Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 93 Matchlock and Flintlock

Of course, Sun Yuanhua did not forget that the emperor sent him here to build the largest arsenal in Ming Dynasty, not only for casting artillery, but also for developing other more advanced firearms. Among the many firearms, the most commonly used firecracker Nature is the top priority.

Sun Yuanhua is well aware of the importance of firecrackers to the Ming Dynasty. The firecrackers currently equipped by the Ming Dynasty army are really useless. Whether it is against the cavalry of the slaves in Liaodong, the Tatars, or the Japanese pirates and Taixi people on the southeast coast, the actual combat effect is They were all very unsatisfactory, and the feedback from the soldiers was also very unsatisfactory. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty's army urgently needed to equip a more advanced firecracker.

In this regard, Sun Yuanhua planned to imitate the thunder cannon and lightning cannon made by his predecessor Zhao Shizhen to create a fire cannon that was more convenient to use and more powerful.

In fact, the firearms of the Ming Dynasty have always been very advanced. However, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the court paid less and less attention to them, which caused the development of firearms to stagnate. Coupled with the corruption of court officials, even advanced firearms could not be used. Because of cutting corners, it is difficult to exert its due power.

Zhao Shizhen was a firearms master in the Ming Dynasty. He designed and created many advanced firearms. Unfortunately, he was not reused by the court, nor did the firearms he invented receive the attention of the court, and he eventually died in depression.

Among the firearms invented by Zhao Shizhen, the electric blunderbuss is a very typical one. It is designed and manufactured based on the advantages of the Rumi blunderbuss and the Franchise blunderbuss. It not only has a long range and power, but also solves the problems of the old style blunderbuss. There are many problems such as the long shooting interval of the fire gun, which is greatly affected by the weather environment.

The fireguns used by the Ming Dynasty army were mainly matchlocks. Soldiers needed to hold a red-hot iron bar in their hands to light the match. The slow burning speed of the matchlock greatly restricted the shooting interval of the fireguns, and before shooting, Not only do you need to load the ammunition and charge, but you also need to prepare a match rope, which is very inconvenient to use and cannot be quickly put into battle.

Moreover, on rainy days, the match rope cannot be lit, and the fire blunderbuss simply cannot be used. And even if it is not a rainy day, if it is a night battle, after the match rope is lit, the light emitted by the match rope will reveal the shooter's position.

The electric musket made by Zhao Shizhen absorbed the advantages of the Folang machine musket in loading ammunition, and adopted the method of rear-loading ammunition.Each electric gun is equipped with six sub-guns, and a match rope is used as the firing device. By quickly replacing the sub-guns, rapid shooting can be achieved.

At the same time, most of the fire blunderbuss made by Zhao Shizhen also installed an elastic mechanism in the position of the gunpowder bin. One end is fixed on the blunderbuss body, and the other end pulls the match rope. An elastic steel piece of more than one inch is used to increase the elasticity. Pull the trigger to make the mechanism rotate. The match rope immediately falls into the medicine chamber, and the mechanism automatically resets after the shooting is completed, eliminating the trouble of preparing a match rope every time and reducing the shooting interval.

In the eyes of later generations, Zhao Shizhen's contribution to the advancement of firearms is outstanding. The firecrackers he developed can be said to be the transition from the matchlock to the flintlock gun, and are the product of the ultimate development of the matchlock.

But even so, the window paper that evolved from the matchlock gun to the flintlock gun is still difficult to be penetrated, if there is no external force to interfere, and Zhu Tianqi is this "external force"!
Sun Yuanhua developed a new type of fire gun based on the fire gun developed by Zhao Shizhen. Although the starting point was already very high for the time, without Zhu Tianqi's guidance, what he finally developed might still be a matchlock gun. It's just that it can go further than Zhao Shizhen in terms of power and convenience.

Fortunately, Zhu Tianqi did not intend to let Sun Yuanhua embark on this long path of exploration of firearms evolution. He directly sent the ready-made information to Sun Yuanhua, which detailed the manufacturing principles and methods of flintlock guns, which could help Sun Yuanhua stepped out of the limitations of the matchlock gun and directly entered the development stage of the flintlock gun.However, Zhu Tianqi was not in a hurry to give more advanced gun production materials to Sun Yuanhua. Firstly, it was to control the gap in weapon technology. After all, even the relatively backward flintlock gun was enough to suppress the matchlock gun; secondly, with the current Given the level of industrial technology in the Ming Dynasty, even if Sun Yuanhua was given the materials, it would be difficult to produce qualified guns.

In addition to information on firearms, Zhu Tianqi also provided Sun Yuanhua with some information on gunpowder blending and bullet manufacturing. The gunpowder formula used by the Ming Dynasty was still found by Ming general Li Huai from the prisoners of war in Franji during the Shuangyu naval battle. Although it is much improved compared to the previous gunpowder, I am afraid it is still inferior to the gunpowder used by the Franji people today.

As for bullets, judging from the current situation, even if Sun Yuanhua makes a flintlock gun, he will not be able to use specially made bullets for a while. It is estimated that solid bullets such as iron ball steel pellets will be used, but for the bullets Research and development must also be put on the agenda in advance. The quality of bullets also determines the range and power of firearms to a large extent.

Therefore, today's Sun Yuanhua can be said to be very busy. He not only needs to cast cannons, but also make muskets, gunpowder, cannonballs, and bullets. Fortunately, he has more than 100 Thai soldiers he recruited from Haojing'ao. People helped and shared a lot of his work and pressure.

These Taixi people are knowledgeable and skilled professionals, but their main purpose of coming to Ming Dynasty is to seek more benefits for Taixi people in Ming Dynasty and to preach to Ming Dynasty. Therefore, they will not be dedicated to Ming Dynasty affairs. Do your best, and it is impossible to be unreserved in terms of knowledge and technology.

Sun Yuanhua had already realized this when he discussed cannon casting with these Taixi people. They seemed unwilling to help him develop more powerful artillery, but were only willing to help him cast Hongyi cannons and artillery of the same level.

Sun Yuanhua can also understand the thoughts of these Taixi people. It is impossible for these Taixi people to really regard the Ming Dynasty as friends, so they will definitely have reservations about their advanced technology. The purpose is to limit the development of Ming Dynasty firearms. To ensure that weapons superiority is maintained in a possible war against the Ming Dynasty.

Sun Yuanhua is naturally loyal to God, but he is even more loyal to the emperor and the Ming Dynasty. The Taixi people are so wary of him, so naturally he will not be stupid enough to show no reservations to the Taixi people. Regarding what Zhu Tianqi gave him, In the beginning, he would never take out books and materials and let anyone see them, especially the Taixi people.

However, after Zhu Tianqi learned about this, he told Sun Yuanhua that there was no need to deliberately keep these books and materials confidential. He could take them out and let them be circulated openly by Taixi craftsmen, and asked them to assist Sun Yuanhua in conducting practices and experiments based on these books and materials. .

The reason why Zhu Tianqi told Sun Yuanhua that these books and materials did not need to be kept secret from the Thai people was not because he was selfless and generous, but because he had no choice.

(End of this chapter)