Hearing the words "cluster bomb", Zhu Qizhen's anus tightened for no reason.
The Academy of Sciences has profound knowledge in stealing and rich practical experience.
During the air raid on Constantinople, a super bomb named Fat Man was detonated. However, it was discovered that although the bigger the bomb, the more powerful it was. However, when the amount of explosives reaches a certain scale, it is difficult to cause further damage.
Generally speaking, the explosive energy produced by ten pounds of dynamite should be ten times that of one pound of dynamite. However, this is not the case.
Because the destructive power of bombs relies on shrapnel fragmentation, causing direct or indirect damage to the enemy.
At Fat Man's level, the damage caused by shrapnel alone cannot be directly proportional to the amount of ammunition.
At this time, the greatest damage was the shock wave generated by the explosion. All buildings within a hundred steps of the surface were destroyed, and flesh and blood could not stop it at all.
Through data analysis, the Academy of Sciences concluded that Fat Man has reached a bottleneck. Continuing to expand the scale of bombs will not only be difficult to throw, but the cost-effectiveness will be pitifully low.
In this case, the Academy of Sciences had to give up its larger and stronger purpose and seek a new bomb configuration.
The students discussed for several days and finally confirmed the new direction, which was cluster bombs.
The concept of this kind of bomb is to give up bigness and replace it with many.
The specific idea is to pack several or even dozens of small bombs into a large bomb, and then throw them by an unmanned sky lantern. Moreover, this bomb-carrying sky lantern can fly higher, allowing the enemy to
Even more difficult to guard against.
In the past, the Kongming Lantern only dropped one bomb, and the accuracy must be controlled as much as possible. This meant that the flying height should not be too high, and it would be easy to be discovered. Although there are currently no weapons to counterattack, if you can take precautions in advance and find a bunker to hide,
It can still effectively reduce casualties.
Cluster bombs focus on a large-volume tube full of bombs, which can be thrown from a high altitude to scatter the flowers with rain and dew. At this stage of weapon development, it no longer matters whether they are accurate or not. The greater the deviation, the wider the coverage.
At the same time, bomb-carrying sky lanterns can fly higher and are more concealed when launching attacks.
After Zhu Qizhen listened carefully to Beilin's narration, he felt a chill on his back.
Even in later generations, this thing would still be a terrifying weapon.
Oops, the skill tree of the Academy of Sciences is a little off track...
During the planning of the new town, a workshop area was specially opened, and now it can carry out simple processes such as steel smelting, wood processing, and lime burning.
Zhu Qizhen gave an order, and the workshop area was immediately put under control. The entire Academy of Sciences was stationed and began to rush to make cluster bombs.
During this period, whether it is materials or personnel, as long as the Academy of Sciences needs it, it must fully cooperate without any room for negotiation.
On the road west of Tehran, a team of imperial guards traveled day and night to Constantinople.
"The imperial edict has arrived, please accept it from His Highness King Tan!"
Zhu Qiyu kowtowed and welcomed the imperial edict, and immediately issued an order: "The Emperor has an edict that the Timur Khanate has occupied our territory of the Ming Dynasty. It has a vengeful intention, so we must raise our troops to attack it!"
Zhang Mao was a little puzzled, so he came forward and asked: "Your Highness, what territory does the Timur Khanate occupy in our country?"
Zhu Qiyu said calmly: "Western Regions!"
"Western Region...this, this..."
Zhang Mao hesitated for a long time and asked: "Where is the Western Region specifically?"
"The entire Western Region!"
While the two were talking, Alejandro also came over and asked in Chinese that he had just learned and was not yet proficient in: "The Western Region is very large, and most of the Timur Khanate is in the Western Region!"
Zhang Mao glared at him and said dissatisfiedly: "You know a hammer!"
Alejandro had no choice but to shut his mouth and give in a smile.
Zhang Mao asked again: "Your Highness, where is the Timur Khanate?"
Zhu Qiyu had no choice but to order someone to take out the map, circle a piece on it, and said: "This is the Timur Khanate, which includes the entire Western Region. Of course, the Western Region has been the territory of our dynasty since ancient times and has been occupied by the Timur Khanate.
It’s been a long time, it’s time to come back.”
Alejandro couldn't help but said: "If the Western Region is divided, the Timur Khanate will lose nearly half of its territory. They will definitely not agree. This is simply too much!"
Zhang Mao glared at him again and said, "Is it too much?"
