Emperor: When will the Seventh Prince rebel? I will open the city gates to welcome him.

Experienced iron smelters always pay attention to the state and color of the molten iron, and use years of experience to judge whether it has reached the required purity.

When the molten iron reaches the appropriate purity, it is led out of the blast furnace through special channels and flows into pre-prepared molds.

These molds are the original prototypes of military crossbows.

In the mold, the molten iron gradually cools and solidifies.

Eventually an embryonic crossbow arrow made of metal iron was formed.

The soldiers in charge of demolding carefully took out the formed metal crossbow arrows.

Set aside awaiting further finishing.

During this whole process, no one questioned King Zhenbei.

Hongxuan judged that the huge mountain of Mangdang Mountain was entirely formed by metallic iron ore.

The engineers of the Fourth Army are working in full swing. Do they know what they are doing?

Liu Xiahui was amazed when he saw the finished crossbow arrow.

It is hard to imagine how powerful this military crossbow is.

This type of crossbow arrow is different from ordinary crossbow arrows made of wooden strips.

Extremely penetrating power.

Combined with a composite military crossbow, its degree of terror is no different from that of a modern pistol.

The whole process actually did not take a long time because there were too many people. Zhenbei King Hongxuan brought enough troops, a full 40,000.

The most important thing is that these soldiers cooperate with each other.

From collecting ore to turning it into metal iron and importing it into the mirror mold to form a military crossbow arrow, the whole process is very fast.

Of course, the formed military crossbow arrow is just an embryo and needs to be further polished after cooling.

Thirty thousand military crossbow arrows were produced in one day.

Hongxuan arranged for the Qilin Guard to help store the 30,000 military crossbow arrows in the warehouse.

As time goes by.

Hongxuan stayed here for a full month.

Within this one month, the Guang army produced 900,000 crossbows.

And a large amount of metallic iron was continuously obtained.

Hongxuan sent a large number of skilled craftsmen to Mangdang Mountain early on.

When these skilled craftsmen saw this scene, they were completely stunned.

"How is it possible! Reddish-brown stone can actually produce iron ore!"

If someone had said these words to them before, then that person must be crazy!

Qiu Rufeng stared at the reddish brown ore in his hand in amazement.

The Qilin Guards at the side issued the most severe warning to them:

"You must not tell this secret to anyone. This is the order of the King of Zhenbei. If you reveal the secret that Mangdang Mountain is actually an iron mine, no one can save you!"

These skilled craftsmen have sworn to ensure:

The secret that there is iron mine in Mangdang Mountain will never be revealed.

In fact, Hongxuan knew very well in his heart.

Anyone who has not seen this place with their own eyes would never believe that metallic iron can be smelted from the reddish-brown stones.

Of course, this entire area was blocked by Zhenbei King Hongxuan.

Not only that, all entrances and exits are heavily guarded.

This place has become an important military location.

No one would know that iron smelting projects were being carried out in Mangdang Mountain.

With the addition of craftsmen.

With a large amount of iron ore, a huge amount of metallic iron is produced, and the amount used to make composite military crossbows is also increasing.

In fact, making a composite crossbow is not complicated. It is just to add four axles of the same proportion to the old crossbow and increase the original crossbow string by three times.

Equipped with military crossbow arrows.

This will increase the power of the composite military crossbow many times.

Batch after batch of composite military crossbows were produced.

Hongxuan sent Qilin Guard to summon the commander of the First Army, Fan Jingtao, and the deputy commander, Yu Shunshen.

When the dispatched Qilin Guards arrived at the border.

Qilin Guard saw the two of them:

"King Zhenbei orders the two of you to send 5,000 soldiers from the First Army to Mangdang Mountain to receive weapons!"

"You will need to send a large number of carriages this time! The number of compound crossbows is 35,000, and the number of crossbow arrows is 3 million."

Commander of the First Army Group Fan Jingtao and Deputy Commander Yu Shunshen.

The two of them were completely stunned.

"Three million military crossbow arrows!"

"This! How is this possible? This is absolutely impossible!"

Qilin Guard looked at the shocked expressions of the two men. It was all within his expectations. He knew that they would be shocked if he unleashed three million military crossbow arrows.

How much metal iron is needed to power three million military crossbow arrows?

Iron ore is a very precious resource in Dafeng. The military crossbow arrows developed by King Zhenbei are made entirely of iron.

Only they know how much iron is needed to power three million military crossbow arrows.

No wonder five thousand soldiers were sent there.

This batch of supplies is so precious that it cannot be lost.

"Master Qilinwei, isn't sending 5,000 too few? Send 10,000 soldiers for such precious supplies!"

Qilin Guard looked at him and said:

"General Fan, please do not act on your own. The prince has reminded me that if you want to send more soldiers, the troops at the northern border are too few and will be on the verge of danger!"

"After all, the Fourth Army has been transferred by the King of Zhenbei! The entire northern border has less than 100,000 people, only 90,000 people. Transferring 5,000 people is already the limit of the northern border defense."

"Commander Fan, you only need to send a brigade commander, and you and the deputy commander will guard here. It is still very safe in the territory of Northern Yan, so you don't have to worry."

After listening to what Qilin Guard said, he immediately arranged for 5,000 soldiers to be dispatched.

The First Brigade of the First Army went to Mangdang Mountain.

This was an extremely important operation, and was led by Mai Qingchang, commander of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Army.

Army Commander Fan Jingtao looked at the First Brigade Commander Mai Qingchang with great seriousness.

"Sign the military order!"

After the First Brigade Commander Mai Qingchang signed the military order, Army Commander Fan Jingtao said with a serious expression:

"Captain Mai Qing! I gave you a military order, and you signed it."

"If the transport of the composite crossbow and crossbow arrows is lost this time,"

"You, and all the officers leading these 5,000 soldiers, must bring your heads to me. No officer at the level of brigade commander, battalion commander, or company commander can escape. Do you understand?"

Mai Qingchang answered with a serious look:

"If the transport of weapons fails, all the officers of the First Brigade are willing to pay with their heads in front of us!"

This is what a group army is like. It is very easy to command and responsibilities are clearly defined. It is unlike the traditional army of the past which was only concerned with counting numbers.

Although the entire group army has a large number of people, the ones who are actually responsible are the company commanders, and a company commander has a full staff of 100 people.

From the moment the order is given.

Army Commander Fan Jingtao and Deputy Army Commander Yu Shunshen deeply felt that "I, the King of the North" was truly a divine king.

Although he is not here, he firmly controls the entire army.

The army group has a fixed organization and a fixed number of people.

As long as there is enough food.

Hongxuan will establish a huge reserve corps.

What is the Reserve Corps?

When the army group is fighting the enemy, the soldiers lost by each company will be reported and replenished by the reserve corps.

Keep the organization of the entire army group unchanged.

Of course, all this has just begun. Hongxuan has just taken over. The first step he has to take now is to,

Go to war with the Northern Merchants Cavalry!