In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 405 A cross-era invention

This is where the flintlock gun has an advantage over the matchlock gun. The flintlock gun didn't fire the first time, but with a little adjustment, a familiar gunner could fire it again within a second or two.

If it doesn't fire, it means the ignition failed. Just fire it again. If the same gun fails to fire frequently, there is something wrong with the flint or spring.

"The most difficult thing now is the spring, not the barrel." Tang Bo explained to Quan Yong.

In the past, Zhao Yurui had always believed that the barrel of the gun was the most difficult part to make. Later, he discovered that the spring of the flintlock gun was the most difficult.

Flintlock springs are curved springs, and even in the seventeenth, eighteenth and even nineteenth centuries there were the same problems to solve.

One is that it is easy to break, the other is that it is not strong enough (if it is not strong enough, it will not be easy to produce sparks), and the third is that it is not durable.

The first and third problems are mainly related to the level of forging. The European steel-making technology in the 17th century is probably not as good as that of the Song Dynasty.

With a little experience and guidance from Zhao Yurui, the Song Dynasty's steel training skills will definitely surpass those of the Ming Dynasty later.

"If it's not well maintained, it usually needs to be replaced after about 150 hits."

In tests conducted by the Bureau of Firearms, after more than 150 hits, the ignition success rate dropped to less than 70%.

The subsequent decline became faster and faster. After more than two hundred blows, the ignition success rate dropped to less than 50%.

You must know that the number of hits accumulates very quickly at this time on the battlefield.

If you don't succeed in igniting one shot, you pull it back and click again. Bah, it fails again, so you pull it back and fire again.

You may have to pull it back dozens of times a minute. The later the ignition rate gets lower, the spring will become useless.

Therefore, craftsmen recommend replacing it after about one hundred and fifty times.

"The barrel can only be used for fifty shots, and the spring can only be used one hundred and fifty times. Isn't the cost a bit high?" At this time, a minister said calmly.

Zhao Yurui has invested heavily in making muskets in recent years and rewards craftsmen at every turn, so the ministers think it is a bit expensive.

Now this gun looks like it is not as useful as a bow, and the bow and arrow can be fired hundreds, or even hundreds, of times.

Zhao Yurui ignored the minister. As long as the barrel was not fired continuously, it would last a long time. He asked Tang Bo: "How much does it cost to build this one now?"

"Twelve strings, copper coins." Tang Bo didn't include labor, only materials.

There is no need to talk about labor. The craftsmen of the Song Dynasty were all on-staff anyway, and the imperial court paid them uniformly.

The cost price of only twelve strings is indeed relatively high.

Usually in this era, a battle can be ended with a maximum of twenty or thirty shots, and the spring of a gun can only be used for five or six battles.

"Can it be used on rainy days?" Quan Yong asked again at this time.

Whether the flintlock gun can be used in rainy weather depends on whether the rain is heavy and whether the wind is strong.

When a flintlock gun encounters rainy days, the biggest fear is that the gunpowder in the powder tank will get wet by rain, and when you load the powder tank, you have to open the powder cover.

At this time, Tang Bo explained to Quan Yong that the lower part of the flintlock's fire anvil served as a lid for the medicine pool. If the wind and rain were relatively light, and with their waterproof design, they could fire.

Zhao Yurui and the craftsmen took this rain-proof issue into consideration when designing. This was only invented in modern times. The flint gun was designed with drainage channels and bars above the gun body, and the medicine pools on both sides were cantilevered ( That is, protruding), and it is directly below the drainage hole, so if the gun is caught in the rain, no matter which direction the rainwater leaks from, it is unlikely to reach the medicine pool.

Of course, this alone is not enough. The craftsmen also try their best to create an outward drainage slope on the surface of the medicine tank cap, and then apply beeswax or asphalt around the medicine tank. Then there will be basically no problem in opening fire in light rain.

Zhao Yurui also followed the example of modern European and American hunters and built a leather waterproof cover around the medicine tank. He usually wrapped the entire firing assembly, which could effectively protect the entire firing assembly.

Now Zhao Yurui's flintlock has reached the level of the eighteenth century. If he wants to use it in violent storms, he must invent a flash cap.

There is a delay in the flintlock gun from firing to igniting and then shooting the projectile. If a detonating charge can be designed to explode when hit, the power of the flintlock gun can be greatly changed.

After Zhao Yurui saw the new flintlock gun, he motioned for someone to try firing a few rounds.

Soon there are now arranged skilled shooters and targets.

According to the Song Army's practice, three-stage shooting.

There were three rows of Song troops at the scene, with thirty people in each row, a total of ninety people, and then they shot at the target fifty steps away.

There was white smoke billowing from the scene, and each person fired three rounds.

These people are carefully selected and experienced, and their basic shooting rate is about one shot in twenty-five seconds.

This was still relatively poor in later generations. The record for the fastest flintlock gun was held by a Prussian sergeant, with a shot taking about fifteen seconds.

Zhao Yurui watched each of them fire four shots, feeling that the speed was still a bit slow.

