wild trail

Chapter 368 Musket
Wang He was taken aback for a moment, and immediately understood what Wang Lang was talking about.He nodded and said, "My son understands that my father said before that the army is the last barrier for us humans."

Wang Lang nodded and said: "Yes, although we have won the victory now, it does not mean that we are safe. We belong to different races from those dinosaurs. Although I also want to coexist peacefully with them, peace is achieved by fighting. As far as I know, except for the mainland of China, the rest of the world is occupied by those dinosaurs. Their number is more than a hundred times and a thousand times more than ours. We are just facing a small country among them. Facing a great enemy, if they unite and prepare to eradicate us, then we will be in danger. After I die, you, as my eldest son, must shoulder the hope of continuing human civilization."

Wang He's heart tightened. His father was as strong as a mountain in his eyes. He didn't expect to mention his own death.

"Father...!"

Wang Lang smiled and said: "Birth, old age, sickness and death are inevitable for everyone, and being a father is no exception. You are still young. You have to take advantage of the time you have now to constantly hone yourself. Then I will be at ease. The country Leave it to you, don't let me down."

Hearing this sentence, Wang He suddenly felt that he was very unfilial. He actually doubted his father for the sake of rights. Compared with his father, he suddenly felt extremely small.Wang Lang is devoting himself to the fate of the entire human race every day, but he himself is jealous of his fellow brothers for his own selfishness.

Wang He got up and knelt on the ground, kowtowed heavily to Wang Lang, and said, "Father, I understand, I will return to the barracks tomorrow."

Wang Lang nodded and said, "There's no need to be so anxious. Now that you're all back, let's go see your mother."

"Yes!" Wang He replied in a deep voice.

After Wang He left, Wang Lang sighed. Wang He's sudden return made him vaguely guess what. As the saying goes, the royal family has no family ties, but how could he abandon this most precious human emotion when he grew up in a common people's family? Woolen cloth.

He was very unwilling to see that after he left, his brothers would fight each other for this right. At that time, human beings would really have no hope.

Shaking his head, he threw away those messy thoughts in his head, fumbled in his sleeve for a while, and took the rusty watch in his hand.

This watch is the only thing that still exists in the other world.

"With this watch, you should be able to make a clock!" Wang Lang muttered to himself.

Without accurate time, it is difficult to carry out basic science. In addition to helping people determine the time, clocks and watches are mainly used in scientific research.

Wang Lang is now very fortunate that this watch is a mechanical watch. It is basically impossible for an electronic watch to find out the mechanical principle of clock operation. As long as the watch is disassembled and repeated research is carried out, Wang Lang believes that such a thing as a clock Sooner or later, the ordinary people who will appear in Xia Kingdom will increase.

After returning from the north and resting for three days, Wang Lang held a court meeting. Several important things were announced at the court meeting. Apart from agreeing to the several important matters in the memorial, for the rest of the minor issues, the court meeting He discussed actively with the officials.

After retiring from the court, the announcement of the imperial examination in March next year spread quickly through the government's notice.

The students who learned about this incident were very excited. After studying hard for so many years, Han Chuang was finally able to show what he had learned in the examination room.

This time there are much more candidates than before. Xia Guo is now implementing compulsory education, and boys of the right age will be forced to enter the school to study.

Under this policy, apart from the small tribes that later merged, the number of young people who can read and write in Xia Kingdom has reached thousands. Of course, with so many people, it is impossible for all of them to take the exam. Some self-aware students, after learning literacy and arithmetic, mostly gave up continuing their studies and turned to engage in those technical jobs. Their participation has greatly improved the cultural level of Xia's craftsmen.

In addition to the imperial examination, another thing that attracted the attention of the people of Xia State was that the Ministry of War was planning to form an overseas expedition team, and all healthy male youths could sign up, and the risks at sea were clearly stated in the notice , Such a dangerous thing suddenly made many people flinch, but seeing the incomparably generous rewards still made many bold people move their minds.

A few days after the notice was posted, the first registered citizen was finally ushered in at the registration place of the yamen.

