Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 225 Dinglu Flintlock Rifle
When we were almost reaching Yongchun, three speedboats approached and said that Liu Yuchun, the general manager of the Yongning Company, wanted to see us.

Liu Yuchun was the general manager of the Jinxiu Ironware Bureau, in charge of military industry. After the Red Army captured Nanning, Danchu advocated the establishment of the Yongning Company, a government-run enterprise with Liu Yuchun as the general manager, which had factories under its jurisdiction, including steel mills, gun factories, shipyards, and ammunition factories.

Counting on my fingers, Yongning Company has been established for nine months and all aspects are on the right track.

Yu Houji smiled and said, "Marshal, Liu Yuchun must be very happy to see you at this time."

Danchu shared the same feeling and readily agreed to meet with Liu Tongchun.

Soon, the three-ship returned. Liu Tongchun climbed up the long dragon warship along the rope ladder, carrying a long wooden box on his back.

"Tongchun, what treasure is in this wooden box?" Danchu asked knowingly. The personal soldiers had checked the wooden box and found two brand new flintlock rifles inside.

Liu Tongchun was overjoyed and said, "Marshal, it's a newly-designed flintlock rifle." He opened the wooden box and took out a long rifle, adding, "The hammer is very durable and can be fired four hundred times."

The standard of 75 times was set by Cen Danchu. The firing rate of a flintlock is half that of a matchlock, about %. A musket fired times can fire bullets.

The Red Army system had a base number of ammunition of 300 rounds. Before each battle, the Red Army had to equip each musket and each cannon with a base number of ammunition. After a battle, if the hammer, barrel or other parts were damaged, they could just be replaced. Of course, this required craftsmen to improve processing accuracy in order to achieve universal use of parts.

"Oh?" Danchu was overjoyed. He took the spear and couldn't let it go.

The barrel is black, painted, and has a smooth inner diameter. There are handguards at the front and back of the gun body to facilitate aiming. There is a buckle at the muzzle to facilitate the installation and removal of the bayonet. The firing mechanism at the rear of the gun has changed a lot and is more sophisticated than the matchlock gun.

Liu Tongchun came up and whispered, "Following the instructions of the Duke, we conducted many experiments over a period of thirteen months and finally succeeded. The spring used in the hammer should not be heated for too long when the iron is molten steel, and fine river sand should be added. It should be quenched with oil, then tempered and cooled slowly. The swords made from this kind of steel are also very tough and not easy to break."

Yu Houji had no idea about these technical principles. Danchu could only try his best to recall his knowledge of physics and chemistry and roughly outline them.

The time of molten iron to molten steel cannot be too long, otherwise more carbon will be left behind, and the steel produced will be high-carbon steel. River sand is silicon dioxide, and adding river sand during steelmaking actually adds silicon.

Then, the spring steel produced by Yongning Company should be high-carbon steel with silicon added, which can be called high-carbon alloy steel.

Of course, this high-carbon alloy steel is still a very primitive and simple alloy steel. High-performance alloy steel requires rare metals such as chromium, tungsten, manganese, and nickel to manufacture guns and artillery with better performance. This requires modern metallurgical knowledge and the separation of rare metals from rare earth ores, which is too advanced and not feasible for the time being.

"How much has the firing rate of the musket increased?" Danchu asked as he looked at it carefully.

"It's 50% better than the matchlock musket, and a skilled shooter can double it." Liu Tongchun laughed, quite proud.

The popularity of paper shell fixed ammunition increased the firing rate of the Red Army's matchlock guns to two rounds per minute. With the new flintlock rifles, the firing rate of the muskets could be increased to three or even four rounds per minute.

After rigorous training, the musketeers should be able to increase the firing rate of the flintlock to five to six rounds per minute. Danchu remembered that the Prussian army had conducted rigorous training on its soldiers, which enabled the musketeers to fire at a rate of seven to eight rounds per minute.

When the battle is about to begin, the flintlocks will not have the risk of the fuses accidentally igniting, and the musketeers can form a denser battle formation. In this way, the density of the Red Army's musket firepower will be greatly improved, and it will be more certain to deal with the Eight Banners of Manchuria.

