The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 211 I'm so relieved
It was the day when the emperor and his ministers went out of the city to pray for rain. Zhang Zhou had chosen this day to come out to test the cannon, so he had his intentions.

artificial rainfall.

He can't do artificial rainfall, the current cannons can't shoot so high, and these days can't make dry ice and other refrigerants.

However, when it rains, it is possible to use silver iodide as a nucleating agent, or hygroscopic agents such as salt grains to complete artificial rainfall enhancement.

"It's set up, ready to start at any time."

Sun Shangqi went to check the situation of the artillery, and came back to report to several people.

While talking, Jin Yiwei brought the binoculars from behind, ready to have one for everyone.

Zhang Zhou said: "If you want to find a high place, that piece of soil slope is good."

"No need?" Zhang Mao said, "The terrain ahead is low, so you can see far."

Old man Zhang seemed too lazy to take a few more steps.

Xiao Jing smiled and said, "Mr. Yingying, let's listen to Mr. Zhang."

……

……

The party reached the slope.

Everyone took out the binoculars purchased by the imperial court from Zhang Zhou, and looked into the distance. In fact, they didn't know what to look at or how far to look.

Zhang Zhou took out his binoculars.

"Mr. Zhang, yours...is a bit unique." Xiao Jing looked sideways at the telescope in Zhang Zhou's hand.

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "I have bad eyesight, so I specially made binoculars, which look the same from a distance."

"Oh."

Xiao Jing seemed to understand but nodded.

Can two tubes see far?

Guo Ang next to him handed his binoculars to Xiao Jing and said, "Eunuch Xiao, you use this humble job..."

Meaning, you have one yourself, add this to me, and put together a pair of binoculars yourself.

"Ah."

Xiao Jing looked at Guo Ang with admiration, as if saying, you still know how to handle things.

But when he put the two binoculars in front of his eyes, because there was no structure to adjust the focus distance and interpupillary distance, Xiao Jing felt dizzy after just a glance, and then handed Guo Ang's back: "You can also see..."

Looking back at Zhang Zhou's telescope, he seemed even more envious.

If only we could have one at home...

……

"boom!"

Just as Xiao Jing was wandering into the sky, the sound of artillery came from below.

But I saw a fireball flying out of the air and falling to a place nearly two miles away. After landing, there was another flame immediately, followed by a large amount of smoke and dust.

Using a telescope, one could vaguely see that the open space two miles away was devastated by the bombing.

"All right!"

Sun Shangqi, who was below, accompanied Jia Laoshui after firing the cannon, shouted, and greeted the people on the slope with a small flag in his hand.

"Change!"

While shouting, Zhang Zhou also used a small flag to give orders to his subordinates.

Xiao Jing couldn't bear to move his eyes from the binoculars, so he put it down after hearing the words, looked at Zhang Zhou with a look of astonishment, and said, "Mr. Zhang, how far is it?"

Zhang Mao's grandson, Guo Ang and others were also looking at Zhang Zhou with incredulous eyes.

Zhang Zhoudao: "It's less than two miles, almost. Just now, this is a flower bomb, which is filled with a part of the mighty sky gunpowder...It will explode after landing. The shotgun is used below, which has a relatively large coverage...Everyone, Shall we continue watching?"

Xiao Jing swallowed and said: "Sir, isn't Mighty Sky gunpowder very dangerous? Can it be sent out directly?"

As a person close to the emperor, Xiao Jing knew about the difficulty of storing nitroglycerin.

I also know that Zhu Youtang originally wanted to use nitroglycerin in the possible wars in Liaodong and Ningyuan, but Zhang Zhou refused on the grounds that it was inconvenient to transport, and even the craftsmen could not be transferred in time.

That's why Xiao Jing asked this question.

"I improved it a bit. I used a kind of diatomaceous earth, a kind of loess, and sucked the mighty sky gunpowder into it. Unfortunately, I can't find much of this stuff at the moment. I may have to ask the local government to help me look at it later. , can we find the mine?" Zhang Zhou saw that the flag was already waving below, so he pointed to the distance to Xiao Jing, "Let's keep watching."

"boom!"

Another shot.

This time it didn't explode on the ground, but the shotgun alone left the ground two miles away in a mess, with smoke and dust everywhere.

"Hahaha……"

At the end of the second shot, Zhang Mao looked into the distance with a telescope, already overjoyed.

Xiao Jing asked: "Are there any other types?"

"There is another kind, but it doesn't need to be tested, and it has other uses. Mr. Xiao couldn't help it if he didn't see enough, so he brought these two powerful physical cannonballs out. The cost is relatively high, and I can't even afford it."

Zhang Zhou began to call himself poor again.

Xiao Jing smiled wryly and said: "Your two cannons go down, not to mention the body of the Tartar cavalry, even a stone can be blown up by him, it's really not a blade of grass."

Zhang Mao laughed and said, "Bingkuan, you made this cannon yourself? Where did you learn it?"

Zhang Zhou wanted to say, I learned from the future, what's the matter, still want to steal the teacher?
Zhang Lun asked, "Mr. Zhang, do you mean that Brother Zhijie brought this kind of cannon with him when he went out of Liaodong?"

"Ah."

Zhang Zhou nodded.

Zhang Lun lowered his head sadly. After experiencing the shock of seeing the power of the artillery, he also began to feel a little lost.

Even Zhang Mao noticed the expression on his grandson's face, which was clearly...not reconciled.

Look at Zhu Zhijie, who followed Wang Weining to Pianguan to win the battle, Feng Bo worshiped the general, and now he is going to Liaodong again, not to mention making great contributions.

But Zhang Lun, as Zhang Zhou's disciple, has not yet had the chance to go to the battlefield.

