Ni Yuanlu and Sun Yuanhua came to the Military Affairs Yuan to report on the trial production of the bullet artillery and the idea of the shell musket, but before they could get to the point, they were pulled away by Tianqi and Sun Chengzong, which made the two feel inexplicably unable to grasp the essentials. Ni Yuanlu hadn't understood it yet, but Sun Yuanhua had already understood a little, he remembered that when he first came in, Tianqi and Sun Chengzong's faces didn't seem to be very excited, and there was gradually a question in his heart, that is, are the emperor and Lord Sun unwilling to make these things? I wanted to ask directly but was afraid of violating any taboos, so after thinking about it, I decided to ask from the side.

Sun Yuanhua said: "Your Majesty, a few days ago in Shanglin Yuan, I heard that the chief manager said that the emperor was very busy, and the ministers saw that the emperor was a little thin, and they were really uneasy. ”

Apocalypse said: "Thank you for your kindness, but you can't help with this matter, you still have to spend your efforts to do a good job of this child and mother gun." I didn't want to talk about it, but since Lord Sun asked, I can say by the way that the rebellion of Xuan Chongming and An Bangyan in Guizhou has been put down, and this is played by the Military Intelligence Department, and the official detailed report may come in two days. ”

It has been eight years since the rebellion of Luxury Chongming and An Bangyan, and it is not easy to fight for eight years, killing and wounding tens of thousands of soldiers, and now it stands to reason that the emperor should be particularly excited, and it should be open to worship the ancestors and amnesty the world, but Sun Yuanhua felt that Tianqi was not very happy. Seeing that the apocalypse didn't say the reason for his displeasure, Sun Yuanhua didn't ask, just said congratulations to the emperor and didn't say anything else, only Ni Yuanlu didn't hear the inappropriateness and laughed vigorously.

The miniaturization of the cannon has not been done for two years, and now as long as the trial production of the child and mother artillery should be able to meet the requirements, the barrel is thin, not to mention that it is transported on the ship, it is not a big problem, the difference is only how much support can be given by the apocalypse. At the beginning, the apocalypse asked them to spend their efforts to do things well, but after hearing it, Ni Yuanlu thought that the apocalypse was going to support it strongly, and said a new idea on the spur of the moment.

He said: "Your Majesty, whether the matter of the bullet musket can be made by the minister dare not say, but this bullet artillery can definitely be done, and the minister is thinking about one thing on the road, that is, this kind of cannon can not only get on the ship but also on the car." The emperor thought about it, if we built more of these lighter cannons and put them on the carts in the car camp, they could march and fire at any time, and then the emperor Taiji would not be obedient, and we would use cannons to bombard him to Mobei. ”

Tianqi listened to Ni Yuanlu's words and did not say anything, at this time Sun Chengzong shook his head and said: "I read your report, I really do a good job and should be able to get on the ship, but it is very difficult to get on the cart, not to mention that the vibration when firing the cannon is likely to shake the cart apart, of course, unless your cannon is too powerful." ”

Ni Yuanlu smiled and said, "This is originally a problem, but the teacher doesn't have to worry, the students have already figured out a way to not shake on the road." ”

Apocalypse was also strange at this time, and asked, "No vibration?" Could it be that your cannon blows the cannonball out with its mouth? ”

Ni Yuanlu said: "When the gunpowder explodes, the vibration should be as big as it should be, and the minister means that the power of the vibration can transmit it directly to the ground, so that the power will not shake the cart apart." ”

These cannons now have a seat, and all the force generated by the explosion of the barrel on the seat when the cannon is fired is borne by the gun mount, and there is also a large recoil force because it is ignited from behind. The power generated by these explosions is not accurate, up and down, front and back, if the cannon is placed on the cart and shakes back and forth several times, the cart is likely to fall apart, but Ni Yuanlu actually said that it can be transmitted directly to the ground, which makes everyone else very strange.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Ni Yuanlu said: "Your Majesty, do you think, since you can hit the cannon hard from behind and use the impact force to ignite the cannon through the fire sickle, why can't you use the weight of the sub-cannon itself to ignite it?" ”

Ni Yuanlu's words, everyone can understand the truth after thinking about it, Sun Yuanhua said: "According to what you say, the cannon will definitely not work if it is placed horizontally, and it can only be fired vertically, so that the sub-cannon with shells can only be ignited when it falls to the bottom, but in this way, it can only be projectile, not flat." ”

Sun Chengzong nodded and said: "In the past, bows and arrows were divided into projectiles and flat shots, and projectiles were more common when the enemy used shields. ”

Apocalypse also praised happily at this time: "It seems that you can really figure it out, at first you only said that you thought of the artillery of the bullet, and then you had the idea of the musket of the bullet, and after only sitting in a sedan chair for a while, you came up with a self-weight projectile to throw it, what else can you come up with?" ”

Ni Yuanlu was overjoyed when he was praised by Tianqiyi, and said casually: "The minister also has an idea that I originally mentioned, to shoot the grenade as a cannonball to blow up the enemy. ”

Ni Yuanlu's words were even more shocking, the power of the grenade had already been known to everyone in the Battle of Ningyuan, which was made by using the principle of musket explosion. When the grenade explodes, it is loud and lethal, and those who are closer will be blown to a blur of flesh and blood, and those who are a little farther will be killed by the iron nails and pieces of iron that come out of it with the explosion. If many people use grenades together, the power is like a continuous thunderstorm in the sky, which makes many people feel frightened, and now Ni Yuanlu actually said that it can realize artillery grenades, which is equivalent to lengthening the throwing distance of people.

