~《》~     403 tank? Tank!

In the last war, various expenses, plus the pensions of the soldiers who died in battle, etc., were already in vain for millions. The treasury of the Ming Dynasty had been consumed a lot. It is still a matter of whether it could support another major battle.

Moreover, if we conquer the Hami Guards, they will be deserts after leaving the customs. Desert combat was something that the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were particularly not good at, and there were too many things to pay attention to. If you were not careful, you would be swallowed up by the desert before you could be defeated by your opponent. This is not difficult to see.

None of the various factors was beneficial to the Ming Dynasty.

"Tingbi, tell me, will the court send troops?" Lian Zining handed the paper to Xiong Tingbi standing on the side and said.

After Xiong Tingbi finished reading it, his face showed an unconcealed shock, and obviously he didn't expect the situation to be like this.

He pondered for a moment, his face was shocked and calmed down, and he pondered: "According to the mark, the court will definitely send troops."

"Oh? Will the court send troops?" Lian Zining said in surprise: "Reason."

"The character of the emperor!" Xiong Tingbi said: "The emperor is definitely not a person who can suffer losses. Moreover, the public opinion of the government and the people are in an uproar. If it is not sent to fight, it is absolutely unreasonable. Thirty years ago, the three guards of Duoyan were still on the battlefield. Not to mention now. It seems that the court should first enrich the guards of Suzhou first, and then use this as a base to attack westwards. However, the fight will definitely be able to fight, but it will not be now. It should be after spring and before summer."

Lian Zining didn't believe it and smiled and said, "It doesn't matter whether he sends troops or not, it has nothing to do with us. Let's go and go to the Military Weapons Bureau."

Xiong Tingbi smiled and said, "What sir is saying is that even if you fight, it has nothing to do with us. You just need to sit on the Diaoyutai."

What he said was a bit blatant, but Xiong Tingbi could be regarded as a person who knew Lian Zining very well. If he was a complacent minister who was obedient, would he dare to take in the general of the rebel army?

Lian Zining looked at him deeply, and before he could do so, he got up and left the room.

Nona's body had already recovered. Seeing Lian Zining come out, he quickly followed. The group left the mansion and rushed straight to the Military Weapon Bureau surrounded by a group of guards.

The Military Weapons Bureau needs to test more and more things, and the range is getting bigger and bigger. The small territory in the city is no longer able to accommodate it, so it has to move outside the city.

The west of Xishen Acropolis was originally a large area of ​​low hills and dense forests. Later, because a abundant iron ore was discovered there, the Mine Supervision Bureau built it there, and then the Military Weapon Bureau moved there.

The dense forest has disappeared, and large buildings have been built on the spot.

The Military Weapons Bureau and the Mining Supervision Bureau gathered only one mile away. Because they were remote outside the city, for safety reasons, the architectural characteristics were almost the same. They were all tall walls that circled a large area of ​​land, with a wall of more than two meters high and one meter thick, with a large area, and there were soldiers patrolling the walls. Just like two small castles, each of which was stationed in a thousand-household office. During the war, they could also support each other with Xishenwei to attract the enemy's troops. The strategic location was very outstanding.

Everyone rode out of the city because they had close contact. There was a road from the west gate to the Military Weapons Bureau and the Mining Supervision Bureau. They were paved with bluestone slabs and the road conditions were very good.

In the northeast in March, although the temperature is still below zero, there is a hint of warmth in the air, and the wind blowing is no longer so cold and biting. The sun is getting bright and warm, and even the snow on the roadside begins to melt.

But there is land near Xishenwei. Once the ice and snow melt, the ground will become muddy, like a big mud.

Lian Zining frowned at the muddy ground.

Because not far from his right hand, there were tens of thousands of Wuyi troops lined up in large arrays to train. The soldiers' feet were all immersed in mud. Although they had not experienced it personally, they could imagine that this feeling was definitely not very comfortable.

Lian Zining recruited a guard and said, "Go and tell Hong Chaoji and let him wait for me to come back here!"

"Yes, sir!" The guard rode away.

Lian Zining and others continued to move forward, and soon arrived at the Military Weapon Bureau.

At the gate of the castle-like military bureau, Gonzalez was already waiting.

With the improvement of the level and scale of the entire Wuyi Army, he, the director of the Military Weapons Bureau, now has the title of deputy Qianhu, and of course, various treatments have increased. The Sicilians under him, and even the skilled craftsmen recruited from Shandong, have also had different ranks.

When they saw Lian Zining coming, everyone saluted.

Lian Zining jumped off the horse and waved his hand and said, "Forgive. Lao Gang, you told me a few days ago that you have developed a new weapon. What exactly is it?"

Gonzalez was wearing a military officer uniform with a thousand-household military family, looking a little funny, and said with a smile: "My uncle, let the officials keep an eye on him. When the adults arrive, you will know."

Lian Zining smiled and shook his head: "You guy."

After entering the Military Weapon Bureau, it is still in the same shape as the Military Weapon Bureau in Leling County. In front is the forging and smelting place, in the middle is the residence of everyone, and behind is a large test site.

