Across the Water Margin: Officials of Ximen

After exchanging greetings with Ximen Qing and Tang Long, Wei Dingguo led Ximen Qing into the hall and seated them separately.

Ximen Qing took out Ling Zhen's letter from his arms and handed it to Wei Dingguo, explaining his intention straight to the point.

Wei Dingguo finished reading the letter, pondered for a moment, and asked Ximenqing why he bought these firearm materials.

Ximenqing told Wei Dingguo that Yanggu County was facing the threat of giant bandits in the Liangshan River. In order to protect the environment and the people, he needed to arm volunteers with firearms to fight against the bandits.

After hearing this, Wei Dingguo said to Ximenqing: "Your official, Ximen, since you and Ling Zhen are brothers, they are also brothers of mine, Wei Dingguo. I have nothing else here, except that there are enough firearms materials, so I can't give you some. The problem. It’s just that setting fire and setting off flames on the battlefield is not a child’s play. If it’s used improperly, it’s easy to get burned and miss a big deal. Therefore, don’t be careless!”

This Wei Dingguo is a native of Lingzhou, and he serves as a regiment training envoy in this state. He has [-] well-trained Jiangyi fire soldiers under him.He is proficient in the art of fire attack and is good at using firearms in combat, so he is called General Shenhuo.

Wei Dingguo's concern is that his five hundred fire soldiers have been trained for a long time before they can proficiently release flames according to his instructions.In front of the Ximen high official, there are only some inexperienced villager soldiers under his command. How can he use fire attack tactics?

"Bang Tianlei" Ling Zhen is so unsophisticated this time, he easily introduced people to buy firearm materials from me.Those firearms are powerful, and if they are used improperly, they can also cause great harm!If I sell him the firearm materials like this, I will harm brother Ling Zhen.It's just that he came here with Ling Zhen's handwritten letter, so I can't refuse him directly, what should I do?

Wei Dingguo didn't know that Ximenqing bought these materials to make a musket that he had never seen before.

Chapter 2 The Art of Firearms in the Song Dynasty

Wei Dingguo thought to himself while chatting with Ximen Qing and Tang Long.After a while, he thought about it.

With that, how about inviting this official Ximen Qing to my school ground tomorrow to watch me perform soldiers.I asked the five hundred crimson-clothed fire soldiers to show him the art of casting fire.Let him know that firearms can only be used by elite soldiers, not farm tools that can be used by peasants in the countryside.

It would be best if this high official from Ximen could retreat in the face of difficulties.If he still wants to buy firearm materials, at least tomorrow he can roughly learn some methods of using firearms.In this way, Brother Ling Zhen is also worthy.

Wei Dingguo made up his mind and invited Ximenqing and Tang Long to go to the Lingzhou school tomorrow to observe how he trains fire soldiers.

Ximen Qing also just wanted to see what kind of tricks this General Shenhuo, who was even known as the Prime Minister Cai Jingdu, was up to, so he readily agreed and agreed to meet at the Lingzhou school tomorrow.

Because of Ling Zhen's relationship, Wei Dingguo warmly received Ximen Qing and Tang Long. He set up a sumptuous banquet and left them to eat in the mansion.

During the dinner, the three chatted over wine, and Ximenqing told Wei Dingguo something about his contacts with Ling Zhen and Xu Ning in Bianliang, Tokyo.When Wei Dingguo heard that Tang Long was the cousin of Xu Ning, the coach of the golden gun class, and his father was the magistrate of Yan'an Prefecture, he also looked at Tang Long with admiration.

Both Tang Long and Ximen Qing saw that Wei Dingguo still had doubts in his heart, so they took the opportunity of the banquet at this time to talk about a lot of proud things about building weapons in their lives, and showed Wei Dingguo their skills.

Tang Long said to Wei Dingguo that together with his father, he had made many firearms for the Western Army.These firearms include shooting rockets bound with gunpowder packs; gunpowder balls that can be thrown with bare hands, and fire thorns that can shoot metal thorns around.

