"Consul, Dao Scarong asked us to go to Jieyang City next month with his escorting fleet to meet Prince Zhu San and Grandson Zhu San. He also asked us to bring a batch of good guns, cannons and silver along the way. He said that there are Good deals can be made.”
Ji Dabao, the second officer of the British East India Company's Anping Commercial Building, was standing respectfully in front of Charlie Gough, the first officer.
These two people came to Dahao with Chen Yonghua and Liu Guoxuan. They thought they had a lot of "hundred-year-old cannons" and "middle-aged muskets in their forties or fifties", as well as a lot of black powder produced in India. Therefore, he will definitely be regarded as a distinguished guest by Qiu Hui and Zhu San Taisun, and he will get whatever he wants.
However, contrary to their expectations, Qiu Hui and Zhu San's grandson had no time to pay attention to them, and they did not ask them for any old cannons or Asan gunpowder, so they boldly sent out troops to fight the powerful Qing army.
It’s simply seeking death!
What they didn't expect even more was that it was the Qing army who sought death!
The armies of Qiu Hui and Zhu San's grandson achieved an epic victory - according to reliable information they heard in Dahao, the hapless grandson of Emperor Chongzhen turned out to be a great knight who actually wore the enemy's yellow. Ma Gua, leading 300 cavalrymen disguised as Eight Banners soldiers, suddenly attacked a fortress garrisoned by 4,000 to 5,000 people, and also used a "magic thunder" inherited from the Three Kingdoms era of the Later Han Dynasty to kill and injure thousands of Qing soldiers. ...
When they first received the news, both Charlie Gough and Ji Dabao didn't believe it. What era was it in the Three Kingdoms of the Later Han Dynasty? During the crisis period of the third century of the Roman Empire, if the Shu Han had possessed magic gunpowder that was several times more powerful than black gunpowder, then Liu Adou would not have conquered the world and become the king of kings, the great Emperor Adou!
But later, more and more news in this regard became more and more real... Later, there was news that Liu Guoxuan and Qiu Rong used magic thunder to destroy the two counties of Huilai and Chaoyang!
According to what Charlie Gough and Ji Dabao knew, the so-called Ming troops with backgrounds as pirates under the Yanping Palace were not good at land warfare, and sieges were not their strong point. Although Zheng Chenggong had laid down a Dutch bastion back then, it was the result of a long siege.
Zheng Chenggong, however, was not successful at clearing the castles on the mainland, because he did not have enough troops to besiege them... so he rarely succeeded, and his defeats were often ugly.
But this time, the coalition forces of Zheng Ming and Prince Zhu were so powerful that they defeated the three county towns of Jieyang, Chaoyang, and Huilai in succession. Moreover, these three siege battles were all fought cleanly. The time did not exceed one day.
Moreover, the three cities of Jieyang, Chaoyang, and Huilai were the first-line fortresses of the Qing army. They at least had a garrison to defend the city, and the city defenses were relatively strong.
Now let Prince Zhu and the troops of Zheng Jing and Qiu Hui take it easily... I'm afraid this "magic gunpowder" is really something!
So both Charlie Gough and Ji Dabao felt that they had to take it seriously!
If this kind of magic gunpowder is as powerful as black gunpowder several times as legendary, then it must not be allowed to be monopolized by the remaining forces of the Ming Dynasty, otherwise it will greatly threaten the existing international order and rules based on strength.
So Charlie Gough and Ji Dabao decided to figure out the secret of magic gunpowder for the British East India Company at any cost.
If the secret is science, then they must get the recipe for magic gunpowder!
If the secret is magic...then they must also submit a report to the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, which is his obligation as a devout Anglican.
"Consul, I also bought this from one of Qiu Rong's soldiers. It cost me twenty taels of silver!" As Ji Dabao spoke, he mysteriously took out a talisman, opened it carefully, and then used both hands to Passed it to Charlie Gough.
"What is this?" Charlie Gough took the piece of yellow paper (talisman), glanced at it, and looked at Ji Dabao in surprise, "Nicholas, did you really buy this piece of paper for twenty taels of silver? You Are you drunk?"
"I'm not drunk," Ji Dabao said with a smile, "Consul, this is a picture..."
This is how the talisman should be said in seventeenth-century old English?
Ji Dabao thought about it for a long time and finally thought of the words: "This is a piece of magic paper made by a Chinese wizard. It is specially used to ignite magic gunpowder."
"Is this made by a wizard? Oh my god..." Charlie Gough is a devout believer, and of course he is extremely against wizards and witches! So he quickly crossed himself and asked, "Is this true?"
"The credibility is extremely high!" Ji Dabao said, "Because I personally saw him remove it from a small hammer-shaped bomb...and when it was just removed, it was rolled into a strip. The magic paper is also stained with a lot of gunpowder."
Ji Dabao was a very shrewd comprador, and of course he would not just take out the twenty taels of silver to buy a piece of paper.
He watched with his own eyes that Chen Yonghua's personal soldier pulled out this rolled-up talisman from a wooden-handled grenade hammer!
"Where are the gunpowder?" Charlie Goff immediately asked.
"Here!" Ji Da took out a paper bag folded into a square from his BMW, and then opened it in front of Charlie Goff. Inside was a small amount of black granular gunpowder.
"Is this all stained on the paper?" Charlie Gough asked.
"No," Ji Dabao said, "I also asked the soldier to pour a little gunpowder from the copper hammer."
Charlie Gough took the opened paper bag and looked at it confidently for a while, "It looks like black powder... The quality is very good, it doesn't look like it's made in India, it should come from Europe!"
What he saw was indeed black powder, but it didn't come from Europe, but from the inner factory of Zhu San Taisun - the inner gunpowder factory!
This gunpowder factory was moved there immediately after Zhu Heji occupied Jieyang County. Not only has a pharmacist school been established, but a black powder workshop has also been established. Currently, it has a daily production capacity of 40 to 50 kilograms of black powder.
The reason why the black gunpowder produced in the inner gunpowder factory is filled into the grenade hammer is because the sweet gunpowder is particularly susceptible to moisture and has a short storage time. It can only be prepared by the "Divine Thunder Apprentice" before the formation.
Therefore, the grenade hammers issued to the "hammer soldiers" below and hung on their belts every day are filled with black powder that is not easily affected by moisture.
In order to ensure that the black powder grenade hammer can explode, the black powder filled inside is the finest granular gunpowder produced by the in-house factory. Otherwise, if there is an emergency, you will have to hit someone with a hammer.
Ji Dabao, who was asking around all day long, also learned about the existence of the inner gunpowder factory, so he shook his head and said: "Mr. Consul, I asked the soldier, these gunpowder comes from the inner gunpowder factory of Zhu San Taisun!"
"What?" Charlie Gough was startled, "Quickly, bring me a bowl and a flame... You won't know until it's lit to see if gunpowder is good or not!"
The gunpowder was ignited, igniting a red flame, releasing white smoke, and burning rapidly and completely. After the gunpowder burns out, there are almost no impurities in the porcelain bowl.
"This..." Charlie Gough took a breath, "The quality of this gunpowder is excellent, even better than the gunpowder produced in England and the Netherlands!" He frowned deeply, "But how did they do it? What about it? Did he steal the advanced technology that we are still developing in England, or did he use evil black magic to purify fire, salt, and sulfur?"
