Chapter 265

"Father, I am not boasting. If I arm the Ming Dynasty with my new knowledge, the range of the cannon can be as far as you want!"

After Zhang Yifan confidently said this, he saw Zhu Yuanzhang's expression was slightly surprised, so he added: "Improvements in firearms will definitely continue, and the gap with other countries will become wider and wider. . One day, wars will no longer be decided by the sea of ​​​​people. We, the Ming army, do not need too many people and use sophisticated firearms to make a country surrender!"

As the founding emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang had full military skills.Originally, when he heard his son-in-law's words, he wanted to refute it and tell him by the way, what are the factors that affect the war, such as food, grass and baggage, which are most easily ignored by laymen.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Yifan's supplementary words made him swallow back what he wanted to say.

As far as the current situation is concerned, Daming's firearms are already much better than the enemy's, and it can even be said to have crushing advantages.If the Ming Dynasty's firearms can continue to be improved, then in future wars, if the Ming Dynasty army can outnumber ten, it will greatly reduce the army's dependence on logistics.In this way, the mobility of the army will inevitably be greatly improved. Even if it is defeated, it will only lose one army. There will not be too many troops, too many grains, grass and baggage, and the loss cannot be made up once. Condition.

Judging from the current manpower and material resources of the Ming Dynasty, as long as they continue to recuperate, they can form countless expeditionary armies.

Of course, there are preconditions for this!
Zhu Yuanzhang's mind was very clear, so he immediately asked Zhang Yifan: "Yifan, let me ask you two questions. Please answer me truthfully without exaggeration."

"Father, please speak!" Upon hearing this, Zhang Yifan immediately said seriously, "My son, I never exaggerate when I speak!"

Zhu Biao listened, nodded, and continued: "Yifan is indeed right about this. Although some words may sound exaggerated, it was later proven that they were indeed not exaggerated."

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard what he said, he turned to look at him. He didn't say anything. Instead, he turned back to Zhang Yifan and asked seriously: "If you use your new knowledge to continue to improve firearms, how powerful will they still be?" How much room for improvement is there? You have to think about your answer!"

Hearing this, Zhang Yifan's mind immediately recalled the favorite description of the literati in the late Ming Dynasty: one shot can destroy dozens of miles!

Is this powerful enough?
But with this kind of power, nuclear bombs are needed, so it’s crazy if the Hongyi Cannon can do it!

Of course, at this moment, Zhang Yifan did not answer with these words. After all, this was Emperor Hongwu, not Emperor Chongzhen!
Just listen to Zhang Yifan's serious reply to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Currently, firearms use black gunpowder, which is gunpowder made from a mixture of brimstone and nitrate wood. The power of this gunpowder has almost come to an end. However, Erchen discovered that if more gunpowder is added For a substance, the power of a gunpowder explosion would be incredible!”

There is a saying that is very popular in later generations, that is, use monosulfide, dinitrate, and charcoal, and add some sugar to make it big.

What is Big Ivan?
Big Ivan is the name of a hydrogen bomb, said to be the most powerful explosive in human history.The TNT yield produced by the explosion of the "Little Boy" received by the Japanese country was 1.4 tons, while the power of the Big Ivan was that 4000 "Little Boys" exploded at the same time. It is no exaggeration to say that such a powerful hydrogen bomb , enough to make the Japanese country sink to the bottom of the sea.

At this time, Zhang Yifan had not yet had time to conduct the experiment, so he did not dare to say anything about how powerful it was under Zhu Yuanzhang's repeated requests, so he gave a vague explanation.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he was immediately surprised and said with some disbelief: "Can adding sugar be so powerful? How is this possible?"

Although Zhang Yifan did do all kinds of incredible things, his words at this time still made Zhu Yuanzhang a little unbelievable.Sugar, that's a sweet, how could it be related to explosions?

This time, even Zhu Biao didn't believe it. Sugar, that's a good thing. The sweetness that everyone likes, why is it related to explosions?
Zhang Yifan saw the expressions of the two of them and asked confidently and calmly: "Father, brother, do you know why gunpowder explodes?"

After Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he turned to look at his son.

After Zhu Biao received the hint from his eyes, he replied: "The nature of nitrate is extremely yin, and the nature of sulfur is extremely yang. The two divine objects of yin and yang meet in an incomparable space. When it comes out, the characters will be stunned, and their souls will be scattered and their souls will be shattered." "

Zhang Yifan felt a little familiar when he heard this answer. After thinking about it for a moment, he suddenly discovered that Zhu Biao's answer was exactly the same as Song Yingxing's explanation of gunpowder in his "Tiangong Kaiwu" in the late Ming Dynasty.

This means that saltpeter is the strongest negative and sulfur is the strongest positive. When these two magical yin and yang substances meet in a place where there is no gap, an explosion will occur. Whether it is people or objects, their souls will be scattered and their bodies will be shattered into pieces.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yifan couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart. Yin and Yang are so magical. How come you don't explode when you meet your sister-in-law?
Putting this idea aside, Zhang Yifan concentrated on the present, looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao and said: "This explanation does not explain the real cause of the explosion at all!"

"Uh!" Zhu Biao felt a little helpless after hearing this. In fact, he had already expected that his answer would be wrong. He was afraid that his father also had this expectation, so he asked him to answer.

Fortunately, there were no outsiders here, so Zhu Biao didn't care, so he asked curiously: "What is the real cause of the explosion?"

Zhang Yifan thought for a moment and replied: "Father, eldest brother, and the kettle that boils water all know about it, right?"

"???" Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were both a little confused. Why did they get involved in boiling water again? What were they doing with the steam engine?
Zhang Yifan looked at their expressions and did not let them answer. He continued directly: "If there is really someone who can hold down the lid of the kettle and prevent the steam inside from escaping, he can boil the kettle with the fire and convert the water inside into As more steam increases, the force inside the kettle will become stronger and stronger. When the force is so great that the kettle cannot withstand the force, the kettle will explode."

Having said this, he paused and then added: "The explosion of gunpowder is actually based on this principle. The raw materials of gunpowder are mixed and will react after being ignited to produce high-temperature and high-pressure gas, which will explode the wrapped material in a very short time. External objects, thus producing an explosion. This reaction here is called a chemical reaction by Erchen, which is the branch of chemistry in Erchen's new school."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao both showed expressions of realization. It turned out that the explosion was like this!

With the kettle as a reference, they immediately understood what gunpowder explosion meant.

However, suddenly, Zhu Biao became very serious and immediately asked Zhang Yifan: "Yifan, if the steam engine you want to build will also have the possibility of exploding?"

A kettle that boils water has the possibility of exploding, and so does a steam engine!
Zhang Yifan listened, smiled and nodded and said: "There is indeed the possibility of explosion. Therefore, in order to prevent explosion, parts need to be added. That is, when there is too much gas in the cylinder and the cylinder cannot withstand it, the gas inside can be made If the gas escapes automatically, there will be no explosion!" Can you still do this?
Zhu Biao was a little stunned after hearing this. How did his brother-in-law grow like melons on his head?

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was standing next to him, was also surprised for a moment, and then said: "Okay, then, since Yifan said that adding black gunpowder to white sugar will increase the power a lot, then you will find out if you try it later. Isn't it Yifan's new learning? If you advocate using experiments to prove the correctness of your opinions, then go back and try!"

After finishing speaking, he looked at Zhang Yifan and asked a second question: "Also, let me ask you a second question..."

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zhang Yifan: "Father, I haven't finished answering this first question yet!"

Zhu Yuanzhang: "..."

When he came to his senses, he waved his hand and said, "Okay, you can continue to answer the first question!"

Doesn't it mean that the power of gunpowder has reached its end? At most, adding sugar will make the explosion more powerful?Other than that, what else can you say?

Zhang Yifan looked at him and said: "I have a hunch that according to this explosion theory, more powerful gunpowder will be slowly discovered in the branch of chemistry. There must be something in this world that once it burns, it will It will release more gas faster than black powder, making the explosion more powerful, even so powerful that we can hardly imagine it."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but smile, and said with an expression that showed he understood your intentions: "I understand, your new chemistry knowledge is very important, remind me, right?"

