It all started from the beginning. Liu Bei in Shuzhong extended his claws to Jiaozhou in the south long before he became a usurpator, and sent Zhao Yun and Chen Zhi as generals and Li Yan as the overseer.

At this time, the Han Dynasty divided Jiaozhou into Jiaozhou and Guangzhou, and appointed the former Jiaozhi Taishou Shixie as the history of Jiaozhou Thorn, and Lingling celebrity Lai Gong as the history of Guangzhou Thorn. Let's say that the Shu army entered Jiaozhou, Shi Xie led the army to resist, but suffered a crushing defeat on the south bank of Yushui, Li Yan took the opportunity to say that Shi was forced to surrender.

Shi's power does not only include the entire Jiaozhou, even the two counties of Hepu and Nanhai in Guangzhou are also under the control of Shixie's younger brothers, Shiyi and Shiwu, so with a "click", all the coasts of the South China Sea are surnamed Liu.

The Shu army pacified Jiaozhou and recaptured Guangzhou, and Lai Gong left the two counties of Cangwu and Shixing in his hand, which was to gather the troops of the two counties to resist. Who would have thought that Cangwu was too guarded by Wu Jusu and Lai Gong were at odds with Lai Gong, and he had an old relationship with Liu Bei, so he actually launched a coup d'état, expelled Lai Gong, and turned against Liu Bei.

So there was only one Shixing County newly assigned from Jingzhou to Guangzhou, and the county was guarded by Qian Ying, a Wu person, desperately defending Weipu Pass, and finally repelled the attack of the Shu army.

At this time, the Cao Wei regime finally reacted, and the two prefectures of Hong and Hunan were ordered to point their own troops and horses, with Huang Zhong as the general of Suinan Zhonglang, and led the army out of Weipu Pass and arrived in the South China Sea. Huang Zhong progressed quite smoothly at first, defeating the soldiers and horses of the South China Sea and killing the Taishou Shiwu, but then in the process of attacking the county of Panyu, he was raided by Chen Zhi, lost his troops, and retreated to Shixing.

The process of fighting had only begun to arrive in Luoyang four months earlier, and Huang Zhong pointed out that the land was too hot and humid, and most of the gunpowder was damp. Not available. And even the bowstring has become weak. The feathers of the arrows are wet and heavy, causing them to shoot far away. He said that the Shu soldiers were really hard-working, and there were soldiers who were familiar with geography as their forerunners, and it was difficult for the imperial court soldiers and horses to gain the upper hand in both quantity and quality, and it was reasonable for the equipment to fail if there was another problem.

- I'm not trying to clear up my defeat, the last general is waiting in Siheung-gun to catch and take the threshold car of Shangluo - but if the above problems cannot be solved, whoever comes will still be a "loser".

The Son of Heaven will be rewarded. Immediately summoned the ministers to discuss, Dazai Xun Gongda suggested temporarily sticking to Shixing, reorganizing the troops and horses, and waiting for Yuanzhou to completely subdue Wulingman, Hongzhou also restrained Shanyue, but can send troops to three roads, plus the East China Sea Division, with a thunderous momentum to recapture Jiao, Guangzhou. The Son of Heaven allowed to play, and then asked, "Can Huang Zhong be reused?" ”

It was Hongfu who stood up to protect Huang Zhong and said: "Huang Hansheng Jingxiang is a famous general." Strong and courageous, it is of great use. That is, the defeat in this battle is self-defeating. For the crime of disloyalty, may Your Majesty not be harsh on it, so that it will be shamed and succeed. The Son of Heaven nodded and continued to ask, "Can Qian Ying be renewed?" ”

Gu Yong, the head of the household department, said: "Qian Yingyi, this Yongxiang person can also be a Taiping Zai, and it is difficult to guard the border." "That means, this person still has some political skills, but he lacks the ability to command the army and generals, so he is not suitable to be placed on the front line of the enemy.

The Son of Heaven said that then change someone to be the county guard of Shixing. It was Hongfu who recommended Linchuan County to guard Lu Yi, saying that Lu Boyan seemed to be just a weak scholar on the surface, but in fact, there were big hills and valleys in his chest, and he used to assist the prince Pingxu and Zhang Zhichao, which showed his talent.

The main countermeasures of the imperial court were probably like this, but when Huang Zhong's suggestion reached the military department, Zhuge Kongming couldn't help but use his brains. Since Yuan, Hunan, Hong, Fujian, and other prefectures have traveled south to Jiaotong and Guangzhou, the roads are dangerous and narrow, and the household registration along the way is scarce, so it is bound to be difficult to mobilize a large army to go to the expedition, and there are also many difficulties in logistics and replenishment. On the one hand, he informed the Ministry of Industry and asked for the closure of several main roads in the southern part of the four prefectures, and on the other hand, he began to study the issue of optimizing weapons and equipment.

