Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Chapter 183 What the Gunpowder Made

The arrangement in the stone house is very organized, and many materials are placed in different corners.

Feng Jisheng introduced everything to Shi Congyun.

After a while, he really found the reason why some gunpowder was not so powerful. In addition to saltpeter, charcoal powder, and sulfur powder, this gunpowder also added cinnabar, furnace ash, mercury, and talisman water.
That's right, Fushui also needs to be added, because after all, it was invented by Taoists at the beginning, and it has a lot of metaphysical elements.

Shi Congyun followed behind and watched Feng Jisheng as they walked, but he did not rush to speak, but waited until he finished his introduction, and then everyone left the room to avoid the pungent sulfur smell.

The sun was shining brightly outside, Shi Congyun thought about the operation process of gunpowder manufacturing, and then said.

"Feng Lingshi, I have something I want you to do for me."

"Don't dare to do it. If General Shi has something to do, just order his subordinates to do it." Feng Jisheng said hastily.

Shi Congyun thought about the process, and then said: "I will communicate with the Ministry of War and the Third Division. The production of gunpowder is not that important for the time being. I might as well not produce it for now. You can help me do some experiments."

"Experiment?" Feng Jisheng was a little puzzled.

"Someone thinks that your formula is wrong, there are too many things, people often say that simplicity is unmatched in the world, and too complicated looks powerful but may not be a good thing.

I have a new formula, you help me try it one by one to see which formula has the most powerful gunpowder. "Shi Congyun stood under the old willow tree by the river and said.

"New formula!" Feng Jisheng was surprised.

"It's not new, it's been streamlined. The expenses and money will be subsidized by you. Every time you make a product, you will try its power carefully. I will come to see the finished product in person." Shi Congyun said. To get a new formula is to remove those messy cinnabar, furnace ash, mercury, talisman water and so on.

Only saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal were left, and Feng Jisheng and others were asked to try different ratios.

He vaguely remembered that saltpeter was the most, followed by sulfur, and then charcoal powder.

But in this way, there are many kinds of ratios that can be tried. Shi Congyun is going to try one by one, and finally confirm it.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, gunpowder was used to launch stone cannons. If there is no change in history, it is only two or three years since the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, which means that there must be a lot of gunpowder production technology in the folk.

This is not surprising. During the Chinese New Year, the sound of firecrackers can be heard everywhere in the girder, indicating that gunpowder has begun to be used more commonly, and it is only a matter of power.

After making an agreement with Feng Jisheng that day, Shi Congyun didn't procrastinate. He went to the Ministry of War the next day to explain the situation to the Minister of the Ministry of War. In other words, it is a dispensable department.

However, the Minister of the Ministry of War still told him that this matter would have to go through the third division.

Shi Congyun had thought of this a long time ago. The so-called three departments are the three departments that gradually became independent from the six departments after the end of the Tang Dynasty, namely, the Department of Duzhi, the Department of Salt and Iron, and the Department of Household Department.

In fact, these three authorities can understand what they do just by looking at their names.

The Department of Duzhi is in charge of national expenditures, the Department of Salt and Iron is in charge of the country's salt and iron, and the Department of Households is in charge of national taxes.

This power is too great, so although the Northern Song Dynasty inherited the third department, the three chiefs were divided into three people, and it was the same before that. However, in the Five Dynasties, wars were too frequent. For the sake of fighting and efficiency, they did not care about guarding against ministers. Power is taken over.

The appointment of Sansishi is that one person manages all the affairs of Duzhisi, Yantiesi, and Hubusi. This Sansishi does not have the title of prime minister, but he does have the real power and even the authority of a prime minister. Probably bigger than the prime minister.

The expenditures of the various ministries in the central government will eventually go through the Third Division. Although the gunpowder production of the Ministry of War is small, it still costs money, so it will eventually pass through the Third Division. This is also an important reason why the Ministry of War officials asked Shi Congyun to ask the Third Division.

But it didn't bother him, the judge was Li Gu, not to mention his friendship with Li Gu, Zhao Shijian's grandfather still had kindness towards Li Gu.

So after going back, Shi Congyun immediately found Zhao Shijian, "I think we should go and see Li Gong. He has been back for so long, and your grandfather and him have such a good relationship. It is unreasonable for us not to go and see."

Zhao Shijian looked at his flattering expression, rolled his eyes at him, and said speechlessly, "Don't pretend, you think I don't know, you must ask someone for something.
I. I am from the Shi family, not from the Li family. If you have such a thing, just say no. " Zhao Shijian complained.

"Ah, good! Then let's visit those old friends of your grandpa whenever we find time. We have no intention, just getting to know each other." Shi Congyun immediately became excited. At that time, many important ministers have lived to this day, and they are still important ministers.

