It was the day when the emperor and his ministers went out of the city to pray for rain, and Zhang Zhou chose this day to test the cannon impartially, which naturally had his intentions.

Artificial rainfall.

He can't do artificial rainfall, the current cannon fire can't be so high, and he can't make dry ice and other refrigerants this year.

However, when it rains, it is possible to use silver iodide as a nuclear agent or a moisture absorber such as salt particles to complete artificial rain enhancement.

"It's set up, ready to go."

Sun Shangqi went to check the situation of the artillery and came back to talk to a few people.

While speaking, a brocade guard behind him brought the telescope and prepared one for each person.

Zhang Zhoudao: "If you want to find a high place, that dirt slope is good." ”

"Doesn't you have to?" Zhang Mao said, "The ground in front is low, and you can see far away. ”

Old man Zhang didn't seem to be too lazy to take a few steps.

Xiao Jing smiled and said, "British duke, let's listen to Mr. Zhang." ”

……

……

The group reached the dirt slope.

Everyone took out the telescopes that the imperial court had purchased from Zhang Zhou and pointed them into the distance, but in fact, they didn't know what to look at, or how far to look.

Zhang Zhou took out his binoculars.

"Mr. Zhang, this ...... of yours Somewhat unique. Xiao Jing looked sideways at the telescope in Zhang Zhou's hand.

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "I don't have good eyes, so I specially made a binocular, and it looks the same in the distance." ”

"Oh."

Xiao Jing nodded as if he understood.

Two tubes can be seen far away?

Guo Ang, who was next to him, handed his telescope to Xiao Jing and said, "Father-in-law Xiao, you use this ...... of humble position."

Meaning, you have one of yourself, add me this, and put together binoculars by yourself.

"Hmm."

Xiao Jing looked at Guo Ang with appreciative eyes, as if to say, you still know how to do things.

But when he put the two binoculars in front of him, because there was no structure of focus and interpupillary distance, Xiao Jing just glanced at it, and felt dizzy, and then handed back Guo Ang's one: "You can also look ......at it."

Looking back at Zhang Zhou's telescope, he seemed to be even more envious.

If only we could have one......

……

"Bang!"

Just as Xiao Jing was wandering outside the world, the sound of cannons came from below.

But I saw a fireball fly out of the air and fall nearly two miles away, and after it landed, it was directly a flash of fire, followed by a large amount of smoke and dust.

With a telescope, you can vaguely see that the open space two miles away has been blown up and devastated.

"That's it!"

Sun Shangqi below accompanied Jia Laoshui after firing the cannon, shouted, and greeted the people on the soil slope with the small flag in his hand.

"Another!"

Zhang Zhou shouted while also giving orders to the subordinates with a small flag.

Xiao Jing was reluctant to take his eyes off the telescope, and when he heard this, he put it down, and looked at Zhang Zhou with a shocked look on his face: "Mr. Zhang, how far is that?" ”

Zhang Mao's grandson, Guo Ang and others were also looking at Zhang Zhou with incredible eyes.

Zhang Zhou said: "It's less than two miles, almost." Just now this is a flowering bullet, which is a part of the mighty heavenly gunpowder filled inside...... After landing, it can be exploded, and the shotgun is used underneath, which has a relatively large coverage...... Guys, let's keep looking? ”

Xiao Jing swallowed when he heard this: "Sir, isn't the mighty heavenly gunpowder very dangerous?" Can you send it out directly? ”

As a person close to the emperor, Xiao Jing knew about the difficulty of nitroglycerin storage.

also knew that Zhu Youzhi originally wanted to use nitroglycerin in the possible war in Ningyuan, Liaodong, but was rejected by Zhang Zhou on the grounds of inconvenient transportation, and even the craftsmen could not be transferred in time.

That's why Xiao Jing asked this question.

