Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 110 On Cannon and Gunpowder

Zhu Youjian issued the Daoist decree and promoted Tang Ruowang to be a doctor in the Fire Gun Bureau of the Ministry of Industry, and took the position of Zhan Shi, the young man of Zhan Shifu.

This is a fourth-rank official. In the past, it was a noble official position that only belonged to Qingliu officials in the Hanlin. The Crown Prince's East Palace was an official. Basically, it was a necessary process for officials to go from the Hanlin to the cabinet.

However, Zhu Youjian's appointment of Tang Ruowang as Zhan Shifu's young Zhan Shi was not to let him join the cabinet, but to show that he attached great importance to scientific research.

Tang Ruowang, who took off his blue clothes and changed into a red one, was dumbfounded looking at the four thousand craftsmen.

He never thought that he would have to manage so many people to make flintlocks with him.

"Your Majesty is obviously wrong. This cannot be made with a large number of people." Tang Ruowang complained in a low voice, and sat at the wooden table and began to think about how to start the manufacture of flintlock guns.

The [-] craftsmen were also dumbfounded. The craftsmen assigned to the Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau all had official titles and received official uniforms and silver dollars.Why is this foreigner who cares about himself and others not moving for a long time, why is he just sitting there looking at the picture in a daze?

There are [-] people in the Artillery Bureau. The idea is that the officials and craftsmen who were in charge of casting artillery and participating in the storage and transportation of artillery.

A few days ago, Zhu Youjian had made Sun Yuanhua's second son, Hedou, the doctor of the Artillery Bureau, and at the same time led Shang Bao Si Cheng.

In the fifth year of Chongzhen, Sun Yuanhua was killed because of Wen Tiren's frame. Zhu Youjian also restored Sun Yuanhua's reputation a few days ago, presented him as Minister of the Ministry of War, and gave him the posthumous posthumous title Duanyi.

The third son of Sun Yuanhua was also summoned to Nanjing by Zhu Youjian. Sun Hedou inherited his father's art of casting cannons, so it was naturally appropriate for Sun Hedou to lead the Artillery Bureau.

Sun Heding worked as a doctor in the Gunpowder Bureau of the Ministry of Industry, but there were not many craftsmen in the Gunpowder Bureau, only about a thousand.

Zhu Youjian let Sun Yuanhua's eldest son, Sun Heding, manage the Gunpowder Bureau because he wanted to appease the minister who died unjustly and sympathize with his heirs.

At least, Sun Heding is better than the sour Confucians who only read the Four Books and Five Classics in the research and development of gunpowder.

As for the Wang Gong Factory, which specializes in the production of unconventional weapons such as Zhentianlei, Ten Thousand Enemy, etc., as well as close-combat explosive weapons.

Zhu Youjian also asked Sun Hejing to be a doctor of the Ministry of Industry and temporarily take charge of Wang Gong's factory.

The three brothers Sun Heding, Sun Hedou, and Sun Hejing are naturally different from Tang Ruowang. The three of them have now reported to the officials and craftsmen they belong to, the officials who should be awarded the officials, and the ratings of the ratings. After being taught by Xu Guangqi, he was familiar with the firearms manufacturing process, so he began to draw up plans according to Zhu Youjian's instructions as soon as he came.

Zhu Youjian's requirements for artillery are the same as those for firecrackers. They don't need to be varied, but they must be focused and have a clear direction for improvement.

Western artillery uses the weight of shells as the standard to classify artillery, and Zhu Youjian also requires Ming’s artillery to have artillery types that meet different ranges, and to divide artillery by barrel caliber, which makes it easier to match shells and barrels. It is more convenient to use shell weight to compare.

The division of artillery is one thing. There is another disadvantage of Daming artillery that needs to be corrected. Due to the influence of the previous craftsman registration system, R&D investment and enthusiasm are not enough. Neither cannon is the most suitable field cannon. The former is too small, while the latter is too big and heavy. One is suitable for naval battles and the other is suitable for city defense.

