Chapter Fifty-Three: Great Laughter

  Zhao Kuangyi did not listen again, seized a war horse from the forbidden army and said to them: "Go to the imperial palace to report to Your Majesty."

  He whipped his horse and galloped towards the East Flower Gate.

  Along the way, many ordinary people were still standing stupidly on the street, at a loss for what to do. Some people, due to their panic, even knocked over their small stalls. Zhao Kuangyi didn't care about this; it was 10 million jin of iron, and with it, the country's national strength would immediately increase greatly.

  Riding quickly, they soon arrived at the East Water Gate. Many imperial guards were standing by the East Water Gate, separated from them by the Hu Long River. It was unclear whether it would be better to go over or not. Zhao Kuangyi shouted: "Don't panic, that's a mining device developed by the imperial court."

  What's his relationship with the imperial court? Well, it can be said that Song Jiu is at least a minor official of the eighth rank in the imperial court.

  Ma flew over the broken stone bridge, arrived at the riverbank, and saw many people standing there. There were more than a hundred students, as well as fifty or so officials from the Han, Murong, Fu, Song, Guo, Yang, Xiang, Wang, Zhang, Wu, Chu, Cao, Pan, and Zhao families. It seemed that Song Jiu had done a good job, and this team was gradually expanding. However, the current situation didn't look very good. These officials and students stood there like wooden chickens, covered in mud from head to toe, looking as if they were all stunned. Song Jiu said something, but it was as if no one heard or saw him.

  Seeing Zhao Kuangyi arrive, he finally came to his senses.

  Xiao Caoxu and Pan Weizheng opened their big mouths and wailed loudly.

  Fu Zhao Shou walked over and grabbed Zhao Kuangyi's arm, "Brother-in-law, awesome, awesome, awesome."

  The child is probably also not awake.

  Zhao Kuangyi swung his hand and walked in front of Song Jiu, saying: "What are you doing?"

  "The things about opening up mines have been researched."

  "You're making quite a stir, the whole city of Beijing thinks it's an earthquake."

  "It's just firecrackers, what's there to be afraid of."

  "What firework, nonsense."

  "Second Brother Wang, look."

  Zhao Kuangyi looked in the direction of his pointing hand, and in front of him was a large pit. Because the riverbank soil was wet and muddy, water began to seep out, but not much, and the depth of the pit could be seen to be two or three zhang, with an area of several zhang. Zhao Kuangyi didn't quite understand, and Song Jiuyi waved his hand, and several students ran into the fully equipped house in the distance, soon carrying out a large wooden box. It was somewhat heavy, and the carrying pole was bent.

  Upon seeing this large wooden box, several younger second-generation descendants scurried behind their older brothers, as if they had seen a fierce ghost.

  Song Ji waved his hand, and more than a hundred students began digging holes.

  Dr. Zhang said: "Song Jiu, you're still coming."

  "It will be widely used later, but the technology is still immature, and it's not only coming, but also constantly testing."

  "What is it."

  "The name I haven't thought of yet, let's call it Black Gunpowder for now."

  "It's the earthquake it caused."

  "How could it possibly cause an earthquake, it's just a bit louder, making everyone mistakenly think that."

  Many hands make light work, and soon another hole was dug. Several students put the box down, with a bamboo tube sticking out of it, and outside the tube was a long fuse. If no one had said that it was gunpowder, Zhao Kuangyi would not have thought of it, but once someone mentioned it, he took a look and saw that it did resemble it, only thicker and darker in color. After operating for a while, without needing Song Jiu's instructions, the students began to cover the box with mud again. Then they pressed some new soil on top, making it look like a giant tomb. One student tremblingly pulled the fuse to the front of everyone, and Song Jiu lit it, saying to Zhao Kuangyi: "Second King, get down."

  "I am wearing official attire."

  Wearing official robes is useless. Fu Zhao Shou and Song Jiu pressed Zhao Kuangyi to the ground, and Song Jiu said: "Second King, plug your ears."

  Zhao Kuangyi didn't know what was happening, but seeing others lying on the ground motionless and covering their ears with their hands, he also covered his ears. The fuse quickly burned to the exposed bamboo tube mouth, rapidly flashing into the tube and disappearing from view. Zhao Kuangyi saw that half of the people had closed their eyes, not even daring to look. Just as he was wondering, a loud explosion sounded out, and covering his ears with his hands was no use - his ears were ringing loudly, almost unable to hear outside sounds. Along with large clumps of mud and turf flying high into the air, it seemed like they would cover up the entire sky. In reality, it was very far away, but the surrounding terrain was confined, with many low-lying areas and riverbanks. Song Jiu had used that high slope to build houses, so it wasn't possible to conduct experiments there, so he came here instead. The terrain was low-lying, making it relatively humid - perhaps Song Jiu had deliberately chosen this place, or perhaps not; in any case, he had selected this location.

  It's starting to rain mud.

  It's okay, it's far away, the power is gradually weakening, and although it hurts when it falls on the body, it's not severe. However, its impact is huge, covering a large area with mud and rain. The mud is falling non-stop, also landing on everyone's bodies. Zhao Kuangyi roared: "My official uniform!"

  No one could hear him, and he himself couldn't even hear what he was shouting, his ears still ringing.

  Another huge deep hole appeared.

  This power also scared Zhao Kuangyi, and it took him a long time to get up with everyone else, still dazed. After a while, Zhao Kuangyi suddenly burst out laughing wildly.

  "Sister's husband, are you alright?" Siu Chow Sau asked with concern.

