The light of the sword is like the moon reflecting on Kyushu

Chapter 1948: Sky Bombs and Land Mines
A fire was blazing in the Northern Han Army Workshop, and heat waves carrying charcoal ash were surging in the air.

Countless craftsmen with bare upper bodies clamped out the incandescent iron ingots, and the red metal splashed out dazzling sparks on the anvil.

The muscular man swung a 20-jin hammer and hammered the iron ingot with all his strength. The clanging sound of the hammer hitting the red iron ingot was like the sound of a drum on a battlefield. With continuous forging, the iron ingot gradually showed the outline of a weapon, and the scales on its surface were like rippling water waves. What he was forging now was the arrowhead of the armor-piercing arrow!

Green smoke suddenly rose during quenching, and the bright red three-edged arrow head made a hissing sound when immersed in tung oil, and the blade was instantly covered with dark blue quenching patterns.

The experienced craftsman stroked the unsharpened arrowhead with his fingertips. The sound of sand and stone grinding gradually rose like a dragon's roar, until the edge of the blade reflected the cold light of frost and snow.

The incense and candles in front of the shrine in the corner are still burning, and the tablets of the ancestors of successive generations can be seen in the curling green smoke - before the first weapon is born every day, they must bathe, change clothes, burn incense and pray to heaven, this is the spirit of craftsmanship flowing in their blood.

Many young people were roasting mulberry wood to make bows, and the creaking sound of rubber bands being tightened could be heard in the steaming mist. On the other side, a row of dozens of long spears were placed horizontally on the table. The spear shafts wrapped with bamboo and wood had just been painted with the seventh coat of raw lacquer, and the red tassels trembled in the wind as if waiting to drink blood.

Li Shaokang was leisurely lying in a bamboo rocking chair sipping tea when he suddenly felt something unusual. He instinctively looked towards the door and saw several figures walking in.

The first person was wearing a purple dragon robe and a golden crown on his head. On his left was a eunuch in a red python robe, on his right was a general in black armor, and behind him were seven or eight guards in brocade robes, each with eyes as bright as lightning. The group walked in with extraordinary momentum and in a mighty manner.

Li Shaokang immediately jumped up from the bamboo rocking chair like a cat whose tail was stepped on. He dropped the purple clay teapot in his hand, trotted to Liu Miezhou, and knelt down with a plop: "Your humble servant, Li Shaokang, the Chief of the Military Equipment Supervisor, kowtows to the emperor!"

Liu Miezhou asked: "How many armor-piercing arrows have been made?"

Li Shaokang replied: "Your Majesty, we have already made two thousand of them!"

Liu Miezhou frowned and asked, "So little?"

Li Shaokang's forehead was covered with sweat. "It's mainly because smelting the alloy takes a long time, and it must be cooled naturally to eliminate stress, otherwise it will crack!"

Liu Miezhou had a blank expression on his face: "Okay, I get it! More haste, less speed! You should prioritize quality! On the premise of ensuring quality, increase the quantity! If there are not enough people, add more people, and if there are not enough furnaces, add more furnaces!"

Li Shaokang immediately said: "As ordered!"

Liu Miezhou said: "Get up!"

Li Shaokang stood up immediately.

The craftsmen wanted to kneel down and kowtow, but he stopped them! Time is precious now, so the top priority is to let them concentrate on making weapons, and the so-called red tape is better off.

Liu Miezhou quickly walked around the workshop without saying a word.

He knew that a question he asked casually could cause tension and fear to others, so why should he be the bad guy?

Before leaving, he emphasized the progress to Li Shaokang, "We need to make 100,000 armor-piercing arrows within three days! We need to make 500 spear and three sword arrows! Remember, 500 of them are finished products that have been loaded with explosives!"

Li Shaokang bowed and said, "Your Majesty, please rest assured that I will never fail in my mission!"

Now that the Song army is at the gates of the city, the situation is critical, how dare he slack off? If he fails to complete the task, his head will definitely be removed! This newly enthroned Emperor Xian is much more ruthless than Liu Jiyuan!
He turned around and shouted, "Brothers! Work harder! We're having beef tonight!"

The craftsmen shouted in unison: "Good!"

When Li Shaokang looked back again, Emperor Xian's figure had disappeared into the distance!
Liu Miezhou is going back to the palace now!

Yelu Xizhen was already waiting outside the palace, he couldn’t leave him alone for too long!

Halfway up Erlong Mountain, Zhao Guangyi and Lin Yongpeng were playing a forehand game.

There are 19 rows and columns on the foldable mahogany chessboard, and many chess pieces have been placed!
The black pieces are black jade, and the white pieces are Hetian jade.

Two palace maids hold a lotus-shaped long-handled copper incense burner, which is equipped with a incense holder to store spices. The handle is carved with Buddhist patterns and is filled with sandalwood.

Eunuch Li was serving closely beside him, and watching the battle were generals Cui Yanjin, Li Hanqiong, Cao Han, and Liu Yu.

Five feet away, the masters of the Imperial Palace set up a tight defense circle! Not even a fly could fly in!

Zhao Guangyi, playing black, opened the game with "Star·Small Eye", while Lin Yongpeng, playing white, responded with two consecutive stars.

The two of them fought back and forth and made dozens of moves in a short while!
When Black Five was hanging in the upper right corner, White Six suddenly changed his tactics and made a three-space high clamp like a white crane spreading its wings, causing Eunuch Li to raise his eyebrows and stare at him! This was an attempt to kill Zhao Guangyi directly!

In the 73rd move, Lin Yongpeng's white pieces suddenly broke into the black pieces' strong position.

