Zhuolanama walked in a hurry, frowned, and walked quickly into the City Lord's Mansion, the two sentries at the door "snapped" and stood upright, looked at him with some awe, quickly raised their hands to their eyebrows, and shouted in unison forcefully and briefly: "Salute." ”

This new military salute is also one of the new things that have emerged in an endless stream recently, not to mention, it is quite handsome to do, and the soldiers quickly liked to perform this kind of military salute.

Even the children in the city now follow suit, and they like to shout "salute" to each other when they meet, and they are never tired of it.

It had been nearly a month since he had been appointed Minister of War, and he had already gained a lot of prestige in his gestures, which was needed as a military commander.

In the past month, Zoranama has often felt as if he was living in an unreal world, a feeling that often occurs during the drastic changes in a person's life and psychological environment.

Two months ago, he was a civilian-turned-warrior who was just a small sergeant, suffering in the army and not seeing the end of his life.

Now, two months later, the former commoner has become a glorious knight, the ordinary warrior who had no hope of opening up the sea of qi has become a fighter who is one in a thousand, and the little sergeant has become the main general who controls the military affairs of a city.

All these changes came from the whimsical and even rash decision of Darigori when he suddenly extended an invitation to him four months ago.

This decision, for him at that time, was nothing more than a self-defeating act out of despair for his military career and when he was discouraged.

However, when the young lord asked, "What is your dream, Zoranama?" everything began to change.

Slowly, in Zhuoranama's heart, Weishan City is no longer just a place to make a living and make a living as he had planned, it has become something worthy of his burning and fighting for with all his might—all of his own.

It's a great feeling to be burning, shining with all your might, and pouring every bit of your energy into one goal!

Before, I had never felt like this, and I had never felt fulfilled with the value of my efforts.

He had fully believed what the City Lord had said: "Weishan City will never be just a place for me to realize my dreams, but also a place for you to realize your dreams. ”

He vividly remembered the stark look on the Baron's face as he said this.

Yes, I'll make my dreams come true, little Darcy, and I won't let you down.

With such emotion, Zoranama stepped into the office study of the city lord.

"My Minister of War, when did you become a beard?" the Lord stood up from behind his desk and smiled as he greeted Zoranama, who was performing a military salute vigorously, "I heard that you haven't been back to your home for five days, so don't get sick." Vishan City needs you to stay healthy. ”

I feel the concern of adult. "My body is completely fine, it's just that there are too many things to deal with. ”

"So, tell me, Mr. Minister, what is bothering you that you don't even have time to shave?" the lord motioned for Zoranama to sit down.

"Lord Castle, the growth of the military strength of the current Weishan City has lagged far behind the growth of the population. Zoranama's tone was a little urgent, "It's not the high-end combat power that is missing, since Lord Dark Xiang returned to Weishan City and blew up all the anti-devouring black moles, fourteen of the twenty golden griffin brothers have successfully become fighters." Even in a first-class legion, having fourteen warriors is quite impressive. ”

"However, the battle is not decided by a few warriors, but by a large number of well-trained warriors. At present, the population of Weishan City has exceeded 8,000 people, but it can meet the conditions set by the adults, and there are only 200 soldiers who can be absorbed into the standing army. ”

Gao Ge interjected: "I once told you that the standing army would rather be short than excessive, although the number is small, but the requirements must be high, once a war breaks out, they should be able to immediately perform the duties of the commander." ”

"Yes, I believe that they are all up to the duty of a commander. But where will the soldiers under their command come from? Regardless of the branch of the army, they will need long-term training. Military households have a certain combat effectiveness, but the number is simply not enough. Later, a large number of refugees, who had no military training at all. It is necessary to organize them, to be busy with farming, and to train them in the fields, so that after a period of time, they will be able to hide the troops from the people. However, the current residents of Weishan City have no agricultural idleness, and they have planted wheat and buckwheat, and planted the first and second crops. ”

"I can't go on like this, Lord Castle. "Military strength, especially for a military town like Weishan Castle that is ready to face battle at any time, is very important. The army has no combat effectiveness, and no matter how good the production is, once a war breaks out, everything will be nothing but a bubble. Therefore, I solemnly request that either the requirements be lowered and the number of standing troops increased, or a large number of strong men should be selected from among the population as militia and military training in rotation, even if some agricultural work is delayed, it will be worth it. ”

"Don't get excited, sit down first. Gao Ge motioned to Zoranama, who had stood up excitedly, to sit down again, "How long will it take to train a warrior who is ready to go to battle?"

"A qualified pikeman needs three months of round-the-clock training, a guerrilla soldier needs four months, a sword and shield soldier needs five months, and an archer needs at least half a year to barely be effective on the battlefield. "Zoranama is fluent.

"If there is a weapon that allows a peasant to train for only a week, he can easily take out a heavily armed knight on the battlefield. So, Mr. Minister, are you still so anxious?" Gao Ge asked with a smile as he looked at the suspicious Zoranama.

"No, there can't be such a weapon. Zoranama was stunned for a moment, and then immediately reacted, "After only a week of training, such a person goes to the battlefield like a trembling lamb. Such a lamb, a well-trained knight can take out a hundred in one go. ”

"But such a weapon is here. Gao Ge calmly took out something from under his desk.

