After leading the officers to see the brand-new artillery weapons, these satisfied officers stepped back for the time being to discuss what they had seen and heard today, or to exchange their own views on the use of artillery. Chen Wu left behind several major craftsmen and continued to exchange ideas with them on artillery improvements.

To be honest, Chen Wu didn't have much knowledge and understanding of cannon casting. The main reason is that the last game update before the crossing will start the research and development of hot weapons, so he found some related materials to study by the way. Because of this, he has a broad range of knowledge, but lacks depth. When it comes to the specific details of the casting of the cannon, it is impossible to give a precise explanation, only some general directions and macroscopic structures can be indicated.

However, even if this is the case, it has already made these blacksmiths a lot of benefits, helping them save several times or even dozens of times their time.

"The design of the gunpowder bag should consider the treatment of moisture and waterproof in the future."

"In addition, in addition to the length of the barrel, there is another reason for the range of the artillery, which is the airtightness that this king has emphasized. The iron wall in the barrel is not smooth enough, and there is a sand hole, which directly affects the firing range, and it has a certain relationship with the chamber. ”

"There is also the problem of artillery movement, I only told you about the casting of cannons before, and I forgot to talk about the gun carriage. It was a movable bracket that extended out of the handlebar that could be fixed to the ground for anti-recoil, and the angle of the muzzle could be adjusted freely within a certain range. With it, the artillery can move freely and easily. ”

"By the way, on the issue of making the barrel of the cannon bear more bore pressure, this king has also heard of a method called water-cooled self-tightening. It allows the cannon that has not yet cooled in the casting to start cooling from the inside, giving the gun an outside-in force, which is equivalent to wrapping an additional hoop around the outside of the gun body, so that the gun can withstand higher chamber pressure. However, whether this method can be worked, and how to do it, this king is not sure, I can only tell you a general idea, and you have to study the rest slowly......"

After spending about a quarter of an hour and giving these craftsmen the last mention and opinion he could think of, Chen Wu finally gave a summary: "Let's improve according to the above, the style is mainly based on small-caliber magic cannons and the largest general's cannons. On the basis of the existing one, when the cast artillery can shoot a hundred cannons in a row without exploding, when will it be finalized and produced. ”

With that, he looked around at the craftsmen and promised, "At that time, all the craftsmen will be rewarded!" ”

Everyone in the Ministry of Industry knows that His Royal Highness has always been very generous in the research under the Ministry of Industry, and has invested unimaginable funds. For this reason, even the official document of the Home Affairs Department to rebuild the Thai royal palace was vetoed. In addition, the salary rewards for the subordinate craftsmen are also far beyond the Qianyuan center. Naturally, the craftsmen present did not doubt his promise, and they all cheered up.

His Royal Highness the King of Thailand said that it was a heavy reward, and it must be a shocking fortune.

This kind of material encouragement had an immediate effect. Several craftsmen were grateful, and vowed to work overtime to improve stronger and more stable artillery for His Royal Highness.

Although this test gun did not meet Chen Wu's requirements, it was still a milestone event in the history of artillery development and application of the Songjiang Army. Although out of secrecy and responsibility to the officers and men, the immediate promotion of artillery was vetoed, but it is a fact that the Matsue Army already has hot weapons in the true sense. As long as the current problems are further overcome and improved, they can be put into full production and popularization.

At that time, a unit that was born out of thin air and equipped with mature artillery would inevitably shock the entire Eastern Continent with a hearty victory.

For this reason, after returning from the test firing range this time, Chen Wu even secretly formed a real yàn unit numbering about two brigades to explore and try the use of artillery. In the future, when needed, they will be the first instructors for the promotion of artillery units!

Due to the strict secrecy demanded by Chen Wu, the test-firing did not have much impact in the army, and only spread among a small number of high-ranking officers. However, the impact of this epoch-making weapon was real after all, and its existence gave strong confidence to the high-ranking generals of the Songjiang Army. Once the improved artillery really reaches the point predicted by His Royal Highness the King of Thailand, with a range of more than 1,000 steps and greater power, there will be no enemy who is the opponent of the Songjiang army.

………

At a time when the development of artillery entered a phased stage, other developments of the Matsue Army did not stop.

First of all, the expansion plan that had been drawn up earlier was finally completed in the last week. With the 13,000 recruits of the last division completing their training, all ten divisions of the Songjiang Corps were fully established. The five divisions of the Tiannan Army are also in place. Counting the Dengzhou and Tianlong garrison divisions, the Ninghai garrison brigade, and the newly formed Donghai garrison division, the total strength of the Songjiang Army and Army has approached 250,000 during this period.

This does not include the Northern Luzon garrison division regiment that was incorporated on Luzon Island and was mainly composed of local natives, nor did it include the two major naval divisions of Donghai and Ninghai.

With so many troops, the Songjiang Army had ample confidence for the first time. On the basis of ensuring the security of the territory of the four southeastern counties, sufficient forces should be mobilized to use troops abroad.

