The Tang Dynasty started from saving Empress Changsun

Chapter 284 Liu Rengui

Qingzhou.

Li Xiaogong stood on the high platform against the sea breeze, watching an exercise on the sea with binoculars, more precisely, it was a shooting practice.

On one side are four gunboats, on the other side are fifty target ships.

These target boats are very simple, they are shells piled up with wood, and there is a very simple small sail on the shell to make it move along the wind.

The goal of the mission is to sink all target ships within an hour.

It seems like a simple task, but it is not so easy to complete.

In order to make the exercise more realistic, Li Xiaogong deliberately chose a time when the wind and waves are relatively strong, and also required that the shooting must be carried out 50 meters away.

Target ships vary in size, but it is troublesome for a large ship to be a small ship.On such a shaky sea, it is not generally difficult to hit a target ship several meters long from 50 meters away.

Unless they are baptized with shells, but Li Xiaogong has thought of this long ago, limiting the number of shells is to force them to increase their hit rate.

"Boom boom boom..." The cannons continued to sound, and the target ships were sunk one by one, and the stands could not help but burst into cheers.

"It's too easy for a gunboat to hit this kind of ship, and there is no way to fight back."

"Yeah, it didn't sink before it got close."

"With gunboats, our Datang navy will be invincible in the world."

"Only three quarters of an hour have passed, and two-thirds of the target ships have been destroyed. This assessment will definitely pass."

"Yes, the county king must be very happy."

However, Li Xiaogong continued to watch the exercise calmly. All the ships that were sunk just now were large ships, and none of the small ships moved.

The time for the real test of technology had just arrived, and he just wanted to see how these people dealt with the boat.

Sure enough, when the big ship was sunk and there were only fifteen small boats left, the difficulty rose sharply.

As many shells were expended as before, but the result was very little, only four small boats were destroyed.

Time passed by every minute and every second, and there was more than a quarter of an hour left. At this time, the people on the gunboat also began to worry.

Three of them significantly increased the shooting density, and the effect was indeed obvious, and six more were sunk.

But soon the density and frequency of their shooting slowed down and turned into sporadic shooting.Obviously, the number of shells is insufficient.

But there are still six target ships intact on the sea, which seems to be mocking their low hit rate.

The people on the stage also made voices of regret.

"There are only six ships left. It would be great if the hit rate was higher."

"The general's requirements are too strict, what can these six small boats do?"

"Yes, this kind of small boat is not enough to waste shells, just send a scooter to run over it."

"It is said that this standard was not set by the county king, but by the person who invented the gunboat."

"The man who invented the gunboat? Do you know who it is?"

"I don't know, I just heard what people said."

"Don't talk nonsense, this is the top secret of Datang, you want to die."

Hearing the whispering voices of the people around him, Li Xiaogong didn't respond.

The people who made the gunboat did give some training directions, such as increasing combat training in extreme weather, etc., but that's all.

The specific training method was explored by him with others.

But he didn't have the idea of ​​competing with the mysterious creator of the gunboat, and it was unnecessary if he couldn't.

Creating gunboats and using gunboats are completely different things, and there is no possibility for everyone to compete for success, but they complement each other.

The more powerful the gunboat, the more credit the person who uses the gunboat can make.And the greater the role of the gunboat on the battlefield, the more credit will be given to the person who created the gunboat.

He is actually very satisfied with this training. As everyone said, all the big ships have been sunk and the remaining few small boats can do nothing.

Moreover, he knows more about the model of Datang's future fleet than others, and now these gunboats can only be regarded as training.

A truly complete fleet contains a variety of ships with different functions, such as battleships, destroyers, frigates, cruisers, and so on.

When the real fleet is formed, these small ships will have their own special ships to deal with, instead of wasting shells to bomb as now.

But right now these are still confidential and cannot be told to others.And in order to prevent these people from being complacent, he did not show his true attitude.

How should the exercise be carried out or how.

The shells were about to run out, and there was not much time left. Everyone thought that the exercise was almost the end.

However, at this moment, a gunboat suddenly broke away from the large team and sailed towards the several target ships.

When it was still far away from the target ship, it began to adjust its direction, and drew an arc on the sea surface to complete a lateral turn.

Aim the black muzzle on one side of the ship at the target ship tens of meters away.

"Beautiful." Everyone on the stage couldn't help applauding this turn.

