Chapter 803

Of course, the Great Wall is a lock. For Zhuxia or other nationalities, countless wars between farming and nomadic nationalities are basically carried out around the lock of the Great Wall.

The Central Plains Dynasty was able to control the Great Wall. Even without the strength of counter attack, it could resist the enemy coming from the grassland outside the mountains of the great wall and protect the counties in the rear from the ravages of the hooligans.

On the contrary, once the nomads break through the Great Wall, they can enter the counties and counties of the Central Plains Dynasty. Even if they don't rob some big cities and specially rob the villages without the protection of the wall, they can still rob many times.

Sang Yu opposed the demolition of the Great Wall. He didn't want future generations to see this epic spectacle, nor did he say that it might have to be built after demolition. He objectively put forward that there was no redundant manpower in the Han state at present.

It should be said that the total length of the contemporary great wall may be much longer than the Great Wall built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the East, it starts from Liaodong and connects to Dunhuang. Although some sections in the middle are "blank", there is generally the existence of the Great Wall, which makes the great wall like a giant dragon entrenched on the earth.

"Your Majesty, most of the Great Wall is built on mountains. It's not easy to dismantle it." Sang Yu didn't dare to take the bull directly with Liu Yan. He reasoned and generally said, "the great man doesn't need to rely on the danger of the Great Wall, nor does he need to be a warning. He just let it go."

Liu Yan just thought about it. If he really used huge manpower to dismantle it, he might as well turn a blind eye and let the Great Wall fall into disrepair and collapse with the passage of years.

Yu Yi, who has been silent for a long time, is thinking about something else. The Han state now gathers people into counties, and the settlements no longer build city walls. There was a dynasty that did the same, and then waited for the national situation to decline. There were incidents everywhere in the territory, and there were wars everywhere. Everywhere, because there was no city wall as a support, the speed of collapse was faster than one place.

The dynasty Yu Yi thought of was the Qin Dynasty. After sweeping the eight wastelands and six harmonies, the first emperor not only ordered all counties to dismantle the city walls, but also ordered all passes to be demolished.

What kind of idea did the first emperor give such administrative instructions? Because there were no relevant written records, later generations basically had to rely on speculation. Most of the speculation is that the first emperor probably felt that cities everywhere had walls. In case of rebellion, the walls would become a barrier for the rebels. Then, the Qin army was good at war, so it didn't need the city wall to guard the city at all. War didn't rely on the city wall, but an army composed of people.

In fact, if you consult historical books or geographical records, you will find that, first of all, Xianyang is a metropolis without city walls. Because there is a barrier like Hangu pass in all counties and counties in Guanzhong, only some counties around Hangu pass have city walls. In fact, there are no city walls in the West or North.

So why did the first emperor order all localities to dismantle the city walls? There is some reliable speculation. The cities in Guanzhong in the place of Longxing have no city walls. Why do they have city walls in places other than Guanzhong? Don't they keep up with Guanzhong?

"I naturally know that it was the demolition of various passes that made Qin no longer have any danger to defend, so that the emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty could attack Xianyang. Xianyang also had no urban defense as a support. In addition, in case of civil strife, Ziying had no choice but to lead all officials out of the Boulevard." Liu Yan naturally ignored that the later state of Qin had to repair several passes and walls. Otherwise, Wu Guang also went straight to the pass. How could he be stopped in Xingyang? Liu Bang didn't need to go through the pass: "the capital of the country naturally needs dangerous passes to prevent accidents."

Sang Yu didn't directly say the disadvantages of no barrier. He vaguely reminded Liu Yan that he would not go on when he saw that Liu Yan was rational.

Therefore, Liu Yanzhi believes that all counties do not need city walls, but the Han country comes out of the ruins. Without the imminent threat, human and material resources should be used first in the places where they are most needed, such as repairing water conservancy and irrigation facilities quickly, and the roads in all counties should also be maintained in good condition.

Another point is that Liu Yan is well aware of the current situation of the Han Dynasty. At present, it belongs to the state of sharp population reduction. In fact, the number of people in each county is quite limited. The construction of the city wall will not be greatly repaired. In the future, the increase of population will be too small. If there is a city wall, the residential area will be expanded.

