Chapter 350: Everyone wants to take advantage of it

Zeng Bu pointed to the terms of the alliance and explained that there were many new words in the language he spoke. Some of them had only seen Zhao Ji in Zhao Xing's letter, which made him deeply suspicious that Zeng Bu was a parrot. He said: "Your Majesty, in the past, I, the Song people, entered the Liao territory to spy on the news, and the image was too obvious. The Liao people could see it at a glance, but with that market, it was different. The Song people could openly operate on the territory of the Liao Kingdom under the guise of merchants, bribery, spy, subvert... to do everything possible - this is one of them.

Second: License system. I knew that Zhao Liren always puts a trap on others. Your Majesty, what does this "license" mean? We allowed him to enter the market and trade with the Liao people with a license. Not to mention how much income can be increased to the court by selling a "license", but only said that this license also stipulates the review period. If any Song merchant is not satisfied, we can cancel his license at any time. In this way, all Song merchants sent to that city are in the palm of the court.

Third, the Liao people wanted to exchange war horses for gunpowder and muskets... It was not difficult to do things in this way. I know that the musket was a piece of waste material without the right gunpowder. The gunpowder was complicated. As long as it was done a little in the formula, the gunpowder of the Liao people was far inferior to that of our court's army. The confrontation between the two armies was not a joke. With just a little range gap, the Liao people gave us the army's life gate.

I have also carefully studied the reports of Zhao Liren and Jiang Zhiqi before. Zhao Liren said that a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Although the Liao Kingdom is weak, we cannot swallow this camel if we are not prepared. He also said that it is rumored that the female Zhi people are more fierce than the Khitan people. What if we kill the Liao people and are exhausted and we meet the female Zhi people again?..."

Han Zhongyan interrupted: "Yes, since the Alliance of Chanyuan, the Liao people have been harassing each year, but in general, they no longer invade the south in large numbers. One hundred thousand taels of silver are just side dishes for us, so the Liao people are not afraid. For many years, we have known that the Liao people generally abide by the covenant, but can the female straight people abide by the covenant? Only genius know?

Zhao Liren said it well: In order to make the two dogs fight for a longer time, we should use gunpowder and other commodities to empty the Liao Dynasty's treasury and empty its horse ranch. These gunpowders have to be tampered with, and the government is not easy to come forward and handed over to the people. Although the gunpowder that has done tampering with hands and feet is not as powerful as our army, it is enough for the Khitans to deal with the Jurchens. Let them bite them, we might as well sell some weapons on both sides. Whoever is weak is sold to whoever sells more."

Zeng Bu smiled and shook the covenant: "Zhao Liren said he would use this to pry open a hole in the Liao Kingdom. Now he has exchanged gunpowder for a piece of land in Liao Kingdom and built a new city... Who knows what else? If the Liao people empty their family, maybe they will exchange it for us some other land."

Zhao Ji stood up suddenly: "Switch to something else!? - The former Taizu left the sealed tent. He originally planned to exchange money for the heads of the Liao people. If Zhao Li people could buy the land of Yanyun with money, he would be my good assistant, and I would definitely give it a heavy reward."

Stop. Zhao Ji said meaningfully: "Whoever obtains the land of Yanyun can be granted a king even if he has a different surname. If Zhao Li people can get Yanyun back for me, I will not be stingy with a prince."

It is strange that the king and his ministers visited and discussed enthusiastically whether money could be exchanged for more things. Before, Zhao Xing's intention to suppress the two sides of the Yellow River in an unknown way, but he had exchanged fire with the Liao people without permission without the court's permission. However, it was ignored intentionally or unintentionally. It was silent, as if nothing had happened. Even Zhao Xing and the Liao people's fire line were like a group of ducks shouting on the river bank. That's not surprising. The court officials only discussed what the new city should be used for, and no one was willing to mention how the new city came about.

In theory, the emperor should have grudges in his heart without mentioning the ministers. After all, challenging imperial power was the most taboo for emperors in history. But Zhao Ji was so happy to be very happy to be successful. In normal history, even if he was in his forties, he was still very happy to be successful. The unspeakable battle between Zhao Xing and the Liao people gave Zhao Ji hope, a hope to defeat the Liao Kingdom. At this moment, he was thinking about surpassing his ancestors and restoring Youyan - completely ignoring the other party's "great disrespect".

