Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youjian was very satisfied with the sensation caused by the hot air balloon experiment.

What particularly satisfied him was the shock this incident brought to religious people.

Some religious figures who had previously been vaguely resistant to the establishment of a system of gods and immortals no longer made any noise after the hot air balloon took people up to the sky.

They all thought that this was not something ordinary people could think of, and the emperor must have received revelation from the gods.

Therefore, these people began to take the initiative in establishing the system of gods and immortals.

The Reformation was a big step forward.

Zhu Youjian was very happy with this unexpected surprise, and asked Song Xiance, a sorcerer recommended by Niu Jinxing, to help him keep an eye on the matter.

And when he summoned Lu Xiang, he gave him rewards.

At the request of Lü Xiang, the Lu Ban Temple was built in the capital to worship Gongshu Ban, and Li Bing, Cai Lun, Zhang Heng, Zhuge Liang, Ma Jun, Yuwen Kai, Li Chun, Shen Kuo, Bi Sheng, Guo Shoujing, Tao Chengdao, Kuai Xiang, Lu Xiang, Xu Gao, Pan Jixun and others were worshipped as followers.

After being listed as a meritorious official enshrined in the Temple of Literature, the Temple of Martial Arts, and the Temple of Emperors, Zhuge Liang was also included in the Temple of Lu Ban for his inventions such as the Kongming Lantern, the Zhuge Crossbow, and the Wooden Ox and Horse.

This person is really talented and knowledgeable, and he can be seen everywhere. If Shennong Temple also has people to worship, Zhuge Liang, who invented steamed bread, would probably be selected.

Feeling that Zhuge Liang was everywhere, Zhu Youjian established the Lu Ban Award at the request of Lü Xiang, selecting outstanding projects and technologies and awarding them prizes every year.

At the same time, Zhu Youjian instructed Lu Xiang to improve the hot air balloon as soon as possible, send it to the front line after it is put into practical use, and use it with a telescope to detect the enemy.

Compared to expensive watchtowers, hot air balloons are cheaper and can rise higher. When paired with a telescope, enemies can be seen from a long distance.

This is a powerful weapon for the Ming army who are focused on defending the city.

It can also be used to observe the landing point of artillery and for artillery calibration.

It can be said that Zhu Youjian asked Lü Xiang to build a hot air balloon not only for scientific development, but more importantly, it could be used in war and could be regarded as a powerful weapon.

After Lu Xiang agreed, he reported another matter:
"The musket and bayonet have been basically finalized. Your Majesty, please name them!"

The final musket is presented after continuous optimization.

Zhu Youjian saw that there were two models and said with interest:

"Why are there two types? Can't they be combined into one?"

Lu Xiang pointed at the larger musket and replied:
"This heavy musket is based on the turtledove musket."

"The caliber is set at six points, or twenty millimeters."

"Its arrow-shaped bullet weighs half a tael, and the propellant is about one tael. The effective range is nearly a hundred feet, thirty meters farther than before."

"When firing lead bullets, the lead bullet weighs one and a half taels, and has an effective range of nearly a hundred meters, and can penetrate armor."

Such a musket can meet Zhu Youjian's needs for power and range.

But the only drawback is that it is too heavy.

Lu Xiang tried his best to lose weight, but could only keep it at thirteen or fourteen kilograms.

When Ji Jike and other warriors were equipped with bayonets, they felt that the bayonet fighting was not smooth.

Only relatively strong soldiers can use it for shooting and can barely use it for bayonet fighting.

It can be said that although this heavy musket is not the raised gun that Zhu Youjian once envisioned, it has almost reached the limit of single-soldier operation.

So after Lu Xiang discussed with Ji Jike, Xu Guangqi and others, they finalized a new type of musket.

Lu Xiang pointed at it and said:

"This light musket is based on the Rumi musket."

"The caliber is set at 3.6, or 12 millimeters."

"Its arrow-shaped bullet weighs two coins, and the propellant is about four coins, which is still twice as much."

"The effective range is sixty zhang, which is two hundred meters in metric terms."

"Lead bullets are less powerful, only slightly stronger than bird guns, and can only penetrate armor at a distance of 40 to 50 meters."

After pointing out the shortcomings of the light musket, Lu Xiang also pointed out its advantages, saying:
"But it weighs less than ten kilograms, and it is more convenient for bayonet fighting after installing a bayonet."

"And the recoil is low, so soldiers can withstand it with a little training. They can train faster than heavy musketeers and shoot more accurately."

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, knowing the reason.

Because if we calculate based on the energy of about 200J per gram of black powder, the energy of four qian, or fifteen grams of black powder, is about 3000J. The actual energy will be lower due to reasons such as the loading method.

The recoil around this range is most suitable for soldiers to bear. The full-power rifle bullets of later generations are about 3500J. The intermediate-power bullets and small-caliber bullets are about 2000J.

The muzzle energy of a light musket is about 3000J, which is of course easier to withstand than the muzzle energy of a heavy musket of 7500J.

