Guo Kui had no intention of going back when it was almost dusk.

The afternoon was spent on the side of the Ordnance Fire Supervision Bureau, watching the two guns take turns to test fire, and even rose up and went up to personally light the fire test firing.

Ordinary iron shells, iron sand, lead, and shotguns that Han Gang specially ordered people to make outer packaging out of paper shells - that is, paper tubes filled with lead, and they all tried them all.

Guo Kui was particularly impressed by the gunpowder and shotgun.

Before the battle, experienced soldiers knew that swords and armor should be oiled in time, bows and crossbows should be maintained, and arrows would be repaired with knives if they were free. The more prepared you are, the more safe you will be in wartime.

On the contrary, those inexperienced soldiers, after going into battle, will be in a hurry, holding bows and arrows, and the soldiers who can't get on the bowstring with trembling hands, every time they go into battle, they can always grab a handful. If gunpowder and lead are not fixed, the loaders shake their hands, and they don't know how much they will spill outside, and I don't know how many will fall inside. When the time comes, it will not be possible to figure out the amount of charge or the amount of ammunition, and the soldiers, who are originally novices, will only become more panicked.

This will not be the case with shotguns and gunpowder. Even if you take it off for a while, pick it up if it's not broken, and replace it with a new one if it's broken, you don't have to worry too much about it at all.

Guo Kui has fought for so many years, but he still doesn't know where the lower limit of the soldiers is. Rather than hoping that they will perform exceptionally, it is better to treat them all as idiots. This is a bit of a good performance, and it can be regarded as a surprise.

At Guo Kui's request, the shotgun was fired several times in succession, and the target in front of the muzzle, not to mention the live sheep, the cow was brought over, and the cannon was beaten into a sieve, and half of the skin could not be used.

Watching the bull that knocked thousands of catties to the ground with a cannon and vomited blood foam, Guo Kui was extremely excited, with the defensive power of cowhide, it was completely comparable to ordinary horse armor.

'It's a pity. Han Gang looked at the bull on the ground and felt sorry for the hundreds of catties of beef. If it was an iron bullet, it could still be recycled, but now it can't. It's nothing if the skin is broken.

In recent years, due to the popularization of iron armor, the use rate of cowhide armor has been declining, but it is not as important as pigskin sheepskin in the army. Most of the extra cowhide is used to make boots. When artillery is popularized in the future, the horns and tendons used to make bows and crossbows will definitely be used less.

It's just that it's still rare to be so wasteful like today. In the small courtyard, flesh and blood are flying, and the blood is flowing into a stream, and if people who don't know come over, they will think that when the ordnance supervisor will change to a slaughterhouse.

Han Gang was not surprised that Guo Kui liked shotguns, the Great Song Dynasty never lacked long-range shooting weapons, but lacked a close-range one-hit fatality, that is, a horse chopping knife, and it also required a brave warrior to face the enemy army and kill it. And when the Liao army swept across in front of the formation, in order not to destroy the formation, he could not leave the queue at will with a horse chopping knife, and the shooting of the divine arm bow or armor-piercing crossbow alone was not enough to bring greater damage when the Liao army was equipped with iron armor and horse armor. In contrast, a well-timed shotgun was enough to disrupt the Liao army's onslaught, and then it was up to the infantry.

The roar of the guns almost never stopped, and the officials, craftsmen, and soldiers in the prison couldn't help but stop what they were doing to inquire what was going on.

Another basin of well water was poured on it, and the hot barrel suddenly steam out.

Zang Zhang turned around and shook his head at Han Gang and the others, this cannon can't be fired for the time being, and it has to be replaced with another one.

Guo Kui still nodded.

Even so, in terms of durability, it is still much better than the eight-bull crossbow. Crossbows made of horn tendons, especially the bed crossbows with strong strength, have a service life of dozens of times, and if they are used too much continuously, they are easy to be damaged. And the artillery, only to see the constant splashing of water to cool, and then smoothly fired one after another. In one afternoon, Han Gang's reserve of more than 50 pieces of gunpowder was exhausted.

