Before the rise of the puppet Tang Dynasty thief army, although the Ming Dynasty also attached importance to the use of firearms, but more attention was paid to the bowl mouth cannon these small and medium-caliber artillery, then it was decades ago that he came into contact with the Franc man, and was beaten by the Franc man with a naval gun in the Battle of Tuen Mun, and suffered heavy casualties, and finally had to rely on absolute numerical superiority to retreat behind the enemy with fire.

Although they came into contact with many large-caliber shipborne cannons at that time, they finally chose the rear-loading loose gun of the Franc Man.

The development of muskets is limited to muskets, a large number of handcuffs in the Yongle period are still widely used, these large and small, various shapes of handcuffs are actually the muskets in the early muskets.

The Ming Dynasty was widely equipped and developed arquebuses, which were also influenced by the rise of the puppet Tang thief army, which began to be equipped in the last year.

Such a history of gun development has led to the gunpowder process of the Ming Dynasty has been staying in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, and most of the saltpeter in the gunpowder formula is only about 60%, but even if it is not a standard formula, there is actually no unified standard, and the proportion of gunpowder prepared in each place and even in each workshop is different.

In history, when the Ming Dynasty first made a gunpowder formula that was relatively close to the scientific standard, it was Qi Jiguang who imitated the gunpowder formula made by the Europeans when he resisted the Japanese on the coast, but now, Qi Jiguang is still in Dengzhou Tuntian.

As a result, the Ming Dynasty got a more scientific gunpowder formula!

The gunpowder formula of the early Tang Dynasty was naturally modeled after the formula used by the Ming Dynasty, Li Xuan did not pay attention to this problem before, but when he was lecturing in the young military camp, he mentioned the formula of the propellant used in the arquebus, and formulated the ratio of 75% saltpeter, 15% charcoal, and 10% sulfur.

The rise of the Tang Dynasty has only been two or three years, and the real large-scale use of guns and cannons is actually only the last year, Li Xuan is busy making guns and cannons to expand the army, and he has never thought that the black powder formula in these years is not scientific.

When the young military camp was developing a machine for grinding granular gunpowder, the formula of the musket propellant used was based on Li Xuan's proposal, and then they also had a new formula that had been tried and tested.

However, on the side of the Zhaoqing Arsenal, the old formula is still used, and the difference in the power of gunpowder produced is not because of the problem with the machine, but because the gunpowder formula of the two is not the same at all.

Several craftsmen from the Zhaoqing Arsenal who were responsible for researching and improving artillery immediately frowned when they heard the young man from the young barracks say that the formula was different: "There is a problem with the formula?" ”

"What percentage of new formulas are being developed in your young barracks?"

Although the young military camp in front of him was only a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy, the engineers of the Zhaoqing Arsenal in front of him were all engineers with the official body of the eighth grade, but they did not dare to despise them.

Outsiders may not know, but the engineers in these arsenals know that in fact, in the entire Tang Dynasty, the most powerful scientific research ability is not those arsenals, nor the science colleges in the Guozijian, let alone the Royal Academy of Sciences, but the young military camp!

After such a long period of formulation, a few of the demons in the young military camp who have excellent self-learning ability and are almost genius-like have already passed the sixth-grade exam and have been promoted to seventh-grade.

And the content learned in the seventh grade is already the content of junior high school students in later generations!

These contemporary indigenous teenagers, who have relied on the textbooks compiled by Li Xuan for self-study most of the time, have been able to reach this level in just one or two years, not evil or something!

Although there are very few seventh-graders in the young barracks, and there are only a few of them at present, even those in the sixth and fifth grades are far more scientifically literate than the so-called engineers in these arsenals.

On the one hand, the senior students in the young military camp continue to study on their own, and occasionally receive Li Xuan's personal education, and on the other hand, they also act as teachers for the junior students, in addition, they are also the core force of scientific research in the Tang Dynasty!

The senior students in the general camp of the Zhaoqing Young Military Camp designed most of the various types of machinery needed by the Zhaoqing Arsenal, and the Zhaoqing Arsenal was only manufactured according to the design drawings, and then after the experiment was successful, it was promoted to other arsenals.

If none of this proves the R&D capabilities of the young barracks, then the steam engines that have been tinkering with a few seventh-grade students in the young barracks are enough to prove their R&D capabilities.

Well, although the steam engine they tinkered with has never been able to be put into practical use!

But it also made Li Xuan sigh after seeing it!

Although in the eyes of modern people, the knowledge mastered by junior high school students is very ordinary, but this is only relative to modern society, if it is transferred to the 16th century, then it is definitely a leap!

