The next day, the R&D Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs.

Li Congyan gave a few orders to the R&D Department last night, ordering Si Cheng Guogan to prepare some machinery for backup, and rushed here early this morning with Li Wei and Wu Conghan.

Li Wei has been to the R&D Department many times, and he has some understanding of some of the machinery used by the R&D Department, and said suspiciously: "Lord, these are the wire drawing tables for making gold wires and iron rings in the workshop, how to use these things to make sharp weapons to restrain the Khitan cavalry?" ”

Li Congyan said with a smile: "Don't worry, I'll reveal the answer in a moment." ”

As soon as the words fell, several craftsmen over there had already set up the wire drawing table. When Li Congyan saw this machine for the first time, he recognized that it was clearly the operating table used by goldsmiths in later generations, which could draw gold and silver jewelry and make shapes. It's just that the drawing table of this era is very simple, and it does not have the industrial texture of later generations.

At the same time, two other craftsmen brought another machine, a mold table specially used to cool the molten iron. Then a craftsman brought some molten iron from a crucible.

"Alright, you're all set!"

Li Congyan beckoned everyone to come forward and demonstrated for everyone with his own hands: "The thing I made today is called barbed wire, which is a sharp weapon for restraining cavalry, you have to watch carefully, in the future, the R&D Department will improve the production process, and the Ministry of Military Affairs will make it on a large scale and equip the whole army." ”

"Whoa!"

Si Cheng Guogan and a group of hundreds of workers looked at Li Congyan intently, Li Wei and Wu Conghan were also intent, not knowing how these machines specially used to make gold and silver jewelry could make weapons to restrain cavalry.

"Okay, let's start now."

After speaking, Li Congyan commanded two hundred workers to pour the molten iron in the crucible into the mold table, only to see the hot and bright red molten iron slowly flowing into the guide trough, viscous and downward, and finally into the mold specially made temporarily.

This mold is a long groove that looks like a slender sword, but it is longer and thinner than a sword.

"Alright, stop!"

Li Congyan saw that the poured molten iron was about to fill the mold, so he asked the two hundred workers to stop dumping. The molten iron that had already flowed into the mold slowly filled the long grooves under the gaze of everyone, and then cooled down to a red-hot strip of iron.

Li Congyan observed the temperature of the iron sheet, and saw that the color of the iron sheet slowly turned dark red, so he ordered hundreds of workers to send the iron sheet to the wire drawing table.

Two hundred workers used a special iron rod to pry the mold, and then put the mold on the drawing table. This drawing table was temporarily modified by the R&D Department last night, and there is a special place on it for the mold.

After the mold is placed, the hundred workers who operate the wire drawing table begin to rotate the handle, and one end of the long iron piece is pulled, only to see a red iron bar through a round hole of moderate size, and is immediately stretched into a wire thinner than chopsticks, and then these hot wires are dragged to the sink in the middle of the wire drawing table, and the wire is pulled out after the water is cooled. The form is completely fixed.

"It's done!"

Li Congyan looked at the gray-white wire and said with a smile: "This wire is a semi-finished product, and it needs to be processed next." ”

Li Wei frowned slightly and said, "Lord, how can this thin wire intercept the cavalry charging at high speed?" Is it necessary to pull up on the battlefield? ”

The barbed wire tactics of later generations were naturally not something that Li Wei could imagine, Li Congyan said with a smile: "Didn't I say that this is a half-finished product? After a while, I'll show you how to use it. ”

After speaking, Li Congyan ordered these hundred workers to continue to operate in this way, making as many wires as possible, and at the same time called a few hundred workers, and also found some iron tongs and other things, and taught them hand in hand.

"These wires are to be screwed together, limited to three strands, and the three strands of wire are twisted into one large strand, and then at intervals, a short wire is placed on top to form an iron thorn. Like this......"

Li Congyan said as he made a few iron spikes with iron tongs, and then said: "This is the distance, the distance between each two iron thorns should not be too long, if it is too long, it will not have the effect of killing and intercepting." The distance between the two iron spikes should not be too close, otherwise it will not only be easy to hurt yourself during production, but it will also be very troublesome when deploying on the battlefield in the future. According to this distance, it is about the distance of an adult's forearm. ”

"Whoa!"

At this time, all the processes and processes have been clear, and Li Congyan stood aside with Wu Conghan and Li Wei to watch, and guided them from time to time.

Si Cheng Guogan and his hundreds of workers were busy, and they were divided into three groups, one group was responsible for cooling the molten iron and pouring it into the mold, one group was responsible for pulling the iron wire and cooling and shaping, and one group was responsible for twisting the iron wire and fixing the iron bars.

Under the command of Si Cheng Guogan, three groups of more than a dozen workers worked together, and soon mastered all the steps and became more and more proficient.

Li Congyan looked very happy in his heart, at this time, the skills of the hundred craftsmen were superb, and not only did not reject some new processes and new technologies, but they studied very seriously as if they were absorbing nutrients.

"Maybe this is the legacy of the Tang Dynasty!"

After sighing, Li Congyan instructed the third group of 100 workers and instructed everyone to roll the finished barbed wire into bundles, just like the barbed wire in later generations, and only need to pull the two ends to arrange a circular barbed wire defense line.