Compared to Leling County, the current military weapon bureau was very generous. Under Lian Zining's instructions, the test site alone was five miles in radius, which was not much smaller than Xishenwei.

Lian Zining entered the test site and saw a huge car not far away. Almost everyone's eyes were attracted.

This is a car, a big car, a very large car that seems to not appear in this era.

The car is more than two feet tall, three feet long and about two feet wide. It looks like a huge rectangular box with sixteen or seventeen huge wheels underneath. Each wheel has a neck as high as a human, the wheels and spokes are very thick, and the axles have metallic light, which shows that they are very strong at first glance.

The whole cart looks dark outside and has the unique texture of metal. When you look at it, it seems like the whole body is made of metal. Of course, this is unlikely. If it is really a whole body of metal, the wheels made of these wood will definitely not be able to hold on to the weight.

Although the appearance is integrated, it can still be seen that the cart is roughly divided into three layers. On the lower layer, there are many small windows the size of a bowl, with dozens of them. On the upper two layers, there are also windows, but each window is one and a half feet square, which is much larger than the one below. The corresponding number of windows is also smaller.

The whole car looks like a small fortress standing here.

Everyone who followed Lian Zining was stunned. What is this?

After all, Lian Zining was more knowledgeable and vaguely guessed some usefulness. His breathing immediately became heavy. He quickly asked Gonzalez next to him, "What is this trick?"

Gonzalez smiled, owed her body, and said proudly: "Your appreciation, you give us a bowl of rice, and you have a lot of trust, but we can't let you down the trust of this money we have worked hard these days and developed these two things. Let's talk about this cart first, this big cart, we named it the cannon cart."

"The two shafts of this cannon chariot are made of extremely hard iron birch wood, three feet long, one and a half feet wide, and one and three inches thick."

"There is a front pipa head, one zhang three inches long, six inches wide and half a foot thick, which is made of red pine wood."

"There are one side of the front and back walls, two inches tall, two inches wide, and two inches thick; there are one side of the left and right walls, three inches long, two inches tall, and two inches tall, and two inches thick."

"There are two columns, two feet tall and six inches in square ears; two carriage banners, two feet long and three inches thick; two carriage ears, five feet long and two feet wide and three inches thick."

"There are sixteen wheels, with a diameter of five feet; the net is twenty-eight, four inches thick and four inches wide."

"There are twenty-eight spokes, six feet and eight inches long and half a foot thick; there are two fronts of the car, four feet in diameter and four feet long; there are two crossbars, one twelve feet long."

"All of the above are made of good red pine wood. Outside the four walls of the cannon truck, there is a layer of iron sheet, and iron plates are reinforced in some parts. The whole car is divided into three layers, separated by boards and stairs to go up and down, with a total weight of 4,300 kilograms."

Lian Zining walked to the front of the cart, looked up, and was quite amazed, saying, "Are these holes installed with firearms?"

"Brother, please look at it." Gonzalez smiled and said, "Brother, please see that the holes opened on the lower floor are used to pierce spears. There are six holes on the front and back walls, and ten holes on the left and right walls. The first floor can accommodate thirty-two soldiers. The holes on the upper floor are placed with cannons. According to the meaning below, the top floor is placed with the Folang machine cannons, and the bottom floor is placed with tiger squat cannons. In this way, the combination of the two is suitable for both distance and near."

"The two holes on these two floors have two fronts and backs, and three on the left and right. A cannon cart has a total of ten small-scale Bolang machine cannons, ten tiger squat cannons, and thirty-two iron spears. Each Folang machine cannon has six matchmaker guns, and each tiger squat cannon is equipped with ten ammunition packs. Each iron spear is 10 feet long. It is made of iron, which is extremely sharp and not easy to break. There are iron chains on the inner wall of the first floor, and each spear is tied to an iron chain, so that it will not be snatched away by the enemies outside."

Lian Zining was shocked when he heard this. He had thought that this cannon truck was used for this purpose, but after confirming it, he still couldn't help but feel very excited.

Damn this is not a cannon cart? It is clearly a tank from the Ming Dynasty!

Lian Zining couldn't help but be surprised, thinking that Gonzalez was also a time traveler? This thing is just the same as the tanks in later generations. And it is not an ordinary tank, but a multi-turret tank that is obsessed with the multi-rivet steaming steel technology.

Lian Zining asked, "Gonzalez, how did you think of making such a thing?"

Gonzalez was a little embarrassed at this moment and said, "Actually, this is not the credit of the Biaoxia. Since surrendering to the adults, he has been determined to share the worries of the adults and create more powerful firearms. But Biaoxia also knows that the firearm technology of our Ming Dynasty was actually very advanced before, so he read many classics. In an ancient book, he saw that in the fourth year of Tianshun, this dynasty, a general made light chariots in Datong Town, and set up multiple muskets on it, which was quite powerful. Biaoxia thought, why can't the firearms of our Wuyi Army be used to be so powerful? Biaoxia built cannon cars in turn, but this thing is really difficult to master. If the cannons are released too much, the recoil will shatter the wooden board. If it is released less, it will not show its power. It took two months to study it to create such a finished product."

