The continuous gunfire alarmed Liu Bian, who was listening to the conversation, and he looked outside uneasily.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty! Someone must have violated the palace ban, and my subordinates are fighting back. It should be okay."

Soon, the gunfire stopped and Ma Chao came in to report the situation.

"An unknown person, disguised as a patrol, forcibly approached Changle Palace with unknown intentions. After our warning was ineffective, we opened fire three times. Four of the other party died and six were injured. Military doctors are treating their wounded."

Liu Bian felt something was wrong, so he asked: "How many people are there?"

"Your Majesty, the opponent is a team of ten."

Liu Bian asked again: "How many casualties did you have?"

Ma Chao said proudly: "There were no casualties."

Liu Bian also plays sand table military exercises on a daily basis and has some impressions of the casualty ratio.

If it weren't for special environmental conditions, it would be difficult for the two sides to fight against each other in a one-sided situation.

At this time, a commotion broke out outside, and Matthew hurriedly came to the temple.

"Your Majesty the Queen Mother, Lieutenant Xu Rong of the Liangzhou Central Military Academy, wants to take away the wounded."

Obviously, the patrol that deliberately provoked was Liangzhou soldiers.

Xu Rong, a general from the Liangzhou clan, had a rank of two thousand stones. He was a serious general in the imperial court and his status was not low.

Liu Bei stood up and said to the Queen Mother He: "The Queen Mother, please relax and recover while I go deal with them."

Liu Bian said, "I'll go and have a look too."

Liu Bei looked at Queen Mother He, who glanced at Zhang Rang, who understood.

"Your Majesty, let this old slave accompany you."

As soon as the group left the palace gate, they saw a group of people gathered in the center of the square in front of the palace, with several officers at the core.

Liu Bian, accompanied by Zhang Rang, went straight to the crowd.

During the eunuch's announcement, all the soldiers half-kneeled to welcome him.

"Your Majesty, Holy Ann!"

Zhang Rang looked at Xu Rong and others, then at Liu Bei.

Liu Bei immediately understood and said: "Everyone below a hundred generals should return to his position."

Wow, the Guards immediately returned to their posts, and the scene was quite empty.

Liu Bian then discovered that a white-robed military doctor was using a knife to disembowel the injured person.

"Ugh!"

The colorful and bloody scene made his stomach churn and make him feel sick.

Liu Bei had already adapted and took a step forward to look at Xu Rong.

"Dong Zhongying sent you here?"

Xu Rong stood up, raised his hands and replied: "In reply to Jinwu, Zhou Mu will be responsible for guarding the palace at the end of his life. There was a conflict among the guards here. I have to ask where the responsibility lies."

Liu Bei nodded and asked: "Are these people your soldiers?"

Xu Rong actually nodded grandly and admitted: "Yes. They are responsible for patrolling the palace."

Ma Chao raised his eyebrows and asked: "Can the inspection team come to Changle Palace? Are they blind and don't know that this is a forbidden area in the province?"

Xu Rong pretended to be surprised and said: "Oh, maybe they got lost and went to the wrong place."

"Telling lies with your eyes open..."

After all, Ma Chao was thin-skinned and underestimated Xu Rong's shamelessness.

Xu Rong smiled nonchalantly: "Human beings will make mistakes. It's not uncommon to get lost and take the wrong path. Could it be that Meng Qi can guarantee not to take the wrong path in his life?"

"You..."

Ma Chao’s back is so hard to say.

Liu Bei patted his adopted son and told him to calm down.

Turning to Xu Rong, he said: "It is true that mistakes are inevitable, but if you neglect your duties and cannot run away, and if you don't manage your subordinates well, I will ask Dong Zhongying to withdraw you. In addition, these soldiers need further investigation, and you cannot take them away for the time being, and

They also need timely treatment. Are you clear?"

Everything Liu Bei said was reasonable, but Xu Rong didn't have enough status to challenge the other party's authority, so he could only accept it.

However, he wanted to see the "Hand Artillery" at close range, understand the injuries of his dead and injured men, and ask about the situation at that time

Seeing Li Dangzhi rummaging around inside the wounded, Xu Rong couldn't help but feel a little unbearable and asked: "Zhi Jinwu, is it possible that your army treats wounds and saves people like this?"

