Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 699
Du Qiu smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Fan, do you want to try it out?"

Fan Ning nodded happily, and Du Qiu immediately ordered the Iron Ballista to be taken to the test site.

Fan Ning deliberately followed the iron ballista, staring at the two rubber iron wheels. It was indeed very relaxed, and the iron ballista, which weighed nearly a thousand catties, was actually pulled to the testing ground by the two.

The proving ground has been cleared, up to four hundred steps, that is to say, except for the bed crossbow, super catapult and fire kite, other long-range projectile weapons can be tested here.

The iron ballista was fixed on the launch pad and operated by three soldiers. Dozens of wooden figures were placed 350 steps away, wearing the armor of Liao army soldiers.

"Fan Xianggong, can we start?"

Fan Ning nodded, and Du Qiu immediately ordered: "Get ready to shoot!"

Two strong soldiers pulled the strings at the same time, only to hear 'click! 'With a soft sound, the string hook is in place.

Another soldier put the crossbow bolt box into the crossbow slot. The size was very precise and just right, and he fastened the iron box tightly with an iron buckle. As long as he was skilled in the operation, it could be completed within ten seconds.

The iron ballista was naturally placed on the ground at an elevation angle of [-] degrees, and the hanging knife was fired on it. Fan Ning stepped forward and pulled the hanging knife, 'Boom! With a dull sound of steel strings, the iron box stopped on the launch slot, and thirty crossbow arrows flew out, turning into black spots in an instant.

Dozens of fake wooden figures 350 steps away in the distance fell down as if they were blown by the wind. Only three of the twenty fake wooden figures were left standing, and the other wooden figures that were shot fell down one after another. .

Fan Ning stepped forward quickly, and saw that some of the dummies lying on the ground were shot, and some were knocked down by force, and most of the thirty crossbow bolts were damaged due to the impact force.

Only five arrows can be returned to use. Fan Ning shook his head, "This arrow will cost at least two hundred coins, and the loss is too great. The iron crossbow must be used."

Du Qiu nodded, "I understand, the iron crossbow is still being tested, and samples will be produced in a month at the latest."

At this time, Fan Ning asked again: "Have you designed a cellular crossbow that can be operated by a single soldier? Can you shoot five arrows at a time without having to shoot thirty arrows at a time? Is it possible to achieve a range of about two hundred steps?"

A crossbowsmith next to him said: "We are also developing the single-soldier honeycomb crossbow mentioned by Fan Xianggong. It is mainly launched by the rhubarb crossbow. The principle is similar to that of the iron ballista. Now there are two difficulties that need to be overcome."

"What's the difficulty?"

Du Qiu said, "One difficulty is that the original rhubarb crossbow was a ten-stone crossbow, which weighed more than 50 catties and was very heavy. Now we want to make it with fine steel. The center is hollow. The body of the crossbow is only made of fine steel that is as thick as two fingers. It can be supported, and the structure is simplified as much as possible. Although it is made of fine steel, it is at least [-] catties lighter. The first difficulty is that the amount of fine steel is too small, and the pig iron in the Song Dynasty is soft. After adding charcoal, although the hardness increases It is large, but it is still not suitable for making fine steel for crossbow bodies, so far we have found that only one place produces fine steel that is suitable.”

"Where is the fine steel produced, Wootz steel?"

Du Qiu shook his head, hesitantly said: "It's fine steel from Bei Dao, but unfortunately the quantity is too small."

Fan Ning laughed, "It's not a big problem. I'll go to the emperor to discuss and solve this problem. What's the problem?"

"The second difficulty is that it takes a lot of force to pull the string. In the past, the big yellow crossbow required two soldiers to pull the string. We tried to make it into a seven-stone crossbow, so that a soldier can pull the string with his feet and hands while lying on the ground. But the premise is that this person must be very tall and strong, and his strength is equivalent to that of an ordinary soldier."

Fan Ning nodded, "This solution can be solved. It will be enough to set up heavy crossbowmen in the future, but the important thing is that a thousand heavy crossbowmen can shoot [-] crossbow arrows at a time. This is the key. Do you understand?"

All the officials bowed together and said: "We will live up to my husband's expectations and develop a single-soldier honeycomb crossbow as soon as possible."

Leaving Nuyuan, Fan Ning returned to Ouchi, but Fan Ning in the carriage fell into deep thought.

The development of new honeycomb crossbows and iron crossbows certainly pleased him, but the appearance of rubber iron wheels and fine steel individual crossbows made the weapons of the Song Dynasty gradually change from the wooden age to the steel age.

However, the army has particularly high requirements for refined steel. Although Bei Dao succeeded in importing the self-produced refined steel into the Military Weapons Supervision, the output is still too small, and Bei Dao will soon have a large amount of self-use, which obviously cannot meet the needs of the Military Weapons Supervision. .

The best way is to fully develop the iron mines in the Southern Continent. For this matter, the Emperor and Zhizhengtang must understand its strategic importance.

All along, the imperial court did not pay much attention to the development of the Southern Continent, and Fan Ning couldn't find a suitable opportunity for a while. Now, the large demand for fine steel by the Military Weapons Supervisor has become the best opportunity.

