rode the horse all the way, but Zhu Quan was annoyed in his heart, and wondered: Xu Ying's girl "lost" to me in the martial arts competition yesterday, and I forgot to ask for the paper umbrella back, how to return it to her today?

When there were still three avenues away from the school military field, there was not a single pedestrian on the street, and it seemed extremely deserted. On both sides of the street, three steps, one post, five steps and one sentry stood full of Ming soldiers in bright armor and spears, and the whole street was full of murderous atmosphere.

Zhu Quan was surprised, but saw a team of soldiers in front of him, led by a civil official in his thirties, dressed in a three-grade peacock uniform, who was Qi Tai, the squire of the military department who he saw during the court meeting yesterday, and a young general was also followed by him.

Seeing Zhu Quan's arrival, Qi Tai hurriedly led the team of soldiers to bow down in front of the horse, and said loudly: "Qi Tai, the servant of the Weichen Army, has been welcoming His Royal Highness here for a long time. As he bowed, the Ming soldiers on both sides of the street all knelt down on one knee and shouted in their mouths to greet His Royal Highness King Ning.

Although Zhu Quan knew that this Qi Tai was a courtier loyal to the crown prince Zhu Biao, he admired his excellent memory ability in his heart, so he had a good impression, turned over and dismounted, frowned and asked: "Didn't Lord Qi demonstrate the firearms and crossbows in the army for this king today?" "How did so many sergeants come to guard the streets?"

Qi Tai said in a low voice: "Our Ming Dynasty's firearms, bows and crossbows and other weapons are the first sharp weapons to deal with the cavalry of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, and they do not allow idle people to get a glimpse of their secrets. As he spoke, he turned and led the way.

Entering the school military field, but seeing that the surrounding walls were also full of soldiers with guns and knives, Zhu Quan was secretly a little funny in his heart, and it seemed that the ancient people had a sense of secrecy, and the most elite weapons were not accessible to ordinary people. Dozens of steps away, Yan Wang Zhu Di and his subordinate Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng were changing several bows on the weapon rack to test firing at the arrow target in the distance. Not far from them, there were three old men, all dressed in six-grade civil uniforms, arguing in a low voice.

The three old men turned their heads and saw Zhu Quan wearing a yellow prince's clothes, and he was busy kneeling on the ground.

Zhu Di turned his head to look at Zhu Quan, and said with a smile: "Brother Quan, come and try the bow and arrow in the arsenal of the Ministry of War, it is really much stronger than what we use in our daily house." ”

Zhu Quan came to the three old men, and heard that they reported their names and official positions, but it turned out to be the three directors of the Firearms Division, the Bow and Crossbow Division, and the Armor Division of the Ministry of War.

Zhu Quan picked up a yellow birch bow on the weapon rack, tried to shoot two arrows, and couldn't help but praise: "What the fourth brother said is true, this bow is very light to hold, and it seems to save a lot of effort to open the bow, and the shooting power is still very strong, I don't know how to make it?" ”

Wei Ming, the head of the bow and crossbow division, who was tall and had a somewhat majestic face, bowed down with a smile and said: "Shen Kuo of the Northern Song Dynasty was recommended by Wang Anshi to be in charge of the military supervision when he was in the Song Dynasty. Regarding the bow, Shen Kuo believes that a good bow should have six characteristics: first, the bow body is light and strong; second, it is easy to open the bow and has good elasticity; Thirdly, the firing power does not decrease for a long time; Fourth, the firing power should remain unchanged regardless of the freezing summer; Fifth, the sound is crisp when archery; Sixth, the bow body is upright when the bow is opened. At this point, he picked up a bow from the armory, pointed to the bowstring, and said, "This bowstring is made of ox tendon soaked and combed in glue soup so that it can no longer be stretched before it can be used to make bows; When making the bow body, the bow trunk should be bent in the opposite direction of the bow, and then the horn pieces and tendons should be pasted; The key to the optimization of the bow structure is that the length of the "knot" should be appropriate, so that the bow is easy to open and strong; Moreover, the glue should be applied thinly when making the bow, so as not to affect the elasticity of the bow due to changes in the glue. ”

Zhu Quan naturally knew that Wang Anshi was the prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty who implemented the law change, and Shen Kuo, who wrote the book "Mengxi Writings", was also a famous scientist in ancient times, and they attached so much importance to the production of bows and crossbows, which shows the important position of bows and crossbows in ancient military affairs. At this time, when I heard Wei Ming tell me that the seemingly simple production of bows and arrows was so cumbersome and exquisite, it suddenly occurred to me that it was no wonder that Qi Tai sent troops to guard the military field around the school today to prevent leaks. Thinking of this, he smiled and said: "This king didn't know that there was such a great knowledge in this bow and crossbow. ”

Wei Ming saw that His Royal Highness King Ning admitted that he could not pass this way, and humbly asked for advice, and he was very relieved, and sighed and said: "During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was the trouble of Liaojin alien iron cavalry, but the Song Dynasty was short of military horses, unable to form a strong cavalry to fight against it, in order to spend a lot of manpower and material resources on the bow and crossbow to develop, the way of bow and crossbow manufacturing at that time can be regarded as the best in ancient and modern times, in the battle of Song Liao Yuan, the Song army ambushed and killed Xiao Daling, the main general of the Liao army, and finally led to a peace agreement between Song and Liao. It can be seen that the weapon of the bow and crossbow, as long as the soldier makes good use of it, is the first-class weapon to restrain the alien iron horse. ”

Zhu Quan listened to Wei Ming's words, but his heart suddenly remembered the words of Zhao Heng, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry at the time of yesterday's court meeting, "Solidifying the country does not take the risk of mountains and rivers." "I thought in my heart: The Song Dynasty had such advanced bow and crossbow weapons, there were Yue Fei, Han Shizhong and other famous generals and elite soldiers, but they still died at the hands of the Mongols, it seems that to ensure that the country is strong can not rely on the terrain and geography alone, elite soldiers and the most advanced weapons, but also rely on the kind of martial arts and good fighting atmosphere that Zhu Yuanzhang said.

