Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 448: Gun (Special thanks to book friend 1401…0207 for the 2 monthly tickets!)

Chai Zongxun took the case and said with great joy:

"The Chinese people are very talented! Throughout the ages, they have been trapped on the edge of survival by the ruling class of the time using Shang Yang's tactics of weakening and fooling the people, leaving them no time to engage in production techniques and theoretical research!

I have only been encouraging people to do so for more than ten years, and now ordinary people have come up with so many inventions and creations. This is great!

The imperial edict was passed down, and for individuals in the private sector who finally made research results, three prizes were set up, imitating the "Royal Academy of Sciences", with one thousand taels, five hundred taels and one hundred taels of silver respectively.

For inventions and creations that have made great contributions, I will not hesitate to grant titles to inventors!"

After Yan Su thanked him, he smiled and said:
“Your Majesty, the trend of R&D and innovation is now flourishing among the people of our Great Zhou, and we, the professors of the Royal Academy of Sciences, naturally cannot lag behind and fail to live up to Your Majesty’s expectations.

My colleagues and I have taken into account that the armies of the Star Religion and Rome have all adopted plate armor, which has greatly reduced the effectiveness of our Great Zhou's divine arm bow in defeating the enemy. We have specifically developed special firearms based on the principles of artillery, and now have some progress. "

Chai Zongxun was overjoyed and said:
"Lord Yan is truly my most trusted minister!
How is the research on this new type of firearm going? Tell me quickly."

Yan Su immediately took out a roll of drawings from his arms and explained them in detail to Chai Zongxun.

When Chai Zongxun heard this, he saw that Yan Su and other professors of the Royal Academy of Sciences had actually conceived a rough model similar to the rifle of the previous life based on the ballistics and mechanics principles of artillery.

China is the birthplace of gunpowder and the first country to study and apply gunpowder.

Gunpowder was already used in the military in China in the 10th century. From the end of the Tang Dynasty to the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, the army began to use firearms such as thunderbolt fireballs, gunpowder arrows, and thunder bombs on a large scale.

Around 905 AD (the end of the Tang Dynasty), China's earliest primitive "fire gun (fire spear)" appeared. It was a spear with a gunpowder gun head device, and its main function was to fight in close combat and use gunpowder to affect the enemy.

The musket was the earliest tubular firearm in the world's military history, invented by the Chinese military strategist Chen Gui during the Song Dynasty (1132 AD) using bamboo poles and gunpowder.

There are three iconic products of the musket. The long bamboo-pole musket was invented by Chen Gui in the second year of Shaoxing. It can be used to spray fire and is the predecessor of firearms such as the fire tube. The flying musket was invented by the Jin army in the fifth year of Shaoding. It can be equipped for individual combat, and a flying musket team consisting of hundreds of soldiers appeared. The musket was created by Shouchun Prefecture (now Shou County, Anhui) in the first year of Kaiqing. It uses a giant bamboo as a tube and can fire bullets to kill enemy soldiers.

They are all products of the transition stage from primary combustion firearms to tube-fired series firearms, laying the foundation for the development of firearms to advanced stages.

In this time and space, with the emergence of Chai Zongxun, the development of firearms has been greatly accelerated. The "Yansu Cannon" invented by Yan Su before was a major breakthrough in the application of gunpowder and ballistic mechanics under the guidance of Chai Zongxun.

Chai Zongxun listened to Yan Su's introduction of the various parts of the musket one by one, and felt relieved:

“Yan Su is indeed a genius.

I rescued his brother and sister from poverty and helplessness, so that they no longer had to worry about survival. They also became disciples of Dean Ding, and in a few years they mastered the top skills of the era and were able to innovate based on my suggestions.

The early appearance of muskets will once again greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of our Great Zhou army, and there is no need to worry about the Shenbi bow technology, which has been on the market for more than 30 years, being cracked by other countries.

With the firearm invented by Yan Su, the vast territory of my Great Zhou Empire can be firmly protected."

In the original time and space of history, Yan Su was a talented person. He struggled to make a living at the bottom of society for most of his life, but he was still able to teach himself and made many inventions. He also passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi when he was in his fifties.

Chai Zongxun smiled and said:
"Lord Yan is truly a scientific and technological genius of our Great Zhou! He was able to apply artillery techniques to individual weapons and create a firearm that was ahead of its time.

But what is the range and power of the musket developed by Lord Yan?"

Yan Su bowed and said:
"Your Majesty saved my life when I was young, and I will never forget it!

Your Majesty has been training me since I was young and entrusted me with important tasks. Your kindness is as high as the sky. How dare I not do my best to repay you? Your Majesty, according to my research over the years, the range and power of firearms depend on the airtightness of the barrel and the power of the gunpowder explosion in the gunpowder chamber.

Based on actual tests on more than one hundred muskets that have been made so far, the airtightness of the gun barrels made by the master craftsmen on the Ministry of Industry is the highest level among craftsmen nationwide.

The musket barrel is three feet and two inches long, with a diameter of half an inch. It fires lead bullets weighing three cents. It is handmade in one piece, with an effective range of three hundred meters and a blind range of up to two miles at an elevated angle.

Within the effective range, the force can break a foot thick brick. Even when facing plate armor, the striking effect is similar to that of a tiger squat cannon fired from 500 meters away. "

Chai Zongxun nodded, very satisfied with the effectiveness and power of the musket created by Yan Su and others.

Although the effective range is 300 meters, which is less than the 500-meter range of the Shenbi Bow, the airtightness of the current hand-made barrel is almost the limit.

However, the power of the musket is similar to that of the tiger squat cannon, and it can break the plate armor of the enemy within 300 meters, which is something that the divine arm bow cannot achieve.

We can only wait for the continuous development of the commercial society and technology of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and hope to gradually improve the musket technology and gunpowder technology in the future.

Chai Zongxun said:

"Lord Yan, how much does it cost to make this musket? If I want to equip the entire army with it, how many muskets can be produced per month?"

Yan Su thought for a moment and said:

"Your Majesty, the cost of making this musket is about ten taels of silver per craftsman. Currently, the court has about 20,000 skilled craftsmen who can make muskets from all over the country, and they can make 50,000 muskets per month.

In the future, we will have a system where skilled craftsmen teach apprentices, and within a year we will have 100,000 craftsmen, with a monthly production capacity of more than 200,000 pieces."

Yan Su continued:

"I beg Your Majesty to personally inspect the power of this musket. If Your Majesty is satisfied with it, I beg Your Majesty to give it a name."

Chai Zongxun smiled and said:
"I am relieved to have you, my dear Lord Yan, do the work.

Since Lord Yan and his colleagues have already tested it many times, I will not review it again."

Chai Zongxun pondered for a moment, calculated the current treasury revenue and expenditure, and said:

"Next year is the 33rd year of Kaixi, so this musket will be named 'Kaixi No. 33'.

As for production capacity, we aim to produce 100,000 units per month within half a year.

I will fully entrust the matter of building a factory and producing in the suburbs of Bianjing to Lord Yan. You can contact General Tang for all the money and materials.

At the same time, a batch of sample guns will be sent to Han Hui, the commander of the Longxiang Army, so that he can first train a group of officers to become familiar with the use of this musket, and then pass it on to the sergeants of the entire army in batches in the future to replace them with muskets. "

After receiving the order, Yan Su recruited skilled craftsmen from all over the country with a high salary of five taels of silver per month, while selecting a site to build a factory on the outskirts of Bianliang.

On the sixth day of the second month of the thirty-third year of Kaixi, the musket factory was officially completed and put into production.

(End of this chapter)