Seeing that this pockmarked man had experience in making firearms, Wei Dingguo immediately became very interested, and talked with Tang Long about the manufacture and application of various firearms in the army.

Ximen Qing smiled without saying a word, and learned about the development level of firearms in the Song Dynasty from the dialogue between Tang Long and Wei Dingguo while drinking.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the manufacture of gunpowder was already a major national event, with standardized management, large scale, and meticulous division of labor.The military supervision department alone employs more than 4 workers, and has 11 large workshops including gunpowder workshop, green kiln workshop, fierce fire oil workshop, and fire workshop. The daily production of 7000 crossbow powder arrows, 10000 bow powder arrows, and tribulus guns 3000 pieces and 20000 pieces of leather artillery.

At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, gunpowder weapons with huge explosive power, such as the "thunderbolt gun" and "shocking thunder", were developed.These firearms resembled dynamite packs and were fired from trebuchets.It is said that when the firearm is exploded, the sound is like a thunderbolt, and the noise is like thunder; over half an acre, the human and cowhide are broken without trace, and the armor and iron are penetrated.

Ling Zhen of Tokyo's Bianliang City was nicknamed "Booming Thunder" because he was good at using this kind of weapon.

Firearms in the Song Dynasty can be divided into two categories: fireball-type firearms and rocket-type firearms. These weapons are described in detail in the "Wu Jing Zongyao" compiled by the Northern Song Dynasty official.

Fireball weapons include cannon, which is a kind of throwing firearm, also known as fireball, and caltrop fireball, thunderbolt fireball, smoke ball, poison smoke ball, fireball, iron mouth fire harrier, bamboo fire harrier, a total of eight types.

The making methods of the first six fireball weapons are basically the same, they are all prepared gunpowder and caltrops, fire mouse (a kind of lethal weapon similar to caltrops, which is to embed iron hooks on a thin piece of wood, and caltrops) At the same time, put it into the fireball to form a secondary kill after the explosion) and mix the poison, put it into a pottery iron pot or a multi-layer paper ball, and finally apply the firelighter.

Iron-billed fire harriers and bamboo fire harriers also change the soup without changing the medicine. After the bird is finished, gunpowder is packed in the tail of the bird, and the tail is ignited with fire when it is used.

Fireball firearms are mainly thrown into the enemy's formation with catapults and trebuchets, so as to burn down cities or equipment, cause fires, cause poison and block obstacles.

Rocket firearms inherited the "flying fire" weapons in the late Tang Dynasty. The Ministry of War ordered Shi Fengji to introduce the method of rockets to Song Ting.

This method is to tie a gunpowder cartridge to the front end of the arrow shaft, and use the gas ejected from the gunpowder combustion to shoot the arrow after being ignited.Rockets in the Song Dynasty were mainly divided into two types: crossbows, gunpowder arrows and gunpowder whip arrows. The methods were basically the same, and they were mainly used for burning grain and grass and siege equipment.

Ximenqing listened for a while, and basically understood the development of firearms in the Song Dynasty and their application in actual combat.

These firearms basically use the combustion properties of gunpowder, mixed with some fumes and toxic drugs, and are used to burn the enemy's defenses and food supplies. They also have a certain lethality to men and horses, but mainly have a shocking effect.

These firearms are generally thrown by crossbows and catapults or by manpower.Therefore, army equipment is not yet common, and most of it is used for border defense and urban defense operations.

At present, there is no tubular gunpowder shooting weapon in the Song army. Ximenqing remembers learning it in history class before, and it was not until the Southern Song Dynasty that the bamboo gun made of bamboo tube appeared.

Now that Ximen Qing has crossed over, it is natural to invent this tubular firearm decades in advance.Moreover, it is a musket that has directly evolved into a metal material.

Ximen Qing and Tang Long drank wine with Wei Dingguo for more than an hour, and returned to the hotel on South Cross Street after enjoying themselves.

