Zhang Xie, Fan Wenlan, Fuqu and other princes and ministers were summoned to the palace half an hour later.

Hearing that the Emperor of Heavenly Destiny once again put his vision on the sea lock defense line, Zhang Xie said: "The sea lock defense line is as solid as gold, the sword fish village, the iron mountain village and the island city wall and the water division are fighting each other, although the Huaidong water division is strong, how can it take advantage?" ”

The most famous example of fighting in the city in modern times is the Battle of Jiyang at the beginning of Lin Bin's rise to Jianghuai. At that time, Xuan Feixiong led more than 4,000 Donghai Kou to attack Jiyang City, and in addition to more than 100 old remnant sword archers in Jiyang, there were only 400 guards led by Lin Jian and Gu Wuchen to help.

At that time, Lin Tie and Gu Wuchen could of course hide in Jiyang to wait for help, but they could not prevent the Donghai Kou from plundering and slaughtering the countryside, Lin Tie resolutely formed a formation outside the north city of Jiyang, fought according to the city, and used the favorable support of the city wall to fight to the death with the enemy for several days, and finally the Donghai Kou, which was not nearly ten times his own, was repulsed, and also achieved a record of destroying more than 1,000 enemies - this battle not only greatly increased Gu Wuchen's popularity in Jianghuai, but also the first dazzling bloom of Lin Tie's outstanding military talent. After the bloody battle of Jiyang, Lin Jian was able to lead the Jiangdong Left Army to follow Cheng Yuqian to the north to King Qin.

This example also proves from the side that it is an effective tactic to resist the strong with the weak to fight bravely and fight according to the city.

The theoretical basis of the sea defense line lies in this: compared with the Huaidong Naval Division, the Dengzhou Naval Division is naturally very weak, but as long as there are islands and walled cities to rely on, fighting on the islands, it is not a problem to hold the Bohai Sea.

On other defense lines, the new army was attached to guard the outer defense line, and the elite of the Northern Yan clan was concentrated on the inner line, but on the Suohai defense line, although Ye Zier used Su Tingzhan and others to subordinate to the Han Dynasty as the general of the naval division, the people who defended the island fortress were all the children of their own clan and elite soldiers who were loyal to the Northern Yan royal family, so that they could survive with the island fortress.

Everyone knows that Bohai Haikou is the weakness of Beiyan, and it is precisely because of this weakness that so many resources are invested in the construction of the sea-locking defense line, Zhang Xie and others really find it difficult to imagine that the Huaidong Army will also hit the sea-locking defense line headlong.

"No," Ye Zier stood up, insisted on his judgment, and took his pale, bloodless palm in the morning light, pressed it against the place where the wall chart marked the Lock Sea Defense Line, and said, "The Lock Sea Defense Line looks as solid as a rock, but as long as it penetrates the Lock Sea Defense Line, the Huaidong Soldier Front can directly cross the Bohai Sea and threaten the heart of the Great Yan." We were confused by Huaidong's suspicious tactics, mistakenly believing that the focus of its troops was on the Bian, Si and Si lines, but we ignored the most fundamental point. The East China Sea Fox has the heart of the Northern Expedition, and at the same time has the intention of usurping the throne. Then he will fight from Xuzhou to the north, and his movements will be too slow, and he will inevitably have to think about what to do if Emperor Yongxing suddenly dies of illness halfway through his fight in Shandong......"

Yezier was so determined that he wanted to draw everyone's attention back to the sea defense line, and he couldn't help but think quietly.

Fan Wenlan frowned and said in a deep voice: "Just as the emperor said, the main force of the Huaidong Army is advancing north from Xuzhou along the Bianshui and Sishui rivers, and the most fundamental problem is to attack and fight for each city one by one, and the pace will not be fast. In this process, once Emperor Yongxing died, Lin Jian left the army on the battlefield, and he hurried back to Jiangning to usurp the throne and become emperor; Or do you want to withdraw your troops and retreat to Xuzhou first, and rush back to Jiangning to usurp the throne; Or does it seem that the war is non-stop, and it seems that it is not appropriate to temporarily isolate the usurpation of the throne and claim the throne......"

Fuqu Mengye, Nahe Wugu and other old ministers also locked their eyebrows and meditated.

They are all generals who can fight well, and they know that once the army is launched, it is not possible to stop if they want to--Lin Jian will certainly not be so stupid as to suddenly stop in the middle of the Northern Expedition, in that case, they will wake up laughing when they dream in Yanjing City. If the Northern Expedition had not been able to stop at the beginning of the Northern Expedition, and troops had been dispatched from Xuzhou and marched north along Bian and Si, the pace of the entire war would not have been fast, and it would probably have lasted for one or two years......

