However, the premise of the grenadier troops is to obtain high-purity saltpeter. Otherwise, no matter how powerful the grenadiers are, it will be difficult for them to land on the enemy's formation. Maybe they will injure their own people and allow the Qin army to break through the formation.

Since I don’t know how to purify the nitrite soil, the remaining option is to purchase saltpeter from outside. Before the synthesis of ammonia industry in 1909, Chilean saltpeter supplied the whole world, and before Chilean saltpeter supplied the whole world, India had monopolized the supply of the saltpeter market around the world. The former is sodium nitrate and the latter is potassium nitrate. Because it has been monopolized for more than a century, another name for potassium nitrate is Indian saltpeter.

India does not export saltpeter now (Indian saltpeter was exported in large quantities after British rule, using chemical purification methods). If Chu deliberately searched for saltpeter, would the secret of gunpowder be broken by the Indians? Perhaps the best choice is the Atacama Desert in Chile, or an unknown, dry and hot island.

Xiong Jing thought about these questions, but after a while, he felt that everything was too illusory. It should be more than ten years later to transport saltpeter across the ocean. The purity of saltpeter can only be tolerated and can be overcome with four times the charge.

"I think it's not impossible to throw gunpowder." Li Qie said until this time. "Gunpowder is the weapon of Thunder God, and it is the weight of the Great Chu. It needs to be ignited with flint. If Mars suddenly dies after being thrown into the enemy's formation, the gunpowder will be obtained by the Qin people."

"Gunpowder must not be obtained by the Qin people." The people, including Xiang Yan, nodded repeatedly. Gongshuji was most sensitive to gunpowder leakage, and he continued: "The Qin people came to Kunlun in the west. If they knew the secret of gunpowder, there would be no shortage of sulfur."

Saltpeter, charcoal, sulfur, these are the entire secrets of gunpowder. Of course, saltpeter in Chu is produced in the nitride field, rather than in broad daylight, people go to the toilets of all sizes in Yingdu City. Gongshuji, who once visited the island's nitride field, returned to Ying and noticed that there were also small saltpeters of the same color at the foot of the walls of the thatched cottages and old houses. This discovery surprised him.

Xiong Jing's comfort in this was that the Qin people could not cast artillery. If it was the Shang Dynasty, it would be possible to make useful bronze cannons. The Western Zhou Dynasty might be able to do it, but it must be in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. Before the craftsmen of the Shang Dynasty died, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty had a high possibility that they could not make bronze cannons. In the Warring States Period, the possibility was even smaller.

Bronze technology has always been deteriorating. In the late Shang Dynasty, the early Western Zhou Dynasty was the peak, and then it was a long-term deterioration. During the Shang Dynasty, even the barbarian land of Xinkan, Jiangxi, had bronze helmets, and there were more Central Plains under the control of the Shang Dynasty. However, by the two weeks, even the Western Zhou Dynasty had few bronze helmets, and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty was completely missing, with only the Peach Helmets. In the late Warring States period, iron helmets appeared in Zhongshan and Yan State.

Did the Zhou people not want to use bronze armor? Of course not. The Zhou people's bronze armor was not a whole piece of armor, but small pieces were nailed to leather armor and cloth armor. After all, the technology was not good. The Zhou people could not cast bronze helmets and bronze armor, so they could only use this trick.

In the past, the king said that the Qin people could not cast artillery, but now the king said that if there is no artillery powder, it can break the formation. Gongshuji was most moved when he heard this. "I think he should use artillery, so the Qin people cannot get gunpowder and cannot understand its secret."

"That is, you should use artillery, you should use artillery." The people agreed repeatedly. The last time the catapult almost leaked the secret, the morning court discussed for more than a month. Fortunately, the warship finally sank the boat that transported the catapult, which sank the boat, which finally sank the worries. If the Qin people had to go, the harm to the State of Chu would be a hundred times as harmful to the state of Chu.

"If you want to use artillery..." Xiong Jing remembered the six-pound cannon that Ju Tie Mansion was making and said, "Can you use a dragon horse to pull it?"

"No." Xiang Yan still shook his head. Although he bought six thousand horses from Seleucus, two thousand of them were mares, and only four thousand were available, and most of these horses were still on the way.

"If you don't need a dragon horse, it's better not to use a twenty-one pound cannon." Twelve pounds are twenty-one pounds. Chu jin. The weight of the nearly two thousand kilograms is too heavy. Four-pair and eight horses can be dragged, but the entire tow cannon row is too long. If it is necessary, it should not be used.

"Not twenty-one pounds, how many pounds should I use?" Xiang Yan asked afterwards.

"The best one is ten pounds, and the heaviest one is..." Xiong Jing was a little confused. There were several modern artillery systems, and the division of artillery was different. There were about 35 grams of French pounds and British pounds. He was a little confused. He was a little confused about the weight of the French eight-pound cannon and the British nine-pound cannon. Fortunately, this weight can be estimated.

In the modern French artillery system, if it is a standard gun (non-mountain howitzer, howitzer), a pound of shells requires a gun body of 150 times the weight. If it is an eight-pound shell, it requires a French-pound gun body, which is converted into kilograms, which is 586 kilograms. The twelve-pound gun mount weighs more than 600 kilograms and a gun body of more than 900 kilograms. The eight-pound gun mount with only 600 kilograms should be about 500 kilograms. Plus the front car with about 300 kilograms, the weight of the ranks is 1,400 kilograms.

"The heaviest one is fifteen kilograms," Xiong Jing replied after estimating. "This can be dragged by six horses. Ten kilogram can be dragged by four horses..."

