The sun fell on the horizon, the fiery red light covered half of the sky, reflecting the outline of Zhongshan in the distance, and the imperial city was like a palace beauty dressed in a golden gauze robe, which was thrillingly beautiful.

When Lord Song Li, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, withdrew from the hall, the corners of his mouth were a little proud and arrogant, but when he saw the queen's sedan chair and the honor guard, he still smiled at the right time.

Bowing his head sideways and not daring to look directly, after the queen, the palace maids, and the eunuchs entered the palace, Song Li slowly walked towards Hongwu Gate.

It's about to be the time for the dinner of the nobles, and Song Li, as an authentic minister, can neither nor want to participate in it, and now Song Li has received a very simple task.

Approaching the national teacher Jiang Xinghuo.

In this era, it is very normal for the emperor to spy on everyone except himself, even the prince.

The eldest prince Zhu Gaochi and the second prince Zhu Gaochu, there are not many emperors around?

Everyone knows that if you pretend not to know, if you have the emperor by your side, the emperor will be at ease with you.

In fact, Song Li was the first person to eat the dividends of the secret folding system, as he guessed, the emperor would not allow anyone to threaten his imperial power, and it was necessary to bury a hand of idle chess from time to time, and Song Li was willing to play the role of a chess piece.

So where is the national teacher?

Under the guidance of the eunuchs, Song Li left the palace city, and in a corner of the imperial city, he successfully met the national teacher.

This is the Inner Court War Bureau, and near this is also the Eight Bureaus of the Inner Court (War Bureau, Silver Bureau, Huanyi Bureau, Scarf and Hat Bureau, Needlework Bureau, Inner Weaving and Dyeing Bureau, Wine and Vinegar Noodle Bureau, Siyuan Bureau), in this huge imperial city, the traditional territory range.

At this time, the eunuchs of the War Bureau and the eunuchs of the Admiral Armory were all accompanying the national teachers, Rong Guogong, the second prince and others who came to inspect.

So the one who came to greet Song Shilang was a secretary of the War Bureau.

"It's good to teach Song Shilang to know."

He Shu proudly introduced to Song Shilang: "Our military war bureau is in charge of manufacturing weapons, armor, bows and arrows for the national dynasty, and there is also a gunpowder department to make gunpowder, which is also under our management. ”

Song Li nodded perfunctorily, he was not interested in learning about these utensils for the army, he just followed and looked at them, and what he saw along the way, common weapons such as knives, guns, swords, and halberds all had special treasury, accounting for row after row, and blunt weapons such as whips and axes were slightly less.

Turning around the storehouse, there were bundles of arrows piled up, and bows that had been strung off.

Walking further, Fang saw the figure of Yao Guangxiao, the prince of Rongguo, and expected that the young man in a green shirt next to him was the national teacher Jiang Xinghuo.

Several people were watching something intently, and Song Li stepped forward.

When he approached, he found that it was Zhu Gaoxu, the second prince who was tall and tall, and was standing a little far away with a big bow with horns.

When Yao Guangxiao saw Song Li coming, he glanced at him thoughtfully, and immediately asked Song Li to watch it together.

In front of Zhu Gaoxu, there was a row of objects, all of which were used as targets.

They were doing an experiment, the main purpose of which was to compare the power of firearms and bows and arrows at close range.

Well, the distance and distance were not selected because the effective distance of the firebolt is just that.

Standing side by side with Zhu Gaoxu were several gunpowder craftsmen holding firearms, and behind him were other craftsmen of the military battle bureau who were in a circle.

This is Jiang Xinghuo told the craftsmen of the War Bureau the principle of making hot air balloons and the materials required, and when he saw that it was still early, he temporarily made up his mind to see how the fire guns of this era performed in all aspects.

Zhu Gaoxu shouted confidently.

"Mr. Jiang is optimistic, in the front row, there are red lacquer regimental plates, water-mill chain helmets, red-lacquered waist-length cowhide armor, water-mill willow leaf steel armor, and spear horse red armor (vest with armored horse riding horses), I bent the bow one by one."

When Jiang Xinghuo heard this, he bowed his head slightly to signal that Zhu Gaoxu could start.

Zhu Gaoxu drew an arrow and put it on the bowstring of the bullhorn bow, and his wrist exerted force, and the explosive force pulled the entire horn bow like a full moon.

Zhu Gaoxu aimed at the opposite side, let go of his fingers, and only heard a "boom" sound, and a sharp arrow flew out of the air.

Immediately after that, there was a muffled sound of "poof", and the arrow did not enter the red lacquer group, and directly nailed through a few inches, and the arrow feathers trembled endlessly.

However, Zhu Gaoxu's face was not red or breathless, and he skillfully drew another arrow from the quiver on the ground, and continued to bend the bow to shoot.

In a short time, several targets were hit by arrows.

At this close range of twenty paces, Zhu Gaoxu, a fierce general with amazing strength, used a horn bow that exceeded the size of an ordinary foot bow, combined with heavy arrows, and caused considerable damage to the armor.

The overseer of the War Bureau wanted to bring a few pieces of armor over, but Jiang Xinghuo waved his hand and walked over to take a closer look.

