Rejuvenation of the Han Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 394 Transforming Weapons

When the generals heard that Gongsun Zan still wanted to fight again, they immediately glared at each other and said that they wanted to kill Gongsun Zan.

Liu He raised his hand to stop the crowd, and said, "Gongsun Zan, I will let you go back again, but there are only three things to do. This is the last chance. Don't let your fame be laughed at and future generations be ashamed because of you."

Gongsun Zan didn't expect that Liu He would actually let him go. He was stunned for a moment and then became ecstatic and laughed loudly: "Liu He, you can't attack Jinan City, but you can't besiege it without attacking it. Let's give it half a month. How about ?”

"Okay, just half a month!" Liu He nodded slightly, waved his hand and said, "Send General Gongsun out of the camp."

The soldiers escorted Gongsun Zan out again, and Zhang Fei said dissatisfiedly, "Your Majesty, why bother for a mere defeated general?"

Guan Yu said, "What the prince did today, whether he surrendered Gongsun Zan or not, his reputation for pity for talents will spread throughout Jizhou, which will help recruit talents. It will also be of great use in conquering various princes in the future."

Xun You said with a smile: "What Yun Chang said is true. This move by the lord can be said to kill two birds with one stone. Gongsun Zan is already the turtle in the urn, so what's the point of selling his personal favor? If you can get this person's loyalty and win the hearts of all people, why not Instead of?"

Only then were the generals convinced, and Liu He sent an order to send the troops to Jinan City, and the rest of Qingzhou came out to calm the people, implement various laws and regulations in accordance with the New Deal, and prepare for farming in the coming year.

A heavy snow fell, and the outside of Jinan was a vast expanse of whiteness. The camps were covered with snow, and the Jishui River was also frozen. If it were not for the supply of coal, it would not be easy to station troops and fight in such cold weather.

When the weather cleared up, five days had passed. Facing the heightened city wall, coupled with the ice and snow, it was even more difficult to attack the city.

Just when everyone was at a loss, a vehicle of more than a thousand people came on the ice. The load on the vehicle was not grain and grass, but large and small wood and iron.

The leader of the army was Liu Ye. After taking Yecheng, Liu He sent him to the military base in She County to transform weapons. Liu Ye liked Luban's technique since he was a child. Hands-on production, covering a wide range of equipment.

Mo Xuan was transferred from Yenching Academy. Today's academy mainly focuses on teaching and cultivating talents. It is enough to keep a few old craftsmen. Mo Xuan's main task is to develop weapons.

With the hundred clansmen he brought along, plus Liu Ye's whimsical ideas, the two cooperated to complement each other. In just two months, they made preliminary improvements to the original equipment.

After Liu Ye entered the tent, he saw Liu He drawing a map, and asked in confusion, "The map is prepared by the guide himself, why do you have to do it yourself?"

"My map is too big, I'm afraid they won't be able to find it," Liu He put away his pen with a smile, and asked, "Is the Thunderbolt transformation complete?"

Liu Ye shook his head and said, "A slight improvement is not satisfactory, but the Qin crossbow has improved a lot. After adding refined steel as the bow back, its power and range have been greatly improved."

"Great!" Liu He was overjoyed and asked, "How many equipment have been shipped this time?"

Liu Ye said: "Three hundred Thunderbolt chariots, eight hundred Qin crossbows, and one hundred Jinglans. Jinglans can be cut down on the spot and rushed to manufacture. I only bring some connecting parts, and a hundred more can be built within three days."

Liu He nodded and said, "Very well, with these siege weapons, it would be futile for him to let Gongsun Zan double the height of the city wall."

But Liu Ye frowned and said, "I think the city of Jinan has been raised by more than ten feet, and the shooting distance of the catapult is limited. I'm afraid it will be difficult to use the Qin crossbow. We need to build more high platforms to assist."

Liu He said with a smile: "This is easy. We don't need to surround and attack with four gates. We only need to break through one gate. The north gate is close to Jishui and is convenient for transporting stones. Let's choose the north gate!"

