"This sir, the iron pipe you want has been built."

An old blacksmith in his forties with a smile on his face placed a hollow iron pipe on the counter in front of Chen Dexing and Meng De with his rough and dirty hands.

Chen Dexing picked up the iron pipe, walked to the window, pointed one end of the iron pipe to the sky, the other to his right eye, squinted his left eye, and only looked at it with his right eye.

The old blacksmith said, "Sir, this wrought iron pipe is really not easy to beat, and it is more difficult than making a big horizontal knife...... Do you think it meets your requirements? ”

This is a barrel! Chen Dexing never gave up his efforts to build a smoothbore gun. The current Beiming Army has guns but no guns, and it can be regarded as standing at the junction of hot and cold weapons, and has not completely collapsed into the era of hot weapons.

"Look at it."

Chen Dexing handed the iron pipe to Meng De, and Meng De took it, and like Chen Dexing, he raised the iron pipe and looked at it in the sun.

"Still won't work...... It's not round, it's a bit rough, and the thickness is inconsistent...... It seems that the inner diameter of 5 points is still too thin to manipulate. ”

The old blacksmith echoed: "Isn't it, the steel rod itself is not rounded with a thickness of 5 minutes, and if it is an inch thick, it will be much easier to manipulate." ”

An inch? That's more than 33 mm, is this a smoothbore gun or a machine gun?

Chen Dexing lost a three-tael silver ingot (silver already had a certain monetary function in the Song Dynasty) on the counter, and then said to Meng De: "This matter is handed over to you, the inner diameter is at most 6 points, the inner chamber must be polished and smooth, and the body tube must be strong enough, not too heavy...... The weight of a 3-foot-long iron pipe cannot exceed 10 catties. When he had finished speaking, he walked out of the shop with his hands behind his back. The newly appointed chief of staff outside, Che Yun, who was originally a graduate of the second phase of the military academy of the battalion, walked up quickly. Whispered: "King, today King Zhao of the Tang Kingdom is waiting in the palace again." The princess has already sent people over several times. ”

Chen Dexing scratched his head with some embarrassment, Li Yanguo, the king of Zhao of the Tang Dynasty, had been in the Ming capital for a month, and he was here to urge him to send troops to attack Kaiping in order to contain the four kings of the Mongolian host. Sending troops to fight with the four kings of the Mongolian host is indeed Chen Dexing's established policy - first level the northeast, and then enter Yanyun. In this way, a condescending oppression was formed on the Central Plains.

But for his father-in-law Li Pu, Chen Dexing is always a little embarrassed...... Of course, he hoped that Li Pu and Kublai Khan would lose both. But the current shape does not seem to have developed in this direction! There is intelligence that Kublai Khan has obtained a large number of firearms from the Southern Song Dynasty. Moreover, hundreds of large firearms have been cast, and they have also stood on the threshold of hot and cold weapons. Considering that Kublai Khan's ability to use troops is much higher than Li Pu. The Battle of the Central Plains is always worrying!

In this case, if he goes deeper into the Monan grassland to besiege Kaiping, in case Li Pu loses, he will not be able to send troops to support in time. Kublai Khan is very likely to take Li Pu to the pot! At that time, he will have to face the Yuan and Song families alone.

But with the autumn harvest over, Chen Dexing knew he had to make a decision. Either fight the four kings of the Mongolian host, or enter Yanyun first. The former, of course, is quite certain, Tachar has already suffered a heavy defeat once, and has been avoiding the war for the next year. There has been no morale for a long time, and the four kings of the host country have no channels to get advanced H medicine weapons. Even the replenishment of iron tools is a problem. This autumn, I am very sure to defeat him in one go. As long as the Golden Lotus River pasture is captured, the Mongolian host four kings will not have a warmer winter pasture. They are not the only ones who came out of Mongolia now, with only 30,000 households. but there were 800,000 people. When the population is large, the consumption will naturally be large, even in winter. After most of the cattle and sheep have been slaughtered, the size of the herd is still around a few million heads. And it was also necessary to reserve enough food for at least half a million horses. To prevent Chen Dexing from launching an offensive in the winter - Chen Dexing's Eight Banners now numbered more than 30,000 soldiers, for those who grew up in the mountains and forests of the northeast. Winter expeditions to the grasslands are not an impossible task!

So the four kings of the Mongolian host could not do without winter pastures. The winter pastures that were originally in the Liaohe River basin have been seized by Chen Dexing. Liaozhong, that is, the Jilin area of later generations, was under the front of the Shenyang Prefecture - Chen Dexing deployed the cavalry division of the Shijue soldiers and a large number of Eight Banner soldiers in Shenyang, and went to the grassland to kill people and set fire to loot things in three days! Therefore, Liaozhong is not a safe winter pasture, and the only choice for the four kings of the host is the Golden Lotus River grassland belonging to Kublai Khan.

Because Kublai Khan had already placed the capital of the Great Yuan in Jingzhaofu, his descendants had also moved from the Jinlianchuan grassland to the Hetao grassland. The Jinlian River grassland is naturally vacant. Although Kublai Khan did not give it to the four kings of the host, it was impossible to prevent the Urus of the four kings of the host from going there for the winter......

And for the four kings of the host country, with the Golden Lotus River, they can gain a foothold in the Northeast and Eastern Mongolia. If they lose the Golden Lotus River, they will only have two choices, one is to go away to the Hetao steppe to squeeze with Kublai Khan's descendants.

