The World (2)

The mutton soup exudes a strong fishy taste, which is a little more delicious than sea bass and crab in the mouth of Kublai Khan's monarchs and ministers, but it is harder to drink in the mouth of a southerner like Li Guida, but it is harder than swallowing decoction.

Li Guida felt very depressed, if you are still in the army of the Breakers, you can put down the bowl at any time and go out to breathe in the fresh air. But not in front of Kublai Khan, you are his courtier, slave, and the emperor's mouth, but you want to pour it into the swill bucket, which is a big disrespect.

In the Broken Army, what Li Guida disliked the most was that the low-level officers did not distinguish between dignity and inferiority, and did not maintain due respect in front of him, a Confucian general who was born as a scholar. At this moment, I have endured the kindness of the other party in front of someone with a higher status than myself, and I realized that the 'equality' that the thief has always insisted on is sometimes not necessarily a bad thing.

There are some things that you don't understand when you have them, and you don't know how valuable they are when you lose them. If at that time, I also changed my perspective and thought about it from the side of the oppressed, if I persevered when I was besieged, maybe it would be ....... Li Guida thought silently, and his eyes unconsciously became stupid.

"Uh-huh!" Hututmur kindly reminded Li Guida not to be too rude in front of the emperor with a coughing sound. This general of the Broken Army is not ordinary, although it is also a surrender, compared to Liu Mengyan, Ye Li, and even the general Xia Gui and others, he has a sense of calm. Although this kind of neither humble nor arrogant bearing always flashes in Li Guida, Hututmur can still feel it. It's like a wild deer suddenly popping out of a flock, and even the most unresponsive person can detect its vitality.

This is a rare bearing in the Southern Song Dynasty, and from this, you can get a glimpse of the Fujian Metropolitan Governor's Mansion. With this in mind, Hututmur did not want Li Guida to anger Kublai Khan so quickly and be sent to a distant land. He needed more time to observe, and from Li Guida to understand what fundamental changes had been made in Wen Tianxiang and his broken army, in addition to artillery and crossbow arrows. From a meek flock of sheep to a running flock of leopards so quickly.

Li Guida heard Hututmur's cough, smiled wryly, picked up the mutton soup that was almost cold, and poured a big sip. After this mouthful, the stomach and intestines turned over the river and Haiti was in trouble, and a bitter, spicy, sweet and sour juice rushed down the lower abdomen to the nostrils.

"Whew!" Li Guida stretched out his hand to cover his mouth and nose, but he didn't dare to spit out the imperial gift. Tears rolled down his eyes with irritation.

"Bold!" Kublai Khan's chief of guard, Nomin, shouted loudly.

Li Guida was so drunk that he swallowed the things in his mouth with all his strength, put down the bowl, lay on the ground and said: "The minister is rude, please punish Your Majesty!" ”

Kublai Khan smiled softly, the southerners are not used to the smell of mutton, and their own kindness is worse. As a generation of Tianjiao, he naturally would not worry about his subordinates because of such a trivial matter, so he generously pulled Li Guida up and comforted: "What a crime, you can't stand the smell of mutton, just say it earlier." Why endure so hard, I grew up on the grassland since I was a child, and the broth is not good, but the cook is to blame for the taste. I wanted you to drink a few sips to ward off the cold, but I forgot that you are Han, not my Mongolian Erlang. ”

After speaking, he turned his head to the interior and instructed: "Come on, change a bowl of strong tea for General Li to clear his mouth, and ask for Hangzhou's tribute tea." The water should be boiled, and if it is not to the general's taste, be careful of your skin! ”

"Yes!" Nei Zhi glared at Li Guida viciously, and trotted out of the felt tent.

"Minister, the slave and maid thank Your Majesty!" Li Guida didn't expect Kublai Khan to be so generous, so he knelt down again. In addition to being moved, I don't feel that calling myself a slave is a bit too cheap.

"No thanks, you do a good job as my eagle dog, I will naturally treat each other with all my heart, and I will not let you shed blood and sweat, and I will gain nothing! On the grassland, the fastest horses always enjoy the best stables, aquatic plants. This is different from you Han Chinese, you have to remember! Kublai Khan pulled up Li Guida and told him from the bottom of his heart.