"No, you. Why are you so thick-skinned." Zhao Xiaoniang was helpless.

The next day, Zhao Shijian, who was well dressed, accompanied him and brought gifts to Li's mansion to visit Li Gu.

Li Gu is 54 years old this year, which is considered an advanced age. The porter outside knew their identities, and his expression was very respectful, which was completely different from when he first came.

Then hurriedly went in to report, and after a while, the housekeeper welcomed them in person.

Li Gu received them in the main hall, and his attitude towards Zhao Shijian was still very good. As he talked, he recalled the time back then, and remembered Zhao Ying's care and kindness to him.

Shi Congyun nodded again and again, and was moved to the point of tears, but he thought in his heart that the old people have this problem, they like to reminisce about the glorious days before, and they really want to get to the point quickly.

But Li Gu didn't finish his feelings, so he couldn't open his mouth.

When Li Gu and Zhao Shijian finally finished talking about the past and reminiscing about Zhao Ying's glorious deeds, it was finally his turn to speak. He was afraid that Li Gu would mention the past again, so he hurriedly said with emotion: "Oh, Mr. Model, Shi Jian is his descendant, I will definitely do my best to serve her well.

We descendants should also inherit Zhao Gong's behest, carry on the past and open up the future, and continue to look forward. "

Li Gu glanced at him, "You don't like the old man's long-windedness and you just say it, you think I can't hear you?"

Zhao Shijian blushed when he said that he tried his best to serve him, but he couldn't spit ivory out of his dog's mouth.

"Where is Mr. Li, am I telling the truth? We have to look forward." Shi Congyun said with a hippie smile.

Li Gu didn't tangle with him, "You came here today and I knew you had ulterior motives as soon as you entered the door, but you still have some conscience, knowing that you came with a sword, it shows that your face is not so kind that it can't be cured."

The two have been working together in Huainan for two years, and they have long been used to it. Shi Congyun is used to Li Gu's style of doing things, and Li Gu is also used to Shi Congyun's problems.

Li Gu can be regarded as Shi Congyun's great benefactor. At the beginning, he was the one who asked his father to go to the top to rectify the imperial army, and let Shi Congyun bring out the first pro-army to control the left side of the crane. After the Zhengyang War, it was Li Gu who made the decision. He plays forward.

Afterwards, in the battle of Huainan, it was Li Gu who dispatched logistics for his [-]-strong army and provided large supplies of food and grass, so that he could fight in Huainan without any scruples, and finally defeated the Southern Tang army.

"No way, Mr. Li's kindness to me is as great as a mountain. I remember your kindness in my heart. It's not a matter of thick-skinned. I dare to go to other people's house. Come to you. Excuse me."

Li Gu wasn't entangled with him at all, but asked: "Tell me, what's going on this time."

Shi Congyun told Li Gu about the gunpowder work, expressing his intention to use the gunpowder work.

The Gunpowder Factory consisted of only two stone houses outside the city, with only eight workers, and only one official, Feng Jisheng. Let alone officials, even officials like Li Gu or the Minister of the Ministry of War would not even look at them.

The sailors who used gunpowder couldn't think of such a place, because gunpowder was basically unused, so Shi Congyun would care.

When he mentioned Li Gu, he was stunned for a while, and then asked him: "Is there still such a place in the Ministry of War?"

Shi Congyun told him with certainty, and also specifically told him that the person in charge was Feng Jisheng, who was the commander of the Ministry of War.

Li Gu nodded, but he obviously didn't know such a number one person.

Don't blame him if you can't remember, the official position of the Ministry of War is too small.

There is one minister in the Ministry of War, and two ministers under the Ministry of War. After that, all parties will be in charge, four in the Ministry of War, two in the staff, two in the driving department, two in the treasury, and so on. Various histories.

There are 30 ordinary Lingshi, 60 Shu Lingshi, 13 Shuling Lingshi, 12 Jiaku Lingshi, 12 pavilion chiefs, [-] Zhanggu and so on.

Among so many people, Feng Jisheng is just an ordinary Lingshi, and the entire Ministry of War has more than 100 Lingshi. Li Gu, as a left servant, sentenced to the third division's government affairs, is the pinnacle of civil officials, he knows it is strange.

Li Gu thought for a while: "It's okay to let him belong to you, and no one cares, but the process still needs to be played."

"Do you want the approval from the government?" Shi Congyun asked. He is not afraid that the government will not approve it. He can go to the government to talk to the government if the government does not approve it. The army will be dispatched in about a month, and I am looking forward to going to the battlefield to try it out.

If it is delayed for another one or two months, where will there be time to study it carefully.

