The prince is more stable

Chapter 114: The Beginning of an Era

Having experienced the era when traffic was king in his previous life, Zhao Xiaoqian doesn't mind slightly exaggerated advertising.

The job application resume he submitted to the company in his previous life was full of content, like a widow who had been widowed for twenty years, with water dripping out of her mouth.

But Zhang Xiaoyi’s advertising is too outrageous.

"Why don't you go down and ask about the reputation yourself? I want to do some background check..." Zhao Xiaoqian suggested seriously.

Zhang Xiaoyi smiled. "These are just rumors. I'm just repeating them verbatim. But these two are indeed skilled. If the prince needs them, their hands are steady enough."

Zhao Xiaoqian looked around at the two nervous people in front of him. One was named Liu Ada and the other was named Sun Museng.

From the outside, the two men's expressions and clothes looked rustic. They looked no different from passers-by walking on the street. They would be the kind that you would never find if thrown into a crowd.

But since Zhang Xiaoyi dared to bring people here, it shows that the two of them do have real abilities.

Zhao Xiaoqian needs talents, talents with steady hands.

One carves flowers on radishes, and the other engraves words on tombstones. They seem to be professionally compatible.

"I wonder why the prince needs someone with steady hands?" Zhang Xiaoyi asked carefully.

"I plan to ask them to do something for me. One of them will carve a tombstone for me, and the other will carve my portrait on a radish and plant the radish on my grave."

The three of them opened their eyes wide in shock.

Is this how all the powerful and influential people play? What a unique way to relax!

Zhao Xiaoqian was too lazy to pay attention to them. He turned around and went into the house and took out two straight iron pipes.

"Don't be restrained, I don't like to be polite with others. Come and take a look." Zhao Xiaoqian waved at the two of them.

Each of them was given an iron pipe. Zhao Xiaoqian said, "I plan to carve several spiral lines on the inner wall of the iron pipe. They must be uniform and even, without any mistakes. Can you do it?"

Liu Ada and Sun Museng looked at each other in confusion.

They couldn't understand why a spiral pattern was carved on the inner wall of a good iron pipe for no reason.

After a long silence, Liu Ada finally couldn't help but ask, "Prince, you..."

"Don't ask. If you ask, I'm just bored." Zhao Xiaoqian decisively ended the conversation.

It is too difficult to explain the rifling inside a gun barrel to ancient people, and it is likely to be like talking to a deaf person.

The rifling inside the gun barrel should have been engraved with a machine tool, but in ancient times when the industrial level was almost primitive, this was basically impossible.

But Zhao Xiaoqian was a good-for-nothing and didn't know how to manufacture machine tools, so he could only use the most stupid method.

Find a few people with steady hands, train them to become eighth-level fitters, and then carve the rifling manually.

The disadvantage of this approach is that the yield rate is too low, and we would be grateful if we could get a yield rate of one third.

However, little by little, a lot can be accumulated. If there are a hundred eighth-level fitters working every day, they can produce at least thousands or even tens of thousands of rifled gun barrels in a whole year.

The Song Dynasty is now plagued by internal and external troubles, and its problems are very serious. It urgently needs to take action and first deal with the external enemies who are eyeing it covetously.

If ten thousand rifled flintlock rifles appeared on the battlefield and hit the Liao Kingdom with thunderous force, Zhao Xiaoqian could be sure that it would bring at least ten years of peace to the Song Dynasty.

Ten years is enough time to do a lot of things.

Of course, Zhao Xiaoqian’s original intention in doing all this was not for the country or the people, but just to protect himself.

His only goal now is to prevent the Jingkang Incident from happening. He does not want to perform the sheep-leading ceremony in front of the barbarians of the Jin Dynasty.

"It can be done, but it's difficult and will waste a lot of iron pipes." Liu Ada came to the conclusion after looking at it for a long time.

Sun Museng, who was carving tombstones with reputations of the underworld nearby, nodded in agreement.

Zhao Xiaoqian thought for a moment and said, "I'll give you a suggestion. I'll have the blacksmith forge a spiral-shaped fine iron drill with an iron spike on the top. Insert the drill into the iron pipe, and carve the lines slowly with a steady hand. The success rate will increase significantly."

