Go back to ancient times to engage in sideline business

In the following ten days, Lao Geng and Tang Zhong led the blacksmiths in the barracks to rush to work day and night, and replaced the torches and searchlights outside the barracks for the entire barracks.

By the time this wave of work is over, the heat has become more and more intense.

After several days of scorching sun, there was not a cloud in the sky, and the morale of the army gradually became weak. Even in the daytime, we could see the tired expressions on the faces of many soldiers.

Every time Tang Zhong saw it, he felt a little worried, but he couldn't think of a solution.

On this day, the two came to the armory early as usual.

Lao Geng was busy working on the torch, and was finally able to free up his hands to continue assembling the unfinished bow and crossbow.

According to him, the parts he developed with painstaking efforts can add more power to the crossbow.

Tang Zhong's attention at this time was focused on a row of long bronze pipes in the corner, and he didn't listen to Lao Geng's endless words.

In the arsenal, there are many swords, guns, swords and halberds.But only these bronze utensils look different.

"What is this?" Tang Zhong squatted over, carefully brushing the dust off the copper pipe.

"That's an old firecracker. The new firecrackers used in military camps are lighter than this."

Isn't the firecracker the predecessor of the later pistol?

Tang Zhong's eyes widened, and he looked at Lao Geng who was still adjusting the bow and crossbow: "Why don't you think about it while putting the firecracker on, and continue to study such cold weapons as the bow and crossbow? Don't you know that the firecracker is more powerful?"

It can be seen how important firecrackers are on the battlefield when they develop to later generations!

Lao Geng's eyes were still fixed on the sights on the crossbow, and he was carefully adjusting the sights, not affected by Tang Zhong's basin of cold water at all.

"When I was dealing with weapons, I'm afraid you haven't even seen a pig-killing knife! Although the firecrackers are powerful, even if they are new styles in recent years, they are still a bit heavy and clumsy, and their maneuverability is poor."

After finishing speaking, Lao Geng raised the new crossbow that he had just adjusted in his hand, and said proudly: "The crossbow is still lighter and more practical!"

Tang Zhong wanted to argue a few more words, when suddenly he heard a trumpet blowing outside.The sound of hurried footsteps interspersed, as if another Japanese pirate was attacking.

It is not the first time that such a scene of stealing camp has been encountered in Ningzhou Daying for a few days.

Unable to explain, Lao Geng picked up the new crossbow in his hand and walked quickly towards the door.Tang Zhong looked back at the firecracker on the ground, but chose to pick up a simple knife and followed closely behind.

In the barracks at this moment, soldiers and horses from all walks of life are gathering urgently, and the sergeants are commanded by their respective generals, and quickly leave the camp to meet the enemy.

Tang Zhong and Lao Geng went through several camps in a row, trying to get to the big tent of the Chinese army and meet other Tiger Wing Guards.

The further you go, the more Japanese pirates are invading. At the gate of the front camp, several Japanese pirates have already broken through the wooden fence and charged at them with samurai swords.

Tang Zhong gritted his teeth and firmly held the handle of the knife. Even if he didn't know any moves, he was ready to fight to the death with these beasts.

The Japanese pirates approached with squeaking screams, Tang Zhong only felt that he was at the critical moment, but he only heard a few swishing sounds in his ears, five sharp arrows pierced the wind, and several Japanese pirates who rushed to kill fell to the ground immediately.

Tang Zhong turned his head and saw that Old Geng was busy reloading the bow and crossbow with arrows from the quiver beside him.

"How about it? My improved crossbow can fire five arrows in a row!"

"Let's go!" Tang Zhong quickly left with Pu Dao in one hand and Lao Geng's arm in the other.

After going through another camp, they finally saw Cheng Li running towards them with the rest of the Tiger Wing Guards.

"All Tiger Wing Guards listen to the order!" Cheng Li quickly ordered: "This time the Japanese pirates are attacking in a large scale, the situation is urgent, you all follow Pu Guang and evacuate first, and return when the situation improves."

Regardless of the astonishment on everyone's faces, Cheng Li held the long sword alone, turned around and rushed towards the most intense fighting.

"Why did we evacuate! We also have to fight the Japanese pirates to the death!"

Unexpectedly, it was the nerdy student who uttered such harsh words first.

Afterwards, everyone responded one after another, and none of them wanted to be a shrinking turtle who fled the battle.

"The commander has issued an order. Those who violate the order will be punished by military law!" Pu Guang had to use a louder voice to suppress everyone's emotions.

"Everyone, your way to win is not force but brains! The commander spent so much effort to find you, not to make you charge like ordinary soldiers with only courage!"

Everyone looked at each other speechlessly, but obeyed the order to evacuate.Half an hour later, the Tiger Wing Guards withdrew to the hillside behind the camp, but they refused to leave no matter what.

