Song Gexing

Chapter 116 Gunpowder
"What is the prince's suggestion? Should we send people from the Forbidden Army in the capital, or from the Western Army?"

After deciding on the candidate for the general, the next step is the army, but there are differences here. Some people think that since Di Qing is sent, he should be transferred from the Western Army. After all, he is most familiar with the soldiers there.

After Zhao Fang heard his father's inquiry, he pondered for a moment and said: "It is said that after the reform of the Forbidden Army, it is time to test the combat effectiveness, but the southwest region is mostly mountainous and jungle, especially from Guangyuan Prefecture to Jiaozhi, and the plains are not seen until Lang Son. , I wonder if a part of the Tengpai Army from Fujian Road, plus the Forbidden Army from Guangnan Road, and a thousand archers from the Western Army can be transferred."

"Tianpai Army? That's a good suggestion."

Pang Ji had served as a transport envoy on the Fujian Road and was familiar with the local military and politics. Others may not know about the Fujian Tengpai Army, but he was very aware of the strength of these people.

Later, when the Manchu and Qing Dynasties faced off against Tsarist Russia, Fujian's Tsarist Tsarist Army suffered heavy losses. Even its flintlock guns couldn't penetrate the showdown cards.

In both battles, the Tengpai Army won a great victory and recaptured the city of Yaksa, but the Tengpai Army only had 400 people.

The reason why Kangxi knew about the Fujian Tengpai Army was because Zheng Chenggong had formed it, fought against the Dutch, and became a troublesome special force for the Manchus.

In fact, the Tengpai Army appeared in the Ming Dynasty's army before this. It was established by Qi Jiguang and was active on the front line of the anti-Japanese war. Ji Xiao's new book recorded the manufacturing method of Tengpai.

Fujian is mountainous, and there are also many vines. Since ancient times, mountain people have used vines to make weapons. These weapons are not only light, but also invulnerable to water and fire.

Iron or wooden shields are too heavy and cannot protect the whole body when made small, but shields can.

Although rattan armor is also a plant, it is not afraid of fire. Zhuge Liang's plot of burning rattan armor soldiers does not exist at all, because the author does not know how to make rattan armor, which can prevent fire.

After harvesting, the rattan must be soaked in water for more than ten times, dried in the shade, and then soaked in fire-resistant tung oil to cover the water. Unless there is a continuous fire, it will not burn at all.

The reason why rattan armor is not made but rattan cards is because rattan armor is not practical, and iron armor, paper armor, and cotton armor do not have strict requirements on body shape.

But the rattan armor must be customized according to the individual's figure, and once a part is damaged, the rattan armor cannot be repaired, but can only be redone.

Otherwise, the repaired part cannot be guaranteed to be firm, and it is easy to be penetrated again, and the iron armor can be replaced with an iron sheet.

The raw materials of paper nails and cotton nails are easy to source, and it doesn’t take long to redo them, but redoing rattan nails is too troublesome.

Moreover, not every kind of vine can be used as vine armor, only certain kinds of vines can be made, and both hardness and toughness must be guaranteed.

The scarcity of raw materials is the reason why rattan armor cannot be popularized, but it would be much simpler to just make rattan armor.

However, the historical records of the Tengpai Army are not in the southwest. Only in Fujian, it actually existed and was recorded in history books. There is also a specialized Tengpai martial arts that has been passed down to later generations.

Zhao Zhen was very interested after Pang Ji's introduction, so he ordered Fujian Road to recruit [-] Tengpai troops to join the Forbidden Army.

When Zhao Fang saw that the matter was settled, he hurriedly said: "Father, my son proposed to recruit Jintai as the instructor of the Imperial Army. Talents are rare and cannot be left in the wild!"

Zhao Zhen agreed to this matter because the instructor of the Forbidden Army was not a high-ranking official, and the lieutenants of the army also admired those with strong martial arts skills, so they would not cause everyone's dissatisfaction.

Soon all the negotiated orders were issued one by one. Zhao Fang saw that he had nothing to do and was about to go back. Unexpectedly, Zhao Zhen called out: "Brother, wait!"

The puzzled Zhao Fang quickly asked: "Dad, there is something else, haven't we already discussed it?"

Zhao Zhen waved angrily and said, "Didn't you make a suggestion last time? Now that the experimental results are out, let's take a look."

"Last time???" Zhao Fang was very confused. He had made several suggestions. Who knew what his father was talking about, but he still walked over and took a memorial to read.

"Hey! It's really feasible!"

Zhao Fang cried out in surprise. Now Zhao Zhen's eyes widened and he pointed at him and said: "You are not sure about it yourself, no wonder you want the weapons supervisor to experiment."

The ministers were curious about what the father and son were talking about. Prime Minister Yan Shu asked first, "Officials, what suggestions did the prince make? Whose memorial is this?"

Zhao Zhen smiled bitterly and said: "In the memorial of the Imperial City Department, the prince proposed a formula for improved gunpowder and asked the weapons supervisor to test it, and the Imperial City Department secretly supervised it."

"gunpowder!"

This is a sensitive issue. Firearms were used in the Song Dynasty not long after the founding of the country. When Song Taizong attacked the Southern Tang Dynasty, he used rockets and thrown artillery for the first time.

As early as five years ago, Feng Jisheng, an official of the Ministry of War, presented the rocket manufacturing method, so it is not accurate to say that gunpowder was invented in the Song Dynasty, and it should have existed before that.

It should be said that gunpowder was invented before the Song Dynasty and was actually used in the Song Dynasty.

Zhao Fang does not understand the formula of gunpowder. As mentioned above, for a liberal arts student, he only knows about monosulfur, dinitrate, and charcoal. As for the proportions, he doesn't know anything about it.

But he knows one thing, that is, sugar can act as a catalyst for gunpowder, multiplying the explosive effect of the same gunpowder.

This knowledge is not learned from books, but from the news that those organizations in Iraq that oppose the U.S. military use sugar to make powerful explosives and send the U.S. military to heaven.

He also doesn't know the matching ratio, but he can let people experiment. Who made him the prince, and some people want money and money.

When he told Zhao Zhen about this, he immediately arranged the task, and he heard that it could enhance the power of the explosion. Zhao Zhen also asked people to keep it secret and sent the Imperial City Department to supervise it.

Now that the experiment really worked, the Imperial City Secretary submitted the memorial. This is why Yan Shu didn't know. Originally, the memorial had to go through the outer court.

However, the Imperial City Division is a special institution that can directly write to the emperor.

"The prince has made great achievements again. I don't even know how to express it."

Pang Ji still sighed with a smile. Everyone knew that he was a die-hard princeling and wanted to give him a look, but there was nothing wrong with what he said.

But when the conversation changed, Pang Ji said: "Speaking of gunpowder, the minister remembered something. The prince once questioned whether it was inappropriate to hoard gunpowder in Bianjing. At that time, the ministers did not take it seriously. But now that the power of gunpowder has greatly increased, this matter must be taken seriously. Considered."

Zhao Zhen was shocked and understood what he meant. The power described in the memorial was three times the usual dosage of the same medicine. He could not care about it before, but now he really can't.

Because the original gunpowder was not very powerful, there were not many firearms manufactured in the Song Dynasty, but if it was more powerful, the court would definitely increase the investment in firearms.

As a result, the amount of gunpowder used as a raw material for firearms was greatly increased. Bianjing City was densely populated. If a fire and explosion occurred, the consequences would be disastrous.

Wanting to understand this, Zhao Zhen quickly asked: "Pang Qing wants to move out of Bianjing, but where can I put it?"

(End of this chapter)