Chapter Sixteen: Who Said the Ancients Used Gunpowder as Fireworks?

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  "Damn it, is there another time-traveler besides me? How did they even get firearms?" Wen Fei cursed in his heart. Just then, he heard a series of loud noises and the Western Xia people retreated like a receding tide. Only then did he slightly relax, it seemed that these people's firearms were still quite primitive and couldn't fire continuously.

  In fact, the power of these Western Xia people's fire guns far exceeded Wen Fei's imagination!

  "It's a fire lance!" Zhang Shu Ye said in a low voice. Wen Fei was startled, could it be that this guy had also crossed over? He actually knew about the fire lance!

  But it is not known that this is Wen Fei's own ignorance, although in the academic community, it is generally believed that metal tubular firearms first appeared during the Yuan Dynasty. The copper tubular firearm with a sturdy body collected by the National Military Museum, which dates back to the third year of Emperor Wenzong of Yuan's Zhishun era (1331), is considered to be the world's earliest existing metal tubular firearm. However, Western Xia copper firearms were found in succession in Wuwei, Gansu and Yinchuan, Ningxia. Moreover, the Dunhuang fresco "Dunhuang Painting of Subduing Demons" unearthed in Dunhuang, which depicts a tubular fire-spewing device, seems to suggest that such firearms already existed in the northwest region. At that time, Dunhuang was originally within the territory of Western Xia.

  These two Western Xia firearms, like the Yuan dynasty firearms in the military museum, are all copper castings. However, compared to the Yuan firearms, they show more primitiveness, such as simple structure, rough production, uneven surface of the barrel, and obvious unpolished mold marks. They are a very primitive type of firearm, naturally with small power, which is far beyond Wen Fei's expectation.

  That burst of gunfire was lively, but in fact, not many people were killed. Firstly, the fire gun was crude and even coarser than the musket, secondly, the power of the gunpowder was also very weak.

  Only three or four Song Dynasty guards on the city wall were injured, one of whom was not far from Wen Fei, with a gunshot wound to the shoulder and blood flowing profusely. But that's all!

  At this time, the Song army guarding the wall reacted and shot arrows in a flurry, killing dozens of Western Xia soldiers. This farcical battle came to an end.

  The entire Song army camp was baffled, and no one knew what the Western Xia people were up to. Were they testing new weapons?

  On the Western Xia side, seeing this result, Yeli Yinxi's face turned iron-gray: "Is this the magic pestle of those Buddhas? How can its power be so poor?"

  By the side of Ye Lixiang, this time it wasn't the son of the Shibei tribe's chief standing there, but a fat-headed and big-eared Buddhist monk who said: "The noble one is joking, we monks are compassionate. Where can we use things that kill people? These demon-subduing pestles are all treasures used to exorcise demons and protect the Tao... they're not for killing on the battlefield..."

  Ye Li Yin sneered coldly: "Sounds good, but how come I saw the wizard of the Song people use a demon-subduing mallet that was so powerful? It actually beat that bastard Mo Bu to death!"

  Ben Shang was taken aback and said, "Impossible? Wu Mai was beaten to death?" Wu Mai was a well-known brave warrior among the Western Xia people, and he was very famous throughout the Western Xia. If it weren't for his family standing on the wrong side in the political struggle, he would have been one of the bravest generals among the Western Xia people.

  "Isn't it that the power of your Buddha's law is no match for that sorcerer's divine power? That's why the might of your Buddhist instruments can't compare to his?" said Ye Lixing coldly.

  The monk cursed in his heart, but the Ye Li Yin Qi family was a powerful clan that ruled Xixia, and even he didn't dare to offend them. He only said: "In that case, our temple will send someone to capture that shaman and bring him back for your judgment!"

  Ye Li nodded in satisfaction, knowing that these monks held great power in Western Xia and were full of talented individuals. Not daring to offend them too much, he bowed his head and said: "Very well, everything is entrusted to you!"

  Wen Fei had no idea that today's events were caused by himself, and he was puzzled for half a day with Zhang Shu Ye, not knowing what these Western Xia people were up to today.

  Asking about the fire spear, Zhang Shu Ye said: "I've heard some people mention these things before. It's said that in the Western Xia border, those barbarian monks have a kind of magical artifact called 'Demon-subduing Pestle' which can spew out flames and loud noises. I suppose it must be one of these things!"

  Wen Fei didn't have time to feel the emotion, these Western Xia monks were so powerful and created such advanced things! But then Zhang Shuye said: "Actually, these things aren't that unusual. My Great Song also has them!"

  Wen Fei let out a cry of surprise, never expecting that the Great Song Dynasty also had such firearms. Zhang Shuye continued, "Over a decade ago, our Great Song Dynasty and Western Xia clashed in Lanzhou, where we employed incendiary rockets and cannons to achieve victory. However, at that time, we used giant bamboo tubes as gun barrels, filling them with gunpowder and projectiles. After igniting the fuse, the gunpowder would explode, propelling the 'projectiles' out, with a range of over 150 paces."

  After listening to Zhang Shuye's explanation, Wen Fei was completely bewildered. Who says the Chinese invented gunpowder just for setting off firecrackers during New Year's? We Chinese used it for war as early as the 10th century, okay?! Damn it, I originally wanted to use a handgun like a palm-sized grenade to fool these Song Dynasty thugs. But today, I was slightly startled!

  With this grievance, Wen Fei drove away from Northern Song and returned to modern times. He found that the truth of history seemed more interesting than what he knew!

  This time, he didn't bring back any goods, so it was much more relaxing. Wen Fei took a big detour and went around the highway from another direction to return to the city. Although he felt that such caution was unnecessary, he wasn't afraid of being overly careful, just in case something unexpected happened. After spending over three hours driving around, he finally returned. He didn't drive his old cargo truck out to show off, but instead switched back to his Hummer and went to find Zhang Yu, that dead fatso.

  These days, this fat guy has been busy with the old town house stuff. It's not easy to open a restaurant in such a place, it's not something that can be done by just talking about it.

  Driving a Hummer with the wind blowing, I arrived at the old town area. I felt that the road was too narrow, if there were two cars, they would occupy the entire road surface. Fortunately, this is an H3, if it were a more domineering H2, one car might occupy almost half of the road surface.

  But Wen Fei absolutely did not expect that the entire old house had completely changed its appearance. Not even close, from a distance, seeing the old house, he was shocked, simply thinking he had walked into the wrong place.

  The originally white-washed lime wall, which looked dirty and short, has completely changed its appearance. The original layer of white lime that made people feel uncomfortable was scraped off, revealing the original color of the wall surface, a uniform dark greenish-black brick, which seemed to have a historical depth.