Qingyangzi replied unhurriedly, "Your Highness, since the bamboo tube is tied, although ordinary bamboo arrows can be fired, the range will be greatly affected, less than 30 steps, and only iron arrows can reach 100 steps. We have tested it with a volcanic crossbow and can reach 250 steps. Although an ordinary bow is also possible, it needs to be ignited, and the operation is not very convenient, and there have been improper operations before, resulting in explosions and two deaths.

As for the power, it is related to the amount of gunpowder filled, but a radius is the range of explosion, if there is enough explosives filled, the explosion range is larger, but the danger of the soldier's operation is also great. ”

At this time, Qingyangzi had already given up what to become an official in the court, and then showed his ambitions. Since the study of this gunpowder has become more and more in-depth, he has gradually understood in his heart the ambition of this young Shouwang, and the other party wants to use this gunpowder on a large scale in war.

Although Qingyangzi had never fought, he knew that such a thing appearing on the battlefield would definitely have a great killing effect on the enemy. He had seen the power of this thing with his own eyes, there was a mistake before, a house in the manor was detonated, I didn't know and thought it was the earth dragon rolling, and the house was directly blown up, and it was precisely because of that accident that the manor was more strict and standardized for the storage of gunpowder. Even Qingyangzi was very weak-hearted, but he was blown up and killed, isn't it the end of the game.

The fact that the Shouwang in front of him attaches so much importance to this gunpowder and the subsequent research and development of firearms shows that the other party's plan is very big. It wasn't that he didn't want to escape, but when he saw the defense of the manor, he gave up, and in this manor, there were more than 200 royal soldiers, and it was impossible to get out. Before, there were people who did not believe in evil, and the next day the corpse was fed to the dogs, in front of all of them.

Although I don't have freedom, the treatment is very good, the food and clothing are very good, and I can get money every month. A lot of people have accepted this reality and are honestly staying here.

"250 steps?" Li Ye silently calculated, this distance is almost 375 meters, although the artillery of the future generations is far behind, but it is still acceptable, "How is the earth-shaking thunder that this king said?" ”

"It's easier to shake the sky, we use two kinds of bamboo tubes and pig iron as His Highness said. However, there is a problem that the bamboo tube is too light, and the distance thrown out is not far, and it is easy to be injured by mistake; Pig iron can be avoided, but the cost of pig iron is too high, but it takes a long time, it is more cumbersome to make, and it is too heavy.

There is a craftsman who proposed to use wood as a handle to reduce the weight of the Earthquake Thunder, and we are experimenting with this. ”

"Wooden handle thunderbolt?" Li Ye couldn't help but make up for it, isn't that the structure of a wooden-handled grenade? Could it be that he is going to develop the rhythm of the grenade?

In fact, from a certain point of view, it is not difficult to make a grenade at this time, but there is no fire mode of grenades in later generations, but by igniting the fuse, and then throwing the earth-shattering thunder, in principle, it is the same as a grenade, but it is not so easy to use.

Shocking thunder is definitely not suitable for offense, and it is more suitable for defense, especially defending the city. After all, the battle at this time is not a positional war or trench warfare, but a large-scale group operation, and it is very possible for the Heaven-Shaking Thunder to accidentally injure one's own people in that kind of battle, and it is not very flexible to use.

So Li Ye asked these people to focus on offensive firearms: rockets, artillery, muskets and so on. Of course, the fastest research in this is the rocket, which is the one introduced by Qingyangzi, which is strapped to an arrow and then launched with a bow or crossbow, which is also the most mature and practical firearm.

The rest of the artillery, muskets, etc., were relatively slow. It is already a face-saving way to describe it as relatively slow, but it is better than no research, no way, this requires a higher level of craftsmen and good materials. For example, if the iron cannon is cast, there are too many impurities in the iron smelting technology at this time, and even if it is cast into an iron cannon, it is not too heavy, or it is easy to have an accident. Bronze is okay, but the copper mines in the Tang Dynasty were not very sufficient at this time, and copper was also an important raw material for making copper coins, and there were no very good smelting conditions here, which also delayed the progress of research.

The artillery is like this, let alone the musket, but someone came up with the idea of using bamboo to fill gunpowder instead of the musket that Li Ye said. This reminds Li Ye of the assault rifle in history, which is the principle, as for the effect, it depends on the finished product.

The slow pace of research on artillery and muskets does not mean that there are no offensive firearms other than rockets, and that is trebuchets. Now, however, instead of throwing boulders, iron balls or clay pots filled with gunpowder are used.

The trebuchet is a vehicle that is more in line with Li Ye's use of gunpowder in actual combat in the short term, and its advantages and disadvantages are obvious. The advantage is that the weight of the explosives thrown is large, and the power is also great, and dozens or hundreds of pounds of gunpowder can be thrown at a time, and the power is not comparable to that of rockets.

Of course, the disadvantage is the range, the current trebuchet generally has a short range, only 100 to 150 steps, far less than the range of bows and crossbows such as the Fuyuan crossbow. However, the combination of trebuchets and bows and crossbows can make gunpowder shine in war, and it can also replace artillery in the short term.

