Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 71 Flint Ignition
"The Master said: When I am ten, I am determined to learn. At thirty, I stand upright. At forty, I am not confused. At fifty, I know the destiny. At sixty, my ears are compliant. At seventy, I follow my heart's desire, without exceeding the distance."

As soon as Taichang walked into the gate of Ciqing Palace, the sound of Lang Lang's reading came to his ears.

This is the voice of the prince Zhu Youxiao and the letter king Zhu Youjian.

He decided for the prince Zhu Youxiao to study literature in the morning and study other things in the afternoon, because even if he studies technology, he must be literate, and Zhu Youxiao will succeed to the throne in the future, so it is impossible to be illiterate.

However, this morning's study was skipped, because he was anxious to see the research progress of new guns and artillery.

Cleaning up Donglin can make Wei Zhongxian busy. The most important thing now is to make new guns and artillery.

Feng Congwu couldn't bear the humiliation of Yao Zongwen and Wei Yingjia and other eunuchs, so he resigned angrily, just like he resigned from the post of supervisory censor to express his protest to the late emperor Wanli.

As for who will take over, there is no need to worry, he believes that Wei Zhongxian must have made arrangements for the next court meeting, Xu Guangqi will definitely appear on the list of candidates, he just needs to make a show and choose.

That is to say, it has only been two days since Xu Guangqi became Minister of the Ministry of Industry. At this moment, we will see the research progress of new guns and artillery. After all, even if Xu Guangqi is in charge of the Ministry of Industry, he must have something to do it.

He stood outside the window and watched silently for a while. As soon as Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian brothers finished reading, he coughed and waved to Xu Guangqi who was sitting in the professor's seat.

Xu Guangqi immediately closed the book and came out with the prince and Xin Wang.

After paying respects to the monarchs and ministers, Taichang couldn't wait to ask: "Zixian, how is your research on muskets and cannons going?"

Xu Guangqi was a little ashamed and said: "Chuyang actually made a rough wooden model, and Menghou is still drawing pictures."

Is the artillery research almost done?

That's fine too!

As long as the new artillery is made, at least it will be much easier to defend the city. Moreover, as long as there are enough artillery, it is not impossible to defeat Jiannu in the wild.

Taichang immediately said excitedly: "Come on, let's go and have a look first."

After finishing speaking, he walked to the side hall where the prince Zhu Youxiao worked as a carpenter.

At this time, there were not only carpentry items in the side hall, but also all kinds of strange things, and Bi Maokang, Wang Zheng and Sun Yuanhua were all busy in it.

Bi Maokang kept writing and drawing with a brush, Wang Zheng was lying beside a shelf in a daze, and Sun Yuanhua was throwing something on the table, and he could be seen throwing some sparks from time to time. .

If other courtiers saw this scene, they would probably frown even if they were not surprised.

What are these officials from the Zhan Shifu doing? Don't do business, just let it go?

Taichang saw it, but he was used to it, because he often put it aside for "playing" before he went on tour.

He walked up to Sun Yuanhua with some doubts, and asked curiously, "Chuyang, what are you doing?"

Only at this time did Sun Yuanhua realize that the emperor had arrived.

However, he did not immediately lie down on the ground to meet the driver like other officials.

Because the emperor said that this is a special place, and all the customary etiquette can be exempted. If everyone is busy, you don't even need to stop when the emperor comes, just keep busy.

He was just stunned for a moment, then pointed to a dark stone on the table and introduced: "Your Majesty, this is flint. If you hit it with an iron object, it is easy to produce sparks, but this sparks are random, and they are big and small. It's too small, it's too difficult to light the lead fixed in the front."

Uh, this question.

Taichang thought for a while, and then asked: "What if you tie the flint and smash the iron plate?"

Sun Yuanhua was rather helpless and said: "I tried that too, and it's almost the same. The sparks are still flying everywhere, and the force is even more difficult to control. If you hit it hard, the flint may shatter."

Now it's a bit troublesome, how to control the size and direction of the Mars?

Taichang frowned and pondered for a while, then suddenly thought of something.

