Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 362 Firearms, Muskets, and Cannons

Firearms did experience great development in the Song Dynasty, but the great development mentioned here was basically a state of wild growth.

Because firearms are new weapons, people with insight know that they may be used on the battlefield, but how to use them is a matter of opinion.

Just looking at the types of firearms, it is truly a state of thriving vitality and competition, but how many of them are truly effective really needs to be tested through war.

Influenced by the messy marketing accounts of later generations, Liu Huai immediately prepared to ask for the fire lance, which was said to be the prototype of the musket.

Then Liu Huai saw with his own eyes that Li Qi took out a big spark, tied it to the tip of the spear, lit the fuse, and then pointed the tip of the spear forward, spraying out sparks with iron filings.

Liu Huai was stunned.

Yes, this is the arquebus of this era. Its main purpose is not only to scare the enemy's horses with sparks and cover the enemy's face with black ash, creating opportunities for long spear stabbing, but also to ignite the enemy's siege equipment.

More show than substance.

As for the musket, which could fire projectiles, it would take decades for it to appear, and its power was quite questionable. The barrel wasn't even made of copper or iron, but rather tough old bamboo. Too much propellant would cause the barrel to explode, and as a result, the initial velocity of the projectile was very low, and its greatest effect was to startle people.

As for artillery, Liu Huai had given up hope in Shandong because Wei Sheng had once explained to him in detail what the Song Dynasty artillery was. In short, it was not artillery, but a cannon, a human-powered catapult that launched flaming balls of fire.

As for what the burning fireballs were made of, there were many different options, ranging from cow dung arsenic to lime gunpowder, each with its own unique characteristics.

Liu Huaifu picked up a cantaloupe-sized iron object with thorns on all sides. At first, he thought it was a grenade. After Li Qi took it, he first poked it with a red-hot iron spike to ignite it, and then threw it away.

The iron ball with thorns rolled on the ground, and then thick smoke came out of it, and soon a cloud of white smoke rose over the training ground.

In the expression on Liu Huai's cell phone, Li Qi explained that this thing is called fire caltrops, which is actually iron caltrops filled with gunpowder. It can release smoke to block the enemy's sight, and it can also pierce the soles of people and horses' feet, hindering the enemy's and our actions. It can be called a medieval landmine.

But it's just too difficult to use.

After picking and choosing for a long time, Liu Huai finally picked out three really useful things from a large basket.

In addition to the thunder bombs and rockets that had been used in the naval battles a few days ago, there was also a firearm called a thunder cannon.

Unlike the thunder cannon used by the Song Dynasty in its fight against the Mongols, which could explode and kill people with fragments, the thunder cannon of this era was a gunpowder lime bomb. After being ignited and thrown, it would form a lime barrier. People covered in it would have difficulty breathing, their eyes would be blinded, and they would quickly lose their combat effectiveness.

Of course, the Thunderbolt Cannon is not the poison gas bomb of later generations, and it is impossible to cover the entire battlefield, but it can play a certain role in small-scale battles.

According to historical records, when Yu Yunwen led a group of defeated soldiers to fight against the Jin Kingdom's improvised navy on the Yangtze River, he used thunder cannons to confuse the Jin Kingdom's army, which was unfamiliar with naval warfare.

But now, because the Jin navy entered the Yangtze River and the Dongting Lake navy came to support, there was a fierce battle on the river at the beginning, and the thunder cannon was not used.

After carefully looking at the most elite firearms of the Song Dynasty, Liu Huai was somewhat disappointed.

It should be said that in this era when firearms were in their infancy, even the Song Dynasty, which was at the forefront of the times, was still in the exploratory stage.

Liu Huai, the only person who knew the future development direction of firearms, was unable to supervise the casting of cannons and the improvement of gunpowder because he was always fighting on the front line.

Even if we want to build it now by relying on the national strength of Song State, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst, and it is too late.

"Is General Liu only interested in these few things?" Li Qi asked curiously.

Liu Huai looked at Li Qi with a mixture of laughter and tears: "Commander Li, I don't believe that the Dongting Lake navy has fought so many battles and still can't find the most useful firearms."

Li Qi thought about it and could only nod in agreement.

How could there be so many ingenious strategies and weapons on the battlefield? It was still better to train the troops honestly and then form battle arrays.

Even when the Dongting Lake navy was fighting on the water, they would deploy their ships in formation to meet the enemy.

Weapons like muskets were at most one for each of two sailors to use to fire at the hooks attached to the side of the ship. If everyone had one, it would be hilarious. Their own ship might be set on fire before the battle even started.

Yu Yunwen watched from the side of the training ground for a long time, and finally couldn't help asking, "Could it be that Liu Dalang has studied firearms?"

Liu Huai did not answer, but instead asked, "Mr. Yu, what do you think of firearms?"

Yu Yunwen thought about it and answered honestly: "It is flashy but not practical. It can only be used for clever strategies, but cannot be used for a formal battle formation."

This was true. After all, the most effective thunder bombs and rockets these days were also used for ignition. They were very useful in specific battlefields like night raids, ambushes, or naval battles, but when facing a large enemy, they could only disrupt the enemy's formation. Liu Huai shook his head. He wanted to say that firearms were the future direction of warfare, but he didn't know how to convince Yu Yunwen. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Yu Sheren, can you imagine a huge iron pipe, blocked at one end, stuffed with gunpowder, and then stuffed with an iron ball. The gunpowder was ignited, and after the explosion, the ten-pound iron ball would smash into the enemy's formation at a speed far exceeding that of a bow and crossbow. What a scene it would be."