Li Ye carefully inspected the manor, including personally operating the launch of the rocket, and the overall effect was not satisfactory. But with the warlike use of gunpowder, Li Ye has greater hope of pacifying this troubled world. Without some black technology, what can Li Ye do to deal with these feudal towns that are divided by one side, not to mention big bosses like Li Keyong and Zhu Wen, those ordinary feudal towns with many troops can scare Li Ye to death.

You must know that at this time, the feudal towns were as few as a few thousand, and as many as tens of thousands, and at this time, there were at least dozens of feudal towns, and the total number of troops was more than that of the Tang Dynasty.

"Your Highness, does this gunpowder need to be mass-produced?" Seeing that Li Ye was full of interest, Zhang Chengye on the side hurriedly asked.

Although Li Ye attaches great importance to this gunpowder, it is inevitable that he will be a little boring in the face of trivial matters in the manor all day long, which is like what he did before. It's just that after the death of his adoptive father Zhang Tai, he and Zhang Wei, these adopted sons, either died or fell into despair, and he was also sent to an idle place. Before, he could have borrowed King Shou with Zhang Wei's help to seek a good development, but who would have thought that he would do such a boring thing, and he would look at these Taoist priests and craftsmen all day long.

"Some can be produced appropriately for backup, and there is no need for large-scale production." Li Ye shook his head, at this time, there was no need to produce gunpowder in large quantities, and it was troublesome to transport, and it was also easy to expose.

Saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur are not scarce things, so Li Ye is not worried about the lack of raw materials.

Zhang Chengye was a little disappointed, but Li Ye saw his disappointment, but he didn't say much.

。。。。。。

Hezhong Mansion, with the death of Yang Fuguang's illness, the entire Hezhong Mansion presented a white sea, and there were all the pieces of linen and filial piety, especially the Zhongwu Badu, and the entire army of Hezhong Mansion fell into heavy grief.

Yang Fuguang has been in the army for many years, and he has also promoted many generals at all levels over the years, and in the eyes of these generals, Yang Fuguang is Bole, so when the news of his death came, he was dumbfounded. Because Yang Fuguang died of illness suddenly, many people even thought that someone framed Yang Fuguang, but fortunately, the generals who knew the real reason suppressed the scene, otherwise it might have caused a mutiny.

In the hall of a house in the city, more than a dozen generals gathered here, in addition to the Zhongwu Army's envoy Zhou Qi, the head of the Zhongwu Badu, as well as Yang Shouliang, Yang Shouxin, Yang Shouzong and others. Although the envoy of the loyal army is Zhou Qi, Zhou Qi does not control all the loyal army, for example, the Zhongwu Badu is not something that Zhou Qi can order, as well as Yang Shouliang, Yang Shouzong and others, who are Yang Fuguang's adopted sons, and the troops commanded by these people are directly under Yang Fuguang's orders.

However, with the death of Yang Fuguang, the loyal army under his control also fell into a more troubled situation. The garrison of the Zhongwu Army was in Chenzhou, Xuzhou, Caizhou (now Xuchang, Zhoukou, Zhumadian and other areas in Henan), before it was because of Yang Fuguang's order, so he went to Guanzhong to fight against the Huangchao army, and now he is moving to the river, far away from the station, and now Yang Fuguang has died, and some people are shouting to return to the station.

At this time, the soldiers of the feudal town were like this, no matter how hot the fight was in other places, as long as they didn't hit their own territory, they wouldn't care.

"I called you here today, mainly to ask where our loyal army will go in the future, whether it is to return to the garrison, or to pursue the Huangchao rebels, or whatever?" Zhou Qi looked at the group of people with different minds in front of him, took a sip of tea, and said lightly.

If Li Ye is here, he will definitely be able to see that the tea Zhou Qi drinks is the roasted tea he invented, as for what kind of tea it is, it will be known after tasting. At this time, Chang'an was recovered, and it was not impossible for the tea of Shu to arrive in the river, and it was precisely because of the recovery of Chang'an that the trade route to the north was opened, and the new tea transported from Chengdu continued to arrive in the north. Although it is still in the midst of war, it still can't stop the popularity of tea, but because of the war, the popularity of tea has not caused much of a sensation.

"Marshal, I think we should go back to the station, not in the river."

"I don't approve of returning to the station, my father-in-law said before he left, it is imperative to eliminate the Yellow Nest, and we should join forces with Li Keyong, Zhu Wen and others to eliminate the Yellow Nest." Yang Shouzong on the side objected.

"Huang Chao doesn't care what I'm waiting for, just let the Shatuo people wipe it out, we don't need to lose our troops. After fighting for so long, the brothers are tired, and going home is the most important thing. ”

"General Deer, what do you think?" Zhou Qi did not express his position, but looked at Lu Yanhong, who was contemplative.

Although he Zhou Qi is the envoy of the festival, Lu Yanhong at this time is in charge of the core of the Zhongwu Army, and the opinions of the other party are more important than others.