Starting with a Wei Wu soldier

Chapter 285 Application of Gunpowder

On the second day of the second month of the third year of the Qiming era, the dragon raised its head.

At the foot of Nanshan Mountain outside Chang'an City, a newly established workshop welcomed its most important visitor on this day.

The workshop had no signboard, and only two imperial guards stood watch at the entrance, their armor gleaming and their expressions vigilant. No unauthorized personnel were allowed to approach within a three-mile radius. Even the woodcutters in the vicinity knew it was a forbidden area of ​​the imperial court, where something extraordinary was supposedly being built.

Chen Xing arrived incognito, accompanied only by Jia Wen and a few personal guards. He did not enter the workshop, but instead stood for a moment on a high slope outside the workshop, looking at the few low houses and the charred open space behind them.

"Your Majesty," a middle-aged man dressed in coarse cloth and short brown robes stepped forward, knelt down and bowed, "Your subject Han Huang respectfully welcomes Your Majesty."

This man was none other than Han Huang, the director of the Military Industry Bureau. In the six months since we last met, he had lost weight and his eyes were sunken, but the glint in his eyes was even brighter.

"Get up," Chen Xing helped him up. "I heard you guys have made a name for yourselves?"

Han Huang grinned, a smile that held a hint of weariness and a touch of smugness.

"Your Majesty, we have made some progress. But I still need you to take a look in person—this thing is too dangerous, and I dare not try it in the city."

The group entered the workshop.

The courtyard was piled high with various materials: charcoal, sulfur, saltpeter, and some ores whose names I didn't know. A pungent odor filled the air, like something burning or rotting. Several craftsmen were squatting on the ground, pounding something with stone mortars. They didn't even look up when someone approached, only quickening their pace.

Han Huang led Chen Xing to the backyard. There was a separate house in the backyard, with walls twice as thick as those in the front yard, and small windows sealed with iron bars.

"This is it." Han Huang pushed open the door, and an even stronger, pungent smell hit him.

There was only a long table in the room, on which were several earthenware jars, their mouths sealed with oiled paper. Standing beside the table was a young man, Qian Tong, the same man who had proposed the "counterweight cannon" last year. When he saw Chen Xing enter, he hurriedly knelt down.

"Get up, don't kneel." Chen Xing walked to the table, pointed to the pottery jars, and said, "Is this what you've created?"

Qian Tong stood up, swallowed hard, and said in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty, yes...yes. But it's still unstable. A few days ago, during a test, one of the cans exploded, injuring two people..."

Chen Xing frowned slightly: "Did someone get hurt? How badly?"

Qian Tong was taken aback, not expecting the emperor to ask this first. He quickly replied, "It's not serious, just a cut on my hand, it'll heal in a few days. Your Majesty... Your Majesty and I have been extra careful, only preparing small amounts each time, and testing them in that empty room..."

Chen Xing nodded and didn't ask any further questions. He pointed to the pottery jar: "Open one of them, let me take a look."

Qian Tong's face turned pale as he looked at Han Huang. Han Huang nodded.

Qian Tong took a deep breath and carefully peeled off the paper from a jar.

The jar contained a grayish-black powder with unevenly sized particles and a faint yellowish-white tinge. Chen Xing leaned closer to examine it, then sniffed it—the pungent odor grew even stronger, making him involuntarily turn his head away.

"Which batch is this?"

"Your Majesty, the seventh batch," Han Huang replied. "The first six batches were all unsuccessful; some wouldn't light, and others exploded too violently. This batch was made by that rascal Qian Tong, who changed the recipe. I haven't dared to try it yet."

Chen Xing was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Let's try it here."

Han Huang's expression changed: "Your Majesty, this..."

"Try it right here." Chen Xing repeated, his tone calm but unwavering. "I want to see it with my own eyes."

Han Huang gritted his teeth and nodded to Qian Tong.

Qian Tong swallowed hard, picked up a long bamboo pole from the corner of the wall, with a ball of oil-soaked hemp tied to one end. He lit the hemp, then, trembling, extended the bamboo pole toward the earthenware pot.

Everyone in the room held their breath.

The flame at the tip of the bamboo pole drew closer and closer to the earthenware pot—three inches, two inches, one inch—

"laugh--"

A short, sharp sound rang out, and a plume of thick smoke rose from the earthenware jar, instantly filling the entire room. Immediately afterward, a beam of fire shot out from the jar's mouth, nearly half a person's height, an eerie blue-white color, sizzling and carrying a scorching heat wave.

Chen Xing remained motionless, only squinting as he stared at the flame.

The fire lasted for about three breaths before gradually dying down. From within the thick smoke came Qian Tong's violent coughing.

"Your Majesty...Your Majesty, are you alright?"

Chen Xing waved his hand and stepped out of the smoke. His face was covered in ash, but his expression remained unchanged.

"Good," he said. "Better than I imagined."

Han Huang was stunned.

Qian Tong was also stunned.

They had thought that the emperor would be startled to see the thing spewing fire and smoke, or that he would find it too dangerous and stop using it. Unexpectedly, the emperor only uttered one word:

"it is good."

Chen Xing didn't explain much. He simply had Han Huang recount in detail the changes in the formula, the trial production process, and the reasons for each failure.

Halfway through his sentence, Han Huang suddenly remembered something and moved a smaller earthenware jar from the corner of the wall. This jar was sealed even more tightly and wrapped in a thick layer of cloth.

