Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 111 Infantry-style flintlock gun launched

Song Yingxing's Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau finally manufactured a set of iron and steel smelting equipment mentioned by Zhu Youjian.

That is to say, coal is used as fuel, the crucible is used as the furnace, and the iron is stirred with willow sticks at the same time, and then the mold turntable is turned by hydraulic power, so that the molten iron is directly cooled and formed on the mold, and then the hammer is initially hammered by hydraulic power, and the craftsman polishes it.

Zhu Youjian named this set of equipment "Daming No. 001 Blast Furnace".

Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau has a set of "Daming No. 001 Blast Furnace" equipment in each group, and each craftsman has a different division of labor. The efficiency is naturally much faster than the original tandem ironmaking, and the yield rate has also increased a lot.

Each set of equipment can be replaced at any time for large-scale production of large-scale parts of various weapons, because only one set of molds needs to be changed.

However, the Fire Gun Bureau and the Artillery Bureau have not yet determined the regulations on flintlocks and field guns, which makes it impossible for the Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau to produce important parts of flintlocks and field guns according to the production requirements of the Fire Gun Bureau and the Artillery Bureau.

However, some cold weapons with great practical value, such as Miao Dao, Japanese Dao, and spears, have begun mass production. Because craftsmen do not need to burn, cast and hammer for a long time, the production speed of these cold weapons is particularly fast, and the sharpness and toughness Much better than before, because the optimum charcoal content can be determined at any time by the degree of burning of the stick.

Right now, Zhu Youjian's guards have 30 soldiers in the first three armies alone, plus the number of recruits reported by the other guards.

Zhu Youjian's guards had more than 50 recruits at once, so the demand for weapons for recruits of this size army is still very high.

Now that the Bureau of Iron and Steel Smelting has improved the level and quality of smelting steel, it can produce more than [-] cold weapons of various types every month.

Coupled with the weapons in stock in various places, it is basically enough for recruits to equip cold weapons in the early stage, and the supply will completely exceed demand in the future.

According to Zhu Youjian's request, Tang Ruowang has already begun to draw the flintlock guns that Ming Dynasty would actually use in field battles based on Portuguese soldiers' flintlock guns, Bi Maokang's "Illustration of Military Weapons" and Zhu Youjian's drawings.

For the launching device, Tang Ruowang made partial improvements. The entire bolt surface presents a curved surface, which is the banana configuration in the teaching. The medicine pot is widened and deepened, and the fire curtain is also obviously widened. It is much thicker, and the batten is also thickened, and the batten is changed to a fingerboard type to make it easier to operate.

The hammer also fully considers the practicability and long-term effectiveness of firearms on the battlefield. The cock-shaped firing device is changed to a swan-neck type, which makes the firing more efficient and easier to operate. Not only that, but also removes the Portuguese gun. Some fancy decorations on the gun made it more civilian, and the butt was changed, a bayonet and a front sight were added.

The total length of the entire flintlock gun plus the bayonet reached seven feet long, almost exceeding the height of an adult male.

However, according to Tang Ruowang’s estimated performance of this flintlock gun is equivalent to the European level in the early eighteenth century in all aspects, although it is only a partial change to make the whole device more suitable for ergonomics, protection against wind and rain, and long service life. .

What's more, according to Zhu Youjian's request, this flintlock gun is to be used as the standard weapon of Ming Dynasty, that is, to unify the standards of each component including bullets, so it can be more advanced beyond this era.

Of course, such a long gun has no effect on infantry, and it is obviously not conducive to immediate combat for cavalry.

Therefore, Tang Ruowang had to continue to design a cavalry-specific flintlock gun, but this kind of cavalry-specific flintlock gun required that the barrel should not be too long, but too short barrel would affect the design accuracy and air tightness.

Therefore, in order not to affect the shooting accuracy and air tightness, the caliber of the barrel must be reduced, which requires the Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau to manufacture a better barrel.

After Zhu Youjian learned that Tang Ruowang had theoretically drawn the flintlock gun for the infantry of the Ming Dynasty, he ordered the development and experimentation to be carried out immediately. The flintlock gun for the cavalry can be put aside first, and the three-eyed blunderbuss can be used for the firearms for the cavalry. And a certain degree of modification to the ignition device of the three-eyed gun may be sufficient to meet the military needs of the current era.

Seeing that it will be 15 years before Chongzhen in more than a month, the urgency of the war is becoming more and more obvious. Zhu Youjian can no longer wait for the special flintlock guns for cavalry and infantry to be manufactured. He can only let the infantry Equip a flintlock.

The quality of materials is the basis of gun manufacturing. Tang Ruowang, Song Yingxing, and several experienced senior craftsmen from the Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau and the Fire Gun Bureau formed a research team. The latest "Daming No. 001 Tianzi Blast Furnace" was used as the casting equipment. A group of craftsmen is responsible for the process from iron ore smelting to the casting of larger parts such as gun barrels, while the first group of craftsmen newly formed by the Fire Gun Bureau is otherwise responsible for forging and welding wrought iron into various parts.

Each component is manufactured according to the specifications calibrated by Tang Ruowang’s drawings. Each craftsman in the first group of Huobaoju is responsible for the manufacture of one part, while the second group of Huobaoju is only responsible for assembly, and the third group is responsible for trial performance.

As soon as the molten iron in the blast furnace came out, it flowed into the pond, and the craftsmen of the Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau immediately prepared to stir it with willow sticks.

"First three, take out when it burns to six out of ten, and make a record!"

Song Yingxing had to determine the optimal carbon content of the barrel of the flintlock gun used in the first main equipment of the Ming Dynasty, so he had to strictly record the use of willow sticks.

For this reason, Song Yingxing also asked people to prepare weighed copper and lead blocks; once the iron barrel with the best carbon content could not meet the effectiveness of the flintlock, he was going to try to use alloys to make better guns Tube.

Moreover, before that, he had already ordered people to add some metal components such as copper powder, knowing that some alloys already had better effects.

As soon as the gun barrel condenses, the craftsmen start to take it out, and at the same time change the mold to produce steel ingots, and then cool it, and the most powerful craftsmen of the Fire Gun Bureau immediately process precision parts.At the same time, a team of craftsmen screens and modifies the barrels to ensure the same caliber and length.

Tang Ruowang stared at the craftsman who made the fire curtain door: "The firing device is the key to this gun. There must be no carelessness. If it is too soft or too hard, you must point it out. The thickness must meet my requirements. It cannot be too thick or too thick. Thin, the error control is within the scope of my request."

After all the parts are manufactured, they are dropped from the bamboo rails (the surface of the bamboo is smooth) through a [-]-degree slope, and then assembled and inspected by the final craftsman.

Repeatedly and repeatedly, three days later, Tang Ruowang and Song Yingxing looked at a polished wooden-handled flintlock gun with disgrace and smirked.

"Report, the musket has been tested, the accurate range is 120 steps, and the maximum range is [-] steps! Passed!"

The craftsmen below returned the firearms as a shooting experiment.

　Thank you for the reward of 100 book coins from the book friends Liuhuo Canglong and 100 book coins from Nuhai
　　
　
(End of this chapter)