GBP Chapter 686 New Weapons
Chapter 686 New Weapons
Lin Shiyue smiled at the two of them without interrupting. Liu Ye turned to her and asked, "Madam, would you like to have a boy or a girl?"
"I want a daughter and a son; having both is a blessing," Lin Shiyue replied with a smile. "However, right now, I must give my husband a son; that is the most important thing."
Liu Ye knew the importance of his wife giving birth to a boy under these circumstances; it wasn't just a matter for the two of them, but for the entire Qionghai Navy. He said with a hint of guilt, "My dear wife, you're pregnant, and I'm putting you under this extra pressure. It's tough on you."
“It’s not hard work.” Lin Shiyue said seriously, “Since I chose to marry into the Liu family and become the woman behind you, I should do these things for you. Besides, having children is a woman’s duty. As long as I give birth to a son, it will be a good thing for you, your subordinates, and our family.”
Liu Ye understood her meaning: if the principal wife gave birth to a son, he would be the natural heir, avoiding unease within the Qionghai Army and preventing open and covert struggles among the wives and concubines. The reason why the emperor would establish a crown prince, and prioritize the legitimate son, was to solidify the heir, reduce uncertainty, and prevent factions from hedging their bets and developing internal strife, which could lead to a major reshuffling of the power structure.
Lin Shiyue's birth and status as the principal wife determined her irreplaceable position. Even if Suwen gave birth to a son a month or two earlier, and even without the issue of blood purity, it wouldn't shake the status of the legitimate heir. However, if she gave birth to a daughter and couldn't produce a son for a long time, the problem would become more complicated. The feudal society's patriarchal ideology was deeply ingrained. Even with a figure like Wu Zetian in history, it didn't mean most people would choose to follow a woman; they would necessarily choose a male as the heir. So, which of the sons born to the other wives and concubines would ultimately succeed her?
Regardless of who Liu Ye chooses, none of his wives and concubines possess an absolute advantage given their backgrounds. It's difficult to guarantee that factions won't emerge among his subordinates, something Liu Ye is unwilling to see. Where there are people, there is intrigue. Although he enjoys high prestige and status in the Qionghai Army, he cannot guarantee he can completely suppress all dissenting voices. Even a shrewd character like Kang Mazi experienced the tragedy of the Nine Princes' Succession Struggle and fratricide. Liu Ye believes he is no more cunning than Kang Mazi, and it's not impossible that factional struggles will arise within the Qionghai Army as he ages.
Liu Ye shook his head, trying to banish the thought from his mind. He stared at Lin Shiyue's belly, silently praying: This is a son, a son. That way I can be free from worrying about having an heir once and for all.
Lin Shiyue saw through his thoughts: "Husband, since you both want a son, why don't you go and pray to the Bodhisattva? I've wanted to go for a long time, but I wanted to wait for you to come back so the whole family could go together, and I've been putting it off until now."
Although Liu Ye is an atheist, he still respects other people's religious beliefs. Moreover, Lin Shiyue is under pressure to have a son, and she probably just wants peace of mind and spiritual support.
"I'll just treat it as a way to help my wife relax," Liu Ye thought. He agreed, "Let's go then. But there aren't many temples in Hainan, are there?"
Lin Shiyue smiled and said, "I've already inquired. There are no temples or Taoist monasteries near Lingao, only Father George's church..."
"A church? It's built so quickly?" Liu Ye frowned. Initially, to win over Father George for his help in modifying and manufacturing military equipment, he promised to allow him to build a small church and baptize believers who came to him, but not to actively preach. He tried to keep this foreign religion within an invisible barrier to avoid negative impacts on his army. However, he hadn't expected that although the priest hadn't openly preached, his influence had slowly expanded, and now even his own wife was interested.
No, if our family goes to church to make a vow, it will be the perfect advertisement for Father George. People will see that the actual ruler of Qiongzhou is a Protestant, and this will set a bad example, leading many to become Protestants (Note 1). Liu Ye made up his mind and said to Lin Shiyue, "We can't go to church. Let's go somewhere else. Besides the Lingao area, are there any temples or Taoist monasteries in other parts of Qiongzhou?"
