Thirty thousand miles?
Cui Yu stared and looked at Zhu Yunwen in disbelief. There was no trace of joking in those imperial eyes.
Zhu Yunwen is very clear about the future of firearms. Although the Ming Dynasty currently does not have the conditions to develop rocket launchers and missiles, it does not hinder people's imagination.
People who can innovate should break through without limits.
When Cui Yu personally loaded the gunpowder and iron at the place where the gun was tested, and lit the fuse, the gun made a dull sound and the iron flew out.
In the white smoke rising from the gunpowder chamber, Zhu Yunwen saw the history of gunpowder and firearms.
Later Mr. Zhou wrote in "The Pros and Cons of Electricity": "Foreign countries use gunpowder to make bullets to defend their enemies, but China uses it to make firecrackers to worship gods."
This sentence was transformed into:
The Chinese invented gunpowder and only used it to make fireworks.
Zhu Yunwen does not deny that Mr. Zhou’s writing is sharp, nor does he deny his ability to criticize current affairs, but he can say with certainty that Mr. Zhou’s words are completely wrong!
He does not understand or have seen the history of Chinese gunpowder and firearms.
In fact, the Chinese invented gunpowder and not only made it into fireworks, but also into firearms, protecting the Chinese people and Chinese civilization time and time again.
Many people know that the discovery of gunpowder was the product of alchemists' "alchemy".
The main ingredient of gunpowder is saltpeter.
In the eyes of the ancients, saltpeter was not a stone, but a medicine, and it was also a top-grade medicine.
The existence of this view also laid the foundation for the discovery of gunpowder.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, alchemy was very popular.
Alchemists who are aspiring to immortality are beginning to wonder, how can they make elixirs?
So each of them found the elixir-making recipe written by someone who didn't know who, and threw sulfur, realgar, orpiment, mercury, saltpeter, and a bunch of messy mineral medicines into the pot and mixed them up.
These people have successful works, such as combining mercury with sulfur, realgar, orpiment to form cinnabar.
Cinnabar is very comfortable to eat, and the effect is immediate. The internal organs are fine, the energy is high, I can eat several bowls, and I don’t have nightmares when I sleep.
This is the elixir, it’s gone.
Since there is cinnabar, there must be other elixirs. Keep researching. If this formula doesn't work, just change it.
When saltpeter, three yellows, etc. were being mixed together, bang, it exploded.
It is estimated that the alchemist was not killed in the explosion, so the formula remained, and gunpowder was born.
Ge Hong's book "Baopuzi" records the issue of alchemy, and the raw materials used include sulfur and saltpeter.
Sun Simiao, a famous pharmacologist in the Tang Dynasty, was also a master of alchemy. In his "Alchemy Classic", he recorded an "internal sulfur method" to make gunpowder.
Gunpowder is a medicine…
That's right.
Later, when Li Shizhen compiled "Compendium of Materia Medica", he wrote clearly: Gunpowder can cure ringworm, kill insects, ward off dampness and expel evil spirits...
Alchemists studied again and again and found that mixing three substances, sulfur, nitrate, and carbon in different proportions, can form a "fire medicine", so it was named:
gunpowder.
Unexpectedly, the original meaning of gunpowder is that this medicine will catch fire...
The alchemist thinks that this formula has no effect. It has burned itself before the elixir is ready. When can I get the elixir and become immortal?
What they never expected was that the gunpowder they discovered due to their desire for immortality would kill countless people.
In the first year of Emperor Zhaozong's Tianyou reign of the Tang Dynasty, Yang Xingmi besieged Yuzhang, and his general Zheng Duo "sent fire from his troops to burn Longshamen." This is the earliest record of gunpowder in military history.
The "flying fire" at that time was
"Artillery" and "rockets", the former is made by making gunpowder into a ring, lighting the fuse and throwing it out with a trebuchet, while the latter is by binding gunpowder to an arrow, lighting it and shooting it out with a bow.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, during times of war, the use of gunpowder was somewhat compromised. Some people with dark minds began to add caltrops to gunpowder, and that was it. Others added arsenic to it...
