Daily life of noble ladies of the Three Kingdoms

The principle of making gunpowder is not difficult. The mainstream view in later generations is to use saltpeter, charcoal and sulfur to refine together in a ratio of 15:3:2. It is said that "refining with saltpeter, turpentine, pig large intestine, and realgar" makes Dan. 【1】

Both the refining furnace and the materials are readily available at Chang Wang's place, which greatly facilitates Siqi's refining of gunpowder.

The blow of reality made Chang Wang disheartened, and he didn't have the same mood as before about cultivating Taoism. Hearing what Si Qi said, although Chang Wang promised to give her the two yards and manpower for alchemy to try, but in his heart Never had much hope.

No matter how clever her brain is, a girl who was pampered and pampered since she was a child has the ability to brew wine, press oil and make some gadgets on weekdays. How much can she help in these major matters of military use?

Chang Wang sighed, stopped talking about destroying the alchemy furnace, and went back to his yard with a big belly.

It may be because Chang Wang was born with a sense of joy, and his image and temperament were not in line with being a prince. Every time he appeared on the city wall, not only could he fail to boost morale, but it made the defenders even more depressed.

Zhang Ran tactfully said to Chang Wang, as a prince of the Han Dynasty, you have a noble status, and most of the time you only need to give pointers behind the scenes, and you don't have to do it yourself like us generals.

Although Zhang Ran tried his best to conceal it, Chang Wang still sensed the slight disgust in Zhang Ran's eyes.

Chang Wang felt more and more that he had failed in life, and that he really couldn't live through this day, that's why there was a scene where he shouted to smash the pill furnace just now, more or less there was a hint of self-deprecation in it.

After sending off Queen Chang, Si Qi completely took over his alchemy furnace and alchemy room.

But after investigating the two courtyards used for Uncle Wang's alchemy, Si Qi realized that his thinking was a little naive.

She originally wanted to make gunpowder to blow up a passage for Zhang Ran to lead people to break through, but now she found that even if the materials from Chang Wang's place were made into gunpowder, it would not pose a threat to the besieging army led by Jiang He.

In other words, it is extremely difficult to use the current load-bearing materials to produce gunpowder that can make Jiang He retreat.

Thinking of the bullshit he and Chang Wang had just boasted, Si Qi became more and more frustrated.

It's like a royal chef with great skills, who promised to show his skills in front of others, but found that there were almost no raw materials in the kitchen, and the sum of all the dishes could not cook a dish, which made the situation very embarrassing.

Obviously she has figured out a way, but she can't use it due to insufficient materials. There is nothing more frustrating than this.

Si Qi made a wish to the moon. If she could leave the city safely and return to her fief in the future, she must mine saltpeter extensively to make gunpowder!

==

In the past few days, the morale of Jiang He's siege army has been greatly boosted, and Jiang He led people to launch offensives outside the city one after another.

Fortunately, most of Jiang He's dispatched troops had not arrived, and Zhang Ran was also prepared. The supplies in the city were relatively sufficient, but the atmosphere in the city became more and more gloomy every day.

Liu Yun had read military books before, and gradually realized that something was wrong.

It has been more than a dozen days and nights since Jiang He's vanguard troops arrived at the city. It stands to reason that Jiang He's main force could reach He'an City even if they came from Xudu. How come no one has been seen yet?

Zhang Ran had just returned from the city tower, and only after hearing Liu Yun's words did he realize that something was wrong.

After thinking for a while, he carefully gave the other party an explanation.

"Compared to staying on the spot, sending troops to attack the city is more costly and costly. Especially when the main force is dispatched to attack the city, the problem of food and grass needs to be solved first. Jiang He is a cautious person, knowing that during the process of escorting food and grass There may be an accident, when Duke Cao attacked Yuan Shao, he followed Xu You's suggestion and burned Yuan Shao's luggage in Wuchao to gain the upper hand."

Liu Yun nodded: "Not bad."

After being affirmed by His Highness Li Wang, Zhang Ran continued: "Thinking about Jiang He's current situation, the food and grass on his side will not be too abundant, so I thought about waiting for the vanguard troops to surround He'an City for a period of time, and wait for the city to The defenders were exhausted, and the hearts of the people were scattered, so the large army came to attack in one fell swoop. Now Cao Gong and Yuan Shao are fighting in full swing on the river, and they are on each other physically and mentally. Naturally, they would not have thought that these things would happen in He'an City. "

Liu Yun also knew that the situation was not good, and it was only a matter of time if he could hold on to it. Now that things were on the table, he had to try to accept the predicament.

In addition to worrying about the rebels outside the city, Liu Yun was also preoccupied with his daughter.

A few days ago, Si Qi always wanted to run outside, but no matter how smart she was, she was only a child under ten years old. Liu Yun was worried, so he kept her in the palace.

Si Qi also argued with him a few times, and once begged Chang Wang to take her to the tower for a while, but when he came back, he became more silent.

Liu Yun was ready for Siqi to come to "heart-to-heart talk" with him again, but he didn't expect his daughter to suddenly calm down and take over the alchemy room that Wang Chang wanted to give up.

