Wanli 1592

Chapter 302 Political Supremacy
Coming out of the blacksmith camp, Xiao Ruxun held an experimental gun and went directly to the Yamen of the Ministry of War. Today is the day when Shi Xing agreed to discuss with Xiao Ruxun the details of the conquest of Dongwu Kingdom. Therefore, Xiao Ruxun went to the blacksmith camp to see his Have the blacksmiths made any progress? Unfortunately, the progress is limited, but at least there is still progress. The progress of the flintlock is one of Xiao Ruxun's confidence.

When they arrived at the Yamen of the Ministry of War, the guards of the Ministry of War bowed and saluted Xiao Pinglu. Compared with the earl period before, they are now much more respectful, probably not only because of their title, but also because of their own assignment. With this assignment, It is a well-known general who commands tens of thousands of troops, of course he deserves respect.

Entering the yamen of the Ministry of War, some familiar officers of the Ministry of War also saluted Xiao Ruxun. Xiao Ruxun returned the salute with a smile, and then quickly entered the duty room.

Shi Xing had been waiting for Xiao Ruxun for a while, and when he saw Xiao Ruxun coming, he immediately smiled happily and said, "I've been waiting for Ji Xin for a long time, and I'm really sorry for making Ji Xin run around on official business while she's taking a bath."

Xiao Ruxun shook his head and smiled and said: "The battle is important, there is no such thing as rest and rest, and the general also hopes to finalize this matter as soon as possible, arrange troops, prepare food, grass and weapons, so that when the time comes, we will go straight to the enemy's lair. Don't give Dongwu people a chance to breathe."

Shi Xing nodded, and said, "Ji Xin understands, and the old man is very relieved. Then, without delay, Ji Xin said before that the army will go south with... um? What is this? Ji Xin, this is a bird pistol?"

Shi Xing's attention was attracted by the experimental gun in Xiao Ruxun's hand. Xiao Ruxun smiled, raised the experimental gun, and said: "This is the last whim of the general on the Korean battlefield."

Shi Xing took the experimental gun, looked up and down, and was immediately attracted by the gun mechanism.

"This blunderbuss... no matchlock? No fire door? This... what kind of blunderbuss is this?"

Xiao Ruxun pointed to the trigger and said: "This is the whim of the last general. On the Korean battlefield and the Japanese battlefield, the last general always used pistols to fight. Scatter gunpowder, but if it is unavoidable, you can only bite the bullet, the last general thought, if you can make a firecracker that is not afraid of wind and rain, not only will the soldiers love it, but it will also be of great benefit in war.”

"The gun is not afraid of the wind and rain? This... I'm afraid it will be difficult to do, right? So, what method is Ji Xin thinking about?"

Shi Xing asked curiously.

"The method that the general is thinking of is aimed at the disadvantages of the existing bird guns. If the bird guns are to be activated, gunpowder and matchlocks are needed. The most troublesome thing is the matchlock. The matchlock cannot be short. If it is short, it will not be able to support it. The battle lasted for more than an hour, but it should not be too long. If it is too long, it will be troublesome for the pawns to carry it on their backs. Moreover, it is easy to be damp and cannot be ignited in windy and rainy days. That is the most troublesome.

The last general thought about whether other ignition methods could be used, and the gunpowder could be ignited without an open flame. If this could be done, the practicality of this bird gun would be greatly improved. So you can't use the bird gun as an excuse for fear of wind and rain and cling to the three-eyed gun to death. To be honest, the general really thinks that the three-eyed gun has a short mouth, a bowl mouth, a five-thunder machine, and these old firearms. It can be completely phased out and no longer produced. "

Shi Xing looked at the experimental gun in his hand, and asked: "Then Ji Xin thinks how to ignite the gunpowder without an open flame?"

Xiao Ruxun took out two pieces of flint from his bosom, and then polished them up and down, with a sound of cracking, sparks burst out.

"Flintstones?!"

Shi Xing exclaimed: "So that's how it is. Applying the principle of flint and steel to the bird gun, and using the method of flint and steel to make the fire gun ignite by itself! There is no need to ignite the fire with a match!"

Xiao Ruxun said with a smile: "That's right. In the Korean camp, I saw soldiers using flints to make fire by chance. Then I realized that this method can also be applied to bird guns. So I recruited a group of blacksmiths to start experimenting. Remove the gun mechanism of the bird gun, build the gun mechanism of your own imagination, and use flint to ignite the fire to modify the bird gun, and want to make this kind of self-generated fire gun, which can also be called a flintlock.”

Shi Xing looked at the trigger of the experimental gun as if he had found a treasure, and said excitedly: "Then Ji Xin, did you succeed? If it succeeds, what is the range of this flintlock? What is the impact? Is it better than a bird?"

Xiao Ruxun smiled wryly and said: "Butang, it's not that easy. This experimental gun is just made according to the general's idea. If you want to make the flintlock ignite by itself, that's not enough. You see."

Xiao Ruxun took out a piece of polished flint from his bosom, inserted it into the hammer, then shifted Huolian's position, and pushed the hammer back, Shi Xing heard a slight click, and then Xiao Ruxun pulled the hammer. The trigger, the hammer and the flint hit Huo Lian's position, the two collided not violently, and no sparks were sparked.

Shi Xing raised his head in surprise.

"This……"

"This is the current achievement of the last general. We can only hit the hammer to hit the fire. However, if we want to stimulate sparks to ignite the gunpowder, it is still more difficult, because there is no good enough spring iron. Thirty The iron that has been smelted for [-] smelting is unusable, and this is the iron that has been smelted for [-] smelting, so it is obviously not usable, and the general is asking his subordinates to make [-]-smelting steel to see if the strength of [-]-smelting steel is enough.”

"Is that so... that means, for now, the flintlock is still unusable?"

Xiao Ruxun nodded helplessly: "And more importantly, if only 20-refined steel or even more than [-]-refined steel can have enough strength to make the raw materials needed for this bolt, then the cost of making one of these guns will be as high as [-]%. It takes about [-] taels of silver, not to mention the huge consumption, but it is still very good scrap steel, the key is good iron, Butang, why is the quality of our Daming iron so poor?"

With embarrassment and helplessness on his face, Shi Xing put down the experimental gun and sighed.

"I can't do anything about this matter. It's not easy for me to intervene in the matter that the Ministry of Industry is responsible for. It is reported to the cabinet, and the cabinet can only make mud. I have also visited the iron-making workshop of the Ministry of Industry. Those craftsmen are all I am vague about it, and I don’t care about other things. I only know how to swing the hammer. I look like I am unlovable, and the treatment is extremely bad. It's been like this for generations, and I don't know when it will be the head."

After Shi Xing's words came out, Xiao Ruxun knew that he could not rely on the Ministry of Industry to produce good steel, and the idea of ​​making blast furnace steel for the imperial court was also dispelled.

This is not a technical problem, but a system problem. If the system problem is not resolved, no matter how good the technology is, it will be annihilated. From ancient times to the present, are such things rare?

Politics is paramount, and laymen direct experts. I don't know when this bad habit will be resolved.

(End of this chapter)