Most of Hanzhong's workshops are concentrated in the eastern suburbs of the city and on the north bank of the Han River.
After leaving the city, when you look up, you can see the Bashan Mountains in the south towering into the clouds, and the sky and the earth are vast.
The workshops that are still under construction are in full swing, but the ones that have been built are too wide, giving the impression that there are not many human workers.
A donkey cart carried a cartload of kudzu stems into the garment workshop. More than ten women came out to pick up the goods and entered the workshop gate in a moment.
"That's shopkeeper Yan's business. In the winter, we start to make coarse cloth. This kind of cloth doesn't have much profit, it's not as good as silk silk."
"There are too many poor households. Let's make more coarse clothes first." Li Xia said, "Let's talk about profits later."
Hao Xiuyang said: "But there is no money to open an iron mine."
"Wait a minute, start the new year and draw from military expenditures."
Hao Xiuyang smiled, stroked his beard and said, "I knew Commander-in-Chief was coming today."
"Did Master Hao expect that?"
"Jie Shuai has been away for more than four months, so naturally he wants to see how things go as soon as he comes back."
Li Xia smiled and asked, "How is the progress?"
"Saltpeter is mined from Xuzhou, and sulfur is mined from Dazhou. Due to mining restrictions, more than 300 thunderbolt cannons can be made every month."
"Where are the other firearms?"
Li Xia was still looking forward to it, hoping to see a breakthrough after returning from Lin'an, hoping to make up for some of the gaps in the field battles on the Guanzhong Plain.
Hao Xiuyang smiled bitterly, raised his hand and said, "Commander Jie, please come this way."
Li Xia nodded, knowing that these things should be kept secret, so he and Hao Xiuyang walked for a while, passed through the armory, and walked into a tall tower.
Smoke kept rising from the tower.
After a long time, the two came out again. Hao Xiuyang shook his head and whispered something in Li Xia's ear.
"This thing is too heavy to be used on the plains. It is very difficult for us to build a cauldron. And with Mongolia's national power, once it is imitated, we will be the ones who suffer. Unless you have to do it, the general will not dare to show it to others easily."
"I understand." Li Xia sighed slightly and said, "Let's look at something else."
The two of them turned into another hut not far away.
"The principle, I understand it."
When Li Xia saw the two wooden fire guns on the table, his eyes lit up and he said, "Taoist Master Hao is really smart and wise."
"But I understand the principle, but it's useless for now."
Hao Xiuyang first picked up the longer and larger mold and said: "The flint gun, as Commander Ji said, is not difficult to understand. You only need to use the trigger to drive the flint, and the flint will hit the flint, and the sparks will ignite the ignition powder."
, the flame enters the blunderbuss tube, ignites the gunpowder in the tube, and propels the... bullet."
Li Xia looked at it and was very satisfied and praised: "Hao Dao is a talented person."
Hao Xiuyang waved his hand and said: "Jie Shuai Mo praises the old Taoist. The principle is simple, but the old Taoist cannot create it."
"Can't make it?"
"Maybe I can barely make one or two, but I guess it will be useless after just three or two bullets."
"Why?"
"How can the pipe wall withstand such force?"
"Iron pipes can't do it either?"
"It takes a lot of time to cast such an iron pipe. And the problem is not only this, the craftsmanship is too detailed, but also the gunpowder impurities, the amount, and how to control the amount when filling? After all, we have to explore slowly."
As Hao Xiuyang spoke, he picked up a bamboo musket and handed it to Li Xia, saying, "This is a hundred times cheaper than the musket that Jieshuai asked for. You can use it once and throw it away, so you might as well use this."
This musket was available in the Song Dynasty. It was made of a hard bamboo tube, wrapped with raw cowhide bands, and had gunpowder inside. The gunpowder fired stone and iron bullets.
To be able to create a sudden fire gun out of nothing, it must be said that the people of the Song Dynasty were extremely smart.
And the reason why there are only bamboo-tube muskets is because productivity can only produce them to this extent, or it can only be produced in "batch" to this extent.
This thing has a range of about dozens of steps and can easily injure one's own people.
Even with newly made gunpowder, the range cannot be increased because the bamboo tube cannot withstand greater explosive force.
"I don't want this."
Li Xia didn't answer, turned around and took a few steps.
"Speaking of firearms, Mongolia's firearms are even better than those of the Song Dynasty, right?"
"This is true if we don't count our newly made gunpowder." Hao Xiuyang said: "Mongolia received the firearms craftsmen of the Jin Kingdom and a large number of Semu people. The firearms of the Jin Kingdom are better than those of the Song Dynasty."
"There are fewer of them on the Sichuan and Sichuan battlefields. I heard that over at Jinghu Lake, when the Mongols attacked the city, in addition to thunder cannons, there were also artillery?"
"Yes, the stone is hollowed out, gunpowder is stuffed inside, and after it is lit, it is thrown out from a cannon cart. It is extremely powerful."