"I improved it, using a kind of diatomaceous earth, a kind of loess, to suck the mighty heavenly gunpowder in, but unfortunately I can't find much of this thing at present, and I may have to ask the local government to help me see if I can find out the mineral deposits." Zhang Zhou saw that the flag was already waving below, so he pointed to Xiao Jing in the distance, "Let's continue to see." ”

"Bang!"

Another shot.

This time it didn't explode on the ground, but the shotgun alone made the ground two miles away a mess, full of smoke and dust.

"Hahaha......"

At the end of the second shot, Zhang Mao looked into the distance with a telescope, already overjoyed.

Xiao Jing asked, "Are there any other kinds?" ”

"There is another one, but there is no need to test, there is another use, Xiao Gonggong didn't see enough and couldn't do it, so he brought these two powerful physical cannons and popped them out, the cost is relatively large, I can't afford it."

Zhang Zhou began to call poor again.

Xiao Jing smiled bitterly and said: "You two cannons go down, don't say it's the flesh of the Tartar cavalry, even if it's a stone, it can blow him up, it's really a little grass." ”

Zhang Mao smiled and said: "Bingkuan, this cannon was made by yourself?" Where did you learn it? ”

Zhang Zhou wanted to say, I learned it from the future, what's the matter, I still want to steal the teacher?

Zhang Lun asked: "Mr. Zhang, do you mean that Brother Zhijie went out of Liaodong and brought this kind of cannon with him?" ”

"Hmm."

Zhang Zhou nodded.

Zhang Lun lowered his head sadly, after experiencing the shock of seeing the power of the cannon earlier, he also began to feel a little lost.

Even Zhang Mao noticed his grandson's expression, which was clearly ...... Unwilling.

Look at Zhu Zhijie, who followed Wang Weining to the side pass to win the battle, Feng Bo worshiped the general, and now he is going to Liaodong, don't make a great contribution again.

And he, Zhang Lun, as a disciple of Zhang Zhou, has not yet had the opportunity to go to the battlefield.

"Bingkuan, if you have leisure in the future, bring more of my family Zhang Lun, although the grandson of the old man is young, he is fierce and can withstand the beating. Don't underestimate him! Zhang Mao said for his grandson.

Zhang Zhouxin said, your grandson is only a half-grown boy, so he wants to go to the battlefield to make contributions?

Even if I wanted to help him, the emperor would not agree.

Let's talk about it in ten years and eight years.

Xiao Jing smiled flatteringly: "Old man Zhang was young and set the military might, and the Zhang family always produced young talents, which are all British parents-in-law." ”

"Haha, where is the ......" Zhang Mao looked proud, and then thought that he was proud of himself here.

Today Zhang Zhou is the protagonist.

"Bingkuan, as far as the old man can see, with your cannon, it is enough to catch Di Yi off guard, especially this range, does it mean that it can always be so far, or is it ......?"

What Zhang Mao was most amazed by was not the power of the artillery, but the range of the artillery.

The Tatars had formed an inherent concept of fighting with the Ming border army, and when they did not expect the greatly increased range of the Ming firearms, they would also deploy according to the previous strategy, and the power of this new artillery was reflected.

Erlidi...... Or a range attack.

If there are too many such artillery pieces and cover all the noodles, what other choice does the Tatars have but to run away?

To fight a war with the Tartars, you must first have a range before you can be powerful.

This is also the reason why Zhang Mao first questioned the low airtightness of the artillery.

"Oh, it's not far, go back and improve it, send three or four miles, I guess it's okay. It's going to be a little bit more, you say? ”

Zhang Mao was speechless.

You kid can't talk to death, right?

But when you think about it, hey, really.

Today let the Tartars see the artillery two miles away, and tomorrow you will change your formation and use the three-mile ......

"The day has changed."

Zhang Zhou looked up at the sky.

Xiao Jing didn't have the heart to think about whether Zhang Zhou was bragging, because no matter how powerful the artillery developed by Zhang Zhou was, the credit was someone else's, but the rain prayer that day was ...... It is closely related to him Xiao Jing.

