On the colonel's field south of Fanjiazhuang, Li Zhi led dozens of rocket craftsmen and several generals under his command to test new weapons. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

These dozens of firearms craftsmen were recruited by Li Zhi from the craftsmen of the Weishou in Shandong, and they were all talents who were good at making rockets.

Li Zhi wants to develop Daming's rocket this time.

Rockets are a war weapon invented by the Chinese, and there are many equipment in the Ming army.

As early as the anti-Yuan war at the end of the Song Dynasty, there were records of the Song people using rockets to kill and injure the Yuan army. At that time, rockets were basically similar to fireworks, just a tube. Cover one end, have a hole in the other, fill it with some kind of accelerator, send it to the sky, and when the time comes, it will explode.

However, even this extremely simple firearm killed and injured a lot of Yuan troops on the battlefield. The Mongols have since added rockets to their arsenals, spreading this weapon invented by the Chinese to the world.

The Indians learned rocket technology from the Mongols, and later from the Indian army when the British conquered India.

In the Ming Dynasty, rockets also evolved with the development of warfare. The Ming Dynasty had all kinds of rockets, such as Shenji arrows, such as Shenhuo Flying Crows.

The structure of the "Divine Arrow" is relatively simple, using gunpowder as a thruster to fire a bow and arrow. This kind of arrows propelled by gunpowder is characterized by a dense range, and a single shot is hundreds of rounds. Although it lacks accuracy, it has a large coverage area that is large enough to strafe a large area.

Qi Jiguang's Qi family army is widely equipped with this kind of magic arrow. Qi Jiguang used thicker arrows and called the improved Shenji arrows "Three Flying Arrows", which shone in the Anti-Japanese War.

The "Divine Fire Crow" is more similar to the rocket artillery of later generations. According to the Wubei Zhi, this rocket resembles a crow, made of fine bamboo or reeds, and filled with gunpowder. There are two "fires" on each side of the crow's body, and the bottom of the "fire" cartridge is connected to the gunpowder wire in the crow's body. During the battle, the thrust of "fire" is used to shoot the flying crow a hundred feet away, and when the flying crow lands, the gunpowder contained inside is ignited, burning a large area.

These rockets of the Ming Dynasty can be said to be at the forefront of world weapons at that time, two centuries ahead of the West. But the rockets of the Ming Dynasty had a fatal weakness, that is, the accuracy of the hit was not enough. There was no flight stabilization, so that most of the Ming army's rockets would soon be off target after being fired.

Therefore, in the end, the rockets of the Ming army could only use large-scale bombardment and win by numbers. But the cost of launching a rocket on a massive scale is very scary. So it was not an extremely elite Beijing battalion, and very few Ming troops were equipped with rockets.

What Li Zhi wants to change is the shooting accuracy of Ming Dynasty rockets. Only when rockets are truly turned into weapons that shoot directly at the target can these rockets really have the actual combat significance of being installed in large quantities.

However, Li Zhi has not yet come up with his improved rocket, and he has been questioned by Li Xing.

"Big brother, now that the thousands of miles of borders between Shandong and Tianjin are all blocked, raw materials from the outside world cannot be transported in, and the products of the major factories in Fanjiazhuang cannot be shipped out, and we have huge losses every day. Big Brother is now coming out with a new weapon, and he can't deal with the enemy who attacks our money! ”

"Big brother, let's think about how to catch the enemy who printed counterfeit banknotes, so that our blockade can be lifted!"

Li Zhi smiled and asked, "Tianjin Governor Li Xing, we are now blocking the border, how much do we lose in a day?" ”

Li Xing calculated and said: "Nowadays, textile factories, soap factories, eye workshops, etc. are all unable to sell goods to the outside world, and the goods produced are piled up in the warehouse, and the loss of a day is as high as more than 8,000 taels. ”

"Even more worrying is the supply of raw materials for arms. Our saltpeter is transported from the outside, and if there is a blockade for four months, our riflemen and artillerymen will have no gunpowder training. ”

Li Zhi looked at the other generals under his command, and saw that the others also had serious expressions. Obviously, what everyone is worried about at this time is the huge side effect of the border closure.

Blocking borders not only costs factories profits, but also threatens the logistics of military activities. This conundrum is in front of us, and everyone is a little uninterested in the new weapon.

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Everyone is worried about the loss, I understand this feeling. ”

"But have you ever thought that in the current war around counterfeit banknotes, even if we find out where and who is printing the counterfeit money, we can't retaliate against these money printers."

Hearing Li Zhi's words, Li Laosi nodded and said, "The owner is right! Our army has sent troops to attack southern cities many times, and even once slaughtered Shanxi, which can be described as overwhelming. Now the people of the Ming Dynasty know that cities within a thousand miles of Tianjin and Shandong cannot stop the Tiger Army. ”

"Even if we find out who is printing counterfeit money, we won't be able to send an army to arrest these traitors as we used to. Because these traitors have learned wisely, they will run away with money-printing equipment without saying a word. Our troops, with their baggage and artillery, could only walk fifty miles a day, while the traitors hired horse-drawn wagons to flee quickly, and it was easy to run two hundred miles a day. ”

"Run to a new place, and these traitors can continue to print money."

Li Laosi took a breath and said: "So at present, in this counterfeit money war, we can only be beaten passively, and we can't fight back at all. As soon as we counterattack, the enemy will flee. Flee to the depths of the base camp of the gentry who hate us in the south. ”

Li Xing thought for a while and said, "Li Laosi, we can send sharpshooters to infiltrate the southern city to assassinate the culprit. ”

Li Laosi shook his head and said, "Even if we send sharpshooters, we can only kill a few outdoor enemies. This kind of assassination can only kill a few targets, and even kill an enemy leader and run for his life. ”

"When the enemy finds out that we are using sharpshooters to assassinate us, they will try to hide indoors as much as possible."

"When the gunshots go off, our assassination will be known, and even the location of the marksman will be revealed. The local defenders are searching for our sharpshooters, and I am afraid that the situation is more dangerous than the traitors who print money, but our sharpshooters. ”

"And for the sale of counterfeit banknotes that make a profit of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver at every turn, the profits are too terrible. Even if we kill one commander, we probably won't be able to stop others from printing counterfeit money. ”

"Actually, I guess the traitors who printed money know the power of our sharpshooters, and maybe try to hide indoors during this time."

Hearing Li Laosi's words, everyone was silent. Nine out of ten of the counterfeit money were printed by the gentry from the south, and now these gentry have become more and more savvy, and will flee when they see that the situation is not right. With the current situation, it is indeed difficult to rely on conventional means to kill the traitors who go to other provinces to completely annihilate the money-printing and deter others.

This war against the traitors who printed counterfeit money is full of difficulties.

Everyone racked their brains, but they couldn't think of any way, and they were a little discouraged for a while.

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Li Laosi is right, the current conventional means can't solve the problem. Therefore, Bengong wants to invent a weapon that can wipe out all the enemies gathered together, so that the enemies in the room have no way to escape, and solve the problem at once. Chill all enemies who try to print counterfeit money. ”