"They can only throw it from a cannon truck?"
Pardon Xiuyang and smile.
Li Xia asked again: "Do you think you can't leave it in Diaoyu City?"
"Commander Jie has never seen the Mongols attack a mountain city with artillery, so they can't throw it up the mountain. And if the lead is too short, it can't reach the mountainside, and if it's too long, it's easy to destroy. It's better to use stone cannons that can use local materials to attack mountains. "
Li Xia nodded.
"Therefore, there are two aspects to the use of firearms, one is 'power' and the other is 'thrust'."
"thrust?"
"No matter how powerful the gunpowder is, if there is no thrust, it still has to be thrown by manpower and artillery carts. But the manpower is too small and the artillery carts are too heavy."
Hao Xiuyang said: "Yes, more often than not, firearms may not be more convenient than bows and crossbows, and they are not enough to restrain the speed of horses."
"In the Diaoyu City, the Mongolian artillery carts cannot throw the artillery into the mountain city; in the plains, we cannot throw the grenades into the enemy's formation before the enemy's arrows are fired and the horses rush in. Maybe the power alone is not enough. In other words, with today’s technology, the power cannot be higher, right?”
Hao Xiuyang nodded and said: "The old Taoist can no longer make more powerful gunpowder."
"So I need thrust, I need it to go further than a bow and arrow, it needs to be easier to drill, and I need to be able to reload quickly so I can go on the plains..."
"No matter how much Jie Shuai is needed, he can't be created by an experienced man."
Li Xia didn't understand the details, so he kept saying the same cliché and said: "Please Taoist Hao try more."
Hao Xiuyang sighed and said: "If I think about it for another three years or two, I might be able to make one, but it will cost a lot, and there are other problems. The amount of gunpowder is difficult to control, and the barrel will eventually explode..."
Li Xia then looked at another wooden gun mold and asked, "Is this one for loading bullets? Can it solve these problems?"
"Speaking of it, the principle is simple."
Hao Xiuyang picked up a wooden bullet and said: "According to Jieshuai's instructions, load the gunpowder into the bullet in a certain amount, and set the ignition point behind the bullet...Here, hit it with the firing pin, ignite it, and shoot out the bullet."
Li Xia nodded with satisfaction and said: "Hao Dao is a talented person, so this can prevent the barrel from exploding too easily?"
"It does not mean that all the 'power' will be borne by the gun tube. But again, it is easy to understand the principle and cannot be made. It is more difficult to make than one filled with gunpowder."
"Even if you manually load and unload, one bullet at a time..."
Hao Xiuyang shook his head, took apart the wooden blunderbuss mold, and said: "How to smelt such a thin bullet shell? The rebound of the firing pin requires extremely tough iron, and how to smelt it? How to make it when the ignition point is so delicate? To? If you want to make the cartridge case and the warhead separated exactly, how to connect them..."
"In this way, press a small hole in the cartridge case and stick it in..."
"How to press a hole like this? How much does it cost to cast a hole during casting?"
Li Xia couldn't answer.
Hao Xiuyang sighed: "For these difficulties, the old master has spent his time, maybe he can come up with a solution one by one and work hard to smelt it. It may take seven or eight years to make it, but how many handles can be made and how many bullets can be matched with it?"
Li Xia already understood what he meant.
Firearms need to be developed, but if you want to have flintlocks to restrain cavalry, I am afraid it will take ten or twenty years. If you can gain momentum, you can use it to conquer the territory.
But now, there is no hope of building it to change the world and defeat the enemy to victory.
"How many years does Taoist Master think it will take to mass-produce it?"
Hao Xiuyang did not answer, but murmured: "The old Taoist is over seventy years old. Please ask the Commander-in-Chief to find some smart disciples for the old Taoist. The old Taoist is worried that there will be no one to succeed him in the future..."
~~
Coming out of the firearms workshop, Li Xia was a little disappointed.
The trip to Lin'an had lasted more than four months, and he had some expectations in his heart, hoping to see big changes in Hanzhong.
However, he also understood that politics, economy, science and technology, people's livelihood, etc., all complement each other, achieve each other and restrict each other.
It is impossible to reverse the trend through any single event.
The potential is like a big river, which must be formed by countless small streams.
To become successful, you have to work hard in every aspect, each one is indispensable, but you cannot expect that the Milky Way will suddenly fall from the sky and give you the power of a great river in an instant.
Without this "sudden", there would be no such "moment".
As for the present, if Li Xia wants to plot Guanzhong, it is obvious that he cannot rely on firearms that are stronger than Mongolia.
"It seems that there will be no backup strategy this time..."
He thought to himself and turned to look north.
"If I want to Guanzhong, I only came up with this method, but the possibility of success is indeed too low..."
~~
The twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, Fengxiang Mansion.
"What did you say?"
"Li Xia hopes that his brother-in-law can join the Song Dynasty." Jia Hou was a little embarrassed to say it, but he still said, "He also wants his brother to marry the Liu family."
