Feng Changqing looked at Ma Lan, who smiled and nodded. This range was tested by him and Li Xiu outside the Grange, and it can be said to be extremely accurate.

The range of ten arrows is slightly worse, fifty paces less than riding a crossbow, but it is also more than a hundred steps farther than the ordinary horned bow used by the barbarians, and the range of one arrow at a time is second only to the eight-bull crossbow. When you are close to the enemy, you can shoot all arrows at a distance, and when you are close, you can choose to shoot them all, and you can inflict great damage on the enemy before they reach the range of the enemy's bow and arrow.

The power is strong, and naturally there is a weakness, that is, it takes more time to re-wind, but when Li Xiu completes the design of the crossbow box, the time for the Yuanrong crossbow to be re-prepared for firing is extremely short, and the deterrent effect on the enemy is greater.

Such a sharp weapon is that even the Tang Army's own Mingguang armor can't resist, let alone the barbarians around the Tang Dynasty.

"Good! Very good! Feng Changqing's eyes lit up with excitement, and he laughed, "If there are thousands of athletes who are equipped with this crossbow, who would dare to compete!" Eunuch, such a treasure should be very expensive! ”

Li Xiu nodded and said: "The cost is beyond my estimate, the cost is about three hundred yuan in the workshop, and it is five hundred yuan for selling it to the Anxi army." This profit margin is low enough. ”

Feng Changqing gritted his teeth and nodded: "This price, the old man approves!" Ordnance manufacturing is the most difficult, even if it is three or five times the profit. The price at which the Ma family workshop was sold to Anxi Jun was already a conscience price. ”

Li Xiu said: "It's not that his subordinates are greedy, and it won't work if he doesn't leave a little profit." The craftsmen have worked hard to cast these components, and they all point to the future to divide them. ”

Feng Changqing nodded heavily, walked to Li Xiu's side and took the Yuan Rong crossbow, and looked at it carefully. The body of the crossbow has a large number of components, most of which are made of mild steel, and are coated with butter to avoid rust. There are also quite a few wooden components, all of which are the finest hardwoods. The complexity and exquisiteness of the design dazzled Feng Changqing.

took ten steel arrows from the table and pressed them into the slot, Feng Changqing checked them, and felt that the weight was only a few catties, which was extremely light. With such a weight, even the weakest soldier of the Changxingfang in the Anxi army could easily carry it. The more Feng Changqing looked at it, the more happy he became, and he couldn't help but praise: "The main prison is really talented!" With this artifact, why worry about injustice? Ha ha! ”

Li Xiu pointed to the hard crossbow in Feng Changqing's hand and smiled: "Among the components in this, thirteen of them are completely useless, can the general and the doctor see it?" ”

Feng Changqing listened, took the Yuanrong crossbow and looked at it over and over, but he couldn't understand it at all, and handed the Yuanrong crossbow to Ma Lan again.

Ma Lan also heard Li Xiu talk about this for the first time, and after taking it over and looking at it for a while, he also shook his head.

Li Xiu's eyes flashed with a hint of pride, and he smiled: "The general and the doctor can't see it, and there is no need to say anything else." The existence of these components is to disguise the manufacturing method of the Yuanrong crossbow. This kind of artifact only belongs to my Datang, and the barbarians must not be allowed to turn against my Datang. With these useless components, even if the enemy gets the Yuan Rong crossbow, it is impossible to copy it as it is. It's a slight increase in weight, but it's necessary. ”

Ma Lan nodded: "The main prison is far-sighted, it should indeed be so." ”

Feng Changqing's face also showed admiration, and he nodded: "The main prison is very worried. Although it is known as the Yuanrong crossbow, it is much more powerful than Zhuge Wuhou's Yuanrong crossbow, and it is really a divine weapon. Now although the soft steel pottery fan is unique to my Anxi army, it is not guaranteed that those barbarians will also learn it one day. The process of making this must be kept secret. In the opinion of the old man, the fewer people who understand the skills of making Yuanrong crossbows, the better. ”

Li Xiu smiled: "I think so too." The components were made by Uncle Fang, and the craftsmen who came with me also made a lot of efforts. But I'm the only one who can assemble it. It's the general and the doctor, and if they want to assemble it into a Yuan Rong crossbow, I'm afraid they can't do it. ”

Saying that, Li Xiu took the Yuanrong crossbow and quickly disassembled it into a pile of components and put it on the table. Ma Lan and Feng Changqing saw it, but they didn't know where to start.

Li Xiu didn't assemble the Yuanrong crossbow in person, Ma Lu and Feng Changqing understood why this was in their hearts, but they didn't say anything.

Li Xiu came to Anxi to avoid trouble, and this Yuanrong crossbow was the capital of his life. After all, they don't have a deep relationship, and he can't fully trust the two of them.

Taking out a drawing from his arms and putting it on the table, Li Xiu said with a smile: "This is a kind of crossbow arrow that I recently designed, and it is also necessary to use a large amount of soft steel, this thing is as powerful as the Eight Bull Crossbow, but it is much lighter, and it is easier to carry." Once I've made the crossbow box that the General wants, that's my next goal. ”

The drawing is simple, it is a rectangular chest, and the end of the box sticks out of the huge crossbow arrows, which looks extremely terrifying. As for the specific structure, it should be in the box.

"If you can complete this thing, the merit will be no less than the Yuan Rong crossbow!" Ma Lan nodded and said with a smile, "The main prison is working so hard here, I also want to see the day when such an artifact is equipped with the Anxi Army as soon as possible!" Don't worry about other things, just relax, the big thing, the doctor and I will take care of it. ”

"Thank you to the general, Li Xiu will definitely do his best and live up to the general's trust." Li Xiu said solemnly.

