First ammunition
Chapter 80: The First Ammunition
Things were proceeding in an orderly manner. In October, the royal farm had a bumper harvest of sweet potatoes, with an output of about 2,500 kilograms per mu.
Chu Huaibei had all the sweet potatoes stored in a cool and dry warehouse, and wait until April next year to plant and breed them all, and then distribute the potato seedlings to the people for planting.
Chu Huaibei also thought about giving them sweet potatoes directly and telling them how to grow them, but she was afraid that some people would want to taste them and eat up the seeds.
Even if adults hold back, children will still steal some. In my previous life, when I was a child, I often secretly went to the sweet potato field with my friends to dig and roast them.
In November, saltpeter and sulfur finally arrived!
Notify the caravan delivering supplies to Qizhou to first send saltpeter and sulfur into the mountains along with the supplies.
Then he chose a time to take Xue Zhan and Qin Feng into the mountains away from anyone's sight.
Chu Huaibei originally thought about making a gun barrel, but with the current manpower, it was simply not enough. Everyone was still working overtime to make kerosene catapults, heavy crossbows and Zhuge magic crossbows.
The workload alone is enormous, considering the tens of thousands of crossbow arrows.
We can only change our thinking and seek the most easily achievable solution at the moment.
After entering the mountains, Chu Huaibei asked the craftsman who originally made the iron cans for kerosene to make some slight changes.
Originally, the iron can was not sealed, so Chu Huaibei asked someone to make it almost sealed, leaving only a hole the size of a little finger on the top.
After mixing the gunpowder, he poured it in through the hole with a funnel, inserted the fuse, and plugged the hole with cotton cloth. Chu Huaibei named it Thunderbolt Bomb, which he thought was a good name.
In the first test, Chu Huaibei made the fuse a full two meters long and placed the thunder bomb deep in the forest where there was no one.
After lighting the fuse, he grabbed Xue Zhan and Qin Feng's arms and quickly rushed to the designated hiding place.
This is no joke. After the gunpowder blows up the iron can, you will be hit by the broken iron pieces at high speed. If you don't die, you will be skinned alive.
"Bang—"
The huge explosion sounded, accompanied by the shaking of the ground beneath their feet, which scared the craftsmen in another workshop far away. They stopped their work and looked towards the location of the loud noise.
Even though Xue Zhan and Qin Feng were mentally prepared, they were still frightened by the explosion and hid behind the rocks.
"Hey, you two cowards, what are you afraid of? I'm still here."
Chu Huaibei put his hands on his hips, feeling really awesome.
"Let's go and take a look."
Xue Zhan and Qin Feng were a little embarrassed by their subconscious retreat. What a loser! The prince was right beside him, so why should he be afraid? His legs were just running around aimlessly!
The three of them ran to the place where the thunder bomb had just been placed. It had been blown into a large circular pit. The thinner trees around it were blown in half, and the ground was covered with rubble and debris.
Chu Huaibei nodded with satisfaction. Xue Zhan and Qin Feng were both shocked. With such a great destructive power, if a thunder bomb exploded in the crowd, there would be countless casualties!
Originally they thought that signal flares made of gunpowder were already divine weapons, but now it seems that this thunder bomb is the real divine weapon.
"Your Majesty! This is too powerful! From now on, the Mongolian army will never return!"
Xue Zhan walked around the explosion pit while excitedly making threats.
Qin Feng put one hand on his chest and the other on his chin, looking around with some doubt in his tone.
"Your Majesty, how can we use this thunder bomb to surprise the enemy? We can't just drop it on the ground. The Mongolian army is not stupid."
"Well, of course not. Use kerosene to throw at the car, and then alternate between kerosene and thunder bombs. Shorten the fuse, ignite it, and throw it out immediately. It will explode when it hits the ground."
"Your Majesty, it turns out you've already thought about it!"
Qin Feng admired the prince's habit of doing things perfectly.
"Well, let's go back to the workshop. They probably heard the explosion just now."
"Hey, it's the prince."
Xue Zhan followed immediately, and Qin Feng pushed Xue Zhan aside without leaving any trace, and moved closer to the prince.
