Nu Yalang of Tang Dynasty

The fact that Lu Yu accepted the imperial examination means that this historical tea sage will stay in Bachuan in the future.

As a result, Chang'an gained an industry that could be revitalized, and the Northern Tang Dynasty gained a great tea scholar.

In order to assist Lu Yu in writing the "Tea Classic", Zhou Jun specially compiled the knowledge about tea science in his memory into a book and gave it to the latter.

After Lu Yu read it through, he even introduced Zhou Jun as his mentor, and even said to others, "Don't be ignorant, you are lucky to meet a close friend."

Chang'an's reconstruction among the ruins is progressing day by day.

Half a month later, Zhou Jun came from the city for inspection.

Guo Ziyi stood in front of the door of the parliament hall. When she saw Zhou Jun approaching, she raised her hands and called him prime minister.

Zhou Jun asked as he walked: "What?"

Guo Ziyi: "The Minister of War has arrived in Liangcheng. Artillery, gunpowder, supplies, food, etc. are all here."

Zhou Jun first said hello, then packed up his clothes and went to Shangshu Province with Guo Ziyi.

This time, following the long march to Liangcheng, there were not only weapons, supplies and food, but also officials of all sizes who took over the government affairs of Chang'an.

Among them, Gao Shi, who moved to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and concurrently served as Tongping Zhangshi, was the highest-ranking official among them.

Gao Shi is fifty-six years old this year, which was considered an old age in the Tang Dynasty. He worked conscientiously in government affairs and never made any mistakes. He was also upright and always reprimanded when injustice happened. In addition, he was famous for his poems and his literary talent.

, so all the civil and military officials in the DPRK and China respected him.

When Gao Shi entered Chang'an City, he didn't bother to take a rest. The first thing he did was to deal with official business. He led a group of officials, big and small, and as soon as they got off the carriage, they all went to Shangshu Province.

When Zhou Jun saw this, he didn't bother him and went with Guo Ziyi to inventory weapons and supplies.

In addition to bringing a large amount of food, clothing, quilts and medicines to Liangcheng's Changxingfang this time, the most important thing is 20 large long cannons, 150 tiger squatting cannons, and enough to support a medium-sized battle.

Cannonballs and gunpowder.

Zhou Jun found two interesting things among the weapons and ammunition delivered.

One is the ammunition used by artillery.

The Tiger Crouching Cannon is a shotgun, and the ammunition of the shotgun is divided into heavy shotgun and light shotgun.

The former has fewer bullets and is heavier, and can effectively kill people at longer distances; the latter has more bullets and is more effective at short distances, but its range is only half of the former.

For example, the original ammunition loading of the Tiger Crouching Cannon was based on iron sand and covered with stone bullets. This was a relatively primitive ammunition for light shotguns.

This kind of loading has a large coverage and can kill many enemies at short range; however, its shortcomings are also obvious. The impact of the ammunition is relatively scattered, and its armor-breaking ability against heavy armor or large shields is very poor. Moreover, the iron sand has a fine texture and is very difficult to penetrate.

It is easy to block the muzzle and increase the risk of explosion.

In response to these shortcomings, Anxi Arsenal has improved the supporting ammunition of the Tiger Crouching Cannon.

First of all, the original light shotgun charges of iron sand and stone bullets were all abandoned and changed into a sealed tank magazine for heavy shotshells.

The outermost layer of the can is a cylindrical tin sheet, while the bottom of the tin can is made of iron. The can contains 20 to 200 round projectiles with a diameter between 10 and 50 mm.

The moment the tank leaves the barrel of the Tiger Crouching Cannon, the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the cannon is huge, and the tin shell immediately breaks, and the projectiles inside will break out, forming a round cake-shaped barrage in the space.

As ammunition for heavy shotshells, these 20 to 200 rounds of round bullets can reach twice the range of the original Tiger Crouching Cannon, close to ninety steps (135 meters).

In order to make up for the diversity of battlefield operations, the Anxi Arsenal filled these heavy shotshell tin cans with two types of bullets, one made of iron projectiles and the other made of lead projectiles.

The iron bullets are strong and have strong penetrating power after being fired by the Crouching Tiger Cannon. They can cause penetrating damage to heavily armored targets and are suitable for attacking heavy armored soldiers and large shield soldiers.

