At this time, of course, Emperor Chongzhen had already understood what Bi Maokang, Sun Yuanhua and others were talking about. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

That's right, the so-called thunder that Sun Hedou demonstrated throwing was the predecessor of the famous grenade in later generations.

In fact, in the final analysis, the grenade is really an invention of the Chinese.

At the latest in the Northern Song Dynasty, the forbidden army and the Western army at that time were already equipped with a large number of grenades.

It's just that the grenade at that time was still called the earth-shaking thunder, and because of the ancient recipe of black powder, the power was not great, just like a cannon battle loaded with ordinary gunpowder, and the biggest role in the field battle may be to create some chaos for the cavalry of the Western Xia or Liao army.

Because the gunpowder at that time was not powerful enough, if the gunpowder in the earth-shaking thunder was too much, it could not be thrown far, and if the medicine was less, the lethality was not enough, so in the Song Dynasty, the earth-shaking thunder was mainly used to defend the city.

Because in the defense of the city, it is possible to overcharge, and then inflict a certain amount of damage and deterrence on the besieging enemy.

However, unlike the cannon battle, most of the shells of primitive grenades or earth-shaking thunderbolts were made of clay pottery, stone or ceramics, and in addition to a large amount of gunpowder, they also had to be loaded with various projectiles, such as gravel, iron nails, thistles and so on.

The whole shape, similar to a pomegranate, has a smooth skin on the outside of the face, and the inside is like a pomegranate seed, filled with all kinds of iron nails, gravel, projectiles and other hurtful things.

And this is also the origin of the so-called grenade in later generations, the grenade of the grenade, referring to the pomegranate.

Of course, this traditional primitive grenade was no longer common after the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, and at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army was so powerful that it did not need this kind of defensive weapon, which was mainly used for defense, so there was no development.

However, this earth-shattering thunder spread to the West with the Mongols' westward expedition to Europe, and by the fifteenth century, improved grenades began to appear on the battlefields of Westerners.

The most famous regiment under Napoleon was the Grenadier Corps, and the so-called grenadiers were actually a branch of the army that threw grenades with their bare hands.

Because by Napoleon's time, the development of grenades had changed qualitatively, and the power of gunpowder had increased greatly, so that the power of hand grenades had also increased greatly, and it was no longer only used for castle defense, but was creatively concentrated by Napoleon in field attacks.

Napoleon's greatest feat in the history of warfare was probably the large-scale concentrated use of artillery in field offensives and the large-scale use of hand grenades in field offensives.

However, these two feats of Napoleon will belong to His Majesty the current Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty in the future.

Because with the reuse of Portuguese gun technicians by Emperor Chongzhen, especially the unified supervision of the Gunpowder Bureau of the Ministry of Industry, the quality of granular black powder produced by the gunpowder factories of the Ming Armament Institute has been greatly improved.

During the Ming Dynasty, the popularity of firearms in the Ming army was wider than that of the West at that time, but the so-called "magic guns" that the main equipment of the Shenji Battalion were manufactured and equipped with as many as 90,000 rods.

After the Tumubao Incident, Wara took the captured Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen to coerce the Ming army to let go of Juyong Pass, and then attacked the Beijing Division on a large scale, and Yu Qian and other Ming Dynasty ministers were able to achieve a brilliant victory in the defense of Beijing, relying on a large number of firearms left in the Beijing Division by the Shenji Battalion.

After the end of the Ming Dynasty, the reason why it was defeated again and again in Liaodong was that in addition to the quality of the Ming military weapons themselves at the end of the Ming Dynasty, a very important factor was that the quality of gunpowder produced by the official gunpowder factory of the imperial court at the end of the Ming Dynasty was too poor.

The craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty had long mastered the proportion of black powder, but due to the tight financial situation of the imperial court, the investment was small, and the fine management of gunpowder production was seriously not in place.

Some of the gunpowder was even filled with indiscriminate quantities, and there was a lot of sand mixed in it.

In this way, guns loaded with such inferior gunpowder either do not sound or are pitifully powerful.

On the battlefield, at a critical moment, once such a problem occurs, how can the Ming army, whose main equipment is firearms, not be defeated and not escape? !

Of course, we must attach great importance to this issue.

It just so happened that among the second batch of Portuguese brought back by Sun Hedou from Ho Jing O, there were several craftsmen who specialized in making black powder, an old Portuguese sailor named Dias.

