Fenghou

At dawn, Wan Yanchang received a report that the house of Yang Jingong, the deputy manager of the Firearms Workshop, caught fire. Unfortunately, Yang Jingong died in the flames, and his body was burned into coke.

This news made Wan Yanchang really angry. He had just received a pigeon letter from Jingzhao. The other party asked for one hundred thousand guan for a discarded iron fire mine that had not exploded.

"Why did it catch fire?" Wan Yanchang asked angrily.

"It should be that Yang Jingong was experimenting at home, which caused the fire. The neighbors confirmed that explosions occurred continuously in his house, and the roof was blown through. His son also said that he has been experimenting at home for the past few days, and his family members have persuaded him. He just doesn't listen."

No matter how angry Wan Yanchang was, it was useless, he immediately ordered: "Bring me the other four gunsmiths!"

The soldiers left in a hurry, and Cui Jiu advised him: "Marshal Du, don't be too superstitious about this iron fire mine. The information doesn't say that none of the Western Army's iron fire mines exploded, which means it is very unstable. More importantly, Regarding the combat capability of the army, the Western Army defeated the main force of Wanyan Wushu on the battlefield, this is not good news, Marshal Du still puts his energy into training, and I feel that this is the capital of our war."

Wan Yanchang nodded, "You are right. This time the Central Plains suffered a disastrous defeat, and Bianliang was also lost. The emperor was furious and called Wu Shu back to Beijing to report on his duties. I may also go back. I am worried that Wu Shu will bite back and accuse me The logistical support was weak, he was not given meat, which led to a drop in morale, or the iron fire mine was not developed, so I was a little anxious and asked them to develop the iron fire mine."

"The artisans have worked very hard and are experimenting day and night. Marshal, let nature take its course!"

"That's all, but you can't decompress them. Once the pressure is reduced, they will definitely be lazy."

At this time, four gunpowder craftsmen were brought to the hall. They also heard that Yang Jingong was burned to death because of a fire at home. It's a fake thing about Huolei.

Wan Yanchang walked out of the hall and said, "You all know about Yang Jingong being burned to death unfortunately!"

The four nodded one after another, and Wan Yanchang said: "The first thing I want to confess is that it is absolutely not allowed to bring firearms and gunpowder home, only to conduct experiments in the firearms workshop."

"Follow the order!" The four of them bowed together and saluted.

"Secondly, I want to ask you, to what extent has it been developed?"

An older gunpowder craftsman said: "Reporting to Marshal Du, there is no shortcut to develop the Iron Fire Thunder. It is to constantly experiment and improve the formula to find the greatest burning effect. At least tens of thousands of experiments must be done. If you can't succeed, it depends on God's will?"

"Why do you still have to depend on God's will?" Wan Yanchang was really dissatisfied.

"Marshal Du, some things are beyond our control."

"Like what?"

"For example, the quality of the fire nitrate. We have seen the fire nitrate from Tiehuolei last time. The quality is quite good, much better than our fire nitrate."

Wan Yanchang said coldly: "It means that the iron fire thunder cannot be made, it has something to do with the quality of fire salt!"

The leading craftsman quickly bowed, "Reporting to Marshal Du, we don't know whether it is related to the quality of the fire nitrate. It is just a hypothesis at present. If it is not proven to work after countless tests, it is most likely a problem with the fire nitrate raw material."

These craftsmen have even discussed the way out. If they can't do it, they will blame the poor quality of fire nitrate. This has nothing to do with them. What can you do to me? "

Wan Yanchang was so angry that he had nothing to say, and asked again: "Then I will ask you again, I want to bring back another iron fire thunder, do you think it is necessary?"

It was Yang Jingong's repeated request to ask for another iron fire thunder. He wanted to compare the performance of gunpowder, but the other four didn't want it at all.

