Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

"This small, lightweight flat-bladed cannon,"

"It can be installed on warships,"

"It can be placed on the city wall,"

"They can also be pulled by mules to accompany the army in field battles."

Hmm... okay.

Zhao Yuan provided the idea for creating the Heaven-Shaking Thunder.

But it's probably not explained clearly.

His plan was to make hand grenades.

Then they trained grenadiers.

Chapter 3126 Barrage of Artillery Fire

And Peng Xiu and his military industry personnel

But they made bombs weighing four or five pounds.

Specifically used for city defense.

Or launch it using catapults.

Zhao Yuan felt this idea was pretty good.

It can be used to increase the firepower of the triple formation.

At that time, the Jin cavalry charged to within 120 paces.

Use catapults to drop bombs.

When you reach one hundred paces,

Fire another volley of musket fire.

Then, use the tiger-crouching cannon and wooden cannon to fire grapeshot.

And it was used in conjunction with bows and crossbows.

Muskets, bows and arrows, and crossbow bolts can all be fired twice.

Throughout the entire process, there were six or more layers of long-range firepower.

With practice, one can even achieve eight to ten levels of firepower.

This way, they can still reach the front of the vehicle formation.

That can only mean that the Jin soldiers were protected by gods.

Zhao Yuan instructed, "This kind of thunderbolt can be preserved."

“Make some lighter ones,”

"It's best to keep it under three pounds."

"Yes!"

Peng Xiu accepted the order.

Zhao Yuan then inspected the gunpowder factory.

The reason it was placed in the suburbs,

It's because they're afraid of a huge explosion one day.

Initially, the Zhu family, father and son, raised their army in Hanzhong.

That area happens to be the most important saltpeter producing region in northern China.

For now, the Zhu family has temporarily established their capital in Kaifeng.

And the counties of Kaifeng Prefecture happen to be the best producing areas of saltpeter in China!

If there's no shortage of saltpeter, there's naturally no shortage of gunpowder.

What's truly important is to strictly manage the gunpowder manufacturing process.

Otherwise, the gunpowder formula would be useless.

During the Opium War,

Qing army generals from different regions,

They used completely different gunpowder ratios.

The root cause was the shoddy workmanship in gunpowder production.

For example, saltpeter, after being purified three times using traditional methods, is considered合格 (qualified/up to standard).

Qing Dynasty craftsmen often only purified the material once or twice.

A responsible Qing army general,

It must be based on the actual power of the gunpowder in hand.

Estimate the quality of the raw material nitrate you obtained.

Then let his craftsmen...

The ratio of saltpeter in the gunpowder is then adjusted (often by increasing the percentage of saltpeter).

This is how we fight wars.

That must be so damn tiring!

After inspecting the gunpowder factory

Zhao Yuan felt very satisfied.

Given that cutting corners can cost you your head,

The craftsmen were extremely conscientious and responsible.

He ordered the ordnance testing plant to send people.

They went to Cizhou and Xuzhou respectively.

Bring the crafting methods for cloth armor and thunderbolts with you.

The entire army is now extremely well-armored.

The cloth armor isn't urgent for now.

The thunderbolts need to be manufactured quickly.

The outer shell of this thing is cast from pig iron.

Moreover, they don't care about the quality of the steel.

It can be mass-produced quickly and at low cost.

After it was built,

The thunderbolts produced in Cizhou

Transport it to Zhang Guangdao from nearby.

The thunderbolts produced in Xuzhou

They were then loaded onto ships in Haizhou and transported to Li Bao, Zhe Yanzhi, Yelü Yudu, and others.

What they actually need most is a thunderbolt.

Because the number of troops deployed across the sea is small.

However, they could face a massive attack from the Jin army at any time.

Lord Li Bao,

Nature is the first to acquire new weapons.

Wanyan Zongwang's 10,000 elite troops

Still on the way to the coastal road,

Li Bao then received the first batch of 800 Thunderclap Bombs.

It was transported there along with military rations.

"How to use this thing?"

Li Bao was carrying a bomb weighing over four pounds.

I have some doubts about the true power of this thing.

The technician who followed the bomb smiled and said:

"Lord Li can send someone to give it a try."

Outside the coastal county town.

Many straw figures were erected on a wasteland.

The thunderbolt was placed in the very center.

Chapter 3127 Turned to Scorched Earth

Li Bao was originally standing about ten steps away.

The technician advised, "Mr. Li needs to withdraw a little more."

"How much further back?" Li Bao asked.

The man said, "It would be better to retreat another twenty paces."

"To prevent broken pieces of iron from flying in."

Including the brothers Daming Zhen and Daming Yi, who surrendered the city.

He also brought his personal guards to watch the spectacle.

A soldier lit the fuse.

They quickly ran towards the large pit that had been dug a few meters away.

Then he suddenly jumped into the deep pit to hide.

"boom!"

A tremendous roar resounded.

It was truly deafening.

As the smoke gradually dissipated

Li Bao personally went closer to inspect it.

Within a radius of one and a half meters,

The straw figures were all knocked down and shattered.

Within a radius of three meters,

The scarecrow was shaken and became crooked.

Many also collapsed.

And within a radius of more than ten meters

Even further,

There were pieces of cast iron that had been blown up everywhere.

This amount of gunpowder

They really know how to put on a show!

The account in the History of Jin is even more exaggerated:

"When the gunpowder detonated, the sound was like thunder,"