At the foot of Kuaiji Mountain, the Puyang River rolls away, with willow trees clinging to the shore. Fishing boats are coming and going on the river, swaying and bumping, and disappearing in the waves.
From ancient times to the present, the Puyang River has never been a quiet river. It has a bad temper, floods from time to time, and bursting of its banks is a common occurrence.
Zhao Hong sat on a chair under the shade of willows on the shore, looking at the surging river in trance.
The bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish!
Brother Qiang's words suddenly came to his mind.
Brother Qiang, you are a fisherman. Don’t you know that when the wind and waves are strong, people will die?
This seems to fit my current struggling situation.
The cannons were cast in the iron workshop. I originally thought it would only take four or five days, ten days at most. But now it has been a full month and the cannons have not come out.
And he had to travel back and forth between Lin'an City and Kuaiji Mountain in Shaoxing Prefecture, enjoying it endlessly.
Easier said than done. A gun mold weighs thousands of kilograms. Prepare the gun mold, then pour it with iron, remove the mold to the mouth, smooth the inner barrel of the gun, drill the fire door, etc. Each item is extremely complicated, far less than he imagined. Simple.
Fortunately, he was here to keep an eye on it, and no one from the Ministry of Works officials or those well-dressed beasts who came to inspect from time to time dared to restrain him. Everyone knows that once you offend this hot-tempered prince, you will definitely end up miserable.
In the shallow water by the river, some half-year-old children were playing in Fushui, full of interest. Zhao Hong couldn't help but persuaded loudly:
"Don't swim too far! Be careful!"
"Got it, Your Highness!"
The river on the bank is shallow and relatively calm. The children also know the dangers and should not have any surprises.
I just don’t know if they can play as happily as they do now once the Mongolian cavalry comes rolling in?
"Your Highness, you should take care of yourself."
Li Tang stood aside, his everlasting black face straight.
"What's wrong?"
"The imperial students petitioned, and the ministers wrote letters one after another, but the officials remained motionless. It seems that your highness' position as prince is in a bad situation!"
When the court affairs were mentioned, Xu Sheng's face was full of worry.
"The emperor is not in a hurry, but the eunuch is, so I thought it was something. Just be patient!"
Zhao Hong reacted and smiled slightly.
"The bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish! I don't believe that Shi Miyuan and Yang Guizhi can cover the sky with one hand!"
His brother-in-law Zhou Ping was strategizing and making trouble in Lin'an City, but he did not believe that Shi Miyuan could withstand the fierce public opinion.
Even if Shi Miyuan can handle it, what about Yang Guizhi? Can she withstand the double blow of Zhao Kuo and public opinion?
In the final analysis, Zhao Kuo is still the king of a country. As long as he proposed to make Zhao Hong the crown prince, Shi Miyuan would be hard-pressed to stop him.
After all, this is an important matter for the royal family, and if he wants to block it, his efforts will be unknown, and he will be criticized by both the government and the public.
"At this time, you are still thinking about eating fish! You are not the emperor yet!"
Li Tang muttered.
"Your Highness, the artillery is out! Zheng Tu, please come over!"
Just as Zhao Hong was about to speak, Hu Datou rushed over excitedly and reported to Zhao Hong.
"Let's go! Go over and take a look!"
Zhao Hong was refreshed and subconsciously stood up.
The artillery piece he had been dreaming about for so long finally came out.
The artillery pieces were placed on wooden frames, which were bright and clean. The eight-shaped supports looked like animals squatting on the ground, ready to go.
"Your Highness, this is a small artillery piece. It weighs 30 kilograms and is two feet long. This is a small projectile worth 50 taels. This is a large lead bullet worth 30 taels, which is the same size as the caliber of the artillery. As for the range and how much gunpowder is loaded, it must be tested. Gun decides.”
Zheng Tu's face glowed brightly and he introduced Xiao Pao first.
Such exquisite handicrafts should be worthy of the attention of His Highness.
"Bring them all together and go try it now!"
Zhao Hong's heart was also full of expectations.
Crouching on the ground like a wild beast, this is the so-called Tiger Crouching Cannon in later generations.
In a wilderness at the foot of the mountain, two small black cannons were placed side by side on the ground. Under the sunlight, the cannon bodies had a cold glow.
"Li Tang, please measure with Xu Sheng, how far is the cliff in front of you from here?"
