Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 101 Inspection of Firearms
"Look, Your Highness, these are all the firearms made by the armor factory."

In the Mingshifang Armor Factory in the capital city, the flattering Sun Liang was introducing various firearms in front of Zhu Youjian and Wang Chengen.

There are no less than thirty types of these firearms, and they are all different.

Zhu Youjian glanced at it, and Sun Liang also introduced:
"Your Highness, there are two main types of firearms in terms of their classification." After speaking, he ran to the table where the firearms were placed and introduced:
"The first category is firearms that are fired by hand, such as three-eyed guns, bird guns, kidnapper guns, continuous guns, thunder guns, five thunder guns, carrying guns, and swarming bees."

"This kind of firearm is usually filled with lead bullets, iron bullets, arrows, etc., and its firing range is only tens to two hundred paces."

Sun Liang explained to Zhu Youjian with a thing that was one foot long and similar to a short gun, but Zhu Youjian did not believe his explanation.

In the Ming Dynasty, one step was [-] meters, and two hundred steps was [-] meters.

This range is beyond the range of a flintlock gun a hundred years later, and can only be surpassed by a breech-loading gun two hundred years later.

If the Ming Dynasty really had a firecracker with a range of [-] meters, it would have dominated the world long ago.

Today, he came to the armor factory early in the morning, not to listen to Sun Liang bragging, so he went straight to the point:

"For this kind of distance, just listen to the craftsmen. You call the craftsmen, and I want to hear the specific power. Those who talk will not be punished."

"Hey!" Hearing this, Sun Liang was sweating profusely, so he could only call over all the craftsmen of all kinds of firearms in the armor factory.

Perhaps because of Zhu Youjian's distribution of money last time, their image is not as unkempt as before.

Although he was still wearing tattered clothes, it was not difficult to see that they were working clothes, and his face and neck were relatively clean.

"From here on, you will introduce the power of these firearms to Gu one by one, and anyone who exaggerates will be deducted from his salary."

As soon as Zhu Youjian said a word, more than a dozen craftsmen shrank their necks subconsciously.

"Didn't you hear that? Didn't you know you were obeying?" Sun Liang looked at the group of idiots and whispered hello to them angrily.

"Obey!" Sun Liang said to the craftsmen, and finally knew how to communicate with Zhu Youjian.

Zhu Youjian frowned at this, and then pointed to the first one on the table, which was also the three-eyed blunderbuss most used by the frontier troops of the Ming Dynasty, and said:

"Starting with this firearm, I will introduce it one by one. You only need to tell Gu, the distance that the bullets and arrows of this firearm shoot, how many steps can penetrate armor, and how many layers of armor are enough."

"Huh..." Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, a dozen craftsmen breathed a sigh of relief. They were afraid that Zhu Youjian would make them stick to words, and it would be difficult for them.

Thinking of this, a craftsman in his forties took a step forward, carefully preparing to kneel down, but Zhu Youjian frowned and said:
"You don't need to bow or bow."

"Yes... uh... as ordered." The craftsman glanced at Sun Liang guilty, and found that Sun Liang glared at him, shrank his neck, walked to the table, and introduced to Zhu Youjian:
"Your Highness, this is the three-eyed blunderbuss. I like it the most in the frontier army. It is made of iron or rough steel. When using it, gunpowder is added to the barrel, and finally steel balls or cast iron blocks, crushed iron sand, etc. are filled."

"Afterwards, a matchlock is added to the small hole. When using it, light the matchstick, detonate the gunpowder and launch the projectile. The three gun barrels can shoot in turn, and after shooting, they can be used as blunt weapons to smash."

"Where's the power?" Zhu Youjian didn't expect anything from the three-eyed blunderbuss, he just wanted to demonstrate to other craftsmen the process of talking to him.

As for the craftsman, he hesitated before he glanced at Sun Liang.

"What do you want me to do? Your Highness asks you how powerful you are, and you just tell the truth. If you dare to fool those sour talents, I won't spare you."

Sun Liang jumped angrily, but he also got a clear idea of ​​Zhu Youjian's character.

As long as Zhu Youjian said what he said, there would be no time to go back on his word, so just tell the truth.

"Yes..." Hearing Sun Liang's words, the craftsman could only confess honestly:
"If it is used by pawns, ten steps can penetrate the leather armor, but it is not very powerful. Unless it is shot in the cheek, the northern prisoner can fight again. If it is double armor, even if it is close to the gun, it is difficult to penetrate the armor. It can only be shot in the cheek. Injure the enemy."

