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Chapter 621 Flintlock

The most critical point for Daming to gain a firm foothold in the Hetao Plain is to have enough food to feed the people here.Therefore, for Xu Guangqi's arrival, Hong Chengchou was naturally extremely happy and had been looking forward to it for a long time.The high enthusiasm he showed was not only a matter of official position, but more from the bottom of his heart.

So, in the next few days, the dignified naturalized governor and the minister of the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty all devoted themselves to farming, together with the old farmers, discussing how to plant the seeds of the crops they brought in Hetao.These things were touched by the people of Hetao, especially those soldiers who were from bandits and the victims who migrated from Qin and Jin.

"If the magistrate of Mizhi County had thought of the two adults, we wouldn't have caused trouble at the beginning!"

"That's right, if we in Fugu County had half the thoughts of the two adults, we wouldn't follow Wang Jiayin to make trouble!"

"Our Daming still has a lot of good officials!"

"..."

In fact, the people of Ming Dynasty didn't really ask for much. Except for a few people, as long as they could survive, no one wanted to raise their heads and rebel.Because of the importance attached by Emperor Chongzhen, the actions of the two senior officials of the Ming Dynasty have invisibly condensed the cohesion of the people in the Hetao area to the Ming Dynasty. This is reflected in their specific patrols, training, land reclamation, and construction. The efficiency is much higher.

Yang Sichang didn't have to worry about farming for the time being, he led his family to Baotou first, inspected the terrain, coordinated manpower, and prepared to do a big job before the cold winter.

As for Bu Shitu, he seemed unwilling to receive any return from Hong Chengchou's previous dispatch, but he did not dare to invade the Hetao area on his own, and seemed to be lobbying other tribes, and there was no sign of coming east for the time being.

Yang Sichang was not at ease with Bu Shitu, so he sent out his family members who were familiar with grassland affairs sent by his father Yang He, as his envoys, to go to the tribes in the west to listen to the rumors and movements, and implement the wooing that he proposed to the emperor. Beat the strategy of differentiation.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen, who was in the capital, was receiving Bi Maokang, the director of the Military Weapons Bureau.Needless to say, judging from their smiles, you can tell that there is a good thing, just listen to Bi Maokang report with joy: "Your Majesty, I strictly control the forging of steel, and have made more than 300 self-generating firecrackers so far, and their ignition rate has reached Seventy to eighty percent!"

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he couldn't help but be overjoyed.Although there were flintlock guns in the late Ming Dynasty, apart from the factor of bombing, the misfire rate was also extremely high, which led to the fact that flintlock guns were never promoted in the Ming army.After discussing with Bi Maokang before, I knew that it was a problem with the ignition device. Now it seems that Bi Maokang strictly pays attention to the quality, and the ignition rate is as high as [-]% to [-]%, which is considered qualified.

Before he had time to speak, Bi Maokang reported again: "According to your majesty's idea of ​​assembly line operation, I disassembled the making of a flintlock gun. Now I am familiar with it. I believe that in the future, the making of a flintlock gun will be able to It was completed much earlier than before.”

Emperor Chongzhen was not very satisfied when he heard this. It took so long to build more than 300 self-generating firecrackers. This efficiency is still slower than he imagined.You should know that the Military Weapons Bureau also has enough manpower craftsmen available.

Thinking of this, he stood up and told Bi Maokang: "Go, I will go and have a look myself!"

Bi Maokang knew the emperor's ability, and knew the emperor's past, and he might be able to come up with a whimsical idea and improve the method.If he was an ordinary bureaucrat of the Ming Dynasty, he might not welcome the emperor to guide his work from the bottom of his heart.After all, this is to find out the shortcomings, which is a shameful thing.But Bi Maokang is a technical official who is keen on the manufacture of firearms. If the emperor can point out the improvement of the manufacture of firearms, it would be a dream for him.Therefore, when the emperor wanted to go and have a look, he was immediately overjoyed. The samples brought over this time were not allowed to be presented to the imperial court, and he just went to the Military Weapons Bureau to have a look.

Naturally, Emperor Chongzhen would not show off, but arrived at the Military Weapons Bureau in a very efficient manner, just like going to the Beijing camp. Accompanied by Bi Maokang, he introduced the procedures and related instructions in detail.

At this time, whether it is the barrel of the Franco cannon or the firecracker, most of them are forged.Generally, the weight is determined in advance, and then divided into single-cylinder combined forging and double-layer composite forging according to the weight.However, because the barrel is longer, it needs to be combined with multiple joints. In this way, especially the better quality and more scientific double-layer compound forged barrel will consume more man-hours.

One of the most critical processes for the quality of the barrel and whether it is easy to explode is the joint of multiple joints, that is, forging the barrel.A gun barrel that is not tightly forged is easy to burst at this joint.Most of the reasons for the explosion of firearms in the late Ming Dynasty came from this.

The method of checking this level is to pour boiling water into the gun tube, and then observe the joint. If there is any leak, it must be reheated and forged to join.If the quality control is not strict, it is conceivable that a barrel that can leak water will not explode? !
However, one of the biggest gains of Emperor Chongzhen's visit to the Military Weapons Bureau to build firecrackers is to know the actual operation of the barrel drilling at this time.

This operation is to hang the gun tube on the drill stand, and the ink line must be used to hang it accurately without any deviation.The gun tube is fixed on the top and bottom of the wooden frame, and a drill handle with a drill bit is placed above it. There is a leather strip tied to the drill handle.

In this way, two people are required to pull the belt to drill, and another person is next to hold the drill root with an iron clip so that the drill bit can rotate freely.

Just drill like this, drill halfway through and then drill from the other end until you drill through.And where the drilling is done, pay attention to the hanging wire to ensure that it will not be misplaced.It's not over yet, after using the short drill, you have to drill again with the long drill.Only after going through so many processes can the gun barrel be kept straight.

However, this is not the end. A small file needs to be inserted into the bore and turned back and forth to make the inner wall of the barrel smooth. Only then can a barrel be considered complete.

The most time-consuming and labor-intensive part of a gun is the making of the gun barrel. At this time, it takes a month to make a qualified gun barrel, and only skilled workers can achieve it at this time.

After seeing the whole process, Emperor Chongzhen immediately felt that the manufacture of this kind of gun barrel not only wastes a lot of manpower, but also takes so much time, it definitely needs to be improved.As for the improvement method, there is a very simple improvement method for people who have traveled through later generations, that is to use a steam engine to drive the drill bit to drill the gun tube, which can reduce the number of three craftsmen to one person, and can drill day and night, which is very efficient. Needless to say, it is natural to improve.

(End of this chapter)