Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 15 Hope
This simple telescope has been made, and everyone present is like a cat's claw, wanting to see if this thing is as magical as the legend.

Especially Prince Zhu Youxiao, who made most of these things, he naturally wanted to know the effect more.

The problem is, the emperor will not let go of it, who dares to grab it!
Prince Zhu Youxiao didn't even dare, and the others could only wait helplessly.

Fortunately, after Taichang looked at it for a while, he passed the telescope to Zhu Youxiao, and introduced it: "Come on, principal, try it."

Hearing this, Prince Zhu Youxiao quickly took over the binoculars, followed his father's example, held it up to his right eye, and looked into the distance.

He just glanced at it, then moved the binoculars down with a face full of shock.

This thing is really so amazing!
He moved it down and lifted it up, moved it down and lifted it up again, tried several times, and finally exclaimed: "This telescope can really see things in the distance clearly!"

Taichang smiled slightly, patted him on the shoulder, and motioned him to pass the telescope to others to try.

At this moment, the entire side hall was amazed and splendored.

Taichang was not in a hurry, until everyone tried it and the telescope was finally passed back to him, then he raised the telescope and asked, "Do you know what this thing is for?"

Isn't this just for looking into the distance?
This question popped up in the minds of everyone by coincidence, but none of them spoke.

Because they all knew that what the emperor asked was definitely not this.

Question, what is the use of this thing besides telephoto?
Everyone frowned and pondered for a while, and then Taichang smiled and explained: "Actually, this thing is mainly used on the battlefield, especially with artillery. You should all know that there were artillery at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, we The range of the cast earth cannon is about one mile, and the Flang cannon with a range of about two or three miles appeared later. Now, Hong Maofan has cast the Hongyi cannon with a range of five or six miles. What do you think? Think, five or six miles away, what can you see with the naked eye? That person is smaller than an ant, and once you shoot down, you don’t even know if you hit it or not!”

Having said that, he stopped to take a breath, but Zhu Youxiao couldn't help asking: "Father, can this thing see five or six miles away?"

Taichang shook his head and continued to explain: "This is the simplest and most primitive telescope. Naturally, it cannot see five or six miles away. If you want to see farther, you must adjust the curvature of the lens and the length of the lens barrel. You will know if you try it. In short, this telescope is a sharp weapon in the battlefield. It can not only check the bombardment effect of the artillery, but also be used to detect the enemy's situation. Think about it, if the enemy is captured by us five or six miles away or even more than ten miles away I found out, is this the first opportunity on the battlefield? If you cooperate with the Hongyi cannon or even the artillery with a longer range to blast, will the enemy have no power to fight back?"

Can this battle still be fought like this?
When everyone heard this, they were all dumbfounded.

Immediately afterwards, Taichang said to Sun Yuanhua: "Chuyang, you just study artillery?"

Sun Yuanhua hurriedly cupped his hands and said: "Return to the emperor, yes, I have studied Western firearms under the guidance of my mentor, and I know a thing or two about artillery."

You still have a master?
Taichang couldn't help asking curiously: "Who is your master?"

Sun Yuanhua looked at Xu Guangqi with reverence, raised his hand slightly and introduced, "Your Majesty, my mentor is Mr. Xu."

Uh, such a coincidence?
It seems that Xu Guangqi's ability is greater than he imagined. He can teach any student to be an artillery expert!

Taichang nodded embarrassingly, and then asked the school: "Then do you know where the current artillery needs to be improved?"

Who can tell, the artillery technology of the Ming Dynasty has already lagged behind that of the western barbarians. The Fran cannons are all imitations, and the Hongyi cannons have not yet begun to be imitated.

Sun Yuanhua said in shame: "Your Majesty, forgive me, this humble minister has not figured it out yet."

Taichang said quite proudly: "Actually, what the artillery needs to improve most now is the loading method. It is too time-consuming to stuff both the gunpowder and the shells in from the front. Like the earthen artillery and the Hongyi artillery, when facing cavalry, they can only If you have a chance to fire a shot, there is no time to reload it later. You can consider improving the structure of the Franco cannon, inserting the loaded sub-cannonballs into the barrel from the back, and then use the gun door to withstand the sub-cannonballs. At the same time, each cannon has more With a few sub-shells, in this way, the loading time can be shortened a lot.”

Reloading shells in the breech is the method commonly used by later generations of artillery, and the speed is many times faster than loading in the front.

As for why he knew this, it is not explained.

He is the emperor, no need to explain.

At this moment, Sun Yuanhua didn't have the idea to ask further questions. He was completely attracted by this loading method, and he was lost in thought.

Taichang then said to Bi Maokang: "Mr. Meng, are you developing flintlock guns?"

Uh, the emperor seems to know everything!

Bi Maokang nodded quickly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty."

Taichang also took advantage of the situation and said: "Muskets are actually sharp weapons on the battlefield. As long as the loading method is changed to breech loading, the firing speed can be comparable to that of bows and arrows. In this way, muskets can completely suppress bows and arrows and become the dominant weapon on the battlefield." Yes. As for the flintlock gun, I think it’s best to put flint into the gun, so that when it rains, you won’t be afraid of missing the fuse. It is rumored that the reason why the Sarhu War was defeated was because of the continuous heavy rain that the fuse could not be ignited. Guns and artillery are useless, we must learn this lesson, we cannot use guns and artillery when it rains.”

Can such a musket be made?

Hearing this, Bi Maokang also fell into deep thought.

Immediately afterwards, Taichang said to Song Yingxing and Wang Zheng: "Changgeng, Liangfu, you all have a lot of research on machinery, I thought of something, do you think it can be used in machinery?"

After speaking, he directly drew a sketch of the steam piston and the boiler, and then explained: "This is a large furnace, filled with water, and connected to the sealed piston with copper pipes, so that only the upper and lower copper pipes need to be controlled. When the steam in the pipe enters and exits the piston, it will move by itself. Think about it, if this thing is used on the mound machine, people don’t need to step on the pedals. Also, if the piston is used instead of manual labor, the millstone on this mound machine will rotate. Has the speed become very stable? There are many machines like mound machines, as long as such a piston is made, can these machines be made to move by themselves?"

Can the machine move by itself?
Wang Zheng and Song Yingxing fell into deep thought with shock on their faces when they heard the words.

Taichang actually wants to teach these people more things, but unfortunately his mind is full of medical knowledge, and all he can think of in terms of weapons and machinery is these superficial things. As for improvement and development, he can only hope for these Professionals too.

I hope these people can push Daming into the steam age as soon as possible according to the direction he suggested.

He turned his head to look at his son again, and then said with infinite emotion: "Principal, you should be clear about your responsibilities, you will also rule the world in the future, whether Da Ming can become strong or not depends mainly on where you lead Da Ming. You should also be able to imagine how invincible it would be if all the soldiers of the Ming army were equipped with new guns and cannons. Your talent can be said to be rare in a thousand years. Father believes that as long as you study hard from these teachers, The new guns and cannons are not a problem for you, and my father also hopes that you can study hard and strive to become a famous emperor through the ages."

Zhu Youxiao has never been praised so much, especially by his father.

The little guy nodded excitedly and said: "Father, my son understands, and my son will definitely not let you down."

Two generations of emperors paid attention to it. With at least four or fifty years of rapid development, Daming should be able to return to the top of the world!

Taichang looked up at the blue sky outside the window, his eyes full of longing.

(End of this chapter)