Early the next morning, Fang Jinshi got up. Liang Cuirong had already prepared gifts early and asked Wei Chong to hitch the carriage. Fang Jinshi was even more convinced that something must be wrong with Liang Cuirong.
After breakfast and a short rest, Liang Cuirong rushed to the Song family. The two got on the carriage, and Wei Chong hurried to the east of the city. It turned out that the place where Song Qian moved was actually outside Bianliang City. countryside.
The farmhouses in the countryside also began to prepare for the New Year. By the Bianshui River, a unique and exquisite wooden building was Song Qian's new home. Fang Jinshi's carriage stopped in front of the door. He jumped out of the carriage and saw the fifth son of the Song family. Song Qian stood on the wooden building and bowed to him, then went downstairs to greet him at the door. When Fang Jinshi walked in, he saw a river more than ten feet wide separating the wooden building from the door. An iron suspension bridge was slowly lowered. , Song Qian made his home like a city gate and moat.
Song Qian greeted him from inside and said, "It's really brilliant to have Leader Fang come to this humble house."
Fang Jinshi said quickly: "Brother Song is so polite." He approached Song Qian and said, "I'm sorry, I'm here to congratulate Brother Song on his move, and the other seven are here to eat the fish soup from Brother Song's house. "His words seemed to be spoken by an old friend who had never seen the outside world, and they suddenly narrowed the distance between the two.
Song Qian laughed loudly and said repeatedly: "There are some, I won't let you down."
Song Qian had no special friendship with Jinshi before. When they met this time, Song Qian saw that Fang Jinshi spoke very politely and without any pretense, and his affection for him doubled. Fang Jinshi asked Wei Chong to bring a gift and present it to him. Liang Cuirong also came over. He saluted him and called him "Fifth Brother Song". Song Qian also called his wife to come to greet him. She was a thin and black Bianliang local woman with plain appearance, thick hands and feet, and a bit fat.
However, Fang Jinshi still looked at her twice because "Songsao Fish Soup" was so famous in later generations. Although Fang Jinshi didn't know whether the "Songsao" in this famous dish that was passed down thousands of years later refers to It was the inconspicuous woman in front of him, but he was still looking forward to the legendary Mrs. Song's fish soup.
Song Qian let Fang Jinshi into the wooden building and said a few polite words. Fang Jinshi looked at Song Qian and said it was a housewarming ceremony, but there was no guest at this time. He couldn't help but feel strange and said casually: "When did fifth brother come back? I don't know what happened to Shaanxi." How's it going over there?"
Song Qian smiled and said: "I have only been back for half a month, and the Yunnei Prefecture is still the same. The Jurchens of the Jin Kingdom and General Liu have had several small battles. They have lost more and won less. They no longer dare to attack the city. Your father-in-law is still planning." We are trying to retake Ningren County."
Fang Jinshi said: "It doesn't matter if we retake Ningren County, as long as we don't try to conquer Rouxian County."
Song Qian said: "Roufu County is not easy to fight. Fan Zhixu mobilized the troops of Yongxing Army to increase the defense of Roufu County. Besides, Roufu County at least blocked the invasion of Xixia Army. It is always difficult to fight two enemy armies." Better than facing three sides.¡±
Fang Jinshi laughed and said nothing, and Song Qian asked again: "What is Leader Fang doing when he returns to Bianliang City? I heard that he is already eating royal food from the government?"
Fang Jinshi said: "It's just a casual meal, the grade is too low to be worth mentioning."
Song Qian nodded, and the other party entered the stone and said, "Didn't you say you wanted to eat fish soup? The backyard is ready, and they are here too."
Fang Jinshi didn't know who "they" Song Qian was talking about, but having fish soup to eat was enough. Song Qian led him and Liang Cuirong through the courtyard to the backyard. This was a small farmhouse courtyard with three rooms on the right. In the old house, two rooms had their doors closed, and two rooms had their wooden doors open.
The room was full of wood shavings, axes, saws, etc., and no one had cleaned it up. It looked like a carpenter working there.
There was a charcoal stove set up in front of the door of another room. It was already cold in the stove, and there were sledgehammers and iron bars scattered on the ground, making it look like a blacksmith shop.
"If the Song family didn't know how to be a carpenter or a blacksmith, nor could they be called the Skilled Songs, Song Qian smiled and said, "It's ridiculous that the house is messy."
Fang Jinshi said: "I would be surprised if Fifth Brother Song doesn't have these in his family." Just after he finished speaking, he heard someone behind him shout: "Fourth sister, brother-in-law."
This voice was crisp and sweet, and it was the voice of a girl. Fang Jinshi turned around and saw a small girl holding a white cat in her arms, walking timidly from the aisle behind him. It turned out to be Liang Cuirong's youngest sister Liu Huanqing.
When Fang Jinshi saw her, he couldn't help but feel strange. Liang Cuirong had already walked over with a smile, took her hand and said, "Where is the second sister?"
Liu Huanqing said: "I'm in the house with my second brother-in-law."
Fang Jinshi understood immediately. It turned out that Liang Cuirong's second sister and her husband Xie Wanli came to the Central Plains together. This little girl Liu Huanqing came with them. No wonder Liang Cuirong had to follow him. Xie Wanli and Song Qian had been neighbors since childhood. , grew up together, ?Now that he is a general of Liao Dynasty, he came to Song Dynasty for inconvenience, so he came to live in Qian's house of Song Dynasty.
The so-called relocation is just an excuse. It looks like an old house here for many years.
Song Qian let Fang Jinshi into the back room. This place was completely different from the messy house of the adjacent carpenter and blacksmith. The decoration was quite elegant and unique. Liang Cuirong's second sister was sitting there drinking tea in Song Dynasty clothes. Jie Wanli was holding a String the uniquely shaped crossbow.