Even Li Xiaogong couldn't help nodding his head slightly, this boat operator is definitely a master.At the same time, he also became curious, what does this ship want to do?
Others on the stage also became curious.

"What does it want to do?"

"Hey, this gunboat doesn't seem to have fired just now, it should still have shells."

"It's true when you say that, it doesn't want to be a lone hero, does it?"

"Don't talk, read on."

While everyone was discussing, "Boom boom boom..." The gunboat opened fire, and about seven or eight cannons blasted towards one of the target ships at the same time.

"Boom..." The target ship shattered and was sunk.

After completing one blow, the gunboat did not rush to launch a second attack, but adjusted the hull and fired again.

"Boom..." Seven or eight shells went down and another target ship was destroyed.

"Okay." Two consecutive target ships were destroyed, and everyone on the stage couldn't help applauding.At the same time, I couldn't help looking forward to seeing how many ships it could sink.

"Boom..." It was another round of fire, but it was a pity that it missed the target this time.

"Oh..." Everyone in the stands couldn't help but sigh with regret.

then……

"Boom..." This round of shelling hit the target accurately again.

There is only half an hour left, and there are three target ships left. Could it really work a miracle?The people on the stage looked forward to it.

"Boom..." Another target ship was sunk.

"Two, only two left."

"Come on, hurry up and fire."

The people on the stage began to worry about them.

The gunboat didn't seem to be in a hurry at all, it adjusted its hull leisurely, and launched a new round of shelling after more than two minutes.

"Boom..." Hitting the target accurately again, only the last one remained.

And the incense that counts the time has only the last point left, which can be extinguished at any time.

Li Xiaogong couldn't help standing up from the big chair, watching the gunboat and the target ship closely through the binoculars.

The gunboat was still unhurried, adjusting the distance between the hull and the target ship in the sea wind, at the moment when the incense fell...

"Boom..." More than [-] cannons fired in salvo, and the huge roar drifted into everyone's ears along the sea breeze.

Everyone had no time to pay attention to the sound, and their eyes were fixed on the target ship.

"Boom..." It should be that multiple shells hit at the same time, and the target ship turned into debris.

"Okay..." Li Xiaogong couldn't help shouting.

"Great, it did, it really did."

"Six hits out of seven shots, it turns out that the accuracy of the gunboat can really be so high."

"How did they manage such a big storm?"

After being happy, everyone had the same curiosity, how did they do it?
Li Xiaogong said happily: "Call me the captain of that ship."

Immediately a messenger waved a flag to convey the order.

The concept of semaphores was proposed by Chen Jingke, but he only knew that there were semaphores, but he did not know the specific actions.

After Li Shimin sent people to study it, he came up with a set of semaphore movements.Although it is still relatively crude, it is enough to pass various commands.

Half an hour later, the four gunboats returned to the pier and stopped, and the four captains came to the stage together.

Li Xiaogong asked directly: "Who is the captain of the last ship?"

A middle-aged man in his 30s came out and said: "See the general, he is a subordinate."

Li Xiaogong looked this person up and down, and found that although his face was slightly tanned by the sun, he was undeniably handsome, his expression was calm and composed, and he was not at all nervous when he saw the general of the county king.

His heart moved: "You are a scholar?"

The man said: "Yes, my subordinate was appointed by His Majesty as Xianyang County Prime Minister at the beginning of Zhenguan, but it's a pity that he failed to make achievements and owed the grace of God."

"Last year, the imperial court recruited sailors. The subordinates thought they had read a few military books and tried to sign up. They were lucky enough to become the captain of the gunboat..."

Everyone couldn't help being surprised, it turned out to be the county magistrate appointed by His Majesty himself?But why hasn't he been promoted for more than ten years?
Li Xiaogong was the person who had the most contact with Li Shimin, so he immediately thought of a possibility.

This person was probably appointed as an official because he did something well and happened to be seen by the emperor.

It's just that the emperor forgot about it after all his daily affairs, and no one promoted him, so he could only waste time in the position of county magistrate.

Later, it was estimated that he could not survive, so he joined the navy.But talents are talents, and they can emerge everywhere.

Li Xiaogong thought more, although the emperor had already forgotten about this person, but after all he was an official appointed by him himself, this relationship can be put to good use.

This person's ability can be seen from the last bombardment. If I reuse him, I can get a talent and please the emperor.

