Hand over the jade seal first [Infrastructure]

Xiao Zirong had made an agreement with him before that once there was a transfer of soldiers and horses in the Northern Wei Dynasty, he must tell him in advance. Of course, he didn't need the other party to make it too clear, as long as he reminded him. He had to be ready before he came.

Although it seems that this war has nothing to do with Taoyuan City, at the beginning of the Huaihan War, the Northern Wei Dynasty first attacked Xiangyang, Yiyang, Zhongli and Nanzheng, and these four places were far away from Taoyuan City.

Even if the general who retreated ten thousand steps would really attack Southern Yanzhou, the generals of the Northern Wei Dynasty would certainly not be able to find places that even Xiao Xuexing could not find.

But... Xiao Zirong didn't trust Yuan Jia that much, what if the other party leaked their whereabouts here?

If the opponent sent a warship to follow them when they went to trade, they would be able to touch their lair no matter what.

For a while, Xiao Zirong was really worried, and immediately held a court meeting.

Tao Zhi still followed him, and was a little puzzled by Xiao Zirong's solemnity: "City Lord, this matter... should not affect us."

Xiao Zirong said: "If you are not afraid of [-], you are afraid of the eventuality, not to mention the loss of life under the war. At that time, many people will be affected, and there may be many displaced people who have to go to a safe zone."

Xiao Zirong didn't know how to explain it. He just had a sense of crisis. Of course, this sense of crisis may also be due to Xiao Xuexing still not going back, and the news that he stayed in South Yanzhou may have been known by the Northern Wei Dynasty. In this case, It's not a strange thing to kill Qi's regent king even if he can't seriously hurt Qi's vitality, but he can also break Qi Emperor's arm.

The most important thing is that he still has a relatively secret thought in his heart. In the historical battle of Huaihan, Qi State did win, but it was only a defensive victory, and there was no counterattack. I got some energy.

If it is possible, these things he made may also help those generals. Although he didn't think of how to send them out, but... let's make them first, in case there is a way when the time comes?

Xiao Zirong directly issued several orders. The first is that the archery towers at the four corners of the city wall must be built, and the other is that the army must be expanded appropriately, and the expansion of the army does not distinguish between men and women, but the barracks must be separated.

Then there are things that need to be done by Zhai Xi and the others. The previous orders are all good. These Xiao Zirong had already said, but now they are ahead of schedule.

But Zhai Xi was a little surprised: "What is the city master doing?"

Xiao Zirong narrowed his eyes slightly and said: "Crossbows, hand crossbows, archery towers on the city walls and the top of the walls should be placed with crossbows. We have few people, and we can't all master archery. Stepping crossbows are the most suitable."

After hearing this, Zhai Xi's eyes brightened instantly. In this year, she didn't actually do many things. The most she did was to supervise the people below to make keel waterwheels. This thing was not used much before, but as the terraced fields The benefits of the keel waterwheel are gradually reflected, which is too labor-saving.

Those who are still slaves have to buy a keel waterwheel even if they are in a partnership, which relieves a lot of burden.

But this is indeed a bit boring to Zhai Xi, even if the bridge is built later, it will not interest her - the blueprint of the bridge is taken out by the city lord, what she needs to do is to oversee the work, let people pick up shells and grind them, or burn them. Sand to make a large batch of lime mortar.

There is nothing else left, and there is almost nothing that allows her to use mechanism techniques by herself. Now that she hears that she is going to make a crossbow, of course she will be excited.

Xiao Zirong took out the stepping crossbow arrows, but although there are blueprints, they still need to improve, because most of the stepping crossbows used by them are young ladies.

Girls who are born with supernatural powers like Lu Liu are a minority after all. Most of the girls are indeed stronger than ordinary people after training, but they are still not comparable to men who have been trained, so they need some auxiliary facilities to reduce the strength they need. Small, but not affecting range and power.

This is very difficult. Originally, stepping on a crossbow requires a person to sit on the ground, use the hands, waist, and feet, and almost use all the strength of the whole body to wind the string.

It is very difficult to come up with assistance that does not require much effort, and in the end Xiao Zirong chose another method - winding the clockwork.

The so-called mainspring winding is still different from traditional winding. Traditional winding is to pull the string apart and hang it on the bracket, but this spring winding is to make the bracket active. When winding, first hang the string on the bracket. Then, pull the whole mechanism back little by little, and then snap it into the groove after it is in place, so that it can be wound successfully.

And in this process, how the mechanism is pulled apart naturally needs to be studied carefully, so Xiao Zirong thought of clockwork.

In fact, it is nothing more than adding a handwheel to the crossbow. Inside the handwheel are three gears. The gears are connected to the chain. One end of the chain is on the gear, and the other end is connected to the machine bracket.

In this way, as long as the handwheel is turned, the machine can be pulled to the back a little bit, and the handwheel can be directly made into the shape of a rudder for easy rotation.

