Chapter 183 Human greed actually has no boundaries (two chapters in one)
"Target! Stone pile due north!"
"Distance! One hundred steps!"
"Elevation angle! Secret position 0-90!"
"Powder charge! 7 ounces!"
"Light the fire! Set it off!"
Following the instructions of the gunner on the side, Garris used the igniter wrapped with a match rope to light the artillery fuse.
At the same time as the fuse was lit, Garris turned around and sprinted, reaching ten meters away in the blink of an eye, before turning around and looking at the artillery.
Then, as expected, with a loud bang, the barrel cannon built by Marwan exploded.
For a moment, the smell of gunpowder smoke filled the air, and iron slag flew everywhere.
That is to say, the Garris ran very fast and managed to escape ten meters away in the blink of an eye without being hurt.
The problem of chamber explosion in early artillery is almost unsolvable.
And Garris needs to protect the safety of his own artillery as much as possible, so the issues regarding the lifespan of the artillery and the maximum charge amount must be continuously tested.
For now, when the barrel wall tube thickness is close to the muzzle radius, the charge should not exceed 70% of the shell mass.
And the 7 ounces of gunpowder charged by Garris just now has actually reached 80% of the mass of the cannonball.
Assuming that 5 ounces of maroon gunpowder is used as the conventional charge, the service life of such a barrel gun of this caliber should be about 300 shots.
Of course, considering that barrel cannons are all hammered by blacksmiths, their quality cannot be generalized.
Those reserve artillerymen who had witnessed the exploding artillery chambers could not help but tremble in their legs.
On a real battlefield, they couldn't light a fire and dodge ten meters away like the prophet.
Fortunately, the prophet successfully helped them understand the circumstances under which artillery could explode by putting themselves in danger time and time again.
Therefore, most of them are confident.
The charge of this kind of artillery should not exceed 6 ounces, nor less than 4 ounces. 5 ounces is just right.
It will neither explode the chamber easily due to too much charge, nor will it be unable to shoot far due to too little charge.
But even so, the artillerymen still made a request to Garris.
"Can [the prophet] help with the consecration? We feel that we should have the protection of the Holy Spirit and saints to feel more at ease."
[It is permissible and beneficial to worship the saints in heaven and ask them to pray for you]
——Faith
Naturally, Garris had no reason to refuse the artillerymen's request.
So when a new batch of four barrel cannons were forged, Archos and Garris had been waiting for a long time under the vast sky, holding holy water.
"Lord, you established the world with wisdom and ruled the nations with righteousness."
"We humbly pray before you today, asking you to bless this cannon. May it become a tool of justice and protection, rather than a weapon that harms innocent people."
"Please give those who use it strength and wisdom, so that their hearts will be righteous, and they will not be lost in war, nor will they be proud of force."
"Almighty Lord, please give us the strength to resist all evil and unfair forces. May this artillery not be abused in cruel or unjust wars."
"Jesus Christ, You are the Prince of Peace and the Shield of Justice. May this weapon be a barrier to protect the innocent, not a tool to destroy lives."
"Holy Spirit, please come, may your will be accomplished, and the victory of the battle will ultimately be yours."
"In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
"Amen."
Garris took Father Archos and prayed with a powerful and contagious voice in front of many artillerymen. At the same time, he dipped his magic weapon in holy water and sprinkled it on the barrels and cannons.
Listening to this low prayer, the artillerymen also made the sign of the cross and praised [the Lord of hosts] and [Jesus, the King of Peace] together with Garris...
I prayed in my heart that these artillery pieces would always hit the mark and never explode, and that Jehovah, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit would protect them in using these terrible weapons safely.
This allows them to use these cannons to cleanse the world of sin and promote the name of the [Prophet].
——Consecrate the weapon, so that the weapon will always hit the target and never explode
——Consecrate the bank server and pray that the ruble will not continue to depreciate
In addition to sprinkling holy water, Garris and Archos also referred to the formula of [Holy Anointing Oil] in the Bible and improved a [Holy Oil] specially used to protect weapons.
Through special rituals and the devout prayers of believers, these [holy oils] have the effect of protecting weapons from rust.
Of course, Garris still explained in detail the anti-rust principle of [Holy Oil]. It was nothing more than that Holy Oil helped iron weapons isolate oxygen and avoid oxidation.
Then the artillerymen unanimously believed that the birth of [Holy Anointing Oil] was already designed by God. Apart from being used for binding rituals, it was to maintain these cruel weapons well.
