Cheng Mingjiu was persuaded, and he first said the factors that the Tartar could not last at the daily routine meeting of officers above the rank of officer, and all the officers thought it was true and were excited about it. Then he followed Lu Jiu to find the general Li Xin, who knew that there was no trace of Li Xin on the city wall or in the temporary general's line.

In the end, it was learned from the mouth of a soldier that Li Xin went to the craftsman's workshop, which caused Lu Jiu to complain again and again, "The big war is coming, why is the general still so absent-minded." In this regard, Cheng Mingjiu disagreed, "How could the general have done something perverse?" Brother Lu, you filtered. ”

Seeing that Lu Jiu was still so worried, Cheng Mingjiu simply said: "The general often has the invention of Qimen utensils, and now he is in the craftsman's workshop, maybe there will be new inventions!" ”

Lu Jiu sighed, "Right now, there are Tartars outside the city, it's not that Lu Jiu is popular, and he will destroy his own prestige, it's really, it's really ......" said that he couldn't say anything here, sighed again, walked a few steps closer, and rushed to the craftsman's workshop.

The craftsman's workshop was only a hundred and ten steps away from the general's line, so naturally there was no need to ride a horse, and the two of them walked fast, but they arrived in the blink of an eye. But when they were some distance away, they heard a series of trumpets and cheers erupting in the courtyard of the craftsman's workshop.

Cheng Lu and the others were curious, and they were just about to go in but were stopped by several generals guarding the door of the craftsman's workshop. Lu Jiu immediately bluffed, "Rabbit cub, don't you know me Lu Jiu?" ”

Lu Jiu is the general's righteous brother, and he didn't know who was in the line, and the soldier hurriedly laughed: "Ninth master, it's not that the villain has to stop him, it's really the general's strict order, no one is allowed to enter the craftsman workshop without permission, including, including, ......"

The soldiers glanced at Cheng Lu and the others, although they didn't say any more, but the meaning was extremely obvious, and the list of people who were not allowed to enter without permission obviously included the two of them. Cheng Mingjiu hurriedly made a round and said to the pro-soldier: "You go and say goodbye, we have something important!" ”

"You two later, the villain will go to Tongyu!" The pro-soldier ran in with a smoke, and ran out with a smoke, and saw that Cheng Lu and the two hurriedly called a thousand, and said, "The general invites the two masters in!" ”

Lu Jiu snorted dissatisfiedly, and went inside, but he muttered to himself again: "Brother Thirteen has more and more rules, and the shelves are getting bigger and bigger, and now even old brothers like us have to rely on those subordinates if they want to meet!" ”

The door to the workshop's workshop has apparently been renovated, with two entrances inside and outside, apparently to enhance security. Between the two gates, Cheng Mingjiu persuaded the old brother who was with the general before he started his family.

"Brother Lu, Cheng has something that should not be said, but he has to say it."

Lu Jiu paused, "If you have something to say, what are you doing?" ”

"Then Cheng Mou said bluntly, they all said that there are no rules, the general is in a high position but has always acted recklessly, this is not a good thing, the elbow and armpit troubles have arisen from this throughout the ages, and now there are faint rules, but it is not a bad thing in the long run."

Hearing this, Lu Jiu's left leg that was about to step out stopped, seemed to have an understanding, and said with a sudden smile: "Okay, you Cheng Mingjiu, what you said is so meaningful, it is condescending to be the commander of this battalion." Having said that, Cheng Mingjiu clearly felt that the smile on Lu Jiu's face was somewhat stiff.

The two laughed in unison and entered the craftsman's workshop side by side, but they were both stunned.

Lu Jiu pointed to the wide courtyard, and there was actually a little stuttering between his words.

"W-what kind of monster is this?" Cheng Mingjiu beside him was also amazed, and saw five pitch-black steel bumps placed side by side in the courtyard.

Li Xin stepped forward and summoned the two stunned people, "Let the two of you take a look today, we have just successfully trial-produced the secret weapon!" ”

"Secret weapon? When did the thirteenth brother build this monster, why didn't I hear any wind at all? ”

Li Xin said with a smile: "The secret weapon is naturally to be kept secret, except for the relevant designers, everyone in the Three Guards does not know!" ”

Suddenly, Lu Jiu stretched out his right hand and slapped his head, he suddenly realized that he had wrongly blamed Li Xin just now, it was not that the thirteenth brother had changed too many rules, but because of the need for secrecy of this secret weapon, he made a scene outside the door just now.

This knot in his heart was untied, and Lu Jiu's heart was like a sunny day in September, the autumn was high and refreshing, not to mention transparent, and the little unhappiness just now had already been thrown out of the clouds. Instead, he ignored the five huge steel monsters in front of him.

Cheng Mingjiu, on the contrary, observed it carefully, and couldn't help but be amazed, sincerely admiring the general's imagination and creative power.

It was about six paces long and about three paces wide to the left and right, and it was a behemoth at the end, with faint wheels under it that were obviously advancing, and a four-pounder cannon at the top, and the barrel was apparently specially processed, much shorter than an ordinary four-pounder gun.

