Since the invention of gunpowder in the Wei and Jin dynasties due to alchemy, to the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty, its ratio has been constantly changing, and by the Song Dynasty, there has been a major adjustment, but it still does not meet the correct ratio requirements. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The principle of gunpowder is actually very simple, and it is introduced in middle school chemistry. Its composition is sulfur, nitrate (potassium nitrate) and charcoal, the chemical formula should be one sulfur, two nitrate and three carbon, and the conversion to mass ratio should be 2:15:3, that is, if the sulfur content accounts for 10%, nitrate and carbon should account for 75% and 15% respectively.

This seemingly simple question has never been understood in ancient times. The secret recipe published during the Northern and Southern Dynasties shows that the ratio of sulfur to nitrate is 1:1, and the content of carbon is even lower, accounting for more than one-tenth of sulfur.

By the time of the Song Dynasty, the proportion of nitrate had been significantly improved, but it was only advancing in exploration, and there was no basis or experiment, so the quality of gunpowder at this time had improved, but it still did not meet the requirements.

These are all common sense, for Gao Feng, who is engaged in engineering, it is as simple as drinking cold water, but listening to Ling Lei's ears, it is tantamount to a shocking secret.

In fact, this is only the basic knowledge of gunpowder, and it can be divided into more details, such as initiating charge (or primer, detonator, etc.), explosive transmission charge (or explosive propagation), propellant, explosive, etc., if gunpowder can be achieved to this level, it is close to the modern level.

Gao Feng naturally wouldn't reveal so much to Ling Lei, he didn't want Ling Lei to be ambitious, he just hoped that he could go well step by step, so that he could lay a solid foundation.

He communicated with Ling Lei for a long time, and listened more to Ling Lei's control over gunpowder.

As he wished, Ling Lei was really familiar with gunpowder, and the ratio he said was also close to the normal value, especially the proportion of nitrate increased significantly, much larger than the sum of sulfur and charcoal, and was close to the formula where nitrate accounted for 75%.

But these are not what Gao Feng wants, what he wants to know most is to what extent the firearms of the Great Song Dynasty have developed, and what are the application fields of gunpowder, of course, he is also very concerned about Ling Lei's identity and origin.

"Brother Ling, where did you get all this knowledge?" Gao Feng finally asked.

"Hey, hey." Ling Lei smiled awkwardly: "Don't hide it, I escaped." ”

This is definitely not an escape from home, and anyone with a little brain can understand that it must have escaped from the government.

Gao Feng said calmly: "Brother Ling, don't worry, I will guarantee your safety here, and it doesn't hurt to say it directly." ”

Ling Lei said without hesitation, "I escaped from Tokyo Gunpowder. ”

I've heard of Tokyo Gunpowder, it's a department specializing in the development and production of gunpowder, the workshop is very large, but I don't know the details, I didn't expect Ling Lei to escape from there, and it is understandable that he has this knowledge of gunpowder.

Gao Feng didn't ask why Ling Lei wanted to escape, but asked, "Does gunpowder make a living and produce firearms?" ”

He also told Ling Lei that it doesn't matter what the reason for you escaped, as long as you work hard here, all parties will be safe.

Gao Feng didn't ask, and Ling Lei didn't explain, he replied: "Gunpowder belongs to the next department of the Ordnance Supervision, and is only responsible for the production of gunpowder, not the production of firearms, but I still know something about firearms." ”

Then Ling Lei explained in detail some of the inside stories of the Ordnance Supervisor about firearms and gunpowder, and Gao Feng gained a lot from listening to it.

According to Ling Lei, at this time the manufacture of gunpowder has been a major matter of the country, its management norms, the scale is large, the division of labor is more meticulous, only the ordnance supervision employs more than 40,000 labor, under the gunpowder work, green kiln work, fierce fire oil work, fire work (production of rockets, artillery, thistle terrestris, etc.) and other 11 large workshops, can produce 7,000 crossbow gunpowder arrows, 10,000 bow gunpowder arrows, 3,000 tribulus cannons, 20,000 leather artillery, in addition to some poison smoke balls, guns, gunpowder bags and other firearms.

In particular, in recent years, firearms such as "thunderbolt cannons" and "earth-shaking thunder" have been developed. The power of this firearm is very huge, its explosion, the sound is like a thunderbolt, the sound is like thunder, on half an acre, people and cowhides, broken without a trace, the armor and iron are transparent.

Hearing Ling Lei's introduction, Gao Feng was secretly frightened, he also thought that he could be at the forefront of the times in his research on gunpowder, but he didn't expect the firearms of the Great Song Dynasty to develop to such an extent, this is still a case where he doesn't know much about the performance of gunpowder, if the correct formula of gunpowder is really announced, I don't know where the firearms of the Great Song Dynasty are going?

From this, Gao Feng has come to a conclusion that gunpowder is not an invention of the Great Song Dynasty; Firearms are not an invention of the Great Song Dynasty. However, the successful application of gunpowder to firearms was the biggest military invention of the Great Song Dynasty.

Of course, he knew very well that the firearms of the Great Song Dynasty were still in their infancy, and there would be greater development in the future, and even tubular weapons (that is, muskets) would appear, but it was still not fully developed.

The reason is self-evident, and that is that the steel industry cannot keep up. Take the tubular weapon musket as an example, it is a gunpowder in a long bamboo tube, igniting the gunpowder and burning the enemy, including the assault gun that appeared later, which is also filled with gunpowder in a coarse bamboo barrel, but a new thing "Ziyi" is added to the gunpowder.

Although this tubular weapon is of epoch-making significance, it is not widely used, even when killing enemies, and its use is only an auxiliary means, such as burning siege bridges, etc., precisely because of the lack of metal pipes.

Of course, even so, the military equipment of the Great Song Dynasty was several levels ahead of the surrounding countries, so in all the wars, the Song army appeared as a victor.

Victory is victory, and the military of the Song Dynasty still leaves people with the impression of being weak and tired, which is inseparable from the national politics of the Song Dynasty, which emphasized literature and light military force and heavy foot and light cavalry.

It is a congenital disadvantage to use agricultural civilization against nomadic civilization, coupled with the mediocrity of the emperor, he can get by, his armament is slack, and his singing and dancing are leveled. In this way, it is natural that the country is in danger, and the country is not far away.

He saw the end of the Song Dynasty and the peak of fate very clearly, so he decided to develop his own power, which included the research and application of gunpowder and firearms.

In any case, his purpose is very clear, if you want to live, you must have strength, if you want to live better, you must be strong, as for whether the Song Dynasty will perish or not, who will be the emperor is not in his consideration at all.

Of course, at present, he does not dare to let go of his hands and feet, he still needs to survive in the cracks, so he must not only hide in order to do anything, but also find a good way out, because he knows that with his current strength, he cannot compete with any force, and he wants to leave people with the impression of an aspiring businessman.