Chapter 149: Crossbow, Kings Instructions, Manpower and Production
The slightly cold February is coming to an end, and the high sun is still warm. The long wind moves forward, passing through the solemn warriors, blowing past the busy craftsmen, and arriving at the vibrant divine place.
In the weapons research area in the northeast, Xiulote held a thick crossbow and aimed at the straw man seventy steps away. The young man looked at the mountain on the bronze crossbow and carefully measured the target. Then, he
Raise the crossbow body slightly, place your shoulder against the end of the crossbow arm to stabilize it, and pull the trigger firmly.
There was only a "whoosh" sound from the arrow, and an arrow shadow flew away as fast as lightning. Shulot's upper body suddenly leaned back, as if his shoulder was pushed hard, and then a dull "duh" sound came from the distance.
When the young man took a closer look, he saw that the crossbow arrow had passed over the straw man and was nailed directly to the wooden wall a hundred and fifty steps away. It did not fall.
The surrounding warriors looked at the crossbows nailed to the wall and cheered lowly for His Highness. The master carpenter Kushinki remained silent.
Bertard's eyes followed the trajectory of the arrow, watching it brush against the armored man, half a foot away, and he couldn't help but laugh. Then, the warrior captain stepped forward, his eyes shrank, and he saw the arrow penetrate deeply.
The arrow tail was still trembling on the wooden wall. He stretched out his hand, exerted a slight force at first, and then added more strength, and then the crossbow arrow was pulled out. The bronze arrowhead was still sharp, but the wooden arrow shaft had cracks and could not be used again.
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Xiulote's expression remained unchanged, and he felt ashamed. He signaled Bertard to step back. Immediately, the young man put the thick crossbow on the ground, stepped on the crossbow body wrapped with silk thread with both hands, pulled the string with both hands, and used his legs to
He used his strength to slowly string the crossbow. He secretly calculated in his mind that the stringing action would take a little more than ten seconds. If coupled with the complicated shooting preparations, a skilled crossbowman could only fire two rounds per minute.
After a few breaths, Shulot held the crossbow again and squatted slightly with his knees forward and backward. He once again aimed at the straw man with Wangshan, and based on his last experience, he moved the angle slightly. Then, the young man sank slightly and buckled down hard.
For a crossbow, you rely on your knees to eliminate the momentum, so the shot is much more stable.
There was another "whoosh" of arrows, and seventy steps away, the straw man's chest suddenly exploded. The crossbow arrow penetrated the front and rear layers of leather armor, and then pierced hard into the soil at the rear. This time, the warrior's cheers were particularly loud.
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Shulot raised his head, looked at the warm sun, and wiped the sweat from his face. Then he waved to Kushinji to come over.
The master carpenter's face was serious. He strode closer without making a sound, just looking at the crossbow in His Highness' hand.
"Kuxinji, you did a good job! This kind of crossbow is very powerful. It can still break armor from a distance of 150 steps! ...What are its specific data?"
Hearing His Highness's praise, Kuxinji smiled.
"According to His Highness's instructions, I made the crossbow body thicker and thicker, so that its pulling force is 350 pounds. The maximum range of this kind of crossbow when it is at half tilt is about 230 steps, and it can be fired within 160 steps.
It can shoot through leather armor. And within 120 steps, even a warrior wearing double armor will still be unable to escape death in front of it! The large crossbow I made has far surpassed Kuod's long crossbow.
bow!..."
Shulot nodded slowly. This power had reached his goal. And based on the previous attempt, the accuracy of the crossbow was within an acceptable range. So he pondered for a moment and asked.
"Kushinji, I am going to install this kind of crossbow on a large scale. How much labor does it cost? How long does it take for a craftsman to make one?"
The master carpenter's expression froze. He closed his mouth, thought again and again, and then spoke in a low voice.
"The crossbow arm and crossbow body each require one to two days of work by a senior carpenter to make them strong enough. Bow training takes even longer, but multiple bows can be done at the same time. The bronze crossbow mechanism and wooden box require two days of work by a goldsmith.
Days, it needs to be made fine enough. Then I did the assembly myself, adjusting and calibrating it for about a day... If it were done by an ordinary craftsman, it would take about... about seven or eight days to complete."
Xiulote's heart sank. This production efficiency is not even a little bit worse than that of a longbow. The young man thought carefully. According to this production efficiency, it would be impossible for the crossbows to be installed on a large scale during the October Western Expedition. Probably only
Collect hundreds or even thousands of them as the 'ultra-long-range' strike force of this era.
After thinking for a moment, Shulot gave the order in a deep voice.
"Kushinji, starting from today, the development of other crossbows will be temporarily stopped. I will allocate dozens of craftsmen to you, as well as a group of apprentices who deal with wood. You only need to concentrate on making crossbows, and at least one will be required every month.
One hundred and fifty qualified crossbows! In addition, I will give you hundreds of warriors to help you make crossbow arrows and practice shooting here."
Upon hearing His Highness's order, Kuxinji saluted solemnly and accepted the order in a deep voice.
"Your Highness, follow your will!"