Jiang Xinghuo rubbed the red lacquered waist-length cowhide armor that bloomed after being pierced by a prismatic arrow, and then looked at the water mill willow leaf steel armor that should have a stronger theoretical defense ability, but found that the dense armor pieces that pierced the armor and the cowhide belt that connected the nail leaves through the holes, and the position where they were hit by the heavy arrows were directly dented into a small piece.

Jiang Xinghuo thought in his heart.

"So the Jurchens in the previous life relied on the strong bows and arrows of the mounted heavy infantry to destroy the Liaodong Army's will to fight at close range. Until firearms make technological breakthroughs that can be called revolutionary, I am afraid that they will not be able to completely replace the bow and crossbow. ”

However, Jiang Xinghuo still gave some expectations to the firecrackers of this era, and then it was the turn of the firecrackers of the Gunpowder Division of the War Bureau to see their performance.

Several craftsmen lined up in a row, holding fire guns, standing not far in front of Jiang Xinghuo, their expressions solemn, obviously very stressed.

Jiang Xinghuo also looked at them seriously, although these people were craftsmen, but after all, they were eating in the imperial city, and the spirit of the craftsmen he saw in Xuancheng was not the same, and they looked energetic in their manners, and they were obviously experienced in their movements, and they were quite good at firearms.

The eunuch of the Palm Seal of the War Bureau is newly replaced, and it turns out that Ma Jing, the eunuch of the Yan Palace, belongs to Zheng He's old colleague, this person knows the status of the national teacher in the emperor's heart, and knows that this is a good opportunity to tie up, so he naturally refuses to miss it.

Ma Jing, the eunuch of the Palm Seal of the War Bureau, went to several craftsmen and whispered a few words, which was about to give full play to his demeanor and make the national teacher pay attention to it, but also not to embarrass His Royal Highness by the second prince.

The craftsmen looked at each other, and after a moment, one of the older craftsmen took the lead and said, "Please rest assured, father-in-law, I will understand." ”

Several other young men chimed in.

Ma Jing, the eunuch of the Palm Seal of the War Bureau, nodded and smiled: "You have done a good job, and I will reward you a lot when I go back." ”

Immediately several craftsmen began the preparations for the launch, pouring the gunpowder from the bag into the powder chamber in the shape of a flat gourd, and then stuffing the projectile.

Jiang Xinghuo also watched from the side, and reminded: "Be careful, it is easy to explode if the charge is too much, this time only look at the power of the normal state, don't think about the power of more charges." ”

Ma Jing, the eunuch of the Palm Seal of the War Bureau, turned his head and said suspiciously: "The national teacher knows firearms? ”

"I know a little bit about it."

Jiang Xinghuo nodded, and then asked, "If you talk about firearms, who knows best in the War Bureau?" ”

Ma Jing, the eunuch of the Palm Seal of the War Bureau, pointed to the older craftsman who had just answered.

Jiang Xinghuo kept it in his heart.

Song Li looked at this scene, and his heart was a little surprised.

Legend has it that this national teacher is a genius who knows all about astronomy, geography, law and administration, but he didn't expect that he also knows gunpowder weapons. As for whether he really understands or fakes, Song Li can't tell, anyway, he doesn't understand, he only understands water conservancy.

Not much.

"Bang!" There was a low thud, and smoke came out of the firecracker.

Then a series of firecrackers rang out, and the projectiles in several firearms were pushed by the gunpowder and rolled towards the target in front of them.

Everyone gathered around the perimeter, watching with bated breath, waiting for the heavy smoke to dissipate.

Jiang Xinghuo took Dao Yan and Zhu Gaoxu to check.

The red lacquer regimental card bounced off the projectile, slightly dented, but it was not broken, the helmet was penetrated, and the defensive effect of the cowhide armor against the projectile was better than that of the armor and the vest, but there were different damages.

"It seems that this distance is not much worse than a bow and arrow......"

"That's a lot of power."

The crowd was amazed.

But the layman looks at the bustle, and the insider looks at the doorway.

Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said: "The power of the distance of twenty steps is about the same as that of an ordinary bow and arrow, and the distance is fifty steps, I am afraid that even half of the power of the bow and arrow is gone, not to mention that the crossbow is still a fancy thing, and it has to be used together with the car array." ”

Jiang Xinghuo didn't rush to deny anything, this was the case, he checked it, but said with satisfaction: "Well, it's good, but there is still room for improvement." ”

Ma Jing, the eunuch of the Palm Seal of the War Bureau, hugged his fists and said: "Please also ask the national teacher for guidance." ”

In fact, this is just a polite sentence.

Ma Jing thought that Jiang Xinghuo knew the saying "blowing up", but no matter how much he had, he probably didn't know much about it.

After all, even he, who has followed Zhu Di to the battlefield and seen how the Southern Army is safe and Sheng Yong uses firearms, is actually a little ignorant.

But Jiang Xinghuo summoned a few craftsmen over and said seriously.

"There are a few things that I think can be improved at the moment for the current firearms, so let's write them down."

Now, Mo said that it was those young craftsmen, that is, the older craftsmen, who were a little muttered in their hearts.

Those of them who do crafts are most afraid of being a layman who is a boss to guide an insider.

It is easy to say otherwise, especially the gunpowder and firearms, knowing that the guidance is wrong, they still have to do it, and they will break their arms and legs at the slightest explosion, and at the worst they will take their lives, which is really miserable.

But the young national teacher's next words made several craftsmen change their minds in an instant.

(End of chapter)