After a whole winter of construction, in the spring of the sixteenth year of Jianxing, the construction of the outer city has been basically completed. If you look at it from the air, the outer city is basically square, and the east-west and north-south directions are about three miles long. The outer city wall is still made of rammed earth, the base is two zhang and five feet wide, the city is three zhang high, and the top is two zhang wide. Enough for 10,000 people to defend in the outer city.

Many dwellings were added between the outer and inner cities, and in each direction there were additional posts between the inner and outer cities, each of which was large enough to garrison about 300 soldiers. In addition, two additional military camps were built in the new urban area formed between the inner and outer cities, one on the west side and the other on the east side, for the auxiliary soldiers and Qiang warriors who had newly joined the army to temporarily live.

Li Yanzhi transferred two hundred-man teams from the front battalion and the Jianrui battalion of his headquarters to garrison the new battalions on the east and west sides of the city. On the one hand, it serves as an emergency rapid response detachment, and on the other hand, it is ready to deal with any abnormal situation in the two battalions that have not yet returned to their hearts and the newly recruited auxiliary troops.

After months of deliberate cultivation, it doesn't matter if it's an influence. Among the Qiang soldiers who are now attached, the grassroots generals are basically able to smoothly transmit information and orders in Chinese. Li Yanzhi rigidly stipulated that these newly recruited grassroots generals in the army must use Chinese to transmit information and orders, which may have played a role in fueling the fire.

In this case, how to disperse and assimilate these tribesmen in the future is also a real issue at hand. Nowadays, the workshops in the county town are working day and night, and the ordnance and weapons are successively delivered to the new auxiliaries and tribesmen. The pace of production of weapons is acceptable. Now most of these new soldiers in the battalion have used the standard weapons produced by the Lingju County Workshop. After all, the efficiency of the steel filling method is clearly there, and Li Yanzhi himself feels that it is something to be proud of.

It's just that in addition to armament, the manufacturing efficiency of iron armor is still quite low. Fortunately, Li Yanzhi had already seriously planned to build the Jianrui Battalion into a mountain force. The mountain soldiers should be dressed and armed, so as to be light. Under this tactical thinking, the armament of the Jianrui battalion is almost fixed: leather armor, spears, waist knives, bows and crossbows and arrows. In addition, each soldier of the Jianrui battalion must carry a rope that may be about ten meters long, as well as a hook that is very likely to be used for mountain climbing.

The land of Longxi is mountainous, and Li Yanzhi's purpose in forming the Jianrui Battalion is precisely to hope that in this mountainous combat environment, a mountainous unit can often take a mountain unit by surprise and achieve results far beyond that of ordinary troops. Even in hard-fought battles, this light mountain infantry could use spears to counter the nomadic cavalry.

Perhaps the weakest link in the camp is their protection. When facing the unscrupulous armored cavalry of this era, there may still be the strength to fight, but if it encounters the cavalry tactics used by the Hun cavalry, it will undoubtedly suffer greatly. There is even a high probability that the whole army will collapse because of the constant shooting. And the only way to stop this is to equip a long-range force with projectile weapons that have a longer range than the Hun cavalry.

Although crossbow projection weapons were powerful and widely equipped in this era, most of the crossbows equipped by the previous Lingju County soldiers were arm-open crossbows. Although it is more powerful than a general cavalry bow and has a slightly longer range, it is difficult to take on the heavy task of blocking cavalry.

In this case, Li Yanzhi had no choice but to set his eyes on the individual crossbows equipped by Wei Xu's department. At this time, the shape of the crossbow was biased towards the Han crossbow. The structure of the machine is relatively simple, although the crossbow power is large, but it may be okay to fight a light armored unit, if it encounters armored cavalry and heavy infantry, etc., it can only be caught blind. This crossbow has no wooden support, not to mention poor shooting stability, and it is extremely difficult to penetrate iron armor. This is true even for those supposedly "powerful" crossbows.

Li Yanzhi hesitated, but he couldn't think of any good constructive suggestions. He had no choice but to find the head of the craftsman in the workshop to discuss the matter. However, although Craftsman Li is an experienced blacksmith, he is also at a loss in the face of things like crossbows. Li Yanzhi ordered the guards to go to Wei Xu's camp to borrow a crossbow, and gave it to Li Jiangtou, so that he could disassemble and study it, and then try to produce a crossbow machine with great power that could be opened by a single person.

Li Liang took the crossbow machine back to the workshop, dismantled it and examined it repeatedly. I even forgot to eat. The mystery of the crossbow machine is actually in the frame of the launch, and Li Liang thinks that the rest of the objects are not difficult.