"You shall take from the spices five hundred shekels of myrrh, two hundred shekels of cinnamon, and two hundred shekels of ointment, as the relics of the sanctuary require, plus a hen. Olive oil;】
[Use these materials to prepare holy oil for anointing, just like balm, and prepare it as holy oil for anointing. 】
——"Exodus" 30:23-25
In order to better record the weapons' factory release, usage times, maintenance methods, usage methods, etc., the barrels of these artillery pieces and the wooden boxes where the cannons were fired were stamped with wax seals and parchment with declarations and prayers written on them.
In addition to the hymn in Psalm 9: "God is the protector of the righteous", there are also some prayers written by Garris.
Or some brief artillery instructions from St. Stalin.
For example: "Artillery needs to be used intensively"
Of course, what is more critical is that on the back of these parchments, the production date, storage date, number of uses, charging limits, operating instructions, applicable shell types, etc. of this type of artillery are recorded in detail.
It is important that artillerymen know how to operate weapons, and use the power of the Holy Spirit to appease the artillery and avoid exploding the barrel.
It must be consecrated by sprinkling [Holy Water] before leaving the factory, special [Holy Oil] must be used for maintenance, and a [Purity Seal] is affixed to the gun box.
Each of these newly trained artillerymen has faith in their hearts and firmly believes that they are on the right path, and they are always with Garris and Jesus.
Of course, it's not just artillery. With the current number of Paladin groups, there is a surplus.
Gareth also began to address the spiritual needs of the troops.
Let alone the militia groups organized by the local councils, after absorbing some sergeants from Karak City, reorganizing Balian's army, and recruiting a new group of soldiers.
At present, the Jerusalem Kingdom Army has expanded to nine companies.
Knight George, who started out as a company commander, was now gloriously promoted to field marshal of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Well, Field Marshal George, who has 9 companies under his command, is also starting to form a staff.
In addition to the military commander, each company will also be assigned a Paladin to serve as a priest.
His main duty on weekdays is to organize the soldiers to pray, lead them to learn knowledge theory, and understand the basic teachings of Gallis theology.
At the same time, Company Paladin also needs to listen to the needs of the soldiers, feed their opinions upwards, and relieve their mental pressure.
During the war, Paladin also had the obligation to lead the soldiers to fight bravely and take the lead in the charge.
In the battalion-level military units to be implemented in the follow-up plan, military chaplains will also be arranged to address the religious needs of soldiers, including but not limited to accepting confessions from soldiers, holding various sacraments, and consecrating weapons.
Everything was being prepared in full swing. In the months after the fall of Jerusalem, Garris and the others had heard more and more news.
Gaza, Jaffa, Ashkelon, and even Balian's hometown, Fort Ibelin, all fell one after another.
Nowadays, the port cities in the southern part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem have fallen under Saladin's control.
Next, Saladin is bound to turn his attention to Tire again.
Even though Tire is surrounded by the sea on three sides, after Saladin mobilized the fleet from Egypt, the army approached, and under attack from land and water, it can be said that it will fall sooner or later!
Relieving the siege of Tire has become a matter of sooner rather than later.
A total of 7 of the 9 standing army companies were mobilized by Garris. Counting some other personnel, the total strength was about 1,000 people.
The other two companies stayed in Transjordan and were still commanded by Field Marshal George. They mainly trained recruits from the refugee group, expanded the size of the standing army, and reserved military strength for future foreign operations.
Well, now Field Marshal George only has 2 companies left to command and mobilize.
After inviting Bishop Amedee to the Alhadi town school and taking over the teaching duties of Archos, Archos was appointed as a chaplain of the army and celebrated a mass.
The whole army marched out.
According to the plan on the map, in order to avoid the towns controlled by Saladin along the way, the straight-line distance of this march was only 210 kilometers, but the march route was 255 kilometers long.
During the march, except for one company that was rotated every day as a security force, the armor of all other soldiers was folded and transported on horse-drawn carriages or camels, thereby reducing the soldiers' load and speeding up the march.
Starting at eight o'clock in the morning, including a big break at noon and a small break every hour, when the time reaches six o'clock in the afternoon.
On the first day, we marched more than 30 kilometers and camped in the lee of a hill.
After completing a series of inspections and having a meal, Garris, Isabella, and Balian gathered around a fire to warm themselves up.
It's already December, and even in the Levant, nighttime temperatures are starting to approach 7 degrees Celsius.
