The rise of the prince

Chapter 156 Chapter 150 Two, On the Importance of Mass Production

After observing the damage effect for a long time, Degong recovered from the shock, and then began to enter a state of ecstasy. He stared at the black powder that Li Ye showed him, carefully looked and looked, and smelled and smelled: "Is this the thing? How is it different from the gunpowder of a firecracker?"

The terrifying sound and destructive force before were still vivid in his memory, but now he still had a hard time connecting the previous horror with this small granular thing in front of him.

Degong naturally knew about gunpowder. Gunpowder existed as early as the Sui Dynasty. It was discovered by Taoist priests when they were alchemy. Bursting musket, but its power is not enough to see, it can't pierce leather armor within ten steps, it has no practical value, since it is useless, it was given up by the military inspector, and it has not been studied in depth.

"There are many differences. Generally speaking, a lot of impurities are removed, the materials are purer, and the proportioning is more scientific." Li Ye said and put away the remaining gunpowder with oiled paper.

Degong's hands were still trembling at this time, and he exclaimed excitedly: "If this kind of power explodes in the army formation, no matter how thick the armor is, it will not be able to resist it. Let alone human flesh and blood, even a horse in harness will not be able to withstand it." It's hard to survive."

Li Ye nodded: "It's almost the same when the distance is close, but there is still a distance from practicality, and it will take time."

"Can't this work? According to the old man, the power is astonishing." De Gong said puzzled.

Li Ye explained to him: "It should be said that there are too few applicable situations. In this case, you can only set up an ambush, and the distance should not be too far. Moreover, the dry bamboo tube can't exert its power. Ideally, it can control the enemy from a thousand steps away. way."

De Gong's eyes widened, and he couldn't believe it: "It's a thousand steps away! Didn't you make fun of that old man?"

Li Ye nodded and said: "Of course not, there will be a solution in the future, and if the casing is replaced with a harder casing, the sealing will be better and the power will be greater."

"Why?" Degong was a little puzzled: "Isn't this limiting its power even more?"

"The power of black powder is actually limited, and there are also many burning residues. It is necessary to use its rapid combustion to generate a large amount of gas in a very short time, and release a large amount of heat to form an instantaneous high-temperature and high-pressure environment. Only in this way can it exert its power. If you really want to Using it directly will only cause burns at most, and the effect is not good." Li Ye explained.

Degong was a little confused when he heard it, but he was still very excited: "No matter what, you will do this matter. After this year, the old man will report to the emperor. At that time, there will be military supervisors and craftsmen who will be able to produce a large number of such things. The black gunpowder of the Liao people will be a little more sure."

In Li Ye's heart, he really didn't want to deal with any emperor, but he nodded in the end: "But there is one condition. I will take charge of this matter. I will dispatch the craftsmen of the Military Armament Supervision. No, I have the address of the workshop and the craftsmen. You have the right to choose, otherwise, you can tell the emperor, the formula is in my hands." After all, it is the first production, and it is a dangerous product, and he is not at ease if he does not personally supervise and guide many things.

"You boy, what kind of attitude is this, how can you be so rude to the emperor." De Gong frowned, and then said: "Forget it, I will tell the emperor about the matter, but that's not what I said, the old man is sure to say it, don't worry Well, but I also hope that you young people have their own family and country in their hearts, and this matter must not be delayed, it is a major matter related to the lifeline of the country!" De Gong asked with a serious face.

Li Ye smiled and said, "Don't worry, I know that." Of course he understands this. The emperor wants to fight this year, and he can't stop it. This battle will kill people no matter whether he wins or loses. He just hopes that there will be fewer deaths. Although the world is ruthless , but people will always pursue the realm of sentient beings, which is probably also human nature.

Today's shocking explosion not only frightened Degong, but also frightened several little girls, but He Qian was the first to react. She quickly changed from a state of fear to a curious baby. Yue'er was the worst. She was frightened and cried when she was alive and kicking, she hid in Li Ye's arms and was coaxed by Li Ye for a long time.

The entire palace was taken aback, and the Chen residence next door hastily sent someone to check if something happened.

Degong was very excited all day after that, and kept asking him about black powder, such as how the raw material came from, what channel it came from, who passed through it, and who knew about it? things and so on.

The more I asked him, the more amazed he was, and he was also curious how Li Ye knew these things, such as how to make nitrate, how to know the formula of gunpowder, etc. Li Ye babbled, and there were all kinds of physics and chemistry that he didn't understand. Knowledge fools the past, and sums it up as an accidental discovery.
Degong and Ajiao couldn't stay longer. They fasted on the first day of the new year and had to worship their ancestors after the New Year's greetings, so they went back at two or three in the afternoon. Before leaving, they told him that once the New Year passed, he would report to the emperor when the dynasty opened. , get him ready.

He Qian was about to go back. For some reason, the little girl had been in a bad mood since Degong and the others came.

Li Ye didn't know what she was thinking, so he packed two bottles of general wine for her, and said: "I want to worship my ancestors, so I can't send you back today, let Yan Shen send you one, and I'll give you one of these two bottles." , a bottle for your old man who has been favored by his daughter."

After saying this, she became slightly happy: "For you are sensible, you still wanted to use money to pay Miss Ben, hmph."

"But remember what I said before, if you drink more than two cups a day, you will not grow tall." Li Ye patted her on the shoulder solemnly.

The little girl believed it and nodded seriously, Li Ye almost burst out laughing on the spot.

Although Li Ye didn't like the emperor, his rationality told him that if he wanted to mass-produce, he had to rely on the power of the state. Without mass-production, it would be difficult to be effective.

This is like the battle between full-body plate armor and scale armor. Many people are willing to use various evidences to prove that the defense of scale armor is actually higher than that of full-body plate armor, but what is the use of this?
Any weapon can be regarded as a commodity, the reason is the same, it is not just about performance.

There are too many examples of this kind. It is far away from the excellent workmanship of the Han Dynasty and the prestigious ring head knife. It replaced the sword as an army standard weapon. It was an excellent weapon specially made for horse fighting. Because of its excellent workmanship, high cost, and a large number of armed forces, it dragged down the prosperous Han Empire to a large extent.

Another example is the WA80 sniper rifle designed by Germany in the 2000s and [-]s of the [-]th century. It is also well-made and has excellent performance.

On the contrary, the cheap and reliable ak47, which has less recoil and accuracy, has sold hundreds of millions worldwide.To put it simply, the enemy WA47 that I have killed with ak2000 will not be able to catch up in eight hundred lifetimes.

This is the question of cost-effectiveness. Even if the scale armor can surpass the whole plate armor in terms of special damage such as defense against blunt weapons, a set of scale armor needs at least thousands of armor pieces, and each armor piece must be arranged one by one. It is chained up, then stitched and made, and the lining is also inlaid with leather. The whole set consumes a lot of manpower and material resources.

On the other hand, the full-body plate armor is integrally forged and formed, and can be used after being put on, without any bells and whistles. After hydraulic forging, as long as the materials are sufficient, it can meet the conditions for mass production.Even if the defense of the whole body plate armor is half lower than that of the scale armor, it will definitely be more useful.

The same is true for gunpowder. If it cannot be mass-produced, it will affect the situation at the non-strategic level.

(End of this chapter)