The weapons supervisor was also sweating on his forehead, and said in a low voice: "General, it's very hot here, otherwise, let's go to the flower hall to talk about it." I will report to you the situation of the Armory......"

Du Wenhao said: "Don't worry, let's take a look at the quality of these bows and crossbows first." This morning, the Empress Dowager has issued an order to appoint this official as the envoy of the Western Expedition to the Western Xia, and lead 50,000 troops to suppress the Western Xia. This official came to the armory this time, first, he wanted to customize a blade, and secondly, he wanted to see how the blades of our armory were doing, after all, these are the front-line soldiers who eat to save their lives and kill the enemy, one point short, maybe there will be a soldier whose head falls to the ground, and he can't be sloppy. ”

"Yes, yes," the ordnance supervisor wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, "This, it's really hot, General, let's go to the flower hall, there are some gadgets in the humble position, I want to invite the adults to appreciate and appreciate it......"

Du Wenhao knew that this old boy wanted to bribe, and his words had been said very clearly, but Du Wenhao pretended not to understand, waved his hand, turned his head to Xu Huaqiang and said: "A few of you also saw how to test it just now, it seems that they are tired, you come to test it." ”

Xu Huaqiang and the other guards agreed, stepped forward, picked up the bow and crossbow and tried to shoot.

In the cold sweat of the ordnance superintendent, the test firing ended quickly, and even if you don't look at the result, you can guess from the panic and cold sweat face of the ordnance superintendent.

Du Wenhao smiled faintly, picked up an arrow from the arrow cluster, touched the arrow with his fingers, and then scratched the arrow in the palm of his hand, looked at the ordnance supervisor and said: "Lord Qi, one of the four bows test-fired is unqualified, and one of the three crossbows is not up to standard, almost thirty percent of the defective products, the arrow of this arrow can't even scratch my palm, how can I penetrate the heavy armor of the enemy?" Do you think it is appropriate to hand over such a cluster of bows and crossbows to the front-line soldiers of our army? ”

The weapons supervisor weakened his knees, knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and said, "General, this ...... of humble duties has to be a last resort." ”

"Anyway, why do you have to be a last resort, if you can't say it, you don't have to be an official and don't say it, I'm afraid that your head may not be able to be saved!"

Of course, the ordnance supervisor knew that Du Wenhao, who was the ruler, was definitely not an alarmist threat when he said this. Suddenly frightened, his soul flew away, and he trembled: "The general spares his life!" That's the ......" The ordnance supervisor swallowed hard and continued tremblingly: "Every craftsman in the institute has to ask for regular classes (labor quotas), and these numbers are all set by the emperor. On average, each person made at least one bow per day, at least one crossbow on two days, and at least one hundred and fifty arrows a day. Those who pass will not be less than 90%. However, the craftsmanship of the craftsmen is uneven, and there are too few who can meet the standards, and if they can't pay the number, they will all be punished. As a last resort, I had to relax the standards. ”

Du Wenhao thought about it, the first emperor Song Shenzong wanted to use troops on a large scale in Western Xia at that time, and naturally needed a large number of military weapons and equipment, what he said was also the truth, his tone eased, and said: "From now on, all the weapons that have not yet been released must be strictly implemented in accordance with the standards, and I will organize a re-inspection of the weapons stored in the arsenal." If you find that you are unqualified, you will be eliminated! Moreover, it is necessary to implement a strict responsibility system, number the weapons, and find whoever makes them accountable except for quality problems! ”

The ordnance warden agreed with a bitter face.

Du Wenhao said: "As for the quantity requirements, I will report to the Empress Dowager and revise them as appropriate." Now we don't have a large-scale use of troops against Western Xia, and we don't need so many weapons of poor quantity and quality for the time being. At present, weapons and equipment must first be subordinated to quality, and then quantity can be talked about. A lot of useless scrap copper and rotten iron, not as good as a small number of elite weapons. In the future, we will build an elite army, not a huge and redundant army! Therefore, the number of weapons can not be too much, but the quality must be fine and precise! It would be better if you could invent some advanced weapons for me. - What is our most advanced weapon? ”

The ordnance supervisor looked at the young superintendent with trepidation, obviously he didn't know much about the ordnance superintendent, and he didn't know how he was an official.