Liu Bian didn't look good, but he still persisted. After hearing Xu Rong's words, he was also curious.

The wounded were not afraid of the pain and did not bite at all, which was quite strange.

"Uncle Emperor, isn't this a bit of a joke?"

But Li Dangzhi dug out a black projectile from the flesh and dropped it into the steel push tray in the nurse's hand with a clang.

Then he applied medicated powder and sutured the wound skillfully. As he walked towards the next wounded person, he said to the stretcher bearer: "Take him away and replenish his nutrition."

This wounded man was both unlucky and lucky. He was hit by three bullets, in his arm, thigh and buttocks. It was not fatal but he suffered a lot.

Li Dangzhi poured Ma Fei Powder into his mouth and waited for the anesthetic to take effect.

Pointing to the lead bullet in the tray, Liu Bei said: "If we don't take it out, the wounded will die."

Xu Rong asked deliberately: "Is this the small shell fired by the 'hand cannon'?"

"Hand cannon?" Liu Bei was a little confused. How could such a crude name be worthy of the name we painstakingly chose?

"No, no! This is the bullet for the Mauser Type 1 flintlock musket manufactured by the Yongzhou Arsenal."

"Flintlock musket? How does it look like a gun?"

Xu Rong got the key information and was eager to learn more about this new weapon, deliberately provoking the topic.

Liu Bian was also curious. He pointed at the Guards Musketeers and asked, "But what weapons are they carrying on their shoulders?"

The emperor wanted to see it, but Liu Bei could only glance at Matthew.

Matthew took out a flintlock gun, as well as projectiles and gunpowder packets, and explained to Liu Bian the general structure and shooting process of the flintlock gun.

After listening to this, Liu Bian felt that this hand cannon or broken-fire musket was not much different from a crossbow.

"Uncle Emperor, I don't know which one is better, a flintlock musket or a crossbow?"

Xu Rong pricked up his ears and stared at Liu Bei.

Liu Bei looked around at everyone, smiled, and said leisurely: "If your Majesty allows it, I will arrange the test now."

Xu Rong was afraid that Liu Bei would cheat, so he took the initiative and said: "Your Majesty, there is an archer in the last general who is proficient in bows and crossbows. Can he compete with Yong's army?"

Liu Bian nodded and said, "Okay! Let's have a try and see who is better."

Soon, the two archery targets were placed at seventy paces (about a hundred meters), which is a relatively stable shooting range for both crossbows and flintlocks.

Xu Rong sent an elite shooter, determined to win.

Ma Xiu was not tall enough, so loading gunpowder projectiles was more difficult, so Liu Bei asked Ma Chao to play.

When Ma Chao returned to Shangjun, apart from getting married to Jinhua, he spent most of his time at the flintlock shooting range.

After a month, I have been able to reload quickly and shoot accurately. I am considered a master of guns.

Well, smart people learn quickly wherever they go.

The two parties agreed to compete for ten rounds and then compile statistical results.

"Whoosh whoosh!"

If you shoot ten consecutive arrows, you can almost hit the red heart. You are worthy of being an elite archer.

Xu Rong’s men cheered.

But Ma Chao took his time and fired once, reloaded once, and fired again.

Slowly, it took nearly half an hour to finish ten shots.

Four shots hit the red heart, five shots hit the target, and one shot missed the target.

At this time, both Liu Bian and Xu Rong understood that not only was the flintlock musket firing slow, but it was also not very accurate.

Compared with crossbows, this thing is useless!

As a result, the two of them relaxed and praised Ma Chao for his good shooting and that the future of the flintlock musket was very good.

Liu Bian then asked about the situation of the three giant "tanks".

Liu Bei carried out his good deeds to the end, let his tank out, and invited the little emperor to visit inside.

After seeing the internal structure, Liu Bian felt even more that Liu Bei was messing around.

After coming out of the tank, the little emperor naturally felt disgusted.

Such a heavy iron shell is small and cramped, cannot move well, has a narrow field of vision, and is useless except for saving lives.
Chapter completed!