Gongshujin frowned slightly, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, this is not impossible..."
I waved my hand: "Then do it! How many blacksmiths are there in Nanyang Iron and Steel Mansion now?"
"About two thousand, of which only more than a thousand are experienced."
I nodded and said to Zhang Han: "Zhang Han, go find Baichong and ask him to immediately summon all the blacksmiths of Ba family to the Nanyang Iron Smelting Mansion. In addition, he will recruit private blacksmiths and gather them all in Nanyang to build flintlock guns day and night. !”
"Meng He, please immediately ask Qi Wan to draft an edict. The Nanyang Yetie Mansion should stop other things and focus on making guns!"
I thought about it and then ordered: "Gongshu Jin, we need to build a device for fixing the bayonet on the front end of the gun, and at the same time forge bayonets of two lengths, one is about four feet long, and the other is about one foot long. The former will be The bayonet can reach more than ten feet when attached to a flintlock, and can be used as a spear to fight against the cavalry in front, while the latter is normally used against infantry."
The three of them no longer hesitated and said, "Yes!"
————
In the next month, the new army's work, rest and marching were no different from those of the modern army. In addition to daily training such as using wooden guns to practice aiming and physical training, they also studied the drill manual. Now even illiterate people can The drill manual is memorized backwards and forwards.
So I focused on training their willpower, mainly not to be afraid when facing cavalry. To deal with the cavalry, I added a first row of shield soldiers to them.
In this era, armor and shields were not yet completely abandoned. Although the Huns cavalry did not develop the same riding and shooting tactics as the Mongolian cavalry, they still used scimitars, but they also had archers, and they still needed to prevent damage from bows and arrows.
————
In the blink of an eye, it was the end of July, and Zhang Han and Gong Shujin came to me dejectedly.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. As of today, we have only made a total of two thousand flintlock muskets. The gunpowder and projectiles are enough." Gongshu Jin bowed with two big dark circles under his eyes.
Looking at the looks of the two of them, I knew that they had tried their best, so I said helplessly: "Get up. What's the main reason?"
Seeing that I didn’t blame him, Gongshu Jin breathed a sigh of relief: “Back to Your Majesty, first of all, blacksmiths from all over the country have spent more than half a month in Nanyang Jiangzuo Mansion, and they have learned the manufacturing process, but it has almost no effect; secondly, the excellent rate has always been It’s very low and can’t be improved, I really can’t find any reason.”
Zhang Han continued: "Your Majesty, there are also some problems with the projectiles. Although the current production is enough to fight several battles, copper is the material for making money. If it continues for a long time, it may affect the plans of the world."
I nodded and stopped worrying. It was really difficult to make a gun. It was not easy to have two thousand.
"Gongshujin, have you looked carefully at the cannon-casting drawings I gave you?" I thought of cannons. Compared to flintlock guns, cannons are easier to make.
Gongshu Jin responded: "Back to Your Majesty, I have read it carefully. Your Majesty previously said that bronze cannons should be cast because there are too many impurities in the cast iron. However, the iron smelted by Nanyang Iron Smelting House should now meet the conditions for casting cannons."
"Well, the iron-making process has not been improved before. Using bronze can reduce the explosion of the chamber. The bronze will deform before the chamber explodes, giving the artillery enough time to react. Since refined iron is already available, there is no need to use bronze."
I thought for a while and continued: "Let's try our best to make guns first. Didn't you say that the blacksmiths from all over the country have learned enough? I think the number of guns can be greatly increased next month. I will give you another month, eight Month is the deadline, and this matter cannot be delayed until after the meeting."
Gongshu Jin hurriedly thanked him: "I obey your order, and I will make five thousand flintlock guns on time!"
"Zhang Han, now that we have enough gunpowder, start making bombs on a large scale immediately. I have ordered people to hand over the blueprints to Zhou Qi. Special clay pots must be used. No mistakes should be made. Don't wait until the battlefield. Linyuan was blown to pieces."
Zhang Han raised his hands and said yes.
I was just about to ask the two of them to retreat. Qiwan reported and Yuchi asked to see me.
Not long after, Yuchi hurriedly walked in, bowed and handed over a military report: "Your Majesty, I have just received a military report from the right general Jing Zhu. The Huns suddenly attacked the Twelve Kingdoms ten days ago and slaughtered countless people from the Western Regions. The Twelve All the national grain, grass and property were looted.”
I took the military report, glanced at it briefly, and narrowed my eyes slightly. It seemed that Wu Shifeng's words had an effect.
My general handed the report to Zhang Han and said calmly: "The military report said that after the Xiongnu plundered the Twelve Kingdoms, they saw the flags of Qin on the walls of other countries, so they turned around and went back. The countries in the Western Regions were frightened, and the Twelve Kingdoms He ran to the territory of Wusun and cried to Jingzhu, hoping that the soldiers who had withdrawn from the Qin army would return again to resist the plunder of the Xiongnu for them."
After reading this, Zhang Han said with a smile: "Jing Zhu was quite clever. He thought that he had no right to mobilize the Qin army without permission and needed to ask His Majesty for instructions. He also stopped them from trying to raise the Qin flag to make the Xiongnu afraid."
Then he sighed softly: "Your Majesty is right. They have to wait for the second knife to hit their bodies before they know the pain. If they had known this, why bother in the first place! Not to mention that the Qin Dynasty has not yet decided whether to tax them. From now on, the Qin army will They are not required to pay for the food and grass sent out, so how is it any different from paying taxes?"
I nodded and looked at His Excellency Long Yun’s Shanglin Garden: “Jing Zhu did the right thing. Not only could Da Qin not send troops, but they couldn’t even let Da Qin’s flag stand! They didn’t want to be restricted by Da Qin, but they also wanted Da Qin to block it for them. Disaster is not such a good thing."
Then he threw the military report in his hand on the case and waved his hand: "You go ahead, wait until they take the initiative to ask the Qin garrison to take care of the matters in the Western Regions. Now our focus is still on training the new army and manufacturing guns and bullets to use them." Come and deal with the Huns."
Several people surrendered and retreated.
In mid-August, the Western Regions sent three people to Xianyang.
The front hall of Zhangtai Palace.
"Kaqu, we meet again, you have lost a lot of weight." I looked at the fat man in front of me with a smile and teased.
Kaqu's fat face trembled up and down as he spoke: "Thank you to the Emperor of Qin and the King of Tianshan for caring about me. I was running all the way and was very worried, so I lost some weight."
I nodded and got straight to the point: "Are you here about the Twelve Kingdoms being invaded by the Huns?"
Kaqu no longer pretended to be conceited, and pointed at the other two people: "Emperor Qin, they represent the fourteen kingdoms of Shannan and the ten kingdoms of Congling respectively, and I represent the twenty kingdoms of northern Shanxi. This time we have brought the countries of the Western Regions With the letter of credence, we implore the Emperor of Qin and the King of Tianshan to be merciful and refrain from withdrawing the Qin armies from other countries and restore the garrisons of the twelve countries at the same time. We are willing to bear the food and wages of the Qin army!"
After receiving the certificates of credence from each country, it was like Tang Sanzang's customs clearance document, covered with the seals and signatures of the forty-four countries in the Western Regions.
I nodded and said with a smile: "I can agree. However, under what name does Da Qin garrison troops? I'm afraid that people in the world will talk about it, saying that I spent a lot of time on the expedition but gained nothing."