The young eunuch hurriedly said: "Regarding bows and arrows, our divine arm bow is unparalleled in the world, and neither the Liao army nor the Xia army have mastered it, and it is newly invented. The firing range is up to two hundred and forty steps (three hundred and seventy meters)! It can be fired by one person, and can easily pierce through elm wood. Within range, the hard armor against the heavy cavalry of Western Xia could easily penetrate it! It's a pity that I didn't have time to have a lot of equipment in the battle of Yongle City, otherwise, I wouldn't have lost to the Tartars! ”

Du Wenhao was overjoyed: "So powerful? I've heard of this divine arm bow, but I haven't seen it yet. Where? ”

The young eunuch walked to a box, opened the lid, took out a crossbow and handed it to Du Wenhao.

Du Wenhao took it, a little puzzled: "The divine arm bow should be a bow and arrow, how can it be a crossbow?" ”

"General Huiyu, it's just a divine arm bow, but it's actually a crossbow."

"Oh, it's so powerful, come on, let's test it. Take a few other crossbows and do a comparative test. ”

Du Wenhao took the Divine Arm Bow and returned to the Bow and Crossbow Courtyard to inspect the workshop. He personally went into battle, holding the bow of the divine arm, and shot an arrow at an angle of forty-five degrees, and sure enough, it fell far away at the end of the test field. Judging from the distance sign on the side, it is almost close to two hundred and fifty steps!

Du Wenhao stepped on the crossbow with his feet again, and personally got on the bow and arrow, feeling that the operation was relatively simple, but the speed was slightly slower than that of the bow and arrow. After all, it is a crossbow, and you have to use both hands and feet to reload the arrows.

After loading the arrows, he had a pair of heavy armor hung on a human-shaped stake at a distance of 100 paces, and shot five arrows in a row with the bow of the divine arm, and none of them missed the target. When I got closer, I found that all five arrows had pierced through the heavy armor and penetrated deep into the stakes behind!

Du Wenhao nodded again and again, put down the divine arm bow, and replaced the yellow birch bow and the black lacquer bow, as well as the stirrup crossbow, respectively, for test firing. The longest range is less than two hundred paces, which is obviously inferior to the Divine Arm Bow. Moreover, the two bows could not penetrate the heavy armor at a distance of 100 paces, and the crossbow could barely shoot through, but its strength had weakened and it was impossible to shoot into the planks behind. Whether it is the longest range or penetration, it is far worse than the Divine Arm Bow.

Du Wenhao happily padded the divine arm bow: "This thing is so good, who invented it?" ”

"Li Hong—it's the old man who was whipped just now."

"Is that him?" Du Wenhao was very surprised, "What kind of job does he do in the arsenal?" ”

"There is no service, but a bow is made in the workshop of the Divine Arm."

Du Wenhao couldn't cry or laugh, such a military invention expert actually only used it as an ordinary craftsman, and said angrily: "People have invented such a good weapon, they should promote him to an official and reward him heavily, if you don't promote him to be an official, don't you think it's too much?" ”

The ordnance supervisor hurriedly laughed and said: "The general doesn't know, this old man has a stubborn personality and does not obey, when he invented this divine arm bow, the emperor was very appreciative, and gave him a lot of silver and two brocades, he relied on a little credit, and began to coax in the workshop, asking for an increase in the monthly salary of the soldiers, asking for a reduction in production time, asking for this and that, and if he did not agree, he encouraged the craftsmen to strike, and tried to escape several times. That's why it's tortured like this. ”

Du Wenhao asked coldly: "What is the monthly salary of a soldier?" He knew that the ordnance supervisor couldn't answer this question, so he simply asked the young eunuch directly.

