"Brother Ping, just let us have fun!"
"Yeah, you see it's hard for the brothers to come back for the New Year, so why don't you just let us all have fun!"
What Tang Ping heard was a black line on his face. What kind of talk of tiger and wolf is this?
But looking at the eagerness on the faces of these guys, Tang Ping could only say: "Okay, when Agui is practicing shooting, you are responsible for setting targets, and one bullet per target, how about that?"
"Only one shot? Brother Ping, can't you let us take a few more shots?"
Tang Ping continues to have a dark look on his face, can we still have a good chat?
It is said that snipers are fed by bullets. Tang Ping didn't know whether this was true or not, but there was nothing wrong with practicing more.
So after the sniper rifle was delivered from Dameili through the express cabinet, the pangolin kept sending bullets.
He just planned to see if he could feed Xue Rengui out before setting off.
But although there are a lot of bullets, these are not just for fun.
"If you feel that one shot is not enough, forget it!"
"Enough, enough. Whoever thinks it's not enough can go back home first!" Fang Yiai picked up three archery targets and ran away: "Brother Ping, take note. I've put three more archery targets."
This is how things like involution come about.
So every day when Xue Rengui was practicing his spear, all these cowards were waiting aside.
After Xue Rengui finished shooting two magazines, it was their turn to play a few games.
And Xue Rengui's marksmanship also skyrocketed.
The Spring Festival holiday is over, and all walks of life have begun to get back to work.
Some of Cheng Chumo and others arranged to join official positions in Chang'an, while others set out again to inspect the government offices in various places. New students also came to the new school, and everything started again.
"Your Majesty, please give me a name!"
"Please give me your name, Your Majesty!"
In the secret shipyard, the craftsmen did not go out even during the New Year. In addition to being afraid of leaking secrets, they were also rushing to meet the progress of the work.
Because after the beginning of spring, the Yellow River gradually thawed, and the time to attack East Vietnam had arrived.
When the apricot blossoms bloomed in Chang'an City in February, good news finally came from the shipyard.
The first Tang Dynasty armored ship is completely completed!
Li Shimin looked at the twenty-meter armored ship in front of him, and his heart was filled with pride.
To say big, this ship is really not big.
The "Five Teeth" ship built by Yang Su in the previous dynasty was over a hundred feet tall, almost 30 meters high, and even 55 meters long.
But Li Shimin can guarantee that when his ship reaches the sea, even twenty or thirty "Five Tooth" ships will not be his opponent.
"Since we are going east, let's call it Taihao!" Li Shimin wrote the two characters Taihao on the paper and handed it to the craftsmen around him.
Once this word is printed on the hull, this armored warship will be officially launched.
From this we can also see Li Shimin's ambition. Taihao is the name of the Eastern Qing Emperor, who rules the east.
Several craftsmen took it carefully, then climbed onto the scaffolding and carefully traced the word Taihao on the hull with the waterproof paint Tang Ping brought.
"Your Majesty, please open the gate!" Tang Ping pointed to a handle in front of him, and all the craftsmen looked at Li Shimin nervously at this time.
It took almost a year of work to build this first ironclad ship. They had simulated this moment in their minds countless times.
Li Shimin was also very excited. He shook hands first, and he could feel the sweat on his palms. Then he put it on the handle of the water gate, took a deep breath, and pulled hard!
Other laborers also began to turn the winches in front of them at the same time. With a clicking sound, the sluice door slowly rose, and water began to flow into the dock.
By the time the water surface was level with the river outside, the Taihao had floated steadily on the water surface.
"Your Majesty, please board the ship!"
"Okay!" Li Shimin didn't care about his manners. He lifted up the hem of his dragon robe and climbed up the gangway on the ship.
The naval forces that had been arranged long ago also boarded the ship.
"The engine room is in place!"
"The cab is in place!"
"The lookouts are in place!"
"The artillery is in position!"
"Let's go!" Li Shimin pulled out the sword from his waist and pointed forward.
The boilermaker in the engine room had already filled the boiler with refined carbon, and the steam engine began to pump crazily.
The whistle sounded, and Taihao began to move forward slowly.
In the Wei River, a giant steel beast advanced steadily.
"How fast is Taihao now?"
Because in order to keep it secret, it was still midnight and the scenery on both sides of the Weishui River could not be clearly seen. Li Shimin could not figure out how fast Taihao was going now.
"It's about 10 knots, which is already faster than the fastest galleys today! If it goes at full speed on the sea, Taihao can reach a speed of almost 15 knots! And if we go down the water, Taihao can reach a speed of close to 20 knots. !”
The new warship built by Dongyue based on Tang Ping's drawings has a speed of only 7-8 knots in the sea, and Taihao's speed is fully twice that.
The main long-range weapon on those warships is the large winch crossbow, which has a range of 600 steps, and one step is about 1.5 meters. The range is close to one thousand meters.
But not to mention its accuracy, a crossbow arrow fired from a thousand meters away would not be able to cause much damage if it hit the Taihao steel plate.
