The slightly cold February is coming to an end, but the high sun is still warm. The long wind moved forward, passing through the solemn warriors, blowing past the busy craftsmen, and arrived at the vibrant divine place.
In the weapons research area in the northeast, Shulot held a thick crossbow and aimed at the straw man a hundred meters away. The young man passed the Wangshan Mountain on the bronze crossbow and carefully measured the target. Then, he raised the crossbow body slightly, put his shoulder against the end of the crossbow arm for stability, and pulled the trigger hard.
There was only a "whoosh" sound from the arrow, and an arrow shadow flew away as fast as lightning. Shulot's upper body leaned back suddenly, as if his shoulder was pushed hard, and then a dull "duh" sound came from the distance. When the young man looked carefully, he saw that the crossbow arrow had passed over the straw man and was nailed directly to the wooden wall more than 200 meters away, without falling.
The surrounding warriors looked at the crossbows nailed to the wall and cheered lowly for His Highness. Cushingi, the master carpenter, was silent.
Bertard's eyes followed the trajectory of the arrow, watching it brush against the armored straw man, half a foot away, and he couldn't help but laugh. Then, the warrior commander stepped forward, his eyes shrank, and he saw the arrow going deep into the wooden wall, and the tail of the arrow was still trembling. He stretched out his hand, exerted a slight force at first, and then added another force, and then the crossbow arrow was pulled out. The bronze arrowhead was still sharp, but there were already cracks on the wooden arrow shaft.
Shulot's expression remained unchanged, and he felt ashamed in his heart. He motioned for Bertard to step back. Immediately, the young man put the thick crossbow on the ground, stepped on the crossbow body wrapped with silk and hemp wire with both feet, pulled the string with both hands, and exerted force with his legs to slowly string the crossbow. He secretly calculated in his mind that the winding action took a little more than ten seconds. If complicated shooting preparations were added, a skilled crossbowman could only fire two rounds per minute.
After a few breaths, Shulot held the crossbow again. 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 pressed the crossbow with force. The momentum that disappeared from his feet became much more stable this time.
There was another "whoosh" of arrows, and a hundred meters away, the straw man's chest suddenly exploded. The crossbow arrow shot through the two layers of leather armor on the front and back, and then pierced hard into the soil behind. This time, the warrior's cheers were particularly loud.
Shulot raised his head, looked at the warm sun, and wiped the sweat from his face. Then, he waved to Kushinki to come over.
The master carpenter looked serious. He strode closer without saying a word, just looking at the crossbow in His Highness' hand.
"Kuxinji, you did a good job! This kind of crossbow is very powerful and can still break armor from two hundred meters away! What are its specific data?"
Hearing His Highness's praise, Ku Xinji smiled.
"According to His Highness's instructions, I made the crossbow body thicker and thicker to give it a pulling force of 350 pounds. The maximum firing range of this crossbow at half tilt is three to four hundred meters, and it can penetrate within 250 meters. Leather armor. And within 150 meters, 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 longbow!"
Shulot nodded slowly, this power had already achieved his goal. According to the previous attempt, the accuracy of the crossbow is within an acceptable range. So he pondered for a moment and asked.
"Kushinji, I am going to install this kind of arrogant 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 and thought again and again before speaking 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 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. Oh my god, it needs to be done carefully 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 seven or eight days to complete."
Shulot's heart sank. This production efficiency is not even a little bit worse than that of a long bow. The young man thought carefully and concluded that with this production efficiency, it would be impossible for the crossbows to be installed on a large scale during the October Western Expedition. Only hundreds or even thousands of them can be gathered together to serve as the 'ultra-long-range' strike force of this era.
After pondering 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 solemnly saluted and accepted the order in a deep voice.
"Your Highness, follow your will!"
Shulot watched carefully. The face of the master carpenter showed sincere obedience and serious and affirmative confidence. The young man nodded slightly, turned around and walked away.
After leaving the Divine Apocalypse, Shulot had already made plans and hurriedly headed to the craftsmanship center in the north. I haven't been here for a while, and the scale here has been further expanded, almost completely concentrating the manufacturing capabilities of the Mexican Alliance.
Wherever the young man walked, thousands of craftsmen were busy. Shiploads of wood and cotton were transported to make powerful longbows, slotted war clubs and thick cotton armor. The peeled bark and scraps were transported away by civilians and sent to papermaking centers as raw materials for paper.
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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 disciples in the center, and he was discussing something with a man in black robes with a solemn expression. The young man looked at the meticulous face of the man in black robe again, but it was intelligence officer Gillim.
Seeing Shulot approaching, Gillim smiled slightly and then saluted solemnly. The young man could only return the favor solemnly.