Although Liu Yun felt that it was not good for a young girl to spend all day messing around in Chang Wang's alchemy room, it was better than running around in the city and towers before.

When Liu Yun was thinking about Si Qi, his daughter came in frowning.

Zhang Ran is still analyzing the current situation: "When we first entered the city, the last general got in touch with General Zhang Liao Zhang's deputy. They also raised troops on the river more than half a month ago. It should be a few days before they will be able to deliver the luggage. The car passing by. The road to be taken by the car transporting the luggage... It is estimated that it is not far from us, and it is the easiest time to pass on the news. It is a pity that He'an is trapped now, and there is no way to pass it on. Hey... If we can have a message like the ancient It would be nice if there were beacon towers to report with beacon fire from time to time."

Zhang Ran still knew Cao Cao well.

Cao Gong and Chang Wang don't have much friendship, even if they know that He'an is trapped, they must wait to deal with Yuan Shao before dealing with Jiang He.

But if Cao Cao knew that King Li and Lord Weng were still in the city, the situation would be quite different.

In other words, if he knew that King Chang was trapped here, Cao Cao might not have rescued him immediately, but with King Li and Lord Weng around, he would definitely not just sit idly by.

After hearing Zhang Ran's words, Si Qi suddenly became enlightened.

Gunpowder is less maneuverable, but she can try fireworks.

I remember going back to my grandma’s house during the Lantern Festival when I was young in my previous life. Siqi and my elder brother used to sit on the steps in the yard and play with unpacking gift boxes. Then remove the fuze and explore the secrets of gunpowder in the fireworks tube.

When mother called them to eat, Siqi's face was covered with black smear marks, and the basin after washing his hands was also black.

Seeing Si Qi's embarrassed face, the elders knew what they were doing. Si Qi was very active since he was a child, and his elder brother was a relatively quiet academic bully. At this time, there will be family members who are aware of the details and will come out to uphold justice. , It must be my sister's idea.

Si Qi remembered reading the news that during a large-scale celebration, fireworks were lit in the city, and the crowd could see them clearly even ten kilometers away. This firework extravaganza was photographed from a different angle.

If you want to attract the attention of Cao Jun who is transporting grain and grass not far from He'an, you can try this method.

Compared with gunpowder, it is more difficult to develop fireworks, and Siqi can't just test it in the city, otherwise it will affect the effect of actually sending the signal flare. If it angers the rebels led by Jiang He, it will not be worth the loss.

Fortunately, before King Chang left for Xuchang, he ordered a three-story Danyang Pavilion to be built in the city. The roof has not yet been capped, and it is an excellent place to use the metal cap to develop fireworks.

Because fireworks were an extremely rare and fresh product in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Si Qi was worried that his subordinates would be afraid, so he explained the principle in detail to them, it was just some moving fire.

But Si Qi soon discovered that it was difficult to dispel the doubts of these people, so he raised the banner of the Han Dynasty again, saying that the fireworks were the treasures that Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu sent people to the East China Sea to find them. The royal family has recorded the secrets in the letters over the years, but now she wants to develop this secret weapon to break the siege of the city.

Now no one had any objections, and the craftsmen carried out experiments according to Siqi's request, and the results were getting closer to Siqi's goal every time.

Although Liu Yun couldn't understand what her daughter was doing, but seeing her serious and serious appearance, she felt that she was really powerful, so she looked at Si Qi quietly and asked, "Where did you get this idea?" these strange things?"

Si Qi fooled Liu Yun without blinking his eyes: "It's all from my father's collection of books."

Liu Yun expressed doubts: "Really?"

But speaking of it, he has indeed been slack in the past few years, and the number of books he reads is not as good as that of Si Qiduo, so he has no confidence in doubting it.

Si Qi said deeply: "There are thousands of millet in the book, there is a golden house in the book, and there is Yan Ruyu in the book."

Liu Yun was misled by Si Qi in an instant: "Who is Yan Ruyu?"

==

Si Qi finally finished her fireworks development before Cao Cao's grain truck passed by.

It was night, the moon was dark and the wind was high, and the south wind was blowing. It was a good weather for making troubles.

Standing on the tower, Si Qi lit the fuze with a torch.

Gorgeous fireworks bloomed above the city wall.

Under the city tower, the Jiang family army who besieged the city also saw this miraculous scene, causing waves of commotion.

Maybe this is the legendary attainment of immortality?

Jiang He's lieutenant became panicked in an instant: "I heard that Chang Wang is the best at cultivating Taoism. Could it be that he has already achieved a positive result?"

It's good that the lieutenant general didn't say this, but as soon as he said this, many officers and soldiers under the city tower began to shake their hearts.

In this era, people still respect the theory of ghosts and gods very much. Even the emperor who was confuse by the preaching of Confucianism was once criticized by Li Shangyin, "Poor night, don't ask the common people, ask the ghosts and gods." Great influence.

At the beginning of the Yellow Turban Uprising, Zhang Jiao played the banner of "Heaven is dead, Huang Tian should stand", relying on the Taiping Dao to inspire people, saying that he was also using the momentum of "Huang Tian".It's just that the Yellow Turban Army was defeated again and again, and everyone felt that Huang Tian would not succeed.

