The first thousand two hundred and forty-eight chapters guns and artillery
After coming out of the palace and returning to Prince Yu's Mansion, Emperor Xin locked himself in the study.
When Zeng Hongshen opened the door and came in, there was already a thick stack of rice paper on the desk.
But Di Xin just raised his head and glanced at Zeng Hongshen, then continued to draw on the spread rice paper.
Zeng Hongshen walked to the desk and took a curious look. As Di Xin dropped the brush in his hand, a strange portrait quickly appeared on the rice paper.
He glanced to the side and saw that although the portrait on the top of the stack of rice papers was the same as the one drawn by Di Xingang, it looked equally strange.
The younger you become, the more curious you become.
In the past, even though Zeng Hongshen was doubtful, he would not necessarily take the initiative to ask. But now after seeing Di Xin put pen to paper, he immediately asked: "I wonder what your highness is drawing?"
Of course, this is also related to the growing trust between Zeng Hongshen and Di Xin.
Now, there is nothing that cannot be discussed between the two.
Even if one day Zeng Hongshen discovers traces of the battle between world masters, Di Xin will not be unable to confess. It is just that there is no need to say it now.
Di Xin put down his brush, waited for the ink on the rice paper to dry, and replied smoothly: "These are the manufacturing drawings of firearms."
"firearm?"
Zeng Hongshen was slightly startled. This was a word he had never heard of before.
Di Xin patted a stack of drawings next to him and said with a smile: "Yes, with these, we can truly unleash the power of gunpowder."
"Look, these are the manufacturing drawings of the musket. Once the musket is built, we can put the gunpowder into a smaller shell and fire it out at an extremely fast speed."
Di Xin picked up the top pile and said something that shocked Zeng Hongshen.
"Even the strongest muskets that fire at the fastest speed may not be able to evade them."
However, this is just a theory. For innate grand masters who enter the Tao through martial arts, even if they cannot avoid the bullets fired from the guns, their martial arts intuition can still allow them to detect the crisis before the enemy shoots and respond.
What Di Xin really wants to introduce is the portrait below.
"With the intuition of an innately strong person, it is very likely that he will notice it before the trigger of the musket is pulled and avoid it in advance."
Just as Zeng Hongshen's expression softened, he saw Di Xin picking up a portrait and said, "This is called artillery."
"A few days ago, sir, you must have seen the power of a grenade, and the size of that grenade is not even as big as the palm of your hand."
"If we make it bigger and fill it with more gunpowder, it will be more powerful."
Zeng Hongshen nodded slightly.
Di Xin once explained the distance of gunpowder to him, so it was not used for too much explanation.
"But there is one thing. After hitting it, it is not only inconvenient to carry, but also if you throw it with human strength, the explosion range may include you. It can be said that the gain outweighs the loss."
"Indeed."
Zeng Hongshen vaguely understood something, looked at the portrait in Di Xin's hand and asked: "So can we rely on this thing called artillery?"
"That's right."
Di Xin showed a "nuclear" kind smile and explained: "The bullets fired by the musket can be called bullets, while the bullets fired by the artillery are called artillery shells."
"With the device in the artillery, the shells can even hit several miles away."
"What?"
Zeng Hongshen suddenly raised his head and looked at Di Xin, and asked with a horrified look on his face: "Can it really hit that far?"
"That's right."
Di Xin smiled and said: "This is still limited by today's technology, otherwise it can go further."
This time, Zeng Hongshen was truly speechless.
Although he couldn't understand the artillery drawings, he could probably deduce the size of the artillery shells from the dimensions marked on them, and then he could also deduce the power of the artillery based on his understanding of gunpowder.
It can be said that if such a shell hits his head, even he may not be able to escape the scope of the explosion, let alone others.
Coupled with the distance of the artillery launch...
Zeng Hongshen imagined that scene and was suddenly shocked.
With artillery, no matter how many experts there are in the enemy's army, there will probably be heavy casualties before formal contact.
Although he has not yet seen the power of artillery, he already understands it.
If artillery were built, it would be a real killer weapon.
If the army could be equipped with these firearms, it would be a huge success.
Di Xin shook his head gently: "It's not necessarily the case that you are looking at."
Not to mention anything else, the reason why the army of the Great Food Empire in the Western Land was so powerful was probably because they used weapons that did not belong to this era.
As for whether it was a firearm, Di Xin was not sure.
But the power is definitely not small.
But he didn't belittle himself either.
"But it will be of great help to improve the strength of the army."
Di Xinyou briefly introduced some other firearm models, and then said: "I would also like to ask sir to find some craftsmen. I need to build a few samples first."
"yes."
Zeng Hongshen immediately handed over his hand.
There is no good or evil in weapons, it only depends on who is using them, so he did not say anything like "shouldn't happen" about the powerful destructive power of firearms.
After Zeng Hongshen went out, Di Xin picked up the pen and continued painting.
The purpose of creating samples was not to conquer the old emperor, but to display them in front of hundreds of officials.
Although this country has only one emperor in name, it cannot function without its officials, so it is impossible to really ignore their opinions.
If muskets and artillery were to be equipped into the army, a huge amount of iron ore would be consumed.
In this era, iron ore is still an extremely important strategic material, and it is impossible for Di Xin to waste it at will.
Therefore, he could only truly conquer them and reduce resistance after letting the officials see the power of firearms first.
As for why we didn't ask the Ministry of Industry for help, it was also because we were worried that they wouldn't pay much attention to it at the beginning, which would inadvertently lead to the spread of the firearm's construction drawings.
On the contrary, if you look for private craftsmen, it will be easier to control because of their status.
At worst, they would be incorporated into the Ministry of Industry, which would be regarded as giving them a job as an official.
Although it feels a bit like buying and selling by force, in this era, being able to eat from the official family is definitely a matter of smoke on the ancestral graves for the common people. Not only is it not a loss, but it is a huge profit.
…
The capital is the capital of Dali, so it is not difficult to find a few craftsmen.
Within half an hour, Zeng Hongshen brought back several craftsmen.
Before handing over the drawings to these craftsmen, Di Xin first explained the pros and cons to them.
Sure enough, after hearing that they could work in the imperial court in the future, these craftsmen knelt down one after another and thanked Emperor Xin for the good fortune bestowed upon them by the quasi-prince.
Even if the price they pay for this is that their future freedom will be subject to certain restrictions, their excitement has not diminished even a little bit.
Then, Emperor Xin ordered people to take them back and bring all the necessary tools back to Prince Yu's Mansion.
In a corner of Prince Yu's Mansion, Emperor Xin ordered people to build a temporary workshop, and then gave some of the drawings to these craftsmen to build in the palace.