For this reason, both the soldiers and Garris were covered in thick cotton clothes.
And things like armed clothing and cotton armor are worn directly with you.
In such a situation, although everyone is warming themselves up.
Isabella still shrank into Garris's arms, relying on Garris's body temperature and the coat on Garris's body to keep warm.
She didn't care about the eyes of others at all. Instead, she stayed close to Garris, her hair rubbing against Garris' neck. Because she often bathes with soap, the smell on Isabella's body is not unbearable.
On the contrary, it was this overly intimate gesture that made Garris a little uncomfortable.
Balian and Aljos, who were on the side, looked at Garris's helpless expression and smiled one after another.
Only when he was so close to Isabella, Gareth became more like a young man consistent with his appearance.
But at other times, Gareth's composure and charisma often make people ignore his age.
In such a quiet atmosphere, Balian took the lead in opening up the conversation.
"Garys, you have been saying that the Kingdom of Heaven is coming, so can you elaborate more? What does the Kingdom of Heaven look like?"
After listening to Balian's words, Garris, who was holding Isabella, pondered for a moment and did not repeat the original teaching of awakening the world.
At the beginning, he repeatedly emphasized the original Taoism to awaken the world. That was because people in this era could only imagine things like that, as a slogan and a call to action.
In other words, it is enough that "in heaven no one is selfish and everything is equal."
Today, a system similar to the commune of the Holy Prophet Ummah has taken shape, with tens of thousands of people following in his footsteps.
He was bound to describe the coming kingdom of heaven more accurately. He could only describe it vividly and point out the direction and path forward.
Then followers like Balian can fight for it more clearly, instead of falling into fighting purely for the sake of fighting.
[People will forget that the purpose of fighting is peace, they will forget that the purpose of putting on military uniform is to take off military uniform, and they will forget that the purpose of taking up arms is to put down weapons. 】
[In the end, fighting will become the fate of the warrior, because the victory is so difficult to determine, and people have no choice but to continue fighting. 】
To this end, Gehrys began his own description.
"Finally, one day, our country will only need one farmer to feed nine other people."
"Finally, one day, our country will only need one miner to bring the mineral resources needed by a hundred people."
"A weaver can weave ten pieces of clothing in a day, and a brewer can brew hundreds of barrels of beer in a year."
"By that time, there will be a hundred times more doctors than there are now, and there will be countless miraculous drugs."
"By that time, after we have completed the necessary material production labor, we will all be able to enjoy freedom, and human beings will become their own masters."
"We will also move from the kingdom of necessity to the kingdom of freedom."
Garris's words were actually describing to Balian, Archos, or Isabella a society with extremely developed productivity.
To get to that point, it will be an endless and long road. Even if the production technology and productivity level are sufficient, we will still have to face various difficulties.
But Gareth needed to tell them that success was possible.
Just like a thought from later generations:
If most people think that the current society is natural and reasonable, there is no need to change.
Then there will be no possibility of realizing the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Therefore, people need to be won over and attracted to this side where the Kingdom of Heaven is coming.
However, after all, the Kingdom of Heaven does not exist yet, so it needs to be explained that the Kingdom of Heaven is worth fighting for.
It is useless to say that the Kingdom of Heaven is the inevitable end of history.
Someone has to do this.
The significance of Garris's theology and teachings, and the existence of the Taiping Order, is to tell the world over and over again that the Kingdom of Heaven is worth fighting for, and that God also hopes to come to the world and walk with the world.
After listening to Gairis's words, Balian showed a thoughtful look: "You said one farmer can feed nine other people? How is this possible!"
Garris smiled. He was not worried about Balian questioning him. Instead, he was worried about Balian obeying and following him without thinking.
"Gunpowder, you should know that the saltpeter used in it is actually a kind of fertilizer, which is much more useful than excrement."
"When we can produce endless amounts of fertilizer, food production will increase."
“And we will also cultivate more productive crops, because God’s wisdom is contained in them.”
Garris talked a lot with the people around him that night. He briefly talked about all the agricultural knowledge he knew.
Later in the process, Gehrys also mentioned the steam engine.
"In our lives, water can become gaseous by heating. During the process of turning into gaseous state, the volume of water will expand. If you cover the kettle with a lid, the expanded gaseous water will Can hold up the lid.”
"Just like gunpowder, when ignited, expands into gas and can push cannonballs out. When water expands into water vapor, it also has the power to push machinery."