The six-pound cannon does not belong to the French gun system. Strictly speaking, the twelve-pound cannon during the American Civil War was also an English pound, not a legal pound. The mixture of the two pounds gave Xiong Jing a headache, but the reason why he worked hard to get "m" and rebuild the weights and measures of later generations was to borrow the numbers and experiences obtained by others for hundreds of years. This is the fastest way.

He shook his head and tried his best to eliminate the headache, saying: "When the ten-pound cannon is bombarded, the total weight is only 3,200 pounds, and in an emergency, it may be pushed forward by man."

Three thousand two hundred Chujin is 800 kilograms. Although it is still very heavy, it is within the range that humans can drag. E Zhuo nodded when he heard this weight. Compared to the 21-pound cannon that is nearly 8,000 kilograms, it is really light and lovely.

"I'm half lighter, how can I ask the king how it is used?" Li Qi interrupted again, wanting to know the power of the six-pound cannon.

"This..." It is said that the twelve-pound cannon can easily penetrate a company column at a distance of 600 yards, and even at a distance of 200 yards, it is difficult to penetrate half a company column. Xiong Jing didn't know how thick and wide a company column was. He could only say: "How powerful is the ten-pound cannon, you can only know the test fire."

"Can artillery be installed on warships?" Li Qi asked another question, which was also the topic that the Operations Department has only recently discussed.

"The warship is set up with cannons?" The thin boat of the large-winged warship, the wielding warship, flew across his mind. Xiong Jing shook his head and said, "No." But this sentence is not right. He corrected: "The warship is not a sea boat. The sea boat cannon door faces the enemy, and it drains more than 500 tons, so it can be installed with 21 kilograms of cannons and 32 kilograms of cannons. The warship cannons are only a few dozen tons, and the cannons are set up with less than ten kilograms of cannons. Moreover, the warship is facing the enemy head, and the cannons are mostly used to intimidate, so they cannot sink the enemy boat. Even if the enemy is injured with a gun, only one shot can be used."

"So that's it." The Operations Department came up with many plans for the warships to set up cannons, but Xiong Jingyi said that these planners seemed to be useless. Xiang Yan did not miss any opportunity to expand the combat effectiveness of the infantry. He said: "If you build a ten-pound cannon, you can still try the king."

"Of course we have to try." Xiong Jing was just his own speculation. He was not optimistic about the warship launching cannons. One shot of a minute is enough for the warship to sprint for two or three hundred meters. It is difficult to hit the enemy boat at a distance of one or two hundred meters. Even if it hits the enemy boat, it cannot sink even if it hits the enemy boat. If it hits it once, it will definitely sink. "This matter will be left to Gongshuqing to test it."

"I respectfully accept the order. King, Wu Kong..." Gongshuji still couldn't bear to part with Wu Kong, and he wanted to take Wu Kong back.

"The Wu Zhengwei will be the Haishang from now on." Xiong Jing did not intend to release people. "The artillery operation has been customized. There are still several artillery commanders below the Wu Zhengwei. There are many bandits overseas. If there are no artillery, they cannot be deterred. If there is no intimidation, how can there be sulfur?"

Xiong Jing said that Gongshujian was speechless, and he said again: "Instead of asking for the Wu Ziwei Captain, it is better to train more gunners and gun commanders. Jun and others think how many artillery should the Chu army have?"

"Ten kilograms of cannons should be used as Jing crossbows, and one division should prepare fifty-four units." Gongshu Ji said, and as soon as he said that Xiong Jing said, "There are so many."

"If you use it to break the formation, there will be many." Xiang Yan also said. "One division has sixteen divisions. The entire army has more than 30 divisions, which is 500."

During the decisive battle, we concentrated on bombarding the formation, and the five hundred gates were already a big deal. Xiong Jing couldn't help but nodded, but he did not immediately agree with Xiang Yan's words below. "...In this way, our army will attack Qin next year, and the situation will be unstoppable."

"It will only be available for artillery for three years," Xiong Jing said. "It will only be available for artillery this year, next year, the year after next."

"It takes three years?" Xiang Yan was puzzled. Gongshuji then understood why Xiong Jing did not let Wu Kong go.

"At least two years." Xiong Jing couldn't figure out how long it took to train artillery in modern times, but he felt that artillery as a technical branch could not be achieved quickly, especially artillery officers. The officers decided on the use of artillery, rather than the gunner who wiped the barrel. Moreover, the artillery had never been in actual combat and had no complete scriptures. The correct approach should be to organize scriptures through actual combat and then generalize them.

"It's not enough for two years." Xiang Yan said distressedly. The Operations Department had two plans to attack Qin. One was to go out with the Three Kingdoms cavalry and attack Xianyang in a roundabout way to kill the King of Qin. This was a one-time and for all method, but it was difficult to implement and required to be absolutely confidential;

The other is the plan to restore Ying that was formulated a long time ago. This plan is simple, because it is just an attack by the Chu army, so it can be absolutely confidential.

The timing of the Xianyang plan was that the Qin State would attack Zhao again, and the domestic army was on the border of Qin and Zhao, and the rescue of Xianyang was not enough; there were two additional prerequisites for the restoration of Ying: the Qin army must be exhausted for a long battle, and then accumulate grain for at least three years, that is, the year afterwards. Xiang Yan always believed that Zhao State was weak. If the Qin army attacked Zhao again, the Xianyang plan should be implemented in the first year, and the Ying plan should be implemented in the second year at the latest. We must not restore Ying at the expense of Zhao State, as this is not worth the loss.
Chapter completed!