Xiao Jing said with surprise on his face: "Oh, the sky has changed, there are more clouds, and the sun is gone, is this going to rain?" ”

Zhang Zhou stretched out his hand and felt it: "It seems that the wind is rising." ”

Zhang Mao said: "Your Majesty wants to pray for rain today, and the wind will rise, isn't it ......?"

Zhang Zhou smiled: "Father-in-law Xiao, be calm." ”

After all, Zhang Mao didn't know why the emperor suddenly had a nervous moment to pray for rain in person today, and when he listened to the conversation between Zhang Zhou and Xiao Jing, he suddenly realized something.

Zhang Zhou beckoned: "Let's hurry up, change places, change the cannon, I hope this rain can come down and alleviate the drought in the land of Jingshi." Recently, the wells at home are drying up, and it is not easy to get water. ”

……

……

South of the city, Temple of Heaven and Earth.

The rain prayer ceremony is already underway.

Originally, the ministers didn't take it too seriously, but they just came to act together, and they all wanted to hurry up and finish the sacrifice and go back to the city to rest as soon as possible.

But at this time, I don't know who shouted: "The wind is up!" ”

Only then did everyone realize that it seemed to be true, and then looked up at Zhu Youzhu and his son on the altar, but saw that Zhu Youzhu was praying seriously to the heavens, and even opened his arms to the sky.

Because of the distance, no one could hear what the emperor was talking about.

But just to say it......

The wind was blowing, and the clouds in the sky were gathering more and more, and the sky was gradually darkening.

"This ......"

Xie Qian is usually the most talkative one, but when he saw this scene, he didn't know what to say.

Nearly everyone present looked up at the sky.

This climate, this face......

Xu Qiong looked at the three cabinet members and asked, "It won't really rain, will it?" ”

Li Dongyang said with a serious face: "Could it be that someone is really praying for rain at this time?" ”

The implication is that Zhang Bingkuan didn't come today, so he wouldn't be a "gunman" behind his back and help the emperor do this tricky thing, the emperor was just waiting for the time agreed with Zhang Zhou?

“pia……”

There were raindrops falling on the minister's head.

The beginning was only sporadic.

But then...... Whoa...... Rain poured down from the sky one after another.

"It's raining! It's raining! His Royal Highness the Holy Majesty and the Crown Prince pray for rain and the well-being of all people......"

Wow......

The rain is in a line.

Although it is not a downpour, there is a tendency to gradually increase.

The ministers and a group of old fellows in their seventies and eighties were dizzy by the sudden rain, but the emperor and the crown prince had not yet sheltered from the rain on the altar, and they could only stand in the rain.

How did this rain come about, they also couldn't figure it out.

At this time, Zhu Youzhu turned around and said to the ministers present: "Ladies and gentlemen, take shelter from the rain first!" ”

The wind and rain were raging, and his voice was almost muffled.

But then Jin Wuwei and Jin Yiwei brought out the umbrellas that had been prepared a long time ago, and the ministers knew that the emperor still had to bring rain gear when he went out to pray for rain, otherwise it would be unprofessional.

Hats, umbrellas and so on.

At this time, Zhu Youzhu and Zhu Houzhao, father and son, also came down from the altar with a canopy.

"Your Majesty!"

And all the ministers gathered around him.

Not for anything else.

The Emperor set an example by telling the minister how much hard he had worked to get the rain.

Look......

The rain on my body was given by heaven before.

You're drenched in the rain, and I'm drenched too.

Zhu Youzhu looked at Liu Jian and the others, and said with emotion: "Heaven is sympathetic to the painstaking efforts of me and all of you, and the rain and dew are kind, and Ze is very comforted by all the people. You have worked hard. ”

"Your Majesty's grace."

The emperor said that praying for rain has the credit of the ministers, but the ministers cannot fail to know each other.

It is clearly the credit of the emperor's father and son, who dares to rob this credit?

(End of chapter)