At the beginning of October, the Bianhe River is the busiest time of the year, and every wharf is full of boats, boats coming in and leaving. In another month, the mouth will be closed, and there is no water source, so the Bianhe River can only rely on sleigh trucks to transport some rare goods in winter, and large quantities of goods can only be transported now.

However, along the Bianhe River, there are not only wharves for loading and unloading, but also water trucks that are constantly rotating with the current.

Behind the watermill is an area enclosed by a wall up to a foot high. From inside the wall, the sound of Dangdang's hammering was as dense as raindrops, and there was not only one hammering sound, but with the rotation of the waterwheel, there were more than a dozen hammering sounds at the same time, and when they reached the ears, they were all blurred.

Wang Yan breathed with his hands, looked up at the sky, and looked like it was about to rain.

Thinking about it, he shook his head again, this weather, if it is colder, it will not rain, but snow, and it will probably be the first snow of the year.

"Time flies." Wang Yan said to Han Gang beside him, "The Western Thief has no strength left, and Yan Yan's side is also ready." As it stands, most of the winners will be decided by next year. ”

"The two captives in the northwest are stronger than defensive, and the western thieves are now making no progress, and retreating will certainly not be useful."

It was in July that the Western Xia Kingdom finally reacted further to the Song people's plot to capture Hengshan. Liang Yi buried an army of 120,000, known as 500,000, with Renduo Lingding as the main commander, and went south to attack Qinfeng Road, hoping to contain the Song army's attack on Dunyan Road.

The Western Xia chose Qinfeng Road as a breakthrough point also because in the Battle of Hengshan a few years ago, the Fan Department of Liupan Mountain did not suffer much damage and could provide sufficient supplies, rather than helping the defenders to consume precious grain reserves. Moreover, the wheat harvest in May and the horse fertilizer in July, at this time, when going south, you can supplement the consumption from the Song people because of the grain to the enemy.

In this key attack, Iron Harrier attacked all the way to Gangu City and under the cage fort, and six military villages were breached along the way, and thousands of officers and soldiers were killed. But that was the end of the party's offensive. As the core hub of Qin Feng's northern defense line, the two walled cities were not only built solid and indestructible, but also gathered enough elite soldiers and strong generals. Only six stockades were broken, and the total grain storage was only more than 100,000 stones, and based on 100,000 horses, this harvest could not be supported for a month. This attack by the party members is a loss-making business.

At the same time, in the defense of Gangu Castle, the sword and plate armor shined. After the assembled Song army shot with the divine arm bow, they were dressed in iron armor and armed with Mo knives, and with just one blow, they defeated all the Bu Bazi that the party members were proud of. As long as the iron harrier that came and went like the wind was a little closer, it was possible to be shot off the horse by arrows as dense as flying locusts, and they did not dare to approach the array of the Song army, so they could only let the Song people show off their might.

This battle made the party members chill and failed to capture the city with many garrisons, which was expected. But the fact that they lost so badly in the field was difficult for them to accept. Iron armor steel knife plus heavy crossbow, this set of tricks down, in the Western Xia Kingdom, there is no one hundred and ten strokes, it will definitely not be possible. Every soldier of the Forbidden Army who could be sent out from Gangu City to fight had a freshly polished silver glow on his body.

The Great Song Dynasty has always been rich, and in the eyes of the party members, it is a fat sheep. It's just that over the years, the fat sheep's teeth have become sharper and sharper, and every time they go south, they inevitably have to suffer some losses. And this time when I went south, not only did my teeth sharpen, but even the skin on my body turned into hard armor, which was not a loss, but a fatal thing.

But the attack on the walled city of the Song people was not without reliance, and the few villages that were breached, the scarcity of troops was a problem on the one hand, but more importantly, the Western Xia had excellent siege equipment:

They actually pulled out a counterweight catapult!

In the past, the party was not good at attacking the city, and many equipment did not know how to build the road. Among them, there is the problem of craftsmen, and more importantly, they rarely see the siege equipment of the Song people, and I don't know how to imitate the road - after decades of war, few battles are sieged by the Song people.

However, in the first battle of Hezhou, there were many times that thunderbolts were on the field, and at that time, there were inevitably spies in the party, and there were also a group of Tubo people who refused to surrender to the Great Song Dynasty, and went over the mountains to Western Xia. Such a simple catapult only needs to look twice to understand the principle of its operation. It takes a few years to imitate, and it is not difficult for a country to strengthen.

But when the news came back, there was an uproar in the court, and even Zhao Ji couldn't sit still.

Not for the Western Xia, but for the Khitan.

Now that the national strength of the Western Xia is declining, the overall situation is that the Song people are attacking and the party is defending, and the Western Xia does not have many opportunities to get siege equipment, but the Khitans can use it.

Now that the Khitan princess is now the queen of Western Xia, the thunderbolt cannon is definitely no longer a secret to the Liao people. With the craftsmanship of the Han craftsmen of Nanking Road, the possibility that they imitated catapults that were more powerful, more efficient, and even close to those of the Song people in all respects is probably close to 100 percent.

In addition, there is a spaceship, the principle of which is known to everyone in the world, as long as it takes some manual work. The restaurants here in the Great Song Dynasty can use simplified products to make signs and advertises, and most of the Liao people can make manned spaceships.