"Bingkuan, if you have free time in the future, please support my family Zhang Lun more. Although this old grandson is young, he is powerful and can withstand beatings. Don't underestimate him!" Zhang Mao said on behalf of his grandson.

Zhang Zhouxin said, your grandson is only a half-grown boy, and he wants to go to the battlefield to make contributions?
Even if I want to help him, the emperor will not agree.

Let's talk about it in ten or eight years.

Xiao Jing smiled and said flatteringly: "Grandpa Zhang was young and determined to be an army, the Zhang family always produced young talents, this is all passed down by the British father-in-law."

"Haha, where is it..." Zhang Mao looked smug, and then thought that he was so proud of himself here.

Zhang Zhou is the protagonist today.

"Bingkuan, from what I've seen, with your cannon, it's enough to catch Di Yi by surprise, especially the range, does it mean it can always be this far, or..."

What Zhang Mao marveled most was not the power of the artillery, but the range of the artillery.

The Tatars fought with the Ming border army, and they have formed an inherent concept. When they did not expect that the Ming firearms would greatly increase the range, they would deploy defenses according to the previous strategy, and the power of this new artillery was reflected. .

Erlidi... is still a range attack.

If there are too many artillery pieces of this kind, covering the noodles, what other options do the Tatars have besides running away?

To fight against the Tartars, you must have range before you can have power.

This is why Zhang Mao initially questioned the low airtightness of the artillery.

"Oh, it's not too far away. I'll improve it later and spread it out for three or four miles. I guess it's okay. I have to increase it a little bit, what do you think?"

Zhang Mao was speechless.

You kid can't stop talking, can't you?
But when I think about it, hey, it really is.

Today let the tartars see the artillery two miles away, tomorrow you will change your formation and use the artillery three miles away...

"It's changed today."

Zhang Zhou looked up at the sky.

Xiao Jing didn't have the time to think about whether Zhang Zhou was bragging, because no matter how powerful the cannon developed by Zhang Zhou, the credit would be someone else's, but that day's praying for rain... had everything to do with Xiao Jing.

Xiao Jing said with surprise on his face: "Oh, the sky has changed, there are more clouds, and the sun has disappeared. Is it going to rain?"

Zhang Zhou stretched out his hand to feel it: "It seems that the wind is blowing."

Zhang Maodao: "Your Majesty wants to pray for rain today, and the wind will blow up, isn't it..."

Zhang Zhou smiled and said, "Eunuch Xiao, calm down."

After all, Zhang Mao didn't know why the emperor suddenly got nervous and went to pray for rain in person today. After listening to the conversation between Zhang Zhou and Xiao Jing, he suddenly realized something.

Zhang Zhou greeted: "Let's get active quickly, change the place, and change the Zipao. I hope this rain will come down and relieve the drought in the capital. Recently, the wells at home are almost dry, and it is not easy to get water. ah."

……

……

South of the city, the Temple of Heaven and Earth.

The rain praying ceremony is already in progress.

Originally, the ministers didn't take it too seriously, but they just came to act together, and they all wanted to finish the sacrifice and go back to the city early to rest.

But at this moment, I don't know who shouted: "The wind is blowing!"

Only then did everyone realize that it seemed to be true, and looked up at Zhu Youtang and his son on the altar, and saw that Zhu Youtang was seriously praying to God, and even opened his arms to the sky.

Because of the distance, no one could hear exactly what the emperor was saying.

But just saying...

The wind is blowing, and the clouds in the sky are gathering more and more, and the sky is gradually dimming.

"This……"

Xie Qian is usually the most talkative one, but seeing this scene, he didn't know what to say.

Almost everyone present looked up at the sky.

This climate, this scene...

Xu Qiong looked at the three members of the cabinet and asked, "It won't really rain, will it?"

Li Dongyang said with a serious face: "Could it be that someone is really praying for rain at this time?"

The implication is that if Zhang Bingkuan didn't come today, wouldn't he just act as a "gunner" behind his back and help the emperor with this set of tricks? The emperor was just waiting for the time agreed with Zhang Zhou?
"pia..."

Some raindrops fell on the minister's head.

It started sporadically.

But then... blah blah... rain fell from the sky one after another.

"It's raining! It's raining! Your Majesty and His Royal Highness pray for rain, for the well-being of all people..."

wow...

The rain is in a line.

Although it is not pouring down, there is also a tendency to gradually increase.

The ministers, a group of old guys in their seventies and eighties, were dazed by the sudden rain, but the emperor and the prince hadn't sheltered from the rain on the altar, so they could only stand in the rain.

How did the rain come from, they were also puzzled.

At this time, Zhu Youtang turned around and said to the ministers present: "Your family, take shelter from the rain first!"

The wind and rain were blowing, and his voice was almost covered.

But then Jinwuwei and Jinyiwei brought out the umbrellas they had prepared long ago, and the ministers knew that the emperor still had to bring rain gear when he went out to pray for rain, otherwise it would be unprofessional.

The erection of bamboo hats and umbrellas.

At this time, Zhu Youtang and Zhu Houzhao, father and son, also came down from the altar with the canopy on.

"His Majesty!"

All the ministers also surrounded him.

Not for anything else.

The emperor set an example by telling the minister how much he had worked hard to get the rain.

have a look……

The rain on my body was given by God earlier.

You're getting wet, and I'm getting wet too.

Zhu Youtang looked at Liu Jian and the others, and said with emotion: "God sympathizes with the painstaking efforts of me and your family, and the rain and dew have blessed the people. My heart is very comforting. Your family has worked hard."

"His Majesty's grace."

The emperor said that the ministers had the credit for praying for rain, but the ministers had to be ignorant.

It is clearly the credit of the emperor and his son, who would dare to take this credit?
(End of this chapter)