After the military meeting in the Hanyuan Palace was over, Zhao Kai, the official of Luoyang of the Song Dynasty, had completed all his official activities for the day, and the time would have been around 6:00 a.m., which is around 4:30 pm... ..it’s time to get off work!
Now that Zhao Kai's official career is on track, except when he is out in the army and it is impossible to go to and from get off work normally, he still has to abide by the four-hour work system as much as possible. Get up at chen every day, go to court around three or four quarters to listen to the government, and you won't listen for too long. Basically, the court will be dismissed at the same time. Then, while reviewing the memorials, they met with the courtiers until 4:00 noon. Those who met were all local officials who had resigned or went to the court to report on their duties. In fact, it was just a routine matter.
Two or three quarters of an hour from noon is lunch time. Usually, a minister will accompany you to talk about some official matters. If no minister is arranged to accompany him, Guo Tiannu will accompany Zhao Kai to dinner.
After lunch, I took a walk to digest, and it was almost the end of the day. From the end of the hour until the sixth hour of Shenshi, it is generally used to review memorials and preside over military meetings - Zhao Kai's court meetings and military meetings are usually held separately to avoid mutual interference and leakage of secrets.
After the military meeting, Zhao Kaihui had some snacks and then walked to Xifangyuan where Guo Tiannu and the female Banzhi lived.
Xifangyuan is located to the northwest of Hanyuan Hall, to the south is Zhuangjing Hall where Queen Zhu Fengying lives, to the north is Feixiang Hall where the imperial concubine Pan Cailian lives, and to the east is the East Palace which is still empty - Zhao Kai now has The two sons and several female class members who were promoted to concubines were pregnant and were about to give birth. However, he did not establish a heir apparent, so the East Palace remained vacant.
In Xifangyuan, close to the partition wall of the East Palace, a large-scale training ground was built, including indoor and outdoor parts. In the indoor part, training in crossbows, equipment, strength, boxing and kicking can be carried out. The outdoor part can be used for equestrian, rowing, swimming and other aspects of training. After Zhao Kai finishes his official duties every day, he will come here for an hour of physical training - accompanied by Guo Tiannu and the female class members. After practicing, he would go to the bathroom in Xifangyuan to take a hot bath.
After taking a bath, he would have dinner in Xifang Courtyard or walk to Zhuangjing Hall or Feixiang Hall - wherever he ate, he would sleep there. Because there are many more women in Xifang Courtyard than in Zhuangjing Hall and Feixiang Hall. Therefore, if Zhao Kai were in Luoyang, he would spend 20 days in Xiifangyuan in January, and spend the remaining ten days in Zhuangjing Hall and Feixiang Hall. The life of this ancient emperor was really quite ordinary, except that he had more wives...
Today, Zhao Kai walked to Xifangyuan while munching on his favorite egg and multigrain pancakes wrapped in shortbread and brushed with flour sauce - it was not packed in a bag with his hands, and his feet were wrapped. The cloth-like pancakes were eaten while walking. How unsightly is that? Instead, the small yellow door of the imperial dining room held a food box. In the box were six pancakes cut into small pieces, just enough for one bite. And in order to keep them warm, these six pancakes were placed on a hot plate and made into a flower shape.
Zhao Kai does not hold it with his hands, but eats it with a pair of ivory chopsticks. Well, the egg pancake feels like it has three Michelin stars...
The Imperial Palace in Luoyang, also called Ziwei Palace, is a palace left over from the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Although it was renovated by Zhao Ji and Zhao Kai and their sons, the layout has not changed significantly. Therefore, the most distinctive feature of the Sui and Tang Dynasties is retained, which is... big!
Because it occupies a large area, Ziwei Palace is very empty, and the palaces are far apart. After Zhao Kai finished eating the pancakes, he walked for a while before arriving at Xifangyuan.
After entering the gate of Xifangyuan, Zhao Kai heard chirping sounds from a distance. Guo Tiannu and a group of female squad members seemed not to be training, but talking about something?
Is it rest time now? Zhao Kai thought to himself. He knew that Guo Tiannu and the female squad members trained much longer every day than he did... They didn't have to deal with government affairs. As long as their bodies were convenient, they could train for three or four hours a day, so they all had great figures. He also became more and more proficient in martial arts.
Zhao Kai's own time is tight, so it would be great if he could squeeze out an hour every day!
Thinking that time was tight, he quickened his pace, walked quickly into the yard, and then walked into the training ground. When he walked in, he saw a group of women surrounding a pot... No, it was a pot!
When the women saw Zhao Kai, they all stepped forward to salute him, leaving only one person standing blankly beside the "cauldron" in a daze.
who is she? Why are you standing there stupidly? It seems a little unfamiliar!
Zhao Kai was confused, so he took a closer look and saw a girl named Pingting, dressed in white, standing pretty beside the "hot pot", holding a scroll tightly in her hand, using a pair of round and His big eyes looked at his home.
Zhao Kai felt that this girl looked familiar, so he asked: "Who is this?"
"So that the officials will know that this girl is the female gentleman invited by Mrs. Guo to teach the female class members how to use firearms. Her name is Wu Meiniang. She is the daughter of the Huojia Wu family. Yesterday, the officials met at the Fucai Supervisory Hotpot Cannon Field. Pass her."
