The eldest grandson of Emperor Ming Dynasty!

Chapter 126 Handcrafted

In front of the ten gunners, there were white cloths hanging about twenty paces and thirty paces apart.

This is to test the power of the firecracker.

The power of firecrackers in the early Ming Dynasty was much worse than imagined.

When the order to 'ignite' was given, ten gunners quickly lit the fire.

boom!boom!boom!
The sound is still quite loud.

After the musketeers finished fighting, a eunuch quickly went up to monitor the damage to Bai Bu.

In the early Ming Dynasty, gunpowder used gunpowder as the propellant, and then filled it with iron bullets to cause damage.

Its damage is about 30 steps, about [-] meters.

Beyond that distance, it's basically useless.

"Your Majesty, I am overjoyed, overjoyed, the granulated gunpowder produced under the guidance of His Highness has increased the power of the firecracker by a full ten steps."

The eunuch took down several pieces of white cloth from thirty paces away, and trotted to Zhu Yuanzhang to congratulate him.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very familiar with firearms, so he was overjoyed to see this.

"Test the power of the artillery immediately."

"The minister obeys the order."

Along with the bang bang bang, the ten general cannons were ignited, and the filled stones and iron bullets were bombarded out one by one.

The eunuchs hurriedly measured the distance after a cloud of smoke wafted around.

"Your Majesty, 140 steps, an improvement of [-] steps."

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard the words, he couldn't help standing up and shouting: "Good!"

Then he turned around and said to Zhu Ying: "What a great grandson, just such an improvement has actually increased the power of gunpowder by more than [-]%."

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were full of surprise and shock.

In fact, he didn't have much expectation when he came here this time, but the facts proved that he once again underestimated grandson.

"Grandpa, the power of gunpowder, if refined, should be able to be improved again." Zhu Ying said with a smile.

"Dasun is so familiar with gunpowder." Zhu Yuanzhang asked, he didn't expect Dasun to be able to increase his power.

Although the current firecrackers are widely used in wars, in terms of damage, they are much worse than bows and crossbows.

Limited by the power of black powder, even granulated black powder is impenetrable to cavalry plate armor.

The biggest damage on the battlefield is still mainly artillery, and it is difficult for firecrackers to kill people, but for cavalry, the main function is to startle the horse.

If it is against the infantry, repeated blows can make the opponent's soldiers scurry around with their heads in their arms, which can affect the opponent's charge lineup.

When Zhu Ying heard the old man's praise, she didn't answer immediately, but said after some thought:

"Grandpa, when I was watching the firecrackers just now, I was so blessed that I suddenly thought of a new way of making firecrackers."

"I want to try to make something." Zhu Ying said.

The speed of the gunner just now was really touching, Zhu Ying counted the time in his heart.

From charging, compacting, reloading, aiming, and igniting, it took about 1 breaths, which is about [-] minute.

Such a speed is uncomfortable on the battlefield, especially when the cavalry is charging.

Therefore, the current firecrackers and artillery in the early Ming Dynasty are mainly auxiliary, especially in field battles.

Siege warfare and water warfare are more used.

Zhu Yuanzhang heard the grandson's idea, and agreed after a little thought.

Under Zhu Yuanzhang's decree, Zhu Ying became the highest officer of the Gunpowder Department.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't have too many ideas, but mainly supported the grandson.

Zhu Ying stayed in the Gunpowder Department directly, while Zhu Yuanzhang went back to the palace.

"Your Highness." Several eunuchs from the Gunpowder Department saluted Zhu Ying.

Zhu Ying nodded, and directly ordered: "I need a carpenter with excellent craftsmanship, and a blacksmith. Call the top masters here."

"Follow the order."

What Zhu Ying wants to do now is to invent the matchlock gun first.

The current craftsmanship in the early Ming Dynasty can completely make matchlock guns by hand. This is just a matter of thinking and concept.

The next step in the matchlock gun is to fire the gun.

In fact, the difference between a matchlock gun and a flintlock gun is not very big. To put it simply, it is the difference between a matchlock and a flint.

Flint is naturally available here, so it seems that you can skip the matchlock gun and directly develop the flintlock gun.

After all, the flintlock will not be disturbed by weather such as rain, and it can also fight at night.

actually not.

This kind of problem is not a problem of a piece of flint, but mainly a problem of the precision device of Suifa.

The appearance of the stable firearm was associated with clocks and watches after the Western Renaissance.

The precision is extremely high and does not require much effort.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, someone had already designed and manufactured flintlock guns, commonly known as self-generating firearms, but such production costs were extremely high.

One of the biggest obstacles is the spring.

The ancient hand-made springs are relatively rough. In order to ensure that Suifa can spark and ignite the gunpowder chamber, they are very powerful and inconvenient to use.

The most important thing is that there is no industrial foundation, and the hand-made spring is simply touching, with too many defects, and it is far less simple and crude than the matchlock gun.

Summoned by the eunuchs of the Gunpowder Department, three master carpenters and master blacksmiths were summoned.

