Liu Yan went to Lingshanwei and Jimo Camp to meet Shangguan this time, and it can be said that he gained a lot, not only harvested a large number of iron, gunpowder and other materials, took away the population of fifty artisan households, but also obtained a batch of armor and armament, although the style of these armors is not the same as the whole body armor equipped by the new army in Xiahezhai now, but this does not affect the overall situation, and let Xu Le take people to transform it after going back.

In addition, what made Liu Yan happiest was that among the troops brought back from Lingshanwei, there was also the big killer weapon of Heaven-shaking Thunder.

Liu Yan's earth-shattering thunder is actually the prototype of the grenade of later generations, this gunpowder weapon first appeared in the late Northern Song Dynasty, after hundreds of years of development, to the Ming Dynasty has been basically finalized, has a lot of lethality.

At this time, the earth-shattering thunder body of the Ming Dynasty is filled with gunpowder, the shell is wrapped in pig iron, and the fuse is on it, and the soldiers will decide the length of the lead according to the distance of the target when using it, so as to calculate the time of detonation.

After detonating, the Earthquake Thunder can blast the pig iron shell to pieces and pierce through the iron armor; At the same time, it can also be filled with some ironclad and broken porcelain pieces in order to increase the lethality.

There are generally two kinds of earth-shaking thunder equipped in the Ming army: one is fired by a trebuchet when it is timed and explodes from a distance; And the other is an explosion thrown by soldiers.

For example, the earth-shattering thunder thrown from the city wall by the Ming army when defending the city belongs to the second type, and the effect is equivalent to a grenade in later generations.

The earth-shattering thunder that Liu Yan got this time is the latter, the size of the whole body is about ten catties, if you want to throw it, the distance will be very close, and the soldiers with great strength will only throw it for ten meters, and the effect on the battlefield is not great, it is mainly used to defend the city.

However, Liu Yan is confident that this kind of earth-shattering thunder can be reduced, that is, to replace the ordinary gunpowder used at this time with granulated gunpowder. However, now the matter of granulated gunpowder has not yet been put on the agenda, Liu Yan still has more urgent things to do, and the improvement plan for the reduction of the earth-shattering thunder will be carried out later.

Liu Yan and Xu Ming did not directly return to the Qianqian Household Office in Xiahe Village, but rode horses to Wangjiazhuang.

Chen Xun, the officer of the management team, received the news from the cavalry chief in advance, so he led Yue Ming of Baihu, Zhang Lei, the official of Guantun, Tan Xiaoda, the director Xu Le, the medical officer Bao Xuezhen, and the copywriter Zhao Min out of the city to greet them.

Liu Yan and the others came to the gate of the city, laughed and turned over and dismounted, and greeted everyone warmly, Xu Ming also smiled and hugged Chen Xun to greet him.

Looking at the familiar faces, Liu Yan's heart was warm, no matter what time it was, this was his way out, and it was also where his confidence to conquer the world was.

"It's cold, my lord, let's go in and talk."

"Good!"

Everyone entered the city and came to the official hall of the hundred households, Liu Yan sat on the top, Chen Xun and Xu Ming sat on the left and right, and the rest of the people sat down in turn.

Liu Yan first greeted everyone for a while, and then ordered Xu Ming to take out the earth-shaking thunder and hand it over to everyone for circulation.

"It's ......, Heaven-shattering Thunder!"

Tan Xiaoda suddenly exclaimed: "This thing is generally only available in places above the Acropolis, where did the adults get it?" ”

Liu Yan said the important thing about his journey to Lingshanwei, and then asked Tan Xiaoda: "Can this thing be imitated by the Firearms Supervision Office?" ”

Tan Xiaoda nodded and said: "It's not difficult to imitate the sky-shaking thunder, the subordinates of this sky-shaking thunder have also heard of it, but now the sky-shaking thunder equipped in the official army is more than a dozen pounds of iron bumps, and it can't be thrown far, except for some use when defending the city, it can only blow up its own people in the field, it's useless!" ”

Liu Yan knew that what Tan Xiaoda said was the truth, but this could not show that the earth-shaking thunder was a useless firearm, it could only show that the Ming army's process of manufacturing the earth-shaking thunder at this time was not sophisticated enough, so that the volume and power of the earth-shaking thunder produced were too large and too small, so it was so frivolous.