Lin Shiyue didn't take it seriously. After thinking for a moment, she replied, "I heard that there are only temples in Wanxian. I heard that the monk Jianzhen of the Tang Dynasty once went to Dongshanling in Wanxian to spread Buddhist scriptures, and the Buddha there is very efficacious."
"Then let's go to Wanxian." Liu Ye thought to himself, "I can't let Buddha get away with this, but I can't let Jesus get away with this. Even if it's a long way, I can take a boat."
Suwen said pitifully, "I want to go too, is that okay?"
"You can go," Liu Ye said generously. "We'll all go."
That night, Liu Ye stayed in Lin Shiyue's room. Although they couldn't have sex because of her pregnancy, Liu Ye felt peaceful and happy thinking about having a child in this world. He had no desire at all, and spent the night quietly talking with Lin Shiyue.
Liang Xiaoming wasn't so lucky. To appease Liu Ru, he didn't dare go to accompany Li Xiangjun, and obediently stayed with the main wife, only to be left out half the night. It wasn't until late at night that Liu Ru finally spoke to him.
“You all say that ‘of the three unfilial acts, the greatest is to have no offspring.’ If it weren’t for the fact that both of Master Liu’s wives are pregnant and my belly is still flat, I wouldn’t have let that woman into the house!”
Liang Xiaoming nodded vigorously, agreeing repeatedly.
"My wife is very understanding, and I am ashamed."
Winter of the ninth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign quietly approached, amidst Liu Ye's excitement at becoming a father and Liang Xiaoming's anxieties about juggling two women.
With the addition of 50,000 immigrants, the Qionghai Army's land reclamation and settlement area expanded to Wanxian, Wenchang, and other places. Except for the southernmost point, such as Yazhou (now Sanya), the western and eastern parts of Qiongzhou were basically under the direct control of the Qionghai Army. Coupled with direct control over taxation, they swept away the already fragile gentry class on the island. This southernmost island of the Ming Dynasty had become an independent kingdom. The imperial edict brought back by Liu Ye from the capital filled the last gap in the legitimacy of the regime. The Qiongzhou prefectural government office had become a mere decoration, with its orders not even leaving the prefectural city. The other county governments had become mere assistants to the Qionghai Army. The people only knew the Qionghai Army and the general, but not the emperor.
Winter on the island is warm. One afternoon, under the warm sunshine, Liang Xiaoming took out his new gadget, which he had been tinkering with for a while, to sunbathe.
Liu Ye, as the boss, came to inspect the products. He leisurely set up a chair, with someone holding an umbrella to shield him from the sun. The new gadgets to be tested today were all developed based on the experience gained from the Battle of Changyi. Whether they had any practical value remained to be seen.
Liang Xiaoming first took out a dark, cylindrical iron lump, which looked like a small cannonball with grooves on it, and introduced it: "This is a hand grenade."
Liu Ye nearly slid off his chair, speechless as he looked at the lump of metal in the man's hand, and said, "Forgive my poor eyesight, but I really can't see any connection between this ugly thing and a hand grenade..."
"There's no other way. Black powder has limited power. If you don't fill it enough, it won't be lethal. Besides, our material is iron, so it's normal for it to be large."
"But it looks really heavy, can you even throw it?" Liu Ye asked doubtfully. If it couldn't be thrown far and ended up blowing up one of his own people, that would be incredibly embarrassing.
“Throwing it won’t work, it’ll hurt your wrist. You can only push it out like a shot put.” Liang Xiaoming waved his hand, and a burly soldier walked over. This soldier was wearing armor with breastplates and shoulder guards, and a helmet on his head. At first glance, he looked like a Saint Seiya from a comic book.
Before Liang Xiaoming could introduce him, Liu Ye looked the soldier up and down and asked with interest, "This equipment looks pretty good. What's it made of?"
"This was designed based on post-war recommendations from Quartz to protect vital areas such as the chest and head, making it less likely to die from an arrow wound. The material is steel, but it's low-carbon steel, similar to the material used for gun barrels," Liang Xiaoming explained. "With current conditions, we can actually produce medium-carbon steel with higher hardness, but the processing is too difficult, so we used relatively softer low-carbon steel, commonly known as wrought iron."
