Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youjian adjusted the layout of the firearms workshop according to his understanding of the factory. He hoped that after the flintlock musket was finalized, he could achieve industrialized and standardized production and rapidly expand the equipment.

For this reason, he asked Wang Chengen, Lu Xiang and others:

"How much raw material do we have in stock for making flintlock muskets?"

"Can we meet the demand for 300,000?"

Wang Chengen quickly replied:

"The Armory has sent people to Fujian to purchase iron for construction, and it will be delivered soon."

"Mr. Song also rebuilt the ironworks in Zunhua, and according to the emperor's instructions, he found an iron mine in Qian'an."

"We are now following the emperor's instructions and selecting a location along the coast to build an ironworks."

"The overseas oil has not been discovered yet. I don't know when it will be shipped here."

The Zunhua Iron Works was closed in the ninth year of the Wanli reign due to a shortage of charcoal.

Now, decades later, some trees have grown there again. Song Yingxing reopened the Zunhua Iron Works, using the newly grown wood.

However, this is not a long-term solution. Zhu Youjian had already instructed Song Yingxing to explore the use of heavy oil for steelmaking, improve coking technology, and use coal to smelt steel.

But the current oil production area is in Shaanxi, and it is too difficult to transport heavy oil here. The ironworks in Shanxi will use up all the heavy oil they produce. Moreover, the heavy oil steelmaking technology is not mature and is still under trial.

Following the emperor's instructions, Song Yingxing discovered iron ore in Qian'an and Luanzhou, and informed local officials to dredge the Luanhe River. At the same time, according to the emperor's instructions, he selected a location along the coast to build a steel plant.

Zhu Youjian pointed out two places to him. One was Qinhuangdao where Qin Shihuang climbed Jieshi, and the other was Caofei Palace built by Emperor Taizong of Tang to commemorate his concubine named Cao.

Both places became famous ports in later generations and had great development potential.

After Song Yingxing's inspection, he also felt that these two places were suitable for building ports. After some comparison, he finally gave up Qinhuangdao, which was very close to Shanhaiguan, and chose Caofeidian, which was closer to Tianjin.

This is the deepest part of the Bohai Sea, which is neither frozen nor silted, making it suitable for building a deep-water port. Later, when Shougang moved, it moved here.

Song Yingxing has already started leveling the land, building docks, constructing seawalls... and building a steel plant in this area.

He did not pin his hopes entirely on the overseas oil that the emperor had mentioned, but rather thought that by building a base on the coast, he could import wood from the south for charcoal.

That way, high-quality steel could be produced in the North for use in making guns and cannons.

After listening to Wang Chengen's introduction, Zhu Youjian nodded and said:

"This steel mill can be named as the Royal Steel Mill and be managed by the Imperial Household Supervisor."

"The necessary funds will be allocated from the inner court, and the local officials will cooperate in other matters."

"The day Mr. Song produces high-quality steel for the Royal Steel Works, I will award him a medal."

He also reminded Wang Chengen:
"Don't just focus on the wood from the south, the wood from the north can also be used to make charcoal."

"Ningyuan Earldom cut down a lot of trees to open up the wasteland. We can organize a fleet to go there and transport them over."

"And how are you preparing the wood for the buttstock?"

In addition to steel, the most important raw material for muskets is wood.

Wang Chengen was not very familiar with this, so Lu Xiang said:
"Walnut is the best wood for gun stocks."

"But walnut is more expensive, and furniture also uses it."

"We don't have enough reserves yet, there's still a lot of room left."

Walnut wood, with its beautiful texture, solidity and durability, is one of the commonly used raw materials for furniture.

And because it is an economic fruit tree, its price is relatively high, and there are certain difficulties in stockpiling it.

After Zhu Youjian understood this, he thought about the materials used for the buttstocks of later generations, which seemed to include walnut and birch. He suggested:
"Have Jiangling Principality send some birch wood to try to use it for the gunstock."

"Also, the shape of the buttstock will be modified based on soldier feedback to make it more comfortable."

As he spoke, he also picked up a gun stock, frowned at its weight, and ordered: "Don't make the gun stock so thick, it will only increase the weight in vain."