As soon as the three of them returned to the workshop, Twenty-One immediately stepped forward and asked, "Your Majesty, was that huge rumbling sound just now your experiment?"
"Yes, it's a new weapon. Don't worry, it's not a landslide in the mountain."
Seeing that all the craftsmen in the workshop were focused on her, Chu Huaibei gave a brief explanation.
"This is called a Thunderbolt Bomb. I need to commission two people to make it. I'll clear out a room next door for assembly. During the assembly process, someone will be guarding the door."
"This is a secret within a secret. If anyone of you is willing to do this, your life will be under my supervision from now on. Of course, I will definitely not treat you unfairly."
Seeing that someone was about to make a move, Chu Huaibei said something ugly in advance.
"Think it through before you come forward. If I find out someone has leaked the secret, don't blame me for being cruel and unsympathetic."
Chu Huaibei looked around at everyone in the forging room, except for the five of them. Naturally, Hu Zhi's people would not get involved in this matter.
They were just borrowing him temporarily, and she would return him to Hu Zhi when things were over.
The subtle expressions on everyone's faces were all seen clearly by Chu Huaibei.
The stern King of Zhenbei had sharp eyes, and most of the people who looked at him looked away uncomfortably.
Only two of them looked energetic. One revealed his curiosity about new things and was eager to try them out, while the other looked directly at Chu Huaibei with a determined look as if he wanted to join the party.
They both took a step forward at the same time.
"I am willing to serve you with all my heart and soul!"
Deputy Envoy Ding and Wang Feng looked at each other, then knelt on one knee to petition.
Chu Huaibei had long expected that Wang Feng would stand up. After all, his family had long been considered a vassal of the King of Zhenbei.
Deputy Envoy Ding surprised Chu Huaibei a little. She originally wanted to transfer him to the military camp to take over Chen Sinong's work after resisting the Mongolian attack next year.
Chen Sinong's health has not been very good since the beginning of this year. She even asked Uncle Deng to take his pulse, and he said that it is normal for his health to be worse than before as he gets older.
Deputy Envoy Ding's eloquence is much better than Wang Feng's. Although Wang Feng will succeed his grandfather's official position, Chu Huaibei thought about it and decided to let Deputy Envoy Ding be in charge of the Sino-Agricultural Office and let Wang Feng be in charge of the workshop.
Compared with outsiders, craftsmen are more pure. Even if Wang Feng can't say it, his skills are quite outstanding and he can always overpower others.
Seeing that the prince had not spoken for a long time, the two men boldly looked up at the prince.
Chu Huaibei finally came back to his senses. Since he was willing, he could think of other ways later. He could only let Chen Sinong hold on for a while, and then send some high-quality ginseng over and inform him of his grandson's choice.
"Alright! I've never made a mistake in choosing someone. From now on, you two will be responsible for making thunder bombs."
"As you command!"
Chu Huaibei personally instructed the two to mix the gunpowder and make the fuse. During the process, he also mentioned that if there were small pieces of iron or the like in the forging room and they were poured in together, the explosion would be more destructive.
The two of them nodded frequently as they listened.
After making a new thunder bomb, Chu Huaibei first calculated the time it took for the thunder bomb to be thrown from the throwing vehicle to land on the ground, and adjusted the length of the fuse.
Make sure the thunder bomb explodes when it hits the ground or before it hits the ground, leaving no time for the enemy to react.
"Let's go back to where we were before and test the effect of using the car."
Chu Huaibei asked Deputy Envoy Ding and Wang Feng to dismantle the pitched cart and let the palace soldiers take it to the test site.
After the group arrived at their destination, the two men installed the delivery vehicle on their own without Chu Huaibei's further instructions.
Chu Huaibei asked the others to stand behind the rocks for hiding, and she demonstrated the operation herself.
Place the thunder bomb in the throwing position, light the fuse with a fire starter in one hand, and quickly press the trigger with the other hand to throw the thunder bomb out.
Chu Huaibei dodged behind the rock and pushed back a few heads that were still sticking out to look around.
"Bang—"
Unlike the sound I heard from afar before, the effect is more shocking now that I am close.
