I

  Chapter 188 186【Bird gun and black powder】

   Chongzhen ninth year, the fifth day of the first lunar month.

  There are good people who say that the sky over Ji'an mansion is shrouded in purple clouds, and a black dragon is seen in the north, followed by five-color clouds. It was night, but seeing the red light rushing out of the General Military Mansion, the roar of tigers and dragons could be heard endlessly, and all the weeping willows by the river pulled out new branches...

   Well, don't talk so much, Fei Rulan gave birth to a son smoothly.

   In the land of two prefectures and thirteen counties, the officials and the people rejoice. They are really happy that the lord has an heir, and the cause of rebellion has become more stable.

  Of course, countless gentry cursed and expected Zhao Han's son to die young.

   But it seems that God is celebrating. This spring, the weather is smooth and rainy. Two spring rains fell early, and finally the spring drought is no longer like the previous years.

  Just after the Lantern Festival, the sky suddenly became clear, and Zhao Han walked around the garden with the child in his arms.

  The guard came in and announced: "General Town, Song Sigong is asking to see you."

   "Please!" Zhao Han returned the child to the nanny.

  As for Fei Rulan, she is confinement at home. At the beginning, the doors and windows were closed tightly, saying that there was no ventilation, so Zhao Han asked people to hang screens on the windows, and forced the windows to open for ventilation.

  Song Yingxing walked in quickly, followed by a subordinate, holding a brand new blunderbuss.

  Zhao Han happily said: "The bird gun has been made?"

  Song Yingxing cupped his hands and said: "Thirty blunderbuss have been made. Last year, many blacksmiths were making waist knives and gun heads. This year, some blacksmiths were recruited to hammer the body of the blunderbuss. At least 500 blunderbusses can be made a year."

   "It's still too little." Zhao Han said.

   "We can only cultivate apprentices slowly, as long as there are more craftsmen." Song Yingxing said.

  Zhao Han thought for a while and said: "Mianjia iron sheets and so on can be made by private iron factories, and official craftsmen will do their best to make firearms."

  Although Song Yingxing was in charge of the Public Works Department, he spent most of his energy on making bird guns and gunpowder, and lived in Fenyi and Xinyu counties for a long time. Tian Younian has been transferred to the deputy of the Public Works Department, but Tian Younian is in charge of the daily affairs of the Public Works Department.

   Now, Zhao Han has three weapons.

  One is located in the outskirts of Ji'an Prefecture, mainly making spears, bows and arrows, leather armor, and wooden shields.

  One is located in Fenyi County Iron Works, which mainly makes waist knives, gun heads, and arrowheads.

  One is located in Xinyu County Iron Works, which mainly makes iron sheets for cotton armor—chain mail cannot be made, and Song Yingxing does not know the wrought iron drawing technology.

  Zhao Han did not occupy all the iron mines, and allowed the local gentry who took the initiative to join them to continue to operate their mines and iron factories. In order to concentrate blacksmiths on making firecrackers, some simple work can be contracted out to private ironworks. Especially the iron sheet of the cotton armor, there is no technical difficulty at all.

  In the past few months, there have been more than 300 sets of cotton armor made by Weapon.

   Cotton armor can resist hacking, and can resist bows and arrows. According to Qi Jiguang, forty or fifty steps can fire a gun, and thirty steps will definitely be penetrated. That thing is actually a set of special cotton clothes. The cotton is repeatedly beaten and tightened by special techniques, and iron sheets are embedded in the lining or surface, which is much lighter than traditional armor.

   At the same time, Tian Younian also gave a suggestion to recruit bamboo craftsmen to weave helmets.

  This kind of bamboo helmet can prevent arrows and knives. Although the effect is limited, the advantage is that the cost is low and the manufacturing speed is very fast. If you want to strengthen the defense, you can also weave a few pieces of iron when fabricating.

  Zhao Han took the gun and said with a smile, "Come on, follow me to the school grounds outside the city."

   Observe while walking, this bird gun is nearly one meter long. The gun barrel is thick at the front and thin at the back, and it also has a trigger, which can move the ramie rope by pulling the trigger.