"Slave and maid, thank Your Majesty for your advice!" Li Guida said loudly. Although deep down in his heart, he always felt that the metaphor of eagle dogs and horses was really an insult, but he also felt that his fame by following Kublai Khan might not be more than just the current ten thousand households. If you don't get it right, you may be sealed to that Ke'er, that Yan, or become a generation of famous faces like Dong Wenshan. At that time, under one person, above tens of millions of people, it will be worth it to suffer some grievances now.

Once the utilitarian heart is stronger than the dignity of the individual, the feeling of humiliation immediately dissipates, and the whole person seems to be energetic, not as lonely as when he first entered the account.

Kublai Khan pointed to the chair in front of him and motioned for Li Guida to sit down again. Ignoring Li Guida's humility and gratitude, he turned the conversation to the main topic.

"General Li has been in the north for half a month, is it still used to it in the army?"

"Under the favor of Your Majesty, the minister's tents, utensils, clothing and food are all the best in the army, so the minister is very used to it, and he is currently learning Mongolian with Lord Ye, striving to integrate with the generals as soon as possible and serve His Majesty!" Li Guida sat down on the edge of the chair and replied respectfully.

"If you are not used to telling me directly, or find Lord Hututmur, he is my left minister, and he must set you up for me!" Kublai Khan nodded and admonished very seriously.

Li Guida's heart was like holding a small stove, hot, and how comfortable he was. Even the old boss Uncle Zou Feng has never taken such considerate care of himself. During this time in the Northern Yuan Army, he knew that the treatment of soldiers of various ethnic groups in the Yuan Army was very different, and the ordinary soldiers of the Mongolian army also had meat, felt tents for camping, and marched on horseback. And in the Han army, only the elite of the forwards had meat to eat. Ordinary foot soldiers, even if they do 100 households, it is difficult to see even a piece of meat residue. The tent is even more mentions, almost sleeping in the sand and snow.

And he came north by Kublai Khan, and enjoyed the same treatment in the army as the generals of the elite units of the Han army. Because he had to assist Arakhan and Ali Hague in managing the artillery divisions, Kublai Khan also specially sent a few female slaves to serve him and make him as comfortable as possible. This is a treatment that Liu Mengyan can't enjoy, the Mongols fight, except for the absolute pro-noble generals, middle and low-level officers are not allowed to carry female dependents around them, so many people look at Li Guida's eyes are red. Even Han ministers like Ye Li, who had followed Kublai Khan for several years, enviously hid in Li Guida's tent all day long, in the name of teaching his Mongolian language, enjoying the blessing of gentleness and fragrance.

Now that Kublai Khan himself asked him what he was not used to, what else could Li Guida say? People can't be dissatisfied, with a grateful attitude, Li Guida said in a low voice: "The slave and maid are kind to His Majesty, and there is no way to repay the broken bones. I only wish to pacify the grassland as soon as possible for Your Majesty, wave your army to the south, and dominate the country! ”

"Yes, yes, I'm glad you have that. You have been in the army for many days, and I called you here today to hear from you about the difference between my artillery division and the artillery division of the Broken Army! Why did Marshal Zhang and Ali Hague mention the artillery fire of the Broken Army, it is overwhelming. And there are nearly 200 artillery pieces in our army, but they don't take much advantage of Naiyan! ”

"Slave, slave and maid, ......." Li Guida hesitated, there were too many places to say, and he didn't know how to tell Kublai Khan. Along the way to the north, he has fought with the outside people under Naiyan's command a few times. However, instead of playing a decisive role, the artillery division slowed down the march of the whole army. Among them, there are Arakhan and Ali Hague, and even Kublai Khan's unfavorable command is also largely due to improper artillery configuration. However, the generals in the army did not understand this truth, and were extremely dissatisfied, and some people even proposed to Kublai Khan that the artillery division be directly disbanded, and the artillery would be refined and given to the soldiers as a reward.

"Although, I want to hear the truth from you, how does my artillery master compare with the one surnamed Wu in the Broken Army!" Kublai Khan's words sounded like an elder encouraging a toddler, with understanding and gentleness in his bones.

Li Guida was encouraged and grew bolder. After straightening up his thoughts, he said loudly: "The slave should be damned, and he should have given His Majesty a lecture on this matter a long time ago." Compared with the thieves, the artillery divisions of our army are like children and strong men, sheep and tigers and leopards, and they are not on the same level at all! ”

"Huh?" Kublai Khan came for a while, and he couldn't bear Li Guida's evaluation. You must know that these artillery pieces were built by him by allocating a lot of money from the state treasury and private treasury and "saving money". Each of them is made of pure copper, and the copper used to cast the cannon alone wastes millions of catties, causing the price of copper near Gyeonggi to skyrocket, and a copper basin for washing the face can be sold for hundreds of dollars.