……

Leaving the Grange and arriving on the bank of the Sihun River, the excitement on Feng Changqing's face could not subside. Obviously, what he saw in the camp today gave him a great shock.

"Doctor, you said that such a person, can I let Bian Lingcheng arrest him?" Ma Ling urged the war horse to walk slowly and said with a smile.

Feng Changqing took a deep breath and nodded vigorously: "Renjie, you surprised me again this time. Li Linfu's eldest son, I thought he was a useless gentleman, but I didn't expect it to be such a person! Such a person must stay in Anxi, and he must not let Bian Lingcheng take him away! ”

Ma Lan smiled: "Exactly. I didn't intend to offend the Yang family, but I can't do that much right now. When the Yang family is in power, he will not let go of Li Linfu's family. If a talent like Li Xiu is harmed by Yang Guozhong, it will be the sky without eyes! Yang Guozhong hurriedly wanted Li Xiu to return to Chang'an, and his thoughts were clear, as long as Li Xiu returned to Chang'an, I am afraid that it would be the time for Yang Guozhong to make trouble. ”

What Renjie said is very true. It's just that it is the will of the Son of Heaven to let Li Xiu return to Beijing for funeral, although he is not with Bian Lingcheng, it will not be possible to prevent him from going back. ”

"Where won't he go back? Who dares to disobey the will of the Son of Heaven, but the sky is wide and the road is difficult, if Li Xiu has an accident on the road, it should be an extremely normal thing. And Yang Gong of the DPRK knows about such an accident, I am afraid that he will also be extremely happy! ”

Feng Changqing smiled bitterly: "Renjie, this is bullying the king." ”

Ma Lan smiled: "It's just an expedient measure, I think the Son of Heaven can finally understand my hard work." ”

Although Feng Changqing felt that something was wrong, he didn't say anything. After all, he also understands that talents like Li Xiu must be saved, not to mention that the matter of bullying the king is serious, who has not done it, and falsely reporting the casualties of the Battle of Talas before, isn't it also the crime of bullying the king.

……

In the original history, soon after Li Linfu's death, he was framed by Yang Guozhong and fell into a crime of bullying the king, but after all, the Son of Heaven is a benevolent and generous son of heaven, or he still misses some old feelings, although Li Linfu was deprived of his posthumous name, he did not kill all of Li Linfu's descendants, like Li Xiu's brothers and sisters were just exiled from the office.

However, history is history, and now after all, there is such an uncertain factor of his own, Ma Lan does not dare to guarantee that after Li Xiu returns to Chang'an, he will be the same as in the original history, and he will only be exiled to Yuanjun, so he naturally does not dare to risk letting Li Xiu return to Chang'an.

What's more, he had promised Li Xiu, not to mention that Li Xiu's crossbow box and box crossbow were extremely attractive to him. So no matter what, he couldn't let Li Xiu leave Anxi, even if he offended Yang Guozhong, he didn't care.

With Feng Changqing's support, this matter was settled. Three days later, Bian Lingcheng wanted to leave Anxi, and once again asked Ma Ling to hand over Li Xiu to him and take him away.

Since you offend the first time, you are not afraid of offending the second time, anyway, you have already torn your face, what else is there to say. Not only did Ma Lan refuse to hand over Li Xiu, but he didn't even prepare the usual gifts for the lieutenant officials. Bian Lingcheng was angry, but he couldn't get a seizure, and thought that Yang Guozhong was still waiting for him to return to his life in Beijing, so he had to leave Anxi City angrily.

Seeing that the fly was finally gone, Ma Lan breathed a sigh of relief. knew that Bian Lingcheng would definitely not stop after returning to Beijing, but he couldn't care so much.

Ma Ling even considered killing Bian Lingcheng on the road, but after thinking about it, it was not interesting, and the death of the lieutenant in Anxi was also troublesome, so he did not put it into practice.

The manufacture of the Yuanrong crossbow began immediately, and because the components were too complex, only three or five could be successfully assembled every day. Later, the craftsmen gradually became familiar with the process, and the scrap rate was greatly reduced, so that the daily output was stable at five.

It is impossible to do more for the time being, Li Xiu's requirements for craftsmanship are extremely fine, and only Uncle Fang can make a suitable pottery fan. After all, Uncle Fang is old and doesn't have so much energy, which has already made the old man tired enough. The old man is the treasure of the Ma family's workshop, and he can't do a lot of things without him. In fact, since the focus shifted to the production of Yuanrong crossbows, many goods in the workshop that require fine molds have had to stop.

Because of the production of the Yuan Rong crossbow, the profit margin of the Ma family's workshop was greatly reduced, even if it was supplied to the Anxi army for 500 yuan, the profit was not even enough for the craftsmen and the hard-working people, and it was completely a loss-making transaction.

Gao Qianqian was depressed, but she understood how important this matter was, so she had no choice but to focus on Qiuzi City and put it in the various shops of the Ma Family Commercial Bank, wanting to use the profits here to make up for the losses of the workshop.

As in the original history, Anxi was extremely calm this winter, and there were no rebellions among the tribes at the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains. The battle above the court was turbulent, but it could not affect Anxi, who was thousands of miles away.

The delivery of supplies to Pishan Town has not stopped. Feng Changqing personally presided over this matter, and he was very busy all day. The money and silk in the treasury of Anxi Mansion have been spent, and the money and silk in charge of Duan Xiushi are also spent like flowing water, and more and more materials are piled up in the military camp in Pishan Town.

By the time the Anxi army had six hundred Yuanrong crossbows, it was already May of the twelfth year of Tianbao. A messenger came from Geshuhan's side, and the operation of the Longyou Army to collect the land of Jiuqu was about to begin. And when the Anxi army sent Qiangtang, it finally came. (To be continued.) )