Chapter 100: The Torrent of History

"Warfare is the art of deception. The Northern Di colluded with Zhang Kang and used feces-soaked arrows; these are treacherous schemes, and kindness to the enemy is cruelty to oneself." Zhao Xu grabbed a handful of quicklime and scattered it, "This time, we will use it to deal an unexpected blow to the Northern Di army."

Chang Wei nodded heavily; he highly approved of Zhao Xu's words.

Once, he had fought against the Xiliang people and witnessed the tragedy of war with his own eyes.

To win, Xiliang would use any means, and the Northern Di would only be more barbaric than Xiliang.

In his view, there is no gentleman's honor in war.

"Your Highness, this thing is indeed powerful, but how should it be used?" Looking at the white powder, Chang Wei felt that one could not simply let soldiers scatter it toward the Northern Di.

Zhao Xu smiled and gave Wang Ying a look.

Wang Ying nodded and asked a craftsman to bring over a bamboo tube.

"A firecracker?" Chang Wei suddenly understood, then began to laugh, "Now the Northern Di will be crying for their fathers and mothers."

Zhao Xu and Wang Ying laughed.

Gunpowder is not a rare thing in Da Song.

In the dynasties before Da Song, gunpowder was already used in warfare, such as packing gunpowder into porcelain jars, lighting the fuse, and throwing them at the enemy.

Or tying bamboo tubes to arrows, lighting the tubes, and letting the arrows fly toward the enemy army.

Later, it gradually evolved, and firearms appeared.

This was the predecessor to artillery and muskets; it was just a metal tube with a hole, filled with gunpowder and stone bullets, which had lethality within a hundred meters.

After the founding of Da Song, it inherited these gunpowder application technologies.

However, these things were more for intimidation than lethality; after all, their power was not great, and their firing speed was slow.

But for the Armory Bureau, manufacturing them was no problem.

And firecrackers were even less of a problem.

"Let me show you the power so you have an idea in your mind, to avoid hurting our own people," Zhao Xu said.

Upon hearing this, Wang Ying had the craftsman bring a fire tinder.

Lighting the firecracker's fuse, Wang Ying picked it up and threw it into the distance.

With a "bang," the firecracker exploded, and a white mist with a diameter of five or six meters appeared in the air.

When manufacturing this kind of firecracker, Wang Ying wrapped the quicklime in paper and placed it at the bottom of the firecracker, filling the top with gunpowder.

In this way, when the firecracker exploded, the quicklime would diffuse outward.

Chang Wei smiled very brightly and was very satisfied with the power of the firecracker.

If these firecrackers were thrown at the Northern Di, the Northern Di soldiers enveloped by the powder would basically lose their combat effectiveness.

Originally, he had been a little worried about whether the 15,000-man force of Yan Commandery could successfully resist the Northern Di's attack.

Now it seemed his worry was superfluous; Yan Wang had long since set trap after trap for the Northern Di.

The Northern Di would have to shed a layer of skin even if they didn't die in this Autumn Hunt.

"Your Highness, how many such firecrackers are there?" Chang Wei's enthusiasm suddenly surged.

Wang Ying pointed to the warehouse, "There are a full six thousand, enough for you to use."

Chang Wei was relieved now, and he said to Zhao Xu, "Your Highness, this subordinate will send men to collect the items and distribute them to the soldiers."

Zhao Xu nodded.

Chang Wei left, and Wang Ying felt some regret that he hadn't fully utilized his talents: "If given enough time, this subordinate could make even more powerful firecrackers."

"What are small trinkets like firecrackers? After this battle, this Prince will have you build things even more powerful than firecrackers," Zhao Xu said.

"More powerful things?" A red flush of excitement appeared on Wang Ying's face.

Now, the smelting of steel and the forging of armor and weapons were on the right track, and he only needed to supervise the work.

Life in the Armory Bureau had become easy and boring again, which was very difficult for someone who could not stay idle.

Therefore, Yan Wang's words filled his heart with anticipation once more.

However, when Yan Wang mentioned things more powerful than firecrackers, he couldn't help but let his imagination run wild.

"This subordinate has heard that there are merchant ships from the West on the sea,

and on them is a type of firearm that can emit a huge roaring sound and shoot heavy iron balls to very far places."

"This subordinate also heard that two years ago, the Liang Family presented a batch of iron tubes to the Emperor. These iron tubes could use gunpowder to fire small iron balls. The Emperor was very happy and even specially established a Divine Machine Battalion..."

Wang Ying spoke incessantly, "How do Your Highness's things compare to these?"

Zhao Xu was stunned for a long while upon hearing this.

Information in ancient times was blocked, and the Ninth Prince had lived in the deep palace for a long time, so he did not know much about things outside.

He had heard rumors of Western merchant ships on the sea that spat fire, but he did not know about this matter of the Divine Machine Battalion.

Wang Ying saying this confirmed some situations and brought him a new perspective.

"Is the news true?" His expression was serious.

"This is what a close friend told me when I was traveling in Jingshi. He works as a Military Scribe in the Divine Machine Battalion, but he said the Divine Machine Battalion is nothing more than the Emperor's honor guard," Wang Ying said.

Zhao Xu rolled his eyes.

The contempt for firearms in this world was of the same style as the contemporary dynasty.

"This intelligence is very important," Zhao Xu muttered to himself.

This meant that the Da Song Dynasty had shown signs of moving from cold weapons to a mix of cold and hot weapons.

But at the same time, some of the situations Wang Ying confirmed caused him worry.

First was the merchant ships from the West.

Because the history of this world was almost completely different from the contemporary one.

So he had been unable to deduce what period Da Song was in.

But since Western merchant ships had arrived here, it was at least in the Age of Discovery.

The only difference is whether the West is still in the early exploratory phase of the Age of Discovery, or at the tail end of the Age of Discovery, in the era of colonial powers.

Besides this, Wang Ying also mentioned the Liang Family.

The Liang Family is one of the Eight Great Clans of Da Song.

Min Prefecture and Yuezhou along the southeast coast of Da Song are both within their sphere of influence.

Most importantly, the maritime ban of Da Song does not completely forbid going out to sea, but rather adopts monopolistic measures; only those approved by the Imperial Court can engage in maritime trade.

The Liang Family is the only power that has received approval from the Imperial Court.

Before the maritime ban of Da Song, the Liang Family already possessed a massive fleet of Merchant Ships.

After monopolizing maritime trade, the current Liang Family is even more filthy rich.

However, every generation of the Head of the Liang Family is very shrewd.

They often do everything in their power to collect rare treasures from overseas to present to the emperors, and are deeply favored by every generation of emperors.

Now, the Liang Family has presented firearms to Zhao Heng.

To a layman, it looks like nothing more than another curious gadget.

But in his eyes, the significance is different.

It is too dangerous for the dynasty's channels of foreign exchange to be monopolized by influential clans.

The level of danger is by no means inferior to the Yuan Family, which dominates Yan Commandery.

After letting his thoughts wander for a while.

Zhao Xu shook his head and temporarily suppressed these thoughts in his heart.

It seems he is worrying about these things a bit too early.

After all, he is currently just a minor vassal king struggling to survive in Yan Commandery.

At present, what he should be most concerned about is how to survive, manage his own fief, and keep himself safe from the harassment of the Northern Di.

As for the rest, the distorted historical progress of this world may have caused the Central Plains dynasty to lag further behind the contemporary period; no one can change this fact, as it is the torrent of history.

After surviving this crisis, he only needs to continue to develop forward.