The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 205 Weapon Artisan
"It's really wonderful... It's really wonderful..."

Bo Yu stood in front of the table, looking at the self-generating firecracker in his hand, observing and inspecting it over and over again, admiring incessantly, and couldn't put it down.

Just now he pulled the trigger of the firecracker in his hand, the flint on the hammer hit the scythe with a snap, and he also clearly saw the sparks splashing from it.

Afterwards, the equipment brought by someone dismantled a lot of self-igniting firecrackers, and inspected them carefully.

After a long time, Bo Yu's excited mood finally calmed down, and he sat back on the seat again, holding a intact self-generating firecracker in his hand.

"Students have been fond of making ordnance since they were young, especially when they are very interested in new things. This gaffe made adults laugh."

Bo Yu was apologetic, when Chen Wang asked someone to bring the self-generated firecracker, he could not help but put all his attention on the self-generated firecracker, and even forgot that Chen Wang was still waiting for him in the hall.

"It's okay."

Naturally, Chen Wang was not angry because of these trivial matters, on the contrary, Bo Yu's professionalism and knowledge made Chen Wang even more happy.

Being able to concentrate without distractions is undoubtedly a great help for those engaged in scientific research and technology.

"This self-generating firecracker, I wonder if Mr. Bo can imitate it with confidence?"

Bo Yu's originally pale face even recovered a little color because of excitement, and when he heard Chen Wang's question, he replied with a smile.

"The principle of this thing was already familiar to me when I looked up the "Illustration of Military Weapons". With this original gun, it is not difficult to imitate it."

"The biggest difference between this blunderbuss and the bird blunderbusses in our Ming army today is that the ignition device is different."

"The bird blunderbusses in our Ming army use matchlocks to ignite the fire, but this self-generating blunderbuss uses flints to ignite the fire."

Bo Yu put the intact self-generating firecracker in his hand on the table, and then separated a V-shaped reed from some parts disassembled on the table.

"This object is the most important component of the self-generating gun, and it is also the biggest difficulty in imitation. It is precisely because of this that the dragon head has kinetic energy. This object affects whether the gun can fire successfully."

"However, it is not difficult for me to make a qualified reed. I just need to adjust some steps and improve some processes."

Bo Yu's chin was raised slightly, the skill of self-generating firecrackers is not high, the only difficulty lies in the reed, but this is not a problem for him.

Not only is he sure of imitating the natural fire gun, but he is also sure of improving the reliability of this type of gun.

"It's just... this self-generating firecracker may not meet the requirements of the Chief Soldier..."

Bo Yu frowned again, he had been in Hanzhong Mansion for a while.

Although he was recuperating most of the time, he also went to the military bureau in the city to see the situation in the workshop and learned a lot.

Over at the weapons shop, Chen Wang requested that the guns be made, the first thing is power, and the second is range.

Compared with the ordinary blunderbuss used in the Ming army, Chen Wang requested that the blunderbuss produced were more powerful and more effective in piercing armor, but the shooting range was also much shorter.

And the barrel of this self-generating fire blunderbuss is shorter, more than a star and a half shorter than the bird blunderbuss.

"Of course it's not up to standard."

Chen Wang nodded, he asked Bo Yu to imitate the way of ignition of self-generated firecrackers, and it was also the way of ignition with flint, not a complete imitation.

"This is a picture I drew about the new firecracker. Mr. Bo can take a look."

Chen Wang reached out and took out a folded drawing from his sleeve, and spread it out on the table.

"I hope that all new firecrackers will be made in this shape."

Bo Yu raised his eyes to look, and his eyes couldn't help but light up.

The new firecracker drawn by Chen Wang's drawing on the table, but it can be said to be extremely beautiful in appearance, much better than all the firecrackers he has seen.

Bo Yu noticed the firecracker on the blueprint, the device for lighting the fire was described in great detail, there was even an explanation, and some details were even more delicately designed.

However, he was already familiar with the structure of self-generated firecrackers by observing these things before. What surprised Bo Yu was that the blueprints given by Chen Wang not only had side views from those ordnance books, but also views from above. Zoom in on the detail diagram.

The design of this firecracker is commendable in many places.

"Master Chief Soldier, don't you know what these two designs are for..."

Looking at the blueprint in front of him, Bo Yu felt very novel. He knew most of it, but he still had a few questions, so he pointed to the blueprint and asked.

Chen Wang looked along where Bo Yu was pointing, and the position of Bo Yu's finger was exactly where the head and tail of the gun were.

