In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 109 Long Bow and Long Arrow
"Husband, isn't this bow too big? It's impossible to use it on a horse?"

Looking at the longbow, which was not much shorter than herself even if it was strung, Hubbell also admired it.

"Haha, this is not for you."

As he spoke, Lin Rui placed the arrow on the string, then pointed it diagonally toward the sky. With a heavy breath in his Dantian, he pulled the bow string fully until it could no longer be pulled, and then released his fingers.

With a bang sound, the thick feather arrow flew towards the sky with a sound of breaking through the air. After drawing a perfect arc in the air, it was nailed to the soil in the distance.

"Can you shoot so far?"

Hubbell covered her mouth in surprise, with a look of disbelief on her face. This was at least twice as far as their bow.

However, I was slightly relieved when I thought that this bow could not be used on horseback. Otherwise, their trump card, turn around and throw, might no longer be effective in the future.

Several carpenters on the side immediately took a bundle of ropes and started measuring, and soon took the feather arrows back.

"Back to the young master, there are 150 three steps, and the arrow is two feet into the ground!"

"Ok!"

Lin Rui was also overjoyed and shot a few more arrows from different angles. As a result, the farthest arrow reached 170 steps, and the nearest arrow also reached 120 steps.

This kind of shooting range is completely enough, so I immediately ordered someone to set up a huge wooden target in front. First I stepped back 30 steps away and shot an arrow, then I stepped back 50 steps away and shot another arrow. Both arrows hit. .

Lin Rui yawned and retreated 80 steps away. As a result, the big target missed the target. He wanted to shoot again, but his arm was so sore that he couldn't draw the bow.

"Husband, let me try an arrow!" Hubbell said eagerly.

"All right!"

Lin Rui smiled and handed her the bow and arrows.

Hubbell immediately bent the bow and nocked an arrow with joy, and aimed at the target 80 steps away. Her face turned red, and then she reluctantly pulled the bow to the end and shot the arrow.

"Phew! This bow is too strenuous. I won't shoot anymore." Hubbell looked at the arrow nailed to the edge of the board and rubbed his arm with some dissatisfaction. Obviously, if he used an ox-horn bow, he would definitely be able to hit the target.

"The first arrow can hit the target, which is already very good. Let's go and see how powerful it is..."

Lin Rui praised her, took the bow, took her hand and walked forward.

With such a petite body, Hubbell could draw such a big bow and still hit the target 80 steps away. It was already very rare. If it were them, a Han woman would not be able to hit the target even if she could draw the bow.

The wooden target was actually a door panel, an inch and a half thick solid wood. The arrow shot from 30 steps away directly penetrated the arrow and got stuck in the arrow shaft.

The arrowhead shot at 50 steps had half of the arrow exposed. Although the arrow shot by Hubbell did not penetrate the hole, the wood chips behind it also bulged.

"This...this, within fifty steps, I'm afraid even the armor can't stop it, right?"

Hubbell touched the thick wood, struggled to pull out the arrow, and said with a shocked face.

Lin Rui was also excited as he stroked the longbow in his hand. The range and power were sufficient. As for the quality, this thing was somewhat crude. The materials were easy to obtain and the production was simple. A bow that could shoot a hundred arrows would make a lot of money.

"Sir, if you use good fir, teak, or ash wood, it won't be a problem to shoot hundreds or thousands of times with a bow. It's just that it's not easy to find in the north. According to the request of the master, the old man chose to use it. Elm instead…”

When the old man in charge of making the long bow saw Lin Rui silent for a long time, he thought he was dissatisfied and quickly stepped forward to explain.

"Well, that's good enough. If you go all out to build it, how many can you make in a month?"

Lin Rui nodded and stared at him with stern eyes. If the quality of the bow body is not good, then make more bows. If the hemp rope is not good, then each archer should carry a few more bows. Besides, when we get to the grassland, we will definitely replace it with beef tendon. It doesn't matter if it rains or gets wet.

"Back to you, sir, if you just oil it, don't paint it, don't carve it, and don't consider that the bow will crack after being used for a long time, as long as you have the right wood, you can do as much as you want."

The old man said with confidence, almost beating his chest. Obviously, this kind of bow is just made of a piece of wood. There is no need to deal with it. The problem of cracking after being used for a long time is really not too simple. As long as a carpenter can do it, one person can do it. I can make at least several hundred sticks per month.

In fact, they have made this bow a long time ago, but they have been tinkering with the problem that the bow body will crack after being used for a long time. Now they have thought of a way to deal with it, but it is a bit complicated.

So the old man thought about it and added: "Master, if the bow body is properly treated several times, it will not be a problem to use it for two or three years. However, I am afraid it will be a bit cumbersome to make and there will be some waste oil. But we have 2000 Multiple carpenters…”

"Well, let's make [-] good-quality ones, and do the same for the rest. Within a month, can we do [-] bad ones and [-] good ones?"

Lin Rui thought about it and decided to make some of the bad ones, use the bad ones first, and save the good ones. After all, he might not be able to find suitable wood on the grassland.

"Yes, yes, yes, as long as there is suitable wood, I guarantee that I can do it."