"If it is a cavalry pawn, it takes seven steps to penetrate a layer of armor, and it is difficult to penetrate double armor."

The craftsman's words were very honest, and Zhu Youjian couldn't help nodding his head.

As a fire gun, the three-eyed blunderbuss itself is a kind of weapon against the Mongolian cavalry horses in the early Ming Dynasty. If you want to really penetrate the armor, you can only penetrate the most basic leather armor at a distance of ten steps, that is, sixteen meters.

But after this kind of penetration, it can only cause minor injuries to people, and it is almost useless unless it hits an important part.

As for the double armor mentioned by the craftsmen, it is a cloth face armor on the outside and a chain mail on the inside, or a barbed armor on the inside and a cotton armor on the outside.

These two armor-piercing methods are all Nurhachi's requirements for the firearms of the Ming Dynasty and the post-gold armor.

As a result, the Ming cavalry and the later Jin cavalry used three-eyed blunderbuss on one side and bows and arrows on the other, hitting each other in the face in turn.

To put it bluntly, it is useless to hit other parts. Only shooting the face can kill the opponent to the greatest extent.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian glanced at Sun Liang, and Sun Liang also said: "Okay, you can go down, the next one will come up."

As soon as he said this, the craftsman ran away as if fleeing, and the next craftsman who came up was about fifty years old, and the firearm Zhu Youjian was familiar with was a kind of firecracker.

"Your Highness, this is a Lumi blunderbuss. It weighs about seven or eight catties, and some are six catties. It is about six feet long and has a steel knife at the end. If the enemy is approaching, it can be used as a saber for cutting horses."

"The way to use it is to pinch the mechanism, and after the gunpowder ignites, point the muzzle at the northern prisoner and release it."

"This blunderbuss can hit a hundred paces, if you wear a cloth face armor, you can do it in forty paces, and if you wear two armors, you can do twenty paces."

Lu Mi's gun and Zhu Youjian were very familiar with it, because Qi Jin's Zhejiang soldiers used it.

This blunderbuss is about two meters long, and most of the time it is used with Cheying's chariots, but because it is too long, it is cumbersome to reload, and it is considered a proficiency to shoot three rounds a minute.

But it also has a great effect, just like what the craftsman said, even if the enemy is wearing double armor, he can shoot him at a distance of [-] steps or [-] meters.

But this era is a musket, and the hit depends on luck.

This problem is not a problem for Zhu Youjian. He has been a leader for two years, and he doesn't know anything else. It can be said that he can see the rifling clearly, but he doesn't know if the craftsmanship of this era can be made.

If he remembered correctly, straight rifling appeared in Europe more than a hundred years ago. In terms of firecrackers and artillery, Ming was indeed behind Europe.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian asked his own question:
"If you make something like a crossbow to hit it, and then put flints on it, and engrave spiral patterns on the inside of the gun barrel, can it be made?"

Zhu Youjian's words were too advanced. The old craftsman looked at Sun Liang, and Sun Liang motioned him to go ahead, and the old craftsman said:

"The flint and crossbow machine may be made, but it may need high-quality flint to ignite, and if it cannot be ignited after being pulled, it will become difficult."

"As for engraving the spiral pattern on the inside of the gun barrel, it may be possible to use the hook-cut method, but after hook-cutting, you need to cut off an inch from the front of the barrel."

Zhu Youjian could understand what the old craftsman said, and the other party just wanted a specific drawing.

"Sun Liang, get me a pen and ink."

"Obey!" Hearing Zhu Youjian calling himself, Sun Liang hurriedly asked someone to fetch pens and inks, and Zhu Youjian also took the pen under the gaze of everyone, and drew it according to the shape of the flintlock he thought.

He drew pictures of the front, side, internal structure and external structure respectively, and then invited the old craftsman to say:

"I just thought it was like this, how? Can it be controlled?"

When he said this, Zhu Youjian took a breath in his heart.

He didn't expect that the appearance of the flintlock would be able to hang and beat Nurhachi, because that was not realistic.

Sure enough, when he thought about it, the old craftsman said:

"If you do this, you should be able to make it, but with this line pattern, if you use marbles, you can only use lead marbles."

"Lead bullets are soft, and if they are used against the enemy, I'm afraid they may not be able to penetrate double armor at twenty paces."

"You don't need to worry about this. As long as you can make it, I will ask someone to withdraw your craftsman registration and allocate a hundred acres of land at the foot of Yanshan Mountain to you." Zhu Youjian smiled when he heard this.

He knows the power of a flintlock gun. Even with lead bullets, it can penetrate Houjin's double armor at a distance of [-] meters. .