"Is there not enough artillery?" Hututmur kindly reminded him. lest Li Guida blame the lack of power of the artillery division on the number of artillery.

As a king, Kublai Khan only felt that the cost of building cannons was too high, and the treasury could not afford it. As the prime minister, Hututmur knows that artillery is closely related to people's livelihood. Nowadays, among the people, paper money is becoming less and less valuable, so the copper coins minted by Song, Liao, and Jin, as well as silver, have become treasures in the hands of merchants. Some of the luxury goods sold in the south could only be bought with silver and copper coins. As far as Hututmur knows, there are only three in the world, one is Fujian, the other is 800 daughters-in-law (Yunnan border), and the other is Japan. In any of these three places, Dayuan did not establish effective control over any of them. If Li Guida proposed to use a large amount of copper again, either Dayuan Cang suddenly chose one of the three places to attack, or ordered hundreds of officials to donate household utensils.

These two moves, no matter which one, Hututmur did not dare to use it.

Fortunately, Li Guida's next words did not focus on the number of artillery, glanced at Hututmur, and then replied to Kublai Khan in a low voice: "It's not that the number is insufficient, but that there is a problem with the artillery casting method, and the specifications of artillery, gunpowder and shells are not reasonable." When it comes to fighting, it can't even exert one-tenth of its power, so it's naturally not the opponent of the Broken Army! ”

"Oh? You tell me carefully," Kublai Khan was intrigued by Li Guida's words, and ordered with a smile.

Seeing this, Hututmur hurriedly walked out and gave a few orders. Immediately, a female slave came over and cleaned up the copper bowl that the three of them had put down, wiped the table and covered it with a fine Fujian muslin cloth.

Then, there were waiters and slave girls who walked in one after another, putting down a copper pot of freshly burned milk tea and a copper pot of clear tea. Set up four clean copper bowls and fill them for Kublai Khan's ministers and ministers.

With the sound of footsteps, a Han clerk trotted in, sat on the edge of the table, spread out the white paper, and recorded Li Guida's words word for word.

"You don't have to use copper to make artillery! Iron and steel can be" Li Guida's first sentence gave everyone a surprise. At present, copper is expensive and iron is cheap, and if iron can be used to cast cannons, or cannonballs, it will greatly save the treasury expenses. Needless to say, the main source of steel is Fujian, no matter how stupid Wen Tianxiang is, he will not control the outflow of steel.

"The iron is hard and brittle, it is difficult to make a finished gun, and the wall of the gun is thick, which makes the gun bulky and difficult to move!" Li Guida looked at the faces of Kublai Khan and the others, and a faint trace of pride appeared in his heart. It was too difficult to explain the principle of artillery casting to the few 'uneducated' Mongols in front of him, so he tried to use simple and easy-to-understand truths.

"The copper is soft, the finished rate of cannon manufacturing is high, and the cannon wall is much thinner than the iron cannon, so although the copper is far heavier than the iron, the copper cannon is lighter than the iron cannon!" Li Guida continued. Regarding the question of making artillery, he once specifically consulted Xiao Zi. Xiao Zi told him that the weight of copper blocks of the same size is much greater than that of iron, but copper has good ductility, so the yield of pure copper or bronze cannons is high, and hundreds of rounds will not be blown up if they are fired continuously, and the barrel is easy to cool. Iron cannons, on the other hand, must be made very thick, otherwise more than ten rounds in a row, most of them will fail.

However, Xiao Zi and others explored in many ways, and only then changed the three materials of bronze, copper, iron core and stainless steel according to the use of artillery. Li Guida only knows a little about the specific one, but the knowledge of these scaly claws is enough for him to offer treasures in front of Kublai Khan.