Shulot looked carefully and saw that the face of the master carpenter showed sincere obedience and serious confidence. The young man nodded slightly, turned around and walked away.
After leaving the Divine Apocalypse, Shulot had already made plans and hurried to the craftsmanship center in the north. He hadn't been there for a few days, and the scale of the place had been further expanded, almost completely concentrating the manufacturing capabilities of the Mexica Alliance.
Wherever the boy walked, thousands of craftsmen were busy. Shiploads of wood and cotton were transported to make powerful longbows, slotted war clubs and thick cotton armor. And the trees peeled off
The hides and scraps were then transported away by civilians and sent to papermaking centers as raw materials for paper.
After searching for a long time, Shulot found the majestic old carpenter Kuaud in the center of the crowd. He was surrounded by more than a dozen apprentices, and he was discussing something with a man in black robes with a solemn expression. The young man looked again
The man in black robes, with a meticulous facial expression and impeccable hair and clothing, is the intelligence officer Gillim.
Seeing Shulot approaching, Gillim smiled slightly and then saluted solemnly. The young man could only return the salute solemnly.
"Your Highness, I have something important to ask you."
Shulot smiled softly. His eyes rested on the intelligence officer's completely scarred ears for a moment.
"Gillim, I happen to have something important to ask you. But you should bring Avet's message with you, so you can speak first."
The intelligence officer nodded, made a waiting gesture to Kuaud, and then invited the young man to have a secret conversation in a deserted corner with one hand.
"Your Highness, during the Western Expedition after Autumn, you will be responsible for the Northern Route Army's expedition. According to the latest intelligence, the king has given you instructions. There are four key points to pay attention to in the Western Expedition of the Northern Route... The first is to establish waterway advantages and solid strongholds
..."
Xiulote nodded in agreement. This was exactly the plan in his mind. He had not reported the latest progress of gunpowder to Avitt, and planned to wait for the development of gunpowder rockets to be completed, and then show it to the king in a simulated drill of a water battle, so that the teacher could
My close friend was shocked again.
"The second is to find ways to conquer the fortresses of the Kingdom of Tarasco...especially the fortresses that control the mouth of Lake Quiceo..."
The young man frowned. This was indeed a situation he had never understood. His mind flashed rapidly, including a ladder with a hook and a reinforced trebuchet, and finally settled on a huge paper gunpowder ball.
"Third, be careful of the Otomi people in the north and try to maintain a truce with them...be careful to protect the food roads..."
Shulot was silent for a moment. He thought carefully and nodded slowly. A figure like a groundhog appeared in his mind.
"Fourth, try to obtain a certain amount of food support from the western city-states of the alliance and reduce the consumption of food and grass shipped from the capital..."
The young man shook his head. At this point, he had nothing to do. He could only go back to meet his grandfather and seek help from the network of older generations.
"In addition, the king also recommends that you recruit a group of Chichimec dog descendants to be used as the precursors of the Western Expedition. For specific recruitment matters, please contact the northern commander Ocelot."
Hearing about the recruitment of canine descendants, Shulot fell into deep thought. He was deeply impressed by the canine descendants' fearlessness of death. Although this kind of disordered martial prowess could not really fight against a tight battle formation, these dogs
The descendants should be very suitable bombardiers. They can charge to extremely close distances to throw caltrops, which are very dangerous and explosive because the technology is not yet mature.
After thinking for a moment, Shulot nodded seriously and showed a sincere smile.
"Thank you King for your instructions, and thank you for your suggestions. The Lord God blesses us, and the Western Expedition will be victorious!"
The intelligence officer responded with a smile, then saluted respectfully, and the young man returned the salute again. The two saluted politely, and the atmosphere was harmonious.
Then, Gilliam saluted again, bowed and asked.
"I wonder what your Highness wants to say?"
Shulot thought for a moment and then slowly spoke.
"Originally, I mainly asked Kuod for this matter, but he will also ask you for instructions in the end... The Shenqi Institute has made new progress recently. The new style of Zhangzhang crossbow has been completed, and I am going to mobilize a group of craftsmen and
Civilians, collect the wood in stock and carry out large-scale manufacturing... At the same time, Tianhuo Island's gunpowder must continue to send more manpower to increase production. Subsequent gunpowder weapons will also require senior craftsmen... Finally, there is Ding Zhuang of the new army.
and provide for..."
In other words, the young man found the intelligence officer and general manager of the warehouse and asked for craftsmen, manpower, money and food.
Gillim smiled bitterly, showing a sad look for the first time.
"Your Highness, it's not that I lied to you, but where are the spare craftsmen now? Where are there sufficient assets?"
As he spoke, the intelligence officer stretched out his hands and counted them finger by finger for His Highness to see.
"First of all, the biggest item is the production of longbows. Now the longbow workshop has an astonishing 700 craftsmen and more than 2,000 civilian workers. The daily output of longbows is 150, and the arrows are only thousands.
The upper limit of wood supply has been reached. In order to continue to provide wood, there are more than a thousand civilians logging and sailing outside. In addition to craftsmen and civilians, there are also two hundred warriors responsible for garrison and supervision. The food consumed by these thousands of people every day can be
They are all supplied by the alliance, and the daily tool loss must also be borne by the alliance!"