Fang Jinshi and his wife walked into the house, Xie Wanli put down the crossbow in his hands, and the second sister also stood up. Fang Jinshi stepped forward to speak, and asked about the situation in Yunnei Prefecture. The reason why Jie Wanli returned to Bianliang of the Song Dynasty at this time was Firstly, the war has eased and time is rare. Secondly, his father has died three years ago and he wants to re-build the grave. Naturally, no one else can take his place. Thirdly, his wife has never been to the Song Dynasty. She comes back to visit and recognize her ancestors in her hometown.
A few people sat down and chatted for a while. The fifth sister-in-law of the Song family finally brought the fish soup up. Fang Jinshi impatiently picked up the bowl and took two bites. As expected, this fish soup from the Song family was different from other places. It was the closest to Fang Jinshi. A familiar taste.
After eating these bowls of fish soup for a long time, the three Liang Cuirong sisters went away to talk. Jie Wanli, Song Qian and Fang Jinshi sat in the room drinking tea and chatting. Jie Wanli picked up the crossbow in the corner of the room and said, "You This newly made crossbow has a pulling force of only four stones and six buckets, so I don¡¯t know how far it can shoot."
Song Qian said: "Let's try it outside and let you see with your own eyes." The three of them took the crossbow and walked to the courtyard. Jie Wanli struggled to pull up the crossbow string, looked up at the mountain, and looked towards the back of Song Qian's house. An arrow hid in the forest and wilderness. The flying feathers flew across the sky like meteors and landed on the ground very far away. The three of them walked over and Jie Wanli picked up the arrow. After flying such a long distance, the arrow still hit the ground. A section of dead wood penetrated.
Xie Wanli looked back at the place where he opened his bow and arrow and said, "I'm afraid it's only three hundred steps away."
Song Qian said: "How does it compare with the divine arm bow used by the army?"
Xie Wanli said: "It's pretty much the same, but it's much more laborious to string than the God's Arm Bow. Generally, soldiers will have no energy to shoot after stringing it three or five times."
Fang Jinshi walked over, took the crossbow from Xie Wanli's hand and said, "I'll give it a try." He spent all his energy, blushing and having a thick neck, but he couldn't even wind the string up, which made Song Qian and Xie Wanli couldn't help but laugh. .
Xie Wanli said: "This crossbow is not as smooth as the God's Arm Bow, and the string is heavy. What's the use of making it?"
Song Qian glanced at him contemptuously and said disdainfully: "I'll show you." He took the crossbow from Fang Jinshi's hand, walked back to his courtyard, went to the carpenter's room and took out a small square wooden box to install on the arrow. Then he lay down on the ground, stepped on the bow string with his feet, and quickly wound it. He looked up at the mountain and released his hands. An arrow flew out and shot into the distance. Song Qian was stunned for thousands of miles. Song Qian lay on the ground and couldn't think of anything. He didn't stand up to install the arrow cluster, but just strung up his feet, and the second arrow flew out. He lay on the ground and strung up the arrow very quickly, and shot out one after another from the wooden box. In a moment, all the arrows in the wooden box were shot out. Ten arrows were shot.
Song Qian lay on the ground and pushed the wooden box on the crossbow forward. When he pulled it backward, the wooden box fell off. He then quickly installed another wooden box on the crossbow, and then shot ten arrows in the same manner.
These twenty arrows were lying on the ground and shot out very quickly, because there were ten arrows hidden in his wooden box, and there was no need to install one arrow at a time like the God Arm Crossbow. This was a continuous shooting crossbow.
Xie Wanli stayed for a while and thought about it. Although the pulling force of this crossbow requires four stones and six buckets, it is not difficult to string it with pedals. He raised his eyes and glanced at Song Qian, who was looking at him with a smile. Him, ready to listen to his opinion.
Xie Wanli said: "This crossbow shoots arrows very fast, but you can't see the enemy while lying on the ground. It can be said that the accuracy relies on blind shooting, so it is of little use."
Song Qian said: "Yes, blind shooting by one person is not very effective, but what if there is a square formation of thousands of people using such a rate of fire to blindly shoot?"
Xie Wanli was stunned for a moment. With such a shooting speed and such a shooting distance, if the arrows all over the sky were shot at one place to cover it, the scene would be quite terrifying.
Song Qian added: "I thought of this from the Wanlun Crossbow. Although the Wanlun Crossbow is powerful, it is large and heavy and extremely inconvenient. More importantly, it can only be limited to narrow lanes in alleys. I saw it again when I was in Yunnei Prefecture. When it comes to the Jurchens' light cavalry, no matter what elite cavalry they fight against, they will be defeated and defeated, and it is almost impossible to compete with them."
Fang Jinshi couldn't help but his heart moved, and he asked hurriedly: "Brother Song Wu, can your crossbow defeat the Jin Kingdom's crippled horse?"
Song Qian shook his head and said: "The Jin Guaizima are all elite riders. They are extremely fast and not afraid of death. They are cooperative and skilled. It is very difficult to defeat them. But I am thinking, if the arrows shot at the Guaizima are many and dense, how can the arrows be shot?" It's far away, so there must be a chance. The light cavalry of the Kaizi Ma are all lightly armored or even without armor. This is the Kaizi Ma'sThe weakness lies, which is why I devote myself to figuring out this powerful crossbow. "
Fang Jinshi thought for a while and said: "Although the accuracy of this crossbow is poor, if someone directs the angle and shouts the command, the accuracy will be improved a lot. After a longer period of rigorous training, it will definitely be effective."