Zhao Guangyi pondered for a moment, and then the Black Seventy-Four appeared in the air, like a dark cloud covering a city.

"Yong Peng, when do you think it would be best to organize another siege?"

White Seventy-Five lightly touches the corner, and Black Seventy-Six unexpectedly takes the lead in occupying Tianyuan!
Suddenly, three rare ko battles formed on the chessboard! The most thrilling one was in the lower left corner. When White 101 proposed ko, Zhao Guangyi's Black 102 chose a point to seek ko, which shocked everyone present - it was actually a two-way pass point. It seemed insignificant, but it was full of murderous intent!
Lin Yongpeng's fingertips trembled slightly, and Bai Yilingsan had no choice but to respond!

"Your Majesty, we can organize a siege tonight!"

When Black 104 takes back the material for capture, White's dragon is already in a state of panic!

"Organize a siege tonight?" "Yes!"

"How is the general plan?"

"I checked and found that our 500 musketeers and 3,000 armor-piercing soldiers have basically not been reduced in number. They can be protected under the cover of night."

"And then let the infantry storm the city walls?"

"No! The Han army must have expected that we might attack at night, and they must have taken corresponding precautions! Attacking the city walls by force will only increase casualties!"

"Then what do you mean?"

"Blow up the city gate! Make explosives tonight and pile them under the gate or stick them on the gate. After igniting them, blow the gate open all at once!"

"Since the Han army will definitely strengthen its vigilance at night, how can our people break through the defense line and pile the explosives to the city gate?"

"Feint to the east and attack in the west, conceal the truth from the world!"

"Be more detailed!"

"I will send three groups of soldiers to make feint attacks in batches! Each group of soldiers will have at least 3,000 soldiers! After the first group attacks, they will retreat immediately if they see the situation is not good! Then after a while, the second group of 3,000 people will make another feint attack. As soon as they find that the enemy's firepower has become fierce, they will retreat immediately! Never fight to the end! If this happens three times, the Han army will definitely slack off! During this period, 100 soldiers will carry explosives and sneak into the city gate and stick the explosives on the door!"

"One hundred soldiers carrying explosives? That's a lot of explosives! How do you store them?"

"I got a blueprint from a master. It can make a killer weapon called a thunderbolt! Put explosives in a hollow iron ball and ignite it. The explosion will be earth-shattering! The surface of the hollow iron ball should have vertical and horizontal grooves, and the surface should look like a pineapple with protrusions. Once the iron ball explodes, these protrusions will explode into extremely sharp blades. With the help of explosives, it will be like a rain of knives, indestructible and powerful! If this is thrown into a crowd, how terrifying will the killing power be?"

Zhao Guangyi's eyes flickered. "Do we have the conditions to manufacture it?"

Lin Yongpeng said, "Your Majesty! We don't have enough time to build the furnace, heat it up, melt the iron, cast it, and do the secondary quenching! I have arranged for someone to make a batch of bombs before we set out, and they will probably arrive soon! The first batch should have fifty! Although the number is not large, it is enough to knock down the city gate!"

Zhao Guangyi said: "Okay! Send someone to find out where the thunder bomb is!"

Lin Yongpeng immediately ordered a scout to find out where the person transporting the gunpowder was, and if he was found, he would do everything possible to "bring him back"!
Tonight, he wants to give Liu Miezhou a surprise and set off some big fireworks!
On the top of Jinyang City, Liu Miezhou said: "The Song army will definitely launch a night attack! They don't know our strengths and weaknesses, they dare not attack the city with their entire army without authorization, they are likely to feint in batches, take advantage of the moonlight, and have other intentions!"

Yang Ye asked, "Do you have other plans?"

"If we pretend to attack the city, where will our attention be?"

"Of course it's the soldiers attacking the city!"

"What if the siege was just a cover?"

"I don't understand!"

"Your attention is focused on the Song army attacking the city, so what if his real target is the city gate?"

"Their battering rams have been burned, their crossbows have been destroyed, and their catapults have been disabled. What else can they use to break through the city gate?"

"gunpowder!"

"gunpowder?"

"That's right! As long as enough gunpowder is piled under the city gate, its power will be enough to collapse mountains and shatter rocks! For example, the thunder of Jiangnan Thunder Hall, its power is amazing!"

"Then what should we do?"

"Give them a taste of their own medicine! We can also blow them up with gunpowder!"

"Your Majesty, how do you bury it?"

"Build a batch of mines and bury them in the places where the city must be attacked!"

"What is a mine?"

"The explosive cans buried underground! Fill a ceramic can with explosives and seal it. There is an ingenious mechanism on it. Once someone steps on it, it will trigger the flint and ignite the gunpowder. The gunpowder sealed in the ceramic can will instantly produce a huge explosion wave! The shattered ceramic fragments will fly all over the sky, which is enough to harvest the lives of soldiers within a radius of dozens of feet in an instant!"

"Wonderful!"

"Mine mines are buried in four sections! After the Song army charges, the mechanism will be triggered, and the mines in the first section will explode. The violent and fierce explosion will scare them and stop the attack! Then they will come to their senses after a while and think that the mines have been destroyed, so they will organize a second feint attack. The mines in the second section are buried more densely, so that the Song army will feel that the resistance they encounter is getting stronger and stronger, which will dampen their spirits! They will retreat for the second time, and then try a third attack! After the fourth attack, it is estimated that the Song army will completely give up the attack, retreat and reorganize, and consider how to clear the mines! Research new methods of siege!"

Yang Ye was stunned!

Emperor Xian's words petrified him completely!

The emperor has so many plans! If everything goes as he expected, the Song army will be in trouble!
Thank you Yudong for your strong support and encouragement!