The most important thing is the fast fire rate of the flintlock. A skilled player can shoot four times a minute, and the hit rate is greatly improved.

This could not be a decisive weapon, but it could increase the strength of the Yanshan camp's army.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian picked up a one-foot-long pistol-like kidnapper and said:

"It's the same with this kidnapper gun. According to the structure I gave you, the barrel was shortened to one foot and five inches."

"If you can make it, you will be a thousand households of the Yanshan Ordnance Institute!"

"Obey, obey..." Hearing what Zhu Youjian said, the old craftsman didn't dare to pat his chest and say that it would definitely be able to make it, but became guilty.

"Cheng En, take this old master, his family, and other gunsmiths from the Armor Factory he likes to the Yanshan Camp, and ask Man Gui and the others to build another camp in the north of the Armor Factory."

"The maidservant takes orders." Seeing what Zhu Youjian said, Wang Chengen nodded slightly in return, and Sun Liang came up to apologize and said with a smile:
"Your Highness, do you still want to see these other firearms?"

"Tell me about artillery." Although Zhu Youjian was very interested in swarming bees, that thing was of little use, and the Five Thunder Machine, which looked like a revolver, was too cumbersome to suit Zhu Youjian's ideas.

For him, the simpler the better, so he only needs two types of artillery, light artillery and heavy artillery.

When Sun Liang heard about it, he flattered and called out several cannon craftsmen, and said with a smile:

"Your Highness, there are more than ten types of artillery made by the Armor Factory. The frontier army's favorites are the General Cannon, the Captive Cannon, the Army Cannon, the Tiger Squat Cannon, and the Franc Machine Cannon."

After all, Sun Liang said to the artillery craftsman who handed over: "Have you not introduced it to Your Highness?"

Hearing this, a craftsman in his thirties stepped forward, walked up to the three cannons, and explained to Zhu Youjian:
"Your Highness, this is my Great General Cannon of Ming Dynasty, and it is also the heavy artillery in the current army."

"This cannon is made of pig iron, with three sizes of three feet, four feet, and five feet. The weight is divided into one thousand catties, one thousand five hundred catties and two thousand catties."

"There is a star in front of this cannon, and a rear sight. It charges more than one catty of powder and fires seven, three, and one catty stone bombs. A thousand catty cannon can shoot one mile, and a thousand five hundred catty can shoot one and a half miles. Insufficient, two thousand catties can reach about two miles."

"This cannon is carried by a double carriage, the wheels are high at the front and low at the rear, and it can be fired directly on the carriage, which has great power."

After finishing speaking, he saluted Zhu Youjian and retreated back, while the next craftsman walked up to another cannon mounted on a cannon carriage, and said to Zhu Youjian:
"Your Highness, this is a cannon for attacking soldiers. It is a vehicle-mounted cannon, with two wheels on the bottom and a carriage on the top. The cannon body is embedded in it, and five iron hoops are added."

"There are two iron anchors on each side of the carriage. When using the iron anchors, place them on the ground and compact them with soil to reduce recoil."

"The cannon is three feet long, made of pure iron, weighs six hundred catties, holds eight taels of stone bullets, and can shoot two hundred paces. It is usually used by a mule and horse tow it, and it can maneuver with the army."

"Okay, these guns are so heavy, I need a light gun that can shoot two miles without blowing up the chamber..." Zhu Youjian became more and more dissatisfied the more he looked at it, because these did not meet the light and heavy guns he wanted .

The army heavy artillery he wants is only about one thousand catties, and the light artillery should not exceed three hundred catties.

But as soon as he said this, the artisan who introduced the cannon looked at Sun Liang hesitantly.

"Say it! If you have a way, just say it!" Sun Liang was in a hurry, he was still waiting to please Zhu Youjian and become an eunuch in charge of the military battle bureau.

Seeing what Sun Liang said, the craftsman could only compose:
"Your Highness, if you want the artillery to be light, it is not impossible."

"Tell me." Zhu Youjian frowned and asked, and the craftsman also said:

"Iron cannons are not powerful enough and heavy because they use inferior iron. I am famous for iron cannons. If you use high-quality iron as the cannon body, copper as the gun core, and high-quality coal, you can make it." Superior Iron Cannon."

"Not only can the weight be reduced, but the risk of bombing can also be reduced, and the bullet distance can also be increased."

"It's just..." At the end, the craftsman hesitated:

"It's just that if you use this method to cast a thousand-jin cannon, I'm afraid the cost of a cannon will be around sixty taels."