In history, it was said that Zhao Ji was stupid and incompetent. During his reign, eunuchs Liang Shicheng, Li Yan and others forged imperial edicts. After the censor told him, he just laughed it off...

The topic turned to the real and virtual aspects of the Liao Dynasty. Cao Yu and Zhang Dunli, the front line, and Jiang Zhiqi, who participated in the negotiations and went deep into the Liao Dynasty, have successively returned their sights and hearings. The children of the generals talked about the huge power of new weapons, which made them refreshed. Jiang Zhiqi talked about the proactive surrender of He Haogu, the magistrate of Wuqing, which made them see the hearts and backs of the Liao Dynasty. Cao and Zhang also made bold predictions: Zhao Xing and Zhao's bold experience proved that the gunpowder introduced into the army by the Shi family has evolved into a mature weapon after more than 80 years of development; the same number of musketeers can completely fight against the same number of cavalry, or even double the cavalry...

It was this prediction that made Zhao Ji see hope to seize Youyan.

What is the Song Dynasty? There are more people and more money.

If you have money, you can build more guns, and if someone wants to attract more soldiers.

It takes three to five years to train a skilled archer, and only three months to train a musketman. This prospect made Zhao Ji excited. He turned to Zeng Bu and asked kindly: "Zeng Qing, your fellow villager Zeng Gongliang once compiled the seven books on the Wu Jing, which also described firearms. Zeng Qing also served as Privy Councilor. I don't know if he knew about firearms."

Zeng Bu smiled and replied: "Your Majesty, Zeng Gongliang is from Jinjiang, Quanzhou, and I am from Nanfeng. I am not from my hometown. The "Seven Books of Wujing" were not compiled by one person, so I don't know much about firearms.

However, when the Mizhou Lihua Gun entered Beijing, I had watched it and found that it was very similar to a firearm recorded in the "Seven Books of Wu Jing". The firearm recorded in the book is called "Thunder Fire Whip". Currently, there are a small amount of equipment in my imperial guards. The difference between it and Guangnan firearm is in the gunpowder formula.

The muskets that Zhao Liren tinkered with were ten times more powerful than those of the pear blossom gun. The military weapon surveillance once ordered Zhao Liren to offer new gunpowder, but Zhao Liren refused to pay, saying that this thing was the ancestral secret art of folk merchants, and our dynasty did not compete with the people for profit, so he could not force it. In addition, he also mentioned that the gunpowder formula was handed over to the court, for fear that the court would write it to the book and be sold to the enemy country. Later, there was indeed Huanqing's private sale of firearms to the people of Xixia, and the military weapon surveillance no longer dared to ask for it.

I heard that Zhao Liren specially set up a firearm bureau in Guangnan on an isolated island, surrounded by the navy, and produced four kinds of explosives there, one is the soil explosive used to open mountains and build roads, which is powerful; the other is the land for fireworks and firecrackers; and there are also the land poisonous fireball gunpowder commonly used in the army. The other is the granular ‘black gunpowder’ used in Guangnan muskets.

Because Zhao Liren was unwilling to hand over the gunpowder formula, the army was not very active in promoting new muskets. Later, the military weapon surveillance also secretly made 'black gunpowder', but unfortunately the power was not as powerful as Guangnan gunpowder. Perhaps there was a secret method passed down here. I only realized because of that controversy that although the musket was powerful, it was without matching gunpowder, which was just a fire stick."

Zeng Bu had not studied chemistry, so he talked about black gunpowder casually. However, he did not know that the name of "black gunpowder" in chemistry is very strict. Even if the components of sulfur, nitrate and charcoal are exactly the same, as long as the proportions of the three are slightly different, even if the things that come out are still black, they can still burn and explode, but it is no longer called "black gunpowder".

Science is rigorous. For example, "physiological saline". Only salt water with a salt content of 0.9% can be called "physiological saline". It is not a salt water of this concentration. Even if it contains no other substances except salt and water, it cannot be called "physiological saline".