This idea has to be said to be very suitable. Although the operation may be a little troublesome, the requirement for strength is not so great, and it is even possible to shoot many arrows at the same time, turning into a group attack.

But the biggest problem lies in the production of gears and chains and the selection of materials.

The gear is okay, because it can be made bigger, so the required technology is not so high, but the chain is difficult for craftsmen.

First of all, the chain is very delicate. Not only does it require super-high craftsmanship, but it also needs to be matched with the size of the gears and the mechanism. It is not easy to make this set. It takes a lot of time and effort, and the materials required are also very demanding—— Pure copper is not enough, the hardness is not enough, and iron must be added.

Thanks to Xiao Zirong's transactions with Yuan Jia, the other party brought iron ore over several times. Although it was not much, if you really want to calculate it, it is barely the material for eight crossbows. It can only be completed if the blacksmith does not make mistakes.

Xiao Zirong didn't do anything else during this time, just squatted at the blacksmith's shop to discuss the issue of the chain with Zhai Xi and the blacksmith, and finally decided not to make such a fine chain, but a thicker chain would be better.

Anyway, this stepping crossbow was not intended for movement. It would be placed directly on the city wall at that time. It doesn't matter if it is heavier, and he needs more ballistics.

Xiao Zirong's positioning of this stepping crossbow is very accurate, that is, it is used for defensive counterattack.

If someone really invades, there are so many people on the other side, they can't fight at all, they must first defend against a wave of long-range strikes, cripple the opponent, and then go to harvest a wave of residual blood, melee combat and so on can't do it No, there are few of them, and he feels sorry for one dead.

He was even thinking about the possibility of stuffing gunpowder into the arrow, but this thing is not so easy to make. The first is the problem of ignition. If it is ignited before shooting, then if something goes wrong, it may directly explode on the crossbow. Yes, the danger is high.

So the best way is to ignite it during the flight. Xiao Zirong was silent for a while before finding an excellent material - white phosphorus.

White phosphorus itself is flammable, and as long as the proportion of black powder is correct, a little spark can make it explode.

When the arrow shoots out, the high-speed friction with the air generates heat, which may be able to ignite the white phosphorus.

But this also needs to be calculated. First of all, if the speed is not fast enough, the heat generated is not enough to ignite the white phosphorus, so it is useless to say anything.

So how much thrust the bowstring of the stepping crossbow can produce is also very important, but Xiao Zirong remembers that the arrows shot by a powerful archer can produce screams, and that speed should be achievable.

Originally, they wanted to defend themselves and made crossbows, but later it became Xiao Zirong and Zhai Xi who studied various physical phenomena. During this process, Xiao Zirong gave Zhai Xi a popular science.

Fortunately, Zhai Xi has already learned junior high school physics, and can still understand some simple natural phenomena.

By the time they researched the arrows that could fire black powder and successfully ignite, half of the year had passed, and autumn was about to enter, and by the time all the crossbows were equipped on the city walls, it was already late autumn.

Ever since Yuan Jia reminded Xiao Zirong of the movement of soldiers and horses in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Xiao Zirong has been on guard all the time, but after a year of vigilance, the other party did not move, because of this he almost broke the deal with Yuan Jia, and Yuan Jia was still crying Shouting that if Xiao Zirong broke the deal, he would run to Xiao Zirong's house and hang himself.

Xiao Zirong had no choice but to continue to keep the deal with him. Of course, the most important thing was to know the movements of the Northern Wei Dynasty. If the Northern Wei Dynasty really wanted to mobilize troops, he might find a way to notify Xiao Xuexing so that the other party could prepare early. It would be better if Xiao Xuexing could be lured away.

He doesn't know why Xiao Xuexing still stays here. If he doesn't go back this year, he won't go back to Jiankang for two consecutive years. Even if he goes back in a hurry, it's for the summer solstice and winter solstice. The process was so fast that Xiao Zirong didn't have time to notice it, and he only found out later.

However, during the recent period, Xiao Xuexing's subordinates did not come to search many times. He felt a little strange in his heart. He always felt that there was something wrong with the other party's attitude. Could it be that he had given up?

If so, he would almost immediately light firecrackers to celebrate.

However, in fact, Xiao Xuexing naturally did not give up, but he is recuperating recently. The previous flood was followed by droughts. Because of the delay in choosing a governor, Xiao Xuexing has always been in charge, and it has been going on for nearly a year. Even though Xiao Xuexing has been taking medicine according to the doctor's advice, and even taking the medicine three times a day, he feels tired.

Now that the governor of Nanyan Prefecture has just taken office, Xiao Xue has really cultivated for a period of time after handing over the work. During this period of time, he couldn't even analyze Xiao Zirong's whereabouts. It was only in autumn that he became more energetic. Take a breath.

As a result, just when Xiao Xuexing wanted to continue searching for Xiao Zirong's whereabouts, the Northern Wei Dynasty, who had been eyeing the north bank of the Yangtze River, finally showed its fangs before winter came.