Ju Ming squatted beside the melon field and spat out the watermelon he had just eaten.
Zhu Guoxiang chewed and tasted it carefully: "This one has only a hint of bitterness, but it can be used to quench thirst."
He picked up his son's melon again, took a bite and frowned and said, "You are really bitter. The watermelon seeds are quite big and can be used to fry the melon seeds."
"I miss the crisp, sweet and big watermelons with red flesh so much," Ju Ming said with emotion. "The watermelons in front of me are all white or yellow. They don't taste good at first sight. Hurry up and grow sweet watermelons."
Zhu Guoxiang said: "It's not that easy. You have to wait for luck and wait for the watermelon gene to mutate."
Zhu Guoxiang stretched out his hand and called several officials from the Department of Agriculture: "When you are thirsty, eat these watermelons. If they are too bitter to eat, give them to the livestock. Select the best watermelons that are sweet or not bitter to keep seeds.
, plant again next year.”
"Yes!" urged the agricultural officials to accept the order.
The father and son walked all the way. Not far from the watermelon field was a large grove of sand fruit.
This thing is also called Ringo, a species of Apple. When people in the Song Dynasty wrote poems, they often called it Begonia.
As for apples, there were tributes in the Tang Dynasty, and the name corresponding to the Buddhist scriptures at that time was the Bimbao fruit. People in the Song Dynasty had never seen apples again, so they could only make far-fetched assumptions and mistook the Buddha's Eye Fruit for the Bimbao Fruit in the Buddhist scriptures.
Ju Ming pointed to the Shaguolin and said: "This fruit is very delicious, it looks like apples and plums."
Zhu Guoxiang introduced with a smile: "About the Five Dynasties period, two species have been differentiated, one is the genus Apple, and the other is the genus Prunus. The big red plums you used to go to the supermarket are most likely the ones that have differentiated.
Out of the plums."
There are more and more types of crops in the experimental fields of the Agriculture Department.
This sand fruit grove is original, and after careful management by the agricultural officials, the fruit is more abundant and better than before. After it matured last year, except for a few seeds, the rest were used to reward the concubines and ministers.
Today's officials of the Ming Dynasty call the experimental field of the Ministry of Agriculture as the "Imperial Garden" and are proud of being able to eat the fruits and vegetables in the "Imperial Garden".
Further ahead is the Jinming Pool, which is completely free and open before and after the Dragon Boat Festival, and people can see many lively programs. Now it has to be closed for two months, because the emperor and the prince often brought their wives and children to go boating and enjoy the cool air.
Arriving at the parking lot of Jinmingchi, Ju Ming rode on Cornucopia's grandson and said to his father, "I'm going to the southeastern suburbs."
"Okay, remember to go back to Jinmingchi for dinner." Zhu Guoxiang reminded.
Zhu Ming's group of wives, concubines, and children are all taking refuge in the Jinming Pool. It is much cooler than the East Palace.
Taking a few guards with him, Ju Ming galloped all the way and soon arrived at the ordnance testing ground in the southeastern suburbs (the gunpowder factory was also nearby).
This used to be a mass grave, and anyone could be buried here.
Later, Cai Jing turned it into Luzeyuan, which is an official charity cemetery. If you want to bury it again, you have to go through the procedures. After all, this is Cai Xianggong's political achievement, and everything must meet the standards and be beautiful.
Ju Ming got off his horse, and two administrative officials and a group of magicians came to greet him.
Several pieces of ordnance that have been improved through repeated experiments are placed on the table in the open space.
Ju Ming first picked up a pair of cloth face armor and asked: "How is the effect?"
Peng Xiu, chief officer of the Ordnance Test Factory, said: "The cost is almost halved, and the time is shorter. It is lighter, has stronger defense, is not afraid of being cut off, and is more convenient for daily maintenance. The only disadvantage is that
After the fabric surface is severely damaged, it must be riveted again.”
"Seriously damaged" here means that the seams cannot be sewn. Otherwise, even if the cloth is cut into a mop-like shape, it can still be sewn and repaired.
Ju Ming picked up the cloth armor to try on, and said to Bai Sheng, "Cut me."