The first round was shot while squatting, and it only took a few seconds from aiming to firing, and then the second round was shot from aiming to firing in less than five seconds.

Then it was replaced, and the third round came forward. It took about ten seconds from taking aim to firing.

The three rounds combined took less than twenty seconds.

After three rounds, the first round has not been reloaded yet.

"How long have they been practicing?" Zhao Yurui asked.

"Back to Your Majesty, for about one year and three months, each of them fired more than two hundred shots."

This was already considered the most elite gunman of the Song Army, and they were specially used to test guns for the Firearms Bureau. The gunmen deployed in the field barracks of the Song Army could not shoot as many shots as they did.

Zhao Yurui had a strange expression on his face: "Wouldn't it be true that the Du Si Bu camp was deployed slower?"

The officials around looked at each other.

"Can we switch to a four-stage shooting? Add another stage?" Quan Yong asked Zhao Yurui at this time. It doesn't have to be a three-stage shooting. Let's add another stage. After the fourth stage is finished, the first stage will also be installed. alright.

"You must have three stages." Zhao Yurui said decisively: "Force them to practice it."

There are of course differences between the three-stage and four-stage types. The three-stage type has more concentrated firepower and also has advantages for early installation.

Zhao Yurui's plan was that out of an infantry battalion of 500 people, 200 would be spear and shield soldiers, and the remaining 300 might be replaced by flintlock rifles.

There are exactly one hundred people in the three-stage form.

If you want a four-stage attack, that means more than 70 people can do it in one round, so the firepower is a bit lacking.

The biggest shortcoming of the flintlock gun now is its low accuracy, which is made up for by firepower.

When flintlock guns first became popular in Europe, they relied on the shooting technique of lining up and directly resisting, because the hit rate was low.

The most famous flintlock style, the British Brown Bess flintlock, has been in service for more than 125 years, with approximately 800 million units produced. It has an effective range of 160 meters and a maximum range of 270 meters.

In 1811, the British conducted a special test. The object was an ordinary round shield, which was equivalent to the size of the human chest and upper body.

在无风条件下，射击距离100码（大约91.44米）时，上靶率为53％，距离圆木盾200码（大约182.88米）时上靶率为30％，到距离300码（大约274.32米）时上靶率则只有23％。

The Brown Bess flintlock gun's strike, projectiles and many other craftsmanship are similar to Zhao Yurui's current flintlock gun. Except that the manufacturing accuracy is better, it will not surpass Zhao Yurui's flintlock gun until the flash cap is used in the later stage.

While Zhao Yurui was talking with the craftsmen, someone had already come over to report the test results.

Just now, the Song Army's test shooters each fired four shots at a distance of fifty steps (about 60 meters), eighty steps (96 meters), one hundred steps (120 meters), and one hundred and twenty steps. At fifty steps, the target hit rate is about %, at eighty steps, the target hit rate is about %, at steps, the target hit rate is about %, and at steps, the target hit rate is about %.

The Song Army's target was relatively large, using most of the humanoid target, which was equivalent to the body except for the legs.

Some civil servants at the scene were a little surprised when they saw such a low target rate. They probably felt that it was not powerful enough.

You must know that this group of shooters in front of you are the most elite shooters in the Song Army, who specialize in shooting. It is conceivable that the other Song Army's hit rate must be even lower now.

Moreover, there is no wind today. If there is wind and rain, the hit rate will be further reduced.

"It's okay, don't panic. The quality is not enough to make up for the quantity. This gunman is much easier to practice than the archer." Zhao Yurui laughed and reassured the craftsmen.

Zhao Yurui used a lot of archers in the early stage, but actually didn't have much practice. Many people went to the battlefield as soon as they got the bow. They relied on having more bows and arrows to win. They practiced while fighting.

Moreover, on the battlefield, archers will not aim too accurately. Those in the back row will basically shoot looking at the direction, and they may not have a 40% target rate.

Therefore, the 40% target accuracy of the flintlock rifle is already quite high.

And now it’s just a row of targets. When you arrive on the battlefield, be it the Mongolian army or the armies of other countries, an overwhelming number of infantry and cavalry are rushing towards you. If you hit the front and miss the target, the projectile may fly to the back and hit you without aiming. What about the people?

So Zhao Yurui said that the quality was not enough to make up for the quantity.

As long as the Song Army is fully equipped, there will be an overwhelming amount of flintlock guns. No matter how high your accuracy is, will they be able to hit the front or the back?

Zhao Yurui's previous generations of flintlock guns were only installed in a few battalions, and then they were mainly practicing loading.

He was very satisfied with the Type 06 this time and decided to go all out to build it and replace the original archers with equipment one after another.

"Approximately how many of these can be made in a year?" Zhao Yurui could only give an approximate estimate.

Now the musket is one of the most secret weapons of the Song Dynasty, and it can only be made in the capital and Jeju Island.

Tang Bo glanced at Zhang Xiaoshi first, and then said: "It depends on how many craftsmen can cooperate. If there can be 6,000 craftsmen households in the two places."

