"This is the cannon?" Seeing this big guy made of copper full of pipelines and instruments, Liu Ziguang was even more suspicious, this is a tea stove.

"Exactly." Zhong Shouyong waved his hand, and several artillerymen ran over, "Show a hand to the general and hit far." ”

Under Liu Ziguang's astonished eyes, several artillerymen took out a barrel of oil from the carriage and poured it into the combustion chamber under the small boiler, lit a match and burned it, two soldiers pulled the bellows on both sides, one soldier picked up an iron ball, walked to the end of the gun barrel, stuffed the iron ball into the gun barrel, and then turned the shaker handle, raised the gun mouth, and the iron ball fell down the gun barrel to the back, and the small boiler and the gun barrel were connected.

"What are you doing? Burnt tea? Liu Ziguang was a little confused, could it be a steam cannon again, how long would it take to boil the water.

"It's not boiling tea, the stove is empty, there is no water at all." Zhong Shouyong explained.

"What's the use of you dry boiling without adding water?"

"General Shao'an, don't be impatient, the water is coming."

A soldier brought a bucket of water and poured it into a funnel above the boiler with a water scoop. Then he continued to burn the fire, and from time to time shoveled carbon into the stove and poured oil. Look at the thermometer and pressure gauge on the stove every once in a while.

"The stove is burned with good coke and fierce fire oil, plus bellows blasting, and it burns to four or five hundred degrees fast." Zhong Shouyong explained to Liu Ziguang.

"Oh, it's very soon, and when you're done, the enemies on the other side will have slept and finished breakfast." Liu Ziguang was very disappointed, it turned out that it was really a thermal cannon, such an efficiency was okay to use as a city defense weapon, but the field battle would be too delayed.

As the minutes ticked by, a few soldiers finally stopped the fire and ran to the side to hide, one of them holding a rope that connected to the water tank above the boiler, pulled suddenly.

The cannon roared, and the iron ball roared out with a puff of steam at a speed invisible to the naked eye, reaching into the sky, and I don't know where it flew, and several soldiers ran up again, reloading the cannonballs, pouring water, burning the fire, and pulling the bellows. After a while, the second shell shot out again in Liu Ziguang's astonished eyes.

"Oh my God, this little boiler is so powerful." Liu Ziguang finally recovered from the shock, grabbed the horse's belly, came to the cannon, and asked the soldiers, "Do you know the principle of this cannon?" ”

"Your Excellency, please take a look." A soldier picked up a water scoop and scooped up some clean water and sprinkled it on the hot copper furnace wall, and suddenly the water turned into white smoke, "Let's heat this boiler first, when it's too hot to work, let's hide aside and pull the cannon rope, open a valve that only goes in and can't go out, and pour cold water into the furnace, this furnace is burned red, and the cold water naturally turns into steam immediately, the volume of steam is much more than the volume of water, what should I do if there is no place to go with so much steam, only through this place" He said and pointed to the barrel, "Quickly release it, The great force pushed the shells out as well. After this shot, the temperature of the furnace did not drop much, and it could be burned for a while to fire a second shell. ”

The head of this artillery is the way, Liu Ziguang also understood a little, it turned out to be the use of water to suddenly turn into steam, a little interesting, as a mobile siege weapon is still desirable, but the preparation time is still too long.

"Very good, do you know a lot, what's your name?" This artillery is very promising, and it is not easy for a big-headed soldier to understand so much.

"General Hui, the little one's name is Zhao Zhangcheng, a native of Henan, who turned out to be a crossbow bed soldier in the Zheng army, and now he is the squad leader of the car company." The little soldier who was praised knelt on one knee and spoke a pure Henan accent.

"It's your company commander's fellow countryman, come here, reward him with a tael of silver, and promote a platoon commander to do it." Liu Ziguang patted Zhao Zhangcheng's shoulder affectionately with a horsewhip.

"General Xie!" Zhao Zhangcheng was ecstatic, and he was promoted to platoon commander after two shots, which is cheap.