The good news came almost at the same time.

Lou Liuzhong and He Shixiang on the island of North Luzon marched eastward and entered Davao Province during the period when the Battle of Tongshan Pass had changed and Yanyun's army was ambushed. Suleiman V, who was drunk and dreamed of death, lost his courage and chose to commit suicide by throwing himself into a well when he heard the news. The other civil and military officials who followed him to the east hunt also fled, and those who surrendered, and they were torn apart in just a few days.

The newly formed troops in Davao Province put up little or no decent resistance, allowing the Songjiang Army to easily occupy the entire territory at the cost of less than 200 men.

Subsequently, the Matsue Army, having completed the occupation, turned back to the west. One of them took the Medan region and the Naiwon gold mine, another large gold mine in addition to the Ifugao gold mine, and the other went west across the Quezon Plain to the Cebu region, which had previously had the opportunity to occupy directly, but was temporarily abandoned due to the Sulu region.

After the fall of the Cebu Legion, it was already a mess. Although because the Songjiang Army dispatched troops to give priority to encircling and suppressing Suleiman VI to prevent the Andamanies from interfering, the leaders of Cebu had time to breathe, but after all, the general trend had gone. The Songjiang army drove into here without much effort.

Although it will take a long time before the full occupation, the elimination of all opposition forces, and the complete consolidation of the rule, it is an indisputable fact that Lou Liuzhong and He Shixiang have taken over the entire control of Northern Luzon.

With the arrival of the ocean-going fleet a few days later, a large amount of grain and gold was loaded onto the fleet again and transported back to the port of Quanzhou. Due to the participation of the fleets of the Denglai Shipping Department and the Quanzhou Shipping Department, the capacity of the fleet far exceeded that of last year. Not only these, but more Northern Luzon resources, such as copper, agate and even tobacco, are on the transportation list.

The import of these cheap foreign materials, as well as the high-quality iron ore of the Asahikawa Domain, continued to inject impetus into the development of the four counties of Songjiang. Even though the entire empire is now in turmoil, including the four counties of Matsue who are directly involved in the war, the economy of the four counties has never been affected, but has become more and more prosperous.

Including Zhongzhou and Yanyun, the two emperors actually wanted to do the same thing while winning the war, but whether it was Qian Mingde or Qian Minghao, under the consumption of internal and external troubles and wars, it was very rare to be able to barely maintain the situation, and no one could replicate the miracle of Songjiang.

Invisibly, the reputation and fame of the King of Thailand became higher and higher within the empire, especially in these states and counties close to the southeast. Maybe this kind of fame won't play a role in three or two years, but sooner or later, with the arrival of the Songjiang army, it will make Chen Wu's power expansion a matter of course, or even destiny!

Time is on the side of Songjiang Jun and Chen Wu.

………

Things have always been a blessing and a curse, and when the good news came that there had been phased progress in artillery development and the reunification of Northern Luzon County, the Matsue Army also received bad news.

The first is the middle line battlefield of the civil war, which is more than ten days after the Yanyun army was ambushed.

Although the Yanyun Legion suffered a loss and failed to take advantage of the retreat of the city guards to pursue and expand the results, the strength was still there after all. After receiving the official letter that the Qianmingde Society would replenish 30,000 new soldiers and a batch of baggage, the Yanyun Army marched westward in an all-round way, divided into two forces and swept half of Anqing County, and in a short period of time, five or six large cities were taken in a row, and the army line was gradually advanced for hundreds of miles. It will take another half a month at most, and the vanguard will be able to reach the city of Xudu.

This seems to be good news, but only against the forces of Qian Mingde.

For Chen Wu's Songjiang army, because Song Wujian said that "the previous attack on Tongshan Pass was hard work and great losses, and your troops can rest on the spot", and it was impossible for the Songjiang army to turn against Yanyun now, so in the operation to capture Anqing County, the Songjiang army did not get any benefits, but spent a lot of grain, grass, and silver every day to maintain.

In this regard, the army naturally had some complaints, but Chen Wu actually did not care.

After all, Qianmingde really gave up a Donghai County. Although there is a price code for the statement, it is a county after all. What's more, Chen Wu is not optimistic about the battle of attacking Xu Du. Yan Yunjun was willing to run hundreds of miles more to fight the city guards, and Chen Wu naturally didn't mind letting the two families fight to the death. As for saying that after Yan Yunjun suffered a loss, he wanted the Songjiang Army to be transferred to the front line, but it was not so easy to speak.

In addition to the middle line of the Imperial Civil War, the Matsue Army was also challenged in both the north and south directions.

As the Tokai County and the Tokai Division changed hands, the Lena people were keenly aware of this. After observing for a while, it was about the knowledge that the East China Sea Division had dispatched some ships to Northern Luzon, and the Lena people, who were about to move, decisively dispatched the Ocean Naval Division again.