Before crossing over, Liu Yan had read some historical materials:

As early as the eighth year of Kaibao in the Northern Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty used thunderbolt artillery when attacking the Southern Tang Dynasty, which was the most primitive earth-shattering thunder.

The Northern Song Dynasty established gunpowder workshops in Jiankangfu, Jiangling and other cities at that time, and manufactured firearms called gunpowder kilns.

At this time, the projectile can explode, and the sound is like a thunderbolt, so it is called a thunderbolt. In the first year of Jingkang, the Jin people besieged Bianjing, and the garrison general Li Gang used a thunderbolt cannon to repel the Jin soldiers when defending the city.

After the "Jin History" recorded: in the first year of Jin Tianxing, when Chizhan Hexi guarded Bianjing, the person who defended the city had the name of the artillery 'Earthquake Thunder', the iron pot contained medicine, and the fire was lit by fire, and the cannon burst into flames, and its sound was like thunder, and it was heard hundreds of miles away, and it was surrounded by half an acre, and the fire was lit with armor and iron.

This is probably the earliest record of the use of earth-shaking thunder in actual combat.

Liu Yan said: "Chief Tan, the earth-shaking thunder has been used in actual combat as early as the Song Dynasty, it can be called a field weapon, and we must also equip it in Xiahezhai!" ”

"But ......"

Liu Yan smiled and waved his hand, stopped Tan Xiaoda's words, and continued: "Chief Tan, the reason why the sky-shaking thunder equipped by the official army is large and powerful is because the gunpowder used by the official army is not as good as that of our Xiahe Village, and the pig iron used is not as good as the pig iron refined by our firearms supervision department!" ”

"And after a while, I'll give you a more powerful gunpowder, that's all for later. With the high-quality pig iron produced by our Firearms Supervision Department and this more powerful gunpowder, we will definitely be able to create a smaller and more powerful earth-shattering thunder! I believe that the earth-shattering thunder created by our firearms supervision department can kill the enemy by throwing it in the field by the commanders, and it will definitely be a battlefield weapon at that time! ”

After listening to Liu Yan's words, Tan Xiaoda also knew the bottom of his heart and no longer objected.

After all, Liu Yan has always been able to surprise people, and now it must be the same to build a heaven-shaking thunder, Liu Yan will definitely succeed!

At this time, in Tan Xiaoda's heart, he was already full of trust in Liu Yan, and it was unconditional trust.

So Tan Xiaoda took the earth-shattering thunder and looked at it carefully, and basically understood the structure, so he said to Liu Yan: "My lord and you wait here, I'll go and ask someone to make a sample quickly!" ”

After speaking, without waiting for Liu Yan to speak, Tan Xiao left happily.

Liu Yan didn't care either, so he continued to drink tea and chat with everyone in the main hall, anyway, everyone happened to have a good time to catch up like this.

After about an hour, Tan Xiaoda hurried back and said, "My lord! It's done! ”

Liu Yan didn't expect that the efficiency of the Firearms Supervision Office would be so high now, and it took more than an hour to create a sample of the earth-shattering thunder, so he hurriedly came to the test site with Tan Xiaoda.

This test site is outside Wangjiazhuang Fort, which is a wasteland, with no homes around, and there is also a new high wall to shield it from people's eyes and ears.

At this time, Zhao Yan, the director of the gunpowder workshop, walked over with a sample of earth-shaking thunder in both hands, which was a round iron lump slightly smaller than a watermelon, and there was a slightly protruding platform on the sphere, with a small hole on it, and a medicine twist was inserted in the hole.

"My lord, this is the sample of the earth-shaking thunder, which is completely made according to the sample given by the adult just now, but because it is the first time to make it and has no experience, the volume is slightly larger. This earth-shattering thunder sample is made of ten catties of pig iron as a shell, and eight catties of gunpowder inside. Moreover, iron nails and other things have been added to this earth-shattering thunder, and the power is definitely much stronger than that of the officials and soldiers. ”

After Tan Xiaoda's introduction, he saw that Liu Yan's face did not have much joy.

