Southern Tang Dynasty, Jiankang City, Zhongshan Camp.
Looking at the bronze cannon in front of him, which was engraved with a dragon head and inlaid with tiger claws, Emperor Li Yu was overjoyed and said hello three times.
Li Mi, the counselor on the side, held a fly whisk and shook his head slightly: "Your Majesty, the Tiger Crouching Cannon imitated by the Ordnance Inspector looks similar, but it is still not as good as the firearms of the Northern Tang Dynasty."
Li Yu was stunned: "I see that the two are almost identical, how can they be inferior?"
Li Mi: "Within five cannons, there is no distinction between superior and inferior; within ten cannons, the inferiority is obvious; within twenty cannons, there is no distinction between superior and inferior."
Li Yu: "What? Why is our Crouching Tiger Cannon so ineffective? Could it be that we cut corners?!"
Li Mi: "It's not about cutting corners... In fact, both artillery and gunpowder look simple, but there are so many tricks inside that it is extremely difficult to copy them in a hurry."
Hearing this, Li Yu looked anxious and asked, "Sir, please speak clearly."
Li Mi knelt down, knocked the Tiger Crouching Cannon of the Southern Tang Dynasty with his hand, and said: "The artillery of the Northern Tang Dynasty has an indestructible body. The iron material used is even harder than Baidu Steel. The iron layer cannot be seen.
There are bubbles, and impurities are not easily attached to the wall of the cannon. We tried many methods for the artillery of the North Dynasty, but we could not extract the iron material of the Beitang artillery. Therefore, after several firings, the cannon body would become cracked. If it is fired again,
If you use it, it will explode."
Li Yu: "I will gather craftsmen from all over the country to develop it together, and there will always be a result."
Li Mi: "The reason why the iron material of the cannon is so strong lies not so much in the material as in the refining method. The Northern Tang Dynasty must have used advanced smelting furnaces and perfected the impurity removal method. This
This kind of technology cannot be completed in a short period of time without several years of accumulation."
When Li Yu heard this, he was stunned on the spot.
Li Mi hadn't finished his words yet: "If the materials of the cannon body can be used to make up for the weakness, then the gunpowder is a big trouble."
Li Yu: "Gunpowder is in ancient books, and alchemists have already written down how to make it. How could it cause trouble?"
Li Mi: "The alchemists of the Han Dynasty were not clear about the ratio of sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter in gunpowder. After we tried it, we found that the power of the prepared gunpowder was far inferior to that of the Northern Tang Dynasty. I couldn't find it.
The fire elixir masters of the Shao Taoist School discussed together for a long time and unanimously concluded that the gunpowder of the Northern Tang Dynasty must not only contain the three ingredients, but also some other secret treasures."
Li Yu: "You mean, besides sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter, there are other materials in gunpowder?"
Li Mi nodded and said: "The Taoist alchemists made a list. Other materials that can be used as gunpowder ingredients generally include Ma Ru, arsenic, fixed powder, bamboo Ru, clear oil, tung oil, rosin, thick oil, etc. These materials,
What exactly is used and what is the ratio with sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter is a big problem."
Li Yu sighed: "It turns out that the gunpowder formula of the Northern Tang Dynasty was so complicated."
Li Mi: "After several months of trying, the alchemists settled on a recipe, which is roughly fourteen liang of sulfur, seven liang of nest yellow, two and a half kilograms of flame salt, one liang of Maru, and one liang of dry lacquer.
One liang of arsenic, one liang of fixed powder, one liang of bamboo, one liang of yellow elixir, half a liang of yellow wax, one point of clear oil, half a liang of tung oil, one or fourteen liang of rosin, and one point of thick oil.”
Li Yu: "How powerful is this substance compared with the gunpowder of the Northern Tang Dynasty?"
Li Mi sighed: "It's still not as powerful, but it's barely usable."
Li Yu was a little disappointed and said: "As long as it works, it will work."