Hearing the number of longbows, Shulot was somewhat satisfied. There were one hundred and fifty longbows per day. In this way, there should be three to four thousand longbows in a month, which could arm one thousand to two thousand warriors. By October, a
Complete Longbow Legion.
According to the previous experience of the Longbow Guard, it is best for each longbow warrior to be equipped with more than two bows, because after the longbow is used continuously, there will be a problem of string chasing, and it takes a certain amount of time to idle and loosen the string, so as not to damage the bow body.
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"Secondly, your highness is in charge of the production of gunpowder. Tianhuo Island has completely brought the large salt mines in the south under its jurisdiction. The salt production there has dropped sharply, and the relevant nobles and nobles have jumped to their feet. Your highness, the royal nobles have met with the elders and the king several times.
, complained to the two venerables, accusing you of your arrogance and greed!
If the elders were not satisfied with the thread-bound books you presented, the king had high expectations for the power of gunpowder, and the high priest was overtly or covertly suppressing it, there would have been a group of nobles with private soldiers to take back the big salt mine by force.
Already..."
Hearing this, Shulot looked surprised. He had thought about these things before and heard a little bit about them from his grandfather. Every time, his grandfather just mentioned a few words indifferently, but he never thought that there was such a big fuss behind the scenes.
"Tianhuo Island currently employs thousands of salt workers and civilian workers, digging saltpeter, cutting down wood, boiling saltpeter, and collecting plant ash. There are also hundreds of warriors and patrolling vigilant navy, and the food consumed every day is extremely staggering. Continue
After that, papermaking and printing workshops expanded rapidly, employing hundreds of craftsmen and thousands of people. Thousands of people were needed to make cloth-covered paper armor, rattan plaques, and rattan hats. Burning charcoal required a large amount of wood, and thousands of people were also used. Making bricks and burning bricks
Hundreds of people. The first batch of copper mines from the south were sent, and hundreds of people were needed to make bronze spears and tools. There were also hundreds of people studying "glass"..."
Xiulote was in a trance as he listened to the intelligence officer's detailed report. Did he unknowingly start so many scientific research projects at the same time? Can the output of the lake capital and even the lake area keep up?
.After a moment, the young man felt a chill in his heart. The intelligence officer actually knew the things he was responsible for in more detail than he did...
Gillim observed Shulot's expression, and his tone became more sincere.
"Your Highness, the manpower and material resources consumed by these large-scale projects are extremely huge, which is completely more than a warrior corps! And next, you have to organize a complete militia corps! Your Highness, the financial and human resources of the alliance have been
Exhausted..."
Hearing the intelligence officer's words, Hulot's face became solemn. He withdrew his mind and looked at Gillim seriously.
"The Lance Corps and the Longbow Militia are very important. Avite promised me! When will the six thousand miners be in place? The recruitment of village hunters must also start immediately!"
Gillim remained silent. He sighed helplessly in his heart. After a while, the intelligence officer solemnly saluted.
"Your Highness, all the quotas for the six thousand miners have been allocated, and the samurai supervising the mines are ready. As long as the Otomi civilians from the important northern town are filled in, they can be handed over to you immediately. The tax for collecting the New Year's tribute
The official also conveyed the news, allowing the village elders to use qualified hunters to replace part of the tribute during the autumn harvest...
But Your Highness, the alliance’s treasury has been almost used up, and only the property obtained from several large-scale house raids is left. Even the maintenance of the capital’s warriors has to rely on tribute from foreign countries..."
Shulot shook his head firmly, with burning faith in his eyes.
"Gillim, I am forming the new army not for personal gain, but for the overall situation of the Western Expedition and even future changes! I will give you five days. Five days later is the first day of March, and I want to see 6,000 miners gather.
At the school grounds outside the city. Their training must start at this time!"
Gillim looked at the young man wordlessly, feeling the brightness and sincerity in his eyes, as well as his unbreakable determination. After a moment, the intelligence officer let out a long sigh, knelt heavily on his knees, bowed his head and saluted, and accepted the order.
Hulot didn't look at Gillim. He raised his head, looked at the busy craftsmen and peasants, and then looked at the boats transporting raw materials on Lake Texcoco, his thoughts far away.
With his participation, the empire explores the research and development of new technologies, improves old technologies, manufactures new equipment on a large scale, and maintains huge legions... Each of these items consumes thousands of manpower and occupies an area of
With the material resources for continuous support.
A divinely inspired person can promote the rapid advancement of military technology in a few months. But he cannot use a few months to change the most important basic productivity of the empire. Now, the alliance's manpower and material resources have indeed been exhausted!
At this moment, Shulot truly understood what he had learned in the past, the subtle meaning hidden in boring books.
Productivity, only productivity is the cornerstone of civilization. And the progress of productivity also requires the accumulation of time. After obtaining the metal, this will be an innovation in years, following the will of the great man. And he will also
Starting from the place of innovation, we truly build the cornerstone of civilization!