At the beginning of the civil castle, the Ming God of War was a little panicked

Chapter 137 Improved Musket
After Zhu Qizhen came back from his personal expedition, he only went to court once, and then disappeared.

All the officials are already used to it, especially those Qingliu. At the beginning, they shouted every day, you are the emperor, you want to go to court, and you can't neglect your government...

Later, I found that the big boss was not present, so it was quite comfortable to work.

As for Zhu Qiyu, he is nothing more than a senior wage earner. Since everyone is out to work, don't make things difficult for anyone.

After a long time, I got used to it.

On the outskirts of the capital, Xishan Wang Gong Factory.

The first batch of flintlock guns has been tested in actual combat and has shown great power. At the same time, many problems have been exposed.

Among them, the biggest problem is that the quality of the steel is not good enough, which causes some firearms to heat up and even explode after firing multiple times in a short period of time.

The quality of granule gunpowder also needs to be improved, otherwise, a lot of smoke and gunpowder gas will be produced during the firing process, which may even burn the shooter in severe cases.

Li Shulin sorted out all the feedback information, and led a group of craftsmen to conduct experiments day and night to find solutions.

After Zhu Qizhen inspected the improved musket of Wang Gong Factory, it has indeed improved to a certain extent in terms of performance.

"Your Majesty, I will show you a little thing."

Li Shulin handed over a wooden box. After Zhu Qizhen opened it, he found that it was a short gun that looked like a pistol.

"The power and range of this short gun are relatively poor, but it is very convenient to carry. Your Majesty may wish to keep it with you in case of emergency."

Zhu Qizhen picked it up and played with it, then came to the shooting range, loaded the ammunition, and fired with a bang.

Gunpowder filled the air, and a hole was pierced in the target ahead.

"Not bad, very lethal at close range!"

"Your Majesty, please take a look, this is the modified ammunition of Weichen."

Li Shulin picked up a bullet, which was made of granulated gunpowder into a cylindrical shape, and the outer layer was wrapped with special oil paper. The radius matched the bore of the gun, and a steel ball was glued to the front end. When loading, you only need to put the bullet upside down from the gun The mouth is stuffed in, and then compacted with a cleaning rod, and then it can be fired.

There are two advantages of this kind of bullet. One is the fixed amount of gunpowder. There is no situation where too much gunpowder explodes the chamber, or too little gunpowder causes insufficient power.

Second, when firing, hit the flint with a hammer to ignite. At the moment when the gunpowder explodes, the outer layer of paper will be completely burned, and the embers will fly out of the chamber with the explosion. Like guns, the chamber must be cleaned after each shot, effectively increasing the rate of fire.

For the front-loading flintlock gun, this modification has reached the extreme. Except for the steel that needs to be improved, the others are basically impeccable.

Seeing the pride on Li Shulin's face, Zhu Qizhen knew very well that due to the structure and principle of this gun, what can be done so far is only limited improvement and cannot achieve qualitative improvement.

However, I want to make further improvements, but I don't know how to start.

After all, I am not a firearms professional, at most I can provide some ideas for flintlock guns, but I don't know anything about the complicated principles of modern firearms.

I vaguely remember that in chemistry class, I mentioned something about the ingredients of smokeless gunpowder, which seems to be nitric acid or something.

Li Shulin didn't know what Zhu Qizhen was thinking, and continued: "My minister suggested that we should increase the research on the trigger mechanism of landmines. As for grenades... we should put them aside for the time being, because it was found in actual combat that the power of grenades is too small. If you want to increase the power, you can only increase the amount of gunpowder, so the size and weight of the grenade will also increase, but the strength of the soldier's arm is limited, the heavier the weight, the closer the throwing distance."

Zhu Qizhen shook his head secretly. It's not Li Shulin's fault. Under the current technical conditions, it's easy to fall into this misunderstanding.

"Have you ever thought about continuing to improve gunpowder and increase its power without changing the amount of gunpowder?"

"This one……"

Li Shulin looked puzzled, and said: "Weichen and a group of craftsmen have done hundreds of experiments, and the current ratio and granulation of gunpowder is already the most powerful."

"What I mean is to develop a new type of gunpowder and find a material that can replace black gunpowder."

"New gunpowder?"

Li Shulin scratched his head, isn't gunpowder just black powder, is there another category?

Zhu Qizhen didn't know what to do, so he could only say: "I suggest you look up the records related to saltpeter and sulfur in ancient books, and you may find new discoveries."

Although Li Shulin didn't quite understand, he could only nod in agreement.

At this time, Li Zhen hurried over.

"Your Majesty, you are looking for me!"

Zhu Qizhen nodded and said: "I remember you mentioned that if all soldiers are equipped with flintlock guns and ammunition bags, it will be extremely inconvenient to move around, isn't it true?

"Yup!"

Li Zhen nodded and said: "In individual combat, flintlock guns are used for long-range shooting, and knives are required for melee combat. In this way, it is equivalent to an extra piece of equipment on the soldiers, which will definitely affect the agility of the battle. The Thousand Battalion is full of cavalry, and the situation is better, but if it is replaced by infantry, the impact will be obvious."

"Therefore, Wei Chen suggested that the arms should be divided into special and detailed divisions. For example, the gunners are only equipped with muskets and do not carry knives. The same is true for rattan players, spearmen, and axemen. Work closely with each other.”

Zhu Qizhen asked: "In this way, the limitations of individual arms are revealed. Take spearmen as an example. They are not equipped with melee weapons. What should they do if they are approached by the enemy?"

Li Zhen scratched her head and said: "Your Majesty, you have to make a choice in everything. If you want to maximize the power of muskets, you can only sacrifice other aspects. From my point of view, as long as the spearmen's long-range shooting ability can be used, Even if the melee combat ability is zero, it is worth it."

Zhu Qizhen had been prepared for a long time, and immediately called Li Zhen and Li Shulin to the study.

Not long after, a sketch appeared in front of the two of them.

Li Shulin was still a little puzzled, but Li Zhen saw the way in it at a glance, and said excitedly: "This is a good idea. If you pair a short knife with a musket, you don't have to worry about the choice!"

Zhu Qizhen nodded, and said: "The dagger can be worn on the body at ordinary times, and when necessary, it can be taken out and combined at the muzzle of the gun, and it can immediately form a combat power."

Li Shulin also understood, and couldn't stop nodding in praise.

"Li Shulin!"

"Chen is here!"

"Look for some skilled craftsmen, and design a slot at the muzzle that can fit a dagger!"

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, this is easy!"

Zhu Qizhen looked at Li Zhen again, and said: "You can use a wooden stick of similar length to replace the gun body, attach a dagger, let the troops train first, and find out the matching tactics in the shortest time!"

Li Zhen saluted and said, "I'm going to prepare now!"

(End of this chapter)