Ming Zuo

Chapter 419 New Materials

"If a new gun is to be installed, it may be as short as a few years, and it may not be as long as a dozen years."

Zuo Dai was very decisive when he poured cold water, and Zuo Menggeng's enthusiasm subsided.

Zuo Menggeng was puzzled as he watched Huang Long and others playing with the needle gun.

"Why?"

Zuo Dai told the truth and let Zuo Menggeng understand the difficulty.

Although the needle gun has been made, it is purely handcrafted with the strength of all craftsmen.

That is to say, with the current industrial capacity, large-scale manufacturing is not yet possible.

And military weapons, once large-scale production and popularization cannot be achieved, are meaningless.

The manufacturing difficulty of the firing needle gun is mainly reflected in several aspects.

The first is the poor corrosion resistance of the firing pin.

After testing by Bi Maokang and others, the firing pins produced at present will be severely damaged after about fifty shots and must be replaced.

The reason is that although the firing pin is made of steel, it cannot last a few times under the high-explosive damage of gunpowder.

If this is not solved, the accessories alone can drive the industrial sector and the logistics sector crazy.

Next is the spring.

The springs are made, but it's handmade.

One problem is that even the best craftsmen can't guarantee that the next spring they will make will be the exact same specifications as the previous ones.

If this cannot be solved, the spring will not be universal.It will also lead to no replacement if there is a problem.

"Dongjiao Gong found that the performance of metal does not seem to be infinite. When the metal is used for a certain number of times, it will become soft."

Zuo Menggeng understood that Bi Maokang had discovered the phenomenon of metal fatigue.

Zuo Dai added: "The spring that is made so far, after [-] times of loading, the elastic effect will be greatly attenuated. Dongjiao Gong said that it takes the most time to solve this problem."

Obviously, a spring that can only be used thirty times is definitely not qualified.

Even if the army has more capital, it cannot be so depleted.

In addition to the firing pin and spring, the bullet is also a problem.

"The original Mignet bullet can't be used in the new gun, so according to your design, we made such a conical metal bullet. But the craftsmen of this bullet have been cut thousands of times by machine, but it is difficult to pass. Helpless Next, I had to let Uncle Tu grind a batch by hand. The output is..."

Under Zuo Menggeng's inquiring eyes, Zuo Dai smiled bitterly.

"You can make one shot in five days."

Zuo Menggeng let out a long sigh and slapped his forehead repeatedly to relieve his depression.

It takes the best craftsman five days to make a warhead, and it really is impossible to popularize it.

"The new warhead must be equipped with a new barrel. Dongjiao Gong and the others made a steel barrel, but the engraving of the rifling is not ideal. In short, this new gun has too many problems with our current technology. When will it be possible to No one can guarantee a breakthrough."

The problems were all in front of us, and Zuo Menggeng knew that there were indeed many difficulties.

And all of this is actually his influence.

After all, according to the normal historical process, the needle gun will not appear until two hundred years later, after several generations of continuous exploration and advancement.

And he came up with the concept in advance, but the craftsmanship level of this era did not match.

Zuo Dai said that the large-scale installation of needle guns may take more than ten years, so it is very bitter. In fact, he does not know that even if this goal can be achieved after more than ten years, it is an unprecedented progress.

Regarding his judgment, Zuo Menggeng not only did not have any depression, but felt that the situation was gratifying.

Think about how terrifying an army equipped with needle guns will be after more than ten years, when people around the world are still being beaten with arquebuses and flintlock guns.

Moreover, Zuo Menggeng judged that after more than ten years, the installation of needle guns should not be a big problem.

After all, what the craftsmen do now is not to create from scratch, but to reverse engineering.

At least under his influence, the needle gun has been made, and the real thing is in front of us, so that the craftsmen understand the principle.

The next thing to do is to reversely deduce and improve the details of the process through the actual firing pin gun, and improve the insufficient parts.

This is much faster than the original time and space.

"As for the scientific research institute, funding and resources must be guaranteed. Go back and tell Dongjiao Gong that the improvement of the needle gun must not stop. I am looking forward to the day when the entire army changes its clothes."

Zuo Menggeng guaranteed the research and development of the needle gun.

With his support, no matter how long it takes, the research and development of the needle gun will not stagnate.

This is the meaning of the existence of historical cheaters.

"Everyone, how is this gun?"

Zuo Menggeng returned to Huang Long and the others and asked with a smile.

Huang Long greedily caressed the body of the needle gun. As a soldier, it is hard not to be moved by seeing such a good weapon.

"General Zuo has such an artifact, why is the world worried?"

Shang Kexi, Shen Shikui and Shen Shouyue did not speak, but the meaning in their expressions clearly agreed with Huang Long's words.