Lian Zining was very interested in this and said, "Come on, let me show it!"

"Yes, sir, just take a look!" Gonzalez waved his hand and stood up from the Sicilian mobs. Gonzalez took the lead and climbed the cart along the ladder. At the back of the cart, there was a hanging ladder that was seven or eight feet long. They all climbed up the ladder and then at the place where they were seven or eight feet high. There was a small door five feet high, which came in from here. When the last person entered, he pulled the ladder in and closed the door. There was obviously a device such as a latch inside. After closing it, he immediately became seamless.

It seems that the entrance is directly opened on the second floor.

Lian Zining nodded when he saw it. This setting was very clever. If the entrance was opened low, it might be smashed open by the enemy when besieged. In this way, the wheel was originally five feet high, so it was not easy to climb up. The door was seven or eight feet high, so it was even more impossible to enter. The opening of the tank later seemed to be similar.

I only heard a jingle ring inside, and I saw dozens of spears stretching out from the small holes on the first floor. The spear was pitch black and black. The spear was extremely sharp and shining with a creeping cold light.

Then I saw ten thick and short muzzles protruding out from the hole on the second floor, two in front and three in left and right, and the tiger squat cannon. Then on the top floor, ten thinner Bolang machine cannon barrels protruding out.

In an instant, the entire cannon car turned into a huge monster full of cannon barrels.

Full of evil and powerful deterrent power.

At this time, the sound of clanging metal hitting came from the top layer. With a sharp whistle, a faint smell of gunpowder came. Except for the three Folang cannons that were not sounding at Lian Zining and others, a stream of white smoke came out of the muzzles of the other hot Folang cannons. Then I saw a stream of dust coming out of five or six hundred meters in front, right and back three directions, and several large pits were smashed out on the ground.

Then, another neat explosion came from the second floor, as if the ground was trembling, and countless small leads were sprayed out from the second floor of the cart to all sides. A fierce and dense hot steel storm enveloped the radius of the cart as the center and reached a range of twenty meters.

The angle of the muzzle of the tiger squat cannon is slightly downward. When the smoke of gunpowder has dissipated, he saw a piece of tiny lead, iron blocks, and gravel on the ground twenty meters away, neatly and in a dense manner, forming a ring with an inner ring radius of about twenty meters and an outer ring radius of about twenty meters.

With such power, everyone took a breath.

Naturally, there was only a dull roar heard, and then the thirty-two spears protruded from the first layer slashed forward in unison, neatly, and it was obvious that someone was commanding it inside.

The holes of these spears extending out are about six feet high from the ground. The spears pierce out obliquely. The hit part is exactly the chest of the enemy standing on the ground. Their design is sinister. When you meet, the enemy has no choice but to face this monster covered with iron and heavy pine wood. The soldiers in the car can constantly prick outwards and harvest their lives.

Lian Zining's breathing was heavy.

This demonstration process represents the three methods of attacking the artillery, far and near, and can be used as a battlefield support or a slaughtering machine. It is very useful.

Nona pulled Lian Zining's clothes behind her, and niggled her tongue at him, saying, "Master, this cannon cart is so powerful!"

"Yes!" Lian Zining nodded: "It's really amazing!"

Gonzalez brought a group of people out of it. He must have gone to fuck the cannon. His face was black and white, but his expression was full of pride: "Master, are you still satisfied?"

"I'm very satisfied!" Lian Zining raised his eyebrows: "But, Gonzalez, this thing is not cheap? Also, the empty car is so heavy. How much does it take to carry you dozens of people? How to move it?"

Gonzalez's face immediately became a little embarrassed.

Power and cost, Lian Zining's words came to the forefront.

He smiled embarrassedly: "The cost is indeed higher. The main body of this cannon truck is made of iron birch and pine. The hardness of iron birch is only slightly worse than steel, and the pine wood is also very hard. There are many of these woods outside our city, and there are pine trees everywhere. Just choose their good materials. Iron birch is rare, but it is not impossible to find if you start hunters to find it. In addition, iron sheets and iron plates are not difficult to find, but the craftsmanship is very high, and it is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and it is also expensive!"

Lian Zining frowned and asked, "How much can the output be achieved?"

"It took half a month for the artificial cannon truck, and it cost 30,000 taels of silver in total. Of course, all the processes will be familiar with in the future, and the cost can be reduced a lot. One car can be won by about 10,000 taels of silver."

"Ten thousand taels of silver?" Lian Zining's face relaxed a little: "It's not unacceptable."

That is, Wu Yijun, who is rich and powerful, dares to say this.

"What about the motivation?"

"Power is indeed a problem," Gonzalez said: "The current idea is to use war horses. I have done experiments. A slow horse can pull a large cart weighing thousands of pounds. This cart, ten horses are enough."

"Ten horses? That's all. But this requires a lot of training, right?" Lian Zining was a little helpless. In this era where animal power was the main driving force, there was really no way.
To be continued...