Zhao Yan's carriage hurriedly passed through Tokyo City and finally came to the Gunpowder Office located in the west of the city. Since the reorganization of the Military Arms Supervision, the original gunpowder office has become the Gunpowder Office, becoming one of the four major military Arms Supervision Offices. It has been expanding now. In addition to manufacturing gunpowder weapons, there is another function here, which is to test the power of new gunpowder weapons.

When Zhao Yan rushed to the Gunpowder Office, he saw that Shen Kuo and Su Shi were already waiting for him here. Although this old enemy in history often had a quarrel, they were both people who knew how to be sensible. Therefore, although personal relationships were not good, they would not affect official affairs. They even cooperated very well. It was probably because this was the reason why the enemy knew the most.

"Prince, you're here. The new bed crossbow has been designed successfully. Mass production can be started at any time. Today, please watch the power of the new bed crossbow. Has it met your requirements?" Shen Kuo immediately greeted him with surprise when he saw Zhao Yan coming. Although the new bed crossbow was invented by Zhao Yan, he made great contributions as a military weapon supervisor. Moreover, he made such contributions as soon as he took over as a military weapon supervisor, which can be regarded as a complete firm position.

"What new crossbow? The prince has renamed this weapon before. In the future, the word "bow" will be changed to "bow" when registering the arsenal in the future. Shen must not make mistakes, so as not to be laughed at!" At this time, Su Shi also came forward, but as soon as he spoke, he felt full of gunpowder. It seemed that he had been in the gunpowder office for a long time and had a gunpowder temper on his body.

"I naturally know that the new crossbow is called a crossbow, but the crossbow has not been officially mass-produced yet, and the name is the same!" Shen Kuo said hard, not to be outdone. Although his official position is higher than that of Su Shi, Su Shi, the military weapon chief, mainly manages the acceptance and storage of weapons, is not under his jurisdiction at all. He is even under Su Shi's supervision. In addition, the two have different tempers, so whenever they meet, they will almost have a fight.

"Okay, okay, you two, please don't argue. Let's first check the power of the crossbow. If there is no problem, please ask the official and a few husbands to come today. Let them also take a look at the results of our military weapon surveillance during this period!" Zhao Yan also knew that if Shen Kuo and Su Shi were quarreling, they would definitely not be able to stop for a while, so he hurriedly dissuaded.

Shen Kuo and Su Shi still had to give Zhao Yan's face. So they both glared at each other fiercely. Then they took Zhao Yan to the weapon test site. They saw that there was a crossbow designed by Zhao Yan. However, compared to the one made by Zhao Yan himself, the crossbow in front of him was much more professional.

I saw that this crossbow was twice as big as the one designed by Zhao Yan before. The workmanship was also very fine, especially the two torsion springs at the core of the crossbow. It was probably for Zhao Yan to observe, so the outer mask had been removed. Just by looking at it with the naked eye, you can see that the thickness and length of these two torsion springs are the same, and the materials used are the same, which must have solved the problem of uneven force of the two springs before.

"Please look at the prince. The bow string of the crossbow has changed the middle part into a leather pocket according to your instructions, so that it can fire shells or crossbow arrows. Now let's test the power of the crossbow!" Shen Kuo pointed to the bow string on the crossbow and explained.

Zhao Yan also realized that the bow string of the crossbow had indeed been transformed as he said, which made him very satisfied. He nodded and said, "Since that's the case, then try the power now!"

Seeing Zhao Yan agreeing, Shen Kuo immediately called two craftsmen. Originally, the crossbow cannon was mainly used to launch shells, but in order to prove that this crossbow cannon is available, the first time it was still fired was a crossbow arrow. The power of this crossbow cannon was much greater than the one designed by Zhao Yan before. Even if it was equipped with pulleys, it would be pulled away by two strong craftsmen. When the bow string was ready and the crossbow arrow was also put down, Shen Kuo personally took the wooden stick and hit the machine basket behind the bow string.

Zhao Yan only heard a "buzzing" sound, followed by a spear-like crossbow arrow that made a sharp sound of breaking through the air, and in the blink of an eye it shot a hundred steps away. Then, a "bang" sound was shot on a brick wall as a target, and it was nailed firmly on it. The tail was trembling constantly, and it seemed that the arrow was shooting very deep.

"Haha, the power is good, and the accuracy is much stronger than before!" Zhao Yan applauded when he saw an arrow hitting the target, and he immediately applauded. The craftsmen in the military weapon prison were professional. In such a short time, the problem of uneven force of the torsion spring was solved, and it could be mass-produced immediately. No wonder the ordnance of the Song Dynasty's armed forces has always been the top of the Three Kingdoms.

