marquis of jingan

Chapter 1040 The Emperor and the Beggar

It is naturally unrealistic for the emperor to go to Xuzhou.

In the current situation where China is still undecided, the emperor will make people sweat even if he leaves Jiankang, let alone going to the frontline battlefield.

Even, if His Majesty the Emperor left the palace without authorization, and the Empress Dowager found out, she would probably say something to him.

Although the emperor is the Ninth Five-Year Supreme, this profession also has many restrictions. From a certain point of view, he is actually a prisoner of the system.

Most emperors in history have never been out of the capital several times in their lives.

In comparison, the emperor of the Great Unified Dynasty is relatively freer and can occasionally move around the capital, but it is also difficult for him to travel around like Master Shen.

Shen Yi smiled and said: "There is no problem with your majesty going to Xuzhou, but it needs to be pushed back. When the situation in the north is stable in the future, your majesty may not want to go and have a look."

"Yandu, you are still waiting for His Majesty."

The emperor said with emotion: "In my lifetime, if I can see Yandu, I will have no regrets in this life."

Speaking of this, he looked at Shen Yi and asked, "If Shen Qing's new artillery is produced, how much better than the current artillery?"

Shen Yi lowered his head slightly and said: "If artillery is to be useful on the battlefield, the most important thing is not how powerful it is, how far it can shoot, but how compact it is."

"To put it simply, with the same power, the lighter and smaller the weapon, the more suitable it is for the battlefield."

"Most of the cannons in the past were placed on the walls of the city. Some of them cost thousands of catties. They were useful for defending the city, but the harm outweighed the benefits in field battles."

For many years, Da Chen has been far inferior to Qi people in field battles, but he is better than Qi people in defending the city.

The main reason is that Da Chen's application of artillery is slightly stronger, and it is widely used in defending the city.

Master Shen looked calm, and continued: "A few years ago, when I was suppressing the Japanese in the southeast, I had people improve the artillery and reduce the weight of the artillery, so that these artillery can be used in field battles."

"However, the power of these new artillery is much weaker, and the barrel becomes thinner after being lighter. Generally, after three or four rounds, the temperature must be cooled, otherwise it will easily explode."

"Later, the minister sent people to go to the West, found a few Western gunsmiths, brought them back, and kept them with the craftsmen of the firearms workshop to improve artillery, and let them teach apprentices on Dachen's land."

"Up to now, several years have passed, and finally some progress has been made."

"The weight of the new artillery is only about four hundred to five hundred catties."

Shen Yi paused for a moment, then continued: "If it is done successfully, the power should be comparable to that of a two-thousand-jin cannon."

Five hundred catties, in the field of artillery, it can only be regarded as a small artillery.

As long as they are equipped with wheels, one or two people can easily push them and apply them on the battlefield.

In fact, the artillery currently used by the Huai'an Army is about the same weight, but the power is much worse.

After a pause, Shen Yi continued: "In addition to the artillery, I have found an old book in the past few years, which is almost a hundred years ago."

"This book was written by an official of the Ministry of War during Emperor Taizong's time. It says..."

Shen Yi looked up at the emperor, and said in a low voice: "It says that during Emperor Taizong's period, a craftsman in the Bingzhang Bureau made a new type of shell, which can explode after falling into the crowd."

"It's powerful."

"It's just this shell..."

Shen Yi sighed and said: "It seems to be lost."

"I have searched in the Ministry of War, the Hongwen Museum of the imperial court, and other secretaries' places, but I have not found any detailed records of this kind of shells."

"However, in the first half of the year, Xu...Xu Fu found a descendant of an old craftsman from the Bingzhang Bureau in the folk, and roughly inquired about some scattered methods. The craftsmen in the workshop have studied together in the past few months, and have already pondered over it. Come up with a rough idea."

"Next year, hopefully it will come out."

The emperor was obviously very interested in these things, he pulled Shen Yi, sat down on a chair beside him, and asked, "Tell me about the process in detail."

Shen Yi nodded.

"After that old craftsman, he actually didn't know much about the method of making flowering cannonballs. He just said that reeds should be added to it."

"After I learned about it, I discussed it with several craftsmen, but I couldn't understand it."

"Until more than a month ago, when I was about to return to Jiankang, I saw a dry reed by a small river."

"One o'clock."

"I just want to understand the key to it."

The emperor looked at Shen Yi and said softly, "Go on."

"Probably, it is to prepare a hollow and thin-walled iron ball. The iron ball is hollow and only leaks one hole."

"When you need to use it, fill this iron ball with gunpowder, and then insert a reed."

Shen Yi said in a low voice: "Light the reed first, and then throw the cannonball into the barrel. When the cannonball reaches the enemy, the reed will burn out and explode immediately."

"At that time, the thin iron wall wrapped with gunpowder immediately split apart, and the lethality was more powerful than the current solid bullet..."

After Shen Yi paused, he said, "It's a lot stronger."