Zuo Menggeng looked serious.

"No matter how good a weapon is, it must be used in a way. From ancient times to the present, those who use force to achieve violence are as strong as Meng Yuan, but they are only short-lived. Why is this? Just because the rulers did not have the world in their hearts, and regarded the common people as the object of wanton oppression. Fang is in great chaos today, and the same is true. The overthrow of the Zhu Ming Dynasty was not because of a strong enemy, but because of its willingness to degenerate. Ladies and gentlemen, the world is full of great power, and I hope you and others will consider it carefully, and don’t make any mistakes.”

Huang Long and others were dumbfounded, but a huge wave was rolling in their hearts.

Zuo Menggeng's words made them realize how terrifying the young man in front of them was.

Owning such a subversive weapon is not self-satisfied, and still has a clear understanding of the world.

Such a person might really be able to do it.

Zuo Menggeng gave them plenty of time to think about it, and said, "There are some new things today, you are lucky."

The new weapons brought by Zuodai are not just needle guns.

And mortars.

After several adjustments, the mortar was finally finalized.

This step can be achieved mainly by the application of collodion explosives.

Before the Battle of Mengshan, the mortar was used in actual combat for the first time by the special forces, and the effect was unsatisfactory.

The range and power are very insufficient, and they are all limited by black gunpowder.

Later, the cotton was put into mass production, and the arsenal used it as propellant and explosive for mortars. Both shortcomings were eliminated at once.

Huang Long and others saw four soldiers come out, one of them was carrying an iron pipe with the thickness of the mouth of the bowl (they didn't know it was a steel pipe), and the other was carrying a square iron plate.

The other two carried wooden boxes and entered the launch position in front.

After a while, the gun barrel was placed on the iron plate, and the wooden box was also opened, revealing a warhead.

Today's mortar shells are almost the same as those of later generations. They also have conical warheads, touch fuzes, and fins that improve accuracy.

Soldiers put the fuses in place and put the shells in from the muzzle.

Huang Long and the others only heard a slight noise, and then saw a black spot rushing into the sky.

The black spot rose to a very high point, then fell rapidly, and finally fell behind a section of the city wall.

boom……

It was obviously not the crashing scene where the projectile was thrown, which surprised them.

The shattering scene of the round solid projectile is definitely different from this terrifying explosion.

Sure enough, when they followed Zuo Menggeng to check the effect of the shelling and saw that the targets within a radius of [-] meters were all destroyed, they understood that compared to the extremely fast-firing guns, the new army had more trump cards in artillery. sharp weapon.

When the new army conducted the heavy artillery test, the last touch of persistence in the hearts of Huang Long and others was crushed.

Seeing that the city wall as strong as Dengzhou City was torn to pieces by heavy artillery shells, several people were stunned, knowing that under such heavy artillery, all the city walls in the world would be turned into decorations.

Zuo Menggeng was most satisfied when he saw the effect of the new heavy artillery equipped with collodion.

After going back to see Lu Hao, he mentioned: "I have a new building material here, which will be popular in the world in the future. If your Lu family is interested, how about we join forces?"

Lu Hao was absolutely convinced of Zuo Menggeng, and he just asked, "What kind of material makes you admire it so much?"

Zuo Menggeng took Lu Hao to a hidden place.

Here, some craftsmen are building walls.

Lu Hao saw that the craftsmen scooped out some gritty muddy water-like things from a bucket, and after smearing them, they pressed the masonry on it.

In a short time, a brick wall that was as high as a person was built.

Zuo Menggeng waited for a long time. After the thing between the bricks and stones solidified, he said to Lu Hao, "Try it?"

Lu Hao understood what he meant, stepped forward, stretched out his hand and pushed hard...

The wall didn't move at all.

Lu Hao was already startled, he took a few steps back, and then flew up and kicked on it.

The wall is still rock solid.

"This... what is this?"

Zuo Menggeng didn't speak, but pointed to the side and motioned him to look.

A few craftsmen built a frame out of planks on the ground and poured that novelty muddy water into it.

The muddy water slowly solidifies and hardens at a speed visible to the naked eye. Even if the craftsmen remove the surrounding wooden boards, the formed muddy water blocks are still stable.

Zuo Menggeng smiled and handed Lu Hao a hammer.

"Be careful, don't get hurt."

Lu Hao was like meeting his beloved toy when he was a child. After squatting down, he tapped the muddy water block with a hammer again and again.

Every time he was stronger, even the bricks of the city wall would be broken by him, but the muddy water block in front of him was like a real stone.Apart from the tinkling crunch, there was no breakage at all.

Lu Hao suddenly raised his head and said very firmly: "This business... My Lu family took over."

(End of this chapter)