Zhang Yifan was not embarrassed after hearing this, and immediately admitted: "My son was inspired by something when we were talking about the explosion, so I talked about it. After all, these knowledges actually exist, they are just waiting for others to discover. We don't If you discover it, others will also discover it.”

In the current situation, among his new studies, physics actually attracted more attention from the Ming Dynasty. Chemistry was a little transparent and difficult to understand, so it was not taken seriously.

For this reason, he had to find an opportunity to emphasize it.This thought, if Zhu Yuanzhang sees it through, he will see it through, and he doesn't care.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard him say, "If we don't find it, others can find it," he frowned slightly, but he didn't say anything about it.Instead, he said: "Okay, let me ask the second question..."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yifan listened carefully.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly got stuck there and did not continue.

Seeing Zhang Yifan's face become a little confused when he looked at him, Zhu Yuanzhang felt a little embarrassed. His old face turned red and he said: "We just talked about so many off-topics, and for a while, I forgot the second question!"

After he finished speaking, he was suddenly stunned for a moment, then his voice lowered a bit, and he said with emotion: "Sometimes, I have to admit, I get old!"

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was already 53 years old without knowing it, and he was indeed considered an old man.

After hearing what he said, Zhu Biao and Zhang Yifan certainly did not agree, and both began to comfort him, saying that he was still young.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang stretched out his hand to signal and stopped their comfort. He looked at the two of them and said with a bit of relief: "I know whether I am old or not. But with you here, I have nothing to be unwilling to do when I am old."

As people age, this is a fact that no one can change.

In the past, Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking about his posthumous affairs and the stability of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, he would be unwilling to grow old and would think of doing more things to stabilize the country before he got older, even if he had to pay a price for it. It doesn't matter.

But now, Prince Zhu Biao is very satisfied as the successor to the position of Emperor Ming.The other sons and sons-in-law are also promising, especially the fourth son and the eldest son-in-law in front of him, which makes him feel reassured.Therefore, he did not pay special attention to the fact that he was getting old.

At this time, after he finished speaking, he finally remembered something, and smiled and said to the two people in front of him: "Haha, I remembered it again."

After saying that, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhang Yifan, regained his seriousness and asked: "Foreign countries are mostly poor and poor. Can you confirm that if our Ming Dynasty launches a war against them, in addition to preventing them from stealing, there will be other benefits to ensure that we launch a war." Will the benefits outweigh the costs of starting a war?"

This is a matter of care and concern, but as the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, when encountering this kind of situation, he really has to care about everything.

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan replied seriously: "Father, I have discovered that we humans still know very little about this nature, and there are not many things we can use it for. As of now, it is only gold, silver, and copper. Just something like that.”

"Even if it's just these words, according to the news I heard, for example, the Japanese country is just an island country with constant natural disasters, but there is a huge silver mine there, and because of the many volcanoes, they also produce a very large amount of silver. If we can conquer Japan, the income from silver mines and sulfur will be a great supplement to our Ming Dynasty."

"Also, they killed our Ming envoy, which is the greatest insult to the father. If they are not punished, won't other vassals follow suit? Teaching them a lesson will also be very good for the father's prestige, and also It can make other vassal states stand in awe of our Ming Dynasty..."

Zhu Yuanzhang was a little speechless. Why did he talk about destroying the Japanese country?
He remembered very clearly that this son-in-law was a hard-liner on foreign affairs and had long shouted to kill the Japanese country.There was also Goryeo, who was also remembered by him for killing the Ming envoy. Taking advantage of the Liaodong war, he actually came up with the idea to help Lao Si destroy Goryeo!

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang stretched out his hand to stop Zhang Yifan who was chatting, and said with a smile: "Okay, I know the situation of the Japanese country, but it is impossible to use force against the Japanese country for the time being. The primary enemy is the remnants of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty!"

(End of this chapter)

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