In the early morning, Zhang Huan came to the southeast schoolyard in Wuwei City, which was the temporary location of the Western Liang Army Ordnance Office. There were more than a dozen workshops for making various ordnances, including the workshop for making crossbows that Zhang Huan had visited.

The schoolyard covers a large area and has been completely closed, leaving only a small door for people to enter and exit. A team of soldiers guarded closely. Zhang Huan walked into the ordnance development center of the Western Liang Army accompanied by Song Qi.

The schoolyard is no longer a place for horse racing and martial arts practice. It is divided into three parts with brick walls. One is the warehouse area, composed of more than a dozen huge houses, filled with various crossbow arrows, swords and spears, armor, etc.; the other is a small area with two three-story wooden houses built, which is the official office of the Ordnance Department and the weapons developed. Currently, they are basically vacant and there are no people. Another place is a test site, which is quite lively. Nearly a hundred full-time sergeants are testing various newly-made weapons here, but large weapons such as elephant stone cannons, bed crossbows, and serial crossbows are all placed outside the city.

Zhang Huan followed Song Qi through the test site, and many soldiers stopped their work and saluted the governor. Zhang Huan gave him a little bit,

They came to another corner of the test site, and a two-acre vacant land was specially set up here. Five or six small houses were placed in the vacant land, built with wood, and reduced in a three-to-one ratio according to the normal size of the house, with a height of only the same as their shoulders, making it look very small and exquisite. This kind of house is specially used for testing gunpowder, but except for one room, the others are intact. It can be seen that the progress of gunpowder is not optimistic.

Song Qi pushed open the small window of the darkened room and said to Zhang Huan: "Please look at the Governor, this is the result of an experiment three days ago. The clay pot exploded, the debris were still embedded on the inner wall, and the subordinates remained unmoved."

Zhang Huan leaned into the small window and saw that the small house was pitch black, as if it had been burned by fire. There were several burnt yellow areas, and the ground was covered with broken pottery pieces, and some small pottery pieces were inlaid on the wooden boards.

He retracted his head and asked Song Qi: "You have conducted more than twenty experiments, but only this experiment was successful. Have you summed up any experience?"

Song Qi nodded and said, "Report to the Governor, several of my subordinates made detailed records before and after the test. Generally, after the gunpowder was loaded into the pot, a yarn soaked with tinder was used as a twister. Sometimes it was extinguished halfway, and sometimes it was burned into the gunpowder pot, either smoking or there was no movement at all. The only explosion was because the gunpowder used was different from other ones. It was found in the alchemy room abandoned by an alchemist, but unfortunately it only got half a pound."

"Then where has this alchemist been?" Zhang Huan asked hurriedly.

"It is said that someone had eaten the pill he refined and died. He fled for fear of his crime. His subordinates inquired from many sources. He heard that someone had seen him in Jincheng County, but later he disappeared."

Zhang Huan nodded, "Give me the information about this person, I'll send someone to find him. You can also find some craftsmen who can make gunpowder. No matter what, we have to make gunpowder ourselves."

"Abide by the order!"

Zhang Huan encouraged several people who specialized in testing gunpowder and prepared to leave the gunpowder test site. As soon as he walked to the door, Zhang Huan turned his head accidentally. He suddenly saw a dark behemoth parked in a corner, covered with a mat, with only one corner exposed, which seemed to be a new weapon.

He walked over curiously, pulled down the mat, and looked at the strange guy carefully. To be precise, it was not a weapon, but a vehicle, with a characteristic carriage used by the emperor on a tour, driven by six large wheels, as if it was a moving house without a roof, with thick pig iron plates around it, connected by hinges, and could be dismantled at will, either high or low.

Seeing Zhang Huan's face of confusion, Song Qi hurriedly stepped forward and explained: "This is the creativity of a craftsman. He wanted to build a small stone cannon or place the Zhuge crossbow on it, and then use eight horses to drive it. Dozens of crossbow soldiers can be placed on the gaps on both sides, and crossbow arrows can be fired through shooting holes. In this way, heavy weapons that could only be used to defend the city can also be launched manually. The subordinates considered using it to throw gunpowder tanks. Unfortunately, this kind of car is too expensive, and the horses used must be tall, big-food horses. Moreover, we in Wuwei do not have good craftsmen to build cars, so in the end, they only built such an unpractical prototype and stopped."

Zhang Huan didn't say anything. He circled the huge iron RV a few times. It was made very heavy and was cast with pig iron. If a catapult and a soldier were installed on it, ordinary horses would not be able to pull it. However, if it was improved by excellent carmakers, it would reduce its weight and change some ideas. For example, crossbowmen usually only rode horses and then entered it during combat. In the end, dozens of such carriages were concentrated and protected by cavalry around them. This would be a major creation for dealing with nomadic cavalry.

Thinking of this, Zhang Huan's eyes gradually became brighter, and he immediately turned around and said, "Let this craftsman come to see me immediately."