The officials who were bored sitting at the table immediately cheered up when they saw someone coming.

"But you want to sign up?" the official asked.

The man nodded and asked: "This official, the reward mentioned in the notice is true."

The official raised his eyebrows and said displeasedly: "Presumptuous! How can the notice issued by the imperial court be false!"

The man chuckled and said: "The officials calm down, the officials calm down, I just want to make sure."

"Will you sign up or not? If you don't sign up, you dare to obstruct my official work here, and I'm worried that you will be charged with obstructing official duties!" The official said coldly.

The man quickly said: "Sign up! Sign up!"

"Name!"

"He Tie!"

"address!"

"South of the city, people from Yushu Village!"

"You can get married, do you have any children?"

"Married, with a son who just turned three this year!"

The official took a brush and wrote down He Tie's personal information in his cousin, handed it to him and said: "Press your fingerprint here, and after you press it, go home and wait. Someone will notify you when you leave!"

He Tie stretched out his thumb and pressed on the red mud beside him, and pressed hard on the paper with his own message written on it.

In the next few days after the first person signed up, dozens of people rushed over to sign up one after another. Except for Yancheng, the main cities of Xia Kingdom have set up places for signups.

While forming the ocean expedition team, Wang Lang also followed Mu Feng to the gunpowder weapon research workshop.

"Holding a cannon has been tested." Wang Lang asked as he walked.

Mu Feng nodded and said: "After the experiment, great progress has been made."

While the two were talking, they came to the experiment site, and Mu Feng quickly ordered someone to bring a chair for Wang Lang.

Taking a box from the craftsman, Mu Feng carefully took it to Wang Lang's side and opened the box. Inside was a black hollow iron rod, which looked like a cannon that had been shrunk many times.

However, in proportion, the barrel of this small artillery is much longer.

This thing is very different from the gorgeous musket in Wang Lang's impression, but he knew it was just a sample, so he didn't say much, held it in his hand, frowned, and said in a deep voice, "It's so heavy!"

Mu Feng said hastily: "This thing uses about six catties of iron, it's really not light."

Wang Lang observed carefully, and saw that there was a fire door behind the buttocks of the hollow iron rod, so he said, "Let me see the effect."

"As ordered!"

After Mu Feng finished speaking, he called a craftsman to let him demonstrate to Wang Lang.

The craftsman loaded the gunpowder and projectiles in a somewhat unfamiliar manner. The operation steps were basically similar to those of artillery, except that this thing could be loaded by one person.

After everything was ready, the craftsman fixed the iron rod on a bracket and ignited the fuse.

"boom!"

There was a muffled sound from the iron rod at first, and after a puff of white smoke, the craftsman hurried to check the situation of the shooting.

At this moment, a hole in the shape of a spider web appeared on the edge of the wooden board about three meters long and wide. The protective ability of this wooden board was equivalent to that of Xia Guo's armor.

The craftsman waved to Mu Feng.

"Your Majesty, it seems to be a hit!"

Wang Lang nodded and Mu Feng walked over to check the shooting effect.

Seeing that this experiment successfully shot through the wooden board, I was very satisfied. I looked at the distance from the wooden board to the iron rod, which was about 50 meters. suppression.

"Move this target back another 20 meters."

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid not!" Mu Feng said in a deep voice.

"Why!"

"Your Majesty doesn't know. Look at this hole. We aimed at the middle position, but we hit here. If we move back another 20 meters, we may miss it."

When Wang Lang heard the words, he suddenly realized,

This primitive front-loading musket can be said to have no accuracy at all. Thinking of the tactics of muskets in another world, Wang Lang also figured out the key point, and said to Mu Feng: "It's okay, don't worry about the accuracy for now. I want to see how far its effective killing distance is, you guys prepare more planks, as long as it hits."

Mu Feng nodded, and ordered the craftsmen to prepare.

The craftsmen were busy for a while, and after about an hour, the craftsmen who were ready lit the fuze again.

"boom!"

After the gunpowder smoke passed, the bullet flew to nowhere.