Seeing him in a hurry, Li Gu asked, "Are you in a hurry to use that gunpowder?"

Shi Congyun nodded honestly, and Li Gu didn't have to play tricks in front of him: "That's right, Mr. Li, can you help me?"

Li Gu said without hesitation: "As long as you submit the memorial to such a small matter, the Zhongshu will pass it, and the subordinates will not reject it. When it comes to the Shangshu, the old man is Zuo Pushe, and the third division can pass it to you when it comes to execution." , you can use it directly, but remember to say hello to the Ministry of War about Feng Jisheng."

When Shi Congyun heard it, he suddenly realized that the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China is the decision-making body, and it is Wang Pu and Wei Renpu. They help the officials review the memorials and give solutions at the same time. Unless it is a major issue, the officials just sketch it out can.

Then there is Men Xia Sheng, who is from Fan Zhi's group. Men Xia is in charge of deliberation, and will reject the memorial if he thinks it is not handled properly.

Then there is Shangshu Sheng, who is responsible for planning and executing government orders based on annotations, and actually issuing orders to various departments, which is the executive department.

However, because of the great power of the senior officials of the Shangshu, the Shangshuling is not actually set up, and the left and right servants are in charge, and the left servant is also Li Gu!
That is to say, as long as Li Gu nodded, the road would be open from the beginning. If the judge is Li Gu, Shangshu Zuopushe or Li Gu, the Zhongshu and the sect will not stop him from the memorial of such a trivial matter. So things immediately flowed smoothly.

Shi Congyun was very excited, and immediately got up and said, "Mr. Li, you are a close friend of Grandpa Zhao Shijian, which is equivalent to Zhao Shijian's grandfather. Zhao Shijian's grandfather is also my grandfather, Shi Congyun!"

Hearing this, Li Gu's head was full of black lines, Zhao Shijian blushed and lowered his head, pinching his soft waist again and again, this is too shameless!There is no such thing as climbing relatives.
Although in the end Li Gu did not agree to accept him as a wild grandson, but he accepted the gift, and it was all given by Zhao Shijian. At the same time, he also told him that he could use the gunpowder, and Feng Jisheng could arrange it.

But the procedure has to go, he needs some memorials to submit to Zhongshu, and he needs to communicate with the Ministry of War.

Both of these are small things.

Zhao Shijian can help him write the memorial book, and the Ministry of War has already communicated with it.

It took only four days for the memorial to be sent back to him. The Ministry of War sent someone to send it back to him respectfully. The official instruction was only one word "accurate", so the content must have been ignored.

And the review by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China is only three words "Jian Zhun Xing", and Li Gu gave the green light, so this memorial was approved in just a few days.

Shi Congyun was overjoyed, which meant that he could use gunpowder as a weapon, that is, the two small stone houses outside the city, plus Feng Jisheng and eight laborers he hired to work for the court.

So from the ninth day of the first lunar month, Shi Congyun ordered Feng Jisheng to direct the laborers to make gunpowder according to his formula.

His formula is nothing clever, it is nothing more than removing all the messy things, leaving only saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal, and then let them combine in different proportions to test their power.

At the same time, Gao Jisheng paid for it himself, and asked Gao Jisheng to purchase more raw materials and recruit more workers, expanding the original eight to 32 people, and invited craftsmen from Daliang to build six more on the open space west of the two stone houses. Stone house, speed up production experiment efficiency.

On the other side, Shi Congyun also got busy.

The officials hesitated on the issue of whether to fight Nanping or not. After all, the Nanping Jiedu envoys were very obedient, and they sent troops to help them fight Huainan and persuaded Nantang to surrender.

A few days ago, they sent people to pay tribute, and then sent people to persuade Shu to surrender. Although they were rejected with righteous words, Shu said that they had the danger of mountains and rivers, hundreds of thousands of troops, and they were not afraid of Da Zhou at all.

Gao Baorong sent all these letters to Daliang to show his loyalty. After seeing the letters, the officials only began to hesitate.

Shi Congyun felt that this was a good excuse, and he just used this excuse to attack Shu, and then wiped out Nanping along the way.

But no matter what the officials think, the previous war preparation order has been issued, and he is ready to send troops in June and start the large-scale training of the whole army.

This training is mainly for the water army, crane control army, and iron cavalry army of Yulang army. These are all the troops of the Dianqian Division. The waves are straight.

At the same time, he wanted to try the power of gunpowder on the battlefields of Nanping and Wuping. There were still six months left, and by that time, at least it should be useful.

At that time, we can test the water on the Nanping and Wuping battlefields to see if we can reach the point where we can go into battle, and evaluate whether it can be used against the Khitans on the battlefield.
(End of this chapter)