Chapter Five Hundred and Seventeenth Gunpowder Begins
The idea of using gunpowder has been in Guo Song's mind for a long time. However, although the military effect of gunpowder was discovered early, its development was very slow. It did not play a decisive role in the outcome of the war and could only play a supporting role. In the Song Dynasty,
The greatest role of gunpowder is only in the defense and siege of cities, but on a high-speed mobile battlefield, the role of gunpowder is not great.
It was not until carriers such as guns appeared that gunpowder gradually replaced cold weapons. However, it required rapid advances in national strength and entire science and technology before the emergence of guns and guns would be a natural progression. In the Tang Dynasty, where the annual output of pig iron was only two million kilograms, there was no doubt that talking about guns and guns
It's just a fool's errand. Even if early muskets appeared, they would still be far from a match for horseback archery with bows and arrows.
However, gunpowder still has its role. In fixed operations, such as defending a city, attacking a city, or attacking a pass, fortress, etc., gunpowder can indeed play a decisive role. This is the original intention of Guo Song to make gunpowder. The Hexi Army has insufficient troops.
You must have some black technology to assist in defending the city.
According to Guo Song's instructions, the soldiers had ground the completely dried gunpowder into coarse particles the size of mung beans. A soldier found a porcelain vase for incense sticks. The biggest feature of this porcelain vase is that it is sealed from top to bottom.
, only a small eye, this is what Guo Song wants. The explosion of gunpowder is mainly caused by the violent expansion of gas, so the confined space is the top priority, paper bags, wooden barrels, clay pots, porcelain bottles, iron cans
, the Song Dynasty upgraded step by step, and finally invented the cast iron thunder.
Then there is the fuse. The fuse is relatively simple, just roll up the powdered nitrate with a long piece of paper. But it is such a simple thing. Guo Song and several soldiers were sweating and busy all morning.
"Your Majesty, what is this?" Several soldiers asked in confusion.
"This is called Porcelain Fire Thunder!"
Guo Song smiled slightly and said, "Let's find a place to test it out!"
They found an open space behind the military camp. At this time, dozens of generals were also invited by the soldiers.
The soldier placed the porcelain bottle half filled with gunpowder on a large wooden box, poured some kerosene around the porcelain bottle, and hung the fuse downward. Although the fuse test was good, it was the first time to use it after all.
He didn't dare to be careless and couldn't light it directly.
"Everyone, I invented a gadget. I don't know if it will work, but I want to show it to you."
Guo Song asked everyone to retreat a hundred steps away. He lit a rocket, drew his bow, and shot an arrow. The arrow hit the kerosene on the wooden box, and the kerosene ignited.
"Good archery skills!"
The crowd burst into cheers. They were all experts in identifying goods. Guo Song's shot of this arrow could ignite the kerosene. Even if he could pierce the Yangtze River at a hundred steps, he might not be able to do so.
"I asked you to look at the porcelain vase, not to look at archery skills!" Guo Song said angrily.
The flame lit the fuse. The fuse burned very fast and burned suddenly, but the porcelain bottle did not move. After the first failure, Guo Song waved his hands and said apologetically to everyone: "Sorry, failed!"
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a loud sound of 'Bang!' and a plume of thick smoke rose into the sky, scaring everyone to the point of squatting down.
Guo Song was also stunned for a long time, and he laughed and said: "Damn it, I thought I failed, but I didn't expect that I succeeded."
He walked forward quickly. The soldiers followed and were about to pick up the porcelain vase. Guo Song quickly said: "Don't pick it up. I'll see how far it flew."
"Your Majesty, it's about thirty steps!"
The soldier found the furthest piece of porcelain.
At this time, the generals gathered around tremblingly and asked: "Your Majesty, what is this?"
"This is called... this is called Porcelain Fire Thunder. It is a kind of firearm. It doesn't have much power yet."
Guo Song was telling the truth. The power of the porcelain pieces was still too small. The opponent could defend himself by raising a shield. There was almost no shock wave. It could only be regarded as a preliminary test.
The generals looked at each other. They had never heard of such a firearm. Liang Wu couldn't help but ask: "Then what is its function?"
Guo Song wanted to slap him, "Didn't you see the explosion on the table?" In fact, no one had the concept of such an explosion. Porcelain Huolei's performance was not up to par, so Guo Song could only sigh and said: "This is
A very good fire starter, a little more convenient than a rocket."
He asked the soldiers to pour a bag of gunpowder powder on the wooden box, and asked everyone to step back a little, then lit a firecracker and threw it up. There was a sound of "Boom!", the gunpowder burned rapidly, and black smoke rose into the sky.
Everyone understood immediately and applauded enthusiastically. Guo Song said with a smile: "Wrap it in paper and tie it to an arrow. You can quickly ignite the enemy's tent and make a fire kite. It can even fly several miles away. It is a long-distance fire attack."