Looking at Kublai Khan's ministers who were confused by his own bluffing, Li Guida continued to pretend, "Therefore, the materials used to make cannons are the best!" The finished product is lighter in weight than pure copper or pure iron artillery, and stronger than pure copper or pure iron artillery" As for whether this is really the case, Li Guida does not care about it. Anyway, judging from the configuration of the artillery of the broken army, the medium-range artillery, copper tire iron core or copper tire steel core accounts for the vast majority. (Alcoholic's note: China was the first country to use composite materials to make cannons.) The artillery of the Ming Dynasty now placed in Shanhaiguan is mostly copper tire iron core. In the West, it was not until the time of Napoleon that the material of the barrel changed from copper to iron. ）

"Oh! I see! Kublai Khan's ministers nodded again and again, and a mystery in their hearts was finally explained. Fujian is just a corner of the country, and it has built so many artillery pieces for more than two years, but it has not been able to make ends meet because of this, and the imperial court, with the strength of a country, has been tired by the construction of artillery. It turned out that Wen Tianxiang didn't blindly use copper to make cannons, so it's no wonder he could save money.

They don't know that Fujian's current copper and iron production and manufacturing power are far from being comparable to Fujian back then. I don't even know that when Ahmad and others were building cannons, they played a lot of flower tents in it. At least one-third of the so-called millions of catties of refined copper was counted as fire consumption and went into Ahma's personal pocket. As for the amount of oil wasted by the people below following Ahma's corruption, it is impossible to calculate. (After Ahma was killed, Kublai Khan sent people to raid his house, and in addition to gold, silver, and jewelry, he also copied uneaten baked cakes from a storehouse.) The level of greed and miserliness is truly breathtaking! ）

"And artillery has different specifications according to its use, and the heavier the better!" When Li Guida saw the performance of Kublai Khan and Hututmur, he became more and more confident in his heart, and poured out all his knowledge. "Nowadays, the artillery in our army is all heavy artillery of more than 1,000 catties, and although the firing range is long, the function is too simple. It is not suitable for field combat, and as soon as the enemy army approaches, it is useless. And there is also a problem with gunpowder, once it is transported, it is immediately divided into layers, and before each loading, it must be re-stirred, which is time-consuming and laborious! ”

"It's the artillery of the Broken Army, there are still many tricks!" Hututmur seemed to have something in his heart and couldn't wait to ask.

"The artillery used by the Broken Army on land is divided into four types: siege, field battle, melee combat, and rapid fire of sons and mothers, and each weight is also divided into several levels. Shao Wu had a special artillery manufacturing bureau in charge of drawings and specifications. The so-called siege artillery is a three-thousand-pound artillery with a long range and great power, but it does not need to be equipped too much. The third and fifth doors can suppress the crossbow at the head of the city, which is enough. The length of the field artillery is 3 feet 3 inches to 6 feet 6 inches, the inner diameter of the muzzle is 4 to 7 inches, and the firing range is mostly 500 to 1,000 paces, and the farthest is 1,500 steps. It is used for the first strike, and carries thirty or forty doors in each battle, and marches with great momentum. The heaviest of this kind of cannon is no more than 1,000 catties, and it can be pulled away by a horse when it is placed on a gun truck. The melee cannon is made of the famous tiger squat cannon, with its own gun mount, the full length of the foot and a half, the inner diameter of one and a half inches, the weight is only thirty or forty pounds, the largest one weighs no more than 100 pounds, can be carried by a horse, and placed on the ground in battle. More than 100 doors were ignited at the same time, and within 500 steps, it was unstoppable. The rapid-fire cannon is divided into a sub-cannon and a mother cannon, which are specially used to restrain cavalry. The mother tube has a mouth in the abdomen, and the child tube is usually filled with gunpowder projectiles. In wartime, each shot was replaced with a sub-tube, and the rate of fire far exceeded that of a bed, and the power was not inferior to that of a trebuchet. Li Guida explained in detail, regardless of whether Kublai Khan's ministers could accept the new term inner diameter and outer diameter.

At that time, the specifications of the artillery of the captured army were detailed, and the manufacturing process was strict. There is a factory directly under the Academy of Sciences, and finally there is a strong charge inspection gate. Although there is Wen Tianxiang's 'Book of Heaven' as a reference, every specific process and every experience was exchanged for the lives of Xiao Zi, Lin En and others. Li Guida said it simply, but he didn't know how much effort Xiao Zi and others spent in order to improve the process and production process. In order to control the quality of artillery, a variety is often reworked dozens of times before it reaches maturity.