For field battles, the tiger squat gun used by Qi's army is quite suitable for field battles in mountains and jungles as a curved gun, similar to mortars.

That is to say, Ming also needs to independently develop a series of flat-fire guns for land field combat. According to the difference in caliber, a series of artillery can meet different range requirements.

The most important improvement for the Daming Cannon is not the above, but the application of the range measuring scale and the aiming sight.

The range-finding scale and aiming sight are equivalent to the eyes of the artillery. The previous Daming artillery had no eyes, and it was all based on the experience of the artillery, so the efficiency was naturally low, and it would even hurt your own infantry camp.

The biggest difference between Ming cannons and Western cannons is not the forging of the barrels, which can be improved through the improvement of the Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau, but what really needs to be cast by the Artillery Bureau is the eyes of these artillery.

I don't know whether it was Tang Ruowang and the Western fans who deliberately hid it or Daming's domestic geometry didn't follow up. Up to now, no one has realized that artillery also needs to be aimed and range-finded.

The firing of artillery has a lot to do with the application of trigonometric functions and geometry. Therefore, Xu Guangqi's translation of "The Elements of Geometry" was not because of a passing interest. He even taught students in Kaixin School in Shanghai and taught people like Sun Yuanhua. It's a pity The elder Xu Ge who laid the foundation for the natural science of the Ming Dynasty has passed away, otherwise, Zhu Youjian's gold finger could be opened even bigger.

The more realistic and feasible way to improve gunpowder is to load bombs with paper shells. Zhu Youjian has asked Sun Heding to do it, and then needs to granulate gunpowder. This "Ji Xiao New Book" has mentioned that it is not too difficult for Sun Heding , the entire Ordnance Institute, the first to be mass-produced was the granular gunpowder paper case bullet of the Gunpowder Bureau.

The research and development of gunpowder naturally needs a long way to go. From pyrotechnic powder to smokeless gunpowder, the improvement of chemical technology is required, especially the emergence of nitrated explosives.Of course, the ignition material fired by the musket is also closely related to the improvement of chemical technology.

Wang Gongchang and Zhu Youjian didn't have any specific requirements. He allowed the young and frivolous Sun Hedou to use his young innovative thinking to mess around. As long as he can kill people on the battlefield, he can mess around with croton, sulfuric acid, and mercury.

When we mentioned chemical technology earlier, we naturally have to mention Zhu Youjian's construction of Daming Academy of Sciences and Engineering Academy.

Theory lays the foundation of technology. The Ming Dynasty not only lacks professional chemical technology research institutions, but also lacks institutions for establishing natural science theories.

Zhu Youjian does not hope that the social elites of Ming Dynasty will continue to spend their wisdom on the correct pronunciation of ancient poems. There can be a simple study of research, but if it becomes the mainstream, it will be a bit deformed for a civilization.

Spending the spirit of exploring the truth and studying hard on mathematics, physics, chemistry and ideological construction may bring greater social significance.

The Daming Academy of Sciences is the center of theoretical research in the future, and the Academy of Engineering is the center of technology research, and there may be a series of universities that have the functions of both.

This may definitely put a lot of financial pressure on the Ming court in the future, but the wealth he brought to Daming is also immeasurable.

Xu Garden in Nanjing, the Han Palace in the former Yongle period was allocated by Zhu Youjian to Fang Yizhi as the base of the Daming Academy of Sciences. These gardens are also in vain, making it a holy place for learning without spending money on choosing places to build house.

As for the Daming Academy of Engineering, Zhu Youjian directly expropriated Wei Guogong's Bieye Yuyuan, took Xu Wenjue as the head of the Academy of Engineering, and temporarily developed Cinchona Cream here.

　Thank you book friend Six Disaster Canglong for rewarding 100 book coins
　　
　
(End of this chapter)