Of course, anyone with a little ambition and ambition, given Guo Wei's status and the national conditions of the Later Han Dynasty, would reach Guo Wei's step. If you don't take what God gives you, you will suffer the consequences, and it is not worthy of sin.
Now, although the environment around the Han Dynasty seems to be worse, the internal situation is much more stable. Under Liu Chengyou's painstaking management, the power is in hand and the military and political affairs are basically under control.
Under such a situation, as long as it develops normally, Guo Wei can only be Liu Chengyou's loyal minister in the court.
To the southeast of Daying is a large mountain range, which is a branch of Zhongtiao Mountain. Several of the slopes looked bare compared with the surrounding forests, with only some messy tree stumps, dead trees, and weeds remaining, all of which had been cut down to build the fortress under Hedong City.
And in the meantime, it was smoky and thick.
Under the slope, separated by a distance of nearly thirty feet, were several artillery carts, which were trebuchets. However, this time they were not throwing stones, but some specially treated clay pots. Apparently, this was a temporary weapons testing ground.
The general in charge was named Li Tao. He was in his forties, with dark eyebrows and thick beard. He was the captain of the Longqi Army and was under Ma Quanyi's command.
"Your Majesty." Liu Chengyou came, and he immediately came up with several subordinates.
"How was the test?" Liu Chengyou asked casually, looking at the fireworks on the slope in the distance and smelling the pungent smell in the air.
"Your Majesty, please observe!" Li Tao said directly without any nonsense.
Liu Chengyou admired this kind of capable style, nodded and retreated far away, watching his drills, it was a very familiar scene...
Put the clay pot on the grenade belt, light it, and next to the trebuchet, the squad leader raised the flag, and fifty soldiers shouted slogans and pulled the gun rope together. The "shell" suddenly took off and rushed towards the distant slope at high speed. Go, visible from a distance, fall to the ground, the jar shatters, and flames all over the place suddenly erupt. The rising flames burned fiercely and imprinted themselves into his pupils. Although they were far apart, Liu Chengyou could feel the intense fire poison in them.
This fire bomb was made by the weapons room under Liu Chengyou's instruction. An urn is used as a container, containing grease and other flammable substances, and of course the most important thing is fire oil.
In this era, the application of fierce fire oil in military affairs has become very common, but it is basically used for city defense. Knowing this, Liu Chengyou previously proposed to use it on the offensive end. The use of trebuchets has become very popular, and it is not difficult to modify kerosene bombs.
Although Liu Chengyou didn't know how to make it, he just described the shape and effect. The difficulty was how to control the time after ignition. After several months of development and testing, the craftsmen of the Ordnance Supervision were able to make it.
This is the origin of "artillery" in the military.
This time, it was a test before the actual attack on the river. I originally wanted to fire a few cannons into the city, but I held back in order to catch them by surprise.
The trebuchet that fires this fire bomb is a double-tip trebuchet. It can throw a stone bullet weighing 20 kilograms a distance of 80 steps. If it is replaced with a slightly lighter heavy fire oil bomb, it can be farther.
Due to the danger level of kerosene bombs, in order to protect the safety of the operators, the launching positions need to be specially constructed, with a sand pit behind the trebuchet. There have been several accidents in previous operations. If you touch something as violent as fire oil, you won't get good results, and the end will be absolutely miserable.
When manpower is used to move equipment, experience and cooperation are very important. During this period of time, in order to operate artillery vehicles, especially highly dangerous "artillery", Liu Chengyou mobilized tens of thousands of sergeants to practice together, and they basically acted as "artillery soldiers" "use.
"If you throw it from the stronghold, you should be able to throw it to Hedong City!" Liu Chengyou gestured a little and asked Li Tao.
Li Tao looked convinced and replied reassuringly: "Your Majesty, although Hedong City is strong, it is not high enough. The army has already moved forward and set up a formation in the fortress. Heavy fire and oil bombs can easily reach the top of the city!"
Basically, as long as the kerosene bomb hits the city wall and explodes, there is no need to worry about its power. It will be a purgatory-like scene.
"We must strengthen the training of soldiers and make sure no mistakes are made!" Liu Chengyou ordered: "At the same time, take precautionary measures. If there is an accident, you must have timely response methods!"
"Please rest assured, Your Majesty! The generals and others have taken precautions as ordered!"
"It's a pity that there are too few kerosene bombs..." Liu Chengyou couldn't help but sigh.
Before the Western Expedition, the Ordnance Supervisor's reserves exhausted all the kerosene they had and only produced about 400 kerosene bombs. Most of the artillery carts placed under Hedong City are used to fire stone projectiles.
Looking at the trebuchet that required forty or fifty people to launch, Liu Chengyou murmured again: "There is still room for improvement..."
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In the imperial tent, Liu Chengyou carefully read the memorials from Tokyo. Thousands of miles away, he could only understand the dynamics of the Tokyo court through the memorials.
Since the personal expedition, Tokyo has been relatively stable overall. Liu Chengyou's arrangements before leaving have worked. Wang Zhang, Guo Wei and other ministers are also doing their best. Most importantly, Queen Mother Li shows up from time to time to stabilize people's hearts.
The military and political affairs in Tokyo have been focusing on three things recently.
One is naturally to continue to raise food and equipment, transport it to the front line, and support Liu Chengyou in countering the rebellion. This is the most important thing for the Han Dynasty at the moment.
Secondly, in Youzhou, after hearing that Li Shouzhen had rebelled, the Han court mobilized a large army to quell the rebellion. However, the Khitans could not hold back and sent troops to attack Youzhou southward. It's a bit ironic to say that the allies Li Shouzhen actively contacted, including Xiazhou, Xishu, and Southern Tang, have not made any move yet. On the contrary, the Khitan, who has not been contacted, has sent troops to "support". This time, instead of Yelu Ruan personally conducting the expedition, he sent the Northern Privy Envoy Yelu An Tuan to lead his troops south. The imperial court defended its territory in three sections: Lulong, Chengde, and Henghai. Judging from the news from the north, it seems that the Liao army went south to thresh the grass in the valley. After all, the autumn harvest is approaching in the south.
The third one is about the autumn harvest and the collection of autumn taxes. The word "money and food" made the courtiers of the Han Dynasty, especially the Third Division, worried.
In addition, I mentioned a little bit about the situation of lifting. According to the time Liu Chengyou set before the expedition, he should not be able to make it back. Su Fengji asked about the examination questions. Liu Chengyou ignored the other directions of the examination school, but replied with "Qianyu New Deal" and ordered the candidates to write a policy essay.
Putting down the memorial in his hand about the imperial court's preparations for the autumn harvest, a subtle doubt appeared on Liu Chengyou's calm face. The impact of the war on farming was still too great. To send troops to suppress the rebellion, more than hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians on this side of the river were mobilized. Seeing that the autumn harvest is approaching...
"We still have to defeat Li Shouzhen as soon as possible!" Liu Chengyou's eyes were filled with determination.
However, one thing is that the autumn harvest is approaching, and the collection of grain from the front of the army can alleviate a lot of transportation pressure at the rear. The counties in Hezhong still look very mature this autumn. It can be regarded as losing food to the enemy.
While thinking about it, Hu Yanke went into the tent to pay an audience. He opened his mouth and brought good news to Liu Chengyou: "Your Majesty, the robbery of Hexi Village has made progress!"