Emperor Yongxing is terminally ill, which is confirmed by many sources, and it will not be an illusion; In the past, Yanjing judged that Lin Jian could only choose between the Northern Expedition and the usurpation of the throne, and this was the basis for this.

Thinking about it from another angle, if Lin Jian has the intention to take into account the Northern Expedition and the usurpation of the throne, then it is a good choice to break through the coastal defense line.

The Huaidong Army took the sea route and stormed the coastal defense line, and its biggest advantage was that it could advance and retreat freely-

Once Emperor Yongxing unintentionally died, and the Jinghai Navy Division failed to penetrate the Suohai defense line, there was no need to worry that the Dengzhou Navy Division could pursue the back road, and it was a big deal to retreat to Haizhou, and Lin Jian would rush to Jiangning first to usurp the throne and become emperor, and it would not leave too much sequelae.

If Emperor Yongxing dies when the Jinghai division penetrates the Suohai defense line, Lin Jian can still rely on the powerful naval army to defend the strongholds of the Bohai Sea such as Huangcheng Island and Miaoshan Island, first return to Jiangning to usurp the throne and become the emperor, and then continue to attack the heart of the swallow thistle such as Jinhai from the Bohai Sea after being proclaimed emperor.

If the Jinghai Division breaks through the Suohai defense line, and the elite of the Huaidong Mabu Army lands from Jinhai and other places, and pierces the hinterland of Yanji, Emperor Yongxing dies - at this time, the recovery of Yanjing is in sight, and Lin Lian's prestige will inevitably rise to an unprecedented height, even if he is not in a hurry to rush back to claim the emperor, even if he drags the Yongxing Emperor to secret, others will not dare to play any tricks with him at this time!

From this point of view, the Huaidong Army does have the possibility of strategically attacking the coastal defense line.

Of course, although there is such a judgment, the whole strategic adjustment is not an easy thing; More importantly, the biggest question in everyone's hearts: If the Huaidong Army wants to attack the Lock Coastal Defense Line, how should it fight? Under the current tactical conditions, it is not an exaggeration to say that the sea lock defense line is impregnable, how could the Huaidong Army think of attacking the lock sea defense line.

Fan Wenlan asked suspiciously: "Could it be that someone in Dengzhou has infiltrated sand into Huaidong?" ”

Ye Zier looked at Zhang Xie, Meng Ye, Wugu and other old ministers, and if they couldn't attack, they would be corroded from the inside, and Huaidong would play such a trick once or twice.

During the Jin'an War, Huaidong first lured the Song family as an internal response, and expelled the luxury family from Mindong in one fell swoop; In the war in Yuanzhou, Huaidong first secretly lured Zhou Zhizheng as the internal response - the battle of Jingxiang and suffered a major setback, and the biggest variable was that Wang Xiang had already surrendered to Huaidong, and Luo Xiancheng, Hao Wenzhuang and other scheming people did not notice it in advance.

It is not impossible for Huaidong to repeat the plan in the coastal defense line.

After the Battle of Jingxiang, many of the Hanchen who surrendered to the Han Dynasty were unstable, and their loyalty to the Northern Yan was really not enough to be believed.

It's just that at this time, a thorough review of the Suohai defense line and Dengzhou's subjugated Hanchen will inevitably make the army's morale float, and before the traitor is found, he will be in chaos first.

"The West Temple Supervisor is in Dengzhou, as long as Tong Huacheng and Nahe Xiongqi are informed of this; If Yanjing sends another important old minister to secretly conduct an investigation, there may not be any problem. If there is no problem with the generals on the Suhai defense line, the envoy can also check on behalf of the emperor whether there are any other loopholes in the Suhai defense line when he goes to Dengzhou......," Zhang Xie said.

"Fan Wenlan, you just wait for me to make this trip." Ye Zier said that with his body, it is really not appropriate to leave Beijing at this time, and besides, if he leaves Beijing to go to Dengzhou, the movement is too big, but it will alarm the morale of the army and will not play a role in stabilizing people's hearts.

Fan Wenlan had just responded to the order, and at this time, a courtier came in to report: "Wu Mancheng, who will be a master craftsman, asks to see ......"