The emperor thought about it for a while, and then asked, "How do you ensure that the cannonball explodes when it hits the ground?"

"It can only depend on people."

Shen Yi said: "Someone needs to trim the length of the reeds according to the distance and even the wind direction, so that the shells can explode just right."

The emperor thought for a while, and asked again: "How to make the hollow and thin-walled iron ball?"

Shen Yi sighed.

This is the crux of the problem. In this era, there is no technology to produce iron sheets, so people can't rely on people to beat the iron sheets little by little.

He lowered his head slightly and said, "I can only make a mold."

If you cast a mold, the efficiency will be slower, and it is not easy to accurately control the thickness of the iron sheet, and you need a more powerful blacksmith to cast the mold.

Moreover, it is not very good to control the precise thickness.

Shen Yi said softly: "In addition to these, the timing and craftsmanship required for this thing are very demanding. I estimate that even if it is made, [-]% of it can be successfully exploded."

The emperor narrowed his eyes and said, "I estimate that there is a high probability that it is not as powerful as solid bullets."

After the solid bullet is fired, if it lands in a crowd of people, there is no need for fancy other operations. It can kill people instantly with its huge kinetic energy alone. If the number of people is dense, it is very easy for a shell to injure more than ten people.

And this kind of blooming shell is probably not as heavy as a solid shell, and at the same time, it is no longer "smashed".

It may not be able to hurt ten people.

It's just that the solid bullet is linear damage, and the blooming bullet is range damage. The two methods are different.

Shen Yi did not deny the emperor's opinion.

In fact, the emperor was quite right.

In this era when there is no high-explosive gunpowder and no nitroglycerin, ordinary gunpowder only has the amount of shells, so the damage is not necessarily stronger than that of solid shells.

"Your Majesty is right. Even if this thing is produced, it may not be as powerful as a solid bullet, but if it is a field battle and the enemy formation is relatively scattered, this thing is much more powerful than a solid bullet."

Emperor Hongde sighed softly: "Preparation is difficult, and it may not be possible. It also requires experienced hands to temporarily cut off the reeds that ignited the fire. No wonder this thing will be lost."

"Fortunately, Shen Qing was careful and found it out."

Master Shen smiled and said: "There are no useless things in the world. If this thing is used well, it will be much more powerful than solid bullets."

That's the problem with the route.

When muskets first came out, they were far less useful than bows and crossbows. Even in the era of Dachen, gunpowder had been widely used in the military for 200 years, muskets were still not as easy to use as bows and crossbows.

The same is true for solid bullets and flower bullets. When flower bullets are first made, they may not be much better than solid bullets, and may even be inferior.

But this thing...

Unlimited potential!

The two monarchs and ministers sat together and discussed a lot of things about the battlefield. When it was almost time and Shen Yi was about to leave, the emperor patted Master Shen on the shoulder and said, "The Huai'an Army has a heavy task next year. I promise you to go to the Bingzhang Bureau, um..."

"I'll let you take another five hundred craftsmen to the north."

Shen Yi hurriedly bowed to express his thanks.

The emperor looked at Shen Yi, smiled and said: "There is also the Xu Fu that Shen Qing mentioned. Although he is not in the court, he has indeed done a lot for the court. Where is he now? I want to reward him. "

Shen Yi was silent for a while, then lowered his head slightly and said, "Go back to Your Majesty, Xu Fu..."

"Going west."

The emperor was startled, a little surprised: "He went in person? Isn't it possible to send a caravan?"

"He always wanted to go, but he was stopped by the minister. After he had a son in the second half of this year, he hurriedly went to the west with the boat."

"He said he was going to see for himself what the west side looked like."

The emperor paused, and then said with emotion: "If I remember correctly, he was born as a beggar."

Shen Yi nodded: "He was born as a beggar, and the minister brought him to Jiankang from Jiangdu."

Emperor Hongde was silent again, and sighed slightly: "Now, his knowledge may have far surpassed mine."

Lord Shen flattered him at the right time.

"Your Majesty can embrace the whole world without leaving Jiankang. How can Xu Fu compare it?"

When the emperor heard the words, he just shook his head and didn't make a statement.

"In my heart, I envy him a little bit."

Shen Yi bowed his head and said: "When he returns to Jiankang, I will ask him to report to His Majesty what he saw along the way."

The emperor nodded with a smile, and said, "That's a good suggestion. When he returns to Jiankang, let him enter the palace to see me."

At this point in the conversation between the two, the emperor said sternly: "During the time in Jiankang, what else is lacking and needed by the East Route Army, please try to mention it to me, or to Yousi Yamen."

"The Northern Expedition is not a matter for Shen Qing alone, but also for me, it is a major event for the entire court."

"Don't be polite to them."

Shen Yi bowed and said yes.

"Your Majesty has this heart, and the Northern Expedition will come to fruition."

"Just around the corner..."