Fenghou

Chapter 516 Handle
After August, the weather became much cooler. Unlike Jiangnan, there are fierce autumn tigers in Chengji County. After entering August, Chengji County cools down quickly, the wheat turns yellow, and the autumn harvest is coming.

This morning, Chen Qing came to a huge mountain depression. There are many such depressions on the Loess Plateau, and basically they have no names. The depression is located in Chigu Town, [-] miles south of the city. It is the weapon testing site of the Military Crafts Department. The test site is also here.

The col itself is more than ten miles long, narrow and not wide enough, but there are three branch valleys inside, and each branch valley is a large space, which is simply a natural place for weapons testing.

The weapon testing site of the Military Craftsmanship Office is in the innermost branch valley, which is about three miles deep and two miles wide, and two rows of large warehouses have been built inside.

Chen Qing and the generals stood on the stand with a radius of [-] feet. Hundreds of steps away, a giant catapult was undergoing throwing practice. It was made with a jujube tree as the main trunk and it took nearly a year of trial and error. Its biggest advantage is that it can throw [-] catties of weight [-] steps away.

"If it's a [-]-jin weight, wouldn't it be thrown farther?" Chen Qing asked with a smile.

The chief master craftsman Xie Changzhi quickly explained: "Reporting to Dutong, it's not that the lighter the throw, the farther it is. It's like a big man throwing a feather, but he can't use it with strength. After repeated adjustments, we found that [-] catties is the most suitable, and if the weight is accurate, Basically, it is [-] steps, which is more accurate!"

Accuracy is very important to the Xihe army now. They are not for defending the city, but more for attacking the city, so it took a year to develop this giant trebuchet.

Chen Qing nodded, "Let's start the experiment!"

With a wave of the red flag, eight soldiers pushed the winch, and the iron chain gradually pulled down the throwing pole. A two-thousand-jin iron box was hung on the other end of the throwing pole. Through the principle of leverage, eight men could operate it.

The soldiers carefully put a large thin-skinned pottery pot full of kerosene weighing [-] jin into the throw pocket, and ignited the kerosene. The soldiers let out a cry, the iron hook was disengaged, and the throwing pole was instantly thrown out. The black kerosene The jar rose into the air with flames, flew towards the imitation city wall [-] steps away, and hit the top of the city with precision.

There was a burst of warm applause from the stands. All the generals are experienced. They know how difficult it is to hit the top of the city three hundred and fifty paces away. No wonder it took a year to develop it.

Chen Qing understood a little bit, and asked with a smile: "Is it simpler and more accurate?"

Xie Changzhi nodded, "At first we used poplar with better toughness as the throwing pole, but we found that there were always deviations. Later, we decided to use jujube with no toughness, and found that it was more stable. After repeated tests, we found the best one. The length of the throwing pole and the weight of the falling object."

Chen Qing thought for a while and asked again: "But now we are in the testing ground, if we transfer to the battlefield, will there be errors?"

"It is indeed possible, and we don't know where the precise [-] steps are? So it needs to be adjusted by the craftsman on site, and it can be adjusted in about three times."

Chen Qingxin said: "Think more about the details, transportation, protection, I even suggest that you put effort into the transportation wheels, it doesn't have to be wooden wheels, you can also consider using copper alloy wheels!"

"Humble job must be carefully considered!"

Coming out of the testing ground, not far away is a large wheat field, which is completely yellow, and the wind blows the wheat waves, just like a golden ocean, and it will be fully mature in two or three days, and it can be harvested. At this time, the people are the whole family. Dispatched, waiting in the wheat field, mainly to drive away birds. .

Birds are also circling in groups over the wheat fields.

Looking at the wheat fields that were about to mature, Chen Qing felt an indescribable sense of comfort in his heart. They had three major grain-producing areas, especially the Hehuang Valley, whose grain production would fully meet the needs of the people and the army, and they could even exchange sheep from the pastoral areas.

At this time, a huge caravan of camels appeared in front of them, there were as many as four or five hundred of them, and they were fully loaded with goods. Chen Qing couldn't help being slightly startled. Where did the camel caravan come from?
He immediately ordered a soldier to go to inquire about the situation. After a while, a middle-aged man was brought up. He knew Chen Qing, and quickly knelt down to salute.

Chen Qing signaled the soldiers to help him up, and asked him with a smile, "Are you a businessman from Qinzhou?"

"The villain is from Qingshui County and has been in business for generations!"

"Where did your caravan come from?"

"From Chengdu Mansion?"

"Come back from Chengdu Mansion with a full load of goods?"

"Exactly!"

Chen Qing was puzzled, and asked again: "Did you not be strictly inspected when you passed the Jianmen Pass?"

"The inspection is very strict. It is said that the goods purchased by the government are not allowed to go north."

"Then how do you prove that you are not an official product?" Chen Qing asked curiously.

"The villain pays taxes in Chengdu, the inspection is based on whether the tax is paid or not, and they seem to have a list of goods. The villain buys silk and tea cakes, which are not included in the list."

"What items are on the list?"

"I don't know how many kinds there are, but I only heard of pig iron, grain, nitrate, salt, gelatin, white wax rods, and feathers."

Chen Qing understood a little bit that Liu Guangshi not only forbade Xihe Road to purchase goods officially, but also wanted to collect taxes, so he restricted officials but not civilians, and the goods he restricted were basically military supplies.

Thinking of this, Chen Qing had another ray of hope in his heart.

Chen Qing rushed back to Jinglue Mansion and immediately asked Zhu Sui to find Zhang Xiao and Jiang Yan first.

Not long after, Zhang Xiao and Jiang Yanxian hurried over. Chen Qing invited them to sit down, told about the encounter with the caravan today, and finally said with a smile: "We may have gone in the wrong direction. Liu Guangshi didn't intend to restrict The normal trade of ordinary merchants only prohibits government purchases and prohibits military supplies from flowing into Xihe Road. If our purchases are entrusted to private agencies and do not involve military supplies, will we be able to purchase large quantities of supplies as well?"

"You can give it a try, or ask Hu merchants from the Western Regions to do it on your behalf. I think the effect will be better."

The three of them discussed for a while, and decided to try it first, and find a Huren caravan as an agent to purchase goods for them. As for the materials purchased, they mainly consist of silk, cloth, and tea cakes.

In Hanzhong, Yang Chui'an, a staff member, hurried into Liu Guangshi's official room, clasped his fists and saluted, "Important news has come from Chengji County!"

Liu Guangshi was refreshed, and quickly asked: "How do you say?"

"Xihe Road is indeed mining copper and iron on a large scale. It is in Chitieshan. Before that, the Xixia prisoners of war were responsible for the mining. After the Xixia prisoners of war returned, they have been recruiting miners. When the official recruitment said it was lead mine, it was actually copper and iron mine. , the output of iron and copper is very large, now we know where Chen Qing’s military salary comes from.”

"it is good!"

Liu Guangshi happily slapped the table and said: "The imperial court has issued repeated orders and repeated orders. It has always been a ban that troops from all over the world are not allowed to mint money or mine iron ore without permission. Now I want to see how he explains it to the officials."

"But will the supervising army have already mentioned this matter to the officials?"

"Impossible! If the supervising army had said it, how could the queen mother not know that the surveillance team from Yushitai should have arrived long ago. It must be this eunuch who took Chen Qing's heavy bribe and kept it hidden for him."

"The Xuan Fu envoy is right, what should we do now?"

"What else can be done?"

Liu Guangshi sneered and said, "Report to the officials and the Queen Mother immediately!"

(End of this chapter)