"Yang Fang, you try it." Captain Yang Fang, who was skilled in shooting, took the flintlock rifle, familiarized himself with it briefly, and then prepared the bullets. After hearing a few gunshots, the gunpowder smoke had not yet dispersed, but the bullets had been used up. The firing rate was much faster than that of the matchlock rifle.

"Good gun! Good gun!" Yang Fang praised it highly, saying, "It is much easier to operate than a matchlock gun, and it is not easy to misfire."

Liu Tongchun took out another pistol and said, "Marshal, this pistol has the same caliber as the rifle and can be used with both bullets, but the barrel is slightly shorter and does not have a bayonet. It will be specially issued to cavalry and sailors in the future. I asked the brothers of the First Cavalry Regiment to try it out. They can shoot on horseback, but the firing rate is slightly slower."

"Well, not bad, not bad." Danchu was very pleased and said, "With this musket, the Red Army will be more confident in killing the enemy in battle. By the way, what is the monthly production of this gun?"

"The gun factory can produce 300 flintlock rifles per month. The hydraulic machine can be successfully debugged before the Spring Festival, and the production efficiency can be doubled by then. By the way, in order to keep it secret, the Jinxiu Ironware Bureau has stopped production, and most of the craftsmen have moved to Nanning."

There were also 1,500 new-style matchlock rifles in the army, which could be converted into flintlock rifles by simply changing the firing mechanism.

"Please give this gun a name, Sir."

Danchu thought for a moment and thought of several names, but none of them satisfied him. He looked up and saw a large flag flying on the warship with his official title "Dinglu Hou Zhenglu General Cen" written on it. He suddenly got an idea and said:
"The Red Army's main enemy is the Tartars in the north, so let's name these two guns 'Dinglu'. The long gun is called the 'Dinglu rifle', which is mainly used by infantry. The short gun is called the 'Dinglu carbine', which is mainly used by cavalry and sailors."

Liu Tongchun was overjoyed and said, "Marshal, the nine-section, ten-percent cannon has been successfully developed, and its power is equivalent to the two thousand jin red cannon. Please help us give it a name, Marshal."

This cannon was of great significance. From then on, the Red Army could also bring nine-section, ten-section cannons into the field, which could be connected together before the battle and used as heavy artillery to crush the enemy with artillery fire.

"Let's call it '100% Cannon'," Danchu said without hesitation, and then asked, "Can a 100% Cannon fire shrapnel shells?"

"Ordinary steel won't work, we have to use spring steel." Liu Tongchun said with regret, "But spring steel is complicated to make and has limited production. It has to be used as the hammer of a musket first, and it can't be used for shrapnel for the time being."

Taking this opportunity, Liu Tongchun also asked about several other issues.

1. Whether flintlock pistols were mass-produced. Danchu killed Jueluo Guoke on the battlefield with a flintlock pistol. The Ming Dynasty was able to produce flintlock pistols long ago, and they were mostly supplied to the royal family and nobles, but they were not popular among the military and the people.

The Red Army had limited productivity, so Danchu decided not to mass-produce pistols. Instead of producing flintlock pistols, he thought it would be better to invent a revolver. You know, the revolver was also invented in the era of flintlock pistols, just a little later.

Second, whether to keep the Jinxiu Ironware Bureau. Liu Tongchun was inclined to sell it to others, and some wealthy people in Yong'an and Zhaoping were willing to take it over, offering 8,000 taels of silver.

After the craftsmen moved away, the Jinxiu Ironware Bureau became an empty shell, and yet someone still offered eight thousand taels for it?

Liu Tongchun explained: "Businessmen are willing to get close to the government. They deliberately offer a high price because they believe that the Red Army will become a great force and are willing to establish good relations with us so that they can do business with us in the future."

"Haha, this is a good thing." Danchu smiled and said, "We encourage industry and commerce, and now it has finally worked. Let's sell the Jinxiu Ironware Bureau, but we require the merchant to change the name and not use the Jinxiu Ironware Bureau signboard anymore."

(End of this chapter)