Li Mi: "Also, the gunpowder in the Northern Tang Dynasty is all in the shape of granules, and there is very little residue after burning. We have tried this for a long time, but we still can't..."
Li Yu was already a little disheartened by what Li Mi said, and even the cannon test scheduled for today seemed a little unmotivated.
When Li Mi saw this, he felt a little regretful.
He just talked too much and just blindly belittled him, which made the emperor begin to lose his fighting spirit.
Li Mi quickly added: "Your Majesty, although the firearms of the Southern Tang Dynasty are inferior to those of the Northern Tang Dynasty, they can already stand alone on the battlefield."
Li Yu nodded slightly when he heard this, but there was still doubt on his face.
Li Mi summoned his soldiers, positioned the tiger squatting cannon, and invited the emperor to go to the rear to watch the cannon.
I saw the soldiers finished loading the gunpowder and iron sand and aimed it at the sandbags on the school field.
After a deafening explosion, a group of people hiding in the back stepped forward to see the effect. They saw dozens of sandbags of different sizes, and countless sieve holes had been punched out by the iron sand fired from the Crouching Tiger Cannon.
When Li Yu saw this, he was immediately delighted and said: "This cannon is so powerful that it can crack mountains and crack rocks. It is really a blessing from God!"
Upon hearing this, all the ministers quickly bowed their heads and agreed, saying that heaven would bring good luck and blessings to the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Li Mi saw that Li Yu had regained his confidence and knew that the latter had never been on the battlefield and had never seen the power of the Northern Tang artillery, so he was complacent now.
While sighing in his heart, Li Bi did not intend to say any more depressing words. He praised the new cannon a few times and said that the Infinite Heavenly Lord would bless the Tang Dynasty.
After watching the test of the artillery, Li Yu was in high spirits, so he held a meeting in the camp to discuss the next war.
Li Yu first asked Li Mi: "How many Tiger Crouching cannons have been produced now?"
Li Mi: "Fifty gates."
Li Yu frowned and said, "Too few."
Li Mi replied: "The craftsmen were not familiar with the craftsmanship in the early stage, so the progress was a bit slow."
Li Yu nodded: "I plan to order Fenghua, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Wucheng Ordnance Factory to fully produce artillery and gunpowder in preparation for this year's war going north."
Hearing this, Li Mi ignored the agreement of other ministers and the requests of military generals to stand up and sing the opposite tune: "Your Majesty, Mi believes that the Southern Tang Dynasty should rest and recuperate this year, and it is not appropriate to use troops."
Li Yu was stunned and said: "I have already reached an alliance with Uighur, Tubo and other countries and agreed to attack the Northern Tang Dynasty together, why do we have to wait any longer?"
Li Mi: "Uihe and Tubo are no more than barbarians, and they are like wolves. When dealing with these people, you must be careful. Now the Northern Tang Dynasty is strong, with strong soldiers and horses, and they have just won several great victories. It is because of the arrogance of the soldiers that they will surely
Expansion outward. The Southern Tang and the Northern Tang are not bordering each other. Instead of taking the initiative to attack the north, it is better to wait for the Northern Tang to fight with the surrounding areas and then take advantage of the situation. By that time, the Northern Tang has already become integrated with the surrounding areas and is severely depleted of troops.
, it is at this time of weakness that the Southern Tang Dynasty can send its troops northward to ensure the chance of victory!"
After listening to Li Mi's analysis, Li Yu couldn't help but nodded, and then asked: "In your opinion, what should we do now?"
Li Mi: "First, purchase saltpeter from Hanzhong as soon as possible, manufacture and collect gunpowder; second, recruit soldiers from Runzhou, Changzhou and other places and intensify troop training; third, stabilize Shi Siming, Ashina Chengqing and others and make them resist
The Northern Tang soldiers peaked to buy time for the Southern Tang; fourth, actively contacted Tubo and Uighur to urge them to attack the Northern Tang and expand the front line as soon as possible."
Li Yu: "Apart from these?"
Li Mi: "There is only one thing left for us to do, and that is to wait."