Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 1078 Secret Weapon
However, under normal circumstances, the spies from the Ministry of Security would never appear in work clothes. They usually assume various identities and lurk in every corner of Wugong County and in various industries.

Therefore, maybe the people in Wugong County see stalls on the street, shopkeepers, or neighbors they are already familiar with, brothers and buddies who drink with you, or even aunts holding milk babies on the street. Their real identity is the Ministry of Security. spy.

In short, in Wugong County, the defense and vigilance network deployed by the Ministry of Security is even more detailed and in-depth than the defense force of the palace.

However, just today, people in Wugong County suddenly discovered that the situation was a bit abnormal. First, the army came in to open the way, and then there were a large number of experts from the Operations Department of the Ministry of Security in black standard work clothes standing on both sides of the street, scanning the road with cold eyes. everyone on the street.The people in Wugong County thought that someone was going to be unlucky, but it didn't take long for news to spread that His Majesty the Great Emperor was coming to inspect the weaponry production base.Immediately, one by one excitedly called for friends and came to both sides of the road with their families, preparing to meet His Majesty the Emperor, and instantly appreciate His majesty's divine demeanor.

Ye Chen didn't like to ride in a dragon chariot. After Han Xizai and Ma Wentao dissuaded him several times to no avail, they let Ye Chen sit in a spacious and specially-made carriage.

Ye Chen's carriage passed by all the way, and the people knelt on the ground, shouting long live from the bottom of their hearts. Although they didn't see anything, their faces turned red with excitement.

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Weapons and equipment production bases have extremely strict regional divisions, and there are also different divisions of confidentiality and defense levels.The production plants of ordinary arrows, spears, swords and other weapons and equipment are on the outskirts, and the secret level is classified.The locations of steelworks, fast crossbows, steel plate armor, hundred-shot crossbows, steel string workers, giant strong crossbows, giant catapults, gunpowder and other workshops located in the core area are top secret.The walls of these areas are as high as four feet, which is already as high as the city walls of ordinary states. There are sentry squads stationed in the four-corner sentry towers at twelve o'clock every day, and they are also equipped with giant crossbows and binoculars.And within a few miles of each fence, it is extremely empty, and even the withered grass has been cleaned up to ensure that no one can approach here without being discovered.

Under Ye Chen's suggestion, the person who researched a large number of steel refining methods more than a year ago was named Qi Fujie.

But Qi Fujie is a research madman. In just over a year, he has led a group of master craftsmen to explore and research day and night, which has improved the technological level of the refined steel several times. , After being smelted into pig iron on the spot, it was transported to the weapons and equipment production base in Wugong County to be made into various weapons and equipment.

Because of Qi Fujie's great contributions, his rank in the weaponry production base is even only one level lower than Liu Dongming's, which is the fourth rank.Moreover, he, Liu Dongming, and a dozen other top master craftsmen are all visiting professors of Xiangfu Academy, and are often invited by Xiangfu Academy to give lectures.

However, Qi Fujie is different from Liu Dongming. The latter has grown from a technician at the beginning to the fourth-rank manager of a weaponry production base with both technology and management. However, he is a purely technical researcher, often forgetting to eat and sleep for research. , raunchy.

Ye Chen likes such a scientist-like research person very much, and also attaches great importance to them.At the beginning, he just shared some basic knowledge of the indigenous steelmaking method that he knew. Unexpectedly, Qi Fujie really researched the method of steelmaking with this experiment, and innovated it.Now Ye Chen is far inferior to Qi Fujie in terms of steelmaking knowledge alone.

In just over a year, Qi Fujie has changed from a plain-headed commoner to an important minister of the fourth-rank court. He can be said to be the fastest-growing person since the founding of the Xiangfu Kingdom, because of his large-scale refining Out of steel, there is Xiangfu Kingdom's precious sword that cuts iron like mud, and the light-weight but high-defense steel plate armor. Breaking through ordinary iron armor is like crossbow arrows and steel string bows piercing tofu. Wait for the terrorist weapon, and so on.

The technological knowledge of steelmaking, the secret recipe of black fire and powder granules, and other important weapon production methods are the top secrets of Xiangfu Kingdom. For example, Qi Fujie's own security force is already similar to that of Han Xizai and Ma Wentao.Not only did the Military Central Department assign him guards, but the Ministry of Security also set up a special defense team for him and his family.

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As the head of the equipment department, Yu Wen was a frequent visitor to the weaponry production base. Yang Jiye also came to visit occasionally, but it was the first time for Ma Wentao to come here, and he was full of curiosity.Although Li Yanghui, the magistrate of Wugong County, has his base on his ground, today he was fortunate to follow Ye Chen to set foot in the core secret area of ​​Xiangfu Kingdom for the first time, and he was extremely excited and excited.