The young eunuch hurriedly replied: "The average soldier has a monthly salary of five hundred wen and a monthly grain of five stones. Every spring and winter, there are five pieces of silk and one pound of cotton. ”

This treatment belongs to the rank of sergeant of the Lower Forbidden Army, which is the lowest level among the soldiers. Du Wenhao sighed in his heart and asked, "How long do they work every day?" ”

"It starts at two o'clock in the morning, ends at two o'clock in the evening (i.e., from eight o'clock in the morning to eight o'clock in the evening), and rests for half an hour at noon to eat."

Du Wenhao said with a gloomy face: "That is, you have to work five and a half hours (eleven hours) every day, such a large workload, such a low salary, you can't go in and out casually, and if you don't do it, you will be whipped, his grandmother's is more vicious than the contractor, according to me, it is normal for people to run!" If you don't uncover the uprising, you are already worthy of it! ”

This was said by the deacon, which shows that the ruling deacon has been extremely dissatisfied with the work of the ordnance superintendent. The Ordnance Warden's face suddenly changed color. Cold sweat was pouring down on his forehead.

Du Wenhao continued: "In my opinion, Li Hong is very righteous! He asked for an increase in monthly wages and a reduction in working hours! And it's for everyone to speak! He invented such a good bow and crossbow, that is the hero of our Great Song Dynasty! Even the first emperor was full of praise and praise, and he was generously commended, but you were good, and you tied him up and whipped him with a leather whip, this is how you treated the heroes? Well? ”

The ordnance supervisor arched to the ground: "Guilty of despicable duty." ”

"Guilty? I don't think so! Do you know what your sin is? ”

"Humble ......, humble duty should not punish Li Hong......"

"Humph! Where did he work before? ”

"In the Divine Arm Bow Workshop."

"That's your sin!" Du Wenhao pointed to the weapons supervisor and said: "Knowing people and being good at their duties is the first priority of the person in charge of an organ, and it is necessary to use talents in the place where they can give full play to their talents!" Li Hong's invention of such an advanced and sophisticated divine arm bow shows that he is quite experienced in the development of weapons, so he should be placed in the research institute and let him develop more and better weapons. It's better for you to treat him like an ordinary craftsman, and let his ingenuity be wasted by ordinary work, this is your dereliction of duty! ”

"Yes, yes!" The ordnance supervisor bowed down, his face pale.

Du Wenhao said coldly: "We don't have a department dedicated to the development of new weapons? ”

"This ......" The ordnance supervisor didn't know if he was frightened, too nervous to remember, or if he was used to it, and turned his head to look at the young eunuch again.

Du Wenhao said angrily: "How did you do it? How many departments are there in the Ordnance Supervision, and you don't know if there are any institutions that develop weapons and equipment? ”

"Humble ...... Humble ......" The ordnance supervisor trembled with his feet, and just wanted to kneel down and kowtow.

The young eunuch hurriedly replied: "Returning to the general, there is no workshop for the development of weapons and equipment. ”

"Hmm!" Du Wenhao frowned and pondered, and after a moment, he said to the young eunuch: "Wait a while, you will send someone to my Wuwei Hall, take a package of my Wuwei Hall's Jinchuang Medicine and send it to Li Hong, and give him another fifty taels of silver, which can be regarded as the loss compensated for by the weapon." Say more good things and apologize! Tell him to let him recuperate from his injuries in peace, and when he recovers, General Ben will have another use! ”

The young eunuch hurriedly bowed down and agreed.

Du Wenhao then went down to inspect, and he came to the bow and crossbow weapons depot, where boxes of bows and crossbows were placed, waiting to be transported to the front line and various places. Dozens of craftsmen are packing clusters of bows and crossbows.

Du Wenhao swept through all the weapons in the finished warehouse, felt a little puzzled, and asked the ordnance supervisor: "Don't you have muskets?" ”