"Is the lord really so sure about the method of making this sea salt?"

Bing Yuan ignored Xu Shu's careful thinking and asked Yuan Xi seriously.

Yuan Xi also replied seriously: "This method is true, and the sea salt we get is cleaner than the salt we often eat, with fewer impurities and lower cost." ”

Bing Yuan nodded "um", turned his face and said solemnly to Zhen Yao: "This law must be kept secret, and it is recommended that Shu Gao ask Mrs. Hua for a team of secret guards to be responsible for protecting secrets." ”

Zhen Yao was stunned for a moment, and Ma Shan came to his senses, this is to let himself not get carried away, so as not to cause the battle for the storage position in Hebei.

Ten days ago, Zhen Mi just gave birth to a son, plus Zhen Jiang's daughter, his Zhen family is already on the cusp, if you don't pay attention, a group of people will immediately gather around you.

These people will not support the Zhen family as the leader, but they will definitely support the Zhen family to compete for the position of Yuan Xi's son, and this matter will be a big deal.

Don't say whether your sister has this thought, but as long as she has this thought, it will definitely cause chaos in Hebei.

Zhen Yao himself is not a flamboyant person, and Yuan Xi has handed over the economic power to himself, so he must be more cautious.

Asking for someone from Hua Mulan, this is the best way, as soon as Hua Mulan leads the Jinyi Guard, she is herself supervising the entire Hebei forces.

Second, Mulan is Yuan Xi's side room, and she has not yet given birth, so she will not participate in any forces except Yuan Xi.

Thinking about this, Zhen Yao solemnly bowed to Bing Yuan and said, "Thank you Bing Changshi for reminding me, Yao almost missed a big event." ”

Bing Yuan gave a serious "um", which was a response, Yuan Xi shook his head and smiled: "Okay, this matter is settled, let's talk about the rest." ”

Everyone laughed and tacitly agreed.

Xu Shu spoke first: "Zhang Xiuna has sent news that he has broken through the siege of Yuan, and the military peak is directed at Jincheng, Zhong Yuan often sends 50,000 quintals of military rations, and we have to transport a batch of grain and grass here." ”

Yuan Xi nodded and looked at Bing Yuan, Zhong Xuan should send food to Zhang Xiu, Hebei will help them in this battle, as for his little Jiujiu, he will not tell the Cao Jun camp.

"Tell Youchang that after this battle, a group of Qianghu women will come back, and they will be young and able to give birth, and there are more men and fewer women in Qingzhou and Jizhou in recent years, which is very important."

Saying that, without waiting for everyone to object, he said majestically: "Population is the follow-up force of development, in these troubled times, women and children have suffered the most casualties, and from today onwards, orders will be issued not to abuse wives and daughters, and violators will be punished with canes." ”

Everyone can only give up when they think about it, Yuan Xi is right, who is the most miserable in troubled times, women are the most miserable, because they can't beat men, only those who are bullied.

And when fleeing, the most people who died were women and children, after all, men had good physical strength, and warlords in various places wanted to expand their armies, and most of the men who were arrested, except for those who were killed, were actually incorporated into the army.

As for women, they are completely wasted food, and most of them are killed after venting, unless you are really beautiful and are favored by those who are in high positions, you can live.

In the troubled times, the population was greatly reduced, in fact, the most people died were women, children and the elderly, but with the decrease in women, the next generation has no life, which is even worse.

It's just that the warlords in the war won't think about this problem, and only after they have laid down their territory to recuperate, will they remember the stupid things they did before, but it's too late.

Therefore, in ancient times, every time the troubled times ended, it took decades to recover, and the reason was very simple, no one farmed.

The population of an agricultural society is more important than that of later generations, and the main economic source of the state is agricultural tax revenue, and a large amount of farmland is barren and uncultivated, and the state cannot collect enough tax revenue, so construction should not be accelerated.

In later generations, when the war subsides, it may be restored in a dozen years, but in ancient times, it was at least thirty years, or even longer, for this reason.

"Alright, now let's talk about Zhong Yingna."

Shu Shao went to Liaodong last year to replace Meng Jian and served as the Taishou of Liaodong, and then Yuan Xi built a secret base in Liaodong.

Hundreds of skilled blacksmiths were sent there, and few people knew what they were doing there, so Xu Shu and the others naturally knew.

Hearing Yuan Xi's words, Zhen Yao was first pleasantly surprised: "Lord, did you succeed?" ”

Yuan Xi nodded with a smile, looked at everyone and said proudly: "Zhong Ying has sent a letter, and he has personally tested the power, the range is about five miles, and the hundreds of bullets are scattered, which has a great ability to deal heavy damage to the military formation." ”

"Good!"

"Great!"

"The wisdom of the lord is really incomprehensible."

Three people in three ways, but the same excitement.

Yuan Xi laughed and said: "I named this thing the Tiger Squat Cannon, and it can be used in two forms. First, it is two feet long, with a diameter of two inches, weighs 36 catties, and has a range of more than three miles, and the second or three feet or more, with a caliber of three inches, weighs 50 catties, and has a range of five miles......"

Yes, it was the artillery that Yuan Xi cast in the secret base of Liaodong, and due to the craftsmanship of this era, the musket could not be popularized, so he could only retreat to the second.

The artillery does not need to be manned, and the cannon is too bulky, there is no vacuum technology in this era, and the oil pressure or anything else can only be used to use this tiger squat cannon that is both light and lethal enough to deal with cold weapons.

This is an artillery that has been verified by Qi Jiguang's actual combat, and the biggest advantage is that soldiers with good physical fitness can carry it alone.

And it's a curved artillery, which poses a great threat to the enemy with cover, and it's still a scatterfire mode, a dozen and a lot.

In this era, the distance of three to five hundred meters is enough to make the enemy's soul scatter.

Of course, this is thanks to the iron ore discovered in Liaodong, otherwise Yuan Xi would not be able to have the technology, but fortunately, God favored him and let him take Liaodong in advance.

By the way, the Tiger Squat Cannon not only needs fine iron, but also copper, which increases the ductility of the gun body and is not easy to blow up.

As for gunpowder, there is no high-end one, but he can still do it with black powder particle technology, in fact, it is now a flintlock pistol, and Liaodong can also make it.

It's just that it takes at least a month or two for a barrel, and this efficiency is still calculated, and when an army is installed, I'm afraid everyone will unify the world.

The Tiger Squat Cannon is different, the barrel is two or three inches in caliber, it is easier to polish, and the speed is more than ten times faster, as for rifling, don't think about it, it can't be done now.

Moreover, artillery can be poured and then polished, but muskets cannot, so it will be faster to build artillery.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, almost all the artillery was poured with iron, and if there were too many bubbles, they would be melted and recast, and there was no waste of materials.

This is an incomparable convenience in the manufacture of muskets, and it can be made in this era, and Yuan Xi's choice is actually correct.

As for the world-leading firearms technology, with its own tiger squat cannon enlightenment, future generations can still be surpassed by foreign devils, that is, generation after generation waste, it is not a pity to die.

"How many tiger squat cannons are going to be made by the lord, and the number of people who operate each one, and now the training should be raised, so as not to be sent to the army when the time comes, and one by one will not be used."