As Huang Zhong played, the humidity in the south is high, and gunpowder is easy to get damp during transportation, so it is not realistic to rely on firearms against the enemy Shu army, so you can only find a way to improve or only maintain the power of cold weapons. Zhuge Liang ran to discuss with his master is Hongfu: "Huang Hansheng's Yunshu army endures hard fighting, if you want to be an enemy, you can only drive the barbarians and the pawns of Yue." However, the barbarians and the more undisciplined, do not know the military formation, and are not of our race, they will have different intentions, and they can requisition one or two thousand people, and most of them will be chaotic. The officers and troops are close to each other, and it is difficult to defeat the Shu army, and only with a rain of arrows can it be broken. However, the south is hot and humid, the bow arm and string are easy to get tired, and the arrow feathers are wet and heavy, and it is difficult and far ......"

The bows of this year are mainly bamboo and wood composites, and they are glued together, and they can still be used in areas with low humidity such as the Central Plains. First of all, there is the problem of degumming, whether it is made of leather or fish maw boiled into viscose, moisture will reduce the viscosity - the bow arm is good to say, most of the exterior is coated with paint, which can be waterproof, as long as you pay attention to maintenance, there will generally be no big problem; However, the fall off of the arrow feathers is more difficult to solve.

The second important problem is that the animal tendon is used as the string, which is easy to weaken after being wet, so that the elasticity is insufficient. Although under normal circumstances, the bowstring must also be untied and stored in the string bag, which can prevent moisture to a certain extent, but the problem is that if you fight for a few hours, half a day or even longer, you can't tie the string before the battle, and it is impossible to untie the bowstring after a short break in the battle, and the impact is still not small.

Even in the Central Plains, after a long period of rainy weather (not to mention the rain), the power of the bow and arrow will be greatly reduced.

The third problem is still in the arrow feathers, which will become heavy after being damp, on the one hand, it is inconvenient to go far, and it leads to unequal front and rear counterweights, which is easier to deflect and affect the shooting accuracy.

These problems need to be solved urgently, or at least one or two, so that we can try to turn back the situation with long-range weapons on the premise of being defeated by the Shu army in a short battle.

In his previous life, Hongfu was a fan of history and a lover of ancient military affairs, and he had a unique understanding of weapons and equipment - the "invention" of horse shoes and gunpowder was his epoch-making contribution to the military technology of this era. But it's a pity that he hasn't systematically studied the cold weapons of various eras, and he lacks scientific knowledge, and he knows a lot of things but doesn't know why, so he can't directly point out Zhuge Liang, so he can only try to point out the direction of solving the problem.

"I heard that the damp place is not to stop relations and Guangzhou, and the same is true for Shu, Yuan, Hunan, Hong, and Fujian. It is especially close to the sea in the east, and the climate may be the same as that of Jiao and Guang, which is visitable. Inquiry solutions. "You go to find out if there are any archers or generals from Minzhou. Ask them if there is any solution to the problem - don't you just don't use bows and arrows when you fight in Minzhou? Unlikely.

This seems to be reasonable. In fact, it is very natural that Zhuge Liang searched for several days in succession, but finally came back empty-handed. The new Minzhou established by the imperial court, roughly equivalent to the Fujian Province of the later generations, was originally only the southern part of Huiji County, and only half a county was set up in the huge area, which shows how low the degree of development is and how scarce the household registration is. Before the Eastern Han Dynasty was built. There is only one county in Fujian, named Dongzhi, or Houguan, when Sun Ce entered Huiji, Houguan County Magistrate Shang Sheng helped Wang Lang to resist Sun, Sun Ce then appointed Han Yan and He Qi as the southern lieutenant of Huiji, and led the army to the expedition. It was not until the sixth year of Jian'an, that is, the year Sun Ce was killed, that He Qi finally negotiated peace and promotion, and then divided into three counties: Hanxing, Nanping, and Jian'an. There are less than 5,000 households and 20,000 people registered by the government.

Because of the late development, there are basically no readers. Not to mention being a general. Only Han Yan and He Qi used soldiers here, but Han Yan was defeated by Shang Sheng and died on the battlefield, while He Qi participated in the rebellion of Xu Zhong and Zhang Gang in the fifteenth year of Jian'an, which was broken by Lu Yi and committed suicide in defeat. As for the so-called bow makers from Minzhou, it seems that similar creatures have never existed in the past......