Aljos frowned a little. He seemed to have caught a glimpse of inspiration, but he was not very sure that water could turn into gas when heated, and that gaseous water would expand and then lift the lid?
"In the air pressure environment we are in now, the gas generated by heating water will expand about one thousand two hundred times."
Gareth added.
"One thousand two hundred times?!"
Aljos grasped that inspiration in an instant, and then he realized something and said:
"The spinning ball in "Mechanics and Optics"?!"
Balian on the side also reacted. As a cultural man who married the "princess" of Eastern Rome, he collected and read many ancient Greek classics.
Archos, a Greek priest, and Balian, a guy who married a Greek "princess", have both read a book.
That book was written by Hero, and in that book, a thing like a steam ball was mentioned.
The steam ball mainly consists of a hollow ball and a sealed pot filled with water, connected by two hollow tubes. The bottom of the pot is heated to generate water vapor. The water vapor then enters the ball through the tube, and finally the water vapor Will be ejected from both sides of the sphere and cause the sphere to rotate.
Balian also knew that the Greeks had used this mechanical principle to create statues of gods that could rotate on their own.
If water vapor can push a ball or a statue to rotate, then it can naturally push other things to rotate. And if the utilization efficiency is high enough, it can naturally push itself.
And if the efficiency of the steam ball can be improved, does it mean that the power of steam can be used to drive other machinery?
For example, a city gate? Or use it to push the millstone?
Balian and Archos couldn't wait to catch a glimmer of inspiration.
They were eager to know how to use God's wisdom to create a machine that did not use human or animal power to push things to do work.
Garris naturally enjoyed talking about it. He pushed Isabella out of his arms, turned to a branch, and drew a simple sketch on the ground.
Introducing the Newcomen steam engine, which is simpler, easier to produce, and safer than high-pressure steam engines.
"Water can not only expand and become water vapor, they can also shrink and return to a liquid state. In this process, a partial vacuum will be created. Nature hates vacuum and will force this machine to work..."
Balian and Aljos found it difficult to understand many of the words Garris said.
But thanks to the group of philosophers in ancient Greece, these two people were related to Greek culture and were not the kind of extremely ignorant Franks. Therefore, they could still understand it after spending energy in recalling and associating it.
Those ancient Greek atomists believed that the universe consisted of atoms and a vacuum, while Aristotle, contrary to the atomists, asserted that a vacuum did not exist.
But no matter how much Aristotle objected to vacuum, at least the concept of vacuum was passed down.
As an early vacuum steam engine, the Newcomen steam engine has a valve that automatically closes after steam is introduced into the cylinder.
Cold water is poured into the cylinder to cool down the steam and condense it, creating a partial vacuum environment that forces atmospheric pressure to work on the piston.
"Such steam engines have limited efficiency, but they are safe because their material deformations shrink inward rather than exploding outward."
"We can use it to lift water, we can also use it to turn the millstone, or do other things, but in general it will not be very useful, and you will even want to smash it."
"But this machine, as long as there is water, wood to burn and it is not broken, it can keep running."
Gareth drew a pie.
This bread is the bread of heaven.
No matter how difficult it is to use and how useless the Newcomen negative pressure steam engine is, it shows a future to those around the fire.
In that future, people won’t have to work as hard as they do now.
Because there are machines that can help, a lot of physical labor can be shared.
And since there is such a machine, it can naturally be used in other directions, and Garris also mentioned several ideas for improvement.
It can be said that God’s wisdom has enlightened the world...
"The creation of God is indeed great, and those who love Him must investigate it. 】
——"Psalms" 111:2
"My Father established heaven and earth for us to live and work in peace and contentment. The banquet He has prepared can be enjoyed by each of us."
"But ignorance and sin have blinded us, preventing us from understanding His deep meaning, so that a few of us actually put ourselves above others for our own selfish interests."
"By eating the blood and flesh of our compatriots, we can make them full of glory and wealth..."
In this night of crackling sparks, Balian and Archos saw another miracle.
This kind of miracle is not five loaves and two fishes, nor is it a step of ten feet, nor is it a murder invisible.
Rather, it is a miracle that changes the world. It is God giving His wisdom to His children, and Garris brings it to the earth to spread it out.
It is to make the poor no longer hungry in this world...
"But remember, human greed has no limits..."
At this time, Garris couldn't help but add that he was a little scared, or felt pity.
It’s still a two-in-one chapter of 6,000 words
(End of chapter)