Tianqi thought for a while and smiled: "When I play mahjong with others, I feel that the flowers on the bar are the most comfortable, and you Ni Yuanlu can also make the cannonballs sound more comfortable, you try to tell me how you came up with it?" ”

Ni Yuanlu said: "At the beginning, I heard Wu Sangui say that what pepper lime and gunpowder could be put into the hollow cannonball, and the minister was thinking about whether he could find a way to make the gunpowder in the hollow cannonball ignite by itself, and then he thought of the principle of the impact of the fire sickle and went to test it. When he tested the cannon that day, he found that the shells could be fired and the shells of the sub-cannons had a tendency to rush forward with the shells, so he wondered if he could not jam the sub-cannon and let the explosive force bring the shells out with the shells of the sub-cannons. Later, I found that there was only one pit for the shell to hit the ground, and I thought that it was not worth the hard work to only have this one pit, so I naturally thought of the old idea of using a grenade as a cannonball. ”

Tianqi nodded and said: "Many times, it is a small place that gets stuck in people's minds, and it is very annoying that they can't get through by all means, but once this small problem is solved, the original efforts will become a road that can be continuously unfolded." Just like Xu Guangqi and Lord Xu, they originally wanted to increase the yield of rice and wheat, but they tried many ways to do it, but later in the promotion of sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn, they found some methods to increase the yield, and the application of these methods to rice also has a certain effect, and your problems are similar to them. ”

Seeing that Ni Yuanlu was about to squint with a smile, Sun Chengzong reminded: "Yuanlu, don't be too happy, you said that you should also think about the impact explosion when you use a grenade as a cannonball, the question is that no matter what shape the grenade is made, it will be constantly churning in the air, how can you ensure that the road just hits the point where you set up the mechanism?" If you put all the points on it that explode on impact, do you dare to guarantee that the explosive force of the gunpowder when the shell is fired will not ignite the cannonball made of grenades? The impact force in the barrel of the cannon should not be weaker than the impact force of the smash on the ground, right? ”

Ni Yuanlu blinked his eyes and said, "This is really a question, does the teacher have any good solutions?" ”

Sun Chengzong said: "Where did I get the way? You need to think for yourself. ”

Tianqi also said: "Lord Ni slowly thinks of a way, discuss with Sun Yuanhua and Mao Yuanyi when you have nothing to do, first give you 10,000 taels as a reward, and other rewards according to the number of equipment, in twenty years, the Ministry of War will buy an evergreen company from the profits to you, which is equivalent to you having dry shares." ”

Ni Yuanlu was so happy that he was speechless for a while, seeing that he didn't speak, Tianqi thought he was thinking about how to divide the money, smiled and said: "I talk and count, every time I have a share, all the rewards will be given to you, and the reward of 10,000 taels is the same, you have to find a way to divide it fairly and reasonably." But don't expect too much, because I'm not going to be going to equip you with a lot of these things in a short period of time, at least not for ten years. ”

Good things are to be used, and if you don't use good things, the value of this thing will be greatly discounted, and I heard that Tianqi said that he would not equip these things for him in a short time, Ni Yuanlu asked: "May I ask the emperor why is this?" Didn't the emperor want to defeat the Jurchens and the Mongols in ten years? And those red-haired foreigners who occupy my Ming Taiwan, and the emperor is also ready to live in peace with them for at least ten years? ”

Apocalypse said: "Your idea of what kind of cannon is very good, and the idea of using grenades as cannonballs is also very good, you should also find a way to make it as soon as possible, but you can only make some preparations there like grenades, because I want to use them as a sharp weapon for the town and country at a critical moment." The Mongols, the Jurchens, and the red-haired foreigners I don't like either, but I can't expect to defeat them with these things, and the real strength to defeat them is the cavalry and the sailor warships, these forces are relatively peaceful and don't have much backlash. ”

Hearing the apocalypse talk about the power of the anti-devouring power, Sun Chengzong asked: "Is the emperor worried that the generals who have these equipment will have different intentions?" ”

Apocalypse nodded and said, "Yes, these things are very powerful, once someone with evil intentions is in charge of such power, who can subdue him?" A small part of the force can be managed by trustworthy people, as long as it does not form a scale, no matter how great its lethality is, it can only last for a period of time and cannot last. These things are like treasure knives that are easy to use, and who has ever seen someone dangling a treasure knife in front of others at any time? The sword is used to deter people, and generally it is not necessary to see blood without being unsheathed! A while ago, Zheng Zhilong was asked to take charge of the Southeast Naval Division, as long as he had a change, the naval division of the Bohai Naval Region would naturally compete with him, and Ni Yuanlu's gunboat was a killer feature. ”