Guo Kui is still unsatisfied, he has seen too many weapons, it is rare for him to have such a mood. When I saw the artillery, I couldn't help but think of the Jin Ge Iron Horse at the foot of Yan Mountain in the future, and thousands of Khitan cavalry were torn to pieces by a puff of lead clouds.

Originally, he thought that the peace treaty reached recently was almost over, and if he wanted to destroy the Liao State, it would have to be at least ten years later, and at that time, he would not be able to go into battle. But now that I saw the artillery, my mood, which had been silent, began to stir again.

At the speed of the imperial court to build iron armor, the 300,000 forbidden troops in the north were equipped with artillery, which was the simplest and lightest infantry cannon, as long as one or two years, plus bronze field guns, one or two thousand, three years would be about the same.

If the imperial court wants to attack Liao, with his ability and qualifications Guo Kui, he can at least be the commander of the road.

But his two sons came over and interrupted Guo Kui's reverie. also brought Liu Weijian over. said that Queen Taishang had a summons and recruited Guo Kui into the palace to meet her.

As soon as Guo Kui moved in, the house collapsed. Of course, this is not a trivial matter, it is the new mansion of Guo Kui, who is still the new envoy of the Xiongwu Army and is still the Privy Council, so it collapsed all of a sudden, so what is it? Someone reported it early.

Han Gang and Zhang Dian were originally going to report an accident about this matter, but the big thing was turned into a small thing, and the small thing was turned into a small thing. It didn't hit the imperial city, and it didn't mean to shell Guo Kui's house. Now that I have made peace with Guo Kui again, the bitter master is not making trouble, so what lawsuit is there to fight?

Of course, if Guo Kui feels unwilling, Han Gang and Zhang Dian can cooperate with him and ask Kaifeng Mansion for justice. How did you repair the house, when a dozen pounds of things fell, the house collapsed. I've never seen anything so unscrupulous.

Han Gang is not joking, if Guo Kui really needs this aspect, he is willing to do Guo Kui a favor. At the beginning, he built the Fangcheng track, and after returning to Beijing due to the pox method, he was given a mansion. Kaifeng Mansion doesn't say that it will help repair it, and even the materials and labor have to pay for it themselves, what is this like? It's been a long time since it was rectified.

Who thought about it or stabbed it.

Today's incident is certainly a disaster for Guo Kui. But for Han Gang and Zhang Tun, it was also bad luck.

Zhang Dian sighed, Han Gang shook his head, since the palace sent someone to summon him, it must not be regarded as no such thing. Now he must go to the temple to ask for his guilt, and he can't escape.

Empress Taishang summoned Guo Kui, she definitely didn't know the truth about the collapse of the main hall of Guo's mansion, but she was just going to appease this famous handsome man who had worked hard, so as not to say that the court was mistreating the heroes. The two culprits of them can't make Queen Taishang's innocent Dao apologize.

Although Guo Kui was still a little reluctant to artillery, he could not disobey the king's order, so he could only get up and go to the palace first.

Zhang Dian and Han Gang also followed, following him and going to the imperial city together.

Empress Xiang was very surprised that Han Gang, Zhang Dian and Guo Kui came in together, but Liu Weijian, who went out to pass the edict, had already learned some inside information first, and went up to report to Empress Xiang.

"The Firearms Bureau is the same, why is it so careless. I wonder if anyone was injured in the captain's house? ”

"Thanks to the queen, the family is safe and sound. It's just a small damage to the house. ”

"It's good if you don't have it, and it's best if it doesn't hurt anyone." Nodding to the queen, he added, "I have just ordered the Kaifeng Mansion to help the Taiwei renovate the hall." ”

Kaifeng Mansion!

Guo Kui hesitated for a moment before stepping forward. Han Gang and Zhang Dian looked at each other, Guo Kuizhen was really unlucky.