(The bottom is the Rumi gun and the Bangou gun/Turtle dove gun, the imitation objects of the light musket and the heavy musket) Because of this, the light musket is superior to the heavy musket in terms of recoil, etc. The risk of explosion is also lower, and it can be made lighter.

The only drawback is that the power is too low when using lead bullets.

Zhu Youjian looked at the two muskets and said:
"The effective range of a light musket with an arrow-shaped bullet is 200 meters, which seems to be barely enough."

"It's just that the lead bullets are too weak to deal with the Jianlu cavalry."

"What did Master Xu say? What kind of musket does he plan to equip?"

Lu Xiang and Xu Guangqi conducted experiments in the army and said:

"Master Xu suggested that we equip both types of muskets, with the light musket being the main one."

"The heavy muskets are given to elite soldiers to strike the enemy at a distance of 100 feet."

"Also, he suggested building a double-barreled or triple-barreled hand cannon that fired arrow-shaped bullets to replace the three-barreled cannon in the army."

It is not easy to reload a muzzleloader, and if you are too close, you will not be able to reload at all.

This was the reason why Zhu Youjian had previously equipped the Jinyiwei with Zhuge Crossbows as self-defense weapons.

However, Zhuge Liannu's armor-piercing power was too weak, and the army looked down on it. Xu Guangqi suggested developing a double-barreled or triple-barreled hand cannon to replace the three-barreled cannon that fired at close range.

With the three-barreled gun's range of more than ten feet, a hand gun can easily replace it.

Zhu Youjian appreciated this idea and nodded in agreement. He had long been dissatisfied with the three-barreled guns equipped by the Ming army and wanted to replace them with other fire guns.

The double-barreled or triple-barreled pistol proposed by Xu Guangqi was indeed a good idea.

Thinking about the inconvenience of igniting a matchlock gun, Zhu Youjian said:
"How is the development of the flintlock musket going?"

"Does Bi Maokang or anyone else have any ideas?"

Zhu Youjian chose Bi Maokang as the Minister of Military Equipment because he hoped that he would invent Bi Maokang's self-made musket as happened in history.

But the conditions are obviously not yet ripe, Lu Xiang said:

"Flintlock lighters have been manufactured, but the firing rate is not high yet."

"It takes a lot of force to pull the trigger, and sometimes you have to pull it several times."

"I think the spring-wheel lighter is more practical, but it's too expensive."

The spring-wheel gun is a device between the matchlock gun and the flintlock gun. It is now widely used in the West and has also been introduced to the Ming Dynasty. When Shang Zhouzuo was ordered to collect fire guns, he also collected them.

The principle of this type of bolt is similar to that of the gear lighter of later generations. It uses the friction between the wheel surface and pyrite or flint to produce sparks, which fall into the powder pot and ignite the propellant.

Its ignition success rate and reliability were naturally superior to those of the immature flintlock rifle.

The only disadvantage is that it has more parts and is more complicated to manufacture.

But Zhu Youjian, who had seen the lighter, did not think it was complicated, but valued reliability. So he ordered:
"Try to make a batch of spring-wheel muskets and see what the cost and effect are."

"If you can afford it, then equip the new army."

Compared with the matchlock gun, which had a lower technical level and might be copied by the Jianlu, Zhu Youjian preferred the spring wheel gun, which had a higher technical level.

Even if the wheellock cost more, he was willing to put up with it—

The higher the technological level of firearms, the more difficult it would be for the Jianlu to imitate and catch up with the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, his requirement for firearms is to take small steps and accelerate iterations, and to speed up the transition to self-generating muskets while keeping the caliber and ammunition unchanged for the time being.

Maintain the rhythm of producing one generation and researching and developing one generation until a musket with acceptable cost and power appears and is equipped in large quantities.

After formulating this strategy, Zhu Youjian asked the Ordnance Research Institute to develop a new musket as soon as possible after the musket was finalized.

And according to the recently formulated pinyin, the fire gun presented by Lü Xiang was named:

"According to the previously determined pinyin, the first letter of the word 鐵 is C. From now on, the abbreviation of 火鐵 will start with C."

"The heavy musket is CZ. This musket is named Heavy musket Type 1, abbreviated as CZ. It will be printed on the gun body in the future, and the number will be printed according to the workshop code and production date."

"The workshop must keep records of who assembled the muskets, gun barrels and other important parts, who the source was, and who was in charge on that day. When problems are discovered, they must be traced back to the person in charge on that day."

"Similarly, the light musket is named Light musket type 1, abbreviated as CQ."

"The bayonet is CD, and the pistol is CS."

After personally deciding on the name, Zhu Youjian asked Lu Xiang, Bi Maokang and others to discuss the matter and mobilize the craftsmen from the Ordnance Department, Wensi Academy and other government offices to manufacture 5,000 muskets as quickly as possible to equip the new army trained by Xu Guangqi.

After several months of training, this new army has become a strong army. It is in urgent need of equipping itself with new weapons and testing new tactics. (End of this chapter)