Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 271 The Evolution of Ming Firearms

"You two have made great contributions!" The emperor was very pleased and looked at the other person, "You are also very good, Sun Long."

"I dare not claim credit for this."

"This is what a servant should do."

He Shengrui and Zhao Shizhen breathed a sigh of relief, and Sun Long felt even more relieved.

During the reign of Emperor Wanli, Sun Long was appreciated by Zhu Yijun and had a good relationship with Zhang Juzheng. From the summer of the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Wanli to the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Emperor Wanli, except for a trip back to Beijing in the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Wanli, Sun Long stayed in Hangzhou and managed the Jiangsu and Zhejiang weaving.

Weaving bureaus were actually not new. The emperor had three major weaving bureaus in Nanjing, Suzhou and Hangzhou in the south of the Yangtze River, which were managed by eunuchs. Local areas also had their own bureaus, which not only met the demand for silk cloth from in-kind taxes, but also served as a source of revenue.

Sun Long was in charge of the Suzhou and Hangzhou Weaving Bureau, and later collected taxes for Suzhou, Songjiang and other prefectures, becoming the "notorious" mining supervisor and tax collector.

If Wan Li had not been ordered by Zhu Changluo to return to the capital early in the 28th year, the Suzhou uprising would have been waiting for Sun Long.

Now Zhu Changluo has chosen the right person.

He Shengrui has very strong planning, construction and overall management capabilities, Zhao Shizhen is a technical engineer who can do hands-on work, and Sun Long has more than 20 years of experience in large-scale "handicraft" management.

"You have all seen the power of the bird guns and Lumi guns, the tiger squat cannons and the French locomotive cannons that were practiced by the Tianshu Camp before." Zhu Changluo looked at Tian Le, Li Chengliang and others, "What do you think of these new guns and new cannons?"

Li Chengliang's eyes lit up and his gaze was fixed on the new gun.

He looked at Zhao Shizhen and said, "Zhao Dutang, when can this new gun be manufactured in large quantities? Can every gun be as accurate as this one?"

Zhao Shizhen looked embarrassed. He looked at Zhu Changluo first, then said, "I will report the truth: Your Majesty hopes that I can make this new gun. Now I have tried my best, but I have only made three guns. The master craftsmen may not be able to pick out one gun that is suitable for use out of ten guns."

Li Chengliang showed disappointment in his eyes and shook his head with a look of regret.

In previous drills, this new gun no longer needed to be hung with a fuse like the bird gun. Even a well-trained bird gun soldier could only fire three pellets before the fuse burned out.

This new gun no longer requires a fuse.

Li Chengliang, who had been through many battles, naturally knew what every step missing on the battlefield meant. Moreover, without the need for a fuse, this new gun would be much more useful in many wet and windy weather.

In addition, this new gun has more than one less step. It has a special structure for loading bullets and powder, so there is no need to pour gun powder and bullets first, and then pour primer.

After listening to Zhao Shizhen's words, Zhu Changluo took the gun in his hand and looked at it carefully.

The Ming Dynasty did not completely stop research on firearms, and Zhao Shizhen is proof of this.

The bird gun is a kind of flintlock rifle, which has an improved ignition mechanism compared to the earliest matchlock rifle.

The earliest musket was called a matchlock musket, which had a muzzle and a dedicated chamber.

When using it, the soldier first poured gunpowder and bullets into the straight tube, and then compacted it with a cleaning rod. Then, he poured the primer into the chamber behind the front chamber, and ignited it through the fuse at the firing door leading to the chamber.

Because it can only be pressed from the muzzle to the bottom of the gun, the bullet must be smaller than the caliber of the barrel. When firing, a large amount of gunpowder has not yet burned out, and part of the firepower will erupt through the firing port, and the small bullet will fly out.

The force generated by the combustion and explosion of gunpowder sprays out through the firing port at the rear and the gap in the barrel at the front, and the range, accuracy and rate of fire of the projectile are very limited.

With such an operating procedure, a well-trained soldier would probably need a minute to fire each bullet.

In a close combat battlefield, every second counts. The effective killing range of this kind of musket is only a few dozen meters. At this distance, not to mention cavalry, even charging infantry would not take much time to reach the front.

This is why, although muskets were invented during the Song and Yuan dynasties, firearms units were still largely ineffective against the Northern Tartar cavalry who were armed with cold weapons.

The matchlock gun is an improvement in the ignition mechanism, which only increases the firing rate by about 30% to 40% and slightly increases the range.

By using this feature, they could use three rows of matchlock musketeers to carry out a line-up shooting tactic, barely increasing their attack power. However, since the basic principle was not much different from that of the matchlock musket, their attack power was still limited.

As early as the year when Emperor Jiajing ascended the throne, the Portuguese, who had had contact with the Ming Dynasty during the Zhengde period, had a conflict with the Ming Dynasty in Tuen Mun, Guangdong.

