Li Chao led 3,000 horsemen to the north on a starry night. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the cities along the road, people were sent to arrange for the city as early as possible, and the cities for supplies and accommodation were selected for local officials to receive.

Outside Luoyang City, local officials went out of the city to greet Li Chao and his party.

General of the Auxiliary State, Ren Guogong, hereditary Langzhou Assassin History, Liu Hongji, the governor of Dugi Province, stepped forward with a smile, "Zhao Guogong, hard work." ”

Li Chao got off the saddle and also gave his hand to Liu Hongji, this is Li Shimin's confidant and loyal to the party, much higher than Hou Junji and Zhang Liang, and Li Shimin's original old qualifications. In the past two years, he has been guarding Luoyang.

"I've prepared a reception in the city."

"Forget about the banquet, the journey is urgent, the soldiers and horses will rest outside the city for one night, and it will be good for Ren Guogong to provide some food and grass supplies." Li Chao refused with a smile, "By the way, I sent someone over before, and I don't know how much sulfur and saltpeter I prepared to ask Ren Guogong to help collect?" ”

Speaking of this, Liu Hongji asked in a curious whisper, "Zhao Guogong went north to defend against the Turks, what do you want this sulfur saltpeter to do?" Don't you want to practice the elixir? ”

He still remembered that when he accompanied the emperor to conquer Liu Heimin in Hebei, Li Chao was also in the army at that time, and he made liquor and white medicine, which were great things to bring back to life. This time, Li Chao sent someone to ask him to collect sulfur and saltpeter, and said that the more the better, there is no limit, as much as there is, which made him very curious.

Sulfur is the one that ignites fire, and saltpeter can make ice.

When he was in Chang'an, he once tasted the ice made with saltpeter in the middle of summer in the Li Mansion, and it was amazing.

Sulfur is on fire, saltpeter is making ice, this is ice and fire, and Zhao Guogong is going to make some magical elixir magic weapon?

Li Chao smiled, "Well, sulfur and saltpeter, plus some other things, can make an extremely powerful magic weapon, which has miraculous effects on the battlefield." This time to defend against the Turks, I am ready to rely on it. I also hope that Ren Guogong can collect more for me, as much as I want, the more the better. ”

"Can you make a magic weapon to break the enemy? How powerful? ”

"It's amazing!"

"How awesome is it?"

"Let's put it this way, you can thunder in your palm and throw thunder and lightning!"

Liu Hongji looked at Li Chao like a ghost, "If Zhao Guogong wants to keep it secret, there is no need to say it, and there is no need to say such things to coax me." ”

"I really didn't lie to you, using sulfur and saltpeter can really create palm thunder and earth-shaking thunder, and even flying fire crows and meteor fire showers." Li Chao said very seriously.

Liu Hongji was skeptical.

"It's really so magical, what kind of immortal spell is it, why don't you let me open my eyes too?"

"This can't be used casually, if it is leaked, it will not be so easy to use."

"What kind of palm thunder, earth-shaking thunder, flying fire crow, meteor fire rain or something, is it more powerful than the Eight Bull Crossbow and the Catapult?"

"It's good to use, it's definitely more powerful, and even when used together, it's even more powerful. However, even if there is a large demand for sulfur and saltpeter, there are not tens of thousands of catties, and it doesn't matter much. ”

"Tens of thousands of catties?" Liu Hongji took a breath, sulfur saltpeter is not rice wheat, on the stone is counted by the bucket, many of these have to be bought in the pharmacy, and there is no stock in the smaller store.

"It took me a lot of effort to get a few hundred catties each, I thought it was enough, but I didn't expect you to open your mouth to be tens of thousands of catties."

Seeing Liu Hongji's not very enthusiastic look, Li Chao felt that he should still open his eyes.

He had a number of firearms, but they were improvised gunpowder weapons, and there were no muskets or cannons. Gunpowder is not easy to make, although everyone knows the formula, but to improve the power, it is difficult to process, such as purifying, granulating, grinding powder, wetting, sieving and drying, etc.

Even a fuse is a technical problem, and it is not easy to use any kind of shell, and you have to start from scratch.

Li Chao is not interested in bothering to create any assault rifles and flamethrowers, after all, the power is small, but if he is asked to make a musket or even an arquebus, he does not have such an ability for a while, just a barrel will be very difficult, and it cannot be mass-produced, so it is not like a bird.

As for making artillery, Li Chao is not interested, there is no mature and stable technology, coupled with a mature enough production system, it cannot be mass-produced, and before the product is stabilized, it is a waste of effort, and then the range and power are not as good as bows and ballistas, so what to do with this effort.

However, gunpowder is used well and is still useful.

It's also okay to make some simple grenades, although it may not be lethal, but it is always easy to use to scare people and horses at critical times. Get more gunpowder, directly install a coffin or two, dig a tunnel under the city wall or something, and then light a fire and blow it up, this power can also achieve a very amazing effect.

In short, even with the simplest gunpowder technology, which can be applied well, can still play a big role.

"Ren Guogong, why don't you find a remote place, can you see it for yourself?"

"Okay." Liu Hongji was very interested.

Li Chao asked Wang Xuance to fetch some grenades, rockets, etc., and then everyone rode horses and directly found a place outside Luoyang City.

Liu Hongji watched Wang Xuance take out a black bump from the bag in his waist like a baby, which was very strange.

"What is this?"

"Palm Thunder." Li Chao replied.

Liu Hongji looked at it carefully, and it was only about two catties to start, which was quite a heavy pimple. This pimple is also quite strange, it looks like a small round hammer on the top, which is wooden to the touch, and below is a slightly smaller but longer handle, which is also wooden.

"Two pieces of wood? Palm Thunder? ”

"The piece of wood above is empty, and it contains prepared gunpowder, and there are some broken ceramic pieces and iron nails in it."

"Oh, how?"

Li Chao took one and pointed to the lower end of the wooden handle first, "Do you see a small bamboo tube here?" When you want to use it, first pull out this small section of bamboo tube. ”

While speaking, Li Chao pulled out the bamboo tube, and then exposed a piece of line.

"What is this?"

"A special fuse." Saying that, Li Chao took a fire rope from Wang Xuance and wrapped it around his left wrist first, this kind of fire rope seems to be very simple, but it is not easy to make, it took Li Chao's boss to make this fire rope can be fireproof, and it will burn slowly and is not easy to extinguish.

A fire rope is wrapped around the wrist and lit, it burns very slowly, but it is not easy to extinguish.

Li Chao took out his own lighter, which is quite a high-end thing, but now there is basically one person with status in Datang, produced by Li Ji. It seems to be tall, but in fact it is also simple, just a flint fire, add an oil tank, fill the oil tank with silk wool, and then connect it with a special ignition core, so that the oil will not pour out, and the spark controlled by the flint is easy to ignite when the ignition core is splashed.

Although it seems simple, it is a combination of a fire sickle and a fire fold, which makes it easier to use, so it is very popular.

"Light the fuse on this pimple, and then you can send palm thunder?"

Li Chao was still introducing the fire rope, but Liu Hongji was fine, he directly opened the lid of the grenade in his hand, and then put the lead at the end of the tail to his lighter.

The specially processed palm thunder fuse sparked.

"It's burning so fast!" Liu Hongji said with a smile.

Li Chao's face had changed, "Throw it out, throw it away!" ”

"Huh?"