In a sunken valley in the back mountain, Di Lie was looking at a round thing the size of a watermelon in his hand, looking at it over and over with a thoughtful expression. Opposite him, Aji was holding a round thing with a look on his face. A bamboo basket containing several similar-shaped hemp balls.

Seeing that Di Lie seemed to be very interested, Aji explained with excitement: "Brother Di, what you are holding in your hand is the 'Thunderbolt Fireball'. It is wrapped in hemp skin, filled with gunpowder, placed in the iron thorn tip, and lit. With the guide, it can explode and injure the enemy. It is really a powerful weapon in our Song Dynasty army to kill the enemy."

Di Lie raised his eyebrows, wasn't it? In the Song Dynasty, there was such a good thing like a grenade? If it was so powerful, how could the Song Dynasty be so miserably beaten by the northern barbarian tribes armed with bows, arrows and sabers? The country is destroyed and the body is humiliated?

Seeing Di Lie's doubtful expression, Aji said anxiously: "It's true. If Brother Di doesn't believe it, you can try it right away."

Well, I really need to test the power of this primitive giant grenade.

Di Lie first erected several wooden stakes in a staggered manner on the ground, and then asked someone to find a few broken leather armors decorated with iron leaves, and hung the leather armor on the wooden stakes. At a rough look, it looked a bit human-like. .

Next, Di Lie held the ball, and Aji started the fire. The fire rope burned for nearly half a minute. Di Lie struggled to throw the five-kilogram thunderbolt fireball into a wooden man pile more than 20 steps away. Then Aji will Throwing the fire, he was pulled by Di Lie and ran quickly towards the hidden spot that he had already spotted - behind a protruding rock.

As soon as the two of them hid their bodies, there was a loud bang - but what made Di Lie depressed was that the sound was too heavy for its heavy weight and huge size. At best, it was equivalent to a louder sound in later generations. Just two kicks.

"It exploded!" Aji jumped out of the boulder excitedly and ran towards the wooden mannequin. He wanted to see the result immediately.

Before Di Lie even approached the wooden mannequin, Aji was already happily holding a pair of leather armors, jumping up and down, as if offering a treasure: "Brother Di, look, there are a lot of caltrops nailed on this leather armor." Where are the iron thorns?"

Di Lie took the leather armor and inspected it carefully. Indeed, the air wave generated by the explosion shot many tiny caltrops contained inside into the leather armor. Some of them were nailed to the leather armor, and some even cut through the leather armor, nailing it to the ground. But according to Di Lie's observation, the penetrating power was very weak. With a gentle push of his hand, the iron caltrops nailed to the wooden stake fell to the ground. If the wooden stake was a human body, such a wound would obviously not even be considered a minor injury. Above; if the enemy is wearing iron armor, such a weak explosion cannot even penetrate it...

It is indeed a primitive explosive. No wonder it cannot deal with the alien cavalry. It is just a big firecracker.

Di Lie already knew in his mind that this should be a problem with the formula of gunpowder and purification of materials, so he asked Aji with the idea of ​​giving it a try: "Do you know the ratio of this gunpowder?"

"I know, the gunpowder maker Wang Wushu told Aji." Aji quickly recited, "Fourteen liang of Jinzhou sulfur, seven liang of wohuang, two and a half kilograms of flame salt, one liang of maru, and one liang of dry paint. One liang of arsenic, one liang of bamboo rut, one liang of bamboo rut, one liang of yellow dandelion, and half a liang of yellow wax. , one point of clear oil, half a tael of tung oil, one or fourteen taels of rosin, and one point of thick oil. Combine with Jinzhou sulfur, wohuang, flame saltpeter and pound together, Luo arsenic yellow, fixed powder, Huang Dan and grind together, and pound dry lacquer into powder. Wrap it with five layers of paper and bind it with hemp, let alone melt pine resin to coat it..."

This is the gunpowder method contained in the "Martial Classics General Essentials" compiled by Zeng Gongliang in the Northern Song Dynasty. It covers everything from compatibility to packaging methods. It can be regarded as the most detailed gunpowder formula in the early days of the invention of gunpowder. Unfortunately, the gunpowder preparation

It is too fallacious, and the formula contains too many invalid ingredients. Even if it is as big as a thunderbolt fireball, its power is pitifully small. No wonder it is regarded as a toy by the craftsmen, and they would rather transport more food than this so-called war preparation material.