Seeing the courtiers frowning and embarrassed, Ye Zier asked carefully, "What's wrong?" ”

"Lord Wu looked like he was scorched and came over with a big bamboo pole, and the guards of Wenyuan Pavilion wanted to stop him, but Lord Wu scolded him, saying that it was a treasure that the emperor wanted to see, and he didn't give it to the guards of Wenyuan Pavilion to touch it."

Regardless of whether the civil and military generals enter the palace, they have to disarm their armor, and Wu Mancheng is holding a big bamboo pole, so he naturally has to stop the guards.

"Is the flame-spraying show a real thing?" Fan Wenlan asked suspiciously.

At this time, according to Tong Huacheng, it has been three months since Wu Mancheng tried to produce a flame-spraying play.

Yezier instructed his courtiers: "Let Wu Mancheng bring things in." ”

The courtier said in embarrassment: "Lord Wu wants the emperor to go to Zuoyuan, and the place is empty." ”

Na Hewu scolded in a calm voice: "This Wu Mancheng, he still knows what it means to be high and thick, and the emperor can be sent by him?" ”

Ye Zier was not annoyed, and said: "Since Wu Mancheng has made a physical object, we will go to Zuoyuan to have a look, if it is not satisfactory, it will not be too late to reprimand him...... and then scold him" and asked the courtiers to lead Wu Mancheng to Zuoyuan, and he and Zhang Xie, Fan Wenlan, Mengye, Wugu and other old ministers also rushed to Zuoyuan to meet Wu Mancheng.

The Imperial Garden is divided into two gardens, which are one. Although Ye Zier said that his health has not been good all these years, but the martial arts are still there, so he separated the imperial garden into a piece and created a school field that can perform martial arts in the palace, called Zuo Yuan.

Ye Zier arrived at Zuo Yuan a little later, and Wu Mancheng was already waiting there.

Wu Mancheng's eyebrows burned or not, but as soon as he returned from the fire, he saw Ye Zier coming over, and he was busy kneeling down with the officials who would be the master craftsmen to say goodbye. There were several bamboo poles under their feet, of different thicknesses, and their shapes were almost the same as the ancient picture of the flame-spraying opera that Wu Mancheng had presented some time ago, but there were several layers of copper hoops on the outer stubble.

Ye Zier sat down under the brocade shed and said to Wu Mancheng: "Tong Huacheng also had a secret fold some time ago, saying that the body of the Huaidong Fuhuo crossbow is like a giant pipe, so it seems that it is indeed a new weapon made in imitation of a flame-spraying play. However, I still don't know exactly how to do it, so you can show me......"

"There is quite a lot of movement, and the emperor needs to be psychologically prepared." Wu Mancheng said.

Ye Zier smiled, don't look at him at this time, but he was also skilled in bows and knives in his early years, and there was blood on the battlefield, what scene and what movement had he not experienced? Ye Zier waved his hand and asked Wu Mancheng to talk less nonsense, hurry up and take the test, and he also convened the ministers to discuss the matter of locking the coastal defense line.

Wu Mancheng was afraid of an accident, so he asked the guards to guard in front of the Emperor of Heavenly Mandate, but the Emperor of Heavenly Mandate impatiently asked the guards to get out of the way, so as not to prevent him from watching Wu Mancheng perform a trial flame spray scene.

The commander picked up a flame pipe the thickness of the baby's arm, filled a large bag of powdered Fuhuo Dan from the mouth, connected the medicine twist from the mouth, made the flame point outward, and ignited the medicine twist with a flint - Ye Zier looked at the spark on the medicine twist and drilled into the pipe mouth like a snake in the blink of an eye, just when everyone was thinking that there should be five-colored smoke spewing out of the pipe mouth, "snort" exploded, the pipe mouth suddenly spewed out fire and white smoke, after the white smoke dissipated, I saw the grass and trees outside the flame mouth blowing branches and leaves, a mess……

Everyone didn't expect such a big movement, and they were all taken aback.

Ye Zier suppressed the shock in his heart, and asked Wu Mancheng according to the long case covered in brocade: "Can this thing hurt people?" ”

"Please ask the emperor to erect a big target twenty steps away and try it again." Wu Mancheng said.

Ye Zier asked the guards to do the same, Zuo Yuan was originally used in martial arts, and the bow and target were all - Wu Mancheng made Gongzao change to another flame pipe, and after filling the medicine and twisting the medicine, he filled it with a stone pill and lit it at the leather puppet target about one person high twenty paces away.

