Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

The sun was setting on the horizon, its fiery red light covering half of the sky, reflecting the outline of Zhongshan Mountain in the distance. The imperial city was like a palace-dressed beauty covered in a golden gauze, so beautiful that it was breathtaking.

When Mr. Song Li, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, exited the palace, there was a bit of arrogance on his lips, but when he saw the queen's sedan chair and the ceremonial guard, he still smiled at the right time.

He turned sideways and lowered his head, not daring to look directly. After the queen, maids, and eunuchs entered the palace, Song Li slowly walked towards Hongwu Gate.

It's time for the distinguished guests' dinner soon. Song Li, as an out-and-out civil servant, neither can nor wants to participate. Now Song Li has received a very simple task.

Approach the national master Jiang Xinghuo.

In this era, it is very normal for the emperor to monitor everyone except himself, even the prince.

The eldest prince Zhu Gaochi and the second prince Zhu Gaoxu are not surrounded by many emperors?

Everyone knows, just pretend not to know. Only when the emperor is around you will the emperor be at ease with you.

In fact, Song Li was the first person to receive the bonus of the secret discount system. As he guessed, the emperor would not allow anyone to threaten his imperial power. It was necessary to play a free game from time to time, and Song Li I am very happy with the role of chess piece.

So where is the national teacher?

Under the guidance of the eunuch, Song Li left the palace city and successfully met the Imperial Master in a corner of the imperial city.

This is the Inner Court War Bureau, and nearby are also the Eight Inner Court Bureaus (Bingzhan Bureau, Silver Work Bureau, Clothing Bureau, Scarf and Hat Bureau, Needlework Bureau, Internal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau, Wine, Vinegar and Noodles Bureau, and Siyuan Bureau). This huge imperial city has a traditional territory.

At this time, the eunuch in charge of the military affairs bureau and the eunuch in charge of the armory were accompanying the imperial advisor, Duke Rong, the second prince and others who came to inspect.

So the person who came to greet Song Shilang was a military official from the War Bureau.

"I'd like to teach Mr. Song how to know."

Qian Shu proudly gave a brief introduction to Song Shilang: "Our Military War Bureau is in charge of manufacturing weapons, armor, bows and arrows, etc. for the country. We also have the Gunpowder Department, which makes gunpowder and is also under our management. In addition, here is also We also make other small utensils, such as iron locks, hammers, pliers, needles and scissors for the royal palace, as well as bells, drums, cymbals and other sounding instruments used for rituals in the palace."

Song Li nodded perfunctorily. He had no interest in knowing about these utensils for the army. He just followed them and looked around. Along the way, he saw that common weapons such as swords, guns, swords and halberds had special treasury, occupying a row. In another row, there were slightly fewer blunt weapons such as whips and axes.

Passing through a row of warehouses, there are bundles of arrows piled up in piles, and bows with their strings taken off.

Walking further, I saw the figure of Rongguo Gong Yao Guangxiao. I expected that the young man in a green shirt next to him was the national master Jiang Xinghuo.

Several people were looking at something attentively, and Song Li stepped forward.

As they approached, they discovered that it was the tall and powerful Second Prince Zhu Gaoxu, who was standing a little further away holding a large bow with ox horns.

Yao Guangxiao saw Song Li coming, looked at him thoughtfully, and immediately asked Song Li to watch together.

In front of Zhu Gaoxu, there was a row of objects, all used as targets.

They were conducting an experiment. The main purpose was to compare the power of firecrackers and bows at close range.

Well, I didn't select distance and long range because the effective distance of the fire gun is only this small now.

Standing side by side with Zhu Gaoxu were several craftsmen from the Gunpowder Department holding fireguns, and behind them were other craftsmen from the Bingzhan Bureau who gathered in a circle.

This is why after Jiang Xinghuo explained the principles of making hot air balloons and the required materials to the craftsmen of the Bingzhan Bureau, seeing that it was still early, he came up with an impromptu idea to see how the firecrackers of this era performed in all aspects.

Zhu Gaoxu shouted confidently.

"Mr. Jiang, take a good look. In the front row, there are red paint regiment cards, water-milled lock-top helmets, red-painted waist-length cowhide armor, water-milled willow leaf steel armor, and red gun and horse red armor (vests with armor for riding war horses). I bent my bow and shot them one by one."

Hearing this, Jiang Xinghuo nodded slightly to indicate to Zhu Gaoxu that he could start.

Zhu Gaoxu drew an arrow and put it on the bowstring of the big ox-horn bow. He exerted force on his wrist, and the explosive force pulled the entire big ox-horn bow like a full moon.

Zhu Gaoxu aimed at the opposite side, released his fingers, and heard a "whoosh" sound, and a sharp arrow flew out of the air.

Then there was a muffled sound of "Puff", and the arrow sank into the red paint ball, directly piercing several inches, and the arrow feathers trembled endlessly.

However, Zhu Gaoxu didn't blush and was out of breath. He took out another arrow from the quiver on the ground with familiarity and continued to bend his bow and shoot.

Not long after, several targets were hit by arrows.

At such a short distance of twenty steps, a warrior with astonishing physical strength like Zhu Gaoxu used a large ox-horn bow larger than the size of an ordinary step bow, and paired it with heavy arrows, which caused considerable damage to the armor.

The supervisor of the War Bureau wanted to bring some pieces of armor over, but Jiang Xinghuo waved his hand and walked over to take a closer look.

