"What if the bandits go out of the city to seize the cannon?"

"At each artillery position, two teams of infantry are deployed, equipped with squatting tiger cannons and three-eyed muskets. They are ready to fight at any time. Our soldiers have deep trenches to hide themselves, and the enemy's artillery cannot reach them. If there is a shortage of troops, fresh troops can be sent as replacements at any time."

He glanced at He Rubin and quickly added: "It's just a humble opinion to work in a humble job."

He Rubin had never heard of such a tactic: digging a trench in the ground, and having artillery soldiers walk at the bottom of the trench. I originally thought it would be dismissed as "ridiculous"! After thinking about it, this method may not be useless, if the Kun thieves refuse to retreat

, you might as well give it a try.

But he didn't say yes or no. He left expressionlessly among the stars.

Li Modao carefully sent the Commander-in-Chief away. He felt a little uneasy: He didn't know whether his remarks made the Commander happy or unhappy, and whether he had any appetite for him. Mr. He himself was a member of his army for sixteen years.

I got a garrison rank and recently became a battalion general again. I am very concerned about my future.

"Sir! Are you satisfied with the firearms camp, sir?" As soon as He Rubin left, several of his closest confidants, Mr. Qian, gathered around him.

"How do I know?" Li Modao said impatiently, "You just need to take care of the brothers one by one! It seems that our firearms camp is going to have a big fight this time."

After his men dispersed, Li Modao took a look at the various strange-shaped cannonballs waiting for the soldiers to recover. He walked over and squatted on the ground, carefully looking at the cannonballs cast by the foreign monk. Although the new cannonballs did not perform well when fired.

Good, but Li Modao vaguely felt that these cannonballs had their own uses, but he didn't know it.

"If there is someone around me who knows Western artillery skills, I can ask him clearly." Li Modao thought to himself.

When it comes to Western artillery, He Zhen is certainly the number one person in the Guangdong and Guangxi armies, but he is just a small guard, how dare he casually ask the master of Zhentai for advice.

"Once the gun barrels have been cleaned, prepare to harness the horses and return to camp." He ordered the soldiers to clean the gun barrels and pack away the items.

The soldiers brought in the newly purchased Sichuan horses and harnessed them to the cannon. The Sichuan horses were small and weak. This kind of artillery carriage was very heavy and heavy, and there was no artillery front carriage. The horses pulling it not only had to pull forward, but also

Bear the weight on the back. The efficiency of using animal power is very poor, and it takes seven or eight horses to pull it. Li Modao knew that local Mongolian horses were very rare, and Jiangnan and Guangdong did not raise mules, so he had to use Sichuan horses to make up the numbers.

"This horse is too weak, not as strong as a mule," said the boss next to him.

"This is a small Sichuan horse from the south, smaller than a donkey from Shandong." Li Modao said, "It can't even equal a donkey when it pulls a cart. It can still carry goods on mountain roads, but it can't even pull a cart or a cannon."

"I see there are a lot of cattle here, so I might as well use them."

"Cows are too slow." He shook his head, "and they are easily frightened. When a cannon is fired on the battlefield, if the cow is frightened, wouldn't it be bad immediately?"

However, oxen are strong, and their strength is greater than the Sichuan horse that can barely drag the cannon. However, there are more than 30 cannons in the camp that weigh more than 1,000 kilograms, and each person needs more than 100 oxen if they use four.

Cattle, and corresponding servants. I don’t know if He Zhen is willing to spend this extra expense.

After returning to the camp and setting up the cannon, Li Modao went to the gunpowder factory at the foot of Yaxie Niang Mountain. About five or six miles away from the military camp fort, there was a large shack that was a workshop for manufacturing gunpowder. There, day and night, ships were shipped from all over the place.

Materials for making gunpowder were brought: sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter. Occasionally, other things were also brought, including dried human feces, poisonous Chinese herbal medicines such as aconite, and lime tung oil.

As the commander of the firearms battalion, Li Modao was most concerned about the supply of gunpowder. Although there was no shortage of gunpowder for the army, the quality of the gunpowder varied widely. The gunpowder could only emit a puff of black smoke, and the cannon fell off as soon as it was ejected from the barrel.

Things have also happened. Sometimes the medicine is too strong and directly explodes the barrel, often causing heavy casualties to the gunner.

During this expedition, He Rubin entrusted him with the task of manufacturing gunpowder projectiles. He was in charge of the firearms camp. Gunpowder projectiles were a matter of life and death and must not be ignored.

There were many large iron pots set up in the shed, and something was being boiled, emitting an unpleasant smell. Li Modao knew that they were purifying nitrate and sulfur.

Not far away, there are three large stone mills, led by Sichuan horses, crushing charcoal; there are many folk workers pounding the ashes there, and many people are sifting the ashes to sift out fine black powder.

.Some people add sulfur, nitrate and other things to charcoal powder according to the prescribed proportion to make gunpowder.

The prepared gunpowder powder was put into the stone trough, and the craftsmen used thick wooden pestles to continuously pound the gunpowder powder in the stone trough. An old craftsman sat aside, twisting the powder with his hands from time to time, and adding some water.

The gunpowder powder should be pounded as finely as possible. Li Modao remembered that the book stipulated that it should be pounded for more than five thousand times, and he didn't know how the craftsmen counted.
Chapter completed!