Just imagine, if this person made great achievements, the emperor would be very happy when he inquired about his origin and found that there was such an origin.

Thinking of this, his attitude became more amiable, and he asked, "What's your name? Where are you from?"

The man said respectfully: "I belong to Liu Rengui, the Wei family of Bianzhou."

Li Xiaogong thought for a while and said: "The Wei family in Bianzhou has the Liu family after Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty. I don't know if you know?"

Liu Rengui replied: "Don't dare to lie to the general, the subordinate is the successor of the Liu family."

Everyone couldn't help but give him a high look.

Li Xiaogong smiled and said: "That is also from a famous family, I don't know who else is in the family?"

Liu Rengui: "Only the poor wife and three useless children are guarding the tomb for their parents in their hometown."

Li Xiaogong was even more relieved, patted him on the shoulder and said: "I'm out of the bag, I believe that with your talent, there will be a day when you will emerge."

Liu Rengui said with an unchanged expression: "General Xie for your compliment, my subordinates only want to serve the country, and dare not expect anything else."

Seeing that he is so stable and neither humble nor overbearing, Li Xiaogong admired him even more, saying: "The Tang Dynasty will never treat heroes badly, and if you keep your duty well, you will have a bright future."

Then he asked, "How did you manage to hit six out of seven rounds?"

Liu Rengui replied: "There is no one else, but I am familiar with it, and I usually practice hard..."

Although he spoke modestly, he actually explained it very clearly. After all, how could he be willing to miss such a good opportunity to perform.

"Although the wind and waves are big, they are relatively stable. As long as you master the rules and shoot at the right time, you can increase your hit rate..."

He introduced his calculation method in detail, such as the size of the wind and waves, the flying speed of the shell, the distance of the target, and so on.

Everyone who listened was confused, but felt very wise.

Including Li Xiaogong who actually didn't understand at all, but the more he was like this, the more surprised he was at the other party's erudition.

After hearing half of it, he couldn't help asking: "Are you summing up these methods?"

Liu Rengui shook his head and said, "No, it's mainly inspired by the Mochizuki talk..."

"Every issue of Wangyue Tan will explain part of the knowledge of Gephysics, and one of them will talk about bows and arrows..."

"I just thought that bows and arrows are for firing arrows, and cannons are for firing shells. The rules should be similar..."

"So after some calculations and live ammunition shooting, I finally found some rules. According to this rule, the hit rate will increase a lot."

Everyone couldn't help showing shocked expressions, even the three envious captains next to him were the same.

When everyone was still firing according to experience, he had found the rules and applied them to the exercise, which is really amazing.

Li Xiaogong pondered and said: "Wangyue Tan, but Zi Xiao Guan created a book similar to Di Bao?"

Liu Rengui: "It's this book."

Li Xiaogong nodded and said: "So that's the case, it's not surprising that it has something to do with Zixiao Temple. But you can think of artillery from bows and arrows, which shows that your ability is extraordinary."

"I don't know if you are willing to dedicate this method to the imperial court? Don't worry, I won't take your things for nothing. I will explain this matter to the saint and ask for credit for you."

Liu Rengui was overjoyed, and said modestly, "If the general needs it, my subordinates are willing to contribute this method."

"It's just that this method originated from the Mochizuki Talk of Zixiao Temple, and the subordinates dare not take credit for it."

Li Xiaogong said: "Don't underestimate yourself, I said that Tang will never treat heroes badly. It should be your credit, it's yours, no one can take it away."

Liu Rengui saluted and said, "Thank you, General."

Everyone around knew that Liu Rengui was about to board the Zhongnan shortcut, and they congratulated him one after another.

The three neglected captains let go of their jealousy and hurriedly congratulated him.After all, I will follow him to learn how to fire a cannon, so I dare not be jealous.

This is the end of an exercise, which is perfect.

Liu Rengui wrote down various calculation formulas for the cannon overnight.

For example, the amount of charge, the shooting angle, the wind speed, the weight of the shell... how far the target can be hit by the final launch, and so on.

Li Xiaogong personally led people to do experiments to verify the feasibility of these formulas.

Then he ordered everyone to study while writing a memorial to Li Shimin.

In this memorial, he didn't hide anything, and made everything clear.He focused on the credit of Liu Rengui and asked for credit for him.

(End of this chapter)