The valley in the western suburbs of Chang'an City has temporarily become a supervising craftsman's iron smelting workshop, the quiet valley is suddenly lively, the only passage to the workshop has many more patrolling soldiers, usually some woodcutters who go into the mountains to collect firewood are stopped outside the mountain, a question said that the army has something to do, idlers are not allowed to enter, and they can't help but say that they were driven back.

"This knife is just good, it is easy to swing on a horse, a good knife!" Du Ruhui clenched the handle of the knife with both hands and waved the new scimitar.

"The name of this knife is Tang Dao, it is said that it is a hundred steel knives a little too much, the steel mouth is much stronger than the knives used by ordinary soldiers, and now it is only the first general, and it can produce as many as possible, so that I can have a better chance of winning, but this knife is now in the secret stage, you can't take it out", Xiao Zheng said to Du Ruhui with a smile.

"I know this knife, but what are these palm-sized pieces of bent iron and a cowhide rope hanging from two semi-circular iron hoops? You've got a lot of that," Du Ruhui asked, pointing to the hill of iron on the ground.

led the horse over, found two craftsmen to nail the horse's shoe under Du Ruhui's nose, matched the stirrup, let him get on the horse, stuffed the Tang knife into his hand, and ran back and forth in the clearing. Rao Du Ruhui was a civil official, and he immediately understood the role of these things. After Ma Du Ruhui gave Xiao Zheng a salute excitedly, he didn't say anything, but his trembling hands never stopped.

"The stirrups and horseshoe will be given to you"

"You're not afraid of leaks?" Du Ruhui asked in surprise.

"It's okay, I'm going to use it soon, and there's no confidentiality problem," Xiao Zheng said with a smile

In the Hall of Xiande, a man in black was standing in front of Li Shimin, "Are you saying that the Turks are ready to move now?" ”

"According to the news obtained by the Hundred Cavalry Division, the Turks are now gathering men and horses, and they are also actively contacting Tiele, Tushi and other tribes.

"I know, you sent someone to continue to monitor the movements of the Turks."

"No!" The man in black arched his hand and withdrew.

Li Shimin pondered in the Hall of Virtue for a while, and said to himself: "Fortunately, your Mr. Xiao gave me a wake-up call so much time in advance, otherwise it would ........"

raised his head and said to the door: "Someone is coming, the cadres of the Ministry of Transmission and Soldiers will wait in the palace to discuss matters, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs Du Ruhui and Xiao Zheng will be urgently summoned into the palace."

When Qin Qiong, Zhang Gongjin, and the generals of Chang'an arrived at the Xiande Palace, they found that Du Ruhui and Xiao Zheng of the Ministry of Civil Affairs were also there, and a map of the northwest was hung in the middle of the hall.

Li Shimin saw that everyone had arrived, coughed lightly, but said to Xiao Zheng first: "Qing said first."

Xiao Zheng also responded politely, and after obeying the order, he said: "Everyone, according to the news, the Turks may invade our Datang border ...... in the near future."

Before he could go any further, Hou Junji suddenly asked, "How did your Ministry of Civil Affairs know that the Turks were coming?" Why doesn't our military department know that the fake military report is going to lose its head?"

Although he asked this question on behalf of the thoughts of a family in the army, these sources were really not what he should ask, and before Xiao Zheng could answer, Li Shimin glared at him and said, "Shut up!" ”。

Hou Junji opened his mouth and didn't speak again, Xiao Zheng ignored him and continued: "Before the sage ascended the throne, we were already aware of the Turkic movements, and the overseers have mobilized craftsmen from nearby states and counties to make weapons, and we have also prepared some new armor and weapons for everyone.

Zhang Gongjin said nonchalantly: "I'm afraid that he is a bird, and when he comes to pick up the knife, he Turks are not copper-barred and iron-clad and can't be killed, and Lao Tzu hasn't fought with Turks before, and they are still afraid of death when they are in a hurry."

"Of course General Zhang is not afraid, but as soon as the Turks come over to burn and kill and plunder the strong, it is my people of the Tang Dynasty who suffer, what we have to do now is how to protect our people of the Tang Dynasty to the greatest extent and suffer less, the sage has just ascended the throne and the situation is unstable, and there are internal and external troubles when you raise your eyes, and the Turks are very good at choosing the right time" Li Ji next to him said.

"General Li is insightful," Xiao Zheng said with an arch of his hand to Li Ji.

