After August, the weather has become much cooler. Unlike Jiangnan, there are powerful autumn tigers in Chengji County. Once August enters Chengji County, the weather cools down quickly, the wheat turns yellow, and the autumn harvest is coming.
This morning, Chen Qing came to a huge mountain col. There are many such mountain cols on the Loess Plateau and basically have no names. The mountain col is located in Chigu Town, twenty miles south of the city. It is the weapon testing site of the Military Artisan Department and the Firearms and Fire Oil Department.
The testing ground is also here.
The mountain col itself is more than ten miles long, narrow and not wide enough, but there are three branch valleys inside, each of which is a large space. It is simply a natural venue for weapons testing.
The weapons testing site of the Ordnance and Craftsmanship Department is located in the innermost branch valley. The branch valley is about three miles deep and two miles wide. Two rows of large warehouses have been built in it.
Chen Qing and the generals were standing on the stand with a radius of fifty feet. A few hundred steps away, a giant trebuchet was practicing throwing. This giant trebuchet was two feet tall, and its long throwing rod was four feet and two feet long.
It uses a jujube tree as its trunk and took nearly a year of repeated trials to make it. Its biggest advantage is that it can throw an eighty-pound object 350 steps away.
"If it were a 50-pound weight, would it be farther?" Chen Qingxiao asked.
The chief craftsman Xie Changzhi quickly explained: "Reporting to Dutong, the lighter the throw, the farther it is, just like a big man throwing a feather, but it is too powerful to use. We repeatedly debugged and found that eighty kilograms is the most suitable, and if the weight is accurate,
Basically, it’s three hundred and fifty steps, which is more accurate!”
Accuracy is very important to the Xihe Army now. They are not to defend the city, but to attack the city, so they spent a year developing this giant trebuchet...
Chen Qing nodded, "Let's start testing!"
As soon as the red flag was waved, eight soldiers pushed the winch, and the iron chain gradually pulled down the throwing pole. A two thousand kilogram iron box hung on the other end of the throwing pole. Through the lever principle, eight people could operate it.
The soldiers carefully put a large thin-skinned clay pot filled with kerosene and weighing 80 kilograms into the throwing pocket, and lit the kerosene. The soldiers shouted, the iron hook was released, and the throwing pole was instantly swung out, and the black kerosene was released.
The pot rose into the air with flames, flew towards the imitation city wall 350 steps away, and accurately hit the city head. The pottery pot shattered, the flames spread out, and the city head suddenly became a sea of fire.
There was a burst of warm applause in the stands. All the generals were experienced. They knew how difficult it was to hit the city head 350 steps away. No wonder it took a year to develop it.
Chen Qing understood a little bit and asked with a smile: "Isn't the simpler the more accurate?"
Xie Changzhi nodded, "We initially used poplar trees with relatively strong toughness as the poles, but found that there would always be deviations. Later we decided to use jujube wood, which has no toughness, and found that it was more stable. After repeated trials, we found the best one.
The length of the casting rod and the weight of the drop.”
Chen Qing thought for a while and asked: "But now we are at a testing ground. If we transfer to the battlefield, will there be any errors?"
"It is indeed possible, and we don't know where the precise 350 steps are. So it needs to be debugged by craftsmen on site, and it can be adjusted correctly in about three times."
Chen Qing said happily: "Think more about the details, transportation, and protection. I even suggest that you work hard on transportation wheels. It doesn't have to be wooden wheels. You can also consider using copper alloy wheels!"
"You must think carefully about your humble position!"
After coming out of the test site, there are large wheat fields not far away. They are completely yellow. The waves of wheat are undulating in the wind, just like a golden ocean. It will be fully mature in two or three days and can be harvested. At this time, the people are all family members.
Go out and wait in the wheat fields, mainly to drive away birds.
Birds also circled in flocks over the wheat fields.
Chen Qing looked at the wheat fields that were about to mature and felt an indescribable feeling of comfort in his heart. They had three major grain-producing areas, especially the grain production in the Hehuang Valley, which would fully meet the needs of the people and the army. They could even exchange sheep from the pastoral areas.