"Only sixty taels?" Hearing the price, Zhu Youjian thought he had heard it wrong, and Sun Liang, who was next to him, hurried forward to flatter him:
"Your Highness doesn't know that my Ming iron cannon casting technology is far superior to that of Xiyi. Those Xiyi can at most make copper cannons, but the cost of copper cannons is high. A thousand-jin cannon costs two hundred taels of silver."

"In comparison, our iron cannons are highly skilled. I heard that among the western barbarians of Europa, only Anelia (Britain) has mastered the iron cannon casting technology, but their iron cannons are not as good as ours."

Speaking of this, Sun Liang smiled awkwardly: "It's because some people in the court withheld high-grade iron, which caused me to shoot at the artillery, uh...hehe..."

Sun Liang didn't say it too clearly, but Zhu Youjian could guess it.

He remembered that in his previous life he had read a letter written by a Spanish missionary to the Spanish emperor, and mentioned that the iron cannon casting technology of the Ming Dynasty was superb, and the copper cannon technology was not bad.

The artillery imitated by the Ming Dynasty surpassed the Spanish artillery in terms of performance and quality.

Xiong Tingbi once tested the Spaniard's Luzon big bronze cannon by double-loading gunpowder method, blew it up, and then told the imperial court that the Luzon big bronze cannon was inferior and not as good as the forging method.

Later, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, I secretly learned about the casting of iron cannons in the Ming Dynasty. The Portuguese Bucarao Cannon Factory in Macau became the No. [-] arms exporter in the world in the [-]th and [-]th centuries.

But if this is the case, then why would Daming buy Portuguese artillery?Zhu Youjian didn't understand this, so he asked:

"According to what you said, since my firearms are better than Xiyi's, why are Xiyi's artillery not as good as Xiyi's artillery, regardless of the distance and power of the stone bullets?"

"Er... this... this..." Sun Liang hesitated for a while, but at this moment, an artillery craftsman came out and wrote:

"Your Highness, Caomin thought that it might have something to do with the appearance of Xiyi artillery."

"Look?" Zhu Youjian heard the words, and turned to look at the Ming Dynasty artillery next to him.

At this moment, he seemed to have noticed something was wrong.

According to his memory of visiting some military museums, the caliber and chamber of the ancient artillery should be small in diameter and large in chamber.

However, the ammunition chambers of the current and Ming Dynasty artillery are not large, and even compared with the caliber, they are almost the same.

"I..." Zhu Youjian wanted to scold his mother, even if he was a big soldier instead of an artillery soldier, he knew that if the artillery chamber was under insufficient stress, there would be a risk of bursting.

From the medicine chamber to the muzzle, the stress is gradually increased, but the thickness of the medicine chamber of the Daming artillery is not enough, and the gun body has actually paid a lot of useless weight because the wall thickness is the same everywhere.

Such a cannon shape means that after the gunpowder burns, the force on the powder chamber is the greatest, and it gradually decreases towards the muzzle. The wall thickness of the gun barrel is completely meaningless.

It is not a lie that Zhu Youjian wanted to curse people. It is clear that the casting technology of iron cannons surpassed that of the West, but because of the shape of the cannons and corrupt officials, the Daming cannons could not beat the West. This is simply a shame.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian took a deep breath and said:
"You go to the Yanshan Camp together, and I will draw a picture for you later, and you can cast artillery according to that drawing."

"As ordered..." More than a dozen artillery craftsmen responded one after another, and Zhu Youjian calmed down and said:

"Any more firearms?"

"Yes! Your Highness, there are more." Sun Liang, who finally found a chance to insert the topic, said with a flattering smile:

"In addition to artillery and firecrackers, my Ming Dynasty also has mines, mines and other firearms."

"Mines? Sea mines?" Zhu Youjian was stunned. Did these two things appear in this era?

But before he was dazed for a long time, Sun Liang told Zhu Youjian about the water mines and land mines.

Landmines took shape at the end of the Song Dynasty, when they were called Zhentianlei.

This kind of weapon can be buried in narrow roads. When the enemy is approaching, it can be detonated with a slow-burning match to kill the enemy. This is also the prototype of the early mines.

By the early Ming Dynasty, there were documents about the use of landmines. Jiao Yu in the Yongle period recorded "landmine bombing battalion", "self-inflicted artillery", "explosive artillery", "stone explosive artillery" and "invincible" in "Fire Dragon Artifact Formation". "Landmine Cannon" and other methods of making landmines.

As for sea mines, they were developed in the [-]th year of Jiajing, also known as "underwater mines", which are mainly used to combat Japanese pirates who invaded the coast.