Bai Sheng smiled stiffly: "Your Highness, why don't you let me wear my armor and you can chop me with a knife?"
Peng Xiu quickly said: "Your Highness, this armor has been verified repeatedly. You can wrap both the Zha armor and the cloth armor on the killed fat pig, and then use a knife to chop and spear to compare carefully."
Cloth armor, with a layer of coat on the outside and large armor pieces riveted on the inside.
The defensive power is stronger than the Zha Armor, the weight is lighter than the Zha Armor, the wearer is warmer than the Zha Armor, and the production cost is much lower than the Zha Armor.
But there is a very big disadvantage. When the administration is corrupt, it is easier than Zhajia to cut corners without being discovered!
In addition, it is not convenient to make this thing into heavy armor. It is best to make it into light armor and medium armor.
When he was replacing large armor pieces for Zhajia last year, Ju Ming thought about making cloth-faced armor. As long as the smelting level is sufficient, cloth-faced armor is the first choice for explosive soldiers, and it can be truly high-quality, low-cost, and large in quantity.
After cotton is produced in large quantities, of course, cotton armor can also be made, but the cost of cotton armor is much higher.
Ju Ming had a set of cloth-faced armor worn on wooden stakes in the school grounds, and ordered several guards to shoot arrows.
A total of more than thirty arrows were shot, and most of them were bounced away or hung on the cloth. The defense was indeed very strong.
Ju Ming looked at another weapon on the table - Thunderbolt!
Historically, the earliest record of similar weapons appeared in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province in the late Jin Shizong period. A hunter named Li Tie stuffed gunpowder into a clay pot and installed a fuse. He alerted the fox group through the sound of the explosion, drove the foxes into the net and then captured them.
On this basis, the Jin people invented a metal bomb called "Iron Artillery". The Southern Song Dynasty also quickly learned from it and changed its name to "Zhentian Lei".
When the Mongolian army attacked Kaifeng, the Jin soldiers used thunderbolts, which for a time made the Mongolian soldiers dare not approach the city wall.
After destroying the Jin Kingdom, the Mongols also learned how to make bombs.
By the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, bombs had been used in various ways, and there were even records of the use of landmines in the Battle of Jingnan.
This ordnance manufacturing officer named Peng Xiu held a spherical bomb in his hands. He twisted it hard and easily decomposed into two bowl-shaped structures. The gunpowder inside was wrapped and would not scatter easily.
Ju Ming took a closer look and saw that wedge grooves and buckles were made at the joint, which could be opened or closed quickly.
"It is made entirely of pig iron and the cost is not very high," Peng Xiu explained. "Including gunpowder, this thunderbolt weighs four kilograms and three taels."
Ju Ming said: "How to throw this? It's too heavy!"
Peng Xiu said: "Throw it down when you are defending the city. Or use a cannon cart to throw it out. A cannon weighing several kilograms can be thrown out with a small flat cannon (return cannon). This small and light cannon The flat artillery can be installed on warships, placed on city walls, and can also be pulled by mules to accompany the army in field battles."
okay.
Ju Ming provided the idea for making Zhentian Lei, but I'm afraid he didn't explain it clearly.
His plan was to make grenades and then train grenadiers.
However, military workers like Peng Xiu made bombs weighing four or five kilograms, which were specially used to defend the city or be thrown by catapults.
Ju Ming felt that this was a good idea and could be used to increase the firepower of the triple formation.
At that time, the Jin cavalry rushed to one hundred and twenty steps and used catapults to throw bombs. When they rushed to one hundred steps, they fired another volley with muskets. Then they used squatting tiger cannons and wooden cannons to shoot shotguns, in conjunction with bows and arrows. Crossbows, muskets, bows, and crossbows can all be fired twice.
The whole process involves six or more levels of long-range firepower, and with proficiency it can even reach eight to ten levels of firepower. If you can still rush in front of the car formation, it can only be said that the golden soldiers are blessed by gods.
Ju Ming ordered: "This kind of thunder can be kept and made into lighter ones. It is best to control it within three kilograms."
"Yes!" Peng Xiu accepted the order.
Ju Ming went to inspect the gunpowder factory again. The reason why it was placed in the suburbs was because he was afraid of a big explosion one day.