Zhao Hong looked at the hillside in the distance. It's about two to three hundred meters, so I should be able to hit it.
For the first time, you shouldn’t expect too much.
"Your Highness, about 62 feet!"
Li Tang measured it and ran back to report.
62 feet, about 190 meters, it should be a good distance for the first time to test the gun.
"Put the target in front of the stone wall and test the cannon!"
Zhao Hong was very interested and waved his hand.
Tian Yi picked up the hammer, "bang bang" a few times, and fixed the cannon with iron nails. He loaded the ammunition himself and couldn't wait to light the match.
Zhao Hong walked away with everyone and covered his ears.
He stayed away mainly because he was afraid that the artillery would explode and endanger personal safety.
"Peng!"
Gun smoke filled the air, the target sign in the distance was shattered, and rubble flew from the stone wall, making the sound very scary.
"Oh my God! If this hits someone, it will be a big deal!"
Li Tang and Xu Sheng ran over to check. They looked at each other with pale faces.
What kind of artillery is this? This is a weapon for killing people!
"Change a new target, move the cannon to 100 feet, and continue to test the cannon!"
Zhao Hong continued to shout.
"As you command!"
Tian Yi was very interested. He first cleaned the gun barrel with a wet mop, then dried it with a dry mop, loaded ammunition, and started the next round of tests.
After several consecutive attempts, the artillery failed to explode, but the effective killing range was set at about 80 feet.
"Your Highness, you are truly a god! I admire you so much!"
Li Tang and Zheng Tu knelt on the ground and kowtowed.
If this thing were used on the battlefield, it wouldn't be able to knock down a large piece of it. If there are hundreds of cannons, thousands of troops will be in vain.
"Everyone, get up."
Zhao Hong looked at the artillery and frowned slightly.
He vaguely remembered that the killing range of the small cannon, that is, the armor-piercing distance, should be at least about 500 meters, which is about 160 feet.
Why is this only 80 feet, half the effective range?
Could it be that the dosage of medicine is too little?
But if the amount of powder used is increased, the medicine chamber will be full and the gunpowder will not be fully burned.
It seems that the diameter and length of the medicine chamber need to be expanded.
"Your Highness, are you still not satisfied?"
Zheng Tu asked suspiciously.
With such a long distance and such great lethality, it should be enough.
"Of course I'm not satisfied! The design of the artillery still has flaws and needs to be improved. Otherwise, human lives will have to be taken to fill them!"
Zhao Hong told the truth and pointed to the location of the medicine room.
"Zheng Tu, the medicine room here is one inch longer and one inch wider in diameter. The amount of medicine is...about eight taels."
"Your Highness, what should I do with the forged artillery?"
Zheng Tu was stunned for a moment.
"Cool it! Take it back, dissolve it again, and make the mold again! Remember, this is an important weapon of the country, and it is also science. It requires many repeated attempts, and you must not be careless!"
Zhao Hong ordered seriously.
This is technology, how can it be achieved overnight!
Only firearms can change the disadvantage of the Song Dynasty army against the Mongolian cavalry. Regardless of whether he will be emperor in the future, this is the only thing he can do at the moment and what he must do.
"You obey, villain!"
Zheng Tu nodded solemnly.
As Zhao Hong said, how can the most important weapon of the country be successful once?
"Your Highness, these are two larger artillery pieces."
Zheng Tu followed and introduced.
Turning his eyes to the two large artillery pieces and looking at the two-wheeled carriage carrying the artillery pieces, Zhao Hong shook his head slightly.
"Is this a gun carriage?"
Putting good artillery on it is like riding a tricycle to collect junk.
This is too cheap!
It seems that we have to give these guys a good explanation and build a good gun carriage as soon as possible.
"Your Highness, this is a temporary cannon truck. It is not a regular gun truck. This is a general cannon. It weighs 500 kilograms, is one meter and a half long, and fires a 7 kilogram solid iron ball."
Tian Yi's face turned red, he pointed at the artillery on the broken car, and asked tentatively:
"Your Highness, would you like to try a few shots?"
"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and test the cannon!"
Although the artillery carriage was used to collect junk, Zhao Hong was still very interested in this kind of field artillery.
Zheng Tu and Tian Yi stepped forward together to load ammunition, while everyone stayed away. Tian Yi lit the match, ran away quickly, and hid behind the hillside with everyone.