"Your Highness, I have something important to ask you."
Shulot smiled lightly. His eyes lingered 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 Avit's message, 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. One is to establish waterway advantages and solid strongholds."
Shulot nodded in agreement. This was exactly the plan he had in mind. He had not updated Avitt on the progress of the gunpowder. I am going to wait for the gunpowder arrows to be developed and then show them to the king in a simulated water battle drill to shock my teacher and friend 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. Quickly flashing through his mind, he saw a ladder with a hook, 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 and carefully protect the grain roads."
Shulot was silent for a moment. He thought carefully and nodded slowly. A figure like a groundhog appeared in his mind.
"The fourth is to 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."
At this point, the young man 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 pioneers of the Western Expedition. For specific recruitment matters, please contact the northern commander Ocelor."
After hearing about the recruitment of canine descendants, Shulot fell into deep thought. The dog-born's fearlessness left a deep impression on him. Although this kind of disordered martial prowess cannot really fight against a tight battle formation, these dog-borns should be very suitable bombardiers. They can charge to extremely close distances to throw caltrops, which are currently very dangerous due to immature technology.
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 surely be successful!"
The intelligence officer responded with a smile, then saluted respectfully, and the boy returned the salute again. The two people were polite and in harmony with each other, and the atmosphere was extremely harmonious.
Then, Gillim saluted again, bowed and asked.
"I wonder what your Highness wants to say?"
Shulot thought for a moment and then slowly spoke.
"Originally, this matter was mainly directed to Kuaud, but he will also ask you for instructions in the end. The Divine Inspiration Institute has made new progress recently. The production of the new style of Zhang Zhang crossbow has been completed. I am going to mobilize a group of craftsmen and civilians to recruit The wood in stock is used for large-scale manufacturing. At the same time, Tianhuo Island's gunpowder needs to continue to deploy more manpower to increase production. Subsequent gunpowder weapons also require senior craftsmen and finally the strength and support of the new army."
In other words, the boy asked the intelligence officer and warehouse manager, the craftsman for manpower, and 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 servants. 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 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. One hundred and fifty per day, so there should be three to four thousand per month, which can arm one thousand to two thousand warriors. By October, a complete longbow regiment can be formed.
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. .
"Secondly, Your Highness is responsible for the production of gunpowder. Tianhuo Island has completely brought under the jurisdiction of the large salt mines in the south. The salt production there has dropped sharply, and the related nobles have jumped. Your Highness, the royal nobles have met with the elders and the king several times. , complained to the noble one, accusing you of your arrogance and greed!
If the elders were not satisfied with the thread-bound books you presented, the king had high hopes 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. "
Hearing this, Shulot looked surprised. He had thought about these things before and heard a little about them from his grandfather. Every time, my grandfather just said a few words indifferently, but he never thought that there would be 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 equally astonishing. 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 felt dazed for a while while listening to the intelligence officer's detailed report. It turned out that without realizing it, he had already launched so many scientific research projects at the same time? Can the output of the capital city in the lake and even the lake area keep up? After a moment, the young man felt a chill in his heart. The intelligence officer actually knew more details than he did.
Gillim observed Hulot's expression and his tone became more sincere.
"Your Highness, the manpower and material resources consumed by these large-scale projects are extremely huge. They have completely surpassed a warrior corps! And next, you have to organize a complete militia corps! Your Highness, the alliance's financial and manpower have already been used up. "Exhaust"
Hearing the intelligence officer's words, Shulot's face became solemn. He recovered his mind and looked at Gillim seriously.
"The Lance Corps and the Longbow Militia are very important. Avite promised them to me! When will the six thousand miners be in place? The recruitment of village hunters must also start!"
Gilliam remained silent. He sighed helplessly in his heart. After a long 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 delivered to you immediately. The levy to collect 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 after 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 formed 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 silently, feeling the brightness and sincerity in his eyes, as well as the determination that could not be violated. After a while, the intelligence officer sighed deeply in his heart, knelt down on his knees, and accepted the order with great ceremony.
Hulot didn't look at Gilliam. He raised his head, looked at the busy craftsmen and farmers, and then looked at the boats transporting raw materials on Lake Texcoco, thinking far away.
With his participation, the empire explored technological research and development, implemented technology, manufactured large-scale new equipment, and maintained a huge legion. Each of these items consumes thousands of manpower and takes up material resources for continuous support. A divinely inspired person can promote the rapid advancement of military technology in a matter of months. But he was unable to change the empire's most important basic productivity in the short term.
Productivity is the cornerstone of civilization. The progress of productivity also requires the accumulation of time. After obtaining the metal, this will be a year-by-year innovation and will truly change everything about civilization!
