Everyone followed the middle-aged man to the test site, only to see a dark and deep cannon squatting on the edge of the field, and a few craftsmen guarding the side, seeing Zhang Lang and others coming, they hurriedly came forward to salute.

Zhang Lang glanced at the artillery, and then looked into the distance, only to see a section of the city wall standing more than 400 steps away, the size and appearance of the sturdy Cheng dù is the same as the city wall of Luoyang and other big cities, which is obviously used as a target for testing. Zhang Lang said to the middle-aged craftsman: "Let's start." ”

The middle-aged craftsman hurriedly hugged his fists and said, "Please also ask the general and the second lady to step back a little to make sure that everything is safe." Zhang Lang, Dong Ying, and the guards turned to the high platform next to them, and they were thirty or forty meters away from the cannon.

When the middle-aged craftsman saw that Zhang Lang and the others had arrived at a safe place, he ordered the mechanics to load the artillery and prepare to shoot. The mechanics first poured half a barrel of black gunpowder from the muzzle into the barrel, and then filled a black round iron ball from the muzzle, and then a sturdy craftsman put a wooden stick wrapped in cotton cloth into the barrel of the gun, licked it vigorously a few times, and then ran to the middle-aged craftsman and said, "It's okay." The middle-aged craftsman said to him: "Ignition!" The stout craftsman answered, and walked behind the butt of the iron cannon with a torch. The others scattered and ducked.

The stout craftsman lit the fuse on the barrel with a torch, and saw the flame of the fuse quickly enter the hole of the cannon.

Bang!! There was an earth-shattering loud noise, the fire was shining, and I saw a black shadow flying out of the cannon muzzle at a very fast speed, flying straight to the city wall in the distance, with a loud bang, the cannonball hit the city wall, Zhang Lang and a few people clearly saw from a distance that the projectile had smashed the city wall into a depression, and there were countless spider web-like cracks in the center of the circle!

Dong Ying couldn't help but exclaim: "All at once, it actually caused this kind of damage to the city wall?!" ”

Zhang Lang said with a smile: "The power of artillery is really huge! Then he said to the craftsmen below, "Keep shooting and see how many cannons can knock down that wall?" ”

The middle-aged craftsman answered the promise and immediately ordered. The craftsmen continued to repeat the previous steps, and the artillery continued to fire, and seven more shots were fired in a row. Except for one cannonball that missed, the other six cannonballs all hit that part of the city wall, and what is amazing is that the whole wall collapsed! The scene is amazing!

Dong Ying's eyes widened and she said in disbelief: "It actually collapsed after such a while!" ”

Zhang Lang smiled, "Very good!" Even better than I expected! Then he led Dong Ying and the guards down from the high platform and came to the craftsmen. The middle-aged craftsman clenched his fists with a smile on his face and asked, "Is the lord satisfied with this cannon?" ”

Zhang Lang nodded, "Very good!" Even better than I expected! You've done a good job, and everybody gets a reward! Everyone was overjoyed and hugged their fists in thanks. Zhang Lang glanced at the cannon and asked, "How many have been produced so far?" The middle-aged craftsman replied: "Since it was still in the experimental stage and had not received an order for mass production, only five were cast. Zhang Lang asked again: "If you are allowed to cast with all your might, how much can you produce in a year?" The middle-aged craftsman thought for a while, "If there are enough manpower and materials, there should be no problem in producing two or three hundred statues a year!" ”

Zhang Lang thought for a while and said to the middle-aged craftsman: "I will issue relevant orders after I go back, and you must make preparations." ”

The middle-aged craftsman clenched his fists and promised.

Zhang Lang walked to the side of the cannon, patted the sound of the cannon that was a little hot, and asked, "Did you demonstrate its maximum power just now?" The middle-aged craftsman hugged his fists and said, "Back to the lord, that was not the greatest power just now. We don't dare to use the maximum power, because the power will be too great, and I am afraid that the cannon chamber will not be able to withstand enough and explode! When we were doing the real yàn before, two cannons exploded because of too much gunpowder, so we took precautions in advance, and there were no casualties. ”

Zhang Lang nodded. Appreciative: "You guys did a great job! Don't be sloppy in safety work! ”

……

Zhang Lang returned to the General's Mansion and found Huang Yueying, who was processing official documents, and ordered him to immediately draft a formal order, ordering the ordnance factory to step up the production of 300 cannons from now on.

Huang Yueying immediately wrote the order and asked Zhang Lang to use the seal. Zhang Lang smiled: "Isn't the big seal on the table?" Why do you still need me to use the seal? Huang Yueying said: "Yu Gong, the little sister is just a subordinate of the eldest brother, and she must not touch the seal, this big seal must be used by the eldest brother." This is a rule that must not be broken. Zhang Lang nodded thoughtfully, then bent down, opened the mahogany box where the big seal was stored, took out a big seal, and stamped it heavily on the order drafted by Huang Yueying. Huang Yueying looked at it, closed the order, called his subordinates, handed the order to him, and ordered: "Immediately put this order on the record, and then convey it." The subordinate said yes and ran down.