It uses a wooden box as a thunder shell, putty glues the joints, and puts black powder inside. Its firing device uses a long rope without knots, and it is detonated by pulling the fire.

There are organs under the wooden box to control 3 iron anchors to control the depth of the mine body in the water.

Later, during the Imjin Japanese Invasion, the Bureau of Military Warfare, at the request of the navy, invented floating mines in order to prevent Japan from delivering supplies to North Korea.

This kind of mine, which uses burning incense as a timing fuze, is called the "Underwater Dragon King Cannon" by the craftsmen of the Bingzhan Bureau and the sailors.

Perhaps it was because they thought it was easier to use. In the twenty-seventh year of Wanli, a thousand households named Wang Minghe along the coast invented the "underwater thunder" using ropes as a touch line, and damaged enemy ships many times in naval battles.

But it's still the same old problem, because there is no money, the mines and mines made by the Bingzhan Bureau and the Ministry of Industry are not of good quality.

"You mean, Daming produced sea mines and landmines hundreds of years earlier than Europe and the United States?" Zhu Youjian was a little speechless, and then became angry.

So many good inventions have not continued to improve because of lack of money.

Or in other words, after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, they should have seen these books on landmines and sea mines, but they didn't use them. Really...

"Alas..." Zhu Youjian felt a little tired, so he could only say to Sun Liang:
"Let's get some sea mine and land mine craftsmen to go to the Yanshan camp. As for your affairs, just wait."

"The cannon..." Sun Liang remembered the cannon that Zhu Youjian asked him to make before.

"Don't make firecrackers and cannons for the time being. The ones that are made will be shipped to Yanshan Camp." Zhu Youjian explained:
"As for armor, [-] safflower face armor, [-] flying saucer helmets, [-] chain mails, [-] gauntlets, and [-] other weapons."

"Is the armor factory enough silver?"

"It's not enough..." Sun Liang said with some embarrassment:

"The Bingzhan Bureau can receive 18 taels each from the Ministry of War and internal funds each year. According to the prices in the capital, a total of [-] taels is required for the [-] red flower cloth mask and the flying saucer helmet."

"A set of chain mail and gauntlets is 5 taels, and 20 sets are 5 taels. Other items such as gourd hammers, seven-power bows, spears, waist knives, etc. are less than [-] taels."

"All of the above..." Sun Liang paused, and after careful calculation, he reported:
"A total of 43 taels of silver is needed..."

"43 taels..." Zhu Youjian felt a headache when he heard this, so he could only say to Wang Chengen:

"The one hundred thousand taels sent by the emperor haven't been shipped to the Yanshan Camp yet, have they?"

Wang Chengen nodded slightly, and Zhu Youjian said: "In this case, transport one hundred thousand taels of Yunzi to the Armor Factory."

After all, he said to Sun Liang: "One hundred thousand taels of silver, how many armored weapons can be made to equip soldiers and horses?"

Sun Liang hurriedly saluted and replied: "If you use a soldier's cloth face armor, gauntlets, chain mail, a six-power bow, a pair of gourd hammers, a waist knife, and a spear, it should be 12 taels. Configuration of Silver"

"One hundred thousand taels of silver, plus the balance of the armor factory, should be able to make armor and weapons for [-] people."

Fearing that Zhu Youjian would not believe it, Sun Liang explained by the way: "The main thing is that there is still food and food silver. According to this configuration, it will take three months to complete. The work and food silver is at least [-] taels."

"Well...you can do as you see, and I will send someone to send the money in three months, so you can do it." Zhu Youjian didn't doubt Sun Liang either.

For him, as long as Sun Liang doesn't steal too much and can guarantee that the armor and weapons are fine, then this person can be used.

"Let's go..." After finishing speaking, Zhu Youjian turned and walked outside the armor factory, while Sun Liang and Wang Chengen quickly followed.

After finally walking to the gate of the armor factory, Sun Liang watched Zhu Youjian's carriage go away, feeling happy, and returned to the armor factory humming a little song.

As for Zhu Youjian, after the carriage drove out of the alley of the armor factory, he saw the Wucheng soldiers and horses constantly patrolling on the streets of Mingshifang.

The matter in Jingcha and Huaibei is still fermenting, and it is far from a complete outbreak.

"The current situation is getting more and more chaotic, alas..."

With a long sigh, Zhu Youjian also closed the car window, and drove back to the palace without seeing or worrying...

　There is one more chapter at one point. I don’t know if I can have two chapters tomorrow, because I have something to do at work.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)