Prince of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 380 Old Li Confused Again

When Li Shimin followed Liu Tao to the site where the mine was detonated, he was immediately shocked by the scene in front of him.

The poor horse was dead, lying there motionless, a big hole was opened in its stomach, its intestines flowed all over the ground, the ground had been stained red with horse blood, and in some potholes, the horse blood had turned black Red condensation.

On the other side of the dead horse was a large pit with a diameter of more than one meter. There was still a pungent smell of gunpowder in the air. With this smell, Li Shimin immediately understood the reason for the formation of this pit.

Looking at the big pit and the dead horse's body, even though Li Shimin was well-informed, he couldn't help showing a little shock.

"I didn't expect this thing to be so powerful. If my predictions are correct, even if there are a few hundred of these things in the face of the charge of tens of thousands of cavalry, they can completely destroy their formation. What a Fudo Myoko !"

Having said that, Li Shimin immediately looked at Liu Tao again, his face full of seriousness.

"Liu Tao, let me ask you, how much does this King Fudo Ming cost?"

Li Shimin is very clear that no matter what it is, the cost issue must be considered first. After all, hitting people with stones and hitting people with gold nuggets is completely different.

Liu Tao didn't expect Li Shimin to ask this question suddenly. After thinking for a while, he bowed respectfully to Li Shimin.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the main body of this Fudo Myoko is chiseled out of stone. A skilled craftsman can make one in a day. It doesn't cost much. What needs money is the firing device, because the firing device needs to use a mechanism similar to a scythe, so probably It takes ten pennies."

"What? Ten coins?"

Hearing Liu Tao's answer, Li Shimin immediately widened his eyes, which were filled with disbelief.

Li Shimin didn't think it was too expensive, but thought it was too cheap.

You know, the war horses of Datang are not cheap. A war horse costs at least five or six guan, plus the daily fodder, etc., and it will cost about eight guan in a year.

The most important thing is that war horses are still consumables. Old, sick, broken hooves, cracked hooves, etc. need to be replaced every year. Basically, they are replaced once a year and once every five years.

Calculated in this way, if you want to feed 2 cavalry, you need [-] yuan a year, which is not a small sum.

But it’s not enough if you don’t raise them, because only cavalry can compete with cavalry on the battlefield. Using infantry to carry cavalry is courting death!

Li Shimin once led [-] cavalry to defeat Dou Jiande's [-] troops. Although Dou Jiande's army was dispirited and unwilling to fight, the restraint of cavalry against infantry was also an important reason.

Therefore, in Li Shimin's view, if he wanted to deal with the cavalry, he had to defend against the city. No matter how fierce the cavalry was, it was impossible for the cavalry to fly up to the wall. The other way was to use his own cavalry to fight the opponent.

But now he has discovered a new thing that can deal with cavalry - land mines.

Although the nude horses pull carts and the war horses fight, there is no difference in the deconstruction of their bodies. In other words, since the land mine can kill the nun horses, it can naturally kill the war horses!
According to Li Shimin's thinking, a weapon like this is worth even if it costs a lot of money, but he never expected that Liu Tao would actually tell him that the cost of this thing is only ten cents!
So he was shocked immediately.

"You said that the cost of this thing that can collapse a horse is only ten cents?"

Seeing Li Shimin's shocked look, Liu Tao shrank his head immediately, and quickly bowed to him again.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, what I'm talking about is only Fudo Mingwang's firing device, and the most important thing is the black powder filled inside. I don't know how much the black powder costs."

After hearing Liu Tao's words, Li Shimin not only didn't feel distressed, but laughed out loud.

"Hahahaha... That black gunpowder doesn't cost much!"

Because Gao Ming made black powder in the East Palace from the very beginning, Li Shimin couldn't hide these from Li Shimin's eyes, so Li Shimin also knew that black powder was made of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal.

In the Tang Dynasty, saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal were all sold by cart, and a cart cost tens of renminbi. Calculated in this way, the cost of a landmine is really only about ten renminbi!
The price of a war horse needs at least five or six pennies, that is to say, the price of a war horse is enough to make more than 500 mines!

As a general who once fought across the battlefield, Li Shimin immediately thought of the application of landmines.

"This Fudo Mingo can not only kill and injure the cavalry, but also delay the charge of the cavalry. If we cooperate with [-] god arm crossbowmen, even if we face [-] cavalry, we can easily repel them. Then we can use [-] cavalry to fight back." Cover up and kill, and this battle will be won!"

Thinking of this, Li Shimin patted Liu Tao on the shoulder immediately.

"Liu Aiqing, from now on, you are in charge of having the Military Weapons Supervisor fully supervise the production of Fudo Mingo. Before the end of the year, three thousand... no, 1 must be produced. The money needed will be sent to the military tomorrow. Supervisor!"

According to the price quoted by Liu Tao just now, the cost of a landmine is only ten yuan.

For Li Shimin, this is just a small amount of money, and he can pay it himself without going through the household department.

But what made Li Shimin a little puzzled was that after hearing his words, Liu Tao showed a look of hesitation and didn't speak for a long time.

Seeing this scene, Li Shimin frowned immediately.

"What's going on? Is it impossible to make so many? If not, let's make five thousand first!"

Li Shimin took the initiative to lower the requirements, not because he was reasonable, but because he was worried that if he exerted pressure, if the weapons produced by the military supervision were of inferior quality, it would be even more troublesome.

But what he didn't expect was that although he had already lowered his request, Liu Tao still didn't agree immediately, and his face became even more hesitant.

Now Li Shimin's face suddenly became a little ugly.

"Liu Tao, tell me, can you create five thousand Fudoming Kings?"

Li Shimin's implication is to tell Liu Tao that if you can't make it, then the head of the Military Weapons Supervision will be replaced.

Of course Liu Tao understood Li Shimin's meaning, so he could only grit his teeth, and then knelt down towards Li Shimin with a "plop".

"Your Majesty, there are currently more than 1 craftsmen in our Armament Supervisor, and [-] Fudo Myokos can be made in just over a month, but His Royal Highness has ordered me to wait for the full supervision of the super Kamui Invincible Fortress Cannon Strengthening Type I version, so..."

Before Liu Tao finished speaking, Li Shimin's eyes widened.

"What did you just say? Super Kamui what?"

Li Shimin's question made Liu Tao a little confused, he was stunned for a few seconds before looking at Li Shimin tentatively.

"Uh...Your Majesty, what you are asking is the enhanced version I of the Super Shenwei Invincible Fortress Cannon?"

"(⊙o⊙)..."

(End of this chapter)