Bright Spring

The heavy military general next to him complained: "My lord, this kind of cannon is not easy to use! Most of the cannons we used in the past have large front and small rear barrels. No matter the size of stone bullets or iron bullets, they can be inserted in about the same size; if the cannons The weight of the gun is hundreds of catties, and it must be able to hit shells of more than two hundred catties!

But this "Hanwang Cannon" is not only heavy, but also thin and long, and can only hit iron bullets or loose balls less than ten catties.For making iron bullets, the size of the shell must match the size; and the size of each cannon has deviations, so the workshop can only cast shells of the appropriate size for each cannon.This cannon is very laborious, but its power is very small..."

Zhu Gaoxu took a look at the military general, and said: "You haven't figured out how to use the King of Han Cannon! This cannon doesn't shoot upwards, it follows the usage of firecrackers. The copper firecrackers used in the army are aimed at the sky ( projectile), waiting for the lead to fall to the ground and hit people?"

He went on to say: "It turns out that all the artillery in the army is thrown|fired. If it is not for siege, the artillery shells of one thousand catties are fired on the battlefield. Heavy does nothing!

But the Hanwang Cannon is different, it shoots flat when it is a little closer, like a firecracker; it bounces when it is farther away, like hitting water.This cannon hits higher on the battlefield!However, as you said, the size of the muzzle is different, so we really need to find a way and improve it. "

After hearing this, the general had no choice but to stop complaining.

Zhu Gaoxu also understood in his heart that there are many problems with the newly-made artillery, and it will not take time to mature.The King of Han's Mansion also started casting official firearms after the army was raised, and the time was too short.

In the past, even though Zhu Gaoxu was the prince, the Han Palace had no right to make firearms, which was a serious violation of the law; some of the firearms used by the guards were also allocated by the imperial court.

After a while, the gunners and soldiers who fired the cannons came over here.Zhu Gaoxu began to ask about the bombing in person.

The "Hanwang Cannon" was transferred from Yunnan and Guizhou to Guilin in three batches, and there were dozens of them.Most of them didn't blow up when they fired the cannons. After all, the government tried it before sending it to Guangxi; only two were blown up, and the other one couldn't be fired at first, but then it rang.

Zhu Gaoxu asked a hundred households: "Why didn't the cannon go off at first, and then it went off again?"

Baihu said: "Gunpowder is different. We put it in a few times in the morning, and all the old medicine was used. The old medicine was rained in Pingle Mansion, and it was still useless after drying; after we changed the new medicine, It will ring!"

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu pondered for a while. Gunpowder is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and nitrate. It stands to reason that even if it gets wet and dried in the sun, the thing has not changed... The only possible reason is that the ingredients inside have been lost due to the rain.Sulfur and charcoal are insoluble in water, and only saltpeter can be diluted by rain and washed away.

When he thought of this, he suddenly realized, turned his head and said to Hou Hai: "You write down what I said, and send it to the Nansi of the Shouyu Mansion. Saltpeter can remove impurities and purify it, so as to increase the power of gunpowder. The way is to hydrate it with water and filter out the impurities. Boil it dry."

Hou Hai clasped his fists and said, "Your officer obeys."

Zhu Gaoxu asked the hundred households again: "Could it be the problem of gunpowder that exploded?"

The hundred households were puzzled and said, "We have weighed the medicines, and they all contain the same amount of medicines."

"The old medicine used?" Zhu Gaoxu asked, "How is it different from the medicine used by other cannons?"

Baihu said: "My lord Mingjian, it is indeed old medicine. Those medicines stick together after being damp and are compacted. When we arrived at Guilin Mansion, it was a sunny day, and we were afraid that it would be fried in the sun; Take out the medicine and crush it, sieve it through a sieve, dry it in the shade and use it later.”

Zhu Gaoxu slapped his forehead, and suddenly realized: "Granular gunpowder! I almost forgot about it, the granulated gunpowder burns faster, the same amount, and the explosion is faster, no wonder it exploded!"

The generals around were at a loss when they heard this, but no one questioned it.Zhu Gaoxu still rarely opens his mouth to talk nonsense.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "However, we can't immediately improve the gunpowder. There are rations for the various firearms in the army. If the gunpowder is changed, all the firearms will have to be readjusted. I am afraid it will not take a few days; Re-test and make incremental changes."

The crowd joined in.

At this time Hou Hai hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is guilty, please forgive me!"

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Hou Hai, ignored him, and said, "Let's go to other places to inspect."

The general of the supply team asked: "How should the shells of the 'Hanwang Pao' be prepared?"

Zhu Gaoxu said: "Order the Bureau of Guilin Mansion to measure the size of each bronze cannon, and compare it with custom-made cast shells."

"The end will be ordered!"

Cannons with different sizes, there is no good way now, so I have to use this stupid method to make shells!Once the fixed-cast cannonballs are fired, it is difficult to replenish them, and those cannons can only be scattered.

For a while, Zhu Gaoxu didn't know why the sizes of those cannons were different. I don't know if it was the limitation of the casting technology, or there were deviations in the dimensions...

At night, Zhu Gaoxu entered the city.Not long after he returned to Xingyuan, Hou Hai hurriedly came to the middle hall suddenly, his face was a little ugly, he immediately stepped forward to deliver the letter in his hand, and said: "Please have a look, my lord."

