Li Chengzhi has always felt that he is a military rookie, at most he can play "Total War" and "Mount and Cut".
So since he knew that there might be a war, he sharpened his gun for a few days before the battle.
During the break of making iron, he grabbed Li Song and lectured him on the art of war for several days.
There is "Six Tao", there is "Sun Tzu", there is "Qi Sun Tzu" (Sun Bin's Art of War), there is "Sima Fa", there is "Wei Liao Zi"...
Although he only had a general understanding, not even a superficial understanding, his attitude made Li Song and others very happy.
The Li family of Jingzhou started with military exploits. As the legitimate son and future leader of the clan, this ability to eat must not be lost.
So Li Chengzhi can at least recognize what formation Li Bai is practicing now: the wild goose formation in "Sun Bin's Ten Formations".
This formation is the main attack, regardless of whether the formation is in the forward or reverse flying goose shape.
At this time, Li Bai was setting up a reverse goose formation. It should have been renamed the Crane Wing Formation during the Song Dynasty.
This formation is not only the main attack, but also an encirclement formation: the central army is restrained and the two wings are forward. When the formation is deployed, it is like a crane flying up with its wings. The central army is the crane with claws and pecking. The main attack is on the left and right wings.
It’s the wings, the main body!
What Li Chengzhi was wondering was, what was Li Bai's purpose of practicing this formation at this time?
You only have a thousand soldiers, while others have at least 20,000. What’s the use of practicing an encirclement formation like this?
The war is imminent, and most of them are newbies, shouldn't they practice something practical and effective?
For example, how to defend, how to resist encirclement, how to defend and counterattack, or even how to break out when surrounded.
Even if it's not enough, you should also practice what kind of formation you should put in to deal with enemies of different types.
Of course, it is also possible that Li Song used this formation as a basis to teach his soldiers how to change formations, but Li Chengzhi always felt that it was not that simple.
Compared with Li Song, Li Bo is much more radical. From the fact that he persuaded Li Chengzhi to take the initiative more than once, it can be seen that Li Bo has a great gambling habit.
Li Song also said: Li Bai is good at using strange weapons!
So Li Chengzhi was a little worried. With Li Bai's training, he might be planning to counterattack the rebels one day.
It feels like a joke just thinking about it. Not to mention surrounding 20,000 people, even if the enemy comes to 1,000, you won’t be able to protect him...
After all, no one knows as much, and since there is no evidence, Li Chengzhi can't talk much. Moreover, Li Song will be back in six or seven days at most, and Li Bai can't do any tricks, so he will do the trick first.
After watching for a while, he told Li Bai to try his best to let Ding soldiers practice basic knowledge such as how to distinguish flags and how to listen to drums. After that, Li Chengzhi returned to the mountain.
In addition to focusing on making armor and transferring gold to Buddha statues, he also has a more important thing: preparing gunpowder.
For a professional like him, it is actually not that difficult to prepare this thing.
And he even got started.
When I was ten years old, the village was building a new canal and could not afford to hire large machinery. When the sand and gravel layers were encountered, they had to make homemade gunpowder to explode or loosen them, and then dig with iron.
At that time, every household had potassium phosphate and ammonium phosphate fertilizers, so it was not easy to make them.
Potassium nitrate also requires sulfur and a precise formula, but ammonium nitrate does not require these two things.
Mix the sawdust and stir-fry it in a pot before use.
At that time, Li Chengzhi was the one responsible for ammonium nitrate speculation...
This thing is much more powerful than gunpowder made from fire and saltpeter, but it is highly stable and cannot be ignited without high explosives, so adults can rest assured.
For example: Because ammonium nitrate is easy to get wet and clump, when farmers buy it, it is mostly in one piece and must be smashed before applying fertilizer to the field.
But this thing is not very hard after it is hardened. You have to use a sledgehammer to smash it, and sparks will pop out when you smash it.
If I had to replace it with potassium nitride, it would have caught fire...
Detonators are difficult to make, and nitrocellulose is even more dangerous. If you have the guts, nitroglycerine has been made.
Li Chengzhi didn't want to become half-disabled or die young before enjoying life, so he honestly chose to manufacture and sell potassium...
The method is also very simple: on the walls of pig and sheep pens, stables, and toilets, there will be bulging white alkali, also called soil salt.
