Outlaws of the Marsh

Chapter 121

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The most mysterious and secret place in Shuibo Liangshan - Gunpowder Bureau.

Seeing Li Yan helping Liu Huiniang come in from the outside, Ling Zhen hurried up to meet him, saying, "Brother, sister-in-law!"

Li Yan asked: "According to the ratio I mentioned, how powerful is the gunpowder?"

Ling Zhen admired him from the bottom of his heart: "Brother is really a god-man. The gunpowder prepared according to the ratio that brother said is more than ten times more powerful!"

Although the people at this time have mastered the main ingredients of gunpowder, they are still very immature in terms of the ratio of ingredients. In addition to the three ingredients of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal, they also mixed ten ingredients such as clear oil and hemp. ——These ingredients are mainly flammable substances, and people at this time feel that this can increase the power of black powder.

In fact, the opposite is true, because after adding those messy things, the gunpowder becomes impure and its power decreases a lot.

As a soldier, an excellent soldier, Li Yan learned how to blast and make explosives when he was in the army.

Moreover, Li Yan not only knows how to make black powder, but also knows how to make nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin.

If it was in later generations, Li Yan could make nitrocellulose by himself in a trip to the pharmacy, or even give Li Yan a bag of chemical fertilizer, and Li Yan could tinker with powerful explosives.

It's a pity that this was in ancient times, when technology was seriously backward. At present, Li Yan couldn't even get nitric acid, so how could he make nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin?

Therefore, whether Li Yan is willing or not, at present Li Yan can only develop black powder.

Li Yan personally tested the black powder made by Ling Zhen and the others. After confirming that its power had indeed reached the limit of black powder, he said, "Bring some wine."

Ling Zhen was puzzled, "What are you doing with the wine? To celebrate?"

However, because Li Yan changed the formula of the black powder before, and increased the power of the black powder by more than ten times, Ling Zhen had already obeyed Li Yan's words.

Therefore, after reacting, Ling Zhen ran out immediately, and brought a urn of rice wine over after a while.

Li Yan looked at the rice wine, which has a lower alcohol content than beer, and thought, "It's time to teach them how to make alcohol by distillation."

The degree of rice wine is low, the effect is undoubtedly worse, but fortunately it is only worse, not unusable.

Li Yan took a shovel of gunpowder, poured rice wine on the gunpowder, poured it on the copper sieve he brought, and then shook it evenly to turn the black gunpowder into uniform rice-sized small particles.

After finishing all this, Li Yan said to Ling Zhen: "Let your people follow what I did just now, make all the black powder into this kind of granule, then dry it, and then store it in a dry place carefully."

In the field of gunpowder, moisture resistance has always been the top priority, and once the gunpowder becomes lumpy due to moisture, let alone increasing its power, it may even be difficult to ignite, so no one has ever thought of getting the gunpowder wet.

It was precisely because of this that Ling Zhen's face was full of shock and disbelief!

But Ling Zhen didn't raise any objection—for that reason, Li Yan has already proved that he is far superior to Ling Zhen in the field of gunpowder, so Ling Zhen only respects Li Yan, or even blindly obeys him, without doubt.

Li Yan didn't explain anything to Ling Zhen either.

First of all, it takes too much time to explain something, and what Li Yan lacks most now is time.

Secondly, it is meaningless to explain it or not. Granular black powder with the best ratio is already the limit of black powder, and there is no more room for development.

Again, Li Yan, who has not finished junior high school, only knows that the power of granular black powder is several times that of powdered black powder, and it is not as easy to be affected by moisture as powdered black powder, and it is more convenient to refill. , As for the principle of it, Li Yan is actually not very clear. After all, Li Yan is not engaged in research, and the old squad leader who taught Li Yan blasting did not explain the principle to Li Yan.

Again, keeping it mysterious helps Li Yan's reign.

After Li Yan finished explaining the precautions to Ling Zhen, Liu Huiniang unfolded the blueprint she brought and said, "This is the waterwheel stone mill and waterwheel copper sieve I developed. The real thing is in my studio. You can send someone later. Go and move it, with them, you should be able to save a lot of effort, but you must pay attention to moisture, the waterwheel stone mill and waterwheel copper sieve should not be far away from water, and gunpowder is afraid of water."

Ling Zhen took the blueprint and said, "Okay, sister-in-law, I will send someone to move it in a while, and produce as much gunpowder as possible."

Li Yandao: "Don't ignore quality because of quantity."

Ling Zhen said: "I have set off fireworks for the government for ten years, so I know the importance of the quality of gunpowder."

