I have been a county magistrate for ten years. My subordinates insist on giving me a yellow robe.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, summer is here.

Taiping County, city wall.

Jiang Yuan stood silently on the city wall, and another half a year passed.

In the past six months, Daduan has undergone almost earth-shaking changes.

First, at the end of the year, Ning Fei led his army to launch a surprise attack. Chen Liu led 50,000 cavalry to fight back, and 200,000 infantry supported him.

That battle shocked the world. Countless people died on both sides. The blood dyed the snow red. The originally festive red color was replaced by white. During the two great dynasties, every household wore mourning clothes.

In the end, Ning Fei retreated to the imperial capital at the painful cost of 30,000 cavalry casualties.

Chenliu won the battle at the cost of 20,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry.

This result was beyond everyone's expectations, but also within reason.

This was the most intense battle between the two sides since Mu Songfeng's death.

But now, Duanmu Yuanchen's disadvantage is getting worse and worse. The two states in the northern part of Daduan that originally supported Ning Fei have now surrendered to Ning Fei.

In terms of the number of states occupied by both sides, Ning Fei currently has two more than Duanmu Yuanchen. He has already occupied ten of the eighteen states in the world.

"It seems that it is only a matter of time before Ning Fei goes south." Li Hu, who had just reported the latest intelligence, said.

Jiang Yuan slowly exhaled, the timing was still a little off.

Over the past six months, the snow on the grassland has melted, and the grassland soldiers can hold out for another year. I just don’t know if Duanmu Yuanchen can still hold out.

"But it's okay. Our Taiping County has quite a large population now. Even if Ning Fei really comes, we can defend ourselves and it won't be a big problem." Jiang Yuan said, turning around and looking behind him.

The fifth circle of Taiping County's city wall has now been completed, and the foundations of the sixth and seventh circles are already being laid.

It has to be said that since the invention of cement, the construction speed of Taiping County’s city wall has increased many times.

With the Qinglong tribe's population of 100,000, Taiping County's population has now reached 600,000!

The population is as high as 600,000, and the combat personnel can be gathered to 200,000.

Two hundred thousand people and more than one hundred thousand cavalry with extremely high gold content, this is simply terrifying.

Whether it is Duanmu Yuanchen or Ning Fei, they can both provide 100,000 cavalry, but that's only 100,000. The cavalry of both sides cannot exceed 200,000.

If the two knew that there was such a force in Taiping County, they would have come to win it over in person. Even Ning Fei would have to bow to Jiang Yuan. After all, this was a force that was enough to turn the tide of the battle.

It can be said that Jiang Yuan now has the capital to dominate the world, but for now, Jiang Yuan does not intend to move.

Although Duanmu Yuanchen had done something wrong in the past, he dared to openly give himself the hereditary title, so Jiang Yuan had no intention of rebelling.

But if Duanmu Yuanchen is defeated in the end and Ning Fei takes power, then the other party will definitely come to Taiping County. This is something that there is no need to consider at all. When Ning Fei failed to kill Jiang Yuan and the other two last year, he had already made a harsh statement that he would definitely kill them in the future.

"Sir, what are you afraid of? Does Ning Fei dare to come? We have upgraded our weapons now." Li Hu said nonchalantly.

Jiang Yuan's mind moved, and he turned and walked down the city wall.

After such a long time, it's time to see how Chen Xudong's two brothers are doing.

It is said that a while ago, Chen Xuming made a breakthrough in the war beast according to the drawings he gave.

"I can't really make a tank with my hands, right?" Jiang Yuan went down the city wall with anticipation.

Walking on the road, Jiang Yuan looked at his hands in confusion. Ever since he was almost killed by Ning Fei last year, he had merged with the other half of his soul.

Logically speaking, even if it doesn't soar to the sky, it should at least be reborn, right?

But now there is no sign at all!

Apart from the fact that some potential was unleashed, which led to him breaking through the third realm, there has been no progress at all since then. This is simply outrageous.

"It seems that I am not born to be suitable for martial arts." Jiang Yuan shook his head and walked into the research and development site specially allocated to the two brothers Chen Xudong and Chen Xuming.

As soon as he entered, Jiang Yuan didn't have time to see what the two guys were doing. After that, he heard a loud bang and a lot of smoke and dust scattered everywhere.

"boom!"

Jiang Yuan was stunned for a moment, smelling the smell of gunpowder in the air. After a while, a few dusty guys walked out of the smoke and dust.

Not only the Chen brothers are here, but Mu Cangtian and Shi Ming have also settled down here.

"What are you doing?" Jiang Yuan couldn't help but ask.

Chen Xudong wiped his dusty face and rushed forward: "Sir, sir! We've done it!"

"What does it take? A tank or a Maxim?" Jiang Yuan asked quickly.

Chen Xuming quickly shook his head: "No, your two things are too exquisite, the one that became is another one."

As Chen Xuming spoke, he held up a crumpled design drawing. On the drawing, there was an oval cylinder with a pointed end.

Jiang Yuan opened his mouth wide immediately. Firecrackers?

These guys invented firecrackers?

But think about it, the production level of firecrackers is a little lower than that of other products. Only the production process of the outer shell is relatively high, and the rest is just to fill some steel balls and gunpowder step by step.

"I'm not surprised that this thing was made, but how did you launch it?" Jiang Yuan looked at them in surprise.

Mu Cangtian scratched his head and whispered, "What the hell is a launch? Doesn't this thing explode just by igniting it?"

Jiang Yuan's expression was a little stiff. He looked at Mu Cangtian and said, "So, this thing exploded after you lit it?"

"What else? This thing is so heavy, no one can throw it dozens of meters away. It must be placed in the original place and ignited and exploded." Mu Cangtian nodded as a matter of course.

"Grass!"

Jiang Yuan was so angry that he laughed. Isn't it because firecrackers are easy to launch that they are widely used?

If it needs to be ignited manually, then why the hell does it need to be made into a cylinder?

It will become a bomb directly!

and many more!

Jiang Yuan showed an expression of sudden enlightenment. The explosive pack is a good thing. As long as it is wrapped tightly and the explosives are added, the killing power is no less than half of the artillery shells!

But before that, we still need to solve the problem of launching firecrackers.

In the past, the firecrackers made in China could be launched by kicking them even without a launch tube. But here, launching them became the most difficult task.

Springs have high requirements for craftsmanship. The springs made of iron in Taiping County are okay for daily use, but they are obviously a bit sloppy when used for this purpose.

"I'll think of a solution to this problem." Jiang Yuan said, turning and walking to a table.

Not long after, a structural drawing of a launch tube appeared in front of them.

"Okay, make a supporting system based on this. Show me any research results you have recently." Jiang Yuan said with anticipation.

These four guys, Shi Ming was born a bandit, Mu Cangtian was born a killer, and the Chen brothers were not good people before they were brought back to the Bailian family by Bailiantian.

It can be said that these four people, if used well, can be worth tens of thousands of troops.

If used improperly, it can bring disaster to the people.