The machine should hook the crossbow string when it is wound, and it will not move. After the crossbow is deducted, the side of the crossbow string that is hooked should be immediately pressed down, so that the crossbow string is released, and the crossbow string pushes the crossbow bolt in front of it and flies towards the target.

The structure of the crossbow must also be exquisite, first of all, the shaft of the crossbow must be tough, so that it will not deviate when flying. Secondly, the crossbow arrow is used with an arrowhead, which is generally a solid arrow that is ground into three edges. First, it is easy to break the armor, and secondly, it will create a polygonal wound for the person who is in the middle of the arrow, which is difficult to suture, and often the person who is the victim will die after losing too much blood and under poor medical conditions.

Li Liang dismantled the whole crossbow, and took the trouble to disassemble the machine bracket little by little, carefully studied the structure and function of each part, Wangshan, copper teeth, hanging knife and some fragmentary assembly were successively placed on the table by Li Liang, he looked at them one by one, assembled and disassembled the components of these crossbow machines, disassembled and reassembled.

Li Liang has already seen that the most important thing about a crossbow is this crossbow machine. In addition to Wangshan, copper teeth, and hanging knives, there are many small parts on the crossbow machine, and these small parts are the biggest difficulty in manufacturing.

A craftsman entered the room and saw the fragments on Li Liang's desk at a glance. Curious, he stepped forward to check, and when he saw it, he exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? Isn't this a crossbow machine part? ”

Li Liang looked up and saw that the person who came was Fan Cheng, the master craftsman in the workshop, and sighed: "Yes." Changshi asked us to make crossbow machines to equip the county soldiers. I'll just have to break it down and study it in detail. ”

Fan Cheng picked up the crossbow machine on Li Liang's table, put it together one by one, and then said, "Craftsman Li, this crossbow machine ...... The structure is not difficult, but the difficulty is in this material. ”

"Oh? Do you know how to make this crossbow? Li Liang listened to what Fan Cheng said, and immediately became interested. He looked at Fan Cheng and said curiously.

"When my father was still in Guanzhong, he worked as a craftsman in the workshop, specializing in making crossbow machines. At that time, I was an apprentice, and I learned a lot about the construction of this crossbow machine. ”

"Go on." Li Liang was interested when he heard this, and looked at Fan Chengdao.

"The parts of this crossbow machine need to be smelted with copper and tin, and then cast. When it comes to manufacturing, it is nothing more than making a batch of clay or pottery models, and then casting. The difficulty is that there is a lack of copper mines in the state today, and the coinage is still insufficient, so how can there be excess copper to use to melt the crossbow machine? Fan Cheng looked worried, and placed the assembled complete crossbow machine on the table in front of Li Liang.

"If there is no copper, can't you cast parts from pig iron?" Li Liang was puzzled and asked.

Fan Cheng shook his head slowly: "Pig iron casting parts, performance and don't mention, first, easy to rust, second, need to be disassembled and maintained by soldiers, be sure to apply grease often, otherwise it is very likely that it will not be targeted." ”

"Why don't we wait and make a crossbow machine out of pig iron, and then show it to Changshi. Explain this advantages and disadvantages in detail with Changshi, and then ask him to decide for himself? The power looked at the crossbow machine on the table and said lightly.

"It's okay, since the craftsman told me so, I will go to Tao Fan first." After saying that, Fan Cheng arched his hand and walked outside the house.

When Fan Cheng came out, Li Liang was still carefully looking at the crossbow machine in front of him, without saying a word. Li Yanzhi's request to Li Liang was to make a batch of crossbows that could pose a threat to the enemy's heavily armored soldiers. To solve this problem, it is obviously not enough to rely on the trial production of iron crossbow machines. In addition to the crossbow machine, the crossbow at the front end must also be replaced with a bow with greater strength.

However, it is obviously too late to make this batch of crossbows now. In ancient times, craftsmen made bows, and they all paid attention to a "four seasons". i.e. spring, summer, autumn and winter. In the range of "four times", the "six materials" are preferred. The "six materials" are "dry, angle, tendon, glue, silk, and lacquer", which basically play an extremely important role in bow making.

"When the six materials are taken, the six materials are gathered, and the skillful ones are there." Analyze the bow trunk in winter, treat the horns in the spring, treat the tendons in the summer, close the materials in the autumn, put the bow arm in the bow box in the cold winter, and repair the appearance in the severe winter. In winter, the dry wood of the bow is naturally smooth and fine; In spring, it is naturally moist and soft; In summer, you will not be entangled; In autumn, all the materials are closed, and the white is tight; If the bow body is fixed in winter, the bow will not be deformed; In the severe winter and extreme cold, the glue and paint are completely dry and solid, so the appearance can be repaired. Attach the bowstring in the spring and store it for another year before it can be used.