Best Firearms.”
At present, it still needs to be perfected step by step before it can become a powerful explosion, but its combustion properties can be quickly put into effect, and it can even be used in the battle against Da Dou Bago.
...........
For the generals, Guo Song's experiment with gunpowder was just a new thing. It was just a way to relax their mind and open their horizons. The novelty only lasted for more than two hours, and they immediately plunged into intensive preparations for war.
The next day, Guo Song ordered Zhao Xiu to lead twenty soldiers to continue making porcelain bottle fire thunder. Zhao Xiu was talented in making gunpowder. He was responsible for the previous grinding and bottling. He was able to succeed in one go. Guo Song then continued
I also taught him how to make fuses and paper firecrackers and let him figure it out on his own.
Guo Song himself led 3,000 cavalry to Dadou Bugu...
The situation in Longyou was extremely serious. After the Tubo received news of the Chang'an mutiny, they immediately realized that this was an excellent opportunity for them to launch a war and plunder the Tang Dynasty.
The Prime Minister of Tubo, Shang Jiezan, immediately made the decision. He persuaded Tubo Zampu and sent three armies to attack Longyou. Hehuang was the main force. The 12,000 troops quickly captured Shanzhou and Kuozhou and marched towards Lanzhou. The other two
The Lu army sent troops all the way to Lintao and on the other to Dadou Bugu to strengthen the defense of Dadou Bago and prevent the Tang army from fighting out of Dadou Bago.
Tubo attacked and plundered cities all the way in Longyou. Hundreds of thousands of Longyou people fled after hearing the news, but many people were still caught. Tubo needed various resources, food, livestock and population to enrich its national power. Their goal
It is very clear that the goods and people were plundered and sent back to Tibet, and the Han people were used as slaves to expand production.
In just five days, seven states in Longyou fell.
At this time, Lanzhou was also in panic. More than 100,000 people in Jincheng County fled with their families. Two thousand Hexi troops also arrived in time and gathered 840 craftsmen from the Longyou Ordnance Institute and their families. A total of five
More than a thousand people also moved all the materials and weapons in the warehouse.
"How much grain is there in the official warehouse?" An Rengui accidentally discovered that there were at least tens of thousands of stones in the official warehouse.
Li Huang, the governor of Lanzhou, said: "There are 55,000 shi. This is the ration of the Longyou Army. It is still small now. At most, it was as much as 300,000 shi."
An Rengui was in a bit of a dilemma. They couldn't carry so much food, let alone throw it to Tibet.
Du Siye, who followed An Rengui to relocate the craftsmen, said: "You can distribute them to the people. There are many people in the city. If each family gets a little, it's almost done."
An Rengui was overjoyed and said to the governor Li Huang: "Distribute food immediately and I can ask soldiers to assist you."
Normally, it was a capital offense to distribute military rations privately, but now Li Huang couldn't care less. He immediately asked the government officials to notify the people all over the city to come and collect the food. Hundreds of thousands of people came in droves.
In just half a day, all 55,000 shi of grain were distributed to the people in the city. Tens of thousands of grains were broken into pieces for the people to flee with, and the Hexi Army began to withdraw northward.
Lanzhou's own population is more than 100,000, and with the hundreds of thousands of people who fled from Shanzhou, the number of people in Jincheng County is nearly 300,000. At this moment, news came from the east.
The road to Chang'an has been cut off by another Tibetan army, and the 300,000 people in Jincheng fell into despair.
At this time, the appearance of the Hexi Army suddenly gave the people hope. Regardless of whether the Hexi Army was willing or not, the people in the city followed the Hexi Army and evacuated to the Yellow River.
Hundreds of thousands of people on the banks of the Yellow River were crying loudly and in great panic. Dozens of large rafts filled with people sailed back and forth on the Yellow River, sending boatloads of people to the other side. However, it was still too slow and it took all the people to
It will take at least ten days to complete the shipment.
At this time, Liang Wu led 5,000 soldiers to greet them, and the number of giant rafts on the Yellow River increased to 300, greatly speeding up the people's crossing of the river.
Liang Wu divided the soldiers into five groups, each group had a thousand soldiers, and escorted the people to Liangzhou in batches.
This result was really beyond the expectations of Hexi officials. They originally thought that only 30% of the people from Lanzhou would come to Hexi, with a population of up to 30,000 to 40,000 people. Unexpectedly, in the end, all the people from Lanzhou and Shanzhou fled.
Pan Liao had no choice but to evacuate half of the people to Ganzhou. The more than 20,000 donkeys and mules that Guo Song brought back from Guanzhong played a huge role. Old and weak women and children rode donkeys and mules, while young and strong men rode horses or walked.
A huge team, escorted by a thousand cavalry, retreated toward Zhangye.