: Preparing for war

In Wuwei County, in a newly built stone house, a man threw down his torch and ran out in panic. There was no movement in the stone house. Everyone present stared at it intently, with a nervous look on his face, and his heart seemed to be about to rise to his throat.

Zhang Huan was also focused on the movement in the stone house. Sitting next to him was a middle-aged Taoist priest. His expression was extremely nervous. He licked his lips from time to time, his hands and feet were trembling slightly. He was counting down to himself: "Six, five, four, three..."

Suddenly, with a 'boom!', a dull sound came from the stone house, and the stone house swayed and almost collapsed. Then a thick stream of black smoke rushed out of the window.

"Success!" Dozens of craftsmen and officials were immediately excited and cheered.

Zhang Huan's joy was overwhelming. He couldn't help but feel excited and took big steps towards the stone house. However, the Taoist priest next to him moved faster and flew out in one go. He was the first to grab the stone house. No one dared to go in immediately, waiting for the black smoke to dissipate.

This is the fourth test in three days. The first three failed, once there was no movement, the other time there was only black smoke, and the last time it was an explosion on the spot, and the person who ignited the fire died.

The middle-aged Taoist priest was named Wang Zhuzi. He was the alchemist who had made elixirs in Wuwei County. After eating the elixirs he had been trained, he fled to Jincheng County to become a monk. Song Qi sent people to inquire from many sources and finally found him. When he learned that he was not arrested but was just refining gunpowder for the military, Wang Zhuzi was relieved and returned to Wuwei.

It is not difficult to refine gunpowder. The raw materials are mainly saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal powder, bamboo ru, and maru. In addition, asphalt, tung oil, small oil, wax and other adhesives are added. This is recorded in many books, and Wuwei is close to the Qilian Mountains. These raw materials are not lacking and can be easily manufactured.

But the key is to obtain gunpowder that can explode in the porcelain altar, especially to control the explosion time of the gunpowder. This requires alchemists like Wang Virgin, who have rich experience in refining.

The thick smoke in the stone house gradually dissipated, and everyone walked into the house. The stone house was specially built for testing gunpowder. The inner wall was covered with wooden boards. The porcelain altar used for testing was hung in the middle of the house. Only half an altar of gunpowder and hundreds of penetrating nails were installed inside. At this time, it had completely exploded. The entire inner wall wooden board was inlaid with porcelain pieces and fine iron nails.

"Oh my God!" Du Mei saw such a powerful weapon for the first time. He couldn't help but sigh and turned back to Zhang Huan incredibly: "Governor, I read countless times and have never seen any record of using gunpowder in war. I'm afraid you are the first person!"

"This is not what I thought." Zhang Huan smiled and patted Song Qi on the shoulder beside him, and praised: "My Ordnance Department is the first person."

Song Qi scratched his head embarrassedly and said, "Actually, it was not what I thought of. When I was a child, there was a strange old man living in our village. He never interacted with people and liked to fiddle with gunpowder. I have also seen him put gunpowder and iron sand into a bamboo tube and shoot it out, shooting it a hundred steps away, which is much more powerful than a bow and arrow. Unfortunately, this person was killed by An Lushan's riot army."

Wang Qiaozi was stunned when he heard this. He looked ahead blankly and murmured to himself: "How can I use a bamboo tube to make iron sand?"

"Gunpowder is a magical thing. As long as you are willing to study it, you will be even more powerful than that weird old man."

Zhang Huan smiled, looked around the scene carefully, then looked at the Taoist Wang with a troubled goatee and asked, "Why did this succeed this time? But you improved the formula."

Wang Zhuzi was still immersed in the fantasy idea of ​​making iron sand from bamboo tubes. Suddenly, he saw Zhang Huan ask himself, and he quickly replied: "Governor, it is not a recipe problem. The recipes I use are all that can explode. The key is the size of the particles. The previous few failures are here. If you want the gunpowder to burn evenly to control its combustion speed and combustion, you must use the average size, preferably a fine gunpowder as fine as corn. This will not only make twists, but also make a smaller explosion effect, just like this."

Wang Zhuzi pointed to a penetrating nail that penetrated into a thick wooden board and said, "If you tie a thin tube to a crossbow arrow and shoot it out, the lethality of such an arrow will be more than one person."

Zhang Huan nodded silently. He took a bottle from Song Qi's hand and poured the fine gunpowder into his hand. It turned out that they were round, the size of corn.

"Then what are your difficulties now?" Zhang Huan tried his best to suppress the ecstasy in his heart and said to Wang Zhuzi in a calm tone: "I want to produce this kind of gunpowder on a large scale, which you may be able to do?"

Wang Baozi was not as excited as he thought, and he felt a little disappointed. However, he also knew that he was a guilty person. If he wanted to avoid death, he could only do things for the army with peace of mind. In this way, he might one day he would be able to live a job with the official.

Thinking of this, he pondered for a moment and said, "I want to find a quick way to grind gunpowder now, and I also want to continue to improve the gunpowder formula. I hope the governor can serve as a deputy to me for a few skilled craftsmen."