"Let's go, let's see, how far the shell hit?" Liu Ziguang excitedly patted his horse and galloped away in the direction where the shells flew, and the company commanders hurriedly followed closely.

The horse galloped wildly, and ran out for three miles, only to find a big tree that was knocked down by a cannonball, the big tree with a thick bowl mouth exposed white stubble, broken from the middle, and the iron ball cannonball was lying quietly on the ground, Liu Ziguang turned over and dismounted, picked up the cannonball, the iron ball was still a little hot, he hurriedly threw it to Zhong Shouyong, "Old Zhong, now you are developed, this cannon is powerful, go back and find some iron nails and iron eggs or something, plug the barrel to try a cannon, maybe it is a sharp weapon against the cavalry." ”

"Broken iron slag is everywhere, I'll call someone when I turn around...."Zhong Shouyong suddenly stopped talking, threw the cannonball aside, pulled out his waist knife and whispered: "There is a situation." As if to verify what he said, the birds resting in the forest were startled.

Everyone pressed their hands on the hilt of the knife, and Zha Muhe also took off the short bow, Liu Ziguang pricked up his ears and listened: "It seems that there are a few people running around in the woods, probably hunting." ”

Everyone expressed their contempt for the general's idiotic statement, how can there be a spring hunt, not only the prey has consumed a winter's fat and become thin and small, but it is also the estrus period of the animal, and the breeding animals have been wiped out, and there will be nothing to fight in the future. Not only ordinary hunters control hunting in spring, but even the emperor does not hunt in spring, and has to wait until autumn is high and cool to carry out autumn hunting.

"It's not an animal that's running in front, it's a person, or a person who hasn't practiced martial arts." Zhong Shouyong listened intently to the voices in the woods that were getting closer and closer, and made a judgment, he used to be a hunter, and he was very good at hearing and arguing. "It may be that the robbers are chasing and killing passing merchants."

"Go, go and save people. Dare to rob my realm, I don't take our brothers seriously. Liu Ziguang said angrily and turned his horse into the woods. Several company commanders followed suit.

A middle-aged man dressed as a scholar ran in front of him, protecting the square scarf on his head with one hand, and the hem of his long shirt with the other, and looking back from time to time, his body was covered with spring mud, and it seemed that he had fallen many times.

The middle-aged scribe bumped into Liu Ziguang head-on, he saw that the young man on the horse was dressed decently, wearing a long knife at his waist, followed by four hideous-looking and heavily armed men, and thought that he had touched the horse, and fell to the ground in fright. "Help, the king, they are clear dogs, they are tartars!"

"What? Clear the dog! You hide in the back. Liu Ziguang greeted the men with hats and went up, "Stop, what hat to wear on a sunny day, take it off and I'll take a look." ”

The four of them stopped, did not answer, and quickly took up a favorable position, although it was four people on foot against five people on horseback, but they did not show weakness at all in their momentum, and the four pairs of expressionless eyes under the hat looked at the knights in front of them, as if looking at a group of dead people.

Zamuhe squinted his eyes and slowly pulled out four arrows from the fish suit and put them on the bowstring, Anthony and Duncan also took out the wheel spring power gun, Zhong Shouyong's waist knife was already in his hand, and the four of them were all ready to fight. Only Liu Ziguang took a moment to look at the four hats with contempt and threatened:

"If you don't pick the hat, I'm going to pick it for you, but you have to pick it up with your head."

The four of them still didn't move, and the steel knife in their hands didn't move. A gust of wind swept up in the glade for no apparent reason, and for a moment it was so silent that even the melodious birdsong could not be heard. The middle-aged scribe who had fled earlier trembled in fright, and hid next to Zhong Shouyong's war horse, if Zhong Shouyong hadn't reached out to help him, he might not have been able to stand.