Alejandro could only shake his head and said: "Not too much, not too much..."
Zhang Mao turned his head and said: "Your Highness, send troops!"
Zhu Qiyu said: "The territory of Timur Khanate is very wide. In the words of the emperor, this is called strategic depth. Therefore, it cannot be achieved overnight. Before sending troops, a feasible plan must be formulated."
"Your Highness is right!"
Zhang Mao nodded and said: "It's just that...the emperor doesn't have enough manpower around him. If time goes by, there may be danger. Why don't your highness give me a troop of troops as a vanguard to explore the opponent's strength first?"
Zhu Qiyu thought for a moment and said: "Well, you lead five hundred cavalry as the vanguard, with Alessandro as your adjutant. I will gather the troops and horses, prepare food and fodder, and we will arrive soon."
Zhang Mao glanced at Alejandro and said: "Your Highness, I am enough for you."
Zhu Qiyu said: "It's better to let Alejandro come with you. He is a local and knows the customs and customs here better than you."
Zhang Mao had no choice but to accept the order and immediately went to select men. All of them were Ming troops brought from Nanhaiwei.
Zhu Qiyu's consideration was correct. He would encounter various situations at any time during this trip. With Alejandro going with him, at least things would be handled more securely.
Otherwise, the language barrier would be extremely troublesome.
The team prepared for two days and set off early on the third day, heading east from Constantinople.
The terrain of Central Asia is flat, and the cavalry is very fast, covering 500 miles a day.
"General, the front is about to enter the territory of the Aries Kingdom."
Zhang Mao looked at Alejandro and asked: "How far is this place from Tehran?"
Alejandro said: "If the outer circle passes, it will be reachable in another five days."
"What if we go straight?"
"Return to the General. If you go straight through the territory of the Aries Kingdom, you may cause unnecessary trouble."
"Then let's do this. Avoid the main towns of Aries Kingdom and continue traveling."
"However, this route is still within the territory of Aries..."
"No matter, we have fast feet. By the time they react, they will have gone far."
Zhang Mao just wanted to reach Tehran as soon as possible. In order to avoid complications, he just avoided the other party's towns and chose to travel through relatively sparsely populated areas.
When Alejandro saw this, he no longer insisted. He just suggested that he personally explore the path in front of the team.
Because he knew Zhang Mao's temper. He was a good fighter, but he was somewhat arbitrary and difficult to listen to other people's suggestions.
Considering that you may encounter danger at any time, it is safer to explore the route yourself.
The team turned south and marched for another two days. Alejandro hurriedly came to report that the enemy was in front.
Zhang Mao immediately became nervous and asked: "We are still far away from Timur. Where does the enemy situation come from?"
Alejandro said: "Report to the general, they are soldiers from the Aries Kingdom. There are about two thousand people, and they are approaching us quickly."
Zhang Mao scolded: "Damn it, what's going on in this Aries country?"
Alejandro said: "My subordinates captured an Aries soldier. This man said that the Aries country had just signed an alliance with the Timur Khanate to advance and retreat together!"
Zhang Mao's eyes were a little complicated, and at this time he reflected the vision of King Tan.
If I only bring the Ming army with me, even if I discover the situation, I'm afraid I won't be able to bring back any useful information.
No one was caught alive. People don't understand what you ask. It's like a chicken talking to a duck.
At least Alejandro understands the other party's language, making it easy to ask questions.
However, this Aries country is actually an ally of the Timur Khanate, so things are a bit difficult to handle.
In order to shorten the distance, his marching route had already entered the territory of Aries, but unexpectedly, it turned out to be enemy troops!
He looked at the dusty soldiers five hundred meters behind him. It was easy to deal with only two thousand people, but he was afraid that the other party had more soldiers and horses. Moreover, he was in other people's territory, and he didn't have any supplies or support.
Advantage.
However, it may be too late to return to the original route at this time. If the opponent sets up an ambush and catches the turtle in the jar, a hasty breakout will cause more casualties.
Alejandro looked anxious and said: "General, do you want to fight?"
Zhang Mao frowned, looked around, and suddenly his eyes lit up.
There is a favorable terrain not far away, surrounded by mountains on three sides, with only one gap.
"Did you see the mountain col over there? Everyone obeyed the order and retreated to the mountain col immediately!"
After the order was given, the team quickly rushed to the mountain col, and then moved stones to build a defensive fortification.
Smoke and dust filled the air ahead, and the sound of horse hooves became increasingly clear.