   Zhao Han pulled the trigger a few times before he understood how it worked.

  Ramie rope can burn slowly, and its effect is similar to that of incense. With this device, the matchlock gun does not need to be specially ignited, and the gunpowder can be ignited by pulling the trigger.

   This kind of bird gun should actually be called the Malacca matchlock gun.

  Zhao Han asked curiously: "How is the barrel made?"

Song Yingxing explained: "First build the iron stiles, and then wrap the iron stiles with red-hot steel and beat them continuously. After many times of joining, the tubes can be formed. Then, the square steel cones are penetrated into the tubes and rotated to make the tube walls If it is as smooth as a mirror, there will be no hindrance to the launch of the medicine.”

   Gradually approaching the school grounds, Zhao Han couldn't help but ask, "Isn't it easy to explode?"

Song Yingxing could only say: "Sooner or later, the blunderbuss will explode, but the blunderbuss I made must be hundreds of times better than those made by the imperial court. First of all, it is better to use charcoal to make a furnace fire than coal. Secondly, the barrel of the blunderbuss They are all made of steel, not wrought iron. Of course, if you put too much medicine, it may still explode."

  Song Yingxing didn't know how to make Sugang, but he knew the Guangnan Guangang method, which is the kind of group steel made in Foshan.

"That's so troublesome," said Zhao Han. "Without long-term training, it is difficult for soldiers to get the right amount of medicine. Can you determine the appropriate amount of medicine first, and then wrap it in an oiled paper shell, which can prevent moisture and drench at ordinary times. When fighting, soldiers Hold the paper shell in your hand, tear it apart with your teeth, and then fill the shell with the medicine in the gun?"

   "This method is wonderful!" Song Yingxing said happily.

  Walking to the gate of the school grounds, Song Yingxing asked again: "General Town, there is also a shotgun, do you need to build it?"

   "Is a shotgun different from a shotgun?" Zhao Han didn't understand.

  Song Yingxing explained: "The shotgun looks like a long spear, and two people are required to control it. The bird gun is exhausted after a hundred steps (the longest range), but the shotgun can shoot more than two hundred steps."

  Zhao Han figured it out. The shotgun was the gun used in the Opium War. The barrel of that thing was higher than a human.

   "No need," Zhao Han ordered, "Only make bird guns, the shotgun is too difficult to operate."

  Song Yingxing also said: "There is also an enemy of ten thousand people, which is a sharp weapon for defending the city."

  Zhao Han asked: "What is the enemy of ten thousand people?"

Song Yingxing described in detail: "Using a hollow clay ball dried in the shade, stuff gunpowder, add poisonous fire, divine fire and the like. After the medicine is safe, surround it with a wooden frame, or use wooden barrels to mold the clay. When the enemy attacks the city, then Light the fuse and throw it down the city, and the enemy's soldiers and horses will be out of luck."

  Poison fire, that is, adding arsenic, cinnabar, feces, silver embroidery (residue from refining silver ore) and other things to gunpowder.

  Shenhuo, that is, adding cinnabar, realgar, orpiment, borax, magnetic powder, chili powder, etc. to gunpowder.

   In other words, the Ming Dynasty produced many exotic firearms. Even as early as when Zhu Di was in distress, landmines had already appeared. Zhu Di's Yan army almost collapsed when they stepped on the mines, and they didn't know how those landmines were detonated.

   Zhao Han understood immediately, this thing is a large grenade.

  However, the outer casing is made of mud, so wooden strips are used to hold it in place to prevent the mud from breaking.

  It is even more frenzied to use wooden barrels. It can no longer be called a grenade, but a bomb the size of a barrel.

   It must not be thrown far, and it can only be used to defend the city.

  Zhao Han asked: "Can you use ceramics to make the shell? The mountains under my control are full of white clay, and ceramics can be fired. Make some small ten-thousand enemies, which can also be thrown in field battles. The fragments of ceramic explosions can also kill the enemy."

   "This method is feasible." Song Yingxing nodded.

   Grenadiers using ceramic bombs. I wonder if European missionaries saw Zhao Han's recklessness.

