Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 72 Thor
The problem of flint ignition is solved, and the next step is to determine the structure of the new musket and the new artillery.

The new guns seem to have to wait, because Bi Maokang’s blueprints have not been drawn yet, and the new guns seem to be ready, because the models of the guns have already been made.

Looking at the finely crafted artillery model, Taichang couldn't help nodding in admiration.

This artillery model is composed of several parts. The front is a gun barrel about the thickness of an arm, and the back is a gun body about the thickness of a thigh. Two lugs protrude from the front and back of the gun body. The front lugs are connected to the lower ones. The base, and a gun port is installed on the rear ear.

The gun door can still be rotated and disassembled, and its two ends are connected to the gun lug by two vertical round cap pins. As long as one of the round cap pins is removed, the gun door can be opened, and there is another arm inside. Thick and thin gun barrel, the front end of the barrel is stuffed with a round shell.

The structure of the whole artillery can be described as extremely exquisite, and all the parts are also polished extremely smooth. It can be seen that it was written by Prince Zhu Youxiao.

It's a pity that this artillery is still a wooden model. If it is made of iron, it can be tested by directly installing a flint ignition device.

Taichang looked at it carefully for a while, and finally came to the cannon ear in the middle: "Install the flint ignition device, and add something to adjust the angle of the cannon body here, and it's almost the same."

Sun Yuanhua heard the words and quickly asked: "Your Majesty, what does this angle-adjusting thing look like?"

In fact, the thing to adjust the angle is not very complicated, just add a gear to the gun lug, and add a gear and a dial with scale to the gun mount, which is almost the same.

However, it seems that it is still a bit difficult to process such delicate parts at the moment.

After listening to Taichang's introduction, Sun Yuanhua couldn't help saying with regret: "Your Majesty, it is not difficult to draw a picture or even make a wooden model of this set of things. That is as difficult as carving a dragon and a phoenix!"

Holy crap, is it that difficult?

How hard it is to carve it out!

Taichang thought for a while, then gritted his teeth and said: "Carve, just carve. Anyway, there are many craftsmen. We just need to call more craftsmen to carve together. This thing must be mass-produced as soon as possible."

Well, it is always no problem for a craftsman to carve one set of this thing a month. At that time, as many craftsmen are hired as many sets are needed in a month.

Sun Yuanhua thought about it again, and then he couldn't help sighing: "It's a pity, we can make such a big cannon now, no matter how big it is, we can't do it."

what?
Hearing this, Taichang couldn't help but stare at the artillery model in astonishment.

Originally, he thought it was just a model, and the size was determined at will. Unexpectedly, the new artillery can only be made so big!

This arm-thick cannon barrel is similar to Qi's army's tiger squatting cannon. It may not be a problem to kill one person with one cannon, but it cannot plow a blood groove like the Hongyi cannon, killing and injuring more than a dozen people.

One shot can kill one, isn't this power too small?

Taichang couldn't help asking: "Why can't it be bigger."

Sun Yuanhua opened the cannon door, took out the sub-cannonball inside, pointed to the inner circle of the cannonball and said, "Your Majesty, the main reason is that the barrel of this cannon is too difficult to process. The old-fashioned earthen cannon is better, because it is just a barrel, and the whole is one. So , the gun bore doesn’t need to be processed too finely, as long as it can almost poke the shells in. This new type of artillery can’t work, the shells and the front barrel must fit tightly. , then the bore is about to blow up, and if you want to achieve a tight fit, you must ream the part of the part of the cannonball behind the gun body that is extremely smooth. Make it thicker, it won't move at all!"

The barrel is hand-hinged out?

Taichang couldn't help asking: "How did it work, do you have a picture?"

There is no need to look at the picture, the reaming bed is right next to it.

Sun Yuanhua pointed to the shelf that Wang Zheng was studying and said, "That's a hinged bed. Mr. Wang is considering whether it can be changed to a cow-drawn one."

Good guy, it turns out that this reamer is either turned by hand or pulled by oxen, just like a mill!
Taichang walked over and took a closer look, and he understood that the barrel of the gun was really reamed at the moment, that is, he smashed a ribbed reamer into the barrel, and then turned it hard.