Then soak the plant ash in water, filter out the ash, then soak it in, filter it again, and finally wait for it to condense and crystallize.
The first thing that came out was the table salt, and then the fire saltpeter.
Therefore, while Li Chengzhi made dozens of kilograms of fire saltpeter, he also made dozens of kilograms of fine salt.
The kind that is as white as snow does not exist in this era. It will definitely shock the whole Wei Dynasty...
To put it bluntly, it’s all extracted from urine, even if Li Chengzhi died, he wouldn’t eat it.
However, the green salt at this time can also be used as currency, just like silk and corn, and the price is not low.
So Li Chengzhi did not fail.
The ratio of gunpowder is easy to remember, and it is not difficult to granulate it. He is afraid of getting wet and shaking it around to generate static electricity. In addition, he has the materials at hand, so Li Chengzhi also rolled a layer of graphite on top of the gunpowder particles...
In fact, it is also possible to roll wax, but Li Chengzhi was afraid that he would not be able to control the thickness the first time, which would affect the burning of gunpowder.
However, the fuse and the grenade seal are all wrapped in wax, so you are not afraid of rainy days.
For mine shells, Li Chengzhi naturally used pig iron cans. Compared with clay pots, the advantage is that they are not afraid of falling, but the disadvantage is that they are heavier.
As for whether it can explode, Li Chengzhi is not worried at all.
In the Ming and Central Dynasties, the formula of gunpowder was not so precise, and the production method was many times rougher than his, all using pig iron shells...
Besides, you’ve already made it, don’t you know how to try it?
Therefore, on the third day after Li Chengzhi inspected the military camp, the entire Kongtong Mountain heard a thunder.
Many of the village women who were making wooden armor, cutting arrow shafts, and sewing armor linings knelt down in fear.
Thunder in winter, or the bright sun shining in the sky?
Never heard of it.
In the minds of these villagers, phenomena that cannot be explained by reason can only be attributed to gods and miracles...
Hearing the sound, which seemed to come from the south peak, Li Bai's expression changed drastically, and he immediately got on a horse and hurried up the mountain.
He thought it was a furnace explosion...
In the past, when smelting iron or making pottery in Zhuangzi, one or two incidents would occasionally occur, and sometimes people were hurt.
But Li Bai has never seen such a big movement.
It didn't matter that the blacksmith and the potter were all dead. Even if those retainers and his two sons died, the most he could do was cry secretly a few times at night when no one was around.
But if something happens to Lang Jun...
There was no trace of blood on Li Bai's face anymore. He used all his strength to swing the riding whip. Every time the whip was struck, a blood groove would be drawn from the horse's body...
In the front yard of the main hall, Li Zhang and Li Liang were watching several coppersmiths baking the gold paint on the Buddha statue in a blast furnace. When they heard the explosion, the coppersmiths were so frightened that they dropped the iron bars in their hands, and the iron Buddha immediately fell down, almost
Crush the blast furnace.
They just thought it was a divine punishment sent down by gods...
Li Zhang's face turned a little pale, and he was mumbling, but he didn't know what he was talking about, but Li Liang was not that scared.
"It's a bit far away. It doesn't look like there's a furnace in the backyard, but more like a mountain in the back?" Li Liang asked doubtfully, "What's in the mountain in the back?"
"Besides a cliff, what else can there be?" Li Zhang muttered, "But when I saw Lang Jun in the morning, he seemed to be carrying something on his back to the back mountain..."
At this point, Li Zhang's eyes suddenly bulged, his whole body trembled, and then he roared, "It's Lang Jun, it's Lang Jun who was struck by lightning..."
Before he finished speaking, he ran away.
Where are the gods and thunder?
Li Liang has not believed in ghosts and gods since he was a child, but he couldn't guess what happened and whether it was Li Chengzhi, so his face turned pale.
He cursed "idiot" and was about to catch up when he suddenly remembered that there were more than a dozen coppersmiths around him.
If one of these people takes advantage of the chaos and escapes, the Li family will be robbed and exterminated...
Li Liang's eyes turned cold, he pulled out his sword with a bang, pointed it at Li Bai's two sons, Li Zhao and Li Ming, and shouted, "Watch those copycats!"
As he spoke, he pointed at the group of coppersmiths again, "If you dare to move, grandpa will chop you down..."