The four of them shook their heads together, "It's completely unnecessary. It doesn't make any sense to just see the gunpowder without knowing the formula, otherwise we would have imitated it a long time ago,"

Cui Jiu also said: "Marshal Du, those iron fire mines are also waste products that have not exploded, and they will mislead the craftsmen to develop them. Besides, my gold is also very tight. Using this gold to buy iron fire mines is better than buying important information. .”

Wan Yanchang nodded. He also felt that it made sense. If it was useful, it should be imitated.

"Okay! I don't want this Iron Fire Thunder, let them use this money to get me the formula."

Jingnan Road originally only governed the six prefectures of Tan, Heng, Dao, Yong, Shao, and Chen as well as Wugang Army and Guiyangjian. The concept of "Xinghu Road" has been expanded, including part of the former Jinghu North Road, and has become a generalized Jinghu South Road.

This morning, a fleet of warships arrived in Baling County along the Yangtze River, and [-] soldiers disembarked. An elite scout, who came to Jinghu South Road to fight illegal salt.

The general who commanded this army was none other than the young inner guard commander Zhong Huan. This time he shouldered the heavy responsibility to lead the army to clear the rampant illegal salt on Jingnan South Road.

Zhong Huan was stationed in the barracks outside the city of Baling County. Cheng Guangya, the prefect of Baling County, came to meet Zhong Huan. At this time, Zhong Huan had a cover military position. His real duty was temporarily assumed, in order to command a thousand scout soldiers.

"The next official, Cheng Guangya, magistrate of Baling County, greets General Zhong!"

Chong Huan clasped his fists and said with a smile, "I'm bringing trouble to Chengzhi County!"

Zhong Huan took out an order from the military newspaper and handed it to Cheng Guangya, "This is the logistics coordination order of the military department."

Cheng Guangya took a look at the coordination order, and smiled wryly in his heart. This is to ask the local government to provide logistical support for the army, but the opponent's army is not many. Fortunately, there are only more than [-] people, and Yuezhou can fully support it.

"No problem, I wonder what supplies General Zhong needs?"

"We mainly need food. We will have [-] war horses coming soon, so we also need fodder or black beans. As for other pigs, sheep and vegetables, we can buy them at market prices, but please contact us with the source of supply from the county magistrate."

"I don't know how long the general will stay in Yuezhou, so that I can consider how much food to send over."

"About two or three months! We are a scout army, mainly monitoring whether Zhang Jun's army in Jiangbei will go south."

"Understood, the humble official transferred [-] shi of grain and [-] shi of black beans from the former official warehouse to the general, and prepared [-] dan of fodder."

"Thank you! Where do I need to apply for official transfer?"

Cheng Guangya smiled and shook his head, "There is a logistics coordination order from the military newspaper, no application is required, and the grain can be adjusted directly."

When Cheng Guangya entered the city, he came to the prefectural office first, and met Wang Kuang, the governor of Yuezhou. Recommended by Xiangguo Zhang Jun.

"Senior official, I have seen the other party's general in a humble position."

Wang Kuang took a sip of tea and asked calmly, "Who are they?"

"The chief general is called Zhong Huan, the commander of the third battalion of the Huben army's scouts, and more than a thousand people are scouts."

"you sure?"

"Xiaozhi saw his military badge, and his subordinates were all wearing mountain-pattern armor of scouts, and the banner was also the banner of the Huben Army, so it should be correct."

Wang Kuang nodded, "They didn't report to Jiangling, what did they come to Yueyang for?"

"It's normal for humble officials. They are the Huben army, not the Bashu army. They are completely different from the Jiangling Yang command. Of course, they don't need to report to the Yang command."

"That makes sense! Then what are they doing here?"

"According to what the other party said, it seems that they are monitoring Zhang Jun's army and will stay here for two or three months."

Wang Kuang smiled and said, "I'm just curious. You don't need to report to me. You can directly provide them with logistical support. He's a lowly post, so I don't need to meet him."

"Resign from humble position!" Cheng Guangya saluted and left.

Wang Kuang's expression changed, and he said to himself, "This army is so strange!"