Chapter 132 Lord Ou is suffering!
At this moment, Ou Zanghua was taking Zuo Lengchan, Taoist Tianmen and his party to test the aiming of guns and cannons in a remote area of ​​the parade ground.

At Li Erniu's command, three artillerymen formed a group and began to operate. When one of them took out a long-handled shovel and prepared to shovel gunpowder, Ou Zanghua was completely stunned.

"Wait a moment!"

The artillerymen all looked up at Ou Zanghua.

"Why are you using medicine shovels? Shouldn't we use the allocated bamboo tubes?" Ou Zanghua looked at the artillerymen and asked in confusion.

Li Erniu scratched his head and asked, "Master Ou, why do you need to use a bamboo tube? We can use a medicine shovel very quickly!"

"Let me ask you, can you guarantee that the amount of gunpowder in each shovel is the same?"

"Of course!"

Li Erniu said confidently, "I am not bragging. With my ten years of experience in blasting, I can dig ten taels with one shovel. I won't get a penny more than ten taels."

Ou Zanghua was speechless. Could this idiot think that everyone is like him?

So, Ou Zanghua looked at the group of artillerymen and asked, "Where are you?"

The artillerymen looked at each other, somewhat awkwardly, and replied in uneven voices: "Sir Ou, we are not as steady as the centurions, sometimes we have more and sometimes we have less."

"Do you understand now?"

Ou Zanghua turned his head to look at Li Erniu and said earnestly: "Just because you can do it doesn't mean others can do it too. If you use bamboo tubes to measure the quantity, there won't be a situation where there is sometimes more and sometimes less, and the gunpowder can be filled faster."

"You and Taoist Tianmen calculate how much gunpowder is needed for one cannon shot, and then I will send a note to the county to hire the people in the county to make bamboo tubes."

Li Erniu didn't quite understand, but since his boss had said so, he nodded and said, "I'll arrange it tomorrow."

"Let's test the crosshairs first!" Ou Zanghua nodded and ignored this question for the time being.

For this test, Taoist Tianmen asked his disciples to set up three layers of targets in front of them in advance: fifty feet, one hundred feet, and one hundred and fifty feet. There were ten targets on each layer in order to obtain more data.

Following Ou Zanghua's order, Taoist Priest Tianmen shouted, "First group, fifty feet! Adjust the angle, lower the muzzle two inches, and fire horizontally! Fill the gunpowder with six ounces! Southeast wind, level three!"

Under the command of Taoist Tianmen, the artillerymen operated in an orderly manner, and with a shout: "Ignite, fire!"

The artillerymen lit the fuse with a fire stick, and there was a loud "bang!". Ten guns fired almost simultaneously. After a puff of smoke rose, ten shells simultaneously hit the target fifty feet away.

Zuo Lengchan's expression froze. This aim was a bit too high!
Fortunately, this is one of ours, so there is no need to worry too much.

Taoist Master Wang Chengwu immediately rushed up with his disciples to check the results, and after they finished recording them they retreated.

Taoist priest Tianmen continued to shout: "Second group, one hundred feet! Adjust the compass, move the muzzle up five inches! Fill the gunpowder with seven ounces! Southeast wind, level three!"

Ten groups of guns and cannons roared again throughout the parade grounds. Ten shells flew out and hit the target one hundred feet away.

At this time, the messenger came over with Anren County Magistrate Chen Shan. The sound of ten cannons firing at the same time frightened him so much that his legs went weak and he almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, the messenger supported him in time.

After approaching, Chen Shan bowed and greeted: "Your subordinate greets Lord Ou."

"Brother Ji Ye is here! Wait a moment." Ou Zanghua smiled and asked him to stand aside and wait.

This time, Taoist Wang Chengwu used the Jinmu Temple's light skills to run over. After measuring, he used a red flag to signal that the test could continue.

"The third group, one hundred and fifty feet! Adjust the angle, move the muzzle up ten inches, and shoot upward! Fill eight ounces of gunpowder! South wind, level two!"

Ou Zanghua narrowed his eyes and watched the shells quickly move away and shrink to land.

