"Yifan, don't you want to know what the kind of steel pipe you produce is for? Let's go and have a look with me!" Li Yan said to Yifan next to him with a smile.

"I... can I go too?" Yifan seemed very excited. Pili Island is not an ordinary place. This is the second place in the Tang Dynasty that can produce gunpowder weapons except for the Pili Courtyard in Chang'an. Usually, it can only be said that the island only enters and cannot go out. All the craftsmen on the island have to stay here almost for the rest of their lives. Outsiders are prohibited from approaching within ten miles around the island. Even her father has no authority to come in. Unexpectedly, Li Yan would agree to go in by himself today.

"Haha, of course, the reason why I didn't come in here before was because the island was experimenting with two new weapons. One was because I was worried about leaking the secrets, and the other was because the person who broke in was accidentally injured by these two weapons, so the defense was so tight. However, these two weapons have reached the stage of actual combat, so there is no need to keep them secret anymore." Li Yan said with a loud laugh.

The Pili Courtyard on Pili Island was built when conquering Goguryeo. At that time, most of the firearms used on the battlefield of Goguryeo were produced on the island. However, after the demise of Goguryeo, there were no strong opponents in the eastern border of the Tang Dynasty, which made Pili Island a little unnecessary. At that time, many ministers in the court advised Li Shiyi, hoping to withdraw the craftsmen on Pili Island. However, in the end, Li Shiyi generously gave all the things on the island to Li Yan as one of his weapons to explore overseas. Li Yan naturally would not refuse the goodwill of the emperor's father, and he had long been envious of Pili Island.

After obtaining Pili Island, Li Yan immediately reformed the management of the island, not only vigorously improving the status of craftsmen, but also induced all craftsmen to learn to read and write the production and research of firearms into documents. At the same time, he selected top craftsmen to establish a weapon design institute to specialize in the improvement of firearms and the invention of new firearms. It can be said that in the hands of Li Yan, Pili Island, gradually became an inner academy and a comprehensive arsenal for producing firearms on the outer layer.

When the management of Pili Island was on track, Li Yan finally put forward the research topics of muskets and artillery in later generations and handed them over to Pili Island for full development. Now that there have been some results, they can finally be put into actual combat.

Pili Island was specially selected by Li Yan at the beginning. There were steep cliffs on three sides. Unless they had wings, they could not climb up at all. The only place on the gentle side was built by Li Yan. The entire city wall was built along the mountain. It was made of rock and cement on the island, and it was two feet thick. Three carriages could be placed in parallel on the top of the city. It can be said that it was extremely solid. Even if it was bombarded with cannons, it would not be so easy to open. There was only one city gate on this city wall. After entering the city gate, there was a urn city. After passing through the urn city, it was considered to have entered the interior of Pili Island.

After entering Pili Island, Yifan couldn't help looking around. When she came to transport supplies to the island in the past, she could only go to the city gate at most. If she broke into the urn inside without authorization, it would not be a joke, and maybe even her life would be lost.

After passing through the inner city gate of the urn city, Yifan was stunned because what was presented to her was a very lively market. Many men, women, young and old were selecting goods at the market. At least there were thousands of people, and the things sold were fruits, vegetables, cloth and other daily necessities. Some people even sold bicycles, which seemed to be similar to the markets they saw on weekdays. However, the only difference was that among the people selling things, there were many soldiers wearing armor. These soldiers were not holding weapons, but were smiling behind the goods, bargaining with the people who came to buy things, which was no different from the ordinary small vendors next to them.

"Your Highness, this..." Yifan felt a little unacceptable. She never dreamed that the situation on Pili Island that she had always guessed was like this?

Li Yan had known the situation on the island for a long time, so he didn't feel strange at all. Seeing Yifan's surprised expression, he also explained with a smile: "There are more than 5,000 craftsmen on Pili Island, and their families, so the total population has reached nearly two people. So many people live together, so there is naturally a need for food, clothing, housing and transportation. Because of the special nature of this place, it is difficult for them to go out, so I simply let them live together in the form of a town, which is the largest market in this town, and thousands of people buy things here every day."

"What about them?" Yifan pointed to the soldiers who sold things again.

"Oh, that's a kind of benefit for the soldiers on the island. Because there are people working in the Pili Courtyard at home, and the rewards are very generous, so the residents here are not short of money. The soldiers on the island are stationed here all year round and are usually boring, so they are given an opportunity to make extra money. The soldiers will go to the outside world in batches to trade with the residents on the island. The income is their own, but the price of the goods must be reviewed, and they are generally consistent with the prices of the outside world." Li Yan explained with a smile again.