A lot of common sense that seems ordinary in modern times, but in ancient times, it was out-and-out high-tech!

Under the guidance of the sixth-graders of the young military camp, the engineers in the gunpowder branch of the Zhaoqing Arsenal quickly readjusted the gunpowder recipe and then carried out a second trial production.

And this time, the trial production was finally successful, using the machine provided in the young military camp and the new gunpowder formula, the new granular gunpowder produced, its power was greatly increased compared with the previous gunpowder!

After the successful trial production, the gunpowder branch of the Zhaoqing Arsenal was quite excited, and the first time was to contact the relevant representatives of the military to display, when the military representatives saw this new gunpowder, they said on the spot that the gunpowder purchased by the military in the future must be this new formula of gunpowder.

At the same time, in order to avoid being prevented by the Ming Dynasty like muskets and artillery, the arsenals under the Ministry of Industry were required to keep the detailed formulas of the new gunpowder strictly secret.

Although it is impossible to hide it all the time, how long can it be hidden!

When the Tang Dynasty began the gunpowder revolution, the Tang Emperor Li Xuan himself didn't even know about it!

This is not to blame him, as an emperor, there are too many important affairs for Li Xuan to deal with, Li Xuan himself did not find a problem with the formula before, and now that the formula has been improved, it is just an internal affair of the army, navy and the Ministry of Industry.

And there is no problem, since there is no problem, then naturally there will be nothing to find to talk to Li Xuan about it.

As the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Xuan is concerned about the overall development of the military industry and the overall strategic development, and he doesn't care much about some details.

If he had to control every detail, then even if he had ten doppelgangers who were busy twenty-four hours a day, he wouldn't be able to finish so many things!

But it has to be said that the innovation of gunpowder has indeed effectively improved the power of various firearms equipped with the Tang Army!

Taking the nine-kilogram artillery, the largest caliber artillery that the Tang Dynasty can mass-produce at present, as an example, this kind of cannon with a caliber of 116 mm and a barrel length of 22.6 times the caliber, when using the original gunpowder, the maximum firing range is only 3,600 meters, but after the use of new gunpowder, the maximum firing range has increased by 400 meters, and it can reach 4,000 meters!

Although it is not the power of gunpowder that limits the effective range of artillery, but the aiming and accuracy, in the same effective range, the more powerful gunpowder naturally makes the shell have more kinetic energy.

And this cannon, which relies on the kinetic energy of the cannonball, increases the power of the cannon in disguise!

To put it simply, in the past, a solid shell could only penetrate the depth of one team of the enemy, but now a single shell can penetrate the depth of two teams.

Li Xuan's recent focus on military production is mostly focused on the production of artillery, muskets and plate armor, three new types of firearms!

The production of muskets is still rising steadily, and the production of artillery is still growing steadily, the only thing that is a little troublesome is the nine-pound artillery, which is too heavy, and it is too troublesome for the big guy to make 1,400 kilograms, and at present, only the Zhaoqing Arsenal can produce it, so the output is very small.

The production of plate armor is very smooth, and the style of plate armor has been designed a long time ago!

At the same time, the army has stopped orders for cotton iron armor, chain mail and other armor, and has turned all orders for armor into various styles of plate armor.

Among them, the largest order was for the bust, and the first purchase order of the War Department reached 1,000 sets, in addition to 300 sets of full-body armor, and then 800 sets of cuirass.

These plate armors of Datang are ready to be produced on a large-scale assembly line by machinery from the beginning of their design, mainly based on a large-scale hydraulic forging press for one-time molding, and their positioning is to have a simple production process, streamlined production and low cost.

Of course, this requires high quality steel as raw material!

However, after Li Xuan's guidance, the iron and steel branch under the Zhaoqing Arsenal has already adopted a small blast furnace to produce steel, and the output of steel has increased significantly.

The iron and steel branch under the Zhaoqing Arsenal has become the steel plant that produces the most steel in the Tang Dynasty and is also the cheapest steel plant, and most of the steel produced is used to manufacture various cold weapons, machinery and equipment.

As long as the production line of plate armor is established, then a large number of plate armor can be quickly supplied to the front-line troops!

Now Li Xuan is thinking, taking advantage of the fact that the Ming Dynasty has not yet begun to equip heavy muskets, the heavy infantry armed with plate armor will first push a wave, as for waiting for the Ming army to react and start to equip large-caliber heavy muskets, the big deal is to throw the plate armor into the historical garbage heap.