Back at the hotel, Hu Sanniang took Ximen Qing to accompany her to visit Lingzhou City.

This Lingzhou city is a small state city, without any bustling night market.After Ximen Qing and Hu Sanniang ate some local snacks, they went back to the hotel to rest.

Hu Sanniang, who wasn't enjoying herself to the fullest, heard that Ximen Qing would go to the Lingzhou school grounds to watch the military drills tomorrow, and she was very interested, so she insisted on following along to watch the excitement.

Ximen Qing knew that Sanniang Hu was fond of martial arts, and if he didn't follow her, he was afraid that something would happen, so he agreed to take Sanniang Hu to observe.

The next day, Ximen Qing, Hu Sanniang, Tang Long, Jiao Ting, and Lu Xiaoyi came to the sidelines of Lingzhou School together.Wei Dingguo had been waiting here for a long time and welcomed them to the high platform.

When he arrived on the stage, Wei Dingguo pointed to the military formations below the stage, and introduced his five hundred elite soldiers with firearms with a smile on his face.

Ximenqing said to Wei Dingguo: "I've heard about Brother Wei's name for a long time! Today I watched Brother Wei's elite soldiers. They really have a strong lineup, and their reputation is well-deserved. I don't know how this fire soldier kills the enemy and breaks the formation. I would like to see it."

"Hahaha~ Brother Ximen's words are too much! Brother, these soldiers can't be regarded as a strong lineup, they can only be regarded as small and impressive. Brothers, please take a look!"

After Wei Dingguo finished speaking, he gave instructions to the soldiers around him.

The soldier went to the edge of the stage to wave the flag, only to hear the sound of a drum, and five hundred fire soldiers flew out of the formation under the stage.

These fire soldiers wore crimson clothes and held firearms; there were fifty trains in front and behind, all of which were filled with reeds to kindle the fire.

An iron gourd is tied to each of the soldiers' backs, containing sulfur, flame nitrate, and five-color smoke medicines.They lighted together to the beat of the drums and rushed out.

I saw fifty trains ignited raging flames, and the momentum was quite loud.If the two armies are fighting against each other, they will definitely fall close to each other, and the horse will be injured when the horse meets the horse.

Ximen Qing sighed, what he saw before him was the fire attack technique of this era!

Chapter 122 Guderian in the Song Dynasty

Wei Dingguo's demonstration made Hu Sanniang, Jiao Ting and Lu Xiaoyi, who had never seen the fire attack technique of the Song army, exclaimed in amazement.

Tang Long had been in the Western Army before, so he had naturally seen the scenes of the Song Army using firearms. He was not like Hu Sanniang and the other three who just watched the fun.

In all fairness, the generals of the Western Army only used firearms as defensive weapons and distributed them to soldiers of various armies.Tang Long has never met another person who dared to gather firearms and train an independent army like Wei Dingguo.

It's no wonder that Wei Dingguo can be called "General Shenhuo", he really has his uniqueness!It's a pity that the firearm used by this Wei Tuanlian is still too crude, and the actual combat power is not strong enough.If the firearm invented by Brother Ximen can be produced, then it will be called a surprise!

Ximen Qing looked a step further than Tang Long.From the battle of the five hundred soldiers on the school field, Ximenqing discovered that Wei Dingguo was a talent beyond this era.

Just as Tang Long thought, Ximen Qing also found that in this era, no one else regards firearms as an independent military branch.The other generals of the Song Army of the same era were all thinking about fighting with cold weapons in their heads, and they relied on manpower and horsepower to fight.

Although the Song Dynasty had begun to produce and use gunpowder weapons, the generals mainly used these firearms for defending or attacking the city, and they used them scatteredly, equating these firearms with ordinary arrows and stones.

Only the little training envoy of the Lingzhou regiment beside him, "General Shenhuo" Wei Dingguo, pioneered the concentration of firearms and armed [-] professional firemen, treating them as an independent unit and using them in battles on the battlefield. middle.