Moreover, there is a small 2,000-mile road from the Jinlian River to the Hetao! Even the Mongols could not have migrated 800,000 people with them without preparation. The four kings of the host can only abandon the non-core tribes and flee with their hearts. This is equivalent to losing at least three or four hundred thousand people to Chen Dexing as serfs and slaves!

And the other option is to simply go straight to Yanyun! Leave all the grasslands outside the Saiwai to Chen Dexing to rule, and the Mongols enter the Great Wall to defend the city walls! Although it sounds a bit ridiculous, it is a last resort to keep the hundreds of thousands of people under the command of the four kings of the Mongolian host!

Chen Dexing sighed, there is no way to take care of the Central Plains, and now it's time to make a decision. He said to Che Yun: "Prepare the horse, let's go back!" ”

Li Yanguo and several civil officials of the Eastern Tang Dynasty had been waiting for a while in the main hall of the Ming Palace. Li Yanguo comes over every day these days, and Chen Dexing is always busy outside. It was easy for Mrs. Yang to come over with a smile on her face just now to inform him: "The king has come back, clean up a little, and come over with the princess of the West Palace immediately." ”

Princess Xi is Li Cuixian. Chen Dexing's harem is a juxtaposition of two palaces, and in order to distinguish them, the location of the two palaces is added before the name of the princess. Li Cuixian's palace is in the west, and Zhao Lin'er's palace is in the east. Therefore, Li Cuixian is the princess of the west, and Zhao Lin'er is the princess of the east. If Chen Dexing unfortunately dies early, then the two of them will be a Western Empress Dowager and an Eastern Empress Dowager......

Hearing that the Queen Mother of the West, oh, it was Princess Xi who was going to accompany Chen Dexing over, Li Yanguo and the others didn't dare to sit and wait, so they stood up in the Dazheng Palace. This Eastern Tang Dynasty Zhao Wang and Li Cuixian were born to the same father and mother, and they look a little similar, both of them are tall, fair-skinned, and handsome. The elder brother is heroic, and the younger sister is heroic. Moreover, Li Yanguo also has his own set of strategies, and has always been relied on by Li Pu, and now he is also serving as the general of Qianniuwei in the Eastern Tang Dynasty. It has vaguely posed a threat to the status of Li Yanjian, the crown prince of the Eastern Tang Dynasty!

And whether Chen Dexing can be persuaded to send troops to Kaiping this time is directly related to whether his status in Li Pu's mind can go to the next level - this is very promising, if the Eastern Tang Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty destroy the Song Dynasty, there is the situation of the Northern Song Dynasty in the past, and the Northern Ming Dynasty expelled the Mongols, swept the grasslands, and then according to Yanyun, got the shape of the Khitan. Then the Tang and Ming countries will get along for a long time in the future, if the emperors of the two countries have Uncle Lang, it should be very beneficial to the stability of the relationship between the two sides, right?

There was a miscellaneous sound of footsteps behind the screen in the middle of the main hall, and then I saw Yang Po'er, dressed as a maid, walking out first, standing on the side of the desk in front of the screen, and a horizontal knife more than two feet long was hung on her belt. Then it was Chen Dexing and Li Cuixian who walked in, Chen Dexing wore a purple robe, with a jade belt around his waist, and a horizontal knife hung on the jade belt, which was three feet long, and it was already a standard ordnance. Moreover, the scabbards and handles of these two horizontal knives are unpretentious, without any superfluous decoration and carving, and they also give people a bit of old-fashioned feeling, which is obviously often used.

Li Yanjian, the king of Zhao in the Eastern Tang Dynasty, and several attachés all bowed respectfully. Although Li Yanjian and Chen Dexing are both "kings", one is a king and the other is a prince, and there is still a distinction between superior and inferior.

Chen Dexing smiled and bowed his hand, which was considered to be a return of the salute, "Nanshan, don't be so polite, sit down!" Everyone is sitting, the lonely king has been really busy these days, so everyone has been waiting for a long time. The big war is imminent, and the supply and equipment of the 100,000-strong army needs to be raised, which is a bit too busy. ”

He said it affectionately, and everyone could only laugh on the side. Li Cuixian also joked: "Third brother, sister, I will accompany the king to the battlefield this time, and there are so many things to arrange in the palace......"

Li Yanjian hurriedly asked: "His Royal Highness King Ming, are you going to send troops to Kaiping?" ”

Chen Dexing smiled and didn't answer, and watched the maid serve tea to everyone. Then he slowly asked: "You have been in Mingdu for some time, and your intention is also known." Nanshan, now the lonely king can give you a thorough explanation, and there is no problem in entering the army to open peace...... The news has been received that the four kings of the Mongolian host have set up camp and gone south to the Golden Lotus River. If the Lone King sent troops over, there would be no problem in defeating the Four Kings. But if you win six points in the battle, in the battle of Jin Lianchuan, the lone king has a very good chance of winning. Do you know what that means? ”

Li Yanjian's expression was solemn, and he gestured to Li Cuixian with his eyes. Li Cuixian was stunned for a moment, and then she reacted, it turned out that her brother couldn't understand Chen Dexing's words - although Li Yanjian was not bad at resourcefulness and could strategize, his knowledge in military science was far worse than that of his sister.

Li Cuixian sighed: "The Ming Dynasty will win, and the four kings of the Mongolian host will be defeated." And the battle of defeat has been fought by no one since ancient times! The Tachaer army is not bad, and the intentions are ruthless, and there must be a decision at a critical time. ”

Li Yanjian was silent for a moment, and finally said in a low voice: "Ta Cha'er abandoned the Golden Lotus River, and it is possible that he will go straight to Yanyun!" (To be continued......)