The large-scale manufacture of artillery had long been planned, but due to the availability of brimstone and the power of gunpowder, the plan never came into effect. Suddenly, I heard Xiong Jing's request to manufacture 240 cannons within three years, Rao was mentally prepared, and Gong Yin Dao still had some difficulties, doesn't this mean that Jutiefu will start manufacturing artillery today.

"It's not the same infantry cannon as before." Xiong Jing corrected: "It's a sea boat cannon." Sea boat cannon firing 8.17 kg shells. ”

"Ahh Gong Yin Dao was dumbfounded. But there is no mistake when you think about it, the sea boat cannon is mounted on the sea boat, and the infantry cannon is pulled on land. The sea boat cannon can be built big and heavy, as long as the sea boat deck can withstand it; If the infantry cannon is too heavy, the horse will not be able to pull - the road problems in the field must be taken into account, and according to the test, the six strongest horses will not be able to drag the twelve-pounder gun in the field.

"What's the difficulty?" Xiong Jing was surprised when he saw Gong Yin Dao, thinking that there was something wrong with him.

"It's not difficult." Gong Yin Daodao. Xiong Jing was actually talking about an 18-pounder gun, and the difference between the caliber of the 18-pounder gun and the 12-pounder gun was less than two centimeters, and the length was more than 20 centimeters long. "Then the artillery carriage of the sea boat cannon ......"

Gong Yin Dao lifted the gun carriage. "The gun carriage is made by the boatyard, but he has seen the power of artillery and knows the preciousness of gunpowder." "The king is in a hurry to build a gunboat, does he need enough gunpowder?"

"Foot. In the future, there will be no shortage of gunpowder. Xiong Jing nodded. Last year the Sogdians brought in more than 1,400 kilograms of sulphur, and the sea boats returning from Seleucus carried more than 500 kilograms, and now the fleet awaiting the monsoon in Wublay harbor was loaded with more than 2,300 kilograms. This is still beyond the reach of Seleucid merchants, and if they go again next year, it is estimated that the amount of sulfur shipped back will be doubled.

"Ahh Gong Yijian also sighed, "This God bless Da Chuye." ”

After seeing the power of gunpowder, the courtiers were worried about the lack of sulfur and always had some good opinion of the Sogdian merchants. In fact, the sulphur was not as precious as they thought, and the merchants of Wublay Harbour quoted a ridiculously high price of thirty drachmas per tarrant sulphur, and one tarrant did not need one opo (1/6 drachma) to contain sulphur from the place of origin.

Moreover, just as Xiong Jing did not know how to chemically purify nitrate and how to smelt sulfur from pyrite, ordinary people did not know that gunpowder could actually be without any sulfur. Gunpowder containing only potassium nitrate and charcoal is called sulfur-free gunpowder, and the heat of sulfur-free gunpowder is not lower than that of standard gunpowder, or even higher.

However, until the gunpowder process was perfected, until the key other than the chemical purification of nitrate was found, the craftsmen of the mansion could not discover this. Xiong Jing had never studied gunpowder in depth, and he had always been interested in sailboats.

After staying in the palace until noon, after approving the technical parameters of the eighteen-pounder cannon in detail, and arranging a rough plan for building the cannon, he returned to the main bed and received a report from Aristotle IV asking for an audience. He didn't like this Greek, and since he learned that Seleucus also had sulfur, Zhu Ao also began to dislike this Greek. Xiong Jing hesitated for a moment, thinking that he was an envoy after all, and asked him to summon him to sleep.

"I am grateful for Your Majesty's kindness." As soon as Aristotle IV entered, he bowed to Xiong Jing to express his gratitude.

"What are you doing here?" Xiong Jing was silent and expressionless.

"Just for the return trip." Aristotle IV bowed again. "I beg Your Majesty to order the Chuni merchant ships to transport this cargo to the port of Shanzhou, because all the vehicles and horses we have prepared are in Daidi County."

"Shipping?" Xiong Jing thought that his meeting this time was for punishment, but he didn't expect it to be transporting goods.

"Yes, Your Majesty. If it is not possible to return to the Syr Darya before winter, then the caravan will starve to death in the steppe. Aristotle IV relayed the words of Grebecca, and the last time the iron was transported to the port of Shanzhou and then transported back to the river one by one.

"Zhao is hungry, and all the boats in Chu, Wei, and Qi are transporting grain." Xiong Jing mentioned the difficulties of the moment. Even the big-winged warships and pawn-wing warships were also dispatched, taking the chasm-Yellow River route, and they were not afraid of the Qin State at all.

"I know this very well, and I just hope that Your Majesty will be merciful to send the goods to Xiangzhou." Aristotle IV continued to plead, and when he saw Xiong Jing's gaze, even though his face was hot, he still said: "I am ashamed to have violated the agreement and told the Seleucid envoys the details of the transaction. ”

"There is no need to apologize, there is already a punishment for this." Aristotle IV's apology in this way did not make Xiong Jing happy, and he didn't care about this. "What I don't care about is this: the Kingdom of Bactria cannot force the merchants of Sogdiana to sell their horses to the Qin State. If there is a violation, the state of Chu will take revenge. ”

"Of course, our country will certainly abide by this commitment." Aristotle IV smiled hard. Chu's punishment left room for mercy, and did not disqualify Bactria from trade, but only confiscated half of the weapons and armor obtained from the horses.