Jiang Xinghuo rubbed the red-lacquered waist-length cowhide armor that had been pierced by a prismatic arrow and then bloomed with cross flowers. He then looked at the water-polished willow leaf steel armor that should have stronger defensive capabilities in theory. However, he found that the densely pierced armor pieces and The cowhide belt that passed through the hole and connected to the armor leaf was directly dented into a small area where it was hit by the heavy arrow.

Jiang Xinghuo thought to himself.

"So the Jurchens in the previous life relied on the strong bows and heavy arrows of the horse-riding heavy infantry to shoot at close range and destroyed the fighting will of the Liaodong Army. Before firearms made a technological breakthrough that could be called transformative, I'm afraid they still couldn't Completely replace the crossbow."

However, Jiang Xinghuo still had some expectations for the gunpowders of this era. Next, it was the turn of the gunpowder craftsmen of the Gunpowder Department of the War Bureau to see their performance.

Several craftsmen lined up in a row, holding firecrackers and standing not far in front of Jiang Xinghuo. Each of them had solemn expressions, obviously very stressed.

Jiang Xinghuo also looked at them carefully. Although these people were craftsmen, they were eating in the imperial city after all. They had a different spirit from the craftsmen he saw in Xuancheng. They looked very energetic in their manners. And judging from his movements, he is obviously experienced and quite good with firearms.

The eunuch in charge of the Military War Bureau was newly replaced. It turned out that Ma Jing, the eunuch of Prince Yan's Mansion, was an old colleague of Zheng He. He knew the status of the imperial advisor in the emperor's heart and knew that this was a good opportunity to curry favor, so he naturally refused to miss it. .

Ma Jing, the eunuch in charge of the Military War Bureau, went to several craftsmen and whispered a few words. It was probably that he had to show his style to attract the attention of the imperial master, but not to embarrass His Highness beyond the limits of the second prince.

The craftsmen looked at each other in confusion. After a moment, one of the older craftsmen was the first to speak: "Please don't worry, father-in-law, I understand."

Several other young people followed suit.

Ma Jing, the eunuch of the Military War Bureau, nodded and said with a smile: "You have done a good job. I will reward you heavily later."

Immediately, several craftsmen began to prepare for the launch, pouring the gunpowder in the bag into the flat gourd-shaped gunpowder chamber, and then stuffing the projectiles.

Jiang Xinghuo was also watching from the side and reminded: "Be careful. Too much charge can easily explode the chamber. This time, we only look at the power in the normal state. Don't be tempted to compare and think that more charges will be more powerful. "

Ma Jing, the eunuch in charge of the Military War Bureau, turned his head and asked doubtfully: "Does the Imperial Master know about firearms?"

"Know a thing or two."

Jiang Xinghuo nodded, and then asked: "When it comes to firearms, who in the war bureau knows best?"

Ma Jing, the eunuch of the Bingzhan Bureau, pointed to the older craftsman who had just answered.

Jiang Xinghuo remembered it in his heart.

Song Li looked at this scene and felt a little surprised.

Legend has it that this imperial advisor was a wizard who knew everything from astronomy, geography, law, and administration. Unexpectedly, he also knew about gunpowder and weapons. As for whether he really understood it or pretended to understand it, Song Li couldn't tell. Anyway, he didn't understand, he only understood Water conservancy major.

Not long after.

"Bang!" There was a low sound, and smoke came out of the firecracker.

Then a series of firecracker-like sounds rang out, and the projectiles in several firecrackers were pushed by the gunpowder and rolled towards the target in front.

Everyone gathered around, watching with bated breath, waiting for the thick smoke to dissipate.

Jiang Xinghuo brought Dao Yan and Zhu Gaoxu forward to check.

The red paint ball bounced off the projectile and was slightly dented, but the defense was not broken. The helmet was penetrated. The cowhide armor was better at defending against projectiles than the armor and vest, but there were varying amounts of damage.

"It seems that this distance is not much worse than that of a bow and arrow..."

"This is pretty powerful."

Everyone marveled.

But laymen watch the excitement, and experts watch the door.

Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said in a low voice: "The power of a bow and arrow at a distance of twenty steps is about the same as that of an ordinary bow. When the distance reaches fifty steps, I am afraid that even half of the power of a bow and arrow will be lost, let alone a powerful crossbow. It is still a show-off." Things must be used together with the car array."

Jiang Xinghuo was not in a hurry to deny anything. This was the fact. He checked it over and said with satisfaction: "Well, it's not bad, but there is still room for improvement."

Ma Jing, the eunuch in charge of the military battle bureau, cupped his fists and said, "Please give me some advice from the Imperial Master."

In fact, this is just a polite word.

Ma Jingxun thought that it would be good if Jiang Xinghuo understood the term "explosion", but if there were more, he probably didn't understand it very well.

After all, even someone like him, who had followed Zhu Di on the battlefield and had seen how the Confederate Army used Ping An and Sheng Yong's firearms troops, actually had a little knowledge.

But Jiang Xinghuo called a few craftsmen over and said seriously.

"I think there are a few things that can be improved on today's firearms. Please note them down."

At this time, not to mention the young craftsmen, but also the older craftsmen, there were some murmurings in their hearts.

Those who work in crafts are most afraid of having a layman guide an expert when they become their boss.

The rest is okay, especially the gunpowder and firearms. Even though you know the instructions are wrong, you still have to follow them. The explosion may result in broken arms and legs, or even your life. It is really miserable.

But the young national master's next words made several craftsmen change their minds instantly.