The others were filled with doubts, but Yu Yunwen, who was far more knowledgeable, smiled and said, "I wonder what it is. Isn't this the thunderbolt crossbow that Master Huai Ming from Shu made over 20 years ago?"

Liu Huai wanted to complain about why all gunpowder weapons in the Song Dynasty liked to add the word "Pili". He also wanted to ask what the hell Master Huai Ming was. He also wanted to ask why the cannon was named "Pili Crossbow". What does this thing have to do with the crossbow?
But in the end, Liu Huai could only sigh silently in his heart, there are so many smart people in the world, even time travelers are just people who know the development of history. Even if there are no time travelers, there will always be people who can continue to promote the development of science and technology.

As if seeing the doubt on Liu Huai's face, Yu Yunwen continued, "Master Huai Ming is a high-ranking monk in Shu, proficient in alchemy..."

This sentence itself is worth complaining about, because alchemy is the Taoist's specialty, and Master Huai Ming, a great monk, is also proficient in it. It's like a mix of things, just like a chef from Lanxiang winning the World Cup.

But it doesn't matter, because Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism began to merge in the Tang Dynasty, and by the Song Dynasty they had almost become a hodgepodge, which just proves the saying that "the three religions are originally one family."

"...During the Jingkang Rebellion, Master Huai Ming, feeling compassion for the people, sought to create a weapon that would allow the Song Dynasty to defeat its enemies. While refining an elixir, the furnace crackled with a thunderclap, then shattered, its roof sinking into the wooden beams. Inspired by this, Master Huai Ming created the Thunderbolt Crossbow."

"Failed?" Liu Huai asked.

Yu Yunwen sighed, "Of course it failed. At first, Master Huai Ming used hollowed-out ironwood as the tube, but he discovered that if too much gunpowder was added, the ironwood would explode. If too little gunpowder was added, the stone ball wouldn't fly far. Furthermore, although the ironwood was hard, it was still wood. After a few explosions of gunpowder, it would catch fire, making it unusable."

"Later, Master Huai Ming used cast iron as the cylinder. However, if the cast iron was too thin, it would still explode, and if it was too thick, it would be too heavy to move. Later, the stone balls were of poor quality and would shatter inside the cylinder. However, switching to iron balls meant adding more gunpowder, which made the cylinder thicker, and so on. Later, there was a fire disaster in which two of his disciples died. Finally, Master Huai Ming became disheartened and gave up completely."

"Those with insight will lose hope after hearing this result." Yu Yunwen finally shook his head and said, "Even someone as amazing as Master Huai Ming can't do it, which only proves that this path is a dead end."

Liu Huai nodded silently.

Master Huai Ming had already fallen into all the traps, such as the gunpowder ratio problem, the barrel material problem, and the projectile mechanics problem. In the early days of basic science, solving these problems required experience.

In other words, it means learning from failure. For example, the formula for black powder has to be modified bit by bit until the optimal ratio is reached.

If we look at it from a historical perspective, the underlying technology for artillery has already matured, and all that’s missing is the finishing touch.

In fact, the earliest cannon discovered by later archaeologists was cast by the Western Xia Dynasty. It was made entirely of copper, about one meter long and weighing two hundred kilograms. It was equipped with a front chamber, a powder chamber, and a tail socket, and it was already a mature technology.

According to historical development, the Western Xia would be destroyed after sixty-six years, which means that within sixty-six years, the first generation of artillery technology would be initially mature.

The reason artillery hasn't appeared yet isn't because technology isn't advanced enough, but because no one knows this weapon will dominate battlefields for centuries and be called the king of war. No one knows where military technology is headed. No one knows whether to invest financial and material resources in this direction.

This is the greatest role of the time traveler.

No matter what era, the people are the biggest driving force of society and the creators of new things. A time traveler alone cannot change the world even if he has three heads and six arms.

But time travelers can use their forward-looking vision to point out the direction of development, avoid some big pitfalls, and take fewer detours.

For example, Liu Huai only vaguely remembered that black powder had three ingredients, with a ratio of about one to two to three, but he had no idea of the exact ratio. He knew nothing about metallurgy and was completely unable to forge a reliable gun barrel.

Influenced by the "unscrupulous cannon" depicted in later films, many people, including Liu Huai, assumed that the thin metal sheet of a gasoline barrel could withstand the pressure of a cannon firing. However, after participating in the production of a film, Liu Huai heard from military experts that the "unscrupulous cannon" was designed by burying the gasoline barrel underground after setting a scale, using the earth as the barrel to solve the problem of cannon explosion. While powerful, its drawback was that it could not be moved quickly, requiring it to be used as a fixed position.

Therefore, casting gun barrels is really a professional problem that requires recruiting craftsmen and issuing rewards for professionals to solve.

After a moment's deep thought, Liu Huai looked up and was about to speak when he saw a military envoy approaching. He bowed and said, "Zhang Liuma of the Dongting Lake Navy greets you, superiors. My commander has military information and invites you to Xicai Shi."

Before he had finished speaking, another military envoy arrived. It was from the Jingnan Army. "General, Commander Shi sent me to report that there's smoke and dust rising west of the river. It seems there's a large army mobilization."

Liu Huai's eyes twitched.

The halftime break is over.

The Jin army began to attack.

"Guan Qilang, bring twenty men with me." Liu Huai gave the order, then threw the thunder bomb aside and said apologetically to Li Qi, "Commander Li, I should treat you well, but the military situation is urgent..."

Li Qi waved his hands quickly and said, "General Liu, please don't be polite. Since it is the commanding officer, I will also return to the camp and prepare for the battle."

Having said that, Li Qi couldn't help but glance at the large basket of firearms piled beside him, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

I should have known not to carry so much with me. It’s so heavy.

(End of this chapter)