Xiao Cheng stood on the hillside. Not far from the bottom of the mountain was a huge open land, about several acres in size. It was surrounded by high wooden fences. There were dozens of animals of various colors locked inside.

wolves, and on the other side, I actually saw tigers and leopards.

These usually extremely ferocious guys were curled up listlessly. They were probably very hungry. After all, they hadn't had much to eat since arriving here.

Now these wolves gathered together, staring at the tigers not far away with their faint eyes. It was obvious that they were ready to prey on these ferocious beasts.

Xiao Cheng ordered his subordinates to bring some wild wolves. He never thought that in a short period of time, not only wolves would be sent to him from various places, but also mountain insects and leopards.

The people below thought that Xiao Cheng was interested and wanted to hunt around, so they didn't dare to neglect, and immediately organized people to go up the mountain.

At this time, the usually arrogant ferocious beasts in the entire Guizhou Road mountain suddenly suffered a disaster.

Naturally, there were only a few people who were captured and sent to Xiao Cheng alive and kicking, and the greater number were killed in the process of capture.

Naturally, dead beasts cannot be brought up.

However, the government's move has brought a lot of benefits to the people living in the mountains. At least when they go out to cut firewood and collect herbs, they will no longer be snatched away by these ferocious beasts.

This kind of thing happened frequently in the past.

Xiao Cheng naturally didn't get these things for hunting. In fact, he wanted to use these things to try out the new weapons he had just made.

Right now, this new weapon is lined up around him.

cannon.

Cannon made of wood.

Xiao Cheng originally planned to make a bronze cannon. He did make one.

But it is a pity that his black powder power is too weak and cannot send the iron ball very far. It is worthless for the battle.

He had no choice but to give up.

Until new gunpowder is developed, there is no need to dream about such an epoch-making weapon.

But wooden cannons can still be used.

Choose lychee, elm, oak and other extremely hard trees, cut them open first, repair the inner chambers, then put them together, tie them up thinly with iron bars and wires, and then fill them inside.

Black gunpowder, and then stuffing it with gravel, iron nails, iron filings, etc., can shoot hundreds of steps in one shot.

The key is, these things are not expensive.

The power of Xiao Cheng's improved black powder has shocked the world, but in Xiao Cheng's opinion, it is simply not worth mentioning, but that's all it can do for now. The progress of science and technology can never be achieved overnight, maybe in

One day, someone has an inspiration and can make gunpowder even more powerful.

Today, there is a special workshop for making black powder in the Fusifu on Guizhou Road. After several years and many improvements, they can now produce hundreds of kilograms of powerful black powder a year.

"Let's begin!" Xiao Cheng waved his hand, and an officer below lit a large firecracker.

He waved his hand and threw it into the pen.

There was a bang and smoke filled the air.

The ferocious beasts in the circle have never seen this thing before.

In an instant, everyone was running around like crazy.

At this time, on the hillside, another officer waved his hand downwards and ordered: "Fire!"

The soldiers who had been prepared extended their torches to the back of the wooden cannon and lit the fuse.

Xiao Cheng, on the other hand, was surrounded by personal guards and retreated. Several layers of large shields were spread out in front of him. He wanted to stick his head out to see what was going on, but was pushed back by the personal guards.

The guards have seen this kind of thing before.

The rumbling sounds sounded one after another,

The hillside was filled with smoke, but for a moment, nothing could be seen.

However, the previous sounds of howling wolves and howling tigers were basically inaudible after these sounds started.

Finally the gunfire stopped, and the mountain breeze took away the smoke.

The scene in the pen below appeared in front of everyone again.

Everyone took a breath of cold air.

Those once majestic ferocious beasts are basically all lying down now.

In the pen, blood flowed like a river.

There are still some who have not died, dragging the body of Blood Lake and crawling in the pen, wailing constantly.

After all, these were ten wooden cannons bombarding this small area at the same time.

Several people entered the fence under the protection of the soldiers,

These people are what Xiao Cheng calls professionals. They have a high status on Guizhou Road, equivalent to officials.

Soon, they appeared in front of Xiao Cheng one after another.

All kinds of data started pouring out of their mouths.

After listening to their report, Xiao Cheng stood up with a laugh, clapped his hands and said: "So, in the future, we can use this thing to resist the Liao people's cavalry group charges."

"Yes!" A goatee nodded repeatedly: "Although the power is not up to what you said in Futai, and the damage to the armored stomach is still quite limited, it is very effective against horses without armored stomachs. And Futai is very effective.