Fortunately, Kong Ming is meticulous, and Hongfu is his backer, and he is deeply favored by the Son of Heaven, which can be said to be hand and eye, and in the end, he actually found several Jiangdong veterans who had accompanied He Qinan's expedition. These veterans also participated in the rebellion of Zhang and Xu, and after the defeat, they were captured by Lu Yi, sacrificed Anyi, and were sent to work in coal mines. Zhuge Liang pardoned him and asked about the matter of Minzhou, and the conclusion was:

Although the land is humid and the power of bows and arrows is greatly reduced, except for the coastal areas, most of them are mountainous and hilly, and the roads are dangerous and narrow. Moreover, although the Fujian natives were brave, their weapons and equipment were too poor, and in a head-to-head confrontation, the Jiangdong soldiers had an absolute advantage. In such a situation, who would think about restoring the power of the bow and arrow in a dry area?

It is said that some ethnic groups use throwing stones for medium-range attacks, and some ethnic groups will use a kind of blowing arrow, throwing stones at most twenty or thirty steps, and the distance of blowing arrows is shorter, which cannot be used as a substitute for bows and arrows.

Fortunately, when Zhuge Liang came to report his research results to Hongfu, after several days of meditation and hard thinking—not actually imagining, but remembering—Hongfu had a new direction to guide again. He remembered that it was recorded in the "Mengxi Writings" that Li Ding once presented the "Divine Arm Bow" (in fact, it was a partial crossbow) to the Song Dynasty, which "took mulberry wood as the body, sandalwood as the straw, iron as the kick gun head, copper as the horse's face and teeth, and hemp rope and silk as the string......"

It is said that the string of this "hemp rope and silk", compared with the animal tendon as the string, is less affected by the dry and humidity of the air, and Zhuge Liang is taught by this method, and he is asked to test and develop. Zhuge Liang was overjoyed, and at the same time reported some of his new ideas to Hongfu: "The disciple thinks that the bow and arrow are not easy to use today, and the range is short, so the only way to make up for it is to shoot closely." Today's crossbow, a trigger, but two or three arrows, the ancient book has five arrows, if you can restore it, you can replace the bow and arrow. Liang wants to try it, what does Mr. think? ”

Ah, it's Xunxin who said that Zhuge Liang wants to build a crossbow! Zhuge repeater, there is a clear text in history, and it has been passed down through the ages, and it is expected that it will be invented. Immediately stroked his palms and praised heartily: "I really want to see Kong Ming's crossbow." ”

In fact, the repeating crossbow has existed since ancient times, and it should be subdivided into two types, one is the real sense of the "repeating crossbow", a string and several arrows are fired at the same time, and the second should be called a "repeating crossbow", which refers to a crossbow that can be continuously wound in a short period of time to repeatedly fire. Using an analogy with later firearms, a repeating crossbow is equivalent to a multi-barreled firearm that can be fired at the same time, while a repeating crossbow is a machine gun.

So the so-called "Zhuge Repeater", is it a repeating crossbow or a repeating crossbow? Because the Jin Dynasty was lost, it was debated in later generations, but the more mainstream view still refers to the continuous crossbow. Because the repeating crossbow is more complex than the repeating crossbow in terms of technology, how could the dignified Zhuge Kongming invent a simple thing? And it's too simple, even if he invents it, it's hard to have a big name for himself.

Therefore, Hongfu summoned Kong Ming over for dinner tonight and asked him, "What about what you said to me the day before yesterday?" "I'm just asking, how are you studying the repeater? Did it come to fruition? Zhuge Liang replied respectfully: "There is a little success, but it will take time." "I already have an eyebrow, but it will take more time to complete it completely, and even be able to equip the troops, so don't worry, teacher.

It was Hongfu who smiled slightly: "I have one person today, or I can benefit Kong Mingye." So he will summon Ma Jun, front and back, and prepare to tell the truth. He said that I had heard of this man, who was young but quite skillful, and he himself said that he had studied arithmetic for the sake of mechanical manufacturing-"The world has not yet been decided, and the military affairs cannot be delayed, so I think that it is better to follow Kong Ming than to use it." ”

Zhuge Liang's eyes lit up, and he said that there is such a talent, and his self-taught arithmetic is stronger than me? That's worth meeting him. I understand what you mean, teacher, I'm going to greet the officials and ask them to assign this Ma Deheng to my military department! (To be continued......)