. ”

Li Yan instructed: "It doesn't matter, if you can make a few, count a few, and you can have a few planes." We don't have many ploughing cattle, and when the shops in Zhuxian Town are opened, let's buy some to use. ”

"That's good, I'm still worried about delaying the time of the big handsome." Master Huang said lightly.

At this time, Sun Sifu came over and quietly reported: "Dashuai, report urgently." ”

Li Yan glanced at Sun Sifu and saw that he didn't mean to say anything, so he arched his hand to Master Huang and said, "These two planes are left here, you take the apprentices to rest first." I still have something to do here, so I won't accompany you. ”

"The handsome man is busy, the little old man doesn't have to do anything here."

Li Yan nodded and returned to the city with his own soldiers. At this time, the five hundred captured Liu Hongqi men sent by Li Zhong were building the city wall, and the soldiers were watching from the side. These captives are all low-level minions, and the unruly leaders have long been disposed of, so they are quite honest.

After entering the Tang Palace, Sun Sifu took out Li Mu's letter and reported in a low voice: "General Li Mou's letter, the Qing soldiers crossed the river in Caozhou, and they have been repelled once by General Li Mou. The troops of Guide are weak, and they are worried that the Qing troops will cross the river to the south and invade in a big way, so they ask you for help. ”

Li Yan listened and looked down at the letter. The note was not big, and the words were even smaller, but Li Yan could still see it clearly. At this time, he was also very surprised, according to common sense, the Qing soldiers should not have crossed the Yellow River. However, it may be inflated by the performance of the official army, and it may be possible to directly seize the Central Plains. The imperial court mobilized an army of 400,000 Qinwang, but the various departments watched and evaded, watching the Qing soldiers drive straight in, capture the prefectures and counties, kill people and plunder.

He can only be a Qing soldier now, and he is coming to ransack his Guide Mansion. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment, and ordered: "Send someone to inform Bai Shixiong and ask him to leave three hundred cavalry for Xinyang, and all the others will be driven back to Germany immediately." Inform Sun Tianyang and let the musket team prepare immediately, and set off to return north in the afternoon. Let Wang Renjie transfer six three-inch guns, and also transfer six three-inch guns from Xinyang, don't use them here, and meet directly in Yuncheng. ”

Sun Sifu wrote them down one by one and asked, "Don't bring infantry?" ”

Li Yan said helplessly: "It's overstretched." Now we are also encountering the problem of the imperial court, fighting on two fronts. If Liu Hongqi and Li Zicheng are allowed to come back, they will not understand that we are fighting against the Qing soldiers. ”

Sun Sifu no longer reminded and asked, "Dashuai, are there any other instructions?" ”

Li Yan thought for a moment and ordered: "Let's go to the order first, and then add it if you have it." ”

When Sun Sifu left, he instructed Liang Zhenfang again: "Inform the commanders of each battalion to come over and discuss the matter." In addition, a letter was sent to General Li Zhong, asking him to disclose to the troops the matter of clearing troops to attack Guide. Let him pay attention to the guidance, let the soldiers know that I have personally led the troops to deal with the Qing soldiers, let the soldiers work hard to suppress the thieves, and don't let the brothers in Guide be distracted. ”

"Isn't this going to be a problem?" Liang Zhenfang reminded.

Li Yan waved his hand and said, "Go ahead, if you hide it, when there are rumors, then the problem will be even greater." ”

A quarter of an hour later, the six thousand presidents in Nanyang, as well as Huang Desheng, all came to the main hall.

"My subordinates have seen the big handsome." Everyone clasped their fists and saluted.

Li Yan commanded, "Sit." Waiting for everyone to sit down, he said bluntly: "There is news from Guide Mansion, the Qing soldiers have gone south and have arrived in Caozhou." And sent troops to cross the river, wanting to come to us to ransack. ”

Everyone stood up at once, clasped their fists and said: "Please give the order of the marshal, and be willing to be a pioneer to resist the Qing army." ”

Li Yan asked everyone to sit down, and then said confidently: "Tell you, so that you don't have to worry." You are all here to guard well, don't let Li Zicheng take advantage of this opportunity to make a comeback. You don't have to worry about returning to Germany, I will personally go back to deal with the Qing army. ”

Everyone is not nervous now, although their families are all in Guide, but if they Li Dashuai personally goes back to command, they will be relieved. The first two or three hundred people, and now the princes who own most of the land south of the Yellow River in Henan and have 70,000 troops are all fought one by one with Li Dashuai.

Li Dashuai always has a way, and Li Dashuai's invincible thinking has taken root in their hearts. As long as it is ordered by Li Dashuai, there will always be nothing wrong.

"What arrangements do you have, we will do our best to implement them." Huang Desheng stood up, represented everyone, and said loudly.

Li Yan said flatly: "Calling you over is to let you guard here with peace of mind, and you don't have to worry about anything else." I only transferred two artillery teams and a musket team, which was commanded by Huang Desheng, and the entire Xinyang Nanyang front was under the command of General Li Zhong. I hope you can calm the emotions of the troops, so that the brothers do not think of returning to morality, there is me. You must be vigilant and don't give Li Zicheng a chance, as long as you don't distract me, the Qing army will not be able to cross the Yellow River. ”

Everyone stood up, clasped their fists and shouted: "Please rest assured, we will do our best to prevent thieves from taking advantage of it!" ”

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