"This is no problem. As long as you can refine the gunpowder I want, I will support you with all my money, goods and manpower. I will not treat you badly in the future, but now you can't go anywhere."

Zhang Huan looked back at Song Qi, smiled faintly and said, "Do you understand what I mean?"

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Leaving the gunpowder test site, Zhang Huan and Du Mei returned to the street. Since Li Mi refused to come to Hexi, Du Mei was actually Zhang Huan's first military advisor.

Du Mei’s biggest feature is that he sees the big picture from the small, and he can often see the clues of the problem from some inconspicuous small things.

In the past two months, he saw Zhang Huan secretly sending people to various places in Longyou to spy on military information and purchase grain from the people at a high price. He guessed that Zhang Huan might be going to use troops to Longyou.

However, he didn't ask much. After being with this young governor for a long time, he also felt a little bit of Zhang Huan's temper. He didn't like to be controlled by decisions on major matters. He often asked his subordinates for their opinions from details after making a decision. Today, he brought himself to see the gunpowder test. I'm afraid that it was not his real purpose.

Sure enough, after walking less than a hundred steps, Zhang Huan pondered for a moment and asked Du Mei: "What do you think about Zhu Li's rebellion in Shu County?"

Du Mei understood Zhang Huan's thoughts, and he smiled slightly and said, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the governor. If the governor can catch it, we will celebrate the New Year in Longyou."

Zhang Huan smiled with half-squinted eyes. Since the court wanted to join the Tubo and reconcile with the Uighurs, of course he would not destroy the atmosphere of good neighborly friendship at this time. Since he could not develop westward for the time being, he could only move eastward. Longyou was densely populated and fertile, and had always been a prosperous place for the Tang Dynasty. If he could take it as the foundation, he would no longer need to look at people's eyes.

Zhu Li rebelled in time! Whether he rebelled or became independent, Cui Yuan would not let him do what he did. He would inevitably send a large army to suppress it in the name of the court. The key is the composition of this army, which is the focus of his attention.

"You're right, I do have this plan." Zhang Huan glanced at him and said meaningfully: "If you want to take Longyou, you must make Longyou's troops empty. Wei Yan is not a fool. Of course, he must also beware of me sneak attacking Longyou, so we must make Wei Yan believe that I will not attack Longyou, or dare not attack Longyou. This is what I called you today and wanted to discuss with you."

Du Mei did not immediately answer Zhang Huan. He and Zhang Huan walked slowly, lowering their heads and pondered. Since ancient times, the two countries exchanged protons when they did not trust each other, but Zhang Huan's child has not yet been born. Even if he was born, how could he hand him over to the Wei family? Of course, the extermination of Zhu Li would not be the matter of the Cui family. In the end, it must be the joint dispatch of troops from major families. This is the first time since the first year of Qingzhi. This involves the balance of interests in all aspects, and is not as simple as making a few small moves.

However, Du Mei also knew that the reason why Zhang Huan asked him was to consider some details, which was what he was good at. When he was about to reach the Governor's Office, Du Meifang raised his head and looked at Zhang Huan and said, "Preparing for the future, I think the Governor will start preparing from three aspects now."

"you say!"

"The first thing is to expand the army. Wuwei now has more than 20,000 troops, but if you want to seize Longyou, you still have to keep a part of your guard's family. At least 40,000 people are needed. I think the governor has started raising military rations, so I guess it's just to prepare for the expansion of the army!"

Zhang Huan smiled and said, "Of course I want to expand the army, but expanding the army at this critical moment is a bit too ostentatious. It will make Wei Er feel prepared and have to think of a good way."

"I thought of two good ways to expand the army in the subrogation."

"Tell me, what's the best way?"

"One is the militia of each county, with more than 20,000 people in it. They usually have training during the slack season. The governor might as well treat them as new recruits and increase the training intensity. If the situation requires it, he will be a soldier who will be a soldier."

"This method is good." Zhang Huan smiled in praise and asked again: "What about the second method?"

"The second solution is the Dangxiang slaves in the Governor's hands. Those Dangxiang people are soldiers and are very brave in fighting. The Governor might as well choose some young men to form a militia first. I think we can get at least seven or eight thousand people from this. In this way, the problem of military expansion will be solved unknowingly."

Zhang Huan nodded silently. Du Mei's second method involved the Dangxiang people. How to properly solve the future of these 40,000 Dangxiang people has always been a question he was considering. These Dangxiang people are currently slaves and have been registered by the government. Some of them build military weapons in the ordnance workshop, some of them make gold in the Liusha River, some of them quarry in the Qilian Mountains, and women weave cloth and make shoes in the workshop.

Although these are cheap labor, Zhang Huan did not intend to let them be slaves forever. His ultimate goal was to integrate them into the Han people, so he always wanted to choose an appropriate time to restore their civilian status. Joining the army was a good way to exchange military merit for their freedom and land.

Thinking of this, Zhang Huan made up his mind resolutely. He temporarily put down his thoughts and asked Du Mei with a smile: "You just said that you should prepare from three aspects. The first is to expand the army, and what about the second one?"
Chapter completed!