For example: copper sulfate pentahydrate is called cyst alum, which is blue; basic copper sulfate is also crystallized by copper sulfate, but it specifically refers to the reaction of copper sulfate and calcium hydroxide, and the color is green...

In this sense, the three gunpowder formulas recorded in the Seven Books of the Martial Arts are not "black gunpowder". And the imitation of ground gunpowder by military weapons is not black gunpowder.

Zhao Ji was silent for a moment and said in a twisted manner: "I will issue an edict now: I will report that Zhao Xing will report to the Beijing news. Dear friends, I will definitely persuade Zhao Qing to put state affairs first, and it is best to hand over the gunpowder formula to the court."

After hearing this, the ministers frowned - Zhao Laohu's advantage is not easy to take advantage. So far, people from Liao, Xixia, Dali, and Jiaozhi were cheaper, and some people lost their country. Zhang Dun was the best, but he lost his official position and left the capital in a mess. But his life is still there. The official family let us speak. Is it easy?

At this time, Zhao Xing, who was at the mouth of the Yellow River, did not know that someone in the court planned to him. He was carefully observing the "thunder and fire whip" discussed by the court's hosts.

This is a whip-shaped weapon, which is similar to the steel whip among the eighteen weapons. However, there is a hole in the center of the whip, and there is a hole for setting fire at the handle of the whip. When used, use a fuse rope to ignite the medicine twist at the handle of the whip. The medicine twist ignites the gunpowder hidden in the whip body. The gunpowder flames spew out, making a huge sound, so it is called "Thunder and Fire Whip".

"I wonder what will happen if we stuff our gunpowder into it?" Zhao Xing said thoughtfully after playing with the thunder and fire whip.

"It must be a blow-off," Shuai Fan replied without hesitation: "The gunpowder stuffed into this thunder and fire whip is a formula developed by the military weapon supervisor. The ingredients are mixed with iron sand, arsenic, wolf poison, yellow wax, croton, oil, asphalt, etc. It has no explosive power, so it doesn't matter whether the inner chamber wall is not smooth, and it doesn't matter whether there are sandey holes.

But our muskets, because they use different ground explosives, have high processing accuracy requirements. Now if you put our gunpowder in it, you will definitely turn this thunder and fire whip into an "iron-branding cone" ("Wu Jing Zongyao" calls bombs similar to grenade-like throwing, and later Japan followed this title and called it "roasted").

Zhao Xing held the hot thunder whip in his hand and smiled at Cao Yu, saying, "I also have a "Seven Books of Wu Jing" in my hand, but unfortunately I have never finished reading it. At the beginning, I thought the whole book had no segments and punctuation, and looked dizzy, so I glanced a few times and threw it aside. Later, after the new book was re-punctuated and paragraphed, I was too busy and I had no time to calm down and check the book.

It’s funny when I was looking for the prototype of the firearm, the first thing I thought of was the Xixia copper pistol, but I didn’t know that my Song army was also equipped with this kind of firearm similar to the copper pistol... Well, when I was in Mizhou, I wondered why there were a few bulges on the pear blossom gun that looked like bamboo joints. Now I understand, it turns out that the military weapon prisoners were unconsciously imitating the whip joints made by the thunder and fire whip..."

The thunder and fire whip was brought by the Japanese army and Gongsheng Army. After the Song-Liao talks, Zhao Xing swept across Wuqing County and slowly retreated to the north bank of the Yellow River. Because the weather was cold and the Yellow River was frozen, Zhao Xing retreated to Shunbao Village in advance, and the Xiao brothers led the people of Wuqing County to continue to move to the mouth of the Yellow River. After landing, Zhao Xing met Cao Yu, who led Gongsheng and the two imperial guards of Peng Japanese, arrived in Shunbao Village.

Cao Yu pointed out the Thunder Fire Whip in confusion and asked, "Li Ren, this Thunder Fire Whip is cast in steel. You said that gunpowder can make it explode, but I don't believe it. Why don't you fill it with gunpowder and let me try it. I've seen what this black gunpowder is. Since I was a child, I have been playing with firecrackers during the New Year. It can explode such a thick subway wall - try it, give it a try."

