Chapter 295 I say autumn is better than spring

Mr. Lao She believed that one should live in Hangzhou in spring and go to Qingcheng in summer.

And in autumn, I must live in Peking.

He didn't know what heaven looked like, but judging from his life experience, the autumn in Peking was heaven.

As for the weather, it's neither cold nor hot.

There are red leaves to be seen on the West Hill and you can go boating in the North Sea - although the lotus flowers have withered, the lotus leaves still have a fragrance.

In terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation, nothing is unsatisfactory in the autumn in Beijing.

Walking in Beijing in October, Ou Zanghua felt that Mr. Lao She was right.

Look at the ancient atmosphere and majestic scenery of the autumn forest.

Look at the ancient and luxuriant ginkgo leaves, not only competing with lush green for glory, this is the autumn feeling of the capital.

Led by an eunuch, Ou Zanghua came to the Leopard Room Parade Ground. At this moment, Emperor Zhengde was wearing a golden phoenix-wing helmet with a golden image of the Great Emperor Zhenwu on the front and a fire-breathing golden dragon on each side. The dragons spread their wings like phoenix wings. He was wearing a yellow square-collared double-breasted armor without armor plates or nails. The body of the clothes was decorated with cloud-shoulder-knee-colored cloud dragon patterns, and the front was decorated with a row of small round buttons.

This outfit is flashy, but it’s really handsome!

"Your humble servant Ou Zanghua pays respect to Your Majesty."

"No need to be polite, Mr. Ou!"

Emperor Zhengde pulled Ou Zanghua up and said happily, "I called Ou Qing here today to verify the power of the Zhengde sub-cannon and the Zhengde Shenwei cannon."

That’s right, the Napoleon Cannon is now renamed the Zhengde Shenwei Cannon.

This crappy name, you can tell at a glance which middle school student gave it to you.
Ou Zanghua looked towards the training ground, where ten cannons were lined up in a row, and Taoist Master Wang Chengwu was leading his disciples in the final debugging.

After a while, Taoist Wang Chengwu stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, we are ready."

"Let's begin!" Emperor Zhengde ordered with great anticipation.

"According to the order!"

Taoist Wang Chengwu responded and returned to the artillery. Under his command, the first to be fired were the five Zhengde Shenwei cannons.

With a few loud "bangs", Ou Zanghua and Emperor Zhengde saw five black shells flying out.

Due to the experimental nature, the muzzle angles of the five guns are different.

After the first round of firing, the disciples quickly stepped forward and were the first to wipe the inside of the barrel with a wet gun brush to extinguish any remaining sparks in the barrel.

The second is a dry brush to absorb the moisture left by the previous steps.

The third one is a spiral hook, which is used to remove any residual garbage that may be present in the barrel.

Then, the second round of shelling began.

Emperor Zhengde sat above, observing the whole process, and said, "Look, Mr. Ou, I was right. The interval between the first and second bombardments was too long."

"Yes, but the entire range really surprised me." Ou Zanghua narrowed his eyes. He couldn't see where the shells flew.

After three rounds of artillery fire, ten cavalrymen rode out and chased in the direction where the shells disappeared.

Emperor Zhengde and Ou Zanghua waited for a long time before they saw the cavalry coming back. The three men dismounted and half-knelt on the ground. After they saluted, they looked shocked with a hint of fear: "Reporting to Your Majesty!"

"For the fifth metric, the shells landed three miles away. The detailed value is three miles and thirteen feet."

"For a metric of ten, the shells landed four li away. The exact value is four li and one zhang."

"The twelfth degree is where the shells fall."

"How far?!" Emperor Zhengde asked excitedly as he looked at the frightened cavalryman.

"It fell five miles away. The detailed value is five miles and eighty-one feet!"

Ou Zanghua was shocked after hearing this. Was this thing called "shooting five miles away" really invented in the Ming Dynasty?
"Hahahaha," Emperor Zhengde laughed with his hands on his hips. He looked at the five Shenwei cannons with a flushed face and said excitedly, "They are worthy of being my Shenwei cannons! Mr. Ou, build 500 Shenwei cannons, and my Ming Dynasty will be able to sweep across Mongolia and return to the era of Emperor Taizong."