After a moment, a middle-aged man in his forties was taken to Zhang Huan. He stepped forward and bowed and said, "Cao Jianyuan, a grass polite, see the governor!"

"No need to be polite!" Zhang Huan asked with a gentle smile: "Where is Cao Jiangren from?"

"Caomin is from Fengxiang Mansion. He moved to Jincheng County ten years ago. He is an old carpenter. My son served in the Xiliang Army, so I was moved to Wuwei as a military household."

Zhang Huan nodded, pointed to the RV beside him and asked, "How did you think of building this car?"

Carpenter Cao respectfully replied: "Caomin is a craftsman who makes stone cannons. I used my rest time to build a small stone cannon. Three people can get their hair away and throw five kilograms of stones for 600 steps. I was wondering whether this small stone cannon could be installed on a carriage. As a result, the bigger the thoughts became, the bigger the guy, in the end, there was such a huge guy. It's a pity that I couldn't find a good craftsman who could build a carriage."

At this time, the marching Sima Luo Guang, who accompanied Zhang Huan to inspect, suddenly interrupted and said, "When it comes to craftsmen, do you have an idea?"

"you say!"

"Last time, I was ordered by the governor to go to Kaiyang County to invite Wei Yan to send troops. Before I came back, I went to visit my son who was studying in Longyou Academy. I found that all the Longyou Academy was managed in an army style. Every student wore military uniforms, wore long swords, had a captain, team leader, and team leader. My subordinates were very excited. I thought that my son was studying military tactics here. Unfortunately, they were just like this. They were reading the Four Books and Five Classics. My subordinates were wondering whether our Xiliang Army could establish such a military academy so that some outstanding soldiers and subordinate officers could gather together to learn strategies, military tactics, one or two years; by extension, the same was true for craftsmen. An excellent craftsman could only bring out a few apprentices at most. If he was asked to be a special professor in the military academy, he could teach dozens, or even hundreds of excellent young craftsmen...."

Before Luo Guangzheng could finish his words, everyone around him applauded enthusiastically. Whether they were craftsmen or soldiers, they were all practical people. Sima's extremely creative suggestions from the marching were inspired.

Zhang Huan also gently stroked his beard and smiled without saying a word. Luo Guangzheng's proposal hit his mind, and it was second to obtain a large number of talents. More importantly, all the officers went out of such a military academy. As long as they controlled this military academy, it would be equivalent to controlling the entire army.

He immediately said to everyone: "Ro Sima's proposal is very good. I will consider this matter in special consideration. There will be a result in one or two months."

Speaking of this, he turned back to Song Qi and said, "I have granted you 100,000 jin of funds. You should go to all parts of the Tang Dynasty to recruit outstanding craftsmen at all costs. If you don't have enough money, just talk. If you have any difficulties, find Luo Sima. I want you to recruit a group of skilled craftsmen to Wuwei within three months. Whether it is heavy chariots, gunpowder, or hundreds of arrows and crossbows, you must have talents in this field."

Just as everyone was in high spirits, a personal soldier hurried to report, "Governor, a letter sender from the office said that there is important letter paper for you."

"Okay, that's all here today."

Zhang Huan said goodbye to everyone with a smile. He patted the chariot-making carriage on the shoulder and said, "Since you can come up with such a good idea, you can find a way to improve it yourself, such as changing the iron wall to wooden and wrapping it with iron sheets, the weight will be much lighter. I will give you a high-quality carriage made in Beijing. You should think about it carefully and believe that you can build the chariot in your heart."

After leaving the ordnance, Zhang Huan rushed back to the Governor's Office. He entered his room. Meng Jiao told him that the sender was invited by his wife to the back house. Zhang Huan was a little surprised. When he came to the living room of the back house, Pei Ying was sitting on a ring chair and was chatting with a man sitting opposite him with a smile. Seeing Zhang Huan come in, the man stood up and bowed and smiled, "Why don't you get sick?"

His skin was fair and he had a long beard. His legs were a little lame when he stood up, but it was Pei Ying's elder brother Pei Mingkai.

Zhang Huan was stunned. How could Pei Jun send Pei Mingkai to deliver a letter to him? Could something happen to Beijing?

When Pei Ying saw Zhang Huan come in, she hurriedly helped the maid stand up and smiled, "Get sick, my father is in Jincheng County, I want to go and see you too."

"No! You can't go far now? Dad knows, I must scold me to death." Before Zhang Huan could speak, Pei Mingkai immediately denied his sister's strange thoughts. He then took out a letter and handed it to Zhang Huan and said with a smile: "The court ordered the fourth uncle Pei Yi to be a Tubo envoy and send him some envoys to Jincheng County. He hopes that you will meet with Jincheng County."

Speaking of this, he gave Pei Ying a wink. Pei Ying knew that they had something to say, so she smiled and said, "You guys talk! I'll go talk to Cui Ning."

When Pei Ying left, Zhang Huan immediately asked, "Why did my father-in-law arrive in Jincheng County?"
Chapter completed!