The muzzle in the middle of this thunder and fire whip is very thin. It is thinly similar to a modern small-caliber rifle. Its appearance is a traditional weapon iron whip - the short whip held by the god Yuchi Gong in the New Year painting. It is only 40 cm long. The whip body has several joints. There is a hole in the thick whip handle, which is left for the fire twist.

This iron whip is not equipped with a strip, so it is impossible to compact the gunpowder. Fortunately, there was iron sand in the recipe of the Great Song Dynasty gunpowder. Therefore, this thunder and fire whip is not so much the ancestor of modern pistols, but rather the ancestor of modern fireworks. Because it is loaded with "gunpowder" rather than "explosive", it doesn't matter whether the filling needs to be compacted.

During the demonstration just now, Zhao Xing saw that the former owner of the Thunder Fire Whip used a funnel device similar to a platypus to fill the whip with "Song Dynasty gunpowder", and the gunpowder was filled until the muzzle was overflowing, and then the imperial guard pressed the gunpowder at the muzzle with his fingers... This can be regarded as consolidating gunpowder.

After the medicine is twisted and lit, the gunpowder burns from the back of the whip to the muzzle, the accumulated gunpowder pressure is sprayed out at the muzzle, and the iron sand heated into iron juice is sprayed out through the muzzle, and at the same time makes a thunderous sound. People who are whipped by this thunder fire will definitely turn into a stingy face, but if you really need to look at it carefully, the damage you will suffer is not serious. If you encounter a cavalry impact, the "stop effect" of the impact is not as good as a real musket.

Zhao Xing weighed the thunder fire whip and asked casually: "When our gunpowder is fired, the recoil should not be underestimated. It is probably not easy to hold it in a straight line. This is why the military weapon monitor gunpowder is less powerful, so it is easy to hold it in your hand.

But my muskets are different. Cao Guanjun, our army uses not gunpowder but explosives. There are three categories. Now muskets use the cheapest black explosives, but this kind of explosives has been processed. The barrel is filled with at most one cent of material. If the black explosives are loaded at the muzzle, I guess the human power cannot hold the handle of the whip.

In addition to black explosives, I also used another launching medicine package in the artillery... In this battle, I have not used the fourth generation shells, and the explosives loaded in the shells are even more violent. You said you want to load the explosives and test them...

Well, you can half bury your whip body in the ground and test the power of the explosives. However, an explosion does not destroy such a thick iron pipe wall, but the metal is like a human, and it also has its own fatigue strength. After repeated use, it must break from its weakness. Cao Guanjun, do you really want to test it? Are you sure?"

The reason why Zhao Xing asked so seriously was that among the imperial guards, the Thunder and Fire Whip was a high-tech product of this era, and only a few generals held it. The value of this Thunder and Fire Whip is higher than the cost of a set of Step Armor. Zhao Xing speculated that the test result was that the Thunder and Fire Whip was damaged. He was worried that Cao Yu could not explain it later, so he repeatedly sought confirmation.

Cao Yu's eyes turned to Zhao Xing's waist. Zhao Xing had three handguns on his waist. This handgun was a model that imitated the Spanish flintlock pistol, but the decoration was even more gorgeous. It adhered to the style of the Song Dynasty's pursuit of glitz. The mahogany gun was carved with exquisite and gorgeous flying pictures of the Tang Dynasty, and the barrel was cast and carved with two archangels in Western style.

A demon image was cast at the ignition of the flintlock rifle. The demon's open mouth happened to be a flintwheel ignition pool. The handle of the gun was inlaid with white ivory, and the ivory was carved with Israeli style - in modern terms, that is, the style of the African savanna, which was rough, quaint, and elegant and gorgeous.

Cao Yu blinked and drooled, saying, "To be honest, I thought this thunder and fire whip was an amazing weapon in the past, but I was watching you fight against the Khitans on the south bank. Compared with the weapons in the hands of the Suzaku Army, this thunder and fire whip is not worth mentioning.