He looked up and scanned, and soon found something that looked like a scorpion.

He didn't know what this thing was used for, so he didn't bother to ask, so he just walked over and took the scorpion, and carefully slapped the scorpion on the flint.

He used very little force, and the speed was not fast, so naturally there would be no sparks on the flint.

However, he just wanted to make sure how the flint was fixed.

The fact that the flint didn't move at all proved that the fixation was all right.

He immediately pressed the scorpion on the flint without hesitation, and pulled it back hard.

"Zi la!" There was a sound of rubbing, and sparks flashed out from under the scorpion.

Seeing this, Sun Yuanhua couldn't help being excited, and Bi Maokang and Wang Zheng were also attracted by the spark.

Can this flint be used like this?

Sun Yuanhua couldn't wait to stretch out his hand to pass the scorpion in Taichang's hand, imitating the emperor, pressing the flint and pulling it back vigorously, and sure enough, there was another spark.

Very good!
He couldn't help but excitedly said: "Your Majesty, the new artillery is about to be completed!"

Uh, you wouldn't let someone fire a cannon with a scorpion, would you?

I don't mean that!

He said with some embarrassment: "Chuyang, actually, this flint is not used in this way, so I'll just try it."

Unexpectedly, Sun Yuanhua shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, that's all right!"

Oh, no!
Taichang shook his head again and again and said: "No, no, this way, the ignition can be used on the artillery. It must not be used on the musket."

Uh, this.

Sun Yuanhua looked at the scorpion in his hand, thought about the general scene when the musket fired, then nodded slightly disappointed and said: "It is true that this cannot be used on muskets, but we can make cannons according to this first, and then Slowly find a way to improve it?"

Do you still think of ways to improve it?

I just haven't found the right thing.

Taichang raised his head and glanced around again, then pointed to the millstone on the machine not far away and said, "Does any of you have an iron block like a millstone, it can be big or small, as long as it is round."

When everyone heard the words, they all looked at Wang Zheng in unison.

Only Wang Zheng has the possibility to have something similar here, and other people can't use this kind of iron.

Wang Zheng hurriedly ran to the place where he was studying machinery to search, and soon, he ran over with a palm-sized iron wheel, and asked carefully: "Your Majesty, can this work?"

This, no, the surface is too glossy.

But it doesn't matter, you can let them process it.

Taichang pointed to the surface of the scorpion and said: "The surface of your wheel is too smooth, it must be processed to be the same as this scorpion."

When everyone heard the words, they all suddenly realized.

Now there is no need for him to say anything else, everyone immediately fixed the iron wheel on a frame, and took turns with scorpions, chisels, and carving knives. I don’t know how many tools were wasted, and the surface of the wheel finally became like the surface of a scorpion. Concave one after another grooves.

There was no need for Taichang to direct the next step. Prince Zhu Youxiao took action immediately and processed a wooden connecting part in the middle of the iron wheel. Soon, he put the processed iron wheel on the weight loading machine.

At this time, Sun Yuanhua immediately picked up a piece of flint, stuck it tightly on the processed wheel, and then stepped on the pedal hard.

"Zi la!" There was a sound of friction, and sparks shot out from under the wheels.

Now it's done!
Bi Maokang couldn't help but excitedly said: "Your Majesty, as long as this thing is made smaller, can it be mounted on a musket?"

Taichang nodded slightly and said: "Actually, the musket and cannon can be made the same size. Anyway, you just need to ignite a small fuse, and you don't need such a big spark."

To be honest, it is really not easy to apply flint ignition to muskets and artillery. It took decades of research in European countries to develop it, and the methods developed by European countries are not as "advanced" as this method.

At the moment, everyone is still using matchlock guns, and the artillery is also directly lit with torches.

Flintlock guns are just beginning to be researched by European countries at this moment, and there is no mature technology yet.

Of course, this thing is nothing to Taichang.

Sometimes, the advancement of technology depends on that little inspiration.

There was not a little inspiration in Taichang's head. He didn't know whether he thought of a lighter or a grinder. Anyway, he solved the problem of flint ignition in one go.

(End of this chapter)