Although the Battle of Tuen Mun was ultimately won, it was not a smooth victory. Wang Hong, then deputy envoy of the Guangdong Coast Guard, was defeated first and then won. This battle had two results: first, the Portuguese fleet was defeated, and second, the disadvantage in firepower was recognized.

[The Portuguese are extremely ferocious, relying only on these guns and these ships. The power of the guns is unmatched by any weapon since ancient times. It is most convenient to use them to defend the city and resist the invaders. Please issue the model to all borders to manufacture them to resist the invaders.] After Wang Hong became the Minister of Personnel in the 11th year of the Wanli reign, he petitioned Emperor Jiajing to learn from the advantages of Western weapons and improve firearms.

In the 27th year of Jiajing, a batch of matchlock guns were captured during the anti-Japanese war in the southeast. By the end of Jiajing, the Ming Dynasty had already produced bird guns that were "more exquisite than those in the West."

During the Southeast Anti-Japanese War, the tactic of stacking several layers of bird gunners in a chain had already emerged. "When the enemy sees the gun coming, they lie on the ground and hide. When they see that they cannot respond to the gun, they rush forward. From now on, they will be divided into several layers, and they cannot be fired early. They will still be guarded by short weapons."

Later, the Rumi Kingdom, which was probably located in the area of ​​present-day Turkey, sent an envoy, Dosma, to the Ming Dynasty to present their matchlock guns. Based on the bird gun and the matchlock gun presented by the Rumi Kingdom, Zhao Shizhen improved it into the Rumi gun in the 26th year of the Wanli reign.

Among the Ming army, the Rumi gun has the best performance, and its range has increased by about 50%. "Only the Rumi gun has the longest range and is the most deadly."

After Zhu Changluo specially promoted Zhao Shizhen to be the director of the Military Strategy Hall, he naturally placed higher expectations on him.

Although he was not an expert in weapons, Zhu Changluo at least understood the development of muskets and some key points, such as the replacement of the matchlock with a flintlock, the change from muzzle loading to breech loading, and the integration of gunpowder and bullets into a quantitative loading system.

In this era, due to the limitation of technology, there was no need to think about automatic rifles. It would be great if we could produce a large number of flintlock rifles and find ways to improve the rate of fire, range and accuracy.

He actually didn't expect that the three of them could come up with the current sample.

The flintlock, the bullet loaded with a bolt in the breech, and the range increased to nearly twice that of the Rumi gun. Zhu Changluo estimated it to be about 200 meters during the demonstration.

The firing frequency has increased by nearly two times, due to improvements in flintlock and loading methods, which is naturally incomparable to that of the bird gun and the Rumi gun.

This time, about one minute is enough to fire three bullets. If it can be mass-produced, it can be fired in turns using the platoon shooting tactic. That's why Li Chengliang was so excited.

pity……

Zhu Changluo asked: "Only master craftsmen can make it. What are the difficulties? Please tell me in detail."

"Yes." Zhao Shizhen also wanted to solve these problems. "First, the flint. It is not easy to find. It comes in different sizes, shapes, hardness and brittleness. After using it many times, it needs to be replaced. Now we can't find a large amount of suitable flint."

"Whatever you want, just go and look for it! Ming Dynasty is vast and rich in resources, are you afraid that you won't be able to find it?" Li Chengliang said immediately.

"Don't worry, Marquis Ningyuan. This is only the easiest difficulty to solve." Zhao Shizhen shook his head. "The next thing is the barrel. Your Majesty, only one out of ten is suitable for use because of the smelting of the barrel. Your Majesty said that the ammunition is integrated and loaded after the chamber, and also mentioned the magic of the bolt. We have tried to make it. But in this way, the size of the ammunition and the size of the barrel must be exactly the same. Otherwise, there is a risk of the barrel exploding, and it cannot be both far and accurate."

Zhu Changluo nodded silently.

The range of a musket, to put it bluntly, is how much percentage of the explosive thrust of the gunpowder the projectile can utilize. As for shooting accuracy, Zhu Changluo also knew about the concept of rifling, which makes the bullet rotate at high speed when it is fired.

Currently, as the firing rate and range have been improved, standardized precision manufacturing processes have become a challenge.

After all, we are planning to manufacture a large number of equipment, so the cost cannot be ignored.

"And the bolt." Zhao Shizhen said, "This gun is new and hasn't fired a few rounds yet. Although it has many uses, after being used so many times, the primer residue will inevitably clog the battlefield. If it is not cleaned up in time, the gun will get stuck."

When Li Chengliang heard the last two problems, he sighed and said, "What a pity!"

On the battlefield, the most common thing is mistakes or panic caused by chaos.

He looked at the gun carefully and began to understand what Zhao Shizhen meant.

Zhu Changluo was silent for a while, then suddenly smiled and said, "With a gun, we can solve the problems one by one. Are there any other problems?"

(End of this chapter)