Zhu Gaoxu opened the letter to read, his expression was the same as Hou Hai's, and immediately changed.

Kuizhou was captured by the enemy!

This city is the gateway to the east of Sichuan. It is not only an important land route to the Sichuan chief envoy from the east, but also a stronghold to control the most dangerous part of the river.Once Kuizhou was lost, the frontier portal of eastern Sichuan was opened.

"Wei Da, this Wei Da..." Zhu Gaoxu didn't know what to say for a while.

Two or three months ago, troops from Sichuan were successively transferred to Guizhou to form the North Route Army.The troops in the eastern Sichuan camp were indeed very empty, and Wei Da couldn't defend Kuizhou. Although he can't be blamed for dereliction of duty, his performance can't be considered good.

The first thing Zhu Gaoxu thought of was that if Qu Neng was still in charge of the eastern Sichuan camp, Kuizhou would not be captured so soon!

Not long after, Sheng Yong, Ping'an, Zhao Ping, Wang Bin and other generals arrived in the middle hall.In the past few days, everyone has dinner together, so we can exchange some military affairs by the way.

Zhu Gaoxu then circulated the urgent report sent by Hanwang Mansion in Guizhou to everyone.

After the generals finished watching, Zhao Ping suggested: "Your Majesty, don't worry too much. Dudu Qu's troops are in Guizhou, and they can go northward along the main road of Yubojian, and they can go to Chongqing Mansion to reinforce eastern Sichuan."

Sheng Yong said: "According to the previous plan, we have to gather troops in Huguang as soon as possible for a decisive battle. If troops are transferred from the North Route Army, the strength of the Huguang battlefield will be weakened."

Ping An immediately seconded.

Zhao Ping glanced at the two of them, but didn't refute for a moment.

And Zhu Gaoxu was still staring at the map on the table, without saying a word for a long time.

Chapter 5 and One

"I thought about being too sentimental to damage the holy life, and I was afraid that I would not fall into the city when I went to the mountains. The world is safe with the Dharma, and I will not fail the Tathagata and not disappoint the Qing..." Zhu Gaoxu looked out the window for a long time, and suddenly recited two lines of poems.

He had long forgotten the few lines of poems he saw and loved on the Internet; but he had been thinking hard for the past two days, and his head could not rest, and some things hidden deep in his memory gradually became clear.

Zhu Gaoxu, who took off his armor, was wearing a tuanlong suit, and he didn't wear a hat in the room, and there was only a pair of net scarves on his hair.The black net scarf he wears is a characteristic of the Ming Dynasty, and its function is to fix the hair bun; I used to watch Korean costume movies on TV, and I often saw this kind of thing.Zhu Gaoxu chanted poems with his hands behind his back, as if he had a bit of arty feeling.

Miao Jin, who was making tea, looked sideways at Zhu Gaoxu after hearing this, but didn't speak to disturb him.

Zhu Gaoxu has a melancholy look on his face. Of course he is not trapped in love affairs like in the poem; but he uses this to vent | the hesitation in his heart, feeling that there is often no choice between the best of both worlds!

On a large table next to the window, there were many maps and files, which looked a bit messy.This scene is just like a microcosm of the complexity of the war.

Under various complicated factors, there are nothing more than two choices: one is to continue to carry out the general battle in Huzhou regardless of the danger on the eastern front of Sichuan;

Obviously, the two options given to Zhu Gaoxu are not "two-way".

In the early stage, the reason why Qu Neng's Northern Route Army was delayed is that it is still in Guizhou; the reason is not only that the official road in the southwest is not easy to go, and the Han Palace deliberately disperses its troops for mobilization, but also because most of Qu Neng's army came from Sichuan. The troops transferred by the chief envoy.

According to the original plan, the marching route of most of Qu Neng's soldiers would generally be from Sichuan to Guizhou along the Yubojian main road, and then take a section of the "Ruhuguang Road" from Chenxi County to Huguang Province.

(Because there is an insurmountable Xuefeng mountain range in the east of Guizhou, if the Quneng tribe does not take this route, a large number of soldiers and horses gathered from Sichuan will travel from Sichuan to Guizhou, then to Yunnan or Guangxi, and then pass through Guangxi from north to south Go to Huguang Province. The whole journey is thousands of miles away, and it is indeed a bit hard.)

If we change our strategy now and transfer the North Route Army back to Sichuan for reinforcements, then the morale of the North Route Army will drop to the bottom!

The reason is very simple. Everyone walked nearly a thousand miles from Sichuan to Guizhou, but in the end they did nothing, and went back the same way and walked another thousand miles; the feeling can be imagined.

Not only that, Zhu Gaoxu was even more worried that the rescue of Sichuan would become a strategic turning point, and the King of Han's army would be forced to switch to defense due to weak offensive.Once the Northern Route Army is pinned down to the Chief Commissioner of Sichuan, the imperial court may open up a new battlefield from the Chief Commissioner of Shaanxi on the northern line at the same time, and carry out two strategic counterattacks against Sichuan.

In this way, more troops and longer time will be needed to defend Sichuan, and the situation may be stalemate for a longer time!