Zhuo Lanama took this strangely shaped "weapon" in shock, and his hand was slightly heavy, estimated to weigh more than ten pounds.

It is said that it is a bow, but there is a straight wooden strip more than a meter long that is connected vertically to the bow arm, and when you touch it, you can see that the texture of the wooden strip is uniform, delicate and hard, and it is a fine ironwood, with a shallow and straight dent on it.

The strip of wood has a metal ring near the front end of the bow arm, and a small winch with two handles attached to the rear end.

The middle and rear of the strip are also inlaid with a strange element made of metal, the upper part of the strip is carved with delicate small horizontal bars, and the lower part of the strip is like a handle for handholding, and there are some small springs on it.

Zoranama tried to pull what appeared to be a bowstring, but it felt as hard as iron, and he couldn't pull it at all.

"My lord, this ...... What is this?" Zoranama's eyes were both confused and eager, and although he still didn't understand what the thing in front of him was, he was a sensitive person, especially when it came to military-related matters.

Gao Ge didn't answer, but just took the thing, stepped on the ring at the front end of the wooden strip with one foot, stepped on it tightly, grabbed a handle in each hand, and began to turn the winch quickly.

With a "creaking" sound, the bowstring was slowly pulled apart, but in three breaths, it was already bowed like a full moon.

There was a soft "boom", and the bowstring near the metal member that had been pulled to the back end of the wooden strip was suddenly caught by something, and the winch was loosened.

Immediately afterwards, Gao Ge took out an arrow and clasped it lightly into the shallow groove in the wooden strip, and Zoranama noticed that this arrow was different from ordinary feathered arrows, it was shorter, but the steel arrow was longer, and it did not have a feather tied to the back, but only three deep marks.

"Look at it, Mr. Minister. Gao Geping picked up the weapon in his hand and glanced at Zhuoranama.

I saw that his left hand was holding the front of the wooden bar, and his right hand was lightly clasped somewhere on the metal component.

"Boom!"

I don't know if it's because I'm indoors, the sound of the bowstring vibrating is unusually loud, and it makes Zoranama's eardrums ache faintly, and I've never heard such a terrifying sound of vibrating strings.

Moreover, Zoranama saw that the Baron, who had pressed his shoulder against the support at the back end of the wooden bar, shook his whole body backwards at the moment of opening the bow, as if he had been slammed into it.

"Whew!"

The sound of the arrow passing through the air is also surprisingly sharp, completely different from the "whoosh" sound of ordinary feathered arrows breaking through the air, and can almost be called a scream.

This terrifying scream will soon be called the "whistle of death" by the distracted enemy army.

"Boom!"

With this muffled sound, Zoranama seemed to feel the whole house tremble slightly, and when he looked closely, ten paces away, the short arrow, which was so fast that it could not catch its flight trajectory, had been deeply inserted into the wall, and the few arrows that were exposed vibrated at an extremely high frequency.

Zoranama stepped a few steps to the point of the arrow, but his eyes almost popped out of his sockets, and his mouth was snorting.

On the wall, there were three layers of steel armor, ten layers of leather armor, each layer of steel armor was as thick as the royal army's standard heavy armor, and the leather armor was also the same thickness as the standard leather armor, and this short arrow pierced through these before penetrating deep into the wall.

The walls are made of hard stones.

Such power is unheard of and unimaginable.

"What kind of weapon is this, my lord?" said Zoranama, gently touching the short arrow on the wall.

"It's a crossbow. Gao Ge said loudly: "This model is called a single winch crossbow, which can shoot six hundred paces, and four hundred paces can shoot through a heavily armed warrior." In the future, there will be hand crossbows, repeating crossbows, stretch crossbows, car crossbows, etc., which will be the main equipment of the Weishan Army in the future. ”

"Can I give it a try?" Zoranama's eyes lit up eagerly.

"Play casually. Gao Ge raised his hand and threw his crossbow at Zoranama.

Ten minutes later, Gao Ge looked at Zhuoranama, who was smirking and holding a crossbow like a treasure in his arms, and asked, "How is it, my minister, what do you think of this weapon after trying it out?"

Zoranama's face was filled with excitement, and he said firmly: "The crossbow opens the bow with a winch, but it can slowly accumulate power, so the power can be far better than the bow. Moreover, it can be used even by those with weak strength, as long as the winch is loosened and turned a few more times. Secondly, the crossbow can be fired on standby after winding, unlike the bow, which is difficult to hold for a long time, so it can be aimed carefully. Coupled with the help of a sight engraved on the ruler, even a novice can quickly and accurately hit a target at a distance. ”

"So, according to you, how long does it take for a crossbowman to train before he can go to battle?" asked Gao Ge.

Zoranama pondered for a moment and said, "It only takes an hour for ordinary people to master the use of a crossbow. Coupled with the familiarity with orders and the methods of advance and retreat, I estimate that, as you said, it will take you a week to train a qualified crossbowman. Moreover, it is something that everyone can learn to use, and even a child or a woman can easily kill a knight with it. ”

"So, Mr. Minister. Gao Ge looked at Zoranama with a smile, "Are you still worried that we will be short of warriors?"