The battle scene in the camp at the foot of the mountain can be seen here at a glance.

I saw dozens of huge ships moored in the sea in the distance.Small boats full of Japanese pirates are continuously sailing from the ship to the coast.

And those Japanese pirates who had just disembarked immediately adjusted their formation, with warriors in armor charging in front, followed by civilians, and attacked the camp at top speed.

After eliminating the vanguard of the sneak attack into the camp, the soldiers of our army had already deployed in the open area outside the camp.Standing at the front was the firecracker team that Tang Zhong had just asked about.

There are three rows of firecrackers, and each row of sergeants is holding a heavy firecracker.

After the first row of sergeants fired, they immediately retreated to the end, and quickly filled the barrel with long sticks from the muzzle.

The sergeants in the second row immediately filled their positions, and after the order of the commander on the side was issued, they opened fire in unison to defend against the enemy.

Gradually, the cumbersome steps of loading ammunition and the slow frequency of firing were broken by the fierce attacks of Japanese pirates.

He rushed to kill the dead soldiers in front, and ran desperately while firing twice, making up for the disadvantage of distance with the advantage of speed.

The firecrackers had to retreat temporarily, and the soldiers behind them led the soldiers to launch an assault.

Our army is charged in front by generals, and ordinary soldiers form groups of five to seven to defend.However, there were too many Japanese pirates invading, and the formed formation was quickly dispersed.

Immediately afterwards, a hole was torn open in the defense outside the large tent of the Chinese army.

The Japanese pirates, like locusts, poured in from the breakthrough, shouting and rushing into the camp.

Tang Zhong and the Tiger Wing Guards around him clenched their fists uneasily.

But the progress of the war that followed was greatly unexpected.

With more and more Japanese pirates, they drove straight to the big tent of the Chinese army, only to hear a loud "boom", and a dazzling fire dragon jumped out of the tent, as if hundreds of altars of fire oil exploded and exploded.

The area around the big tent was instantly engulfed in a sea of ​​flames, devouring the bandits who rushed in earlier one by one.

Immediately afterwards, horns sounded around the barracks, and countless ambushed soldiers emerged from all directions, forming a siege to the Japanese pirates in the camp.

All of a sudden, the sound of shouting and killing was so powerful that everyone's heart was lifted. Tang Zhong clenched his fists and shouted hello.

After several hours of fighting, half of the Japanese pirates who came ashore to attack this time were either killed or injured, and the rest fled back to sea.

Looking at the dozens of Japanese pirate ships sailing away in the distant sea area, Cheng Li angrily put his long sword back into its sheath: "It's a pity that our warships are not good enough to let them escape!"

"Don't chase after poor bandits." Old General Yuan waved his hand at the lieutenant general, signaling Ming Jin to withdraw.

"This group of harassing Japanese pirates is not the main force, and they are careful to lure the enemy into the depths."

Seeing Cheng Li's disappointed expression, Old General Yuan patted him on the shoulder: "This time, thanks to the scholar under your command, we can pretend that they stole the camp because they wanted to raid the Chinese army's camp. Weary, set up a game in advance. Although this time is a small victory, it also boosted the morale of the army!"

"It's a pity that the main force is not here, otherwise..." Cheng Li was unwilling and still obsessed with this.

"You, you are still acting impulsively and impulsively as before, like a sharp sword, with too much sharpness." Old General Yuan looked at this former favorite general, who was persuasive and persuasive like an elder, and said: "Be a man and do things, lead soldiers to fight , You must remember to take care of all directions. It is good to accumulate strength and contribute to one battle. But the situation on the battlefield is unpredictable. When confronting each other, the key to victory is to defend our camp and constantly find the weak points of the enemy.”

Back in the barracks, Tang Zhong plunged into the arsenal and began to ponder over the pile of firecrackers on the ground.

As he saw on the mountain, the power of gunpowder has reached a considerable scale now.However, the way the sergeants filled and reloaded the guns lost the mobility and flexibility of light weapons.

Seeing that Lao Geng was still cleaning his modified crossbow, Tang Zhong came over and said straight to the point: "I want to build a new weapon between the crossbow and the firecracker, and I need your help!"

When Tang Zhong drew the blueprint and handed it over to Lao Geng.Like the last time he made the torch, Lao Geng's face was filled with an expression of confusion.

"This is the new weapon you came up with? It looks like a fire mine."

"You can also understand it in this way, but its real name is called bullet!"

Lao Geng was confused when he heard that, Tang Zhong pointed to the cross-sectional diagram he had drawn, and explained one by one: "The reason why the current firecrackers are not very powerful is because the steps of loading ammunition each time are too cumbersome. If the gunpowder and lead bullets loaded by the soldiers can be integrated in advance, it will save a lot of trouble when changing the bombs every time."