The most important thing is that the firearms have already appeared in the world, and will develop better and better with the passage of time. The military role of the city wall can be reduced again and again, waiting for the war to become the roar of artillery. Soldiers also fight with guns. The city wall built with huge human and material resources is the collapse of several heavy artillery.

In the war of the firearm era, if you have the time to build the city wall, you might as well choose a favorable terrain to build a fortress including underground fortifications. At worst, you can pull wire mesh and dig trenches. Which is not more cost-effective than the city wall?

Speaking of firearms, Liu Yangang received a memorial from Chang'an, mentioning that the rifles studied for a long time have achieved results, and the physical objects and drawings have been sent thousands of miles away.

What Liu Yan saw didn't look like a rifle. It was appropriate to call it lifting a gun.

It was a big shot, with a length of two meters and a barrel of six or seven tenths. It is still the front loading mode, which needs to be loaded first and then put into the projectile. The excitation device uses flint, which directly skips the fire rope mode.

"The caliber is 20mm?" Of course, Liu Yan can lift the big gun and look at the caliber evaluation: "it's more like a gun..."

Not to mention, the caliber of the lifting gun is large, and the caliber of the lifting gun manufactured in modern times is generally more than 15mm. What's more, the caliber of the gun is 40mm. It's better to call the gun a gun.

"Charge." Liu Yan will not test fire himself: "fire and try."

Naturally, there are sergeants who are busy. They use fixed gunpowder bags. The process is to tear the gunpowder bag, put the gunpowder into the barrel, and then push it in with a general strip. The later step is to load the projectile. Someone takes the supporting support to support the front of the barrel, and then one person carries the rear barrel.

"Fire!"

The military in charge of shooting pulled the trigger. He felt a strong thrust in an instant. Because he had no experience, he took a step back. Fortunately, he grabbed the gun and didn't get it off.

After the trigger was pulled, there was a loud "bang", and a white smoke came out of the muzzle. Many of the people were frightened by the sudden movement.

Liu Yan has been looking at the target placed in front... Er, its responsibility has become the target. After the shooting, the target is safe. It is difficult for the naked eye to see that the projectile drilled into the ground 1600 meters away and emitted a piece of sand and dust.

“……”

There was nothing wrong with seeing the target. Everyone looked at the sergeant who operated the shooting, which made the sergeant sweat on his forehead in an instant.

The range of gun lifting is very long. According to some records, the maximum range of gun lifting in the Manchu and Qing dynasties can reach 2280 meters, which is the range of artillery, that is, there is almost no accuracy.

Liu Yangang has just seen that the barrel is not a linear bore mode, which is destined to have no accuracy. He wouldn't let the sergeant pull down and cut down because the sergeant didn't hit the target. He just signaled to continue charging and shooting.

Another preparation process was that the sergeant was responsible for shooting. This time he was much more nervous than the first time. He begged all the known gods in his mind before he pulled the trigger. His luck was very good. He didn't play empty this time.

Another gunshot sounded, and the gun target placed about 100 meters broke in response to the sound.

The target is broken. Yes, it's not just the bullet that penetrates through it. The process of its fragmentation is extremely fast. The sawdust is hit wildly, the hemp rope on it is directly collapsed, and the support frame is dragged by a huge force and flies back for several meters.

"Single shot machine gun." Liu Yan said a term that no one could understand. He motioned, "arrange more gun targets as far as three miles away."

After a hit, and seeing that the hit target was directly smashed, people had a deeper understanding of this new weapon and were amazed at its power.

After loading and firing again and again, several sergeants in charge of shooting seemed to hit more and more smoothly, waiting for the target placed three miles away to be hit by unusual luck, and the test firing stopped.

"Within two miles, it will break when hit." Sang Yu stroked the target brought back from three miles away and said happily, "even three miles away, there is such a big hole in the hit."

Yes, it's a big hole. It should be about ten centimeters in diameter. The wood board as a target is also full of cracks.

"Up to three miles..." Yu Yi just asked the soldiers to explore more, and really found the bullet point: "it's farther than the range of our first generation artillery!"