"About two thousand pieces can be made per month (drilling type.)" If it is rolled leather type, about three thousand pieces can be made.

On average, three households of craftsmen can make one per month?

This shows that it is not easy to make flintlock guns nowadays.

The processing of the barrel alone takes many days, and the drilling and polishing process takes seven or eight days.

Zhao and Rui Diandian immediately decided to deploy six thousand craftsmen this year to specifically build flintlock guns, and use separate assembly lines to make barrels and springs, and then decide on the barrel and the spring. The most important parts are all made in the capital, and some other small parts are made in Jeju Island. Some craftsmen who have participated in Jeju Island also moved to the capital.

Next year, another 6,000 households will be added, and the number of monthly flintlock guns will reach 6,000 the year after that.

All the officials agreed one by one.

After leaving the shooting range, Zhao and Rui called the relevant craftsmen officials to the nearby meeting room.

Then he took out new drawings, and a group of craftsmen immediately gathered around.

"It's still difficult to shoot flintlock guns in heavy rain and windy weather. We still have to overcome this problem."

"This is called a flash cap. It is a firing device. If there is a flash cap, there is no need for a powder tank. Not only does it save a component, but it also saves the step of installing a real primer tank. It can also be fired on rainy days."

Early flash helmets were disposable items, so of course Zhao Yurui had to use a Thunder Gong flash helmet.

"There is a substance called fulminate."

"It can be synthesized using nitric acid, mercury (mercury), and ethanol (alcohol)."

"These three things are not difficult for us in the Song Dynasty now."

Zhao Yurui has already figured out ethylene, which can be used to synthesize ethanol with highly green vitriol (sulfuric acid).

Then Zhao Yurui pointed at another thing and said, "This is called rifling."

"Just trying to figure out how to cut the line in the barrel."

The craftsmen suddenly stared with an expression of disbelief on their faces.

It's already so difficult to make a barrel, why do you still need to cut rifling?

"It's actually not difficult. Find a steel rod that is slightly smaller than the caliber of the gun barrel, but its toughness is greater than that of the gun barrel."

"Attach steel plates to it and pull it back and forth inside."

Zhao Yurui can only give a general idea, but the specific operation is actually more complicated.

In fact, in the early days of rifling, there was a scraper method, the method mentioned by Zhao and Rui, and a hook-knife broaching method, which were not too difficult.

The hook-knife broaching method was used in the early colonization of America. The tools used were very simple manual wooden machines that the colonists could make themselves.

Zhao Yurui has never seen these machines, so he can only explain how they work and why they need to be rifled.

Then the craftsmen had to find a way to create a way to cut rifling.

"With rifling, not only the accuracy will be improved, but the shooting distance will also be increased."

"Then add this bullet." Zhao Yurui pointed to another picture, which is the Minie bullet of later generations.

Mini bullets and rifling are a perfect match.

If these two things come out, it will be a transcendent invention, enough to defeat all armies.

No matter how high the peak Mongolia is, you have to kneel down.

Zhao Yurui explained the principle to them again. After the bullet becomes tapered, it is more suitable to come out of the rifling.

Moreover, the rifling and the Migne bullet must be made together. The flintlock gun cannot use rifling without the Migne bullet.

Because with rifling, it is very troublesome to load the projectiles, which will seriously reduce the shooting efficiency.

"If we have flash caps, rifling, and bullets, we can improve it and load bullets from the back." When Zhao Yurui said this, it was a more advanced percussion gun.

"Your Majesty, Xu Li asked me last time why he didn't think of a way to load projectiles from the back, which would save more effort and time." Tang Bo took advantage of the situation and flattered me.

It turns out that when the flintlock gun was studied last time, a craftsman named Xu Li asked why the projectile had to be loaded from the front and had to be inserted with a poke bar. Why couldn't it be loaded from the back?

"Xu Li, right? He has great ideas and needs to be cultivated carefully." Zhao Yurui was overjoyed when he heard this. He didn't expect that some craftsmen had already thought of this.

Zhao and Rui stayed at the Firearms Bureau for another afternoon that day, and had dinner with the craftsmen before leaving.

Before leaving, I met with Xu Li again. After talking with Xu Li, I found that this guy had great ideas and had made great contributions in the development of flintlock guns. He was now a seventh-grade official. Because his level was not high enough, he was not allowed to do so this time. Meet the Emperor at the Bureau of Firearms.

Zhao Yurui immediately promoted him to the sixth rank on the spot and asked him to think of a way and told him all the new things he thought about today.

The most important thing is actually the principle. Many craftsmen do not understand the principle, but Zhao Yurui understands the principle. As long as he explains the principle to the craftsmen, and they can understand it, they can research and innovate in this direction.

For example, Zhao Yurui said that bullets are cone-shaped, with a sharp front and a flat back, so they can fly farther and hit more accurately.

After Xu Li thought about it, he immediately said: "Then if the cannonballs are changed like this, wouldn't they be able to fly further and hit more accurately?"

"Hahaha." Zhao Yurui laughed: "What you said makes sense."

(End of this chapter)