When the guards brought the puppet target that had beaten Shi Maru beyond recognition, the faces of Yezir and the princes and ministers changed. Fan Wenlan was stunned for a long time, recovered from the shock, and said: "Where is this flame-spraying play, it's obviously a flame-spraying crossbow!" Huaidong called it the Fuhuo crossbow, it is indeed appropriate, a crossbow fires more than ten arrows, although it can shoot twenty or thirty steps, but Leng Buding is close to the place, and initiates Weilai, who said that the power will be less than the arm crossbow? ”

Wu Mancheng naturally would not simply copy the flame-spraying drama according to the ancient books. Since the Huaidong Army rumored that there were ambush fire crossbows, Wu Mancheng naturally studied the fire pill and flame spray play in the direction of lethal crossbows, and spent three months to create these "flame crossbows" whose lethality was not weaker than ordinary hunting crossbows.

After watching the test, Yezier and the princes and ministers could understand that the ambush flames created by the Huaidong army, even if they were different from this, should be more sophisticated and powerful.

Wu Mancheng groped for the flame-spraying crossbow he had built in three months, which could shoot the leather-armored pawn within twenty steps, while the Huaidong Army had secretly built an ambush firebolt for at least three years, how powerful would it be?

Shoot a pawn at 50 paces, shoot a pawn at 100 paces, or shoot a pawn at 200 paces with a crossbow?

Although Yezier and others tried their best to use their imagination, they were only limited by the inertia of thinking, and they only compared the fire crossbow with the traditional arm crossbow and the crossbow with the crossbow.

Yezier asked Wu Mancheng to come close with a flame-spraying crossbow that he had tried and tested, and saw that the mouth of the pipe was burnt black, with a strong smell of sulfur and burning. Although the outer stubble of the bamboo pipe is tightly wrapped with copper rings, so that the flame crossbow is not cracked as a whole, but the inner bamboo pipe can not withstand such a violent explosion, and has been broken......

"Is it made of copper and iron cast bore, which can be used repeatedly; If there are more medicines, the power will be greater? Yezir is also a well-informed person, and he immediately asked the key point.

Wu Mancheng nodded and said, "It stands to reason that this is the case, but the general secretary will not be able to spare manpower for a while......

Nahewugu said: "Then quickly draw men from all over and make five or six thousand expenditures; I think this is better than a crossbow. Especially when defending the city, the enemy climbed up to the top of the city, and a crossbow sprayed in the face, and the ...... was a hundred shots, "Nahe Wugu is also a veteran, he saw the range of the flame-spraying crossbow, but the spray is a piece, this is used to defend the fortress, and it has a much stronger advantage than an ordinary bow crossbow."

Wu Mancheng smiled bitterly and said: "Grandpa Wugu, it is easy to use a few copper circles with bamboo pipes, but it is not easy to cast copper pipes and iron pipes-another Fuhuo Pill needs to use medicinal nitrate." Nitrate can be used in medicine, and it is sold in medicine stores, but the entire Yanjing's medicinal nitrate has been gathered, and it is only about four or five hundred catties, and it has been used up for us in these three months. If you follow the old recipe for nitrate, a city as big as Yanjing can only collect one or two thousand catties a year, and two thousand catties of medicine will reach the sky......"

Fan Wenlan saw that the crossbow was made just now, and one crossbow charge was enough for two or three taels, and it could be equipped with two thousand catties of volcanic fire pills in a year, and five thousand flame-spraying crossbows could only be fired twice a year, what was the point?

By comparison, there are four to five million clusters of arrows used to make traditional bows and crossbows each year; No matter how powerful the flame-spraying crossbow is, it cannot fundamentally change the status of the traditional crossbow on the battlefield.

In addition, the cast copper and iron barrel filling shot can be used repeatedly, but it is easy to say, but it may not be easy to build. What if the actual sample is captured from the battlefield?

The iron skeleton ship built by Huaidong is disassembled and placed in the Iron Mountain Shipyard, and the structure does not look complicated at all, but the iron material is repeatedly melted and cast by the division and the iron yard, which is not able to make qualified marine iron bones.

Fan Wenlan admonished: "In the opinion of the minister, instead of rushing to build a flame-spraying crossbow at this time, it is more important to make the generals of the army understand the characteristics of the flame-spraying crossbow and be prepared for it. The flame-spraying crossbow has its strengths and weaknesses, as long as it has the skills and the way to deal with it, I don't care about what the Huaidong Army can rely on. ”

Ye Zier was right to think about it, and instructed Wu Mancheng: "The general will quickly build more flame-spraying crossbows, so that the engineering officers will go to the various armies to practice shooting, and be sure that the generals of the army will know their nature, so that they will not be at a loss when they engage in battle." ”