   Porcelain is so expensive in Europe!

  When they came to the barracks, the officers immediately came to see them, and Zhao Han asked them to practice the army by themselves.

  Walking to the shooting range where the archers were trained, Zhao Han opened the gunpowder bag and found that it was actually granular black gunpowder inside. He couldn't help asking: "Why is this medicine in black granular form?"

   "The gunpowder of the gun cannon is like this." Song Yingxing replied.

  Black granule gunpowder was born in the late Tang Dynasty, and it was produced by Taoist alchemy.

  But the real large-scale use in actual combat began in the Yuan Dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty bronze cannon unearthed in Wuwei in later generations contained granular gunpowder. In the mines unearthed in Hohhot at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, remnants of granular black powder were also found.

  Zhao Han became more and more amazed, and asked, "Is this all the gunpowder made by the imperial court?"

  Song Yingxing sighed: "Most of the gunpowder distributed by the imperial court to the officers and soldiers is unusable, and the generals have to pay for the gunpowder themselves."

  According to Xu Guangqi's account, due to the poor quality of gunpowder and the poor manufacture of bird guns, the firearms troops of the Ming army sometimes could not even penetrate the heavy armor of the Tartars.

  Governor of the Beijing Camp Zhao Shixin also said: "The gunpowder made by treacherous craftsmen is extremely poor and prevaricated. When the generals of the army received the gunpowder, they sold it cheaply to buy good medicine."

   Are craftsmen really cunning?

   No!

  Officials deduct gunpowder production fees in various ways. No matter how good a craftsman is, it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice.

  Daming is really not technically incompetent, but the government is completely corrupt.

  Zhao Han retreated fifty steps away, and asked Song Yingxing how to reload the ammunition, and then aimed at the target in front of him.

"boom!"

  The gunpowder smoke dissipated, and the target remained the same.

  That bullet, I don’t know where it went.

  The onlookers were a little embarrassed and embarrassed to laugh.

  Song Yingxing said: "It is normal for a person who is new to the blunderbuss to miss the target."

   Reloading the ammunition, Zhao Han moved forward with a smile, walked to a distance of thirty steps, and pulled the trigger again to fire the gun.

"boom!"

   This time it actually hit the edge of the target.

  Everyone shouted for the shot, and Song Yingxing was also surprised: "The second shot can hit it, Zongzhen is also very talented."

  Fucking the second shot, before Zhao Han crossed, he was considered a small shooting expert in the company, and he was fed with countless ammunition.

  However, it was quite surprising to Zhao Han that a smoothbore gun such as the blunderbuss could achieve such accuracy.

   Mainly due to the long barrel, which is almost one meter long.

  Of course, the firecracker presented by Song Yingxing is a strictly crafted boutique. If we increase manpower and increase production, even if the quality control is stricter, the overall quality will drop a lot.

  This kind of blunderbuss still has to be fired in rows, and it is difficult to achieve results by shooting individually.

  Zhao Han smiled and said: "This bird gun is not bad, it will belong to me from now on."

  The current senior generals in the army, the ones with the strictest rules and the best discipline are the troops trained by Li Zheng.

   Zhao Han decided to let Li Zhengtong lead the firearms battalion. There are only dozens of firearms for the time being, and there will be hundreds of them in a year.

   "Are there any raw materials for gunpowder?" Zhao Han asked.

  Song Yingxing replied: "Saltpeter must be purchased from Ningdu County, and there is no shortage of other raw materials."

  Ningdu County is adjacent to the southeast of Yongfeng County. Merchants who sell saltpeter can transport the goods to Xingguo County to take a small road, and then transport the goods to Ji'an along the Ganjiang River.

   There is also a more convenient route, all the way to Ganzhou, and then from Ganzhou to Ji'an.

   But Ganzhou is on tight defense and is not allowed to transport strategic materials such as saltpeter.

  Zhao Han urged: "Quickly build firecrackers. Craftsmen who do well and quickly can be promoted and rewarded for reuse. If there are craftsmen who can improve their craftsmanship, they will also be rewarded!"

  (end of this chapter)