"Your Majesty, this is a different formula that Qian Tong prepared, and he hasn't tried it yet," he said cautiously. "He heard... he heard that some people in the previous dynasty used this kind of thing to make firearms for use in battle. He wants to try it out, to see if he can put this thing into a bamboo tube, light it, and spray it out..."

A glint flashed in Chen Xing's eyes.

"Have you tried it?"

"I didn't dare try it," Han Huang said honestly. "This stuff is even stronger than the last one, I'm afraid..."

"What are you afraid of?" Chen Xing interrupted him. "Afraid it will explode? Let it explode and we'll try again. If a few people die, I'll give them compensation and erect a monument for them. But if we don't try, we'll never know if it will work."

He paused, gazing intently at the small, tightly wrapped earthenware jar, his eyes deep in thought.

"Han Huang, let me tell you—this thing will change the world in the future. It can turn a city wall into ruins, rout an army, and make a war completely different from before."

He turned his head and looked at Han Huang and Qian Tong.

"But I also know that this thing is still a baby. It can bite and hurt itself. What you need to do is to raise it slowly, make it obedient, and make it able to help us do great things."

"Is it possible?"

Han Huang knelt down with a thud: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, I will do my utmost!"

Qian Tong also knelt down, trembling all over, whether from fear or excitement, it was hard to tell.

Chen Xing helped them up without saying anything more. He simply walked to the door, glanced back at the still-smoky room, and strode away.

What Chen Xing didn't tell Han Huang was that in the world he came from, this thing was called gunpowder, and it had changed the course of history.

But he also knew that in this world, it was only just beginning.

It might fail, it might hurt people, and it might take more than a decade to develop something usable. But if we don't try, there will never be a chance.

The road is made step by step.

On February 15th, in an empty room in the backyard of the Military Industry Department, the first formal trial production of "firearms" took place.

Qian Tong personally loaded the prepared gunpowder into a specially made bamboo tube. The bamboo tube was carefully selected, made of old bamboo with thick walls, and sealed at both ends with wooden plugs. Only a small hole was drilled in the tube to lead out a hemp rope soaked in nitrate oil.

He placed the bamboo tube on a rock, lit the hemp rope, and then ran away.

He ran behind the courtyard wall, lay down, covered his ears, and waited.

One second, two seconds, three seconds—

"boom!"

A loud crash shook the courtyard wall, sending dust flying. Qian Tong's ears rang, and his vision went white. He froze for a moment, then scrambled to his feet and ran toward the rock.

The stone is still there, but the bamboo tube is gone. A charred mark remains on the stone, surrounded by countless fragments of bamboo.

Qian Tong stared blankly at the pile of debris, then suddenly sat down on the ground and started grinning foolishly.

Han Huang rushed out of another room and was stunned when he saw the pile of debris.

After a long pause, he asked, "Did it explode?"

Qian Tong nodded.

"The bamboo tube exploded?"

Qian Tong nodded again.

"So... does this mean we've succeeded or failed?"

Qian Tong thought for a long time and said, "The bamboo tube exploded, which means the medicine is potent enough. But the bamboo tube also means the container used to hold the medicine is inadequate. We need to replace it with a sturdier one."

Han Huang was stunned for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

"Good lad. Then change it. Change it to iron."

On the first day of the third lunar month, the first model of an iron "musket" was delivered to Chen Xing.

It was a pipe forged from wrought iron, about two feet long and one inch in diameter, sealed at one end with only a small hole for ignition. The pipe was fixed to a wooden frame and its angle could be adjusted.

Chen Xing examined the crude "weapon" and remained silent for a long time.

"Have you tried it?"

Han Huang shook his head: "I didn't dare. This thing is much sturdier than a bamboo tube. I have no idea what would happen if it exploded."

Chen Xing nodded: "Then let's not try it yet. Take it slow, no rush."

He paused, then said, "But I've set a goal for you—within three years, build a usable musket. Within five years, build a musket capable of killing enemies on the battlefield. Can you do it?"

Han Huang and Qian Tong exchanged a glance and knelt down together.

"We, your humble servants, will certainly do our utmost!"

On the ninth day of the third lunar month, another muffled thud came from the workshop at the foot of Nanshan Mountain.

This time, it wasn't a test of the musket, but a test of another purpose—clearing mountains.

The artisans of the Ordnance Department loaded gunpowder into several specially made bamboo tubes, buried them in the crevices under a boulder, lit the fuses, and then ran away.

"boom!"

The boulder was blasted into several pieces, with debris flying everywhere and thick smoke billowing out.

As the smoke cleared, the craftsmen gathered around, looking at the cracked stones and excitedly discussing them.

"This thing, if used to cut through mountains and build roads, would be much faster than a chisel!"

"That's right! Some sections of the official road from Chang'an to Luoyang need to be paved with stones. If we used blasting stones, we could save so much manpower!"

Han Huang stood at a distance, watching the excited craftsmen, but his face showed little joy.

He was thinking about another problem.

This thing can blast mountains, it can blast rocks, so it can also...blast city walls.

But he didn't say it aloud.

Some things can only be done, not said.

In early May, the first batch of "opening gunpowder" was officially delivered to the Ministry of Works for use in the construction of the official road from Chang'an to Taiyuan.

The Ministry of Works officials were initially skeptical, thinking the craftsmen were exaggerating. But when they witnessed the loud crash as a boulder split open, they fell silent.

After the silence, everyone rushed to have it.

"Give us the Chang'an section first!"

"Why should we? Our Taiyuan section urgently needs it more!"

"Stop arguing, let's go in order!"

Han Huang was surrounded, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

He suddenly remembered what His Majesty had said:

"This thing can change the world."

Maybe it really is possible.