  "No big deal, no big deal, it's a good thing," Zhao Kuangyi said. This little Song Jiu only saw the mining, if the power is so great, why just open up the mountain, and many mountain roads can be repaired. It can also be used for river work to deal with those stubborn rocks. Quarrying stone materials can also be used in military affairs. But this Song Jiu is not very clear, if using gunpowder packages, now the trebuchet's throwing distance is short, it may not work. Besides, if you pour a basin of water on it and extinguish the fuse, the gunpowder package will lose its effect. After all, it's not a detonator. Or manufacturing cannons, that technical difficulty is even more complicated, many principles are unknown, just knowing that in this era, casting technology also makes people suspicious. Blasting city walls is possible, Hong Xiuquan used coffins loaded with black gunpowder to blast down the city wall of Nanjing and enter Nanjing City. However, that power requires higher quality black gunpowder, also requires technique, must make the explosion produce air pressure directly against the city wall to take effect, estimated that it is difficult for Song Dynasty soldiers to master. In fact, in Song Jiu's heart, the greatest enemy of the Song Dynasty is still the Khitan, and the rest of the Central Plains countries can be easily taken down without gunpowder. However, the Khitan are a nomadic people, except for dealing with the city walls of Youzhou, this trick doesn't work in the wilderness. How to use it in military affairs, Song Jiu won't bother, let the court's craftsmen think about it."

  With some innate conditions, gunpowder appeared in the late Tang Dynasty and was also used in the military. Fireworks are burning objects, not explosive ones. Gradually, civilians used it to make firecrackers. The Song Dynasty also had gunpowder, but the three materials were not pure, the ratio was not right, and they didn't know its power or sealing properties, so now there is only one type of gunpowder weapon, which is still fireworks!

  Song Jiuxing first mainly refined the saltpeter and sulfur, and could only use primitive methods to refine them. After spending more than a dozen days on this, he began to test and granulate it at the same time. During testing, the amount used was very small, and it was tested in the form of rolled-up firecrackers. As a result, the yamen thought that Song Jiuxing was setting off firecrackers every day.

  It wasn't until several days later that they finally confirmed the original granular black gunpowder, although its purity was still not high, but the proportion was definitely correct. Zhao Pu said "don't release the hawk if you don't see a rabbit", and Zhao Kuangyi explained it again, saying "don't release the hawk if you don't see a rabbit". Song Jiuxing felt stifled in his heart, but didn't shout at any of them. Instead, he invited all the yamen to go hunting on the riverbank under the pretext of going hunting.

  Not only did they go hunting together, but also had dinner together that night, and were treated to bread. The yamen enjoyed the hunt, and even more so the bread, with the result being that even more yamen came.

  Then I'll show you something good, I've told you before, a group of servants were giggling and didn't take it seriously, their ears weren't covered well, some were still standing, and they weren't mentally prepared, so when the explosion happened, they were all shocked.

  Song Ji rubbed his ears and said: "Second Grand King, where is the tomb?"

  All ten paintings are done, but the tomb has not been moved. I don't dare to post them, so I can only reopen the first painting and replace the old one. If they are posted, people will pay attention to the riverbank and many greedy people will appear. The unowned tombs will be ignored, and the problem of ordinary people's tombs is not big, but there are some powerful families' tombs. Once the tomb is moved, there will be a chance for trouble, and the troubles will get bigger and bigger in the future. As long as the ten paintings are posted, Zhao Kuangyin wants to move the capital, but it's impossible.

  "You little scamp, every time the imperial court takes your things, it's a hot potato," Zhao Kuangyi finally stopped smiling, and he also rubbed his temples. He hadn't thought of it before, but as soon as he did, he thought of relocating the tomb, which gave him a severe headache. For the time being, he didn't consider it, and said: "Song Jiu, take me to your house to take a look."

  "Two great kings, many people with different skills, this technique should be valued by the imperial court..."

  "Me too."

  Song Jiuyou said to everyone: "Everyone, let's go back. I'll make bread for you to eat with my own hands."

  Everyone was shocked and needs some comfort for their wounded hearts.

  "Go, eat the bread," Zhao Kuangyi said. This kid only made a batch of bread once, and it was rumored to be heavenly delicious, but he didn't dare to force him to make more. Today, they could finally taste it. The group burst into laughter as they walked back, their natural psychological reaction after being frightened. Only Zhao Kuangyi laughed the most heartily and happily.

  The second explosion startled even more people, and by this time the city was in a state of panic. Many small stalls were knocked over as people rushed out of their homes. The guards at the East Water Gate also crossed the Hu Long River, and Zhao Kuangyi waved his hand at them, saying: "Quickly pass on my orders, tell them that the imperial court has successfully developed new mining materials, it's not an earthquake, don't let the people in the city panic."

  Now I can rest assured.

  "Yes." The guards replied, but they looked at the wretched appearance of this group, and while passing on the order, they covered their mouths and laughed loudly. Under the gaze of the crowd, more than a hundred people entered the river, and the streets were still filled with citizens, who felt strange when they saw this group coming over. Someone with sharp eyes said in a low voice, "Isn't that the Second King and Little Nine?"

  "Second Master Wang? Did Second Master Wang bring them to the muddy pit?"

  "You little scamp, you've ruined my good reputation," Zhao Kuangyi said with great annoyance.

  "Second Master Wang, think about those gold, silver, copper, iron, tin and lead, you can secretly rejoice."

  The academy still had people, Yu Ping and Cui Er. Zhao Kuangyi knew a piece of news that Song Jiu didn't know, which was that Yu Ping had given up on Song Jiu. As a result, during this period, she almost never entertained guests, and the small brothel was about to close down for good. This had nothing to do with him, but he was the first to rush to the well, unable to see himself, while others were covered in mud, thinking that things couldn't get any worse. Yu Ping also stood at the door, looking at the group of people in surprise and asked: "What's going on?"