"As long as it can be used, the thinner and lighter the better."

"Also, the shoulder area can be hollowed out to place small accessories that are easy to lose, such as ignition needles, ignition powder bottles, brushes, flints, etc."

Let Lu Xiang do it on the spot and dig out the bottom of the gunstock. As long as it does not affect its use, the lighter the better.

After this modification, the weight of the buttstock was indeed reduced. The overall weight of the musket was also reduced.

Then he pointed to a rifle stock with a groove dug out at the bottom and asked:
"Why is there a groove under the butt of this rifle? What is it used for?"

Wang Chengen replied:
"This was proposed by the soldiers of the Warrior Battalion. It is used to place the cleaning rods."

"You can just slap the cleaning rod in and out, which is quicker than taking it in and out through the cleaning rod hole."

"It just tends to fall off, and it hasn't quite settled yet."

However, after Gu Yanwu, Sun Yingyuan and others were awarded titles and honors for their self-flowing drug-priming system, the officers and soldiers in the army who knew about it also started a craze for improving firearms.

They all hoped that their improvements would be recognized by the emperor and that they would also be awarded titles.

Most of these improvements were fanciful, but some were valuable and contributed to the perfection of the flintlock musket.

For example, the paper-wrapped bullet made by Lü Xiang was improved with more suitable oil paper. Moreover, it was designed as a routine operation to stuff the oil paper and the bullet into the gun barrel together, instead of the previous design that it could only be done in an emergency.

Some people also omitted the cleaning rod that was required when loading ammunition. They directly put a smaller paper bullet into the muzzle of the gun, knocked the butt of the gun hard on the ground, and the paper bullet fell into the gun chamber.

However, this action will cause some damage to the musket, and the Equipment Institute does not recommend doing so. It is only a special method of loading ammunition when conditions are suitable.

They also suggested that Ji Jike and others from the Warrior Camp design the cleaning rod rack based on the weapon rack design.

This type of cleaning rod holder is dug directly on the stock and is usually fixed with a clip. When needed, just open the clip and grab the cleaning rod out from inside.

When putting it back, you can also just tap the cleaning rod back in without having to align it with the cleaning rod opening.

It was well received by some people, but the possibility of loss of features also made the Equipment Academy unsure whether to adopt this design.

It appeared before the emperor during Zhu Youjian's inspection.

Zhu Youjian listened to Wang Chengen's introduction, then tried the cleaning rod and found that it was indeed more convenient to take and put.

But the possibility of loss will also increase a lot.

After thinking about it, he said:
"You can make pipe clamps out of flexible steel or wood and put them at the front and rear ends of the rod rack to hold the rod tighter."

"Then build a part to test and see the probability of missing."

“As long as the improvement is not too much, this design can be adopted.”

He drew the shape of a pipe clamp and asked Lu Xiang to find suitable materials to make it.

He even suggested that there was no need to dig a whole groove under the gunstock, but instead install two pipe clamps, dig grooves only for the pipe clamps, and place the pipe clamps inside at normal times.

The cleaning rod should still be placed in the cleaning rod hole to avoid loss. During battle, the two tube clamps should be stood up. After taking out the cleaning rod and pushing the bullet into the chamber, the cleaning rod should be directly placed on the tube clamps.

This makes it more convenient to use in battle and avoids loss, which can be said to be a good way to get the best of both worlds.

This idea was unanimously praised by Lu Xiang and others, who believed that the emperor was indeed wise and intelligent to have come up with a good idea so quickly.

Zhu Youjian was not interested in their flattery, and he was not sure whether this was a good idea.

He ordered that the soldiers who made effective suggestions should be rewarded, and those whose suggestions were adopted would be promoted at least one level.

In order to avoid the loss of the cleaning rod, he also instructed Lu Xiang to dig a hole at the end of the buttstock and put in a cleaning rod that could be disassembled and reassembled, so that when the main cleaning rod was lost, there would be a spare cleaning rod as a backup.

Many gun cleaning rods in later generations were placed like this.

This auxiliary cleaning rod does not even need to be made of iron, a few thin wooden sticks can be used as a backup in case of emergency. (End of this chapter)