Lead bullets are relatively soft and will break into pieces when hit on a human body with light or no armor, causing a secondary radioactive attack.

Once these fragmented lead pieces hit the human body, all kinetic energy will be released, and the shrapnel will be severely deformed, causing trumpet-shaped cavities in human tissue. The wound area is hundreds of times the cross-sectional area of ​​the iron projectile.

Moreover, lead is highly toxic and can cause wound infection and chronic poisoning if left in human tissue. Even scratches can cause serious sequelae, causing soldiers to lose their combat effectiveness.

After looking at the shotgun ammunition, another thing that surprised Zhou Jun was that Anxi's group actually got out the muskets.

But strictly speaking, these iron pipes, which are shaped like grenades, cannot be considered muskets. They have another name in history - muskets.

Fireguns began in the Yuan Dynasty in the early 14th century and flourished in the Ming Dynasty.

Early firecrackers were similar to a single- or multi-tube cylindrical stick with a barrel inside for charging and a matchlock port at the end.

The fire cannons sent by Anxi are all single-barreled, but compared to the works made six hundred years later, they have more bottom brackets and shoulder yoke in appearance. They are lighter in weight than the tiger crouching cannon, but they are still about six kilograms.

When using it, it needs to be placed against the waist or shoulder socket. Due to the large recoil, only skilled soldiers can have a certain degree of accuracy.

According to the description of the military code officer, these muskets use iron bullets or lead bullets as bullets. If it is on flat ground, the firing speed is about one round per minute, and the effective range is only 140 steps (210 meters), which is not even as good as

Some heavy crossbows are not very accurate, but their advantages are that they are easier to carry than artillery, and they have certain armor-piercing capabilities.

The general tactic is to have each light cavalry carry one gun. When charging towards the long contradiction formation, they can get close and fire a bullet to disrupt the enemy's formation, thus making it easier to engage in melee combat.

When Zhou Jun heard this, he already couldn't laugh or cry.

The original intention of the musket was for infantry formations to carry out saturation and continuous strikes against the enemy in a group shooting manner.

However, Anxi's development ideas for muskets were led astray by artillery, and he began to slowly move closer to the pursuit of maximizing firepower.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! If this continues, it is not difficult to imagine that single-barreled firecrackers will gradually turn into multi-barreled firecrackers, and the combat function will be positioned as assault. After being used once on the battlefield,

It will become a melee weapon like a burning iron rod.

All of this is naturally contrary to Zhou Jun's original intention.

After Zhou Jun watched the demonstration of the fire gun, he immediately wrote a letter and sent it to the Anxi Protectorate in Haidongqing.

In the letter, Zhou Jun requested Anxi Arsenal to focus on the following three aspects for the development of muskets:

First, get rid of the unreliable ignition method of match rope and try to use flint to fire the gunpowder.

Second, the function of a musket is to continuously and stably provide firepower output, rather than infinitely increasing the instantaneous burst of lethality. The instantaneous burst of lethality is a powder barrel and an artillery, and these should not be the development of muskets.

direction.

Third, pay attention to the reliability of the musket material, increase the service life of the barrel, and continue to improve the steel refining capabilities of the arsenal.

After completing these instructions, Zhou Jun was about to take Guo Ziyi and go to the school ground to try the artillery again, when Kong You hurried in.

Seeing this, Zhou Jun asked: "What's wrong?"

Kong You pulled Zhou Jun aside and whispered: "Prime Minister, there are a few important things."

Zhou Jun looked at Kong You.

The latter said: "The first thing is that the Western Route Army led by Uncle Shen used gunpowder to blow up the stone castle and successfully captured the Chiling natural barrier."

Zhou Jun: "This is a good thing. If this happens, the Tubo people will lose their way eastward into the Central Plains."

Seeing that Kong You's expression did not clear up at all, Zhou Jun asked: "What? Is there anything else?"

Kong You: "Li Heng, the leader of the Southern Tang Dynasty, is dead."

Zhou Jun was stunned and quickly asked for details. He found that Li Heng's death was very similar to history, and he couldn't help but sigh about his fate.

Kong You lowered his voice and said to Zhou Jun at a volume that could only be heard by the two of them: "The third thing is that there is a message from Hai Dongqing in Liangcheng. After Li Longji heard the news of Li Heng's death, his condition suddenly turned critical. I'm afraid that

Time is running out.”

Zhou Jun was stunned when he heard this.