Li Yan nodded, and said again: "After the granulated black gunpowder is finished drying, let's start making the bombardment and explosive kits I told you last time. I have already told Wen Junshi that he will organize 1000 People help you make these two firearms, but those people are old, young, women and children, and they don’t understand the horror of these two things. You must pay attention to safety at that time, I don’t want people to die on our side before the war begins.”

Ling Zhen said solemnly: "Brother, don't worry, I've seen my friend blow up to death with my own eyes, and I will never let such a thing happen in front of my eyes again!"

Li Yan nodded, and then asked: "The gunner I asked you to train, how is your training going?"

Ling Zhen smiled wryly, and said, "Brother, it's not that I'm trying to shirk, we don't have guns, and we don't have gunpowder, how can I train?"

Li Yan also knew that this matter was a bit embarrassing for Ling Zhen. After all, it was nothing to ask for now, and it was indeed not easy to train.

Li Yan retreated to the next best thing, and said: "You take the time to go to the reserve and pick two clever people to build the framework of the artillery battalion first, and then teach them the precautions for gunners. I will definitely let you have artillery before the war. Then you lead them to make a surprise attack for a few days...Brother, in this battle, you and your artillery battalion will be the key to victory, and the eight or nine thousand lives of Liang Shanbo are all tied to you!"

Ling Zhen straightened his back and said, "Don't worry, brother, Ling Zhen promises to live up to his brother!"

Li Yan patted Ling Zhen on the shoulder, and said again: "When selecting people, tell them that guns are dangerous, let them join voluntarily, and tell them that their monthly salary is twice that of Ma Jun .”

The guns Li Yan made are powerful, but they are easy to blow up, especially when they are inexperienced at the beginning of the formation. Yan felt sorry for himself.

Ling Zhen said: "Isn't it dangerous to be a soldier...Brother, what kind of artillery do we have?"

It's also time for Ling Zhen to meet his closest partner in the future, so Li Yan said: "Come on, I'll take you to see our cannon."

...

Ling Zhen walked around the cannon that Li Yan showed him several times, but finally he couldn't hold back and asked, "Brother, is this really our cannon?"

It's no wonder that Ling Zhen was so suspicious. In fact, the cannon he saw had a caliber of more than one foot and a length of more than three feet. If he didn't look at the bracket below, Ling Zhen would definitely regard it as a strange-looking iron barrel.

Li Yan patted the cannon, and then said with a complicated expression: "Yes, this is our Feilei cannon."

The cannon that Li Yan made was actually an unconscionable cannon invented by our army during the War of Liberation due to the lack of heavy weapons to deal with the enemy's solid fortifications.

In the propaganda, the heartless cannon can be said to be invincible, invincible, and powerful.

So in fact, this is the case. Is the unconscionable cannon really more powerful than the American heavy cannon?
Seriously speaking, unconscionable artillery is actually a helpless method when there is no heavy firepower.

The original form of the unconscionable cannon is mainly to put propellant in the gasoline barrel, and then use the force generated by the explosion to push the explosive package out.

It can be imagined from this crude facility that the unconscionable cannon has no accuracy at all, and can only have a general direction.

In addition, the weight of the explosive package that needs to be projected varies from as small as a few kilograms to as large as hundreds of kilograms, and its shape and size are difficult to control.

How much propellant should be used?
Therefore, unconscionable cannons all have to be fired by experience.

The shooting range is also not accurate, it is possible to be far or near.

There is another trouble - a separate explosive package cannot be used, and a plank needs to be used to ensure the attitude, but this will cause roll during the launch process, which is not stable at all.

When it comes to unconscionable guns, we have to mention its inventor, who is a serious...technical engineer.

Speaking of this, you must have understood that the unconscionable cannon is not a cannon at all, but just a kind of engineering weapon, mainly used to break through obstacles.

Unscrupulous guns are developed under specific conditions and are effective against specific targets—that is, when the enemy's firepower and observation are not very good, it can be effective. At other times, this weapon is basically useless.

The biggest disadvantage of the unconscionable gun is not the ones mentioned above, but the high temperature and high pressure generated by the propellant is likely to ignite the explosive package and cause the chamber to explode.

The damage to one's own side in this situation is immeasurable, and its huge power is even enough to blow up one's own launch position and kill one's own personnel.

All in all, there is a huge problem with the heartless cannon itself, and the combat form is single, unable to adapt to the complex battlefield environment, and it is embarrassing to use. If Li Yan can really develop a cannon, he will not use this kind of thing even if he is killed.