So Han Gang is in some trouble.

More than one person attacked Han Gang's desire for fame and leaked the country's sharp weapons. It's just that these attacks are just a small trouble for Han Gang.

"Did the Khitan and Western Xia have bows? No crossbows? No armor? No knives and guns? They all have them, as long as they are not as good as me. Han Gang answered the question of the Son of Heaven at the Chongzheng Hall that day, "What about the spaceship and thunderbolt cannon, we can make the sword sharper, the armor more solid, and we can also make better thunderbolt cannons and spaceships, we can throw farther, and we can smash the Khitan thunderbolt cannon in the city." You can fly higher and shoot down Khitan's spaceship directly in the sky with a crossbow. The fine craftsmen of the Great Song Dynasty can't learn only by imitation. ”

Han Gang didn't take the impeachment he received to heart at all, anyway, when he was cornered, he would definitely be able to pass the test if he took out the artillery, and he didn't need to worry at all. And after his almost strong argument, Zhao Ji made a round and let him take the credit.

In the three months of July, August, and September, a total of 53,000 sets of plate armor were built in the two factories inside and outside the Ordnance Supervision City, which was the total output of the past two years, ten times that of the past.

But Han Gang quit, he can resign this credit, but he will never admit his guilt. If preaching the truth of learning from things has become a crime, how will he promote his scholarship in the future?

Han Gang's attitude was very bad, but Wang Anshi had actually done such things in the past.

Because of different views on the punishment of a homicide case, Wang Anshi, who was working as a magistrate in Kaifeng Prefecture at the time, argued with his colleagues. Then, after the court's public opinion, Wang Anshi was sentenced to lose. According to the rules, Wang Anshi should plead guilty for his mistakes. But Wang Anshi insisted on not admitting his guilt, and his temper was already revealed at that time, and the final result was 'edict not asked', so forget it.

Now in order to promote qi, Han Gang is also holding his neck and not admitting his guilt, and Zhao Ji can't do anything about him. The last one is also an edict not to ask, and by the way, he left the bullet seals of the supervising imperial historians together, and fooled the past. Weng and his son-in-law have a temper, and everyone in the world says that they are not a family and do not enter the door.

For this turmoil, Zhao Ji was also a little uncomfortable. He came forward to play a round, but Han Gang still didn't give him any face.

What can you do if you just dispose of Han Gang? Will it make the Khitans stop building thunderbolts, or will it make the Khitans believe that the spaceship can't go to the sky? Since it is an irreparable situation, what is the point of forcing Han Gang to punish him? Aren't you afraid that the people of the world will chill their hearts and dare not offer the weapons they invented again?

So Zhao Ji finally chose to support Han Gang.

These things have already been regarded as in the past, and Han Gang has indeed taken credit according to his words, and Wang Yan has no intention of talking about this matter again. Han Gang was willing to pay these prices in order to promote Qi science, and from Wang Yan's position, it was inconvenient to persuade him.

In the air in the Ordnance Supervision Plant, soot wafted from all sides, which was the result of the heavy use of coke. Wang Yan came too much, and he didn't care. Looking at the craftsmen who were piling up bricks and stones in an open space, Wang Yan smiled and said, "This is the third furnace, it won't be poured again, right?" ”

Han Gang smiled helplessly: "I don't think so." ”

There are a lot of iron-making furnaces at this time, but the iron-making blast furnace that Han Gang wants to build is a bit greedy, and two have been poured recently, which has become one of his crimes. However, the third one under construction is half as short as the first two, and is only one lap larger than a normal iron-making furnace, and most of it will be successful.

Seeing that Han Gang was a little embarrassed, Wang Yan smiled again: "But now the official eunuchs in Beijing have begun to use coke, and it is also your credit to Yukun." ”

"I don't dare ask for this credit." Han Gang shook his head, "I can't prevent it!" ”

The blast furnace was not yet successful, but the use of coke in ironmaking had some success. The pig iron smelted from ore, lime, and coke together is not much inferior to charcoal, and at the same time, coal tar, the product of coking, has also become one of the raw materials for fierce fire oil, giving Hangang a good reason to promote the coking process.

However, it is also burdened by fame, Han Gang is now becoming more and more famous in Baigong, and has surpassed his reputation in the medical field, so there are countless people waiting to steal his invention and use it to make money. As soon as the coke came out, many people began to try it. After using it, it was found that coke is more resistant to burning than coal and has less smoke. Therefore, there are now many kilns for burning coke near Bianjing, and large households have begun to use coke in their lives.

"It's just too fast, it's like a track, it's only a few days, and it's all over the place."

"That's actually fine. The wisdom of one person is not as good as the wisdom of others, and when the use of coke spreads all over the world, there will definitely be better coking methods. ”

It was difficult for Wang Yan to understand Han Gang's thoughts, and he didn't regard the diffusion of techniques as a thing at all, but hoped that someone would learn from him, "It's not a good thing to learn it from the Western Thief Beiyu after all." ”

"What if you learn? Can it compare with Da Song's output? Han Gang Ha said with a smile, "What's more, it's just something that can be learned by looking at it, and it can't be kept secret in the first place." Simple things are easy to learn, and the craftsmanship is complex, but none of them have been passed down. Plausible and non-existent! ”