On the 12th day of the first lunar month, Du Zhongxiao and his party finally arrived outside Kaifeng City. After resting in the inn, Du Zhongxiao sent someone to report to the Secretariat and the Privy Council.

Less than an hour later, the soldiers of the Privy Council, who were ordered by the soldiers of the Privy Council, went outside the city and met Du Zhongxiao at the inn.

The guest and the host took the seat, and the soldiers Ning took out the documents and handed them to Du Zhongxiao: "The letter from the Privy Councilor, ordered the scholar to take the cannon to Xianping County and place it in the palace's brave army. After arriving there, stay temporarily and wait for command."

Du Zhongxiao received the letter and bowed to him.

The official orders issued by the Secretariat are called imperial edicts, and the Privy Council declares that they must be subject to imperial edicts and the emperor will be given a seal. Whenever there are ordinary affairs, they can use a letter and the priest sign and seal. A lower level is also the leader, who is used to deal with trivial matters. Another powerful yamen, the orders issued by the Three Divisions are called prosecutors. These documents have different formats, and the ministers have different authority and different functions.

Du Zhongxiao read the letter, wrote a receipt to the soldiers Ning, and asked, "I wonder if I will go to Xianping here?"

The soldier Ning said, "In order to avoid many troubles, the Grand Marshal ordered me to go with the scholar. It was still early now, and the scholars used some wine to drink, so we set off. We rested in Chicang Town at night and arrived in Xianping County tomorrow."

Judging from the arrangements of the Privy Council, the Privy Council's cannon brought back this time was much more important than last time. There were many people in the capital and many forces from all sides. They simply refused to enter the city and went directly to Xianping, south of Kaifeng.

Xianping County is located on the Cai River with convenient transportation. It is one of the largest military camps near the capital. It has nearly 10,000 garrisons of various corpses. The Xiong Yong Army is nominally affiliated with the Dianqian Division and has three commands in Xianping, which is also considered an elite soldier. However, since the Taizong Dynasty, the power of the three yamen has gradually decreased. Most of the imperial guards outside Kaifeng City are only nominally affiliated with the Sanyamen, which is actually equivalent to the local imperial guards, and the same is true for the Xiong Yong Army.

Du Zhongxiao, Tao Shiqi and others used the meal and brought cannons to the road. Chicang Town rested for a night and arrived at Xiongyong's military camp in Xianping.

After entering the military camp, Wei Duguan did not let Du Zhongxiao and the soldiers Ning go to the general's tent to rest, so he directly pulled the cannon and arrived at the school ground behind the military camp. He said, "Don't blame the rudeness of the two. The Privy Council has an order that artillery is a powerful weapon for the country and should not be shown to others. After a strict order arrives at the military camp, he will immediately choose a hidden place to place it. There is also a Shi Taiwei from the palace to wait for the cannon here to test the cannon."

When I arrived at the school ground, I saw a middle-aged man commanding a sergeant to build a wall with his back, which was very lively.

Du Zhongxiao recognized this person as Shi Quanbin, who served as the commander of the Lulu when he first arrived at Hedong Road. Shortly after Du Zhongxiao went to the Volcano Army, Shi Quanbin was transferred back to the palace from Hedong Road. Now he has become the deputy governor of the inner city and is one of the most powerful eunuchs.

When a few people greeted him, Shi Quanbin looked up and down at Du Zhongxiao and said, "You and I met on Hedong Road. At that time, the scholars and scholars were weak and scholars, and the subordinates of the Grand Marshal were the verdict. I didn't want to have the ability to march and fight. I missed it at that time, which is a pity. If I stayed on Hedong Road for one or two years, I would be able to make some contributions when I took over Tanglong Town."

Du Zhongxiao bowed: "The Taiwei was just a lucky person."

Shi Quanbin pointed to the newly built wall not far away and said, "Bachelors don't have to be humble, they don't have to be lucky, they will know after a while."

Du Zhongxiao looked at the wall, about two people tall and less than one step thick, which was almost the same as the female wall on the top of the city. He vaguely guessed what Shi Quanbin was going to do. He bowed and asked, "Dare you ask the Grand Marshal, what is the purpose of building this wall?"