"There is also a grenade catapult, which is made of bamboo and can be made from local materials. It is even more convenient, almost every grenadier has one. When engaged with cavalry, the field artillery fired first, disrupting the opposing attacking line. The tiger squatted and then gave a head-on blow to those who disregarded the life and death. The rapid-fire cannon fires continuously when the Tiger Squat cannon is reloaded, creating the illusion that the cannon is continuous. Usually to this extent, the front of the army has become a sea of fire, it is difficult for horses to enter, and the enemy army has long been routed. If someone rushed to the front at this time, hundreds of bombardments beckoned at the same time, and the iron-beaten people also blew up. The more Li Guida spoke, the more excited he became, and for a moment he forgot that he was now on the enemy side of the Broken Army, and his words were full of pride. (Drinker's note: The field cannon is the big Buddha machine, the size of which can be seen in the historical materials of the Ming Dynasty, and it was imitated by Chinese craftsmen based on the captured pirate ship gun.) About the tiger squat cannon, it belongs to the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty and is found in the documents of the Ming Dynasty. Historical records record that it weighed 36 catties, that is, 21.5 kilograms now, was 1 foot 9 inches long, and had a range of 500 steps. The alphabet serial cannon was improved by the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty according to the Western artillery, and the specifications are as above, a mother cannon with eight sub-cannons, which can be fired continuously, and is the ancestor of the shell firing of future generations. In the Ming Dynasty, our first-class machinery technology did not lag behind the West, and after a Qing Dynasty, it was beyond reach. The so-called more than a dozen 'Ming monarchs' of the Manchu Qing Dynasty have caused endless harm. Until now, when it comes to ancient artillery, many people's understanding still stays on the general cannon weighing 3,000 catties during the Kangxi period. But I don't know that compared with the artillery of the Ming Dynasty, the Yonggu General Cannon in the Kangxi period can only be regarded as works of art and furnishings. ）

"As for the projectile, it is even more complicated, with flowering bullets, chain bullets, grape bullets, and pure steel ball iron sand. Depending on the application, the enemy formation is dense and adjusted. Gunpowder is also divided into extra-propellant and projectile medicine, and the composition is different. The most important one is to use cold water to agglomerate, and then dry and crush to achieve uniform particles, no matter how far you ship, no stratification! (Alcohol's note: gunpowder granulation technology was also born in the Ming Dynasty, black powder is not as powerful as modern gunpowder, but after granulation, it can meet the needs of ancient warfare.) Even in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, the Eighth Route Army used it as artillery propellant. ）

Kublai Khan's eyes were as wide as lanterns, he never expected that there would be such a lot of knowledge in the small artillery. Looking back at Hututmur, I saw that my left minister was muttering the new term that Li Guida had said, and his mind had long since lost sight of where he had flown to.

"The generals and ministers around Your Majesty don't know how to use artillery, nor do they know how to classify it. With a little impression, what is okay or not, waste or not, either for the sake of picking thorns and thorns, or not knowing how to pretend to understand, pretending to be an insider. In the opinion of the ministers, artillery is the god of war, and the key to victory on the battlefield in the future. It is the real stupidity to force the cavalry without such sharp weapons! Li Guida said proudly, the gunner has suffered a lot recently, and he finally found an opportunity to vent it.

This sentence hit too widely, and Kublai Khan's monarchs and ministers came back from their surprise and looked at each other with a wry smile. The grassland people have always been proud of their physical fitness, and those who can ride horses and wrestle are good men. Laymen pretending to be insiders, no one has done anything less after everyone entered the Central Plains.

Thinking about it now, I know these truths in a hurry, and I don't have a chance to bring the artillery back to the furnace. What can be changed is just gunpowder particles, and the two of them are a little frustrated. Thinking of Li Guida's origin, this person is said to be not valued in the captive army, so he surrendered angrily after being surrounded. An abandoned general under Wen Tianxiang's command has a knowledge ability far beyond the veterans of Ali Hague and Arakhan in the Mongolian army, and others such as Zhang Tang , Chen Hangyan and others are not even more unpredictable?

A shadow surged from the hearts of Kublai Khan's ministers and filled all the space. On the grassland, the night wind was whistling, blowing the felt tent back and forth.

Drunkard's note: Kangxi Yonggu General Cannon, Nan Huairen supervised casting. It weighs 3,000 catties, the length of the gun is 310 centimeters, and the caliber is 12.5 centimeters. The whole body is green, embossed with delicate patterns, lotus leaves, lotus flowers, plantains, etc. There is no record of firing after self-made. Until the Guangxu period, it was snatched away by the Eight-Nation Alliance.

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