Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Chapter 499 Advances in Technology
For a whole year, Emperor Shi was making various preparations. On the one hand, he released a smoke bomb that he would go to Jiangnan next year and ignore government affairs.

On the one hand, on the grounds of debriefing at Nianguan, generals from the north, including Guo Jin, Murong Yanzhao, Li Hanchao, Xiang Gong, Yang Jiye, were summoned to the capital, ready to explain some things to them.

In this era, if you don't explain in advance, it will be very difficult to command, especially the front lines that are thousands of miles away. Although Emperor Shi has reformed the messenger system in the army and strengthened it again and again, it will take two days for the fastest order to be transmitted from Daliang to the front line in Hebei. For about two nights, this is already the limit of non-stop people, day and night.

This time is still very long, and for the war, it is enough to produce many variables.

Since he won Hedong, Xiang Gong has been guarding the frontier to the north, which is really hard.And Li Hanchao, Guo Jin, Murong Yanzhao and others have been guarding the Guanbei frontline for a long time long ago.

Because of this, they did not have the opportunity to participate in the war against Lingnan and Jiangnan. Naturally, they did not have as much credit as other generals, and their promotions were not so fast. However, Emperor Shi knew that these wars were better to fight, just like he wanted to fight. Going to fight the kingdom of Shu for credit is a reason. Although it is all wars and dangers, it is easier to get military credit from the south than to fight to the north.

Therefore, these side generals have not fought in the past few years, but Emperor Shi remembers their credit.

The iron wall in the north will always be the most important defense line of the Qin state, because once the world is integrated, there is no threat to the south. Whether it is Jiaozhi in the south or Dali in the southwest, they can only protect themselves and cannot threaten Qin. country, all threats are in the north, and it has been so since ancient times.

As a continental country, China has smooth land transportation in the core plate, few islands, and no ocean barriers, and the situation is even worse.

A few years ago, the Secret Service gave Emperor Shi a surprise.

Because of the failure to build cannons in Jiangnan last time, they also realized the problem of material strength. Although a lot of money was wasted, Emperor Shi neither punished nor blamed, but many people in the company are ashamed of it and feel sorry for it. God's grace.

Finally, a few years ago, a young blacksmith named Xue Bai from Jiyao Division finally forged higher steel.

His secret lies not in new operating procedures, but in the discovery of new heat-resistant materials.

This Xue Bai was originally from Jiangling. After Emperor Shi defeated Nanping and Wuping, he was recruited into the Department of Confidentiality by the Civil Engineering Examinations.

The new refractory material he discovered was actually a kind of inkstone that is abundant in Wuping area. Blacksmiths are all very sensitive to high temperature, especially the heat resistance of various objects. He occasionally discovered it when he was a child. Extraordinarily resistant to burning, even the high temperature that can melt the fried steel will not help it.

It was their specialty inkstone from the mountains near Gangneung, and it was also very famous. He thought that if he could grind those inkstones into powder and add clay to make more refractory utensils, wouldn't it be possible to heat the pig iron to a higher temperature, said It may be possible to make better steel than the frying method.

He told his father and uncles about this, but everyone laughed it off at the time, saying that he was fanciful, and they settled the accounts for him, how expensive those inkstones were mined and made into inkstones.

At that time, this matter was put on hold until later, when he entered the Confidential Division as an official, coupled with the emperor's huge investment of money, he finally had the opportunity to test his childhood ideas.

I didn't want to give it a try, and found that it really made better steel, which far exceeded the previous method of frying steel in terms of strength, toughness and hardness.

The method of frying steel has been used since the Han Dynasty. Although some improvements have been made, there has been no substantial progress.

Now, the steel that Xue Bai made is completely different. He is not a technical improvement, but purely a tool that can withstand higher temperatures, and uses a higher temperature to smelt higher-quality steel.

Emperor Shi personally tested the machete they forged from the new steel, and then watched their test of the new steel by the Bian River. Whether it was hardness or toughness, it was much better.

The most interesting thing for Emperor Shi is that they rebuilt a flash gun with this new type of steel. This time, the barrel no longer uses copper like last year, but this new type of steel.

On the martial arts field in Bianshui, the seniors asked the young Xue Bai to demonstrate to the emperor that with that new gun, he pierced through a pair of armor fifty paces away with one shot. The third shot was hit.

But such a result still left Emperor Shi and the accompanying military attache stunned. They could easily pierce the armor at a distance of fifty paces. This was only possible with a crossbow.

And how big is this musket, many people are excited to go up and touch it carefully, but it is not as heavy as a knife.

Everyone blushed with excitement, and excitedly told Emperor Shi, if the Qin State had one soldier, what kind of war would other countries fight!Fifty paces away and you're dead!
However, the craftsmen showed embarrassment, and then took Emperor Shi and many military attachés to see the process of making a gun in the workshop.

Then everyone knew why the craftsmen were embarrassed. It is a fact that the material is ready, but the forging process is an old method, especially the barrel part, which can only be heated with iron sheets and then rolled with an iron core for forging. Straightening, repairing defects, adding the rear powder box, dragging, etc., to completely build such a musket, even a skilled craftsman will take about a month, even after practicing hard, it will take about 20 days.