Cheng Mingjiu could roughly guess that this thing must be used for combat on the battlefield, but there was one thing he was still curious about.

"How's this thing? Is there anything General Cheng is puzzled about? ”

Li Xin seemed to see the curiosity in Cheng Mingjiu's heart, and asked from the side.

"Back to the general, there is indeed some confusion under the mark, and please ask the general to solve the doubts."

Li Xin laughed and dusted off his oil-stained stub.

"Say it!"

"I see that this steel monster has wheels, so I think it can move forward and backward, but I don't know what kind of animal power to use to pull it?"

The implication for the moment is that if such a behemoth is pulled by oxen and horses, the Tartars will become a useless pile of scrap metal as long as they kill the cattle and horses.

Li Xin smiled mysteriously, and did not answer, but ordered to the soldiers around him: "Car No. 1 moves forward ten steps, and the artillery is fired!" ”

But I saw that the soldier raised the trumpet and blew it for a while, followed by a dull trumpet shout. Cheng Mingjiu was surprised to find that one of the steel monsters actually advanced slowly, although the speed of progress was extremely slow, but after all, it was advancing, and the distance of ten steps stopped in an instant.

Rumble!

Suddenly, with a loud bang, Cheng Mingjiu felt that the ground under his feet was trembling, and when he looked closely, the muzzle of the steel giant beast that had advanced ten steps was emitting white smoke, and then he looked at the rows of planks standing more than a dozen steps away that had already been hit by scattered bullets.

"This, this, this ......"

Cheng Mingjiu said this three times in a row, but he didn't say anything again, the steel giant beast in front of him shocked him too much, and he couldn't imagine that this thing had such great power anyway.

But Li Xin still didn't say how this thing was moving forward, and Lu Jiu was also deeply attracted and impressed by the power of this thing. This thing can advance and retreat at will, and can be fired, which is simply a natural weapon against the Tartar infantry charging into formation, even in the face of the Tartar cavalry.

"Thirteen brothers, tell me how this thing moved forward on its own."

Lu Jiu asked on the side, but Cheng Mingjiu looked at the steel giant beast, recalling the muffled sound of the horn just now, and suddenly opened his mouth.

"Could it be that someone is driving this thing from within?"

Li Xin nodded and said, "General Cheng has good eyesight!" Indeed it is! ”

Cheng Mingjiu came to the steel giant beast and stroked it with his hand, but he was even more surprised to find that this thing was obviously not an iron bump. Looking at the huge body, it is made of steel plates spliced and riveted, and there is a banging sound of fantasy when the fingers are tapped. In other words, this object is much lighter than expected, so it is no longer difficult to be driven by human power.

It's just that Cheng Mingjiu was still curious about how this thing was driven by manpower, so he asked Li Xin for instructions: "I want to visit the interior of this steel giant." ”

Li Xin happily agreed, and Cheng Lu and the others were very curious, but after going around the steel giant beast, they couldn't find a door that could be opened to enter.

Lu Jiu scratched his head and smiled: "This giant beast is strange, it can't find the door!" ”

Li Xin stretched out his hand and pointed at it, Cheng Mingjiu looked at the giant beast that was more than a foot tall, and suddenly understood that the door of this thing was actually on it. So he climbed up, and sure enough, there was an iron plate in the shape of a door at the top, but it was slippery and he couldn't focus on it.

Naturally, this was done for the sake of safety, and if the door of this object could be easily opened from the outside, wouldn't the person controlling it inside be exposed to the enemy's sword?

Li Xin ordered the soldiers around him, "Let the No. 1 car open the door." ”

The pro-soldiers, like just now, raised their horns and blew them for a while. Sure enough, the door of the steel giant beast opened from the top, and after the huge iron plate was lifted, Cheng Mingjiu suddenly felt a wave of heat rushing towards him.

It's late July now, and it's the scorching heat of midsummer, and the people who are holding in this iron lump can imagine the scorching heat and suffering.

Cheng Mingjiu looked inside, and saw that the space inside was very spacious, and there were four soldiers sitting in two rows at the tail, with something on their feet, although they didn't know the reason, they could vaguely guess that this must be the source of power for the steel giant.

Looking at the front of the car, there is a relatively small space, except for the stacking of gunpowder and scattered bullets, there is almost no room for feet, and the barrel of the cannon is mounted on a slide made of steel, which should be the muzzle of the gun back into the car when loading, and the muzzle of the gun is pushed out of the car when fired.

It's in such a narrow space, there are actually two people sitting, except for one person as a gunner, the other person is relatively close to the middle of the car body, the top of the head is a deliberately protruding part, the scene has a square hole to see the outside, this person's hand is to control two knife-like things, I think it is the mechanism that controls zhì forward and backward.

Cheng Mingjiu looked at it, turned over from it, and Lu Jiu immediately climbed up.

"General, this thing seems to be a bit cumbersome to operate, but I don't know if it works reliably?"

"Although the reliability needs to be improved, as long as this thing comes out, the shock to the Tartar will definitely be what you and I will be happy to see!"