Shi Quanbin said: "When you returned to Beijing to demonstrate guns and cannons two years ago, everyone thought it was a weapon when they saw it. As a result, in the Beizhou Rebellion last year, the Privy Council pulled out the cannons you made and demonstrated it, saying that siege was completely useless. I don't expect you to go to Beizhou and use cannons to knock down the city again. You have changed the way and said it is different, and the government also feels that it is too big. This time you don't need to demonstrate it. The government has set a wall of such a specification. You can use your own gun to bombard a few cannons. What is going on? I see it and go back and report it to the government."

When Du Zhongxiao heard this, he didn't know what to say for a moment. There are many types of cannons, including iron and copper, large and small, and of course different powers. You can't just listen to the word cannon, and think that they are all the same, let alone different usages.

Shi Quanbin's ancestors were palace eunuchs for several generations. He entered the palace since he was a child. He was always cautious and cautious, and slowly sat down to the position today. Unlike the arrogant and domineering eunuchs who were in power in the past, Shi Quanbin had always had no conflicts with officials from the outside dynasty and had a good relationship. When he was on Hedong Road, he replaced the commander of the Goulin Mansion. If he walked two years later, he would have really gained the military achievements of Tanglong Town.

Du Zhongxiao and Shi Quanbin worked together on Hedong Road. They had no deep relationships, had neither good or bad relationships, did not understand his temperament, and did not speak much.

Wei Dujian ordered his personal soldiers to give tea, and asked Shi Quanbin and Du Zhongxiao to sit down, saying, "What is the Taiwei and the scholar doing here has nothing to do with it. The Privy Council just borrowed my military camp. If you have any questions, please tell me."

Du Zhongxiao hurriedly said that he didn't dare. After drinking a cup of tea, he ordered Tao Shiqi to fight against the mule and prepare to bombard the city wall built by Shi Quanbin.

Shi Quanbin and Wei Dujian came forward, looked at the thick and long bronze cannon barrel, looked at each other, and said, "No wonder they could collapse the Beizhou city wall. Such a cannon is not comparable to the small cannons cast in the past!"

Du Zhongxiao hurriedly said, "You two are so bad. You can't even knock down the Beizhou city wall like this, but you just knocked down the female wall above."

Wei Dujian said: "Without the female wall, what's the use of the city wall? If people can't stand on it, they are still at the mercy of others!"

This is the truth. After the European artillery matured in history, the fortress quickly changed its shape and developed a fortress from the city wall. It was not that the artillery collapsed the city wall, but that it could destroy the defensive facilities relying on the city wall. Without the defense system, the city wall would have no effect.

Shi Quanbin stepped forward, looked carefully at the cannon, and said, "I naturally know that I can only knock down the female wall. The bachelor saw that the building was only as thick as the female wall. However, being able to knock down the female wall is also an extremely powerful weapon."

As he said that, he patted the cannon barrel hard and asked, "Bachelor, how much does this cannon cost? How much does it cost?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "This is all made of good copper, weighing more than 500 kilograms and worth more than 100 jin. However, this is just the material cost and the labor cost is calculated separately."

Shi Quanbin nodded and asked again: "How much effort does it take to cast such a cannon?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "A master will use it for more than a month with more than a dozen apprentices. Of course, if there is a prepared mold core, it will take less labor."

Shi Quanbin thought silently and knew the wages roughly, and the wages would not be cheaper than the material costs.

After drinking tea for a while, the soldiers over there built the earthen wall. Shi Quanbin looked at the sky and said to Du Zhongxiao: "It's still early, and the bachelor can ask someone to shoot a shot at the wall to see how it is. If it can be knocked down, I will order people to build it more strongly in the past few days. What is the power of this gun?"

After hearing this, Du Zhongxiao ordered Tao Shiqi to command the gunner, load gunpowder shells, and blast the newly built earth wall.

After the loading was completed, Du Zhongxiao took out the small red flag of command. With a command, a shocking sound came out, and a burst of smoke came out.

Shi Quanbin and Wei Dujian didn't expect that the sound was so loud, and they were both shocked and couldn't speak.

This artillery shocked the entire military camp. Several commanders ran to the school ground in panic and were scolded by Wei Dujian.

After calming down, Shi Quanbin looked at the city wall not far away and had a gap and dust was flying.

After staring at the gap for a while, Shi Quanbin said, "This shot was clean and neat, and the wall over there collapsed. After seeing it with his own eyes, he realized that the collapse of the Beizhou female wall is true. A sharp weapon is really a sharp weapon!"
Chapter completed!