The first generation of artillery in the Han Dynasty was a six pound gun, with a range of seven or eight hundred meters. The lethality of solid projectiles was only smashing, but there was no multiple penetration effect, let alone killing or injuring a piece within ten meters.

At present, the Han state has developed a variety of guns, the largest of which is a 155mm ship gun with a range of up to six miles. Projectiles are no longer limited to solid bombs, but flowering bombs and incendiary bombs have also been studied. Unfortunately, the gun itself and the gun rack are very heavy, so it is not very convenient to transport.

The last time in the Han Dynasty, apart from Li Tan's recent artillery barracks, there was no place for artillery to become powerful. It was due to inconvenient transportation. The army was also a non Gyeonggi guard or the emperor's forbidden guard.

"I heard that there were firearms in Daqin or Persia." Liu Yan is not remembering according to his own memory. It is the message sent back by the envoy Wang Meng: "there are crossbows in the Qin Dynasty. The bullets will explode when they are fired, and there are also kinds of bullets that burn on the ground."

If you count the time, Wang Meng should have reached the Persian border, but he doesn't know where he is now. He will go to the capital of Persia, which is located in taixifeng. He will also visit other places. The next stop is East Rome (Turkey).

Rome attached great importance to large-scale equipment. In addition to matching various large-scale military equipment, each Legion also had a special craftsman camp. They began to play with large military equipment after conquering Greece. Then they began to get out of control. Every time the Roman Legion fought, they would inevitably see the shadow of catapults and catapults, and the projectiles launched evolved from stones (bed crossbow) to projectiles (fire oil bed crossbow).

Liu Yan somehow knows what happened to the so-called explosive and burning bullets in Rome. In fact, they are a product made of oil mixed with other materials.

"Daqin's crossbow is the same as our artillery?!" Yu Yi was surprised when he arrived: "he studied it earlier than us!"

Liu Yan still needs to explain. People were relieved to hear that it was a bed crossbow and a catapult. Then they heard that the projectile was studied with oil. They were curious and asked what oil was. Naturally, Liu Yan explained what oil was.

The Romans and Persians are not short of oil, and they have their own research in the field of oil use.

The first country in Europe to use oil as a military weapon was Greece, At that time, many Roman soldiers were burned into coke (Greek fire) by Greek oil. After Rome defeated and occupied the whole territory of Greece, the learning Romans naturally would not let go of the use of oil. They also found that the hometown of Carthage (North Africa) produced oil, which was more widely used.

Persians are relatively primitive in the use of oil, which is used to burn. It is usually put in pots and pans, and then thrown to burn and hurt the enemy. There are also oil producing areas in their territory, which are still the kind that come out without digging. The latter Arabs replaced the Persians to rule the land, and the Arabs directly developed fire breathing ships. Because the confrontation between Arabs and Europeans at sea has always been in an advantage, there is a sea area named "Arab sea". They also cut off the connection between Europe and the East for more than 200 years.

"It turned out to be a bed crossbow and a catapult, and the launch was also oil..." Sang Yu was still very proud: "we have always been in the lead."

If we talk about gunpowder, it actually appeared in the spring and Autumn period, but its power is so small that no one wants to study it. Gunpowder was a derivative of alchemy for a long time. Later, it was gradually transferred to entertainment (medicine puppet). It had to be used for military purposes at the end of the Tang Dynasty, but its power was still not very good because of the formula.

Liu Yan began to write behind him. He asked for reduction on the basis of lifting the gun and asked about the research of chamber carving.

It is inevitable for the Han Army to use firearms on a large scale. The Navy should be the first to use firearms on a large scale. Twelve warships carrying ship guns have been launched for trial voyage. After waiting for acceptance, they will be transferred to a San Yang, but they don't know whether they can catch up with the shelling of a San.

"Maybe five years... Ten years at the latest?" Liu Yan had a strong expectation: "at that time, the Han Dynasty will have an army of rifles and artillery. They will conquer from the east to the end of the West."

That day is bound to come. The object of the war will become Persia. Liu Yan will continue to promote scientific and technological research in his lifetime. Artillery and rifles have continued to appear. As long as he continues to pay attention, the steam engine will be developed one day. At that time, not only the Chinese army will sweep the earth, but also the Navy will cross the world.