.The formula that is truly close to the ingredients of modern black gunpowder was not developed until the middle and late Ming Dynasty hundreds of years later.

Di Lie still knows the best ratio of black powder, and in one of the wilderness survival training courses in the United Nations' isolated island training camp, he personally collected sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal and made several clay pots.

Bombs are used to fry fish and shrimps and hunt wild animals. This is limited by the limited materials. Each bomb is only the size of a fist, but the power of the explosion seems to be greater than the so-called "Thunderbolt Fireball". If modern black powder is used

Formula, make a bomb the size of a thunderbolt fireball... no, only one third of the size. How powerful will it be? I'm really looking forward to it!

Just do it, Di Lie immediately asked Aji to get a few kilograms of sulfur, flame salt and charcoal.

"Brother Di, do you want to make the thunderbolt fireball yourself?" Aji scratched his head, "But if you only need these three ingredients, I'm afraid it won't get angry."

Di Lie waved his hand: "It's okay, just bring it. Brother Di will open your eyes to what a real bomb is."

Although Aji was very confident in his skills in gunpowder, he was more willing to believe in the magical Brother Di, and immediately ran back to get the raw materials.

The most common modern black powder formula is: potassium nitrate (saltpeter): sulfur: charcoal = 75:10:15. Depending on the use, the composition of the gunpowder must also be adjusted accordingly. Since what Di Lie wants to make is*

* package, so he used the explosive formula. The raw material ratios are: saltpeter: sulfur: charcoal = 66.6:16.7:16.7.

In order to ensure an accurate compatibility, Di Lie also asked Ajido to make a trip and get a medicine scale from the palace medical doctors among the refugees. In this era, the most accurate weight measurement tool is this kind of doctor.

There is a special medicine scale for drug stores, and the measurement unit can be accurate to "centi".

From the perspective of Di Lie's later generations, the purification of flame salt and sulfur in this era was not good enough. There were many impurities, which would affect the power of the gun to some extent. But under the current circumstances, it is not advisable to have too high requirements and make do with it.

Use it.

Di Lie weighed the three raw materials separately and poured them into a wooden cup. He carefully stirred them with a wooden pestle. After making sure that the three raw materials were fully mixed, Di Lie handed the wooden cup to Aji, who was watching curiously.

, let him do the subsequent work of packaging, compacting, and inserting the powder. Aji is much more skilled than him in this aspect of work.

The final finished bomb is oval in shape, the size of a cantaloupe, weighs about 1.5 kilograms, and has a three-inch-long fuse on the top. Except for gunpowder, there is no iron spike or other things inside. What Di Lie wants to test now is

The power of the explosion, not the lethality of the shrapnel.

Aji looked at the "little ones" in his hands, and then at the big ones in the bamboo basket, and hesitated in his heart: What kind of effect can such a small gadget with "cut corners" have?

Di Lie didn't know the difference between this ancient material and modern materials, but he was certain that the power of this melon bomb made with modern black powder formula was definitely higher than the previous thunderbolt fireball.

Let's use the simple armored wooden mannequin as the test target.

Di Lie took the bomb from Aji's hand, lit the fuse, looked at the target, raised his hand to throw it, and then quickly hid behind the rock.

Boom! A loud thunder-like sound came from behind the rock, shaking Aji, who was not mentally prepared, and fell backwards. His ears were buzzing, his heart was pounding, and he was dumbfounded. He couldn't recover for a long time.

.

This time Di Lie was the first to arrive at the test site. Through the diffuse smoke and dust, he could see burning and broken pieces of armor scattered everywhere. A shallow pit with a diameter of three meters was formed in the center of the explosion. All the wooden piles were uprooted and scattered in all directions.

, the farthest one was blown into the valley more than twenty meters away. The air was filled with the strong smell of gunpowder and the smell of burnt leather.

It’s done! Di Lie excitedly formed a fist with his right hand and smashed it into the palm of his left hand. This was the real bomb! The previous thunderbolt fireball was completely incomparable except that its name could scare people. Moreover, it was limited to

At that time, he had not yet granulated the gunpowder, which meant that there was still considerable room for improvement in the power of the gunpowder.

Aji, who finally came back to his senses, was shocked by the astonishing destructive power at the scene - is this still the gunpowder in his memory? It was like thunder falling from the sky! This Brother Di is really amazing.

!