"What kind of nonsense, what kind of nonsense, what kind of bow and crossbow is the first class weapon to deal with the Mongolian Tartars?" An old man with a sharp beak and a somewhat funny appearance couldn't help but sneer coldly next to him, it was Fan Wengang, the head of the Firearms Department of the Ministry of War.

Wei Ming often argued with Fan Wengang in the military department on weekdays, and at this time, seeing him sneering at himself in front of King Yan and King Ning, he couldn't help but blush, but it was not easy to attack.

Fan Wengang saw that Wei Ming was quite embarrassed but it was not easy to attack, so he was proud in his heart, and bowed down to Zhu Quan and said: "Your Highness, His Majesty Hongwu used firearms to attack the Northern Yuan Tartars in the past when he fought with Chen Youliang and the Mongolian Iron Cavalry. ”

Zhu Quan knew that this firearm was the originator of the gun hundreds of years later, so he couldn't help but be curious in his heart, and said with a smile: "Quickly release two shots and I'll see how powerful it is?" ”

Fan Wengang instructed the two soldiers next to him to go to a gun on the weapon rack, put gunpowder and lead pellets in the mouth of the gun, and then put a slender iron bar into the mouth of the gun and slowly plug it tightly.

Zhu Quan saw that these two soldiers had done half a cup of tea, and they were not ready, so he felt slightly impatient.

Wei Ming said softly with mockery on the side: "Wait until you have the gunpowder and lead, I'm afraid that other people's cavalry will rush to the front and cut off your head." ”

Fan Wengang was unhappy in his heart, and snorted in his nose, but it was not easy to answer, this fire gun was time-consuming to prepare, it was indeed a fact, but it was difficult to distinguish.

Finally, the two soldiers were ready, but Fan Wengang suddenly turned his head to another slightly chubby old man standing aside, Li Tingsong, the head of the armor division, and smiled: "Brother Li, how about borrowing one of your armor to test the power of the firecracker?" ”

Li Tingsong said angrily: "The bow and crossbow of your two guys, the fire gun is a baby pimple, and the armor of the partial old man is worthless?" Should it be destroyed for you? Even though he said this, he ordered his soldiers to fetch a piece of armor.

Wei Ming suddenly smiled at this time: "The armor was born to be used to resist weapons, if you don't have to work hard to create it, what is it for?"

When Li Tingsong heard him say this, he couldn't help but get angry and couldn't speak.

Zhu Quan couldn't help but be surprised when he saw the three old men arguing endlessly.

Qi Tai, the squire of the Ministry of War, whispered beside him: "These three people serve as the three directors of the ordnance manufacturing of the Ministry of War, although they have a good personal relationship, they are quite competitive and competitive, and they always like to fight. ”

Fan Wengang turned his head and saw that Li Tingsong was scooping a small half scoop of water in the bucket with a water scoop, and splashed it evenly on the armor, and couldn't help but wonder: "Why is this?" ”

Li Tingsong replied proudly: "You two old men fight on weekdays, and you don't pay attention to the armor made by the old man at all, and today I want you to see if the armor newly made by the old man can resist your weapons." ”

Seeing that Li Tingsong was ready, Fan Wengang instructed the soldiers to firmly fix the armor on the arrow target and place it a hundred steps away. He ordered a soldier to stand in front of him, but he was holding a bronze firearm about four feet long, using the opponent's shoulder as a support, and aiming at a target about a hundred paces away.

When Zhu Di, the king of Yan, saw them trying out firearms, he also came over to watch with great interest.

After aiming, Fan Wengang took the fire candle prepared by the soldiers next to him, lit the medicine lead, and with a loud bang, the fireworks erupted from the mouth of the gun, but a strong force shook the soldier and Fan Wengang were all the same. The target a hundred paces away shook and fell to the ground. Fan Wengang ordered the soldiers to take the target to watch, but Li Tingsong next to him was inevitably apprehensive, he knew that the power of this fire gun was very great, although his newly made armor had been tested by swords and ordinary bows and crossbows, he was still not completely sure whether he could resist the fire gun.

After the soldiers retrieved the target, Fan Wengang stretched out his hand and pointed to the obvious hole on the surface of the iron armor and smiled: "Two highnesses, please see, the power of the fire gun is huge, and it cannot be resisted by any armor." ”

Li Tingsong stepped forward and said coldly: "Don't be too happy. As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and looked over the back of the armor, and everyone looked at it, but saw that the back of the armor was intact and undamaged, and it was obvious that the power of the fire gun could not penetrate the armor.