At the beginning, the Zhu family and his son raised their troops in Hanzhong, which happened to be the most important saltpeter producing area in northern China.
Now, the Zhu family and his son have temporarily settled in Kaifeng, and the counties in Kaifeng Prefecture happen to be the top saltpeter producing areas in China!
If there is no shortage of saltpeter, there will naturally be no shortage of gunpowder.
What really matters is to strictly manage the gunpowder production process, otherwise the gunpowder formula will become a decoration.
During the Opium War, Qing generals in different places used completely different gunpowder ratios. The fundamental reason was that corners were cut in the gunpowder production.
For example, nitrate is qualified if it is repeatedly purified three times using local methods, while craftsmen in the Qing Dynasty often only purified it once or twice.
Responsible Qing generals must estimate the quality of the raw material saltpeter they obtain based on the actual power of the gunpowder in their hands, and then ask their craftsmen to adjust the proportion of saltpeter in the gunpowder accordingly (often by increasing the percentage of saltpeter).
How fucking tiring it is to fight like this!
After an inspection at the gunpowder factory, Ju Ming felt very satisfied. Considering that cutting corners would cost you money, the craftsmen were extremely serious and responsible.
He asked the Ordnance Experimental Factory to send people to Cizhou and Xuzhou respectively to bring them the production methods of cloth face armor and thunder.
Now the armor coverage rate of the whole army is extremely high, so there is no rush for cloth face armor for now, but Zhentian Lei must be made quickly.
The shell of this thing is cast from pig iron, and the quality of the steel is not a concern, so it can be mass-produced quickly and cheaply.
After it was built, the Thunder Thunder produced in Cizhou was shipped to Zhang Guangdao nearby.
The Zhentian Lei produced in Xuzhou was shipped to Li Bao, Zhe Yanzhi, Yelu Yujian and others in Haizhou. In fact, they needed Zhentian Lei the most because they did not have many troops across the sea, but they could face the Jin Dynasty at any time.
The soldiers attacked the city in large numbers.
Li Bao and Mr. Li were naturally the first to obtain new weapons.
Wanyan Zongwang's 10,000 elite troops were still on their way to Banghai Road when Li Bao obtained the first batch of 800 thunderbolts, which were shipped along with the military rations.
"How do you use this thing?" Li Bao held a bomb weighing more than four kilograms, a little doubtful of the true power of this thing.
The technician who followed the bomb smiled and said, "Mr. Li, you can let someone try it."
Outside Haibin County.
Many straw men were erected in a wasteland, with Thunderbolt placed in the center.
Li Bao originally stood more than ten steps away, but the technician reminded him: "Mr. Li needs to retreat a little further."
"How far back?" Li Bao asked.
The man said: "It's better to take another twenty steps back to prevent broken pieces of iron from flying towards us."
Including brothers Da Mingzhen and Da Mingyi, who surrendered to the city, also came with their own soldiers to watch the excitement.
I saw a soldier lighting the fuse, running quickly to a large pit dug a few meters away, and then jumped into the pit to avoid it.
"boom!"
A huge roar sounded, which was really deafening.
As the gunpowder smoke gradually dissipated, Li Bao personally came closer to check. Within a radius of one and a half meters, all the straw men were knocked down and shattered. Within a radius of three meters, the straw men were shaken crookedly, and many fell down.
And within a radius of more than ten meters, or even further, there were pieces of blown pig iron everywhere.
This amount of gunpowder is really packed!
The record in "History of the Jin Dynasty" is even more exaggerated: "When gunpowder broke out, the sound was like thunder, and the heat reached more than half an acre. Both human and cowhide were shattered without leaving a trace, and armor and iron were all penetrated..."
Da Mingyi looked at the explosion scene and was glad that he had voted for Da Ming, otherwise what would he do if he encountered this thing?
He turned to look at Da Mingzhen and found that his brother had stood there blankly, staring at the scorched earth on the ground.
"We must win, Ming Dynasty must win!" Daming Yi was so excited that he shouted violently, and the surrounding soldiers also shouted loudly.
The Thunderbolt has not yet been actually used on the battlefield, but it has already boosted the morale of the Ming Dynasty soldiers!