"I hope you don't forget today's words." Xiong Jing nodded slowly, and then motioned for the guests to send off the guests.

In order to transport corn to the Zhao State, from the beginning of the first month, the construction of various docks has been started one after another, and some of the sea boats that have been completed relatively early have been launched. These boats are now full of corn and are waiting for the monsoon to move north.

Transporting grain by sea boat is only a part of the overall transportation plan, and on the chasm, the big wing war boat, the pawn wing war boat, and all kinds of boats are all transporting grain, but it is a pity that no matter how many boats there are, they are not as much as the sea boats. The Transport Department estimates that unless all three countries are mobilized, a maximum of 10 million stone millets will be transported to Zhao by September. But mobilization is also not cost-effective, and most of the food will be consumed on the road instead of being transported to Zhao.

With such a tight transportation capacity, the allocation of a gluttonous transport soldier would require a shortage of 30,000 stone millet, and at least a few thousand people would starve to death if the transportation of 30,000 stone millet was underutilized. Fortunately, the ballast pig iron in the bilge of the Gluttony can be replaced with armor, so that it can transport both food and armor.

This was the plan, but because Xiong Jing did not promise it in person, Aristotle IV was worried for about ten days before receiving a definite answer, that is, all the armor would be transported to the port of Zhongyi in Zhao by the end of this month.

Zhongyi is more than 200 miles south of Xiangzhou, although it is not the original demand, but it is already very convenient. The caravan could leave the city by the end of May at the latest, and reach the north of the Syr Darya River by the end of October. Aristotle IV, who received this reply, whispered, 'God forbid,' but when he wanted to be grateful, he couldn't.

If it was last year, he would definitely feel ashamed of his gratitude, and at that time he still felt that Chu was a barbarian country. After more than half a year of observation, he had to admit that in addition to the artifacts and Greece having their own strengths, Chuni was also a civilization. In Aristotle IV's dictionary, the word civilization cannot be given casually, for example, the Sagdians are not a civilization, the Sogdianas cannot be called a civilization, and Persia, India, and Egypt can be called civilizations.

Chuni is a civilization, this is the conclusion of Aristotle IV in the draft of the Journey to the East. And among these civilizations in East Asia, Chuni is an exception. Chuni preserved the oldest aristocracy, and practiced a kind of heroic monarchy in Homer's epic poems, in which the kingdoms of their own were ruled by deified kings and extremely subordinate princely nobles, who regarded their allegiance to the king as patriotism.

Alexander the Great's subordinates were such a group of heroic retinues. It's just that it was the last heroes of the Macedonian kingdom. In the time in which they lived, the ancient ways of confederation and the idea of the family had not disappeared. Free men are able to carry weapons to parties, they can oppose the nobility and make the nobility respect their power, and at the same time, the nobility can also oppose the king -

Although unlike Macedonia, where the king could not appoint his heir, the army elected a new king after the king's death (usually the eldest son, and if the king was still a child, the army had the right to appoint a regent or guardian of the king). But King Chuni's power was largely checked and balanced by the nobles, who had to act according to their opinions. And the nobility could not offend the rights of the citizens and hurt their love for the king.

Chuni is civilized and guarantees the freedom of citizens to the greatest extent; In the same world, Spartaqin was barbaric, where people lived in prisons from birth, and they could not move freely, choose their profession freely, own weapons, or participate in political affairs that concern them.

It was only then that Aristotle IV understood why Western countries could only mobilize tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, while Spartaqin could mobilize hundreds of thousands, or even millions. In Spartaqin, the officials of the state controlled everyone, from his birth to death, he did not need military pay for conscription, he did not need pensions when he died, and most importantly there was no accusation or opposition.

This last point is unimaginable. Even a great leader as Alexander the Great was repeatedly complained and opposed by his soldiers, so much so that he finally had to abandon the conquest of India. But in Qinni, none of this exists. The people there drove from prison to the battlefield like prisoners, and from the battlefield back to prison - with their booty, the heads of the enemy......

From the moment he received the reply from the palace of Chuni, Aristotle IV was perfecting the last chapter of "Journey to the East", and he involuntarily compared Macedonia with Chu in various aspects, and as a result, he had to solemnly mention Xiong Jing's words three years ago at the end of the chapter: while conquering the world, he must also conquer Greece and Macedonia.

However, even with great praise for the state of Chu and many accusations against the state of Qin, there were still two sets of Greek translations of the Book of Shang and Han Feizi in Aristotle IV's return salute. Bactria needed this mastery of domination, and they were to be used against the Sogdianas against the Seleucids or Parthians who might be attacking.