Soon after Emperor Chongzhen met Sun Hedou and others, under the recommendation of Sun Hedou, Sun Yuanhua, who was eager to solve the problem of the power of gunpowder, was appointed as the deputy envoy of the Gunpowder Bureau of the Arsenal, specially guiding the production of gunpowder in the Arsenal, and accepting the finished products of each gunpowder factory, and the quality of gunpowder suddenly improved impressively.

And this is also the fundamental reason why Sun Hedou, Dias and others dared to demonstrate the "grenade" to the emperor.

After Sun Hedou demonstrated the throwing and explosion of the thunder, the ministers surrounding the emperor, as well as the Gongwei Division personnel now led by Lu Shanji's son Lu Hualin, were also relieved.

The thunder has such great power, if someone conspires against it and throws it to the emperor's side, the consequences are really unimaginable.

It seems that in the future, we must persuade His Majesty the Emperor not to come to these factories of the Armed Forces Institute easily.

After Sun Chengzong and Li Banghua glanced at each other, Sun Chengzong said: "Congratulations to Your Majesty, my Ming army has won another weapon to kill the enemy!" From now on, the Ningjin defense line can sit back and relax! ”

Li Banghua also said: "Although this thing is small, it has a great background. Now, after the transformation of the Armament Academy, the power has increased greatly! This is a powerful weapon for melee combat! If Your Majesty allows the Armed Forces Institute to set up a workshop, specialize in supervising the construction, and equip the Shenji Battalion and the Guards as soon as possible. ”

After listening to these words of the two military ministers, Emperor Chongzhen nodded, and just wanted to speak, he saw Sun Hedou coming over, holding a thunderbolt that had been dismantled in his hand, kneeling down a few steps apart and saying: "Report to Your Majesty, Weichen has disassembled a thunderbolt, removed the ammunition, and is here to present it to Your Majesty!" ”

Emperor Chongzhen immediately said: "Yes, take it to me!" ”

Lu Hualin, who was accompanying the emperor nearby, immediately stepped forward and took over the thunder that had been disassembled into two parts from Sun Hedou's hands.

After Lu Hualin took it, he was first taken over by Li Banghua, who was next to the emperor.

After Li Banghua looked at it again and again, he handed it to Emperor Chongzhen with his own hands.

The caution of Li Banghua and others, Emperor Chongzhen can certainly understand that even in the future after four hundred years, it is an extremely dangerous behavior for ordinary people to touch a grenade, not to mention that it is still the Ming Dynasty four hundred years ago, and he is still the emperor of the Ming Dynasty today.

Emperor Chongzhen nodded at Li Banghua, and then took from him an iron bullet case the size of a pineapple and a half-foot-long wooden handle.

The iron shells were cast or forged in pig iron and were thin and rough, while the wooden handles were hollow, and the hollow parts were stuffed with the flinching twists.

This so-called thunderbolt has a very simple structure and is also very light, and it weighs only one or two pounds after being filled with gunpowder projectiles, so it is not difficult to manufacture and use.

Although it is slightly heavier than the grenades of later generations, considering that today's black powder, even if it is granulated black powder, is not as powerful as the explosives of later generations, it is also very reasonable to have a little more charge.

For this era, the only problem that exists in this thunderstorm may be how to light the fire more conveniently.

Therefore, its fuse is the most primitive medicine twist. Although the function of the fuse is not bad, if it is to be lit, it must be completed by an open flame.

So, in order to equip this somewhat modern grenade in large quantities, it is necessary to equip each grenadier with a torch.

Otherwise, when it is time to fight, how to light the fuse of the grenade at the last moment.

After reading the structure of this thunderstorm in detail, Emperor Chongzhen beckoned to Sun Hedou, who was kneeling in the distance, asked him to come over, and said to him: "I think this thunder is very good, you can create this, it shows that you have a lot of brains!" However, this thunderstorm also has a lot to be improved.

"One is the length of the fuse, which needs to be carefully studied and pondered, if it is long, it will not explode when it should explode, and it will not play its due role. If it is too short to explode when it should not have exploded, it will not hurt the enemy but first hurt yourself, let alone allowed.

"The second is the overall weight, which also needs to be considered. If it's too heavy, the throw distance will be affected, and if it's too light, it won't have the power of the explosion. ”

Speaking of this, Emperor Chongzhen glanced at the ministers around him, and said to Bi Maokang, Sun Yuanhua and others: "This problem is not only the problem of this thunderstorm, but the problem of the entire gunpowder production. Because only when the power of gunpowder comes up, the weight of this thunderbolt can come down, but the power is not affected. ”

After Emperor Chongzhen said this, Bi Maokang, Sun Yuanhua and others immediately bowed down to accept the promise.