"ha?"
Liu Heima spat angrily and fell to the ground.
Liu Yuanzhen was too lazy to pay attention to this unreasonable request, and stepped forward and said: "I'm afraid my second uncle doesn't know that your Majesty has ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. He is proclaiming emperor. It is the New Year's Day soon, and he has to change his title..."
"Even if His Majesty has not ascended the throne, there is absolutely no possibility of joining the Song Dynasty. There is absolutely no possibility." Liu Heima interrupted.
"yes."
Liu Yuanzhen couldn't wait to show Jia Hou the imperial list he received.
The uncle and nephew were moved again and cried several times.
After a while, Jia Hou wiped away his tears and said, "I also know that my brother-in-law will never return to the Song Dynasty, but Wu Lang is still in Li Xia's hands."
"So what? I can't agree even if he kills Wu Lang, so he shouldn't taint my ears by saying such things!"
After Liu Heima said this, he became inexplicably annoyed.
Just because Li Xia had such thoughts made him furious.
"Father, I am confused, why could Li Xia come up with such a ridiculous idea..."
"More than ridiculous?!"
Liu Heima became more and more angry and spat: "Li Xia doesn't know that I am a descendant of Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty and a family of officials and gentry in the Jin Dynasty. Will I surrender to the incompetent Zhao Song Dynasty who pays tribute every year? He can say it out loud! Humiliate me? I want to kill him."
And then quickly!”
The ancestors of the Liu family were indeed Khitans. After Yelu Deguang, Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty, after the fall of the Liao Dynasty, he changed his surname to Han to avoid disaster, moved to Jinan, and became a Jin man.
The reason why he calls himself a Chinese is because the Liu family has studied Han Dynasty for generations and believes that the Liao and Jin Central Plains are orthodox and in the same vein as Qin, Han and Tang.
As for Zhao Song in his eyes?
"A dog slave who has been a vassal for three hundred years is worthy of joining my Liu family? Sigh!"
"Father, calm down." Liu Yuanzhen said: "Yes, Wang Xianshi once wanted to return to the Song Dynasty and felt it was a shame for his life; Li Quan actually defected to the Song Dynasty and was defeated and died. There is no way that I, a nobleman of the Liu family, can imitate them.
Unwise……"
After a pause, suppressing the feeling of being humiliated, he analyzed the reason why Li Xia did this.
"Li Xia definitely doesn't understand this, why is it still like this?"
Liu Heima asked: "Did he misunderstand something?"
Liu Yuanzhen pondered slightly...
When Meng Ge Khan conquered Shu, the Liu family did cooperate with Shao and Li Xia due to the defeat.
But looking at the root cause, this matter was to support King Monan... His Majesty.
Li Xia can't even understand this? How can he be lucky?
Thinking of this, Liu Yuanzhen shook his head and said: "He also let his second uncle return. I think there are three possibilities. Either to rebel against the Liu family, or he has the intention of joining but wants to bargain."
"What's another possibility?"
"It's not worth mentioning." Liu Yuanzhen pondered and paced: "Perhaps he wants to join forces with his father to become independent?"
"It's ridiculous. It's true that Zhao Song is cowardly and incompetent, but if Li Xia breaks away from Zhao Song without any reason, how much strength does he still have? I will never agree."
"There may be two to three thousand soldiers and horses, and he can be a partial general under his father's command."
"That's enough, don't say useless things."
"yes."
Jia Hou recalled Li Xia's expression and said, "I'm afraid... he doesn't want to join."
"That can only be...to rebel against the Liu family."
"Arrogant."
"That's too arrogant." Liu Yuanzhen muttered: "Haier, do you think you can use the trick?"
"How to do?"
"Send someone to talk to him, and at the same time arrange detailed arrangements to take the opportunity to rescue the fifth brother."
Jia Hou said: "But Wulang is still being tortured in Hanzhong, he must be rescued..."
Liu Heima took a few steps.
He really didn't want to deal with Li Xia anymore, but he thought that his fifth son Liu Yuanli was still in Li Xia's hands.
Finally, he nodded.
"Can."
"Please father write a letter to Jingzhao Mansion first and make it clear to Lian Gong and Shang Gong so that they will not think that we are secretly colluding with Li Xia. In this way, we can solve Li Xia's plan of alienation." Liu Yuanzhen said: "After that, we can let go.
for."
~~
At the same time, Chang'an City, the Prime Minister's Mansion of Shaanxi Province.
Lian Xixian and Shang Ting first talked about the establishment of the reign title, and then about the war in Longxi, and then they brought up a small matter.
"Yao Gong sent a letter and mentioned Li Xia of Hanzhong."
"How?"
"He rejected His Majesty's good intentions."
"Wait to drive back the Hundu Sea?"
"That's fine, we can't let it go anymore..."
There is an update from the leader today, but it hasn’t been written yet. It will be late, so don’t wait~~~