The thunder guns in your waist are not expensive? I see that each of your soldiers is equipped with a weapon of length and length. I don’t care about the handguns on the soldiers. I like other guys on your waist. This thing is exquisite... I see that your servants have six or seven, so I guess this thing is not very rare. Give me the thunder guns on your body, and I give you the thunder and fire whip on my body. Let’s change each other, how about it?"

Cao Yu said this and looked like a child who was looking forward to receiving reward from adults. Zhao Xing smiled slightly. He casually untied two handguns from his body, and handed the whole stick and gunpowder bag to Cao Yu, explaining: "In fact, the thunder gun (hand gun) is useless. For generals, if they need to pick up this thing to fight, then he should first use this thing to shoot himself in the head - the battle has reached this point, allowing the enemy to rush to the side, and as a general, it is a failure.

Take it. I'm very curious: I have the thunder fire whip, iron cone, thunder fireball, pear blossom gun, Gongsheng army, how effective is the specific combat power?... I'll use these two hand guns to test it, it's worth it."

When Cao Yu brought Gongsheng and Peng Japanese troops to the Shunbao Village, although he did not expect to disarm Zhao Xing, Cao Yu, who thought he was in the hands of the army, was also trying to fight for more voice for himself, so this game also involved the comparison of the power of both sides and the competition for voice.

Shuai Fan looked at Cao Yu with a squinted eyes and added maliciously: "Cao Guanjun. My Lord Zhao has always had a habit of collecting spoils. The three guns on him have their own origins. I will give you the two. The ivory handles on them were seized from the Zhan Po and Dali Palaces. The mahogany gun body was made of taking off the handrails of the thrones of the kings of the two countries. This thing is of great value, so Lord Cao must cherish it."

Shuai Fan said coldly here, and Zhao Xing had already directed the soldiers to fill gunpowder. This time, the soldiers dug a hole on the ground. Put the thunder and fire whip into the bamboo tube, half buried it underground, and after filling it, they began to ignite the medicine twist.

With a rumbling sound, the earth seemed to tremble, an unknown object whizzed over Zhao Xing's ear with a whoosh. A servant behind Zhao Xing snorted softly, accompanied by his humming. The iron armor on the servant's body made a crisp sound, and the servant's body shook, then he touched his body curiously, shouting ecstaticly: "It's okay, I'm alive, I'm fine, this is simply too bizarre. Today is such a good luck."

The smoke of gunpowder disappeared. Zhao Xing and others looked at the ground where the thunder fire whip was buried, and a shallow pit appeared on the ground. The thunder fire whip no longer existed.

The one who hit the attendant just now was a fragment of the thunder fire whip. It was almost as big as one-third of the whip body, but after leaping over ten meters of space, it was estimated that a layer of yarn could block it - this is what the ancients said: You cannot penetrate Lu Bai at the end of a powerful crossbow.

"The barrel was actually blown up by black gunpowder?!" Zhao Xing looked at the shallow pit after the explosion in disbelief and murmured to himself: "This is too outrageous!"

Shuai Fan said in the tone of "hindsight": "I knew this long ago! When I fired the thunder and fire whip just now, I found that the whip body was unevenly hot and cold, the temperature was low in the thick joints, and the weak pipe walls were hot. Aren't the grenades in our army also cast in this way? Through the different thickness of the iron walls, the explosion caused more fragments - I now know why the barrel even had the outer wall smooth."

Zhao Xing glanced at Cao Yu, and Cao Yu was reminded. He quickly looked down at the two hand guns that had just been looted from Zhao Xing. He touched the statue on the barrel and asked with lingering fear: "If one day, the barrel of the thunder gun exploded, would it be like a thunder fire whip?"

Zhao Xing nodded casually: "I know that after this battle, the Military Arts Commission will imitate Guangnan muskets. I can give them this technique, but Lord Cao will definitely tell the military Arts Commissioners what he saw today. He warned them: Never add extras to the outside of the barrel, and do not add carvings on the outside of the barrel, especially if there is something carved in seals. It is beautiful and the person holding it is the most dangerous."