Chen Shan looked at the flying shells with a surprised expression. He had used the gun cannon before in defense. He could only say that everyone was happy with the crosshairs. It was similar to the missiles of a mysterious oriental country in later generations. After they were fired, the surrounding countries were all nervous because even Shiva didn't know where the thing would end up.
But with Ou Zanghua, Chen Shan saw something different. He could achieve a 70% hit rate within 50 feet.

As for the further one hundred and one hundred and fifty feet, Chen Shan could not judge due to his poor eyesight, but he thought it would not be too far away.

Not long after, Taoist Master Wang Chengwu returned with his disciples. He handed the collected information to Ou Zanghua and said, "Master Ou, within fifty feet, the accuracy of the cannon can reach 70%. Within one hundred feet, the accuracy drops to 40%. Within one hundred and fifty feet, the accuracy is less than 30%. According to my observation, the farther the cannonball flies in the air, the more erratic it is, thus affecting the accuracy."

Hearing this, Chen Shan's eyes widened immediately, and Li Erniu also laughed excitedly.

As long as he lined up fifty guns and cannons in a row, he didn't believe anyone in the world could stop them!

Taoist Priest Tianmen was not very happy, for he remembered that his master and elders had said that "How is Daizong" was a sure thing. But the current cannon version of "How is Daizong" obviously could not meet this requirement, and he was somewhat dissatisfied.

"Why are the shells so erratic?" He walked to Taoist Wang Chengwu and asked in confusion.

"I don't know either." Taoist Wang Chengwu frowned, unable to understand.

Chen Shan, who was standing by, guessed, "I remember that Qi Xuanzi of the Tang Dynasty once wrote about a phenomenon in Su Wen: Various Annotations. If you pour water through an empty tube and hang it up, the water will not flow in, because there is no rising Qi and it cannot flow down. If you pour water through an empty bottle with a small mouth, nothing will flow in, because Qi cannot flow out and cannot flow in. This shows that there is invisible Qi in our bodies."

"That. Is the erratic nature of the shells related to qi?"

"Well, that makes sense," Taoist Tianmen thought and felt that this was possible.

"Then how do we get rid of the qi?" Taoist Master Wang Chengwu thought about this question seriously.

Zuo Lengchan didn’t understand these, but in order not to appear stupid, he also showed a thoughtful expression.

Seeing this, Ou Zanghua quickly pulled back the three people whose thoughts were out of control: "Everyone, maybe it's not as complicated as you think."

"Please give us some advice, Lord Ou!" Upon hearing this, the three of them immediately bowed and asked. Their sincere attitude was really touching.

Ou Zanghua drew out his sword and demonstrated in front of the three people a move of the Huifeng Luoyan sword technique, which was to bring down nine geese with one sword.

"Look, everyone. When my wrist is steady, the sword energy is in a straight line. If my wrist shakes, the sword energy will disperse. In other words, the erratic movement of the shell is related to the muzzle and barrel."

"Compared to the invisible and intangible Qi, it is more practical to start improving the guns and cannons."

"What do you think?"

Ou Zanghua put away his sword, looked at Taoist Tianmen and Taoist Wang Chengwu, and asked gently.

The two thought about it carefully and felt that this was a possibility, so they bowed and said, "Thank you, Lord Ou, for your advice."

Ou Zanghua waved his hand and asked the two Taoist priests to continue their research along this line of thought.

He led Chen Shan to the other side and asked, "Brother Ji Ye, what do you want to see me about?"

Chen Shan finally came to his senses and said with a wry smile, "I am here on behalf of the gentry to ask Lord Ou when the Yaoyuan bandits can be wiped out. The gentry are worried that if it is delayed any further, it will affect the autumn harvest."

"It's not that I don't want to go, but I have no choice!"

Ou Zanghua instantly changed his expression to one of worry and said, "Brother Jiye has seen that our guns and cannons are less than 30% accurate, and we have thousands fewer people than the Yaoyuan bandits. How can we fight with insufficient firepower and insufficient manpower? We can't fight! You should appease the gentry, explain my difficulties to them, and ask them to donate more food. Next month, I will definitely send troops!"

Chen Shan's eyes widened. He had never seen someone who took things out of context like this.

What's even more amazing is that Captain Zuo behind Lord Ou actually had the nerve to show an expression that said, "Lord Ou is suffering!" Although Captain Zuo used to be very honest!

(End of this chapter)