"The tail of the gun is the butt. When the gunslinger holds the gun and shoots, he holds the trigger with one hand and the barrel with the other hand, and uses the butt against his shoulder as a support. The accuracy of shooting can be higher. .”

During this period, many firecrackers did not have butts. Although the birdcracks installed by the Ming army seemed to have buttstocks, they basically did not have the function of resting on the shoulders.

Equipped with a gun stock, it can greatly improve the stability and reliability of the firearm.

"This is the sleeve, where the bayonet is equipped. You can understand it as a gun spear."

At this time, there had already been a gun sword that could be inserted into the muzzle of a fire gun. This kind of bayonet was called a "plug bayonet".

However, the plug-in bayonet has shortcomings such as weak connection and hindering shooting.

The sleeve bayonet, which is specially sleeved to fix the bayonet on the outside of the barrel, was not invented until the end of the seventeenth century.

At this point, the Musketeer can finally form an independent army without relying on other arms, and simultaneously play the role of long-range firepower projection and melee impact.

Later, it led to the complete replacement of all tactics and tactics by the queuing and shooting tactics.

"I'm planning to design a short bayonet that can be placed directly in this position, that is, a sleeve-type bayonet."

"When confronting the enemy in battle, gunmen with bayonets can resist the enemy and become a king on their own. There is no need to arrange pikemen to cover them."

Bo Yu's eyes moved slightly. Although he hadn't fought any battles, he had studied ordnance for many years. When Chen Wang just mentioned the bayonet, he had already thought of its use.

After Chen Wang explained the keys to it, Bo Yu even thought about the function of applying it.

Fire blunderbusses are extremely powerful in killing, and for qualified bird blunderbusses, there is hardly much armor that can resist its power at medium and short distances.

Compared with bows and arrows, firecrackers are faster to learn and easier to train.

The only flaw is the speed of loading, and basically it can only shoot flat, and it has to step out of the army formation, so it doesn't get much protection.

But now, this new type of musket has switched to the self-igniting fire method, which has greatly saved the speed of reloading.

Moreover, when Bo Yu was observing the weapon workshop and testing guns, he also noticed that Chen Wangjun's firearms basically carried a lot of small paper tubes. They just tore open and reloaded the ammunition and loaded the ammunition, which saved a lot of time. .

Calculated in this way, it may be the time for the original bird gun to fire one shot, but this long-fire gun with a self-generating fire gun ignition device can fire two or even three rounds, and the density of firepower has increased by more than several times.

And installing this kind of sleeve-type bayonet can undoubtedly solve the second problem-the gunner needs to step out of the army formation when shooting, and there is basically no protection.

When the enemy is swarming, the musketeer equipped with a bayonet does not need to retreat behind the pikemen and shield soldiers, but can continue to shoot with the bayonet installed.

When the enemy army is about to rush to the front, these new firecrackers will soon be used as long guns.

These new guns are designed to be five feet in length, and the length of a one-foot-long bayonet has reached six feet.

If it is the original bird gun, it needs to be far away from the slope when shooting, even if you use this kind of bayonet, it is useless.

However, the new firecrackers use the self-generating firecracker method and can stand together.

In this way, the gun formation can be achieved.

All ideas are interlocking and closely connected.

Bo Yu suddenly raised her head, cast her eyes on Chen Wang, and said in admiration.

"Master Chief Soldier's talent is enough to be a teacher for all craftsmen. Students have studied ordnance for many years. At first, they thought that the self-generating firecracker was exquisite, but compared with the design of Master Chief Soldier, this self-generating firecracker is just mediocre."

Chen Wang was a little embarrassed because of Bo Yu's sudden change of attitude. The reason why he was able to think of these things was because he was very clear about the development trajectory of future generations.

The blueprint of the new firecracker he gave Bo Yu was based on the shape of the "Brown Bass Flintlock Rifle" that was installed in the British army in the eighteenth century. The design concept must naturally be very advanced, after all, it is something that is nearly 100 years later.

His memory has been strengthened in all directions, and what he can recall is naturally not only the history books he has read before.

When looking at the history of the late Ming Dynasty, Chen Wang naturally paid attention to the various firearms at that time.

For such a famous firearm as the brown bass flintlock rifle, Chen Wang had naturally seen the blueprint, so it was not difficult to draw it from memory.

Although due to technical limitations, it is currently impossible to completely imitate the brown bass flintlock rifle, but the advanced design concept still has great benefits, and it can save a lot of detours.