In the warehouses made of red bricks and cement, boxes of all kinds of weapons that have not been produced for a long time are neatly placed, shining with a cold light. A large number of paint technicians are painting these weapons one by one. Prevent rust, and after inspection, it is sealed.Then the equipment department distributes them to each legion, special brigade, and city defense force of each state and county according to the corresponding regulations.

In today's weapons and equipment production bases, as early as a year ago, all arsenals or workshops had completely adopted assembly-line operations. It can be said that the division of labor is very clear, and everyone specializes in one thing. One action will do.

For example, Liu Dongming divided the manufacturing of steel plate armor into five processes, which corresponded to five workshops. After the previous process was completed, it was immediately sent to the next workshop through the special passage between the workshops, and started The next process, after the completion of the five processes like this, there will be a person in charge of quality inspection at the end, and after the inspection is passed, it will be packed in a box and stored in the warehouse.If it is unqualified, not only must it be sent back to do it again, but also the person responsible for the specific problem must be investigated and a certain amount of salary will be withheld.

Ye Chen simply took a look at a few more important factories, and half a day had passed. After lunch at the equipment production base, Li Yanghui, the magistrate of Wugong County, and others were told that they could go back and not follow His Majesty the Emperor.

It turned out that it was Liu Dongming who said this. Although Li Yanghui and the others were not confused, they also understood that what they were about to see next was obviously an extremely hidden thing, or some newly invented secret weapon. Not yet qualified to know.

However, Li Yanghui was already very satisfied to be able to follow His Majesty around this mysterious weaponry production base for a long time today.Nowadays, as Xiangfu Kingdom has more and more territory, there are too many officials at the magistrate level, and it can be said that there are only a handful of people who can make Ye Chen call his name. Li Yanghui has been with His Majesty for a long time, so how many of His Majesty are there naturally? At least one has an impression of him, but it is of great benefit to his promotion in the officialdom.

Liu Dongming asked Li Yanghui and others to leave because he wanted to show Ye Chen a new weapon.In fact, when Ye Chen came to the weapons and equipment production base today, he also got a report from Yu Wen before, so he came here directly as the first stop.

This new weapon is actually something similar to the grenade of later generations.

The research and invention of the grenade, Ye Chen had already told some master craftsmen in the Gunpowder Weapons Research Department what he knew as early as the founding of the country, but it took more than two years for this seemingly simple weapon Just invented.It can be seen that sometimes things that seem simple are actually very complicated to do.

Ye Chen knew very well that with the appearance of hand grenades and their large-scale equipment, the combat power of the Xiangfu Kingdom's army would be greatly improved, especially for the cavalry, it was simply the nemesis.In the past, whether it was gunpowder packs or landmines, there were many restrictions on the use, and it was easy for people to detect in advance and find a way to deal with it. However, it is completely different for hand grenades that are easy to carry and can be thrown at any time. .Therefore, in Ye Chen's opinion, the hand grenade will become the biggest trump card on the Xiangfu Kingdom's battlefield.

At this time, Ye Chen was followed by Yang Jiye, Ma Wentao, Yu Wen, Liu Dongming, and Lian Jicheng. Among them, Ma Wentao didn't know about the grenade, so he was dying of curiosity, but since Ye Chen was here, he couldn't ask questions.

Ye Chen noticed Ma Wentao's hesitation, smiled, and said: "Mr. Ma, this matter is not hidden from you, Han Xizai, and Hu Sanguang, it's just that so far, the research on this secret weapon has been done except for the three people who participated in it." Apart from a master craftsman, there are only Zhen, Yang Aiqing, Yu Wen, Liu Dongming, and Liu Haisheng who is in charge of this matter from the Ministry of Security, and now it is you."

Ma Wentao quickly said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for letting me know."

"Okay, let's go and see what this secret weapon, which has been researched for two years, looks like!" Ye Chen nodded and said.

Liu Dongming walked to a wall, felt an inconspicuous protrusion, pressed it hard, and the wall opened slowly to both sides with a clicking sound, and a passage leading to nowhere appeared in front of everyone.

It wasn't Ye Chen who went in first, but Lian Jicheng who had been silent all this time, before anyone else could say anything, he sneaked in first.

Everyone naturally didn't care, Yang Jiye said: "Your Majesty, please!"

The passage is not very long, it is inlaid with stones on all sides, there is no moisture at all, and there is a pine oil lamp for lighting every ten steps, and there is no feeling of stuffiness, and you can even feel the wind slowly blow.

Seeing the curiosity and doubts in everyone's hearts, Liu Dongming said at the right time: "Your Majesty, there is a ventilation duct in the passage."

Ye Chen nodded, but didn't speak.

It didn't take long for Ye Chen to see the expert guards sent by the Ministry of Security here. Almost every twenty steps, a guard stood upright with a knife. Seeing Ye Chen and his party, they quickly saluted.Everyone stopped in front of a thick iron gate.

(End of this chapter)