"The iron shell of this earth-shattering thunder is too smooth and unfurled, and it is difficult to produce fragments when it explodes, which will definitely affect the effect of the explosion. In addition, this medicine is too short, and if it burns too quickly, it will blow up the soldiers of the new army themselves, but it is not possible. ”

Tan Xiaoda listened to Liu Yan's words, nodded frequently, and wrote them down one by one, ready to go back and continue to improve.

However, at this time, even if there are some flaws, it is necessary to test the explosion effect of this earth-shattering thunder.

In order to avoid accidental injury, Liu Yan ordered everyone to retreat to ten zhang away, leaving only a former chief soldier with good legs and feet to be responsible for igniting the fire. 33

The Earthquake Thunder sample was placed in the center of the test site, next to several cloth figures sewn from pieces of cloth filled with dirt and straw to test the effects of the explosion.

The New Army soldier cautiously walked over, put a stick of incense on the temporarily lengthened medicine twist, only to hear a sound of ignorance, the medicine line burned rapidly, and the New Army soldier immediately fled as fast as he could in his life.

Soon, like a small worm, Mars crawled into the projectile along the lead.

"Boom!"

There was a deafening explosion, and the earth-shattering thunder exploded smoothly.

Liu Yan and the others only felt that everything around the earth-shattering thunder seemed to be pulled by a strange force, shrunk towards the center, and then rapidly expanded in all directions.

Some of the soldiers of the New Army in the surrounding area even had an illusion, that is, the moment they felt that Mars drilled into the body of the bomb, time seemed to stop, and this earth-shattering thunder seemed to explode after a long time.

The explosion produced by the eight catties of gunpowder instantly formed a shock wave that rushed wildly on the ground, sweeping everything that hindered their progress, and in the deafening roar, everyone felt the earth tremble up and down, and the billowing black smoke of the explosion spread to all sides, and finally rose into the air under the effect of ground resistance, forming a small mushroom-shaped cloud.

As for the few cloth people used for testing, they have long been blown away by the shock wave.

After the explosion, the world became so quiet that no one could hear anything but their own heartbeat, and it was only after a while that people noticed that their eardrums were buzzing, and it was only then that the innate sense of fear came to mind.

Liu Yan rubbed his ears that shook his ears, and smiled, he was still very satisfied with the power of this earth-shattering thunder in his heart.

Tan Xiaoda, on the other hand, was pale and full of shock, obviously frightened by the power of this earth-shattering thunder.

In Tan Xiaoda's impression, the earth-shaking thunder used by the officials and soldiers in the past was usually a loud bang, and the big iron lumps exploded into seven or eight pieces of iron of all sizes, flying in all directions, and the farthest was only three zhang away.

And on the ground where this earth-shattering thunder sample was put on the iron bump, it suddenly blew up a shallow pit in the basin earth!

I didn't expect that this Heaven-Shaking Thunder, which was filled with a large amount of gunpowder and used refined iron, could increase its power so much.

In fact, Liu Yan knew that the power of the earth-shaking thunder would be even greater, and after the mass production of granulated gunpowder in the future, it would definitely bring a greater shock to everyone.

Liu Yan immediately issued an order to Tan Xiaoda, requiring that from now on, the Firearms Supervision Office will start the construction of the earth-shaking thunder, and first build it according to the number of 100 equipped by 100 households in each place.

Tan Xiaoda immediately agreed.

Of course, the earth-shaking thunder to be mass-produced by the Firearms Supervision Department will have grooves engraved all over the body, and the plan stipulates that it weighs only eight catties, but the inside is to be filled with six catties of gunpowder, and a handle is specially added at one end to facilitate the throwing of the new army soldiers.

These are the results of the subsequent discussion between Tan Xiaoda and Liu Yan, Liu Yan is very satisfied, and then he plans to live in Wangjiazhuang for a few days, by the way, to inspect the construction of armor, and complete the goal of armor for the whole army as soon as possible.

Some people died, but not completely......