Yifan blinked after hearing this. She didn't expect that there would be such a management method, but it was not bad to think about it. After all, so many people live together. If there were other management methods, there would be a real chaos.

When the people at the market saw Li Yan coming, everyone bowed to salute. This was not the first time Li Yan has been here, so everyone here knew him, and Li Yan also greeted everyone with a smile. After passing through the market, there was a town where the residents lived on the island. The houses in the town were very unified, all of which were unique and two-story buildings, with two wing rooms on both sides. The outside of the house was covered with white lime, which looked neat and beautiful.

After passing through the town, I wore a long isolation area and finally arrived at the center of Pili Island, which is also the place where gunpowder weapons are produced. There is an isolation area around and other places, mainly to prevent any accidents from affecting other places.

The gunpowder weapon production area is specifically divided into five major areas. These five areas are mainly divided according to the five main weapons produced, namely the grenade area, the rocket area, the blasting tube area, the artillery area, and the musket area. The first three weapons were created by Li Yan at the time, and have been equipped with troops. The latter two weapons were secretly developed by Li Yan and have not been tested in actual combat. As for the most critical gunpowder production area, it is placed in another ** area on Pili Island. This is mainly because gunpowder production is more dangerous than weapon production, so it needs to be produced separately.

Li Yan took Yifan to the musket area and artillery directly. The reason why he didn't go to the first three areas was that the three weapons such as grenades needed to be recharged, so there were a lot of gunpowder in those three areas. If it exploded accidentally, it would probably not be possible to find the entire body. As the prince of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yan naturally did not dare to let him take risks, so Li Yan could not enter those three areas.

"See Your Highness!" As soon as Li Yan walked to the gate of the musket area, he saw a thick white-haired old man standing there, with several craftsmen of different ages following him. When he saw Li Yan, he immediately saluted very respectfully.

"Old Wu, your body is getting stronger and stronger!" Li Yan stepped forward and helped the old man with white hair and smiled. The old man's surname was Wu Qiao. He used to be the craftsman in the ironwork workshop in Li Yan's mansion. He was called Lao Wu, but Li Yan generally liked to call him Lao Wu. As Li Yan's serf, Lao Wu had no problem with loyalty and could manage relationships, so he was entrusted by Li Yan with an important task and sent to Pili Island to take charge of the production of muskets.

"Thank you for your concern. Your Highness can help you for at least twenty years!" Old Wu said with a smile. He knew Li Yan's temper, so he spoke more casually.

When Li Yan heard this, he patted his shoulder and laughed, then said a few more gossips before entering the musket production area. As soon as Yifan entered, he immediately felt a wave of heat coming, and he saw that it was like a huge iron shop inside, with countless shirtless men waving iron hammers to create exquisite parts.

After these parts are finished, they will be sent to a separate factory behind. Here Yifan finally saw the kind of steel pipes produced in his factory. However, these steel pipes have been processed and assembled with other exquisite parts to become a strange weapon.

I saw that this weapon was mainly the kind of steel pipe produced in my own factory. The steel pipe was fixed on a piece of wood the size of a palm, and the fixed end had many exquisite designs. Yifan was originally very proficient in these clever things, but he didn't know much about gunpowder, so he watched it for a long time but couldn't understand how to use the musket.

At this time, Li Yan was very experienced in picking up a completed gun, pulling the hammer behind, then pretending to aim, and pressing the trigger with his fingers. As a result, the hammer immediately bounced to its original position. At the same time, the flint on the hammer hit the anvil in front, and a string of unseen Mars was shot. Unfortunately, there was no gunpowder or projectiles in the gun.

"Your Highness, how do you use this thing? Is it a life-threatening tube to smash someone?" Yifan also picked up a musket and studied it for a long time. Unfortunately, she specialized in her skills. Although she figured out the structure of the musket, she didn't understand how to use it. In theory, this is a gunpowder weapon, but where should the gunpowder be placed?

Seeing Yifan's distressed look, Li Yan laughed. He didn't expect that the smart president of the Academy of Sciences would have a day of stumbling down. But it's not a big deal about Yifan. After all, she was not familiar with the characteristics of gunpowder at all, so how could she think of the use of this musket?
Chapter completed!