This is a manufacturing law that is strictly formulated by craftsmen according to the laws of nature. Of course, the bow made in this way is the best of the best, and its cost is huge, but the number is very small. It is absolutely unsuitable for use in the army. However, even if the procedure is simplified, and some substitutes are found to make mass bows and crossbows used in the army, it will take more than a year to select materials for manufacturing.

As soon as he thought of this, Li Liang left the workshop and went to the camp with the crossbow machine to find Li Yanzhi. After all, neither the bow nor the rest of the materials are available at the moment. The time it takes to make a batch of strong bows will have to wait until next year, and no one knows whether such a long production cycle will allow the sergeants to use the right weapons.

Li Liang went around the camp, but he never saw Li Yanzhi, and listened to the soldiers on duty say that Li Yanzhi took the Jianrui battalion and a Diqiang warrior to the foot of the mountain west of the city early in the morning to practice. Li Liang was worried about the crossbow machine, and hurried to the foot of the West Mountain non-stop.

Li Liang really saw the Li soldiers on duty at the foot of the West Mountain. He looked outside for a long time, but he didn't find where Li Yanzhi was. And Li Liang's repeated peeping on the side attracted the county soldiers on duty around the foot of the mountain.

Two county soldiers dressed in leather armor and hanging bows and knives at their waists ran over and looked at Li Liang with unkind expressions, one of them had already held a lasso in his hand, Li Liang saw this, waved his hand again and again: "I am the head of the workshop, and I came to ask to see Changshi!" ”

When the two county soldiers heard this, they immediately looked at each other for a while, and then stopped and looked at Li Liang and said, "Changshi has led the army to practice, please go back quickly." ”

Li Liang hesitated for a moment and asked, "Then ...... When did Changshi return to camp? ”

The two soldiers glanced at each other, looked up and said, "I don't know ...... waiting."

Li Liang let out a disappointed sigh, and then turned back in the direction of the county seat, leaving only two soldiers standing in place and whispering. And Li Yanzhi, who led the army to practice, was not idle, he put on a pair of iron armor all over his body, and hung two ring-headed knives around his waist, carried three spears, and hung a hard bow and sixty pots of arrows, and was galloping the mountain road. He carried three spears in his left hand and a horsewhip in his right hand, staring at the new soldier running in front of him.

A soldier ran on the mountain road with difficulty, he only felt that his legs were as difficult to walk as if they were filled with lead, his speed gradually slowed down, he heard the footsteps behind him, and suddenly turned around, but saw that it was Li Yanzhi who was armed to the teeth.

"Long History...... Subordinate...... The subordinates can't run anymore......" The soldier gasped and said to Li Yanzhi intermittently. And Li Yanzhi just turned his head to look at him, and then raised his hand, and the horse whip in his hand had fallen unceremoniously. After whipping the soldier three times in a row, Li Yanzhi shouted: "Hurry up and run!" The last 10 people who reached the finish line had no food to eat at night! ”

Under the double spur and encouragement of the horsewhip and the lack of food, the soldier rose to his strength, gritted his teeth and galloped forward. Under this momentum, he even surpassed several soldiers in front of him, while catching up, while chanting in his mouth: "Three, four, five, six, seven......" and Li Yanzhi seemed to be on the same bar with this soldier, he sprinted forward hard, while raising the horsewhip, and emphasized to the soldiers who were overtaken by him: "The last ten arrivals have no food to eat at night!" If you don't finish it, send it to the logging! The treatment is comparable to that of the auxiliaries! ”

After announcing the punishment measures, Li Yanzhi chased all the way towards the soldier from Fang Cai. When the soldiers behind him heard his words, they also struggled forward and continued to gallop on the winding mountain road. I'm working hard for my dinner.

Li Yanzhi didn't care about it, he still chased the soldier at the end of the team, always keeping a distance of three or five steps from him, while grabbing, he waved the horse whip in his hand, whipped on his iron armor from time to time, and shouted: "Hurry up!" Faster! ”

The clanging sound of the nail blades on his body shaking and colliding undoubtedly irritated the soldier's nerves even more, and he struggled forward to continue running, gasping for air as he ran. And Li Yanzhi, who is an official, seems to have no mercy, and still roars while struggling: "Hurry up! ”

The soldiers scrambled over a mountain beam, but saw a cliff about three and a half feet high in front of them. The soldiers who had arrived early also stopped at the foot of the cliff, not knowing what to do. Li Yanzhi ran from the end of the team to the head of the team, staring at the cliff blocking the way.

"Look at me!" Li Yanzhi reached out and took the hook and lasso in the hand of a soldier next to him, and while tying them together, he looked around, and his tone was indifferent, without a trace of waves.