Watching Xi Chang mix the gunpowder evenly, Li Qingdao: "That's it?" I don't think it's much different from the original gunpowder! ”

Xi Chang arched his hand: "Gunpowder is like this, the most important thing is not what it looks like, but the ratio of it." If the ratio is a little worse, the effect will be very different. Why is the artillery of the Song army powerful? It is because their gunpowder is different, not only in proportion, but also into particles, and there are many requirements. I have been in the Song Army for many years, and I have been a gunner for several years, so I know this best. ”

Li Qingdao: "Then why don't you clump into particles?" If you know it's better, how did you do it? ”

Xi Chang said: "Official, I know that they will be clumped, but I won't do it." I just know that the ratio is like this, and the effect is much stronger than messing around. If you don't believe it, try it and you'll know. ”

Li Qingdao: "Naturally, I want to try." If it's really useful, you'll be rewarded heavily. If you want, stay in our army, and make gunpowder. When you go back to the Great Song Dynasty, you are just a farmer, so what is the point? ”

Xi Chang said: "I still have family members, where can I stay in the party." As long as I help you make gunpowder and get the money, it's fine. ”

Li Qing didn't persuade much, and ordered the soldiers to get gunpowder and go outside to test the cannon. The cannon itself is not difficult to make, it is just an iron pipe, but how big it is. The party's steel technology was poor, and it could not make a cannon like the Song army, so it could only use pig iron to cast a barrel. Although it looks heavy, it is not very powerful. Real cannons, all of which are extremely heavy, can only be installed on the city walls. The most critical thing about artillery, in addition to the gun body, is also useful for different gunpowder. The artillery formula of the Song army was tried many times, and the ratio was top secret, and only the officers in the army knew it. When transporting, they are transported separately, and when they arrive at the locality, the troops are deployed by themselves and sent to the fighting army.

What the party and the army knew before was only approximate, gunpowder could be used, but it was not powerful. I tried many times and was not satisfied, so I hit the idea on the retired Song Jun. It took a lot of effort to find Xi Chang, who had retired from the artillery of the Song Army, to find him to guide the party, and promised to give him heavy thanks. After Xi Chang retired, he farmed on Hequ Road, he was a money-loving person, and finally couldn't help it and came to the party to make money.

Xi Chang is just an artilleryman, not a person who specializes in making gunpowder in the army, and the prescription ratio is still heard from others, and he has tried to make it himself, and he can use it. For the party, this is already remarkable. In the past two years, the party has cast a few cannons, and almost all the steel in the country has been used up, and it has been installed in important places such as Lingzhou and Shanheguan. With the new gunpowder, there will not be much loss in positional warfare.

Testing gunpowder is not a matter of time and a half, and the party does not want Xi Chang to be overly exposed to his equipment, Li Qing ordered wine and food, drank with him, and waited for the soldiers who tested the gunpowder to come back.

When the wine and food came up, Li Qing poured the wine and said, "In your opinion, we have such gunpowder, how about fighting with the Song army?" ”

Xi Chang said: "Officials, the party is only one road in the Song Dynasty, and even the population is less than many roads, how can it be compared?" Now it is not as good as before, with the railway, the Song army can be hundreds of thousands of people in one place, even if it is defeated for a while, they can also fight for months and months, how can the party be able to withstand the enemy? can only use artillery to stick to the key points, so that the Song army feels that it is not worth it, and retreats by himself. ”

Li Qingdao: "Not necessarily. In the last battle of Huedu, the Song army relied on the powerful artillery and wiped out several roads in a row. Now that the country has a lot of artillery, coupled with good gunpowder, where is the Song army still so easy to win? ”

Xi Chang is not good at analyzing the pros and cons at this time, so he can only say: "I'm not a high-end person, how can I know this?" Drinking! ”

The soldiers of Hequ Road, especially the battalion Tianxiang army from Suizhou, had all learned in school. The understanding of war is not at all comparable to that of people like Li Qing. With firearms, railways, and systematic command, the army's combat strength has been held to the lower limit. Although this lower limit is poor, it is not comparable to the party's army. The Song army is now in the main direction of attack, and it can invest an army of three or five hundred thousand, which is comparable to the party.

Xi Chang just loves money, and his brain is not bad, of course he doesn't think that the party can fight against the Song army. It is precisely because of this that he can come here to offer the gunpowder formula, and he will definitely not stay. Now it is very clear that once the Song army completes all the training, it will inevitably take the party as a knife. In the past two or three years, these party members have forgotten how badly they were beaten back then, and they have begun to raise their heads to the sky again.