Liu Ye carefully examined the soldier's helmet. It was a typical round-brimmed cap, with a rounded hemisphere in the center and a rim about an inch wide around it. He asked, "Is the hemispherical design of the helmet to make it easier for arrows to deflect? As for the rim around the edges, are they meant to cover the face and back of the neck?"
Liang Xiaoming praised, "Good eye! That's exactly the original intention of the design."
Liu Ye nodded: "But wouldn't full-body armor provide better protection? It can protect the abdomen, arms, and legs."
“Full-body armor is a flashy but impractical design. It offers limited protection but doubles the weight, greatly affecting the soldiers’ agility and requiring more physical exertion,” Liang Xiaoming said. “These are front-line soldiers, selected from strong and robust individuals who serve as both infantry and grenadiers, making them more vulnerable to arrow attacks. That’s why they wear wearable armor. As for the soldiers in the back ranks, I think they don’t need to wear armor.”
Liang Xiaoming signaled to the soldier to demonstrate how to throw a grenade. The strong soldier lit the fuse, calmly waited for it to burn for a few seconds, then naturally bent his body, exerted force, and pushed the iron lump out like a shot put, throwing it about twenty meters away.
Five or six seconds later, with a "bang," the metal lump exploded, shattering into several pieces. Then, a dozen or so small, pebble-like objects were scattered in all directions with the shockwave of the explosion, creating quite a dramatic scene.
Liu Ye stood up, his mouth agape: "This thing may be a bit ugly, but its power is still pretty good..."
"Don't underestimate this iron lump; it's not easy to make one," Liang Xiaoming explained. "We have to use a graphitization annealing process to smolder the entire cartridge case to increase its strength, so that as much gunpowder as possible can be packed into the relatively thin cartridge case, along with several lead bullets, while ensuring that the grooves on the outside of the cartridge case do not crack due to handling and compression... The time cost is not much less than that of a Patriot rifle."
Liu Ye gave it full affirmation: "As long as it can be used, it's worth the extra effort. But why wait a few seconds for it to burn before throwing it away?"
"It's to prevent the burning time from being too long, giving the enemy a chance to pick it up and throw it back," Liang Xiaoming said. "Originally, this thing was designed to deal with the Tartars' carts, but if the weight is kept under 4 kilograms, it can actually be very useful in urban warfare. For example, if we were to engage the Shenji Battalion in close combat in Beijing, we could just throw a volley of grenades at them, and they would collapse immediately without firing a single shot. Although it doesn't have an impact fuse and can only explode with a delayed time, and it's also bulky, it's simpler and more brutal than volleys of gunfire when dealing with dense formations, and the area of effect is also wider."
After introducing the grenades and the equipment of the part-time grenadiers, Liang Xiaoming had someone bring out a mountain cannon, load it with a shell similar to a shotgun shell, and prepare for firing.
"See that row of human-shaped wooden targets 500 meters ahead?" Liang Xiaoming said excitedly. "Today I'll show you the ultimate weapon against cavalry: shrapnel."
The gunner lit the fuse, and a few seconds later, with a loud "boom," the dark cylindrical object emerged from the muzzle. However, instead of exploding immediately like a shotgun shell, it traced a parabola, flew for four or five hundred meters, and then exploded in the air, turning into a rain of metal that flew towards the humanoid wooden targets.
Through his binoculars, Liu Ye saw a dense hail of shrapnel spraying out in a cone shape, shattering the wooden target to pieces. Within a radius of thirty to forty meters, not a blade of grass remained. He couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement: "Tsk tsk, with this thing, grenades and shrapnel are utterly pathetic..."
Liang Xiaoming sighed: "But the detonation rate is an unavoidable problem. It must be detonated in mid-air, otherwise it loses its meaning. If it detonates too early, it's just fireworks for the enemy, and if it detonates too late, it's no different from a lump of iron. But with the current technology, it's already very good if such a precise detonation rate can be maintained at 40% or 50%... In the end, the current shrapnel grenades can only be special weapons under special battlefield conditions."