Chapter 20 Gunpowder Division

For firearms, as a traverser, they will attach great importance to it.

Anyone who knows a little bit about history knows that in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, hundreds of foreign gunners of the Eight-Nation Coalition Army were able to defeat tens of thousands of Qing soldiers.

A great man once said that power comes out of the barrel of a gun, and whoever has a gun in his hand can have the right to speak, and I am also determined to win the research and development of firearms.

In the last years of the Southern Song Dynasty, China's science and technology were definitely leading the world. However, just a few decades later, Europe began to rise, and in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, with the vigorous development of the European Renaissance, its science and technology also developed rapidly, while the ancient oriental countries with a thousand years of glorious civilization gradually sank in conservatism, so that they were bullied by a projectile island country for eight years.

After the four major inventions, a series of major inventions in the world are almost no longer in our figure. For example, Shen Kuo, a great scientist in the Song Dynasty, had long known the magnet phenomenon, but did not further study why such a phenomenon occurred, which directly led to the fact that many ancient inventions could not be well continued, let alone applied.

Creation and invention are where every nation's strength lies, and without or less, it will become worthless, insignificant, vulnerable, and ultimately passively beaten.

The glorious past is not equal to the glory of the present, and I want to continue this glory.

Gunpowder is one of the four major inventions in our country, the study of gunpowder began in the ancient Taoist alchemy, by mistake, failed to practice the elixir of immortality, but invented gunpowder by chance, this mixture formed by sulfur, charcoal, saltpeter finally changed thousands of years of cold weapon age.

The earliest assault guns also appeared at this time, but their bodies were made of bamboo pipes, and they could not be used in actual combat. However, the production of steel during the Southern Song Dynasty was already very large, and I was confident that the invention of the musket would be advanced.

The ordnance supervisor is subordinate to the Ministry of War, and the original site is also in the office of the Ministry of War.

Three years ago, there was an explosion in the Gunpowder Division under the Ordnance Supervisor, and the Gunpowder Division was moved to the foot of the rocky mountain outside the south gate of Lin'an, which was relatively remote.

The Gunpowder Department consists of a gunpowder workshop, a firearms workshop and a fireworks workshop, which is also set up by Jia Rudao for the good of Emperor Lizong, and specially produces fireworks and firecrackers for the royal family and dignitaries.

Out of the south gate, go straight is the road to Fuzhou in the south, turn right about five miles is the rocky mountain.

I am no longer a private visit to Weifu this time, in addition to Yuan Jian, Xiao Qi, Wen Tianxiang and others, there is also a team of 100 people led by Shen Moqin, the deputy commander of the imperial guards, and the lineup of 100 imperial guards is neat, several flags fluttering in the wind, and the fanfare along the way also seems to be mighty.

"Your Majesty, there is a large amount of gunpowder stored here, don't go in, wait for the ministers to take out the fireworks, and Your Majesty will set them off in this open space." When he was about to arrive at the Gunpowder Division, Wen Tianxiang persuaded again.

"Song Rui doesn't have to worry, I've already arrived at the door, so there's no reason not to enter." I smiled and exclaimed, "Shen Mo." ”

"The subordinates are here."

"You take some people around and look around, and the rest are guarding the door." After speaking, I took Yuan Jian and the others forward.

Chen Dongping, the chief of the Gunpowder Department, had already received an order from Wen Tianxiang, the new weapons supervisor, and greeted him at the door with the steward of the three squares.

"See the emperor, long live my emperor, long live long live." Chen Dongping knelt down with the greeting people to pay homage.

"Let's all be flat."

"Your Majesty."

"Chen Zhangshi, lead the way ahead, I will go to Sanfang first."

Although the Song Dynasty is still the era of cold weapons, but gunpowder has gradually been widely used, the gunpowder technology of the Southern Song Dynasty was still ahead of the world at that time, if it were not for the conservatism of the Yuan Dynasty, the history of this musket may be advanced, and the Ming and Qing dynasties also did not pay attention to the development of firearms, otherwise it would not have been later China's ordnance technology has been lagging behind Europe and the United States.

The Gunpowder Division, located in the suburbs, covers a large area, especially the Gunpowder Workshop. I stayed in the world for a long time in the gunpowder workshop and the firearms workshop, and from time to time I said this and that to the masters in the two workshops, but these people had never seen the emperor in person, and they were almost so nervous that they couldn't speak.

The gunpowder workshop was full of packed detonators and finished gunpowder, which were stacked neatly, and there was a large water tank filled with water every once in a while.

There are a lot of artillery guns in the firearms workshop, I noticed that there are at least ten or more, there are single guns, double guns, five guns, seven guns, tiger squat guns, column belly guns, whirlwind guns, combined guns, sleeping car guns, car guns, gun trucks, etc., however, these so-called guns are similar, can only fire stones, perhaps it is more appropriate to call a stone machine. As early as the Song Dynasty Renzong period, Zeng Gongliang and others spent five years to edit the "Wujing General Essentials" has a detailed record, but then it has not been further improved, there is this book in the imperial study of Ningqian Palace, at that time I just skimmed it at the beginning, it seems that I have to study it carefully after going back. In a corner of the firearms workshop, I finally found a mutilated "gun".

As for the fireworks workshop, I just took a cursory look, which made Wen Tianxiang and others, who knew that I was coming to see the fireworks, puzzled.

Back in Chen's office, I took out the assault rifle I found in the firearms workshop from Xiao Qi's hand and said, "Boss Chen, who made this assault rifle?" "The assault rifle in my hand has a barrel, gunpowder, and projectiles, and although the barrel is still a bamboo tube, it has the rudiments of a modern firearm.

"Back to the emperor, this is made by Master Yunyue, the former manager of the armory workshop."

"The original steward? What about others? I asked hurriedly.

"Your Majesty, Master Yunyue died in the explosion three years ago."

"Ah, tell me, what's going on?" On the way here, I heard Wen Tianxiang mention this explosion, but I didn't expect to kill a firearms master, and my face suddenly sank.

Seeing that I was in a hurry, Chen Dongping hurriedly pointed to a steward next to him and said, "Your Majesty, this is Master Yunyue's disciple Peng Chong, the current manager of the firearms workshop, let him tell the emperor about the situation at that time." ”

The master of the weapons supervisor is divided into masters, middle masters and young masters according to their abilities, which is equivalent to the modern chief engineer, senior engineer and engineer, Yun Yue and Peng Chong are the masters and middle masters of the firearms workshop, since Yun Yue, there has been no master in the firearms workshop.

The steward named Peng Chong was so nervous that he stammered a little: "Your Majesty, three, three years ago, my subordinates, I ......" I know that Peng Chong was extremely nervous, and his face softened slightly: "Steward Peng, don't be nervous, drink saliva, and speak slowly." ”

Peng Chong saw that my expression became gentle, calmed down, took a sip of water, and said: "Back to the emperor, three years ago, the master said that he had found a way to improve the assault gun to one person, and it could fire projectiles such as broken iron pieces and broken porcelain pieces. That said, the master fused the gunpowder and the broken iron pieces into a projectile, and when it was launched, the bamboo tube burst, and the projectile did not fly straight out, but exploded and shot onto the surrounding gunpowder, which caused a series of explosions, causing the master to be killed on the spot by gunpowder. The master made a total of two at that time, one of which was blown up on the spot, and only this one was incomplete. ”

"Well, you should know how to do that." I said with a secret hope.

"Back to the emperor, his subordinates won't."

I sighed, speechless for a moment, with a look of disappointment on my face.