"Brother Di..." Aji swallowed hard and asked, "Can you teach me how to make thunder bullets? I don't want to learn in vain, I can worship you as my teacher..."

"Thunderball? That's a good name." Di Lie accepted the name in a good mood, smiled and ruffled the studious young man's disheveled hair, "There's no need to be a disciple, this Thunderball was originally meant for you.

Come make it. Come on, I’ll tell you the recipe. Follow me and make a few pills first..."

Before Di Lie finished speaking, he seemed to be aware of something. His eyes were like lightning, and he shot towards the rock where he was hiding before, and said sternly: "Who is hiding there? Get out!"

A piece of light yellow dress was first exposed behind the rock, and then a pretty figure slowly appeared.

Ye Die'er!

Di Lie slowly retracted his hand that was touching the military boot dagger, frowned and said, "Didn't you hear the loud noise just now? This is a test base, it's very dangerous, go back quickly."

However, Ye Die'er walked over lightly, and then made an unexpected move - kneeling down in front of Di Lie.

Di Lie was in a daze for at least three seconds. After coming back to his senses, he quickly stepped forward and held Ye Dieer's tender arms: "What are you doing? Get up quickly."

Ye Die'er bit her red lips and shook her head gently but firmly: "I beg a strong man. If the strong man doesn't agree, I will never get up."

With Di Lie's arm strength, it was easy to lift Ye Die'er. It was easy to pull her up, but it would be too rude to do so. Di Lie had no choice but to let go of his hand, straighten his body, and asked calmly:

"Just tell me, if you can do it, do it. If you can't do it..."

"The bravery of the brave man is unparalleled. He defeated hundreds of golden soldiers with one person's strength and captured ten thousand stones of food and crops. It is really possible for Wu Quxing to descend to the earth. He will definitely be able to do it." Ye Die'er was afraid that Di Lie would refuse, so she hurriedly rushed out before he finished speaking.

He said a lot of nice words. Of course, except for the "Wu Qu star" theory, it is basically true.

Di Lie frowned again. In order not to arouse others' curiosity about the weapon in his hand, he repeatedly told the Yang brothers not to kill nearly a hundred gold soldiers with just one shot and abandon their helmets and armor, and then die in ruins.

The astonishing achievements in escaping were publicized. The Yang brothers have indeed kept tight-lipped these days. When anyone asked about the situation at that time, the two brothers were vague and only said that it was the result of everyone's efforts and ruse.

The only people who have some idea of ​​this are Hou Fangjing and Ye Die'er, who have witnessed Di Lie's magical methods.

Di Lie shook his head inwardly. It was probably the second son of the Yang family who had let it slip. Anyone facing a beautiful woman would always have to have a weaker defense. Forget it, Ye Dieer had also witnessed him blasting away Meng Ansa's stabbing weapon with one shot.

Her head and her sniper rifle are not a secret to her.

"If you have any questions, just tell me and see if I, the 'Martial Arts Star', can help you."

"I want to ask a strong man to rescue my sister..." Ye Die'er hesitated for a moment, her pretty face turned slightly red, her teeth bit her red lips lightly, as if she had made some determination, and she said quickly and urgently, "I can't repay you.

I am willing to be a slave and a maid, serving the strong men for the rest of my life..." Her voice became smaller and smaller, and finally was almost inaudible.

"Sister? Your sister? Do you have a sister?" Di Lie was attracted by Ye Die'er's first words and failed to hear the whispers behind her, thus missing out on a surprise.

"Yes, I am a tribute girl together with my sister, paying tribute to the Jin people. My poor sister has already been married as a woman, and she can't escape such humiliation..." Speaking of her sister, Ye Die'er's face turned pale and she was wet with tears.

"Where is your sister now? Did she not have time to escape when we disrupted the Jin Army camp that night?"

Ye Die'er shook his head: "The slave and my sister did not belong to the Sac camp. Instead, they were expelled from the Qingcheng village in Bianjing with the first batch of tribute girls, and were escorted north by Meng'an Guxin. A few days ago, because of Sac camp,

After repeatedly asking for women from Guxin, the slave was sent back to the Sac camp..."

Di Lie rubbed his stubbled chin and nodded thoughtfully: "So where is your sister, or that Meng An Guxin team now?"

"When the slave was sent back, he had already arrived in Tangyin. Now... I'm afraid he will soon reach Xiangzhou."
Chapter completed!