After drinking a few glasses of wine, Li Qingdao: "The most important thing now is that the party does not produce flame nitrate and sulfur, I don't know if you have a way?" ”

Xi Chang shook his head: "I'm just an ordinary farmer now, where are those ways?" As long as the money arrives, what can't be bought? As long as you are willing to spend the capital, there will inevitably be businessmen who sell these, and the officials can rest assured. ”

Li Qing nodded and didn't ask anything. The party does not produce nitrate and sulfur, even if it is made of nitrate by local method, there is no one who knows it, so it can only be purchased from outside. In the Song Dynasty, these two things were forbidden, and party items were not easy to buy. It can only be smuggled through merchants, and the quantity is unstable and insufficient. Seongju was a nearby commercial center with a large number of merchants and was the main target of the party.

On the second day, the party tried the new gunpowder, which was indeed much more powerful than the previous one, and the formula was clear and stable, and he paid Xi Chang a reward according to the agreement, and let him go back. Xi Chang used a pseudonym to get to the party, and no one else knew about it, so he didn't mention it anymore.

In Shengzhou City, Shen Yuanwai looked at the goods and said to Tan Shilang, a small servant on the side: "The goods coming today are important, you must pay attention to them, if something happens, you will be asked!" Don't go anywhere else tonight, just watch here! ”

Tan Shilang was only thirteen years old, and he was a half-grown child, and when he was playing with his heart, he listened: "How can I keep the long night alone?" Unless the staff gives me money, I will buy wine and eat meat, otherwise in the middle of the night, I will inevitably fall asleep, isn't it bad? ”

Shen Yuanwai said: "If you drink wine, you will definitely snore like thunder, where can you take care of the goods!" Little children, good don't learn, what kind of wine to drink! ”

Tan Shilang just asked for money, and when he heard this, he became unhappy: "I make a lot of money outside the staff, so what if I always reward money!" These goods are not allowed to be sold outside, and if the news spreads, the government will definitely come to arrest them! ”

Shen Yuanwai listened, and his eyes widened: "If you dare to leak the news, take care of your flesh and skin!" Come to my house, eat me, live in me, and pay every month, what more reward do you want! Look closely, something happened, I can't spare you! ”

After speaking, he went back to look at the goods again before he was willing to leave.

Looking at the back of Shen Yuanwai leaving, Tan Shilang took a sip: "What an iron rooster, doing such a big business, making money to kill his head, he won't even give me the usual money!" If I go to the police, I'll see what happens to you! ”

After saying that, he sat down against the goods, indignant. The goods were transported back from the station today, and I don't know what it is, Tan Shilang only knows that it is forbidden by the imperial court, and it will be sold to the party. Shengzhou also does business with the party, but the government strictly checks the goods, and prohibits the sale of prohibited goods. If there is a forbidden object, there will be smuggling, no matter how to prevent it, as long as the other party is willing to pay money, it cannot be prevented no matter what. Shen Yuanwai is one of the smugglers, his family has a shop in Kaifeng Prefecture, and the goods transported to Shengzhou are sold in the shop and smuggled outside. As long as there is money to be made, Shen Yuanwai is willing to sell anything, as long as he can buy it. This was the case with the sulphur and flame nitre. These two things are also used by the people, although there are prohibitions in the Song Dynasty, the people can still buy them.

Leaning on the goods and sitting next to them for a while, Tan Shilang was impatient, thought about it again and again, and went to uncover the skin of the goods. Open the skin and see that it is a wooden box inside, which is extremely tightly sealed. After thinking for a while, he stomped his feet, took out a box, found a wooden stick next to him, and pried the box open.

The box opened, and Tan Shilang looked inside, and there was an oilcloth bag inside. The oilcloth bag was opened, yellow, and when I smelled it, I knew it was sulfur.

Looking at the sulfur in the box, Tan Shilang was stunned for a while. Although he knew that Shen Yuan was smuggling goods to Tangxiang, he didn't know what it was, but he didn't expect it to be this kind of thing. Shengzhou is a border land, and the imperial court strictly prohibits the sale of sulfur, let alone selling it to the party.

Looking at the box, Tan Shilang was really stunned for a long time. After a while, he came back to his senses and stomped his foot violently: "I didn't expect that this old dog outside Shen Yuanwai was so bold that he dared to sell sulfur!" I heard that this could be used to make gunpowder, which was strictly forbidden by the imperial court. If I go to the government to complain, not only will this old dog be ugly, won't I have a reward? If you don't give money consistently, you will lose more! ”