Zhurou

Chapter 173
As soon as this proposal came out, it immediately attracted approval and response one after another, and even some people had already pushed aside the crowd to make room and were ready to lead the way.

Seeing this situation, the manager couldn't help but cast a glance at Zhao Mingzhi, and then looked at Pei Yong.

He thought of lighting the fire as a princess. If something happened, no one could take the responsibility. He was very nervous, but he was even more reluctant to give up, so he said no matter how courageous he was, "Today, the moat is about to fire a cannon." Qingdi, it happens that His Highness is here again, if His Highness can light the cannon himself..."

It turned out that the four city gates in the southeast, northwest, and north of the capital had been damaged by Di Bing. In particular, the moat had been repeatedly filled with boulders and soil, which took a lot of manpower and material resources, and it was difficult to clean it up in a short time.

Due to the rush of time, some craftsmen proposed to use gunpowder, cannon, etc. to explode it.

Zhao Mingzhi passed through the west of the city to farm the fields for a while, and he would hear the deafening rumble from the city gate on the way, but he had never personally set fire to it.

The person in charge only opened his mouth, and the captain of the imperial guards at the back stepped forward and reported back: "Your Highness, the artillery fire is ruthless, and it is a dead object. The rest is not important. I am afraid that the chamber will explode and go off, and it will be difficult to dodge at that time. It is best to be careful." For the sake of..."

His words fell silent, not only the person in charge, but also many of the servants who were close to him showed disappointment, but those who were far away still didn't know it, and they were still looking at it happily, and they had already been positive. Those who go to the back to clear the way are really trotting all the way, passing on everywhere.

Seeing that there are people from far and near, Zhao Mingzhi really didn't want to say no if he raised the atmosphere.

She thought for a while, then turned her head and asked the captain of the imperial guards: "Why don't you go and have a look first, and then I will trouble Ban Zhi to check it carefully. , just replace it to avoid accidents..."

Since Zhao Mingzhi spoke, the imperial guards naturally couldn't object, so they could only turn to look at Pei Yong, and shouted: "Jiedu..."

Pei Yong seemed to have never heard of it, he just nodded and said: "What Your Highness said is true."

After finishing speaking, he pointed to a few guards and the soldiers behind him, and told them to go to the fort to inspect carefully.

The imperial guard was helpless, so he didn't say any more, he took a few steps back first, seeing that no one was paying attention to this place, he went to look for Pei Yong alone and said: "Jiedu, if the chamber explodes..."

Pei Yong shook his head and said: "Your Highness has a heart and is expected by everyone, so I accept orders and obey - if you can't do anything, what do you want me to do?"

The imperial guard blushed and said with shame: "Your official understands."

He didn't need Pei Yong to give any more orders, he just followed up and acted as a guard.

Zhao Mingzhi naturally didn't know about this little episode.

Surrounded by everyone, she walked all the way, and after a while, she detoured eastward from the gate of the city.

The moat around the city is thousands of feet long, and the moat outside Nanxun Gate is nearly two feet deep and eight or nine feet wide. The river flows in the moat to the west, sparkling.

Zhao Mingzhi stood still at the junction of east and west, picked up a stone and threw it into the river. The stone "plopped" and sank to the bottom of the water in an instant, without a trace.

However, when she turned around to look to the east, there was a thick layer of earth and rocks in the gully. Although the top layer was uneven, it did not hinder the water flow, and half a drop could not pass through.

Seeing this, the steward hurriedly explained: "This was built when the Di soldiers invaded last time. They first piled up big stones, and then filled them with sand, gravel and mud layer by layer. Terrific."

Zhao Mingzhi stepped forward with his foot and tried to step on it a few times, then leaned over and broke it with his hands, it was really hard.

She saw a lot of iron pestles, shovels and other objects on the ground not far away, so she went forward to get a long pestle, and pounded the edge to fill the rock formation.

A servant at the side said: "His Royal Highness, use your strength carefully, the iron pestle will grind your hands."

He said again: "Three or 40 of us turned the wheels and chiseled for several days in a row before moving forward less than two feet."

The person in charge also said: "In this area, a few broken rocks were hung down to press it down, and it is more difficult to pry it than ordinary places."

He pointed to a high tunnel not far away and said: "A few days ago, I invited artillery to the camp in the west of the city, thinking about digging a hole first, and then blasting the ground. It's easier."

Zhao Mingzhi followed him up the slope, and soon saw the "cannon" that everyone called.

There are five or six of them, bigger than she imagined, with dark barrels, and although they are polished very smooth, the surface has no luster.

At this time, many people were moving around the cannon, busy, seeing her coming, they stepped back a few steps.

Zhao Mingzhi stepped forward and asked a young soldier who looked tender-faced curiously.

The man came out hurriedly, let him answer in a low voice, and said the name of the cannon, its range, its power, etc. one by one.

Zhao Mingzhi calculated in his mind, and asked: "According to this statement, even if the cannon is fired, it may not be able to explode the rocks below?"

"To let His Highness know that the lower head is covered with granite. Don't think about how many shots can blow it up, unless you blast it seven or eight times at one place in a row to blow up the lower head to make some big and small cracks."

Zhao Mingzhi asked again: "Can you blow up a few more shots?"

"I heard that bombing is not only about the number of guns, but also the distance and direction between the gun mouth and the bombing mouth. You have to carefully calculate it." The soldier looked embarrassed, "Young people should be recruited into the camp. Soon, there are still some powerful ones in the army, and it is not impossible to blow up the lower part with a dozen cannons, but they didn't come today..."

Zhao Mingzhi didn't ask any more questions, and only spoke a few words of encouragement.

While talking, the front was already arranged, a soldier came over and saluted Zhao and Pei, then pointed to the cannon body and said: "All the adjustments have been made, please come down and light the fire."

Hearing the words, Pei Yong stepped forward first, walked around the body of the cannon, and then returned to Zhao Mingzhi's side, and whispered to her: "It's nothing, let's light it."

Zhao Mingzhi took a deep breath, and sure enough, he took the trigger, and carefully stood behind the cannon.

I don't know if he was worried about accidents, but the fuzes meandered on the ground and dragged for a long time. After Zhao Mingzhi ignited one by one, he waited for a long time with concern, and then heard a loud "bang bang" sound, and the shells were fired from the chamber. , followed by the sound of "rumbling".

Although Zhao Mingzhi had been prepared for a long time, he was startled by the deafening movement. First, white smoke swirled in front of him, and then he smelled saltpeter.

Tears flowed from her eyes, she couldn't help rubbing the veil, after a while, she finally heard the movement below and saw the white smoke in front of her gradually thinning and fading, so she put down the veil , was about to go forward to see the situation below, when Fang raised his head, he saw a person standing two steps away, holding half of his body sideways in front of him.

(End of this chapter)