At this time, a huge camel team appeared in front, as many as four to five hundred, fully loaded with goods. This made Chen Qing slightly startled. This road to the south leads all the way to Beixianren Pass. This road leads to Beixianren Pass.
Where did the camel caravan come from?
He immediately ordered a soldier to inquire about the situation. After a while, a middle-aged man was brought up. He knew Chen Qing, and he quickly knelt down and saluted, "I pay my respects to you and my envoy!"
Chen Qing motioned to the soldiers to help him up, and asked him with a smile: "Are you a businessman from Qinzhou?"
"The villain is from Qingshui County and has been doing business for generations!"
"Where did your caravan come back from?"
“From Chengdu Prefecture?”
"Back from Chengdu with a full load of goods?"
"Exactly!"
Chen Qing was confused and asked: "Were you not strictly investigated when you passed through Jianmen Pass?"
"The inspection is very strict, and goods purchased by the government are not allowed to go north."
"Then how do you prove that you are not official goods?" Chen Qing asked curiously.
"The villain pays taxes in Chengdu Prefecture. The inspection is based on whether he has paid taxes. Moreover, they seem to have a list of goods. The villain purchased silk satin and tea cakes, which are not included in the list."
"What goods are on the list?"
"I don't know how many kinds there are, but I have only heard of pig iron, grain, fire salt, salt, gelatin, white wax rods, and feathers."
Chen Qing somewhat understood that Liu Guangshi did not allow the official purchase of goods on Xihe Road, but he also wanted to collect taxes, so he restricted officials but not citizens, and the goods he restricted were basically military supplies.
Thinking of this, a glimmer of hope ignited in Chen Qing's heart.
Chen Qing hurried back to Jinglue Mansion and immediately asked Zhu Sui to find Zhang Xiao and Jiang Yan first.
Not long after, Zhang Xiao and Jiang Yan hurried over first. Chen Qing asked them to sit down and told them about their encounter with the caravan today. Finally, he said with a smile: "We may have gone in the wrong direction. Liu Guangshi didn't mean to restrict them."
The normal trade of ordinary merchants only prohibits government procurement and prohibits military supplies from flowing into Xihe Road. If we leave the procurement to the private sector and do not involve military supplies, can we still purchase a large amount of supplies?"
"You can give it a try, or let Hu merchants from the Western Regions do it for you. I think the effect will be better."
The three of them discussed for a while and decided to give it a try first and find a Hu caravan as an agent to purchase goods for them. As for the materials purchased, they were mainly silks, cloths, and tea cakes.
In Hanzhong, aide Yang Chui'an hurriedly walked into Liu Guangshi's official room, clasped his fists and saluted, saying: "There is important news from Chengji County!"
Liu Guangshi became energetic and asked quickly: "How do you say it?"
"There is indeed a large-scale mining of copper and iron ore on Xihe Road, right in Hetie Mountain. Previously, the Xixia prisoners of war were responsible for the mining. After the Xixia prisoners of war returned, they have been recruiting miners. When the officials recruited, they said it was lead ore, but in fact it was copper and iron ore.
, the output of iron and copper is very large, now we know where Chen Qing’s military salary comes from.”
"good!"
Liu Guangshi happily slapped the table and said: "The imperial court has repeatedly issued orders that it does not allow the military in various places to mint money privately or mine iron ore privately. This has always been a ban. Now I want to see how he explains it to the officials."
"But could it be that the supervisor has already mentioned this matter to the officials?"
"Impossible! If the supervisory army told him, how could the Queen Mother not know that the supervisory team from Yushitai should have arrived long ago. It must be that this eunuch accepted a heavy bribe from Chen Qing and kept it a secret for him."
"What Ambassador Xuanfu said makes sense, what should we do now?"
"What else can be done?"
Liu Guangshi sneered and said: "Report to the officials and the Queen Mother immediately!"