What's more, the firing rate of this winch crossbow is extremely slow. After one shot, the winch needs to be moved to reposition the crossbow arrows.
On the other hand, the Taihao ship, in addition to the Frangi cannons densely spaced on the left and right, also has two bow cannons and two stern cannons at the bow and stern, with a range of one thousand meters.
Not to mention that the accuracy is much higher than that of a winch crossbow. If such a shell hits a wooden ship in East Vietnam, it will create a big hole.
The range and power of the weapon, as well as the maneuverability and defense of the ship, if we want to draw a battle force diagram, compared with the current East Vietnam Navy warships, the Taihao ship is a proper hexagonal warrior.
This is where Tang Ping's confidence lies, and this is not the only armored ship going to East Vietnam. Datang has also built several ships in other shipyards to match this armored ship.
At that time, a fleet will be formed with Taihao as the flagship to attack East Vietnam from the sea.
"Hey, I want to go with you!" Li Shimin grabbed the railing of the ship's side and said with some regret.
Now it is no better than before. It is too difficult for him to conquer the country personally.
So no matter how greedy he is, he can only enjoy himself in the Weihe River.
"Don't worry, your majesty. After we wipe out East Vietnam, if your majesty wants to go around the sea twice, I don't think there will be any problem."
"Haha, then I've been waiting for this day!"
After running around the Wei River, Taihao returned to the dock under the cover of night.
Only the residents on both sides of the river began to spread the legend that one night there seemed to be a beast passing by on the Wei River, making a rumbling sound.
Like this "test drive", Tang Ping's expedition also seemed quiet. Without going on stage to pay homage to the general, one night not long after that, Tang Ping took his people aboard the Taihao and sailed down the river.
The fleet, consisting of twelve ships of various sizes, entered the Yellow River from the Wei River and then headed eastward.
Except for Taihao, the other eleven warships are also driven by steam engines and are extremely fast, capable of traveling more than three hundred kilometers in a day.
In just four days, the fleet entered the Bohai Sea from the mouth of the Yellow River.
"Ugh... Brother Ping... ugh..." Lao Du was lying on the railing of the ship's side: "Didn't you... ugh... say... say sea... ugh... you won't get seasick?"
Tang Ping also didn't expect that although other people also had symptoms of seasickness, they gradually adapted to it after two days.
Only Lao Du was seasick from beginning to end, but he was still stubborn and insisted on staying on the deck.
"General Du, would you like to try my new invention?" At this time, Geng Shuai, one of the ship's craftsmen, came over with something.
"Ugh... yes, what is it? But after using it, you won't feel sick... you won't get seasick?" Lao Du looked at Geng Shuai expectantly. Although he knew that the things this guy invented were basically unreliable, but Seasickness was really too uncomfortable, and now he could only place his only hope on Geng Shuai.
"Uh...that's not possible!" Geng Shuai shook his head and said, "But this device of mine, I call it the worry-free vomiting device. After you put it on, look here and put it in your mouth. You can turn it on at any time." Spit, and after vomiting, press here and light salt water will come out to rinse your mouth."
Geng Shuai showed his new invention to Lao Du. Lao Du leaned on the railing and rolled his eyes at him: "Geng Shuai, right? When we get to the shore, I'm going to beat your mother so hard that she won't recognize you!"
"Lao Du, please bear with me any longer!" Tang Ping couldn't stand it any longer. He pointed to the front and said, "I've been really busy these days, but it's much better now that I'm out on the sea. Let's go to the island in front to rest for a while and start again tomorrow. ."
Anyway, we are out on the sea. There are not many fishermen around here, so we don’t need to worry about being discovered. The desert island in front of us is just a good place to stay and recuperate.
In the next few days, we will follow the coastline out of the Bohai Strait, and then go all the way south to launch a surprise attack on the East Vietnamese navy.
I took a small boat to the deserted island and rocked on the boat for a few days. After setting foot on the ground, I felt a little uncomfortable.
"Why do I feel like this shore is also moving?" Lao Cui said with some uncertainty as his body swayed.
Lao Cui, on the other hand, lay directly on the shore: "Ah, it's so comfortable. Don't pay attention to me. Just let me lie down."
Except for a few of them and the craftsmen they brought with them, the people on the ship were all elites transferred from the navy from various places. Naturally, they would not be like them and start busy setting up camp after landing.
"How's it going? Are you still used to it?" Tang Ping asked Wang Qingluan who came with him.
Wang Qingluan nodded: "The navy in East Vietnam is strong. I used to be on the boat when I was in East Vietnam, so it's okay."
After speaking, she looked towards the west: "This is the first time I have left Tangtang, and I miss her a little."
Tang Ping went over and held her shoulders: "Yeah, I don't know if our little Tangtang is good at home."
The couple were both looking in the direction of Chang'an in the west. It must be known that not long before departure, Tang Tang had just learned to call him daddy, but Tang Ping was very excited.
Now that we have only been apart for a few days, we already miss each other so much.
After a long while, Tang Ping looked towards the south: "It's okay, let's make a quick decision this time and win East Vietnam, so we can go home quickly!"