At this time, Li Wei looked at a bundle of barbed wire that had been completed, and asked, "Lord, how can this barbed wire be used on the battlefield?" ”

Li Congyan said: "In the future, when encountering the enemy's cavalry on the battlefield, we only need to erect wooden stakes at intervals of 20 paces in front of our army's formation, and then pull up this barbed wire fence and fix it on a number of wooden stakes to form a barbed wire defense line. ”

While speaking, Li Congyan commanded two hundred workers to pull out a roll of barbed wire, and then continued: "You see, if this barbed wire is fixed with wooden stakes, hundreds or thousands of bundles of barbed wire form a solid defense line, this defense line is not only half a man high, but also stretches for several miles, or even more than ten miles, and the enemy cavalry cannot cross it at all, unless it is not as hard as the casualties!" ”

"You can imagine that our army is waiting for the enemy behind the barbed wire fence with a strict military formation, behind the barbed wire are spears and knives, and in the sky there are countless arrows raining, how many people will be lost by the enemy's iron cavalry if they want to break through the barbed wire fence and rush to our army's formation? Our army can rely on the combination of barbed wire and military formations to maximize the damage to the enemy's troops! ”

Listening to Li Congyan's explanation, a picture seemed to appear in front of Li Wei and Wu Conghan's eyes: the Khitan cavalry all over the mountains was charging, and the Dengzhou soldiers were waiting for them. In front of the army formation formed by the soldiers of Dengzhou, the dense barbed wire has been deployed, and the iron piercing on it is piercing with cold light, and the long defense line has no opportunity to take advantage of, which makes the Khitan people who rushed to the front feel deep despair.

Immediately afterwards, countless Khitan cavalry tried to ride their horses across the barbed wire, but it was not easy to cross the half-man-high barbed wire defense line, a large number of Khitan cavalry were entangled in the barbed wire, and the neighing of the horses in pain and the painful cries of the Khitan soldiers falling to the ground came and went. Many war horses and Khitan soldiers were entangled in barbed wire, pierced by iron thorns, and before they could make contact with the Dengzhou soldiers, they had already messed up the formation and lost a large number of troops!

At this time, Wu Conghan's eyes lit up, and he said excitedly: "This move of the Lord is really a stroke of genius, genius!" Who would have thought that this thin wire would have such a big effect! ”

Li Wei stroked the barbed wire fence and said loudly: "Lord, my subordinates think that on the battlefield, we can also dig trenches about ten steps in front and behind the barbed wire defense line to prevent the enemy cavalry from jumping on horseback, and even deploy spiked wooden stakes in these two trenches, so that our army's battle formation should be indestructible!" ”

Li Congyan nodded appreciatively, Li Wei's tactical mind was very good, and according to the use of barbed wire, he had already thought of what the main fortifications of the positional warfare in the firearms era would look like in the later generations.

"Not bad!"

Li Congyan said with a smile: "It's just that in this way, the movement of our army's array will also be restricted, so the defense methods you just said still need to be improved." For example, the entire defense line should reserve entrances and exits of a certain width at intervals, and fill the defense with ballistas or Wuhan Iron and Steel chariots, so that the army can pass when attacking or pursuing. ”

Li Wei was immediately instructed, and hurriedly ordered his subordinates to record it, and then said: "The subordinates have written it down, and then the Ministry of Military Affairs will improve the use of barbed wire, as well as the supporting battle formations and fortifications." The subordinates will report to the Lord as soon as possible, and then comprehensively promote the whole army to conduct drills. ”

"Well, that's good!"

Then, Li Congyan said to Si Cheng Guogan: "The R&D Department will improve and improve the process and production process of the barbed wire as soon as possible, within five days. After perfecting, the technology will be transferred to the Military Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs as soon as possible for mass production, and within two months, I will equip all departments of the field army with barbed wire! ”

"Whoa!"

"This matter must be done as soon as possible, Minister Li must personally keep an eye on it, now the Khitans are rampant on the northern border, although it is far away from our Dengzhou, but we must not take it lightly, we must do our best to prepare for war!"

Li Wei forked his hands and said, "Oh! ”

While he was talking, the accompanying guards came in and reported: "Your Majesty, the commander of the Zhenfu Division asks Bai Jixun to see!" ”

Li Congyan frowned slightly and said, "Come in!" ”

"Whoa!"

Soon, Bai Jixun entered the house, and said with his crossed hands: "Your Majesty, Beizhen Fusi is urgent!" ”

After speaking, Bai Jixun took out a red letter, Li Congyan took it and opened the envelope, and then his face became solemn.

"Order the Fusi of Beizhen to pay close attention to the intelligence of Luoyang and Hedong, and all the information will be replied every three days, and there must be no mistakes!"

"Whoa!"

After Bai Jixun received the order, he turned around and left, Wu Conghan and Li Wei glanced at each other, and they both saw the worry in each other's eyes.

Li Congyan looked at the two of them and said: "The Khitan people have divided their troops, and the imperial court intends to increase the authority of the Hedong Jiedu envoy, and use the Hedong Jiedu envoy as the commander of the northern Xinjiang to control the surrounding soldiers and horses to resist the Khitan army!" ”

Li Wei was shocked and said: "In this way, the land of clouds and the important town in Hedong will be in Shi Jingjiao's bag!" ”

Wu Conghan also frowned, and said: "This is not enough, the northern Xinjiang borders the Khitan, once Shi Jingjiao becomes the climate, and there are Khitan people behind it, it will definitely cause trouble in the future." The Lord had expected that Shi Jingjiao would be a great disaster, but now it has really become a reality! ”

Li Congyan said in a deep voice: "This is exactly what I am worried about. Now that I am far away in Dengzhou, I have no power to intervene in these major events, so I can only pay attention to them. But not being able to intervene does not mean doing nothing. ”

Speaking of this, Li Congyan said to Wu Conghan and Li Wei: "From today on, Dengzhou must turn its attention to the periphery, whether it is the Ministry of Civil Affairs or the Ministry of Military Affairs, they must be prepared, it will not be long before the world will be completely subverted, and the troubled times are coming!" ”

Wu Conghan and Li Wei changed color in shock when they heard this.