Since even the heavens are not looking to Zhang Jiao, there is no need for the believers to follow forever, and they will still be unable to escape the fate of defeat in the end.

In this era, for those magical things that have never been seen, a large part of the beginning will be explained by ghosts and gods.

Besides, the fireworks were originally exploding in the sky, one bunch after another, and it lasted for a quarter of an hour before they stopped.

On the official road about [-] meters away from He'an City, Zhang Liao also saw sparks rising in midair.

Zhang Liao became vigilant, pointed at the sparkling sparks and asked Xu Huang, "You know where this is?"

Xu Huang frowned: "It seems to be in the direction of He'an City. I heard that there has been a change in Jianghe recently, so I might be eyeing He'an."

When Jiang He followed Yuan Shu, he was also an extremely new warlock, and he looked a little abnormal.

Zhang Liao and Xu Huang reached an agreement, believing that the rising sparks were caused by Jiang He, and they planned to use these tricks to confuse the people.

It's not been a day or two for Jiang He to be a demon, he really intends to become the second Zhang Jiao!

Thinking of this, Zhang Liao and Xu Huang discussed: "In that case, let's hurry up and send the food and grass first, and then tell the prime minister to send someone over to have a look."

Xu Huang felt that Zhang Liao's proposal was quite thoughtful, so he immediately agreed.

After Si Qi sent out the signal, he was waiting for Cao Jun to come to rescue him, but he didn't want the people in Jianghe under the city to start commotion, and even a small half of them left He'an overnight.

Si Qi showed a puzzled expression, but Liu Yun made a good guess: "Then Jiang He is just a young general under Yuan Shu's command. How much knowledge can he have? His subordinates are even more stupid, so naturally they can't figure out our situation. Deep meaning, most likely I was afraid, so I ran for my life ahead of time. This is also good, and when Cao Gong sends people to rescue the siege, there will be less fighting."

Compared with Liu Yun's calm analysis, Chang Wang admired this eldest niece deeply, and made a deep self-criticism in his heart for his previous behavior of looking down on others and thinking that Siqi was useless.

Faced with such Siqi, Chang Wang had thousands of words in his heart, and turned into an affectionate affirmation: "I think Ah Ying is a person who is very suitable for cultivating Taoism."

Si Qi: ...

No, I am not suitable!

==

After listening to Zhang Liao and Xu Huang's report, Cao Cao also felt that this matter was extremely strange.

Jiang He has a lot of ideas. He is obviously a group of mobs, but he always uses the banner of Yuan Shu's old department to stir up some things. Now he is besieging He'an City with strange fireworks. Maybe he really plans to leave Zhang Jiao and others. The old way of people.

Cao Cao didn't believe in evil the most, and never paid much attention to Zhang Jiao's "Taiping Essentials", let alone Jiang He made these ghosts in He'an.

Just when he was about to order Zhang Liao to bring enough troops to grab some of Jianghe's supplies, he suddenly remembered something and asked Cao Ren, "There has been no news about King Li and Weng Lord Chengping, so what is going on with Zhang Ran?" Said? Where have they gone now?"

Cao Ren hurriedly replied, "It seems that he went to He'an City."

After hearing this, Xun Yu immediately left the table and asked Cao Cao, "Is my lord going to send General Zhang to lead people to He'an City?"

Guo Jia also stood up and said eagerly, "I'll go too."

Cao Cao also thought it was a big deal when he heard it. Han women are a scarce resource these days. Many generals who have mischievous thoughts are proud of being able to admit Han women into their back houses. If Jiang He is really playing tricks in He'an City, then he is optimistic. His future daughter-in-law, Siqi, will be in danger.

Cao Cao said: "Knowing that you are eager to save people, don't make trouble for Feng Xiao, just stay here and wait for news, Wen Yuan should take someone there."

As soon as Cao Cao finished speaking, Cao Zhang beside him couldn't bear it any longer: "I want to go with Uncle Zhang too!"

In a blink of an eye, it's time to pickle plums again. If he can follow General Zhang to He'an City to rescue Siqi, she will definitely be moved. She will reward him a lot of candied greengages, and even give him the method of pickling. possible.

Cao Pi also stood up and begged Cao Cao, "My son is going too."

Can you give Jiang He a good time? It's always good to grab some food, grass and equipment to come back.

Cao Cao lost Cao Ang in the early years, and his wife Ding also left him because of this incident. Since then, he has vowed not to take his children to risk.

Cao Cao knew Jiang He's fighting power. For Cao's army, which has been traveling all over the world with almost no defeats in recent years, not only is it not dangerous to deal with Jiang He's gang of mobsters, but it can also make a lot of contribution. Lang Jun's record is simply the head of the door.

After a little thought, Cao Cao agreed to the request of Cao Zhang and Cao Pi, and sent Zhang Liao and Cao Ren to lead the troops to He'an.

In the No.20 nine days when Jianghe led troops to besiege the city, rescue finally arrived in the city of He'an.