Seeing the prince leading the way out, a group of people followed in a line and walked towards the explosion point.
“It works great!”
Looking at the mess at the scene, Chu Huaibei nodded with satisfaction.
Those who saw such a grand scene for the first time were so shocked that they were speechless.
Chu Huaibei shouted and asked everyone to take wooden buckets to the nearby stream to fetch water to put out the fire and prevent it from spreading.
The first test took place directly on an open space, and the flames from the explosion did not burn the nearby trees.
This time, the landing point of the bomb was not so accurate. It happened to explode next to a big tree and directly set the tree on fire.
Chu Huaibei placed a bucket of water behind the rock at the beginning, and chose the test site next to the stream, just in case of fire, he could put out the fire.
After the fire was extinguished, Chu Huaibei repeatedly reminded the two that all raw materials must be kept away from fire sources. When making the food, if it is dark and you can't see clearly, you don't have to continue assembling. You must lock the door when you go out, and it is strictly forbidden for any candles to enter the room, not even fire starters!
After witnessing the power of the thunder bomb with their own eyes, the two men did not dare to be careless. They knelt down and promised that they would strictly follow orders.
It was almost time to leave, so Chu Huaibei made all the arrangements and returned to the barracks.
This year's patrol had new generals joining, so Chu Huaibei made some adjustments. Song Shoujie, Yang Sui, and Qin Feng were stationed in two states respectively. She took Jin Hongye, Gong Que, and Xue Zhan with her.
After Jin Hongye heard Chu Huaibei's arrangements in the meeting room, his eyes instantly flashed, and he raised his head and chest. If he had a tail, he would probably be able to shake out an afterimage.
Qin Feng's back teeth were about to break when he saw Jin Hongye's appearance. This time, the prince actually asked him to stay at home and not take him on the tour. Is Xue Zhan as considerate and thoughtful as him?
I made a note of Xue Zhan and Jin Hongye in my little notebook!
Chu Huaibei thought that he would not encounter the Mongolian army during this patrol. This time next year would be the time when the Mongolian army would launch a large-scale attack on the northern border in the original book. The original owner would die on the battlefield, which would mark the beginning of the novel.
Given this, the Mongols were probably already considering strategic deployment, debating how many warriors each small leader should send to the battlefield. Perhaps even more dramatically, they were even considering how to divide the spoils of victory.
In the original book, the Mongolian army sent out 200,000 troops, but they had no strong defensive weapons. After the enemy broke through the city gate, the situation took a turn for the worse.
Instead of boosting others' arrogance and destroying their own prestige, the soldiers of Daxia had basically no chance of winning if they faced the Mongolian soldiers one-on-one.
To put it bluntly, he could kill someone with just his weight.
The Kings of Zhenbei throughout the ages had always used a pattern of three to five people against one to defend the city.
As expected, no Mongolian troops were seen during this year's patrol. The patrol had gone smoothly for three consecutive years, which made some sharp-minded soldiers worried.
A small tense atmosphere quietly spread in the military camp.
The most obvious thing is that after the big patrol, more and more people spontaneously practiced martial arts on the training grounds, and the slogans shouted during the usual large-scale drills became louder.
This New Year, Chu Huaibei paid for extra meals for the soldiers in the barracks out of his own pocket, and each person was given two taels of braised pork.
In order to supply pork to so many people, Chu Huaibei bought back almost all the leftover pigs from the New Year in the north.
It took several days just to slaughter the pigs, and we had pig blood and tofu soup for every meal in the military camp.
The braised soup was a recipe she had prepared based on a famous braised meat shop in her previous life. She had tested it in the palace in advance and it tasted pretty good.
Anyway, she saw that Du Jiping loved to eat it very much.
He also made several dishes with pig offal, which only poor people would buy and eat at that time.
The stir-fried pork intestines are added with a handful of chili peppers, which makes you drool with its fragrance.
A pot of pork belly and chicken will conquer everyone's stomach.
Sausages made from small intestines can be stored for a long time and taste good whether steamed, boiled, fried or stir-fried.
The whole family enjoyed the meal very much.
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