The two men pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized, their expressions becoming more confident. Actually, the method of manually engraving rifling in a drill bit wasn't invented by Zhao Xiaoqian; it was still the wisdom of the predecessors.

During the Anti-Japanese War, the Eighth Route Army Arsenal lacked machine tools for making weapons, so some people actually used this method to engrave rifling. Of course, the quality was definitely not as good as that engraved by machine tools, but it was good enough.

"Let's give it a try. If it doesn't work, we'll think of another way. By the way, let's discuss your salary. Each of you will receive a monthly salary of ten strings of silver. If your product quality is high, there will also be bonuses. Who's in favor of this?"

The two were stunned: "Ten strings of cash?"

Zhao Xiaoqian frowned. Isn’t that enough?

These two people belonged to the lower class of the poor, while the middle class of the Song Dynasty had a fortune of more than 1,000 strings of cash. If they were given 10 strings of cash a month, after deducting the cost of food, clothing, and other expenses, it would take them about 10 years to reach the middle class.

It seems that it is indeed not enough.

"Twenty strings of cash per month!" Zhao Xiaoqian immediately raised the price.

You must be generous to technical talents. Only when you feed them enough grass will they be willing to work like slaves for you.

The two exclaimed again: "Twenty strings of cash?"

Zhang Xiaoyi, who was standing nearby, couldn't stand it any longer. He grabbed the wronged man's sleeve and said with a wry smile, "Don't add any more, my Lord. Ten strings of cash is enough. Look at the expressions on these two guys' faces, they're ready to go through fire and water..."

Zhao Xiaoqian found that the two were shaking with excitement, and then he realized that he was like a fallen woman with diabetes, who had given too many benefits to his patrons.

Although he felt a little regretful, the noble prince could not take back what he had said, so Zhao Xiaoqian gritted his teeth and said, "Twenty strings of cash per person per month. It's a deal. You will work diligently for me from now on. Is there any problem?"

The two men fell to their knees, tears streaming down their faces as they said, "We are willing to die for you, Prince!"

Zhao Xiaoqian sighed sadly. It turned out that they had given too many sweet benefits, enough to buy their lives.

…………

Xiao Guangjing was left at the inn by Zhao Xiaoqian and ignored, but Qian Zhongshen kept sending people to report Xiao Guangjing's whereabouts these days.

This guy went to Zhouqiao to eat and drink to his heart's content, this guy went to Yujie to shop, this guy went to the brothel to watch operas and listen to music, and this guy gave a lot of tips to a male actor dressed as a woman...

Hmm? Something strange seems to have gotten in there.

Zhao Xiaoqian was indifferent to the Liao envoy and continued to leave him alone as planned.

What he cares about is the rifling in the barrel, which is his capital for survival and his trump card for saving his life.

Liu Ada and Sun Museng were indeed worthy of the monthly salary of 20 strings of cash. Three days later, they actually made two rifled gun barrels.

After careful inspection by Zhao Xiaoqian, both gun barrels passed the test.

As for the process... it was extremely difficult. The two great craftsmen were almost cross-eyed before they could only make two.

The next step was to assemble the other parts. With ease, Zhao Xiaoqian quickly made a rifled flintlock rifle.

It can be regarded as the first one in the world. Perhaps the real era of hot weapons began with it.

Taking Chen Shou and other imperial guards out of the city, Zhao Xiaoqian found a secluded and deserted wilderness outside the city and tested his gun from 400 steps away. The aim was a little off, but the range was reached.

So it changed to 500 steps, 600 steps...

The range of the rifled flintlock rifle is indeed sharp, more than double that of the original flintlock rifle.

The final effective range was determined to be about 500 steps, equivalent to 600 meters in the previous life.

When two armies face each other at a distance of six hundred steps, rounds of volleys are enough to decide the outcome of a war.

After confirming the result, Zhao Xiaoqian breathed a sigh of relief.

Coming to this strange world, he finally felt confident.

"Chen Shou, go back to the city and enter the palace. I want to meet the emperor." Zhao Xiaoqian ordered.

(End of this chapter)