Of course, Chen Wang also made some, but didn't copy them completely.

The accuracy of the records of the Ming Dynasty on the birds and other equipment is far greater than that of Europe in the same period.

The accuracy of the bird guns of the Ming Dynasty is largely due to the fact that there is a rear sight on the back of the gun, and there is a front sight in front, three points and one line, which is naturally accurate.

In the western fire system, until the beginning of the nineteenth century, there was no rear sight at all except for a small front sight.

And the brown bass flintlock rifle that accompanied the British army to fight the world did not have such a thing as a rear sight.

When Chen Wang was drawing the drawings, he naturally noticed this detail, and specially added the rear sight and crosshairs.

"However, the bayonet designed by the Chief Soldier may have some technical problems, making it difficult to realize..."

Bo Yu regained his composure. He looked at the blueprints on the table with embarrassment on his face.

This kind of sleeve-type bayonet can indeed enhance the combat power of the army and make up for the shortcomings of the gun's hand.

However, the requirements for craftsmanship are not low. At present, the craftsmanship of the craftsmen in the Hanzhongwei Weapons Bureau may not be able to do it.

Chen Wang didn't show any disappointment about Bo Yu's question.

"The issue of the bayonet is not urgent for the time being. The new type of firecrackers produced in the initial stage may not be equipped with a bayonet."

The problem with the bayonet is now limited to the iron-smelting process of the Hanzhong Wei Military Bureau, and some technologies are still not up to standard.

The bayonets used today have high requirements on the strength of the steel. Most of the enemies are wearing armor. If the steel is not strong enough, the flintlock guns equipped with bayonets cannot be as capable of melee combat as the spears.

And there is another problem, that is, the production process of this era.

For the sleeve-type bayonet, the bayonet and the inner wall of the sleeve need to be consistent to be tightened, and the craftsman needs to polish it separately.

Sanding alone is bound to take a lot of time, and the output will be very low.

Now the Hanzhong Wei Military Bureau itself has a low production capacity, so naturally there are not many people.

Chen Wang is aware of these situations, and now he can only choose a compromise for the time being.

You can only equip the bayonet after the technology and skills of iron smelting are improved.

Just as Chen Wang was about to talk about another topic, he suddenly thought of something, and said immediately.

"By the way, can you design a strap for this new type of bird gun? It's better to connect it to the lower part of the muzzle, and the other end can be scratched at the trigger position, so that it can be carried directly on the shoulder when marching. Necessity is on your shoulders all the time."

"It's not difficult, it just takes some time, but it seems that there are not many craftsmen in the Weapons Bureau of Suocheng, and the production capacity may be reduced because of this..."

Bo Yu pondered for a moment and replied.

Chen Wang frowned slightly, the number of craftsmen was indeed a big problem.

"There are currently 170 weapon craftsmen in the Arms Bureau. The number is a bit small at present, but I will arrange personnel to continue to recruit craftsmen to fill the vacancies..."

Chen Wang suddenly stopped speaking in the middle of his speech. Just now, he thought of one thing.

Now it is difficult to recruit craftsmen in Hanzhong Mansion because there are not many craftsmen in Hanzhong Mansion, and it is difficult to recruit craftsmen in other places because all craftsmen have their native places and cannot easily leave their nationality.

But now there is a place where he can recruit a lot of craftsmen. Although it is not legal, this route can indeed be tried.

When he was in Chunhua, Hong Chengchou mobilized the Xi'an Guards to defend Chunhua. The guard officer who led the guards was Luo Guizhong, the commander of the Xi'an Qianwei.

In the first battle of Chunhua, Luo Guizhong benefited a lot from it.

At the time of parting, Luo Guizhong thanked him a thousand times and said that he could bother him if there was anything to do.

Now Luo Guizhong seems to have become the commander of Xi'an Qianwei.

It turned out that Luo Guizhong first became a commanding acquaintance by virtue of Chunhua's military exploits.

Later, when Sun Chuanting rectified the guard station, the commander of Xi'an Qianwei didn't know how powerful Sun Chuanting was, but thought he was as incompetent as the previous governor Gan Xuekuo, so he insisted on resisting.

As a result, he couldn't even be a commanding envoy, and he was directly beaten to the end, and even almost beheaded by Sun Chuanting for public display.

The commander of Xi'an Qianwei fell on Luo Guizhong's head like this...

(End of this chapter)