"Old Geng, you see, the bullet is divided into two parts, the front end is the warhead, and the rear end is the shell where the gunpowder is placed. A flint point is placed in the middle of the bottom of the shell. As long as it hits the flint, the gunpowder in the shell can be ignited, thus turning the The bullet head in front is pushed out."

Lao Geng is indeed an expert who has made weapons for many years, and he knows everything.

"So, you just said that it is between a repeating crossbow and a firecracker. You just want to install the bullets on the repeating crossbow. Every time you pull the trigger of the crossbow, the bullets will fly out."

Tang Zhong nodded, and his tone became more excited: "Yes, you still need to make a long tube similar to a firecracker at the front of the crossbow, so that the bullets can rotate and shoot out along the tube."

"Understood..." Lao Geng felt the difficulty, and said casually, "Do you have any blueprints?"

Tang Zhong asked this question, his current little knowledge of firearms is still a rough understanding because he played with toy guns when he was a child.

I remember that at that time, like other mischievous little boys, he also liked to play house games where he played soldiers and fought in battle.Later, he secretly bought a toy pistol with his pocket money.

The bullets in the toy pistol are round plastic beads. At that time, an older child told him that the real bullets were not in this shape.

So when he grew up, every time pictures and records of bullets appeared on TV and the Internet, he would pay more attention.

It's just that I didn't expect that the little obsession in my childhood would come in handy at this time.

But for the specific structure and detailed drawings of the gun, he really had no choice.

"The other parts need to be carefully considered by the two of us." Tang Zhong said helplessly.

Every day that followed, Tang Zhong and Lao Geng almost lived and ate in the armory, just to figure out how to combine the power of the firecracker with the lightness of the serial bow and crossbow.

Old General Yuan was very happy when he heard this, and ordered the other blacksmiths in the barracks to cooperate with Tang Zhong's dispatch as much as possible to produce the bullets in the blueprint as soon as possible.

Since then, the sound of clanging and clanging came from the arsenal every day, and it continued until midnight.

Soldiers whose barracks were close to each other often complained so much that they had to get soft cotton from the military doctor's office to plug their ears so that they could fall asleep normally.

More than 20 days have passed, and there is no new news from the arsenal. Except for the dozen or so soldiers in the barracks who still have to plug their ears when they sleep at night, the others have almost gradually forgotten about it.

In the afternoon, General Yuan and his two lieutenants went out to inspect the military situation outside the camp. When they passed the martial arts field, they were attracted by the sound of gunpowder explosions.

The three of them looked in the direction of the Martial Arts Field at the same time, and saw Tang Zhong holding a crossbow-shaped object on the sidelines and shooting towards the distant target.

Following five bangs, several potholes immediately appeared on the opposite archery target, and every shot hit the red heart.

What shocked the three generals the most was that soldiers were usually trained to shoot arrows with bows a hundred paces away.

But this time, holding the new weapon in his hand, Tang Zhong stood directly two hundred steps away, and even stepped out of the boundary of the shooting range.

What kind of weapon it is is really an eye-opener!

The three generals outside the field were very excited, but Tang Zhong on the sidelines was still dissatisfied.

Although the gunpowder in this era is powerful, every time the gunpowder in the bullet case is ignited, thick white smoke will be generated, choking people's throats.After each shot, the huge popping sound and recoil are a major test for the shooter.

Compared with the mature pistols of later generations, the crossbow in his hand is a mix-and-match product with the lower end and the upper end of the gun barrel, which is still a lot inferior.

However, it is more than enough than the above. Compared with the firecrackers and the bows and arrows commonly used by soldiers that I saw before, the new gun in my hand has been greatly improved.

Old General Yuan was about to go over and take a closer look at the new weapon in Tang Zhong's hand, when suddenly there was an even harsher explosion.

Following the sound, he raised his eyes and saw that on the wasteland at the innermost side of the martial arts arena, several huge barriers were being piled up by many sandbags.

After pulling the thing in his hand, Lao Geng accurately threw it into layers of sandbags, then ran away quickly and hid in a low-lying pothole.

Immediately afterwards, a huge roar sounded, and the previous sandbags were overturned into the sky, and after being shattered into several pieces in the air, they turned into yellow sand and fell one after another.

Its great power and lethality are far from being comparable to a firecracker, but more like a small artillery.

What a strange person!

Old General Yuan couldn't hold back his excitement any longer, walked up to Tang Zhong, covered his ears with one hand, pointed in the direction of Old Geng with the other, and asked, "What are you doing?"

General Tang Zhongchao saluted respectfully and looked at Lao Geng who was experimenting with new products in the distance.

Inspired by the principle of Tang Zhong's bullets, Lao Geng unexpectedly figured out a new weapon that will only be available in later generations these days.

Covering his ears, after waiting for a new explosion, taking advantage of the short gap, Tang Zhong immediately replied: "Return to the general, it's a grenade! Old Geng figured out the grenade himself!"