Taiwan, even armor-clad soldiers cannot fight against this thing. After all, you can count the number of armies that can be covered in iron armor from head to toe on your fingers."

"Yes! I deserve a reward!" Xiao Cheng said: "Tian Yi, go back and allocate a reward of 100,000 yuan to the craftsmanship department, so that they can have a good life!"

When he heard this, the goatee's face suddenly burst into laughter.

"Thank you Futai for the reward."

"Although the results are impressive, they are still far from what I want!" Xiao Cheng said: "Don't be complacent. You still need to explore hard and make progress year after year."

"Don't worry Futai." Goatee said continuously: "Futai attaches so much importance to our craftsmanship department. Everyone in the craftsmanship department is willing to serve and die, and they will definitely get what Futai wants."

"Okay, I'll wait!" Xiao Cheng left with satisfaction.

The power of this kind of wooden cannon is already very good. Each cannon can be fired about fifteen to twenty times. The key is that it is easy to make. One day, I will encounter the Liao people's success on the battlefield.

In a scene where thousands of war horses charge, I would get dozens or hundreds of these wooden cannons to blast them.

Thinking about it, the scene was quite spectacular.

But it seems that from now on, we need to save gunpowder.

The production of gunpowder has always faced a big bottleneck, and the output still cannot increase.

If you save enough for a year, you probably won't have to fight a war.

We have to find other ways to expand production.

I happily rode back to the Yamen. Before I even got off my horse, I already felt that something was strange about the situation.

Outside the door, there were more than a dozen horses tied up, some of which were good horses. He knew whose horses they belonged to. These people were all big shots on the road in Guizhou today.

Dismounting from his horse and striding into the door, Xiao Cheng saw Liu Fengkui at a glance. What shocked him the most was that he also saw a person who would never get in front of him if nothing happened. He was also a person who would definitely find trouble for him whenever he saw him.

Happy guy, Hu Yi, the nominal transfer envoy of Guizhou Road.

Now this guy is teaching in Guiyang Mansion, enlightening children.

There is a university hall in Guiyang Prefecture specially opened for young students who have achieved academic success. It is a pity that Xiao Cheng does not allow this guy to enter and spread his theories at all.

The only thing he can do is enlighten children.

At this moment, when he saw Xiao Cheng coming, he immediately strode forward to greet him, clasping his hands into fists, and bowing to the ground, but he couldn't stand up for a long time.

Xiao Cheng sidestepped and said, "Xueshi Hu, why is this? A few days ago, Cui Ang led an army to attack the northwest hinterland. I remember that you came to me to show off your power, occupying the front and then being respectful. Could it be Cui Ang?"

Ang, this unsatisfied person, lost again?"

Hu Yi's body trembled slightly, he neither defended nor stood up.

"More than just losing?" Jiang Yingxue came over and put a stack of information into Xiao Cheng's hands. "A series of things happened too fast. The information in front of us had just been sent out, but something big happened later, so we sent it out quickly.

Come over here and catch up with the front, this information actually arrived in Guiyang together."

With this information in hand, Xiao Cheng did not go to see it immediately, but stared at Jiang Yingxue and said: "What's going on?"

Jiang Yingxue said: "Cui Ang lost, and the army of one hundred thousand was wiped out in smoke, and all of it fell into the hands of the elder brother."

“Expected!”

"At the same time as Cui Ang's defeat, the Liao State tore up its agreement with the DPRK. Hundreds of thousands of troops invaded the Song Dynasty from Hebei, Shanxi and other places. The places in Hebei were unprepared, or in other words, because of the series of actions of the Liao State in the early stage,

As a result, the troops were scattered and there was no danger to defend. They were defeated by the Liao army one by one. Within a month, the Liao army had already arrived at Daming Mansion."

"I reminded Ma Xing!" Xiao Cheng sighed.

"But this is not the most terrifying thing!" Jiang Yingxue said: "The Daming Mansion was destroyed, Ma Xing and Ma Yun father and son died in the battle, and what shocked the world even more was that Cui Ang, the Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty, actually surrendered

The Liao Kingdom was named King of Zhao by Yelu Jun. Under his leadership, the Liao Kingdom's army on the middle road was unstoppable along the way. The defense line that the Song Dynasty reluctantly set up along the Yellow River was also defeated because of Cui Bo of Huazhou surrendering to the enemy.

Now I'm afraid that the Liao army is about to arrive in Tokyo!"

At this moment, Xiao Cheng was really stunned.
To be continued...