During the Song Dynasty, there were many wars, although most of them were lost.
If you can't defeat those on horseback, then research firearms and blow them up.
Therefore, the imperial court took the lead in setting up a state-owned enterprise "Gunpowder Workshop", and then "Thunderbolt Cannon", "Powerful Thunder", "Rocket", "Artillery" appeared...
When people in the Song Dynasty used firearms, they were as heroic as a rich man who used money to kill people.
During the war, I looked at it and thought, OK, a rocket can't kill you, but you can hide, right?
Come on, brothers, build a cluster rocket, I don’t believe it can’t be blown up...
At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the first defense battle of Tokyo commanded by Li Gang and Zongze used concentrated fire and thunder cannons, causing heavy losses to the Jin army.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, the development of firearms advanced by leaps and bounds, and the originator of later generations of tubular firearms appeared - Chen Gui. The "long bamboo cannon" he invented was similar to the metal tube of later generations of firearms.
Yes, the gun barrel at the beginning was a bamboo tube...
Later, when Mongolia destroyed the Jin Dynasty, the Jin people relied on firearms such as "shaking thunder" and "flying fire guns" to resist the Mongolian cavalry for more than 20 years.
"Zhentianlei" is a large grenade. Because it is a bit big and requires too much labor, it is usually thrown by a trebuchet...
The "Flying Fire Gun" improved the "Long Bamboo Cannon", replacing the bamboo tube with a metal tube, grabbing a handful of iron powder and stuffing it in, igniting the gunpowder, bang, kill several with one shot...
It's almost the same as the "shotgun" of later generations.
The Mongolian Alliance with the Southern Song Dynasty destroyed the Jin Dynasty. The people of the Southern Song Dynasty saw the power of the "Flying Fire Spear" and went back to study the "Sudden Fire Spear". The emergence of the "Sudden Fire Spear" has epoch-making significance.
The world's first firearm that could fire projectiles was born.
Later, during the Song-Mongolian War, the Mongols suffered a lot from firearms, but they were not stupid either. They learned how to use firearms during the war, and with these equipment and combat methods, they staged a battle in the "Eldest Son's Expedition to the West" Another "dimensionality reduction blow" completely swept Europeans' knightly dignity into the trash.
Fireguns in the Yuan Dynasty also developed well. Zhu Yuanzhang also used the "Bronze General" "sent" by the Yuan Dynasty army. Some of Zhu Yuanzhang's subordinates also preferred fireguns and formed a firegun squad, such as Mu Ying and Deng Yu.
During the battle to defend Hongdu, Deng Yu relied on his firecrackers squad to kill Chen Youliang's vanguard of the city.
Mu Ying ran to Yunnan with a blunderbuss and went into the ravines to hunt elephants every day. From time to time, she got ivory tusks in exchange for some pocket money.
After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, a variety of firearms guarded the coast, borders, and towns of the Ming Dynasty.
From this point of view, those who say that the Chinese only use gunpowder to make fireworks are either ignorant, idiots, or have ulterior motives.
Zhu Yunwen watched the fire gun being fired, reloaded, and fired again. He felt depressed and wanted to vomit blood. He knew that the fire gun was slow, but he didn't know it would be so slow. According to Cui Yu's operation, the fastest would be twenty seconds.
It takes less than twenty seconds for the cavalry to charge a hundred meters.
Running away after just one salvo is simply an embarrassment to hot weapons.
Zhu Yunwen couldn't let him test the cannon. This was the palace, and it was not safe for the cannonballs to fly anywhere... After asking about the data, Zhu Yunwen felt a little worried.
The three cannons of the Ming Dynasty: Franji, Crouching Tiger Cannon, and Hongyi Cannon, none of them appeared during this period.
When these craftsmen think about it for themselves, when will they be able to shout, "Everything within the caliber is justice, and everything within the range is truth."
"The heroic words?"
Relying on their genius creation and slow research, it is estimated that it will take decades to come up with more advanced artillery.
