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Volume 3: Stormy France Chapter 108: Gunpowder

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    "A substitute for kerosene? It's interesting." Bai Zhou said.

    "Could it be that Wei Fu and the others found oil," Bai Zhou guessed.  Of course, if this were the case, it would be exciting enough, and enough for Weifu to come in person to escort this trip.

    Although oil cannot be called the blood of the country these days, and this resource is not enough to trigger a war. In an era when the internal combustion engine will not be invented yet, oil, mainly refers to its refined products, only  It can be regarded as a good commodity, or a relatively common strategic resource.

    If Western Qin now has enough oil, it will undoubtedly cause a lot of damage to the Burgundians on the defensive end. Some tactical plans also give Bai Zhou more options.

    However, what surprised Bai Zhou was that according to his knowledge, Switzerland and its surrounding countries did not have any famous oil production bases, and the commercial activities of the Western Qin Dynasty had not been developed. Where did Wei Fu start from?  To oil?

    Of course, having said that, the famous oil production bases in later generations are all super large oil fields. Even if they are given to Xi Qin now, they will be of little use.  On the contrary, it is the kind of small oil field that is easy to exploit. In later generations, it will definitely be the kind of small oil field that no one knows except the locals. But for the current Western Qin, it is just right.

    Bai Zhou was not surprised that Weifu recognized the value of oil. After all, the first people to drill oil were the Chinese. The earliest oil wells appeared in the fourth century or earlier. The Chinese used drill bits fixed on one end of bamboo poles.  Drilling wells, which can reach depths of about a thousand meters, they burn oil to evaporate the brine and make table salt.  In the tenth century they used pipes made of bamboo poles to connect oil and salt wells.

    Ancient Persian stone tablet records seem to indicate that the Persian upper class used oil for medicine and lighting.  The first person to propose the word "petroleum" was "Taiping Guangji" compiled by the Northern Song Dynasty in China in 977 AD.  The official name of oil is based on the fact that Shen Kuo (1031-1095), an outstanding scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty of China, named the oil "from sand and gravel on the water's edge, mixed with spring water, and came out in confusion" in his "Mengxi Bi Tan".  of.  Before the word petroleum appeared, foreign countries called petroleum "devil's sweat beads", "glowing water", etc., and China called it "stone fat water", "fire oil", "stone paint", etc.

    "Where is it? Sir, don't be pretentious and take it out quickly." Bai Zhou looked around and found that there seemed to be no utensils that could hold liquids. Could it be possible that Mr. Wei also hid the oil?

    "Sir, don't be impatient, I'll take out the sample right now." Weifu said, then reached into his arms and took it out.

    Wei Fu's action surprised Bai Zhou, because it was obvious that liquids and the like would not be put into his arms. In other words, Bai Zhou's guess about oil was just a thought.  But the question is, what kind of object can become a substitute for kerosene?

    Suddenly, Bai Zhou thought of something. It seemed that he had forgotten something very important.

    What the Weifu took out was a piece of cloth bag one foot square, stretched out, containing some black powdery stuff.

    Sure enough, it¡¯s gunpowder!

    Wei Fu is right. This thing can indeed replace kerosene to a certain extent when defending on the city wall, and in terms of the power of gunpowder, it is much more powerful than the same amount of kerosene.

    At first, Bai Zhou never thought that Weifu would bring such a thing to Xi Qin. This was a bit beyond his expectation.

    This is not an oversight on the part of Bai Zhou, who forgot such a "high quality and low price" weapon.  But maybe due to the background issues, Bai Zhou always believed that he was "simple" and lived in the era of cold weapons, and should have nothing to do with hot weapons such as gunpowder and firearms.  Moreover, since guns, artillery and the like have not yet been invented on the continent of Europa, and it seems that even gunpowder has not been introduced, Baizhou has never considered this aspect.

    Furthermore, Bai Zhou, who often plays games, also knows that even if these thermal weapons are invented, in the early stage, their effect is not much better than bows and arrows and trebuchets, so Bai Zhou does not spend more money.  thought.

    Thinking about it now, even if Bai Zhou had the intention, he was really powerless.  After all, Baizhou's chemistry was extremely poor. He knew very little except that he roughly knew the ratio of black gunpowder: mononitrate, disulfide, and charcoal.  Of course, there are also picric acid, smokeless gunpowder and the like that are famous in modern history, but the key is that Bai Zhou only knows one name. As for their specific methods, of course he is blind.

    Thinking about it now, gunpowder weapons in China began to appear since the Tang Dynasty, and continued to develop during the Song and Ming dynasties.  Perhaps due to problems with the gunpowder itself and defects in mechanical technology, thermal weapons have always been very embarrassing in China.The existence of ?? is like a cold dish on New Year's Eve. Without it, a country that deserves to be destroyed will still be destroyed.

    But Bai Zhou knew that thermal weapons must be the trend of the development of the times. Although it seems that Western Qin cannot count on him now, or in other words, no one can use them as a force to determine victory or defeat within a hundred years. However, first, the development of thermal weapons must be the trend of the times.  Weapons are necessary, such as artillery. Baizhou may not be able to use it at the moment, but as long as the Western Qin people want to live peacefully on the Europa continent, absolute force guarantee is indispensable.  There are few, and in the future, guns and cannons will be the guarantee; secondly, even if muskets and artillery have not been made yet, just ordinary gunpowder will definitely be a unique killing weapon in this era.  Although the specific use of the Faber boat is not clear, it is known that a sealed container must be used to hold gunpowder to achieve the blasting effect.  Like the current Weifu, it is purely a sample. In actual combat, he will definitely not wrap it with ordinary cloth. After all, this is not the way to wrap a bag.

    As far as Bai Zhou knows so far, the locals in Europa definitely do not have thermal weapons troops, nor do they have the concept of gunpowder (after all, if Bai Zhou sees someone in the local army using firearms, then Bai Zhou's first reaction is  Do their Western Qin have more advanced weapons? After all, after all, Western Qin represents China and is also the ancestor of gunpowder. Although in later generations, the weapons of China and the West are quite different, in this era, the most advanced technology  Still in the hands of the Middle-earth people).  In other words, gunpowder does not seem to have been introduced into the local area yet.

    In fact, as early as the eighth and ninth centuries, saltpeter was also spread from China to Arabia along with the knowledge of medicine and alchemy.  The Arabs at that time called it "Chinese Snow", while the Persians called it "Chinese Salt".  They only knew how to use saltpeter for medical treatment, metallurgy and making glass.  In the 13th century, gunpowder was introduced to Arab countries through India by traders. The Greeks only learned about gunpowder through the translation of Arab books.  Gunpowder weapons were introduced to Arab countries through wars.

    As for whether the Arabs have gunpowder weapons now, it is not clear, and there is no need to care. However, the local countries in Europe must not have obtained this technology, or in other words, even if they have obtained this technology, they have not had time to convert it into  combat effectiveness.

    So, looking at it this way, gunpowder is a good meeting gift given to the Burgundians by the Western Qin Dynasty.  Let others know that there are some people in this world who are not to be messed with.

    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­  ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­

    PS: I wish everyone a happy holiday tomorrow.  Another: In fact, one of Joan of Arc's famous tactics was the concentrated use of artillery. In other words, in official history, the generals of Joan of Arc's era all knew about artillery.  But in the setting of this article, gunpowder has just been introduced to Europe.

    ? www.piotia.com
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