"Okay, I will send someone to go to the mountain to cut down wood of suitable size. If you need anything else, just let me know and it will be delivered immediately. You only need to be responsible for making it!" After Lin Rui finished speaking, he returned the bow to him, and then He took Hubbell and headed towards the blacksmith workshop in the city.

From a distance, you can hear the sound of blacksmithing inside, as well as the rolling heat wave. Originally, Lin Rui gathered more than 300 blacksmiths. After the city was broken, the number doubled, and among them were a large number of skilled masters. They, obviously good blacksmiths, were all occupied by the guards.

The blacksmith workshop is divided into several areas. Although there are only more than 600 adult blacksmiths, there are 5000 to [-] people in the entire workshop, and their families are all helping.

Including eating, drinking, and defecating, these people were all in the workshop. Lin Rui only distributed food and supplies to them on time. It was up to them to decide how to eat and cook. The same was true for the carpenter's workshop.

There was no way, he couldn't manage so many people by himself, so he could only adopt this kind of extensive management. As for the five thousand men and women, they were mainly responsible for the logistics of the mercenaries, Mongolian cavalry and infantry boys.

There are more than 600 blacksmiths, the most skilled ones are responsible for making long knife and spear heads, the less skilled ones are responsible for making spearheads and arrowheads, the average ones are responsible for inlaying breast guards and iron nails on cotton armor, and the worst ones are responsible for casting helmets.

Lin Rui only handed over the tasks and arranged for a few masters to take charge of the management. He did not intervene in specific matters. The same reason was that he did not have time to take care of it.

In the past month, most of his energy has been devoted to those young soldiers.

After walking around, Lin Rui was very satisfied with the quality and progress. Although there was no one to supervise, these blacksmiths were not lazy or careless in their work.

The spearheads, long knife heads, and iron helmets required by the eight infantry battalions have almost been made, and 1 arrowheads have been made. Only half of the cotton armor has been made, and the supply of cotton armor is still insufficient.

The longbow is simple to make, and the archer only needs a little training and does not need to be accurate, so 1 arrows are far from enough.

After watching the blacksmiths making arrowheads, Lin Rui asked them to stop, called them together and said, "Masters, ten thousand of these arrowheads are enough. What I want next is quantity, not quality. One hundred thousand arrowheads must be built within a month.”

"what?"

"One hundred thousand? This is impossible, Master. Even if you kill all the little people, you will never be able to create it."

"Yes, sir, there are only more than 100 of us. In the past month, we have been working day and night, and we have only built 1. This increase has increased tenfold. Wouldn't it cost us our lives?"

All the blacksmiths were so frightened that they almost fainted.

"Don't worry, listen to me. You don't need to beat each arrow into shape like this, and you don't need to use wrought iron to make it. You can make a large number of molds first and then cast them directly with pig iron. In this way, let alone one hundred thousand, it will be 20 It won’t be a problem at all!”

Lin Rui stopped everyone from crying and explained.

"But, sir, if it is cast directly and uses pig iron, then the arrow cannot be used again after it is shot?"

"It's enough to use it once. Can you cast it? Can you make [-] of them in a month?"

Lin Rui waved his hand. If he lost the battle, he would have no time and no chance to take back the arrow. If he won, he would take it back, melt it and cast it again.

"This...if it is only used once, it can be cast directly with pig iron, but the mold is a bit difficult to make..."

"This is easy to do. You can make the mold in half. First use wood to make a wooden mold, and then use it to make a sand mold..."

Everyone also breathed a sigh of relief and came up with ideas one after another.

"I don't care how you do it specifically. You can discuss it among yourselves. As long as I see one hundred thousand arrows in a month, you will all be rewarded after the task is completed!"

Lin Rui quickly waved his hand to stop their quarrel, and after some encouragement, he left the blacksmith workshop.

Then he walked towards the other two workshops in the city.

One of them is a maker of cotton armor, and the other is a maker of woven rattan helmets.

Because the cotton armor needs to be mended, women account for half of them, while most of the people who make rattan helmets are old people and children.

As for the sewing of military uniforms, they were directly distributed to the people in the city to take home and make, and each set was worth one penny.

Although Yanghe Acropolis is a large military city, after more than 200 years, there are all kinds of restaurants and shops in the city, and there are even houses of ordinary gentry and landlords.

In fact, it is not much different from a general county or state city. The only difference is that the county government office has become a government office. There are no officials like the magistrate and county magistrate, but two guards and commanders.

After the city was broken, Lin Rui only ransacked the homes of military attachés and landowners and gentry, leaving ordinary people and small merchants untouched. Mongolian cavalry and mercenaries were also strictly prohibited from entering the city, so the lives of ordinary people in the city were not greatly affected. Affected, I dare not go out these days.

It's just that you can only go out but not enter through the city gates. Except for some merchants who escaped in the first few days, no one is choosing to leave the city now.

After checking the progress of each workshop and confirming that the eight infantry battalions would be fully equipped in another half month, Lin Rui arrived at the camp outside the south city early the next morning, preparing to recruit some tall temporary soldiers from the mercenaries. Longbowman.

(End of this chapter)