The craftsman searched the board for a while, and finally found the projectile stuck on the board in an inconspicuous place.

Seeing the shooting effect, Wang Lang frowned and said inwardly, "It can be so biased."

"Your Majesty, the accuracy of this handheld artillery is really not ideal."

"This is already very good. Although it failed to pierce the wooden board for more than 70 meters, the power is enough. Next, you need to continue to improve." Wang Lang said slowly.

Mu Feng heard the words and nodded.

Since the musketeers need to be trained, it is definitely not acceptable to use the firestick. Wang Lang said: "First, you will produce a hundred according to this, but you need to add some things."

"I don't know what His Majesty wants to add!" Mu Feng asked.

Wang Lang went to the iron rod and said, "You add wooden brackets to this iron rod."

As he spoke, he made a gesture of holding guns with both hands, and said: "As an individual weapon, I want soldiers to be able to shoot in this posture."

Looking at Wang Lang's movements, Mu Feng had a general idea in his mind, nodded and said: "This is not difficult, the main part has been completed, these things just need to be handed over to the carpenter."

Wang Lang looked at the gunpowder box on the wooden table, and said, "By the way, the process of filling the gunpowder needs to be improved."

Mu Feng was taken aback, and asked suspiciously: "Your Majesty, how can this step of loading gunpowder be improved."

Wang Lang laughed and said, "Are you filling the gunpowder based on your feeling now?"

Mu Feng nodded and said: "That's right, Your Majesty, is there any problem?"

"It's right to do this, but it's too demanding on the individual. Think about it, on the battlefield, facing the enemy's charge, even the bravest soldiers will feel fear in their hearts, and it can't be the same as the usual training effect. , it is difficult to control the amount of charge." Wang Lang said slowly.

Mu Feng thought for a while and said: "It is indeed possible, but the gunpowder must be installed, and this step cannot be omitted."

"This is easy to solve. As long as you experiment with the optimal amount of gunpowder, you can use paper bullets to pack the gunpowder separately. When the soldiers are using it, they just need to tear the paper bag open." Wang Lang said with a smile.

Mu Feng's eyes lit up when he heard the words, and he praised: "There is such a way, Your Majesty is really wise."

After so many years of training, his skin was already thick enough, and he was already blushing and heartbeating when he heard Mu Feng's compliments. Naturally, he didn't come up with this method, but he just stood on the shoulders of giants.

"From now on, this thing will be called a musket. How long will it take for a hundred muskets to come out?" Wang Lang asked.

Mu Feng thought for a while and said, "It will take about two months!"

"So long?" Wang Lang was a little surprised.

Mu Feng replied: "The musket is slightly different from the cannon. The cannon can be directly cast, but the musket must be continuously forged. Although we have hydraulic forging equipment, the process is still very complicated. One hundred sticks is already the limit."

Wang Lang nodded. He also had only a half-knowledge of the part that involved practical operations. Since Mu Feng said so, he thought there was no more convenient way.

"Well, try to make a hundred muskets out of two. The quality of these muskets must be guaranteed, and repeated trials must be made to avoid bombing as much as possible. Let me know as soon as the muskets are built."

"The minister obeys the order!"

At this time, Wang Lang asked: "Is the matter of the glass still not progressing?"

Seeing Wang Lang asking about this matter, Mu Feng sighed and shook his head, "The Ministry of Industry has not given up on firing glass all these years, but the progress is very slow, and it can't meet the standard for making telescopes at all. , basically useless."

"Don't worry about the glass issue for the time being. Now your energy should be focused on improving weapons. Let the glass issue take its course!" Wang Lang sighed.

There is no way to burn out the glass, so Wang Lang's plan to make a microscope will be ruined. The cost of grinding lenses with crystals is too high, not to mention that the production of microscopes is far more complicated than that of telescopes. If crystals are used, the human and material resources spent in the experiment It would be an unimaginable number.

Although it is a bit regrettable, Wang Lang can only give priority to using manpower in important places.

(End of this chapter)