"Your Majesty, calm down."

"How can you ask me to calm down?!"

"What I mean is, let's take another look at the mother-and-child cannon."

"Yes, yes, yes," Emperor Zhengde reacted, waved his hand, and shouted to Taoist Wang Chengwu: "Wang Qing, continue!"

"According to the order!"

Taoist Master Wang Chengwu signaled his disciples to start operating the mother and sub-cannons. They equipped each mother cannon with five sub-cannons to ensure the firepower output.

I saw a disciple loading gunpowder and projectiles into the sub-gun, then putting the sub-gun into the belly of the gun, aiming with the front sight and rear sight on the barrel, and igniting the sub-gun firing port.

With a loud "bang", five shells flew out.

Another disciple took out the spent sub-cannon and handed it to his colleague in the back, and the two of them worked in perfect harmony to start loading the ammunition.

At the same time, the first disciple had already placed the new sub-gun into the belly of the gun.

The firing rate is fast, but the range is a bit disappointing. The farthest is just over a mile, which is completely within the visual range.

With the tacit cooperation of the six disciples, the five submachine guns fired in succession, and actually produced an effect similar to a barrage.

After seeing this, Emperor Zhengde danced with joy and said, "Ou Qing, if you divide the mother-and-child cannon into two sections, you can fire without gaps. I have come up with a plan. I will use the Zhengde Shenwei Cannon to deter the enemy. When they get close to me despite the bullets and cannons, I will use the mother-and-child cannon. Hahahaha. This is an invincible army!"

Ou Zanghua stood on one side, his heart pounding, looking at the two new cannons. Even though he was mentally prepared, he still felt a joy beyond his expectations.

As long as these two cannons are used properly, we will be able to build an iron wall for the Ming Dynasty and protect the country for hundreds of years.

As for hundreds of years later, that will be the responsibility of future generations.

"Mr. Ou, the two cannons and the black gunpowder particles you created have made great contributions to the country! I never treat meritorious officials unfairly." Emperor Zhengde turned to look at Ou Zanghua and said with a smile.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Ou Zanghua bowed and accepted it with a smile.

In fact, more than 20 hollow spherical iron-shell mines from the Ming Dynasty were unearthed in Hohhot City in later generations.

Residual granular black powder was found in the mine, in the shape of uniform rice-sized particles.

These mines were buried around the Hongwu period, which is inconsistent with the record in the "Tutorial on Pyrotechnic Powder" that "France first started to granulate gunpowder in 1525."

However, somehow this technology disappeared while being passed down.

This reminded Ou Zanghua of the large-scale industrial surveys conducted in later generations. Although there was some exaggeration in the facts, there were indeed some gains.

You have to know that this is the 21st century when communication and transportation are very convenient.

In a closed feudal society like the Ming Dynasty, a good thing made by a craftsman by chance might be forgotten even after a mountain was covered.

When I came out of the Leopard House, the sun was already setting.

Ou Zanghua got on the carriage and drove slowly towards the Ou Mansion. The sky gradually darkened, the sunset glow became thicker, and the clouds in the clear sky changed shapes and colors at will.

He looked out the window and asked with a smile, "Mr. Gao, I saw you reading recently. When you saw the sunset, which poem did you think of?"

Mu Gaoweng, who was driving the carriage, smiled naively and said, "The desert is filled with solitary smoke, and the long river is filled with round sunset! My lord, I think this is the scene of the sunset in the desert. Next time you go to the desert, you will remember this poem."

"OK."

Mu Gaoweng asked cheerfully, "I wonder which poem you are thinking of, sir?"

The carriage slowly drove through the long street. Just when Mu Gaoong thought that his son would not answer, he suddenly heard a voice:
"Since ancient times, people have been sad and lonely in autumn. I say autumn is better than spring!"

(End of this chapter)