The four hats suddenly struck, their movements were as fast as lightning, and four silver rays of light flew out of their hands first, and then they pounced on them, slashing with their swords, and there was no ambiguity on this side, four feathered arrows shot out of Zamuhe's hands, and twelve steel nails also shot out of Anthony and Duncan's hands.

The darts of the hats were all shot at Liu Ziguang alone, these four people have a tacit understanding, understand the truth of catching the thief and capture the king first, and do not catch and kill, but like wolves, concentrate on killing the enemy leader first, and then solve the rest of the people.

They are very discerning, they can see that Liu Ziguang is the leader, and they can also see that Liu Ziguang is the strongest one, but they still see one thing wrong, that is, Liu Ziguang's strength is much higher than their visual inspection!

No one saw how Liu Ziguang's white rainbow knife came out of the sheath, only heard the sound of gold and iron ringing, four steel darts were burst away, and then a head with a hat flew into the sky, and the body continued to take two steps forward. Instead of getting half a penny, their concentrated attacks cost one man.

The ability of the hats to move around is still very high, the arrows and steel nails shot by the three company commanders were pierced to the ground, seeing that the blow missed, Anthony and Duncan waved their knives and grabbed it, Zha Muhe continued to shoot with his bow, and the three people who were fighting with Liu Ziguang were surrounded in a blink of an eye, it was difficult enough to deal with one Liu Ziguang, and they had to deal with two black and white warriors who were tall and tall, coupled with a sneak attack with a bow and arrow full of strength on the quasi-head, they were a little unable to support it, and they retreated while fighting, and they were knocked down by Zha Muhe without paying attention, Anthony snatched it up, and another human head with a hat flew high, and the hat and the human head were separated in mid-air, revealing the long braid hidden in the hat.

Sure enough, it was a Qing person, and the Qing people with high martial arts and well-trained martial arts went deep into the vicinity of the iron factory to hunt and kill, and there must be some ulterior conspiracy.

"Keep your mouth alive!" Liu Ziguang shouted, and Anthony and Duncan's steel knives stopped at the neck of the last hatster in time. The hat-hatter who almost moved his head was not afraid, and looked at Liu Ziguang who came over after dismounting and sneered.

It's not good, this kid is smiling so insidiously, it can't be that there is some suicide poison hidden between his teeth, Liu Ziguang hurriedly flashed his face, knocked off the jaw of the hatholder, and couldn't speak with his mouth open.

"It's so hard to let you take off a hat, no wonder our general whips you with a big mouth." Anthony said as he took off the man's hat and lifted his braid against the knife and admired it.

"I really don't understand what you Qing people do with such ugly braids? It's like dragging a pig's tail. Anthony said meanly.

The man glared at Anthony with a grim gaze, a heroic face that could not be killed. Liu Ziguang twisted his face and saw that there was no hidden poison in his mouth before closing his jaw.

"Say, why kill him? What I said satisfies me, and I can consider letting you go. Liu Ziguang said.

The man snorted and did not answer.

"Heroes, they are Qinggou's scouts, who came to spy on the military, and if I find out, they will kill me." The middle-aged scribe who had fled for his life earlier came over and complained, but now he was no longer trembling, and pointed at the Qing army spies with a very angry look.

"What else do you have to say?" Liu Ziguang asked with a dagger to provoke the jaw of the Qing army spies.

"Hmph, the matter has come to this, there is nothing to say, but I want to die quickly." Still a diehard.

"Who are you? How did you find out that they were Qing army spies? Liu Ziguang asked as he circled around the middle-aged scribe twice.

"I was born in Xiucai, teaching private school in Weishan County, and I found the whereabouts of the four of them on the road....."

"Enough! In my opinion, you are not a private school gentleman, and he is not an ordinary Qing army spy, two, I don't know if I am right? Liu Ziguang looked at the two of them and said lightly.

***************************************************

The steam cannon that appears in this chapter is not an apocryphal, and a few Americans have made such cannons, which can shoot 12-pounder shells out 1 mile when the temperature and pressure are not too high, and the boiler is not very large, and it burns carbon