The carriage stopped outside the imperial city, and Fan Ning went directly to Ziwei Hall in a sedan chair.

After waiting for a while, an eunuch ran over and said, "Fan Xianggong, the official invites you in!"

Fan Ning nodded, and walked quickly to the royal study in the back hall.

It has been a month since the Youzhou War ended, and the rewards from the imperial court have just ended. The imperial court took out 150 million taels of silver and 50 pieces of silk to reward the troops participating in the battle against the Liao Kingdom, including the Laizhou Navy, the Hebei Army and the West Soldiers who fought in the army and Lou Fanguan, etc., the casualties also received double pensions.

Di Qing was conferred the title of King of Jincheng, Chong Er was named King of Yan'an, Cao Shi was named King of Changshan, Yang Wenguang was named Duke of Yue, Cao Wenjing, Yang Ying, Yao Sheng, Miao Shunli, etc. A group of generals who have made great contributions were also conferred heavy titles.

And Fan Ning was also named King Chu from Wu Wang, and rewarded 10 taels of gold.

As for the Liao Kingdom, both sides remained silent. The Liao Kingdom did not send envoys to seek peace, and the Song Dynasty did not send envoys to contact the Liao Kingdom. The two sides still maintained a state of war and would attack each other at any time.

Fan Ning came to the door of the imperial study, waited for a while, and the eunuch came out and said, "Fan Xianggong, please come in!"

Fan Ning walked into the imperial study room, but unexpectedly found that Fu Bi and Wen Yanbo were also in the imperial study room. Fan Ning nodded to the two with a smile, stepped forward and bowed in salute, "My minister sees Your Majesty!"

Zhao Xu smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Fan, please sit down!"

Fan Ning sat down on the chair next to him, and Fu Bi smiled and said, "Xiao Xianggong Fan came just in time, maybe the key to solving the problem lies with Xiao Xianggong."

Wen Yanbo also laughed and said: "The boy who catches money is not in vain!"

Fan Ning smiled slightly: "The two prime ministers won't start to call you poor again!"

Fu Bi glared at him and said: "You calculate the war expenses for the past few years yourself. The little savings in the left treasury of the imperial court have been tossed out long ago. The destruction of Xixia is a bit rewarding, but it is nothing compared to the war expenses. And the final reward payment."

Zhao Xu next to him smiled and said: "Mr. Fan, you understand now! The two ministers have started to think about the internal treasury."

"Your Majesty, the inner treasury has had a lot of income in the past few years. All the income from selling the island has gone into the inner treasury, and half of the gold in Luzon Island has also gone into the inner treasury. The inner treasury has not had any major expenses in the past few years. It should have accumulated a lot of money. wealth."

Zhao Xu smiled bitterly and said: "The internal treasury is in the hands of the queen mother, and I have no choice. If you come to ask me, you might as well go to the queen mother directly. The queen mother will not give me this face."

Fu Bi and Wen Yanbo looked at each other, and looked at Fan Ning at the same time. Fan Ning shook his head and said with a smile: "I think the imperial court's income and expenditure should have been balanced. Why do you want to use the internal treasury?"

Wen Yanbo snorted coldly and said, "As long as the Privy Council doesn't mention war preparations, then the imperial court's income and expenditure will indeed be balanced."

The imperial study room was quiet for a while, and the atmosphere was a bit awkward. At this moment, Zhao Xu asked: "Fan Xianggong wants to see me, what's the matter?"

Fan Ning hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, I do have important matters, and it happens that the two prime ministers are also here, and this matter has something to do with Zhizhengtang."

Fan Ning gave a detailed account of his inspection of the Nuyuan today, and finally said: "As far as I know, not only the Nuyuan needs a lot of fine steel, but also other swords and spears hope to get high-quality fine steel. The purity of Song pig iron is not enough, and the quality cannot meet this demand, so we have to bring back a large amount of high-quality pig iron from overseas to make refined steel.”

Sure enough, fine steel can bring about a large-scale improvement in war capabilities, which strongly attracted the interest of the emperor Zhao Xu. He asked anxiously: "The high-purity pig iron needed for fine steel, besides Bei Dao, is there any other overseas production?"

"Your Majesty, just because the North Island was developed earlier, it doesn't mean that it has the largest reserves and the best quality. The largest reserves of high-purity iron ore should be the Southern Continent. Its reserves far exceed that of the Southern Continent. In addition, it is rich in high-quality coal. , Weichen strongly recommends large-scale mining of iron ore in the Southern Continent and smelting in the Southern Continent, and Weichen hopes that within two or three years, the Southern Continent can become the largest steel and carbon base in the Song Dynasty."

Zhao Xu immediately said to Fu Bi and Wen Yanbo: "I attach great importance to this matter, and I hope that Zhizheng Hall will come up with a plan within three days."

Fan Ning also said indifferently: "If the fine steel in the Southern Continent is mined on a large scale, then ordinary pig iron can be lifted from Japan, and Japan's silver will continue to flow into the Song Dynasty. Why worry about insufficient financial revenue?"

(End of this chapter)