Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 306 flechette

Lu Xiang's request made Zhu Youjian very happy.

After thinking about it, he without hesitation ordered people to separate the guns, ammunition, and bayonets and bring them to him.

After asking the eunuch next to him to check and confirm that there was no gunpowder in the gun, Zhu Youjian reached out to grab it, frowned slightly, and said to Lu Xiang:

"This is the standard fire gun you chose. Why is it so heavy?"

"With such a heavy weight, how can you compete with others in stabbing?"

According to his estimate, this gun weighed about twenty-five or six kilograms, which was too heavy.

Even if a bayonet is installed, it is not convenient for stabbing.

When Lu Xiang heard this, he quickly pointed to the shelf under the gun and said:

"This is the tripod that holds the gun. After removing it, it only weighs fifteen kilograms."

"Although it's still a bit heavy, it can already stab."

After hearing this, Zhu Youjian removed the tripod and felt that it was indeed a little lighter. This made him dissatisfied with the tripod that weighed more than ten kilograms. Thinking of the bipods used by later generations of anti-material weapons, he told Lu Xiang:
"Find a way to build a light bipod that can be easily disassembled."

"This tripod is really impractical now!"

He also pointed at the wooden butt of the gun and drew a sketch based on the butts of later generations. Let Lu Xiang find suitable materials to make a better gun holder.

Asking someone to get a ruler, Zhu You checked it and found that the length of the firecracker was about 130 centimeters. The bayonet blade is about fifty centimeters long. After the two are combined, it is about 180 centimeters. Although it is shorter than a long weapon, it is barely enough for self-defense.

What dissatisfied Zhu Youjian the most is still the weight. Not only is the gun too heavy, the bayonet is also a bit heavy. Therefore, he told Lu Xiang to find ways to reduce weight and try to control the weight of the gun within ten kilograms. The weight of the bayonet should also be reduced as needed.

After Lu Xiang wrote all this down, he saw the emperor holding a bayonet and inserting the iron piece in front of the blunderbuss into the hole on the handle.

There was a "click" sound, and there seemed to be a buckle inside, which easily caught the iron piece.

Lu Xiang reminded at this time:
"Your Majesty, there is a button on the handle of the knife. When pressed, the latch inside will be released, and the bayonet can be removed."

Zhu Youjian listened to his prompts and pressed the button under the knife handle. Sure enough, he found that the bayonet could be removed. This made him nod with satisfaction. He felt that the bayonet latch structure that Lu Xiang came up with was simple and convenient. It was worthy of his trust. A carpenter with high hopes.

Then he installed the bayonet again and stabbed it a few times, feeling that the fixation was still firm.

The only problem is that the iron piece inserted into the latch is now fixed on the wooden support of the gun, and it is likely to be damaged in a fierce battle.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian requested that this iron piece be closely integrated with the barrel of the gun, so that the barrel of the gun cannot be damaged when the bayonet is used.

Lu Xiang himself was aware of this flaw and explained:
"I am using an existing fire gun to renovate it. I haven't had time to make a new gun barrel yet."

"When we make fire blunderbuss in the future, the bayonet latch will be connected to the blunderbuss barrel."

Zhu Youjian nodded in approval and said:
"You made a great contribution regarding the bayonet."

"The rest is testing and trying to finalize it as soon as possible."

"When the new fire gun and bayonet are equipped, I will personally award you the medal."

It is implied that Lu Xiang can rely on this merit to be promoted from Shao Liang Zao to Zhong Liang Zao.

Lu Xiang was overjoyed, knowing that his position in the emperor's heart had become more stable.

But for him, there was nothing much to say about a simple thing like a bayonet. What he was more proud of was the bullets he worked hard to make according to the emperor's requirements.

Zhu Youjian had also discovered the bullets he brought a long time ago. Pointing at the bullets that looked like arrows, wrapped in a wooden pole in the front and wrapped with a medicine bag in the back, he said with some confusion:

"Is this what I told you about the discarding sabot armor-piercing projectile?"

"Why does it look like an arrow, only with gunpowder added?" Lu Xiang said with a smile:
"After I returned home, I thought for a while and found that the armor-piercing shells your Majesty mentioned are very similar to gun arrows."

"So I worked with a craftsman who was good at making guns and arrows to make this kind of arrow-shaped bullet."

Guns and arrows can be said to be one of the earliest firearms.

To put it simply, the arrow is stuffed into the gun, and gunpowder is used to propel the arrow to launch.

It is more powerful and has a slower rate of fire, and is similar to the traditional crossbow positioning.

So after the appearance of guns and arrows, they quickly replaced the crossbow.

The most important reason why the Ming Dynasty's crossbow is not famous is that its status has long been replaced.

A few years ago, hundreds of divine arm crossbows from the Song Dynasty were discovered in Shaanxi. People from the Ming Dynasty watched them with great interest, but did not propose imitations.

The reason is that the crossbow has long lost its place in the army, and the fire gun replaced the previous crossbow in the Ming army.

On the contrary, bows and arrows, which many people compare with fire guns, actually have no overlapping status with fire guns. It is impossible to completely replace the bow until the fire gun cannot fire continuously and rapidly.

Zhu Youjian didn't know much about guns and arrows, firearms used in the early days of the country, but the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty knew it very well.

When Lu Xiang discussed with the craftsmen the design drawings of his proposed discarding sabot armor-piercing projectiles, those craftsmen who were good at firearms quickly proposed:
The armor-piercing discarding sabots ordered by the emperor to be manufactured were actually shrunken blunderbuss arrows.

Therefore, based on their experience in making blunderbuss and arrows, they cast smaller blunderbuss arrows, added the tail fin of the bow and arrow to the back of the arrow, wrapped it with a wooden support that could take off the shell, and then wrapped it with a silk medicine bag.

If you put this kind of bullet into a gun, it can be fired smoothly. And the power and range are both good, much stronger than current bullets.

After a simple test, Lu Xiang used it to report his merits to the emperor. Just because of the palace's precautions against firecrackers, they almost didn't bring them in.

At this time, seeing that the emperor did not blame him and seemed to be quite interested, Lu Xiang explained carefully:

"This arrow-shaped bullet originally had no tail fins and just used an arrowhead. It was like the first-stage bullet that His Majesty said."

"It's just that if there is no tail fin, it will fly around easily when launched, and the medicine pack will be difficult to fix."

"So after discussion, I added a tail fin on the back."

"The shape of the tail now is the best one selected. There are several styles that are still being experimented with."

While explaining about the tail fin, Lu Xiang pointed at the wooden support and said:
"This is the wooden support that your Majesty said can be removed from the shell. I tried various methods and found that it was too complicated to fix it."

"Then I just used the medical bag to wrap the end of the wooden support."

"In this way, after the powder package burns in the blunderbuss, the wooden support begins to loosen, and after flying out of the blunderbuss barrel, it is completely separated from the arrow."

"Without the wooden support, the arrows fly faster and are more powerful than the original blunderbuss arrows with shafts."

"Even from a hundred feet away, it can still break through heavy armor."

"Cum on centaurs, it may even penetrate!"

This power far exceeds the expectations of many craftsmen. They originally thought that using only arrows would not be as powerful as a complete blunderbuss arrow.

Unexpectedly, after the arrow was shrunk, it would be more powerful than the blunderbuss arrow used before.

Therefore, these craftsmen are already making smaller flechettes for use in bird guns.

(Modern flechette)

(End of this chapter)