Of course, Empress Xiang didn't know how unreliable the gang in charge of managing the official residence in Kaifeng Mansion was, and when she saw Guo Kui's thanks, she didn't think much about it. asked Guo Kuidao, "I heard that the captain came from the ordnance superintendent, but did he see artillery?" ”

"See. It is indeed a militaristic weapon! After 500 steps, it can also crush the girder of the main hall of the Chen's house, and the thunderbolt cannon and the eight-bull crossbow can't compare! Guo Kui made no secret of his appreciation, "Fang Caichen also saw the test firing in the weapons prison, the iron armor was pierced like paper, and the thousand catties of bulls were also killed with one shot, which is indeed an unprecedented militaristic weapon!" ”

"Really?!" Xiang Empress said to Han Gang in surprise: "It's only been a few days, and Xuanhui has made meritorious contributions again." ”

Han Gang said: "It's because the firearms bureau uses his life, and the ministers don't dare to take credit." ”

"Soon after the establishment of the Firearms Bureau, artillery was built, and it should be rewarded! Xuanhui will be named tomorrow by meritorious people, and I will not hesitate to reward them. ”

Han Gang saluted to the empress: "Thank you for your kindness from the top to the bottom of the Firearms Bureau. ”

"Now only the barrel experiment of the main body of the gun has been successful, and the gun carriage with the barrel installed, as well as the gunpowder that is fired with it, are still harvested. The official equipment of the army is genuine, in fact, it is far from complete. The power it is showing now is far from the level expected. When everything is successfully completed, it is not too late for His Highness to reward his ministers. ”

"How long will that take?"

"At least two or three months."

The queen was a little disappointed, "That's right." ”

Seeing this, Han Gang added, "When the artillery is officially finalized, it can be manufactured as quickly as plate armor." As long as the materials can keep up, there will be no delays. ”

"Then I'll wait for the good news of Xuanhui."

The first test firing of the new weapon smashed Guo Kui's new house, and Han Gang and Zhang Dian Qi went to the palace to ask for guilt, which can be said to be a big joke that shocked the government and the opposition.

But it was really funny to bombard Guo Kui's house with one shot, but this power made the soldiers and civilians in Tokyo once again understand the characteristics of Han Gang's words.

This is still an unfinished product that has just been made. After many improvements, the power of the artillery will become greater, and it will definitely be much greater-Han Gang's explanation in front of the emperor has also spread to the outside.

There is another sharp weapon that can suppress the enemy country, and this is great news for the military and people in Tokyo.

The two newspapers quickly announced the news in the newspapers, and boasted about the power of the artillery. For a while, the people's hearts were stirred, and Guo Kui's family was also full of guests again, and they all wanted to see the exploits of artillery, and almost stepped on the threshold of the Guo family.

The envoy of the Liao State is about to arrive in Beijing, nominally to congratulate the new Son of Heaven on his ascension to the throne and recount the friendship between the two countries, but in fact, even the people outside know that this is a demonstration with the momentum of the destruction of Goryeo in the thirtieth century.

Goryeo was a vassal state that called itself a vassal to the Great Song Dynasty, especially in previous years, because Goryeo was dug up from the Liao State as a merit of all states to come to the court, and the imperial court was a good publicity.

In the capital, few people would know about the small southern states of Ludao Zhenla and Srivijaya, although they sent envoys every once in a while to cry to the court that the barbarians of Jiaozhou had taken their children captive in their country. But there is no one who has never heard of the existence of the Kingdom of Korea.

Now that the imperial court has sent someone to rescue Goryeo, the news of the embezzlement of the Liao State has come, which one is happy? The Zaifu at the wine table were clamoring to punish the tyrannical Liao. He shouted again to give the Liao envoy a little color.

But everyone knows that these words are just the nonsense of drunkards, and the real situation still makes people panic.

Fortunately, with artillery, see how the envoys of the Liao State can still show off their might!