But then again, unscrupulous guns also have their huge advantages-the caliber of unscrupulous guns is absolutely amazing (how thick the barrel is, the caliber is as big), and the strong explosive impact produced by the huge explosive package, where it passes, Bunkers, people and horses will all be blown away.Many of the enemies who were blown down often couldn't find any wounds on their bodies, but they were bleeding from seven holes, and they were shocked to death.It is precisely because of the great power of the heartless cannon that it is called "the heartless cannon".

Replacing modern advanced explosives with black powder will undoubtedly greatly reduce the power of unscrupulous cannons, but in this era, unscrupulous cannons are still a big killer!
When he was a soldier, Li Yan had come into contact with this kind of earth cannon - a modified heartless cannon.

The unconscionable gun Li Yan saw was not made of oil drums, but a real gun barrel—a thick-walled iron drum made of pig iron.

In addition, the explosive packs thrown by the unconscionable guns have also been standardized, and even the distribution of wooden boards has been simplified—that is, they are directly added to the explosive packs.

The benefits of this modification are obvious - the bombing rate is lower, and the accuracy of the projectile is also improved.

Of course, its weight has also increased, and it is far less light than the unconscionable cannon made of oil barrels.

Li Yan asked Tang Long to make this kind of heartless cannon.

In order to make this kind of unconscionable cannon, Li Yan even "invented" the blast furnace and clay mold for steelmaking, and stipulated the specifications of the explosive package.

Li Yan said: "When our explosives are ready to dry, I will show you its power."

Hearing what Li Yan said, Ling Zhen could only temporarily put away his doubts, and waited to see the power of the Thunder Cannon.

At this time, Lin Chong, Bian Xiang, Shan Shiqi, Xu Ning, and Yang Zhi surrounded Tang Long and came towards Li Yan. Tang Long was still holding a saber more than two fingers wide in his hand.

Once in front of Li Yan, Tang Long said confidently: "Brother, look at this saber!"

Hearing this, Li Yan took the saber from Tang Long's hand and weighed it. He felt that even the saber and sheath together weighed less than two catties. Looking at its length, it should be less than one meter.

Li Yan drew out his saber, and a cold light flashed.

Li Yan squeezed the blade of the blade with his thumb, and found that it was extremely sharp, and then used the blade to slash at a big tree beside him with two people hugging each other!
The knife entered the tree nearly half a foot, but it was not broken.

What kind of strength is Li Yan?
This saber can stop Li Yan from slashing with all his strength, it must not be bad.

Li Yan pulled out the knife, then looked at the blade, and found that the blade was not rolled, and then asked Tang Long: "Is this forged using the method of wrapping steel and applying soil to burn the blade that I told you?"

Tang Long said: "That's right. In addition, I also used good steel smelted in the blast furnace made by my brother... My brother is really a god, so I won't say how good the steel is. This is the only thing I have seen in my life. This method of wrapping steel and applying it The earth-burning blade is even more magical. I discussed with the blacksmith on the mountain for a long time before I knew my brother's intention. My brother took the toughness of iron and the hardness of steel and excluded the softness of iron and the brittleness of steel. The knife was forged by my brother's method. , it is sharp and not easy to break, and it is easy to sharpen, according to my younger brother, this knife is probably not inferior to the lost Tang knife... Please name this knife!"

While stroking the blade, Li Yan said, "Call it Liang Dao."

Bian Xiang said: "Liang Dao, the sword of Liang Shanbo, good! Good!" Speaking of this, Bian Xiang rubbed his hands and said, "Brother, when will this good knife be equipped for our horse army?" Lin Chong, Shan Shiqi , Xu Ning, and Yang Zhi all pricked up their ears—obviously, they were envious of this good sword!

Li Yan looked at Tang Long, and it was natural for Tang Long, who supervised the manufacture of military armor, to answer this question.

Tang Long smiled wryly and said, "Brother, I really don't have any extra manpower. I can at most...at most ten beam knives a day."

Li Yan understands Tang Long's difficulties. During the recent period, Tang Long had to make hooked sickle guns, heartless cannons, waterwheel stone mills, waterwheel copper sieves and other sundries. It was because Li Yan asked about it himself and said it boldly.

Li Yan said with a smile: "There are natural dangers in our Liangshan Po's [-]-mile water park, whether to fight or not, and when to fight, it is not Hu Yanzhuo who has the final say, but our Liangshan Po, so you don't have to hurry too much. We have all the time..."

……

(End of this chapter)