Chapter 1351: Unable to Expand

Xuanyuan said with a smile, "Yes, that's right. I see that he is definitely an excellent Soldier, just a bit too thin and weak. As long as we give him a few dozen days to let him grow sturdy again, he will be a great help to us."

Trading a bit of grain for a sufficiently excellent Soldier is a very worthwhile deal. Moreover, he understands Xingtian well, which is the most important point. Right now, our main enemy is Xingtian.

Linkui's current reliance is on the Soldier Xingtian. We don't know if we will encounter him this year, and we don't know who our next enemy will be.

The Jiang Surname Tribe we encountered last year was already very strong, stronger than most tribes. We might encounter even more formidable ones this year, so we must be well-prepared; this year might not be so easy to get through."

Several people nodded solemnly: "Understood!"

The Huaxia Soldiers have already set out, led by Lu. Although it is only a force of one thousand, in this era, it is already a very massive force, yet it still falls a bit short when facing the Shennong Clan.

With last year's experience, this year they are mainly focusing on long-range Weapons. If they can consume the enemy from a distance, they will absolutely not engage in close-quarters combat. Dangerous things like close-quarters combat can be left to the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe.

Therefore, even the number of Cavalry has been drastically cut this year. Of course, there is an important reason for this: the tactical application of Cavalry has become basically mature, and they know how to use them to maximize efficiency.

Now is the time to take various Weapons and test them, trying to find the best methods in actual combat to maximize their power.

One Strong Crossbow was destroyed last year. Although some metal parts were brought back, they were severely trampled, rendering them unusable.

Because of Baifeng's plans for the future, the Ministry of Works rearranged personnel and restarted the production line for Strong Crossbows, preparing to build at least twenty Strong Crossbows within this year.

When the troops set out, they took two more with them; after all, actual combat has a greater need for this thing.

There is another piece of relatively good news for Huaxia: the Firearm has completely taken shape, becoming more stable and safer. The one that was once given to Xiong to use has already become history.

However, it is still impossible to use it on a large scale. Now they are trying to shorten its length. Baifeng is thinking of making it into a one-handed Pistol, but it must also have sufficient power.

The main reason for doing this is the issue of the projectiles. To have sufficient power, one must have standardized, uniform-sized projectiles.

Because they cannot draw rifling, pointed bullets will not spin forward but will fly while whipping their heads and tails, making them very unstable. Not only is the range short, but they are also inaccurate, so they can only continue to use round projectiles.

But what is the material for round projectiles? Currently, there is only Iron and copper.

Historically, lead pellets were used, but Huaxia has never seen lead, so how could they produce lead pellets? They can only use Iron pellets and copper pellets.

Through various processes like casting and polishing, even a small projectile has a very high cost. Added to the fact that the material itself is precious, it can be said that guns simply cannot be popularized in Huaxia.

Gun barrels are difficult to make and require a lot of Iron. One long gun barrel could be used to forge several spearheads, and the craftsmanship is more complex. Some small structures are labor-intensive to make, and projectiles are very precious. A single bullet is also unlikely to kill a person unless it is a close-range headshot or a hit to the heart or lungs.

If the distance is a bit further, it is no longer as cost-effective as bows and crossbows, because arrowheads can be replaced with stone, or one can even go without arrowheads. If the power is great enough, they can still kill people, and the cost is far lower than guns.

Calculated this way, the least valuable thing in a gun is actually the Gunpowder. Unless Huaxia can double the production of Iron at some point, making Huaxia not lack Iron at all, and after all kinds of tools and such are complete, only then will they have enough spare capacity to build guns and be able to make Iron into projectiles to fire, where it wouldn't matter if they were shot into the ground and couldn't be found again.

However, after researching guns for so long, it cannot be wasted. The technology developed must be preserved so that in the future, if the material problem can truly be solved, the gun can continue to develop.

What Baifeng is thinking about now is miniaturization and convenience. In the future, important figures can be issued a gun, which can be used for self-defense or as an honor of their own.

At least within ten paces, this gun can be fast and accurate. Within five paces, it is not certain, because it has occasional misfires. The sparks produced by the flint might not ignite the Gunpowder; such a probability exists.

A long gun barrel can hold more Gunpowder, and with a longer barrel, the accuracy will be higher, but it is not suitable for carrying around.

As long as the Pistol is pre-loaded with Gunpowder and a projectile, and a safety is made, it is no problem to use it for self-defense. If few people have seen this thing, it is extremely easy to catch them off guard, so it is very suitable for Nobles to defend themselves. The matter of promoting it in the army is temporarily abandoned.

Now Baifeng has started to produce a large number of Strong Crossbows. The catapults have always been in the city and cannot be pushed to further places; these are the greatest reliance for defending the city.

The main reason Baifeng restarted the mass production of Strong Crossbows is because of his planning for the New City. When he was returning from the Xuanyuan Tribe, after arriving in Huaxia's territory, he went ashore and walked for a few days, finally choosing a location and deciding to build a city there to block the enemy's advance and serve as a forward shelter for Huaxia City.

Who this is aimed at is very obvious, and Xuanxiao was there at the time. Baifeng didn't even bother to hide it. After all, when talking at the meeting, it had already been stated so clearly. Xuanyuan said there was no barrier or buffer between Huaxia City and the Xuanyuan Tribe, so fine, I'll build one, how about that?

In the future, the buffer between Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe will be limited to this city. Wouldn't it be fine to exchange some of the Xuanyuan Tribe's territory in front of it?

Moreover, Baifeng's choice of location was also very aggressive, only one day's distance from the Xuanyuan Tribe's territory. Building a city at such a distance is very dangerous, and Xuanxiao wanted to express his own opinion.

But Baifeng did not give him the chance and instead took the initiative: "Our Huaxia is going to war this year. I believe we will definitely be able to conquer a lot of territory. When the time comes, we will exchange the territory with your Xuanyuan Tribe. This land in front will become Huaxia's. Don't you agree, Xuanxiao?"