With the current strength of the Confidential Division, there are not many craftsmen who can make this kind of musket. It is estimated that they can make about [-] guns a year, which is too far away to occupy the left and right sides.

Hearing this, the faces of the military officers who were excited just now dimmed a little.

Emperor Shi was not so disappointed. In the era of no industrialization, he expected such efficiency, craftsmen could be retrained, and he installed the door to teach everyone the principle of firing guns.

Compared with the arquebus, there is actually no major improvement in technology, mainly because the firing method has been changed. Even under some conditions, the arquebus is more stable than the volley.

As for the technologies that make muskets have substantial progress, such as rifling, cone-head bullets, post-loading, etc., Emperor Shi just mentioned it casually, and only asked them to try in this direction. Can Chengdu not force it.

Emperor Shi hopes that they will continue to improve and improve, and use flint to set fire.

As for the personnel, I also asked the Confidential Division to start training now. The goal is that in five years, if we want to produce muskets, we will be able to produce at least [-] muskets per year, which is to ensure that we will cultivate more than [-] skilled craftsmen in musket processing.

Everyone in the Confidential Division listened to the emperor's teachings, and then Emperor Shi rewarded Xue Bai on the spot, raised his official rank by three levels, rewarded him with millions of dollars, and gave him a brocade and jade belt to praise his achievements in inventing the new steel-making method. His steel-making method has been implemented in the Bianshui Industrial Zone, and he is required to completely replace the old steel-making method within the next year.

Although this matter is a major event for the Secret Service and the top officials of the imperial court, there is very little news from the outside world. Regarding technical secrets, Emperor Shi has repeatedly emphasized that it must be kept secret. Needless to say, the soldiers knew it.

During the whole New Year's Eve, Emperor Shi laughed from ear to ear. He was very happy on various occasions, and often put a smile on his face.

Everyone didn't know that Emperor Shi was happy about the Secret Service, and they all thought that the emperor was happy for next year's southern tour.

Fan Zhi, on the other hand, did a full set of dramas, and really didn't come to the court at first, as if he was angry, some courtiers invited him in person, but he did not see him behind closed doors, no one could enter his mansion, and the emperor ignored it.

This situation is getting more and more troublesome, and both inside and outside the court know that the emperor's wayward southern patrol and the prime minister fell out, and now Fan Xiang is not angry with the court.

Years later, in the first month of the year, many people wrote letters to persuade him, some persuaded the emperor not to make a southern tour, and some persuaded Fan Zhi to return to preside over the government.

Emperor Shi ignored it, but when he bid farewell to the envoys from various countries in the first month, he explained to the envoys of Liao: "Go back and tell your lord that the covenant between our two countries is still there, I have no intention of going north, and he will not come to provoke me.

As long as you send cattle and sheep on time every year, my army of hundreds of thousands will not cross Yanmen Pass. For the generation of Gu'an, you can continue to farm horses.

However, don't try to interfere with my dynasty. Once one soldier from the north goes south, even if I don't want to, the civil and military forces of the Manchu dynasty will fight to the end with you. It's best to weigh it clearly. "

Some soft and hard words were considered by Emperor Shi and Zhao Shijian. It was necessary to show his strength, but also to show that he couldn't wait to go to the south to enjoy life and avoid war with Liao.

The envoy of the Liao Kingdom nodded again and again, and wrote down a Chinese version of the note to ensure that the words of the emperor of the Qin Kingdom would be conveyed back to him.

After doing this, Emperor Shi sent the Liao envoy some valuables including gold, silver and jade for the first time, worth about a thousand gold, which made the Liao envoy flattered.

They had never been treated like this before when they came to Qin State, especially after two consecutive defeats, they all came to seek peace. Every time they went back, they could at most pay a little travel expenses and send them out of the country safely. This time they actually returned. a precious gift.

Several people looked at each other in dismay, and were flattered. They were also sent to the Yellow River by the officials of Honglu Temple of the Qin State in person. This kind of courtesy was completely absent before.

In the first month, the envoys from various countries left one after another, and the envoys from Dali were also left by the emperor, and they talked to him about the customs and customs of Dali today.

Emperor Shi probably knew that the current situation in Dali was not easy, because there were many hills and many ethnic groups, and the Duan clan's rule was not stable.

The messenger even revealed that they had the idea of ​​asking China for help.

Emperor Shi did not reply immediately. Yunnan is not a good place to fight because of its high mountains and long roads. The lesson of the two Tianbao wars of the Tang Dynasty and the destruction of 20 Tang troops in Yunnan has not passed long, so he will not take risks rashly.

His main focus now must be on the north, so he politely said: "The world has been decided, and there are still many things to be dealt with in the country. After three or five years, I will allow me to consider it."

The messenger nodded and said no more, but he also brought the meaning of Dali Kingdom, and they will always be courtiers to the Central Plains Dynasty as a vassal state.

Emperor Shi nodded, so at least nominally, Dali also belonged to the Qin state, so it sounds better to the outside world.

(Brothers, I just remembered that the battle of Jiangnan did not have a roadmap for the advance, so I was busy and busy forgetting it. I will make it up tomorrow so that I can easily understand the plot)
(End of this chapter)