The great hero of the Silk Road, starting from a farm farmer

Chapter 168 A sudden wind blows, Beixiang marches into Huizhou City
Blacksmith Tao's daughter is going to be an artillery soldier in the army?What kind of strange woman is this?What a strange request to have.

Women joining the army are not unusual among the Yungu army, and there are even a hundred vassal troops that are all women.But it's a bit surprising that a girl is an artilleryman.Artillery is hard physical work. How can a girl do this work?

"Potters and gunners do heavy work. Your family's Da Lanzi is probably not suitable. If she wants to serve in the army, she can serve in the Fan cavalry." What Blacksmith Tao said inspired Song Yingkui, and it seemed that the army could also recruit her. Some female soldiers, the women from the Kurosawa tribe can serve as cavalry, why can't the Fifth Battalion recruit some female soldiers?

"Sir, my Dalanzi only wants to drill artillery. She probably doesn't want to be a cavalryman. Although she is a girl, she is not weaker than a boy in terms of strength. How about I call her over and let you have some insight? ?”

From Blacksmith Tao's words, it is not difficult to find that the old man seems to be very concerned about his girl joining the army. I don't know what the old man thinks.Seeing that the old man was very insistent, Song Yingkui couldn't help but curiously said: "Let me see someone before we talk!"

Upon hearing this, Blacksmith Tao quickly sent the apprentice who was accompanying him to call for someone. Not long after, a dark-skinned and slightly stout girl arrived at the cannon casting workshop.

"Lanzi, hurry up and greet your lord. I have already asked your lord for your permission to join the army, and now I am waiting for your approval." When his daughter came in, Blacksmith Tao hurriedly brought Song Yingkui to greet him, and introduced Song Yingkui by the way. Get up with your own girl.

The appearance of Tiejiang Tao's daughter was slightly beyond Song Yingkui's expectation.What he was thinking about was that this girl must have gained a lot of weight and had a strong body.When I saw him in person, I found that he was a bit stout but not too fat. "Do you know how to operate a cannon? What kind of cannon do you usually use when testing cannons?"

Seeing Master Song asking herself, the girl from the Tao family replied a little shyly: "My lord, I can use any kind of gun, and the ballista is the best!"

At present, except for the ballistae, all the other guns in the army are direct-firing solid cannons. It is rare for this girl to use the projectile cannon well.Song Yingkui said: "Come with me to the artillery range, and I will see what you are capable of."

After arriving at the artillery field out of curiosity, Song Yingkui asked Blacksmith Tao's daughter to shoot several grenades with a bed crossbow with the help of others.

Um?She can actually control the firing angle to make the grenade's landing point more accurate, which is rare among current gunners.

"Sir, if I practice more, I will definitely be able to make the cannon fall more accurately." During the cannon drill, Da Lanzi was no longer shy as before and spoke very confidently.

"Okay, I'll stay in the artillery team and be the chief operator of the ballista first." Talents are rare, regardless of whether he is a man or a woman.Without hesitation, Song Yingkui agreed to let Da Lanzi join the army as an artillery soldier.

After inspecting the artillery field, I brought back a spiritual female artilleryman, which was an unexpected gain.The breech-loading cannon is relatively easy to solve. At present, the technical difficulty of field heavy artillery is still quite high. There is still a lot of technical public relations to be done, and we have to slowly figure out a solution.

In addition to cannons, muskets and gunpowder were the big problems.The reload speed is too slow, the ignition rate is low, and the production efficiency cannot increase, so that the musket cannot be used as a reliable main battle weapon now.It seems that none of these problems can be solved overnight, and it is indeed a very worrying thing.

The production of gunpowder is also a troublesome matter. The supply channel of saltpeter cannot be stable, and the quality of sulfur cannot be guaranteed.As a result, mass production of gunpowder cannot be achieved now, and the Yungu Army is somewhat weak but unable to fight a high-intensity protracted war.Fortunately, the opponents we encountered were not the kind to fight to the end. The most feared Xifan soldiers did not continue to put pressure on the fifth battalion.

It's okay to buy saltpeter from outside, even if the quantity is small, but the Yungu Army must take the path of fully weaponizing, and it will definitely not work if they don't take the most important link that restricts the development of firearms into their own hands.It is difficult to find saltpeter ore, and I have not heard of any such news nearby.The only option available is to boil the soil saltpeter yourself.

Song Yingkui actually knew about the concept of boiling soil saltpeter.Nitrate crystals will slowly precipitate after the reaction between cement and saline-alkali. Nitrate will also precipitate from earthen walls in rural areas, some cliffs, and toilets.Mobilize the masses and collect saltpeter soil extensively under the rule.Then mix the plant ash and boil it to make nitrate.

But just knowing the idea doesn't mean it's easy to get the saltpeter out.Without any technical accumulation and relying solely on one's own exploration, it is difficult to guarantee the purity of the nitrate produced.Proposing truly high-purity nitrate is the technical bottleneck.It's a pity that I am not a person with a chemical engineering background, so I don't have the scientific literacy to do this stuff.The only way is to try randomly.

If someone from the machinery industry looks at the chemical industry, this industry is like building a fire and creating a miracle.However, it is easy for miracles to fail and accidents to occur.Let’s try to get it out first. If you try it ten thousand times, you will always get a good result, right?

"Find twenty of my apprentices who are more literate and organize them into a chemical engineering class. Then, I will find another thirty or forty craftsmen, divide them into six groups, and select the responsible group leader from among the apprentices. People were divided into groups to conduct saltpeter boiling experiments to see which group could boil good saltpeter first, and summarized the most standardized and convenient operating procedures for making saltpetre." Making saltpeter is the beginning of chemical industry in the system. After deciding to make saltpeter by himself, Song Yingkui Li Guoqian arranged for Li Guoqian to divide the apprentices into different classes, and the work mainly relied on the apprentices to take the lead.

"Let the apprentices bring people to boil the nitrate? Are they afraid that they can't do this job now?" Li Guoqian is the head teacher of the apprentice class and the secretary of the textile research group. She understands the current level of these apprentices. In her opinion, it is easy to use , Apprentices are really not as good as old craftsmen.

"According to what I said, the apprentices are responsible for leading the team to boil the salt. The most important job is to record the process like you do, and then summarize and refine it. After that, you regularly organize everyone to share and discuss the records and summaries. This will definitely be more efficient than letting craftsmen lead the team." You know what, climbing the technology tree is not just a technical issue, it involves science.People who can read and write are at least better than craftsmen in terms of recording, inductive ability, and openness of thinking.

After arbitrarily arranging the apprentices to lead the class to make salt in groups, Song Yingkui took the time to teach them some of his superficial understanding of the chemical industry and briefly explained the concept of salt production. The rest was to do a lot of experiments and explore together!I hope that the process of boiling salt can be explored quickly.

"Sir, something happened. Some merchants on the street said that on the ninth day of June, the Beixiang Army defeated Huizhou City. Now a large army has gathered there, and it is very likely that they will attack other places." Zheng was focusing on his main thoughts. While making saltpetre, Yang Shunan came over in a hurry and informed that a big event had happened.

The Beixiang Army invaded Huizhou City?This news is indeed important!Huizhou is not Huichuan near Sanchakou. It is in the north of the mountains in the northern part of Yuyuan County, four to five hundred miles away from Wuying.Its location is quite important. The important thing is that it is less than [-] miles away from the three abandoned cities of Yazhou, Gongchang and Longyou, and they are all connected by major roads!
(End of this chapter)