Cao Yu held Zhao Xing's two muskets, as if he was holding two pieces of charcoal. Zhao Xing shook his head and smiled, and added softly: "However, you don't have to worry about these two pistols. The power of black gunpowder is not great. As long as the barrel is finely processed, the iron is even, there is no trachoma, and the wall of the chamber is smooth, the barrel cannot explode."

Cao Yu turned his eyes and asked tentatively: "There are 300 generals in our mansion... After hearing what Brother Zhao said, I am afraid that the landmine gun made by the military weapon surveillance will not be satisfactory. I wonder if I can buy 300 hand guns from Brother Zhao to equip the generals of Zhuang Ding's family?"

Shuai Fan interrupted with his eyes slanted: "It is very troublesome to maintain such powerful things as gunpowder. He must receive professional training. This is also the reason why we are not afraid of the capture of the Liao soldiers.

Gunpowder is prone to moisture, so you need to be extra careful when storing it. Once the gunpowder is solid, you can be careful when it is crushed, but if it is done, it will become suicide. My adults will sell you muskets. If your servants and family members are not trained, they may not be able to play with them."

After meeting again, Zhao Xing and Shuai Fan always called Cao Yu with the title of "Guan Jun". This is an official title, which means that during this period, the distance between Zhao Xing and Cao Yu has not been narrowed, but has gradually become distant.

Shuai Fan calls Zhao Xing "My Adult", which is actually a name for the Han and Tang Dynasties. Shuai Fan calls himself a minister of Zhao Xing here.

This title does not conform to the Song Dynasty system. Cao Yu frowned slightly every time he heard this title. But then he thought, Shuai Fan followed Zhao Xing to Huanqing in Yangzhou with a white body, and finally rushed to the barbaric land of Lingnan. Although Shuai Fan has now achieved the contribution of assisting in the destruction of Dali and has been promoted to the fifth-rank magistrate in his official position, this person has been under the shadow of Zhao Xing, so it is no wonder that he regards himself as Zhao Xing's retainer.

Looking back, the surname "Shuai" did not exist in the Central Plains before, and the appearance of Shuai Fan was abrupt. This person's birth was shrouded in a fog. If he had not met Su Shi and introduced him to Zhao Xing by Su Shi, Shuai Fan might have spent his life in the market.

Although the Song Dynasty was not a clan society, in this patriarchal society, family support was very important for personal development, and Shuai Fan was an exception. This person was like the rootless Ping, without any clan support behind him. His success was also an exception in the Song Dynasty. It is no wonder that he always regarded himself as a subordinate of Zhao Xing.

Zhao Xing, now it seems, is similar to the most prosperous and authoritative stocks in the stock market. When the new emperor Zhao Ji was in a panic, his fief was taken care of and managed by Zhao Xing. The two had very close relationships, and they had letters almost every month. When the new emperor ascended the throne, Zhao Xing suddenly appeared at the mouth of the Yellow River and led the army to faintly threaten Bianliang. At the same time, the new emperor took advantage of Zhao Xing's military force to kill Zhang Dun, the powerful prime minister who opposed his ascending the throne. Then Zhao Xing inexplicably fought a war with the people of Liao. In Cao Yu's view, this war seemed to be very strong. He was sure that Zhao Xing's attempt to conceal his intention to threaten the imperial capital.

The greatest contribution is to support him. In the eyes of the ministers of the court, Zhao Xing's actions were echoing the new emperor. Such a capable minister belonged to the confidant of the young emperor. The current left prime minister, Zeng Bu Right Prime Minister Han Zhongyan, is already old. In the future, it is difficult to not belong to Zhao Xing.

Such a power development stock, let alone a handsome guy, even Cao Yu was willing to please him. Even Jiang Zhiqi was dissatisfied with Zhao Xing's domineering and arbitrary during the negotiations, but the leader of the censor still endured this tone...

Even Jiang Zhiqi, who has always been a profession of finding faults, is so obedient. Cao Yu fully understands Shuai Fan's selling himself. He blinks, and suddenly a thought arose. He looks at Zhang Dunli beside him, and smiles and raises the pistol in his hand. Cao Yu calls it "Thunder gun": "Mr. Zhao, Brother Zhao, I heard that you have four children and one daughter.
Chapter completed!