Liu Ye said: "Nowadays there are steel accessories, and the Jinglan has also been improved. You can smash the Qin crossbow on the Jinglan archery tower, condescending to intimidate the defenders. If you only aim at the main general and shoot arrows, you will be frightened. scruples."

"It couldn't be better than this!" Liu He said, "Qin crossbows and Liannus have many similarities. In the future, we must not only improve the accuracy, but also find ways to add more crossbow arrows. If one crossbow can fire more arrows, it will be very useful not only for siege, but also for defense. It can also get twice the result with half the effort.”

Liu Ye nodded and said, "That's exactly what I mean, but the Qin crossbow machine has extremely high requirements for accessories, and it is difficult to find suitable wood. I have asked a blacksmith to smelt finer steel wires, which can be fused with wood to increase the size of the wire. For the strength of the bow, the arrow slots should also be made of iron, Mo Xuan is already trying to improve."

Although the smelting technology of the Han Dynasty has been greatly improved, it is only limited to strengthening the quality and purity of iron. It is still lacking in fineness and the flexibility of steel is also insufficient. This requires continuous attempts by blacksmiths to improve.

Now with the charcoal fire, the smelting temperature is higher and the purity of the iron is also better. In addition, several iron ores have been mined successively. Many equipment no longer rely solely on mortise and tenon joints. After adding iron rods and steel sheets, it is even more Durable, which is a great improvement to the entire armament.

Liu Ye and Mo Xuan now want to advance their weapons, not only to adjust the original equipment, but also to add more iron parts. This brand new thing is also a great challenge for them.

Today's improved thunderbolt cars and well rails, if assembled solely by wood, will be greatly reduced in power, but with iron rods, nails and even steel frames, the firmness and power can be greatly enhanced.

Liu He knows very well that the development of productivity is the foundation of progress. If industrial technology does not improve, everything is empty talk. This not only involves smelting technology, but also requires the improvement of the entire industrial chain, so we can only wait patiently for development.

With emotion in my heart, I said to Liu Ye: "I recently thought of a part that can greatly enhance the power of the bow and crossbow. Try it, if it can be done, not only in terms of military weapons, our vehicles and even weapons can come in handy.”

Liu Ye knew that Liu He often had some amazing and wonderful ideas, and they were very practical. In fact, it was Liu He who first proposed the transformation of the Qin Nu, so he hurriedly asked, "I don't know what it is?"

"This thing..." Liu He frowned for a while, not knowing how to describe it, and said, "This thing is called a spring. The better the material, the stronger the elasticity, but the melting process may be more difficult. It is similar to the rattan wrapped around a tree. Have you seen it?"

"Rattan?" Liu Ye frowned and said, "Can this thing be elastic?"

At this time, people's thinking is still in the use of bending force to obtain explosive power, and they can't think of the use of springs at all. Liu He doesn't know if this thing will break with the current technology, so it's hard to explain it to him for a while.

When he was in trouble, he saw Zhang Fei walking in from the outside, holding a large plate himself, with several large bowls steaming inside, laughing and saying: "Your Majesty, it's time to eat, today I asked the kitchen to make mutton dumplings The noodles are delicious, come and try them!"

In such a cold weather, it is really enjoyable to have a bowl of hot mutton noodle soup. When Liu He saw the long noodles in the bowl, he suddenly had an idea.

He picked up the chopsticks, scooped up a piece of noodles from the bowl, wrapped them around the chopsticks, and said to Liu Ye, "Look, Ziyang, the spring is like this, let's see if we can make it first."

"What spring?" Zhang Fei stared wide-eyed, picked up a large chopsticks noodle, fed it into his mouth with a puff, swallowed it in a blink of an eye, let out a long breath, and laughed loudly: "Happy!"

Seeing that Liu and the two were still in a daze, they urged: "Eat quickly, this is pulled by my old Zhang himself."

(End of this chapter)