The person who answered this question was Bai Side, who was well known to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It was he who, after discussing with Guo Tiannu, personally went to the Wu family to bring Wu Meiniang into the palace.
Of course, she can't be called "concubine" in name. The two of them have nothing to say about this matter. It's not enough to be a female classmate. The other female class members are all admitted, and everyone has martial arts skills. Wu Meiniang does not know martial arts, and she has never passed the exam.
However, this little thing was not a problem for Baiside. He then thought about it and arranged for Wu Meiniang to be a "female gentleman".
She was here to teach the female class how to use firearms, but times have changed! Female squad leaders also need to make progress, otherwise they may not be able to keep the officialdom intact simply by relying on martial arts and cold weapons. Firearms are also required. For now, "hot pot cannons" will be used. In the future, they will also be equipped with howitzers, long cannons, three-eyed muskets, matchlock muskets, flintlock muskets, and grenades... Zhao Kai has already drawn the drawings. Waiting for the time to come, take it out and let the craftsmen build it. These drawings are kept by Guo Tiannu, and what Wu Meiniang is holding in her hand now is a drawing of a howitzer!
Zhao Kai's artillery technology tree starts from the hot pot cannon, that is, it evolves from short barrels and curved fire to long barrels and direct fire.
So what came on the scene after the hotpot cannon was the howitzer with a lengthened barrel and a reduced caliber that could be mounted on a wheeled gun mount - this was a field artillery!
The progress from hotpot cannon to howitzer cannot be achieved with a few drawings and a few words of advice. Because the difficulty of casting hot pot cannon is really very low, it can be completely achieved by relying on existing technology. The difficulty of the howitzer is a little higher!
As the barrel lengthens, the bore pressure it needs to withstand will increase significantly, so thicker walls and better casting processes are needed.
In addition, the howitzer is not only a casting problem, but also a gun mount design problem... Field artillery must have strong maneuverability. Otherwise, it would be impossible to keep up with the field troops, and there would be no way to maneuver on the battlefield.
The design of the gun mount requires constant experimentation and improvement, because Zhao Kai himself doesn't know how to build the gun mount?
There is also the design of blooming bullets and shotgun shells... I finally fired the golden finger of the artillery, but I can't always shoot solid bullets!
The above designs cannot be completed in one step, and must be constantly tested - practice is the only criterion for testing cannons!
But Zhao Kai still doesn't have a firearms research institute... This research institute is not easy to establish, and it is impossible to leave it directly to Lu Yihao and Cai Mao. Firstly, it was too easy to leak secrets; secondly, the old bureaucrats were too slow to keep up with Zhao Kai's pace.
And it’s inappropriate to hold businessmen responsible...these are black technologies! Not to mention letting the gold thief take it, let alone Zhao Huan!
If Zhao Huan had cannons, his navy would be powerful! How else could Zhao Kai go to Jiangdong and Pingjinling? Maybe after Zhao Huan has artillery battleships, he won't even give Zhao Kai his 6 million annual salary!
Therefore, Zhao Kai's idea is to turn the Imperial Hotpot Cannon Team into a special unit integrating research, manufacturing, and use.
However, it will take time to form the Gozen Hot Pot Cannon Team and cannot be put into operation immediately. Moreover, there is a certain distance between Yuqian Hot Pot Cannon Team and Zhao Kai. It is impossible for Zhao Kai to meet with them every day, so it is difficult to directly participate in their research work. Without Zhao Kai's guidance, the research progress of the Yuqian Hot Pot Cannon Team would not be as fast as it could be.
If the female classmates can participate in the research of firearms, Zhao Kai's golden finger will be easy to open. They are actually Zhao Kai's real people around him!
Thinking of this, Zhao Kai strode up to Wu Meiniang, looked at the little girl with cheeks as red as apples, and asked with a smile: "Can you refine fire saltpeter and sulfur?"
"Nu Hui," Wu Meiniang replied in a low voice, but her tone was full of pride, "I also made the rules for cooking salt for the Wu family!"
"Really?" Zhao Kai seemed a little unconvinced.
"Guan family," Baiside said with a smile, "I asked the clerk at the Wu family's salt shop. Mrs. Wu is indeed proficient in the method of boiling saltpeter and refining sulfur."
"Then can you prepare gunpowder?" Zhao Kai asked again.
"Yes." Wu Meiniang replied, "To prepare the twelve medicines, you need seven and a half taels of fire salt, one tael of sulfur, and one and a half charcoal... The fire salt and sulfur must be purified and combined with the charcoal. Grind it into fine powder and stir evenly. In addition, fire salt absorbs water and is easily affected by moisture, so it is best to dry the mixed gunpowder before using it for better effect."
"Oh?" Zhao Kai said with a smile, "What if we wet the moved gunpowder and make it into a ball, then dry it in the sun, crush it, and sieve it into granules with a copper sieve? Can it still be used?"
"This..." Wu Meiniang thought for a while, "It should be usable. Fire salt must be soluble in water when refining it. Sulfur is insoluble in water and can be easily dried when it gets wet. Charcoal powder is also insoluble in water and can be dried in the sun. It’s not difficult... but you have to try it to know what will happen if you wet the mixed gunpowder and then dry it.”
Zhao Kai smiled and nodded: "Okay, let's try it tonight..." He looked around, "How about we do the experiment together?"
This is quite good, the dignified harem is now going to have a chemistry experiment class!
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