More than a dozen people discussed in the hall for a long time, and when the strategy against the enemy was decided, Li Shimin smiled and said to several generals: "In order to improve our chances of winning, this time the supervisor will give us some new ordnance" said and clapped his hands, and the four eunuchs carried two boxes into the hall.

After introducing the stirrup and Tang knife to everyone, Li Shimin handed Li Ji a knife, Li Ji walked out of the hall with the knife, and when he got to the open space, a few knives were pulled down, and Li Ji was full of praise for this kind of knife. After opening the other box, Qin Qiong said with a smile: "I know this, this is not the crossbow we used in Xuanwu Gate."

"Exactly, but what General Qin doesn't know is that this time the machine has become more sophisticated and convenient to use under the transformation of my Datang craftsmen," Xiao Zheng finished speaking, picked up the donkey casually, and pulled the bottom pole to the groove very easily.

"Five-stone bow, I can easily hang it without any effort" Xiao Zheng said and gently pulled the trigger, and the empty string vibrated and made a "buzzing" sound.

"Good stuff!" Several generals let out a sigh of admiration in the hall.

"It's good, but if we fall into the hands of the enemy, won't we suffer," Hou Jun gathered behind him, and said without yin or yang.

Looking up at Hou Junji, Xiao Zheng said with a smile: "General Hou is high-minded, but no matter how good a weapon is, it is better to be a burning stick in the hands of women and children, and a good weapon can only be strengthened in the hands of elite soldiers." If the battle is lost, there is no need to be afraid that these things fall into the hands of the enemy. You can't stop improving your weapons just because you're afraid of our enemies getting them, and if that's the case, wouldn't it be better for everyone to rush up with rocks? Whether a weapon can be effective depends on the person, not the weapon itself."

After hearing this, Zhang Gongjin laughed and said: "Yes, although Mr. Xiao is a literati, I approve of what he said."

He took an arrow from the box and handed it to Zhang Gongjin and said, "Old Zhang, look at this arrow."

Zhang Gongjin looked at the arrow and said: "This arrow is well-made, heavier than ordinary arrows, and the others are not visible."

Handing it to Qin Qiong, Qin Qiong glanced at it and asked, "It's okay if this arrow is heavier, but what's the matter with a circle of grooves at three inches of the tip of the arrow?" ”

"General Qin has good eyesight".

Xiao Zheng took the arrow and said to everyone: "Everyone, this arrow looks no different from the ordinary one, but the shaft of the arrow is two millimeters thicker, only this special arrow can be stuck in the groove of our machine, and the other arrows are either too loose or can't be put in and affect the accuracy." In order to improve the penetration of the arrow, all our arrows are made of stainless steel, and the penetration is greatly improved than in the past, and the groove that General Qin said has two uses: one is to jam the arrow, and after the arrow is wound, you will carry it head-down and it will not fall. This second benefit ......".

"Hehe" Xiao Zheng sold a pass and continued: "If this arrow can't penetrate the armor, it will break, and if it gets into the human body, if you want to pull out the ......."

After Xiao Zheng finished speaking, he broke it horizontally with his hand, and the arrow broke with a "snap".

"To put it mildly, if it weren't for Xiao's medical skills who can take arrows with knives, it depends on God whether he can live, which is why I don't worry about the machine falling into the hands of the enemy, and a horse without arrows is scrap iron."

Li Ji shook his head with a wry smile and said: "Damn, the murderous things have been made like this by your prison craftsmen, it sounds like a panic, but I, Li Jifu!" Sage, if you have such equipment, you are willing to take me to the first battle of the Tang Dynasty, and if you lose, you are willing to sacrifice your head."

"Chen Qin Qiong, please fight!" , "The ministers are also willing to ask for war" A group of military generals rushed to ask for battle, which made Li Shimin happy for a while.

"Don't be too happy, because these armors are very labor-intensive to make, with the national strength of my Datang Dynasty, we can now have up to 10,000 people, and the rest are still waiting for the future to slowly change clothes," Li Shimin said to everyone with a smile......

Out of the hall, Xiao Zheng said to Du Ruhui: "Old Du, do you want to get rich?" ”

"Yes!" Du Ruhui replied cleanly.

"Aren't people like you noble, how can you be like that?" Xiao Zheng asked curiously.

"Who says that a noble man doesn't spend money and doesn't eat? You are so capable of making money and you are not greedy and bend the law, this kind of clean money should not be in vain, besides, my old Du family also has dozens of people to support."

"It's rare that you Lao Du trusts me so much, this time not only do we want to make a fortune, but we also have to get some money for the treasury to spend."