"Prince, we have to test the shells next. Let's hide behind the wall safely!" At this time, Shen Kuo walked over with several iron helmets and said. The shells were actually a large grenade. They need to be ignited and shot with a bed crossbow. However, if they are not shot, it would be too dangerous. Of course, the probability is very small, but Zhao Yan has a noble status, and even the smallest danger must be prevented in advance.

Zhao Yan has always cherished his life, so he was also good at doing things. He took the iron helmet from Shen Kuo's hand and put it on, and then came with Su Shi and the others behind a semicircular stone wall more than ten steps away from the crossbow. This thing was specially prepared to test those more dangerous weapons.

Zhao Yan and the others hid behind the wall, then stretched their heads to look out from the female wall above. The two craftsmen once again put the bowstring on the bowstrings, then took out a shell from the box next to them, cut off some of the money based on the estimated range of the crossbow. Only then did one person ignite the fire, and the other person was responsible for firing. As a result, the shell flew out like lightning, and detonated the moment it hit the target wall, and a big hole was blown out of the wall with a "boom".

"Okay!" Zhao Yan immediately shouted loudly when he saw this. He applauded the power of the crossbow and the control technology of the two craftsmen. After all, it took extremely rich experience and superb calculations to make the shells explode when they hit the wall. Even Zhao Yan himself could not do this.

However, compared to Zhao Yan's excitement, Shen Kuo said hesitantly: "Prince, the power of this crossbow is really unspeakable. As long as you can shoot the shells into the opponent's military formation, the enemy's formation can definitely be chaotic. But one thing is very troublesome, that is, the gunner needs to calculate the range before shooting to determine the length of the lead. Both craftsmen know how to calculate, so there is definitely no problem to control it, but if you are allowed to use it by ordinary soldiers, it may take some time to train."

"The power of crossbow cannons is several times or even dozens of times stronger than that of bed crossbows, catapults, etc. God is fair. Such powerful weapons naturally have some restrictions. Fortunately, this limit is nothing. At worst, you can just pick some smart soldiers from the army and let them learn it. Anyway, it won't take much time." Zhao Yan smiled indifferently when he heard this. The weapons in later generations are more complex, and even have higher requirements for the cultural level of soldiers. Compared with this, the operation of crossbow cannons is too simple. Even if you don't know the numbers, you can find some experience as long as a person operates it a few more times.

Hearing Zhao Yan's words, Shen Kuo and Su Shi nodded at the same time. At that moment, Zhao Yan asked two craftsmen to test-fire a few shells. After confirming that there was no problem with the crossbow, he rushed to the palace without stopping. After all, this powerful weapon must be seen by Zhao Shu and the others in person before it can be approved for official mass production.

However, what Zhao Yan never expected was that just as he walked to Zhao Shu's bedroom, he heard a "bang" sound coming from inside. Then Huang Wude and a group of palace maids and eunuchs escaped from inside in a panic. When he saw Zhao Yan, he immediately looked happy and said, "Your Majesty is here just right. Your Majesty is furious. We servants dare not persuade him. Go and persuade Your Majesty. Don't let him hurt the dragon body because of this!"

Zhao Yan was also stunned when she heard this, and then asked in confusion: "What's going on? It seems that there is no state affairs during this period. Moreover, the Chinese New Year is coming again, why did Dad get so angry?"

When Zhao Yan asked, the big spy leader Huang Wude looked around. He found that everyone around him was right and retreated, and then he spoke in a low voice: "What else can you get angry about? Isn't it because of the Empress Dowager?"

Zhao Yan immediately realized when he heard this. Zhao Shu's body had almost recovered during this period, but the power dispute between him and Empress Dowager Cao was even more intense. I don't know what Empress Dowager Cao thought. This time he actually held the power in his hand tightly, which made Zhao Shu so angry that he had no choice. However, there was no way. The biggest reason why Princess Shoukang had been living in Zhao Yan and did not return to the palace was that she was afraid of being involved in the battle between Empress Dowager Cao and Zhao Shu.

"So that's it, but I heard that Mr. Han and Mr. Ouyang had persuaded the Empress Dowager and his father respectively, which made their relationship ease. Why did his father get so angry again today?" Zhao Yan asked in confusion again. Although he made up his mind to ignore the power dispute between Empress Dowager Cao and Zhao Shu, it did not mean that he did not care about this matter. In fact, he and Princess Shoukang and others were also secretly paying attention to the fight between Empress Dowager Cao and Zhao Shu.

Hearing Zhao Yan's words, Huang Wude gritted his teeth and said angrily: "Prince, the matter in the palace is complicated, but it's still the same old saying, don't be afraid of no good things, but you're afraid of no good people. The Empress Dowager was originally a tolerant person and didn't care much about power. However, this time he was provoked by villains, so he refused to let go of the power in his hands."
Chapter completed!