In fact, there is no need to worry. The amount of gunpowder loaded for the first time is too small, so there is no need to worry about the artillery exploding.
"Peng!"
Smoke filled the air, and the cannonball flew into the air and turned into a black dot. The wooden target, which was about an inch thick, cracked and sawdust flew into the air.
"Tell me, how far is it?"
Zhao Hong shouted loudly and waved the flag.
Soon, Xu Sheng on the opposite side waved the green flag.
"100 feet!"
Tian Yi was so excited that he laughed.
100 feet is enough to shock the world.
"It's only 100 feet, I'm so happy! Add half a kilogram of medicine, be careful of explosion!"
Zhao Hong's strange scream came.
"How many feet?"
There was another cannon blast, and Zhao Hong asked loudly.
"Your Highness, 200 feet!"
Tian Yi's shout came. This time, it should be OK.
"Add half a kilogram more medicine! Stay away, be careful of the explosion!"
Zhao Hong thought about it and shouted again.
It would be much better if there was a loudspeaker to shout!
Tian Yi shook his head. Add half a pound of medicine and the medicine room will be full.
"Peng!"
Amidst the roar of artillery, the shells roared out, bounced off the ground, and broke a small tree with a "click".
"Your Highness, 250 feet! 250 feet!"
Li Tang's red flag waved, and Tian Yi's strange scream sounded again.
250 feet, 750 meters, a full mile and a half range.
In fact, Zhao Hong also knew that the dosage could be increased, but 250 feet was already a good effect.
"After we go back, we will make the medicine room bigger. It can reach about two kilograms and have a range of 300 feet. That should be enough."
Zhao Hong said to himself, Zheng Tu and others shook their heads secretly.
It seems that all the cannons built can only be dissolved and recast.
"Xu Sheng, squat down and let me use your tiger's back!"
Zhao Hong took out a pencil and paper and slowly started drawing on Xu Sheng's back.
"Your Highness, this is..."
Zheng Tu asked suspiciously.
"This is another kind of artillery. The shells and artillery are already loaded. The shells are called sub-cannons. When firing, just stuff the sub-cannon into the belly of the cannon and light the match rope on the sub-cannon. It fires quickly, is easy to carry, and is not easy to carry. Exploded chamber."
What Zhao Hong is talking about is the Fran machine artillery of later generations. One cannon has five or six sub-cannons. It fires very quickly and is a sharp weapon on the battlefield of later generations.
Zhao Hong thought for a moment and continued:
"To facilitate field operations, the artillery should not be too heavy. The heavy ones are no more than five or six hundred kilograms, the medium ones are two to three hundred kilograms, and the light ones are tens of kilograms or one hundred kilograms. As for the amount of medicine, you need to keep trying."
"Your Highness, this is a breech-loading cannon, which saves you the trouble of loading ammunition. Don't worry, it will be built by a villain!"
Zheng Tu looked at Zhao Hong in surprise and interest.
I wonder how many things are hidden in this prince's head?
However, this piqued his interest. It turns out that there are so many kinds of artillery, and there are so many fun things.
"Zheng Tu, feel free to go and try it! If you make the cannon when the time comes, your father-in-law will give you a big reward!"
Zhao Hong nodded and solemnly promised.
"If you try this every day, how much gunpowder will it cost?"
Tian Yi said with a sad face, feeling as uncomfortable as if a piece of flesh had been dug out of his body.
"You kid, you are just a miser! Sulfur comes from Sichuan, you can make fire salt yourself, but wood is all over the mountain. You are not allowed to spend your own money. How do you feel about it? Just make your gunpowder!"
Zhao Hong spoke tough, but felt helpless in his heart.
This is war, what is fought is logistics, and what is fought is national strength. There is no other way to waste people and money.
"Your Highness, there is one more thing."
Zheng Tu ran over and took two iron lumps from the wooden box on the ground.
"What is this? Sky-shattering thunder?"
Zhao Hong watched carefully and blurted out.
It has a solid wooden handle, and the wire comes out from the small point of the iron head. It looks like it is really shocking.
Brother Qiang, are you using this guy to fry fish?
For the Song Dynasty, which was lax in military equipment and weak in border affairs, it was enough to protect itself with these sharp weapons that were beyond the times!