After Zhu Yunwen left the War Bureau, he did not return to the harem. Instead, he left the palace and went to the Science and Technology Bureau under the Ministry of Industry (the former general was the supervisor).
The Science and Technology Bureau was responsible for improving firecrackers, artillery and crossbows. In ten months, they did complete a lot of improvement work. However, this improvement did not break through the limitations of firecrackers in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. It only improved the original On the basis of this, I made a small fuss and performed a "micro plastic surgery".
For example, the Xiangyang Cannon is a type of trebuchet. The Science and Technology Bureau enlarged it. Can this be said to be an improvement?
Well, there are more things that can be lost, and further away...
Zhu Yunwen really wants to throw this talented craftsman away. What I want is a real gun, a real artillery, truth, and justice!
You guys are already doing scale studies for me in ten months?
Disappointed and angry, Zhu Yunwen ignored the dissuasion of Shuangxi and the Security Bureau, left Nanjing overnight, went to Lion Rock, and checked the weapons base here. At first glance, he found that there was still no progress in the new gunpowder, but there were boxes of it stored. When you open the gunpowder, you will see that it is all powder.
Come on, the War Bureau, the Science and Technology Bureau, and the Gunpowder Base didn't come up with anything.
When Zhu Yunwen returned to Kunning Palace, it was already past midnight. He looked at Ma Enhui, who was not sleeping peacefully, and helped cover her up with the quilt. Then he walked to the table and wrote:
"I have observed that firearms are of extraordinary power and are indeed sharp weapons for the country. However, the War Bureau, Science and Technology Bureau, and Arms Station lack new ideas and it is difficult to make great achievements. I have specially ordered that in the War Bureau, Science and Technology Bureau, Arms Station, and Weaponry Station, The bureau covers all the military stations in the Ming Dynasty, selects the best firearms instructors, military craftsmen, and civilian craftsmen, and gathers them in the capital..."
"The order was given to set up a Second Artillery Bureau in Xuanwu Hou Lake, specializing in new muskets, artillery, and gunpowder. All materials needed were allocated from the ten treasuries of the inner government, and a testing ground was set up on an isolated island to specialize in testing... "
Zhu Yunwen looked at the drafted edict and his eyes became determined.
Second artillery!
Although I have left your era, I will continue to protect China with your name!
Although the firearms of the Ming Dynasty are not worthy of this great name, the ultimate purpose of their existence is to protect them.
Early the next morning, Zhu Yunwen's order was conveyed.
Zheng Ci, the minister of industry, did not express any objection. He was busy building a house and did not mind how the emperor ordered the firearms.
Xu Huizu had no objection, and just issued an order to ask the various military stations to quickly send their outstanding firearms craftsmen to the capital. Each military station should have at least one person.
In the Ming Dynasty, firearms manufacturing was not only the prerogative of the central government. Local guards could also manufacture firearms. But from a quality point of view, local firearms are far inferior to the imperial military firearms.
Xuanwu Lake, located to the north of the Imperial City, is also known as Hou Lake.
Xuanwu Lake in the Ming Dynasty was not a park that everyone could go to. Don’t think that you can go there to practice Tai Chi or take a walk when you are full. It was an important place for the government and no idlers were allowed to enter.
During the Zhu Yuanzhang period, Huangceku was built above Houhu.
The so-called Yellow Book is actually the Ming Dynasty Demographic Book, and it is no problem to understand it as a household registration database.
There are many islands here and the area is large. It is no problem to set up a second artillery station far away from Huangceku. Even if there is an accident, such as a fire or explosion, and there is basically water all around, Huangceku will not be burned.
There is no problem with confidentiality, no problem with safety, and there is no problem with the test site. You can go shooting in the lake and test the effect. Maybe you can catch a few fish to improve the food.
Zhu Yunwen believes that in order to promote the discovery of the Second Artillery Bureau, the most important issue is to solve the problem of powdered gunpowder. This is the source of power and the key to the rise of the Second Artillery Bureau!