"Your Highness, these people are the most skilled in the Gunpowder Department." The eunuch of the Gunpowder Department introduced.

Zhu Ying nodded without being wordy, and first told the carpenter what she thought.

Don't underestimate the ancient carpenters. The craftsmanship of ancient carpenters, especially the master craftsmen, started from the carpenter's apprenticeship from elementary school.

Some extremely precise manual work is not a problem at all for the master carpenter.

Things like triggers are not difficult things. Under Zhu Ying's explanation, after the three carpenters understood it, they said that it was not a big problem to make it.

Zhu Ying only needs to tell the carpenter master her request.

Then there is the production of the gun body, plus the structure of the trigger. This is enough to tell the carpenter the general shape.

Next is the more difficult part of the matchlock gun, the barrel.

At Zhu Ying's request, the gun barrel was forged from refined iron instead of copper.

The biggest problem in ancient times was precision. However, although the cost of making a few matchlock guns by hand is relatively high, the problem is not too big.

A skilled blacksmith can achieve it with patience and polishing, but it just takes a long time.

It took almost two hours before Zhu Ying made the arrangements, and finally asked the three blacksmiths:

"You three, which one is the most skilled?"

After saying this, the two blacksmiths on the left and right looked at the older blacksmith in the middle, about 50 years old.

"Reporting to Your Highness, Cao Min may have some experience in blacksmithing." The blacksmith stepped forward and bowed.

"Okay, then you stay, the others will step down first, and do as I ask."

"Follow the order."

The reason why Zhu Ying left this old blacksmith was to make rifled barrels.

Making rifling is not a very complicated matter for a skilled blacksmith, even if it is rough, Zhu Ying doesn't care.

Slowly improving in the future is to get things out first.

Historically, the rifled barrel was used in the fifteenth century, but it was not popularized until the nineteenth century due to the difficulty of the manufacturing process.

Now it is purely handmade, and it can be honed slowly.

Under Zhu Ying's narration, the blacksmith also quickly understood the requirements and said that it could be made.

After the rifling is finished, what Zhu Ying tells next is the highlight of the highlights.

Minie bombs.

A muzzle-loading gun without Minie cartridges is soulless.

The combination of the two is the power of the front-loading rifle.

The bullet with the shell case is where the matchlock gun explodes.

This is completely equivalent to the superposition of two stages of power.

However, due to the current industrial restrictions in the early Ming Dynasty, it is impossible to popularize the manpower and material resources generated in the manufacture of Minie muzzle-loading rifles.

The Minie bomb is okay, nothing more than a shell containing granules of gunpowder.

As for the production of front-loading rifles, I am afraid that one may not be able to produce one in a month.

The key is that this thing has to be served by a master.

The front-loading rifles at this stage can only appear in the form of handicrafts. Even if all the masters work together, they may not be able to produce [-] guns a year.

The firecrackers currently used by the Ming army are, in simple terms, the reduced form of cannons.

The power of black powder is gradually improved through continuous experiments. Even if it is granulated, the damage caused by the current black powder is lower than imagined.

Mines ammunition is paired with arquebus muskets, and the output cannot increase. At most, they are rationed to a very small number of personal guards.

The handwork is rough, and the gun itself has a limited lifespan, so its popularity is of little significance.

The simpler matchlock gun is the key to production, and the damage can at least reach the level of killing people when used by a single soldier.

After explaining, Zhu Ying did not leave the Gunpowder Department.

Instead, he stayed in the Gunpowder Department for three days, and finally saw the carpenter make the model of the arquebus that Zhu Ying had in mind.

It takes a long time for the model to be completed by the blacksmith, and it is estimated that it will take at least half a month.

Naturally, it was impossible for Zhu Ying to wait here for such a long time. On the morning of the fourth day, she returned to the capital.

Daming Palace.

Zhu Yuanzhang played with the arquebus model made by Zhu Ying's explanation.

Before Zhu Ying left the Gunpowder Department, the eunuch of the Gunpowder Department immediately arranged for people to hurry up and deliver the finished model to Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Is this the matchlock gun that my grandson thought of?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked the eunuch in charge of the Gunpowder Department while playing with the matchlock gun.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, His Majesty's idea is simply a stroke of genius. The arquebus gun made in this way is equipped with granular gunpowder, and the soldiers' use speed will be faster."

As the eunuch in charge of the Gunpowder Department, he stayed in the Gunpowder Department almost every day, and was obviously very familiar with the use of firecrackers.

Zhu Yuanzhang held a matchlock gun in his hand, imagining that when his army was equipped with such guns in large quantities and swept the enemy army, he couldn't help but feel happy.

"This kind of perfect firecracker, I think Dasun has already known it in his mind, so it's just perfected."

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly expressed his gratitude to the fourth Zhu Di.

If it weren't for him, I'm afraid Dasun would have gone to Annan to found a country by now.

And such a matchlock gun will not be controlled by Daming.

(End of this chapter)