If it is an earthen gun, it is basically enough to clean the slag cast inside, but the new type of artillery must hinge the inner part of the gun body to be extremely smooth, which is equivalent to scraping off a thick layer of iron. One can imagine how strong it is.

Uh, this, it would be nice to have a steam engine.

It's a pity that the steam engine has been suspended at this moment, because the rubber has not been recovered, the sealing problem is not easy to solve, and there are air leaks everywhere, so he simply asked everyone to stop and develop guns and artillery with all their strength.

At present, going to Nanyang still has to rely on sailboats, and it will take at least half a year to go back and forth.

In other words, if you wait for the steam engine to be made and then produce artillery, you have to wait at least half a year, and it may be a year or two.

I can't wait, I can't wait.

Whether it is turned by hand or pulled by cattle, it has to be done!
Thinking of this, Taichang said decisively: "Okay, no matter how big it can be, we must do it. You should make good preparations, add things such as flint ignition and angle adjustment, and get ready to start making guns."

Uh, start work?
How to start work?
Sun Yuanhua looked at the poor people in the side hall, wondering: "Shall we do it ourselves?"

you do?
Taichang shook his head again and again and said, "How many cannons you can make in a month, of course you organize craftsmen to do it in large quantities!"

Sun Yuanhua could only remind him helplessly: "Your Majesty, Feng Congwu, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, doesn't understand this at all. Besides, he may not necessarily listen to us, he will follow our request!"

Xu Guangqi, the highest rank among these people, is also a Zhan Shifu Zhan Shi of the third rank, and Feng Congwu is the Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry of the second rank. Why should he listen to them?

Those guys from Donglin are the stones in the latrine, smelly and hard.

When Taichang heard this, he couldn't help but slap his forehead. These people don't know about Feng Congwu.

He kindly pulled Xu Guangqi over, and said solemnly: "Zixian, Feng Congwu has already submitted his resignation letter, and you will be appointed Minister of the Ministry of Industry in these two days. I will leave the casting of new artillery to you. You must organize Manpower, go all out, make as fast as you can, and make as much as you can, Liaodong, can't wait!"

Xu Guangqi was stunned when he heard this.

He really didn't expect that he would be able to become the sixth minister of the second rank so soon.

Although both Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng have become ministers, they are the ministers accompanying the capital Jinling, and their power is not great, and they are incomparable with the six ministers in the capital!

He was stunned for a while, and then he said seriously: "Don't worry, your majesty, I will do my best in this matter, but what should the crown prince do here?"

The prince Zhu Youxiao is mainly studying from him at the moment, and he, Zhan Shifu Zhan Shi, is very caring. He not only teaches the prince "Four Books and Five Classics", but also teaches the prince "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" and other classics about governing the country.

Once he goes to the Ministry of Industry, he will have no time to teach the prince.

This is also impossible, there are not enough manpower!
The prince can only study the "Four Books and Five Classics" first. Anyway, the future will be long, and it is the same to teach the way of governing the country after this busy period.

Taichang thought for a while, then pointed to Bi Maokang and the others and said, "Let Menghou and the others take turns teaching the Four Books and Five Classics first. The fact of casting cannons cannot be delayed."

It can only be like this first, Bi Maokang and the others are all researching things, and they definitely don't have time to manage the affairs of the engineering department, so he can only do it.

Xu Guangqi nodded, and then solemnly said: "Your Majesty, every sharp weapon like a cannon must have a special name. What do you think is a good name for this cannon?"

Indeed, all kinds of artillery have special names, such as Tiger Crouching Cannon, Fran Machine Cannon, Hongyi Cannon, etc., and Jiannu even gave Hongyi Cannon such an imposing name as God Bless God’s Mighty General Cannon .

So, what kind of awe-inspiring name should this new type of artillery take?

Taichang thought for a while, and then he had an idea: "Let's call it Thor. This time, the light artillery was cast. There will be medium and heavy ones in the future."

(End of this chapter)