Zhang Lang sat down next to Huang Yueying, and naturally hugged Huang Yueying's slender waist. The two were newly married Yan'er, Huang Yueying was hugged by Zhang Lang, and couldn't help but be emotional, her delicate face was slightly red, her beautiful eyes trembled, although she was still looking at the official document in front of her, she was obviously absent-minded.

Suddenly, he turned his head and asked Zhang Langdao: "Big brother, if you are unified today, why do you have to cast so many cannons?" As far as I know, the cost of this cannon is very huge, a cannon costs at least 20,000 taels of silver, and the cost of this batch of cannons is definitely an astronomical amount! If this money is used for civil affairs, many problems can be solved! ”

Zhang Lang said with a smile: "Does the unification of the world mean that the war is over?" Then his eyes showed a deep expression, "The unification of the world only means that the environment we are in is better, but it does not mean that we can enjoy the peace of the horse and put Nanshan in peace!" ”

Huang Yueying pondered for a moment, and said puzzledly: "Little sister really can't see who can threaten us around?" The Hu people in the north were originally the greatest danger, but now this danger is clearly no longer there; Although the Otsuki clan in the west is developing rapidly, how can they be our enemies with their strength, and their queen has obviously seen this, so she has been showing us favor recently. Big brother, now that the internal and external troubles have been cut off, is it really necessary to spend so much money on the army? ”

Zhang Lang said categorically: "Of course it is necessary!" He turned his head and patted Huang Yueying's cheek gently, and said teasingly: "You, you have also been harmed by Confucianism!" You've probably memorized the saying, 'Though a kingdom is great, a belligerent will perish'! ”

Huang Yueying smiled and asked, "Isn't it?" ”

Zhang Lang smiled, "Warlike never makes a country perish. The author of this sentence uses many examples, but they are all one-sided examples, those that fail. However, in the history of mankind, a considerable number of wars aimed at conquest have been successful! If nothing else, let's just say that Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms and ruled the world back then. The Qin State spent more than a hundred years constantly attacking the Six Kingdoms, and the war was so tragic and the methods were cruel, I am afraid that it is unparalleled in ancient times! If you talk about belligerence, who can compare to the Qin State at that time! But why did the extremely belligerent state of Qin not perish, but the six eastern states that he attacked finally perished, and Qin achieved unification? ”

Huang Yueying showed a thoughtful look and frowned. raised his head and glanced at Zhang Lang, and said, "Big brother's statement is really unprecedented!" But it seems to be true! The warlike state of Qin did not perish, but finally destroyed the six kingdoms and ruled the world! How can this be said that the warlike will die? ”

Zhang Lang said: "Those conquerors who fail are often because of their own character defects, or because the timing of the war is not right. War is just a means to obtain national interests, it doesn't matter whether it is right or evil, it is always the winner who is the king and the loser! Now that we are talking about it, it seems that no one can threaten us, is the army useless? Some people think so, and even they think that at this time the army is not only useless, but has become a threat to the state, and it is necessary to do everything possible to restrict or even destroy! What a glass of wine to release the military power, all the things have come out......"

"A glass of wine releases the military power?" Huang Yueying asked with a puzzled expression.

Zhang Lang was stunned, realizing that he had leaked the secret of heaven again after forgetting his feelings, so he said perfunctorily: "This is a little story I heard." It's about a small country in the Spring and Autumn Period, I forgot what it was called. After quelling the rebellion in his country, the king considered the generals of his army to be a threat to him, so he deprived them of their rights at a banquet. Since then, it has planted the ills of emphasizing literature over military force for this country, and a hundred years later, it finally tasted the bitter fruit and was destroyed by other countries by force. ”

Huang Yueying showed a thoughtful look, glanced at Zhang Lang, and said with a ashamed face: "My little sister is lonely and unheard, and I haven't heard of this story. Then he frowned and said, "But I understand what the eldest brother meant." The eldest brother is saying that although those alien races are no longer a threat now, they may not be a threat again one day in the future! So there can be no moment of relaxation in military preparations! ”

Zhang Lang nodded, "This is one of them. He glanced at Huang Yueying and said with a smile: "It seems that people in our country, influenced by Confucianism, are always not used to bullying people by force!" Hey, I don't know if that's good or bad! Huang Yueying is so smart, as soon as she heard Zhang Lang's words and thought of Zhang Lang's preface, she immediately understood eight or nine points, and frowned: "What does the eldest brother mean, to expand the territory and seize other people's wealth by force?" ”

Zhang Lang nodded, his eyes radiating a wolf-like light, "That's it!" The world is a big forest, can you imagine what it would be like to be a kind tiger? That's unnatural, that's against the way of heaven! If it violates the laws of nature, nature cannot last forever! Our so-called 'sages' always take it for granted that they want to be good people who benefit all sentient beings, but they don't know that such absurd ideas that go against the laws of nature can only lead to the most tragic results. A tiger that doesn't eat wolves, when he is sick, will the jackal let him go? ”