Kai Fu Han

Chapter 86 Matchlock Gun

After staying in Liu's warehouse for six consecutive days, he finally produced the first version of a very crude musket.

(This chapter was officially blocked because it was too detailed, so this matchlock gun will not be described in detail here.)
This matchlock gun looks very crude. Due to the rush of production, the outside of the barrel is not polished smooth, and the handguard on which the barrel is placed still has some burrs.

And because of the poor sealing, the shooter cannot aim the gun close to his face. He can only stretch the gun forward as much as possible, and then roughly aim and shoot.Even so, you must close your eyes when shooting, otherwise you may injure your eyes.

When Liu Xinqi tried the gun for the first time, he fixed the gun on a wooden stand and tied the trigger with a string. He was far away and used a wooden board to block the gap between the gun and the person.

Since the person who made the barrel is a warrior, it has good obedience.Therefore, although the barrel was made in a hurry, the quality was still good and the barrel did not explode.

However, due to lack of experience and physical reference, for the sake of safety, not much propellant was put in. In the end, the projectile flew more than 20 steps before falling to the ground, making the target standing [-] steps away completely turned into a decoration. Very embarrassing.

Even though the test results were so embarrassing, Liu Zhimu's eyes lit up. He was a smart man and he immediately saw the prospect of this weapon.

"This... is really ingenious. Such a simple barrel can achieve this effect, and it is easy to learn to operate. If the range of this 'musket' can reach a hundred steps, it will be really invincible." Liu Zhimu admired.

"There are even more powerful ones." Liu Xinqi then explained to Liu Zhimu the principles of the flintlock gun and the directions in which this matchlock gun needed to be improved, and handed over all subsequent research work to him.

After changing into clean clothes and smelling the pungent smell of gunpowder, Liu Xinqi left the yard where he had stayed for seven consecutive days.

On the afternoon of March [-]th, I went to the school to have a heart-to-heart talk with Zhou Yue and look at the progress of compiling the textbooks.Zhou Yue had already read through all the manuscripts written by Liu Xinqi on the ship. Taking advantage of Liu Xinqi's visit, he asked for advice on the things he didn't understand. It wasn't until dark that Liu Xinqi went home to have dinner with his mother.

Although they are engaged, they are not married yet, so they are definitely not allowed to stay overnight. Even if Liu Xinqi comes from later generations, he cannot break the secular world of this world.

……

On March [-], Liu Xinqi took a boat to Baishiwan again to check the construction progress of Baishiwan.

More than a dozen houses have been built, but none of them have been roofed. The earthen walls are only covered with a straw curtain to protect them from rain.

"Why not cap it?" Liu Xinqi approached Liu Lisheng and asked.

"There are not enough tiles. If a grass roof is used, it will be very unstable and will have to be replaced in one or two years." Liu Lisheng replied.

"Well, I'll go to the brick kiln to have a look and ask them to adjust their plan, add more kilns, and burn more tiles." Liu Xinqi replied.

"I have already contacted them and the plan has been adjusted. However, the construction of new kilns takes time, so the roofs of these built houses have not been capped yet, but it will be soon. In a day or two, the first batch of tiles will be made. It's out." Liu Lisheng added.

After talking about this matter, Liu Lisheng took Liu Xinqi around the construction site.

The dozen or so houses I just looked at were built on the ground that was leveled when Liu Xinqi came to Baishiwan. Leveling work is still being done in other places.

From a distance, you can see criss-crossing white lines on the ground.Liu Lisheng had already drawn the outline and regional divisions of the entire city on the ground with white lime. The area where he started to build the house belonged to Erfang City and was located to the east after entering the north gate. .Liu Xinqi came to the main road, lifted up a stone slab on the sewer beside the road, and looked inside. The depth and width were in line with the previous planning requirements, and the side walls of the ditch were also made of bricks.

Look up and look around.

Now all the ground on the construction site is earth. The weather is sunny today, the ground is dry and dusty.However, after a while, as spring turns to summer, the rain will definitely increase, and the progress of this construction site will definitely be greatly affected by then.

"Improve the quality of everyone's food, and then calculate some bonuses for the workers. The more they work, the more they will get. Taking advantage of the lack of rain in spring, we can make more progress." Liu Xinqi told Liu Lisheng.

"Okay, I'll make arrangements later."

……

After seeing the finished site, Liu Xinqi came to the brick factory. The person in charge here was one of Liu Zhimu's two capable apprentices. Liu Xinqi called them both over. After asking for their opinions, he attached military commander cards to both of them.

Then he handed the previously prepared knowledge materials about cement and glass to the two people, so that they could start trying to make them after completing the construction of Baishi Bend.

After using these two, Liu Xinqi only has three two-star "Han Sergeant (Bow)" and three-star "Hou Cheng (Group)" in his hand. There is no urgent need at the moment, so he can keep them as backup.

After staying in Baishiwan for two days, he saw that Liu Lisheng had taken care of the place and it was useless to stay here. Liu Xinqi returned to Penglai County by boat, intending to go to Liu Zhimu's place to continue studying muskets.

……

On the morning of March [-], Liu Xinqi, who went ashore, planned to go home and change his clothes. He had just walked to the gate of the Liu family compound when he saw his mother Lu Congxue, followed by several clansmen, hurried out of the courtyard.

"What's wrong?" Liu Xinqi asked.

"You came back just in time. Let's go together. I'll tell you the details on the way." Mother Lu Congxue said directly, and then she pulled Liu Xinqi towards the market.

On the way, Lu Congxue told Liu Xinqi the whole story.

The last time Liu Xinqi came back from the south, he brought back 75 kilograms of grain, all of which was brown rice.Considering that there will be a steady stream of food shipped back from the south in the future, Liu Xinqi also made arrangements to try selling it in the market.So Lu Congxue rented a small shop at the market and sold grain shipped from the south for five cents per catty.

It was nothing at first. Liu Xinqi came later and knew that brown rice was more nutritious than thin rice, so he did not let people process brown rice into thin rice.People here in Dengzhou are not used to the brown rice that comes from the south, and it tastes bad, so they still buy more wheat, barley and other grains.

However, brown rice is cheap and can also fill the stomach, so most people who have tried to buy it will come back to buy it again, and then more and more people buy it.

Brown rice in Liujiabao costs five cents per catty, the cheapest other coarse grains on the market cost six cents per catty, and finer grains cost seven or eight cents per catty.

As more and more people buy grain from Liujiabao, fewer people buy grain from other grain merchants. This is equivalent to taking away the cake of the local grain merchants.

(End of this chapter)