Zhang Mao held a telescope and stared straight ahead, but the smoke was too heavy and he could not see anything clearly.
Soon, cavalry figures appeared in the field of vision, galloping towards them.
Alejandro said anxiously: "General, the enemy is within range!"
"Don't worry yet!"
Zhang Mao raised his hand to signal everyone not to attack for the time being, because there was something strange in his heart.
The other party was obviously coming for the 500 people in his group, but even though they were so close, no one could see anyone drawing a sword.
Logically speaking, he should be holding a long knife in his hand, shouting wildly, and coupled with a fierce face, which is consistent with the fighting spirit.
It's strange that no one drew their swords. It seems they are not here to fight?
When the distance between the two sides was about fifty steps, the Aries cavalry suddenly stopped charging. Then, a small group of people broke away from the large army and rode to the front of the formation.
"Excuse me...are you Akito..."
Zhang Mao was immediately surprised. The other party didn't look like he was here to fight, but the second-hand Chinese he had stolen from someone was very confusing.
The general meaning was to ask whether he was a Han or a member of the Ming army, and finally said he was a Ming person.
"We are friends, we are friends..."
"Come out and let's talk!"
The opponent was still shouting in front of the formation, so Zhang Mao called Alejandro forward and ordered: "Go and ask what is going on!"
"General, the identity of the other party is still unclear..."
"What are you afraid of?"
Zhang Mao stared at him and said dissatisfiedly: "If you die, I will kill them all to avenge you!"
Alejandro felt helpless, he was already dead, what was the use of revenge...
However, he was the only one in the team who understood Persian, so he had no choice but to get on his horse and head to the front of the battle.
Fortunately, the other party did not kill anyone.
The two sides talked for a while, then Alejandro turned his horse and returned to his position.
"General, they are here to surrender!"
Zhang Mao was puzzled and asked: "What's going on?"
Alejandro explained: "Fang Sheng claimed that he was a subordinate of General Emir. Because General Emir had different political views with the upper echelons of Aries, he was ostracized and placed under house arrest..."
"Wait a minute!"
Zhang Mao interrupted him and asked: "Who is the emir you are talking about?"
Alejandro hurriedly said: "This person holds the military power of the Aries Kingdom, and is equivalent to the Minister of War of the Ming Dynasty, or the generalissimo of the expedition."
Since the generals of the Ming Dynasty did not hold military power for a long time, and the Minister of War did not have the power to control the army privately, it is difficult to find prototypes for figures like General Emir.
Zhang Mao seemed to understand, and said: "You continue!"
"yes!"
Alejandro thought for a while and said: "The general meaning is that General Emir advocated an alliance with our country, while other upper-level officials in Aries advocated an alliance with Timur. In the end, the king sided with Timur, and the other upper-level officials
The dignitaries naturally followed the king's side, and General Emir became a prisoner."
Zhang Mao frowned and said: "These are their own affairs in the Aries Kingdom, what do they have to do with our Ming Dynasty?"
Alejandro said: "General Emir was convicted of treason because he sent a message to the outside world."
"what news?"
"It's the news about the alliance between the Aries Kingdom and the Timur Khanate. It is said that it was sent by his cronies."
"Send to where?"
“Tehran!”
Zhang Mao suddenly realized it and said: "So, this emir is one of our own."
Alejandro nodded and said: "Yes, one of our own!"
"Since you are one of our own, how can you sit back and ignore it? Go and call their leader, and I will talk to him personally!"
Alejandro returned to the front of the formation again, and not long after, he led a man back.
"General, this is Colonel Ancru, a direct descendant of General Emir."
After finishing speaking, he introduced the situation on his side to Ancru.
When Ankru heard that the other party was the prince of the county, he quickly bowed and saluted.
Zhang Mao nodded slowly and asked, "What is the condition of your General Emir now? Is his life in danger?"
Ancru chatted a lot, and Alejandro translated: "Currently he is imprisoned. He has been convicted of treason and will probably be beheaded in the near future."
Zhang Mao frowned and said, "Is it so serious?"
Ancru said: "The Aries Kingdom is already reorganizing its army and preparing to attack Tehran with the Timur Khanate. The day the army sets out will be the day when General Emir will die."
Zhang Mao said: "I understand this. We sacrifice flags in front of the formation. We do the same."
Ankru suddenly knelt down on one knee and said: "General Emir intends to have good relations with your country. Now that he is in danger, please ask His Royal Highness for help!"