Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chapter 260: Major Breakthrough at the Firearms Supervision Office
Firearms Supervisor.

Li Yuanji rushed over impatiently. Ever since the people from the Firearms Bureau told him that what he wanted had been made, Li Yuanji couldn't help but want to try it out.

After Li Yuanji arrived, the head of the Firearms Bureau hurried over.

"See you, Your Majesty."

Li Yuanji waved his hand and signaled to stand up.

"Zhen Tang, take me to see the new products you made."

Li Yuanji was not willing to listen to these people's nagging at this moment. He just wanted to know the good things he had been thinking about.

Zhen Tang is the person in charge of the Firearms Bureau and the most experienced person among his people. He was brought here from Chang'an.

"Your Majesty, please follow me."

Zhen Tang did not dare to delay and took Li Yuanji inside until they arrived at the inspection site. Zhen Tang then asked someone to bring the finished products over.

Li Yuanji looked at the iron pipe on the table. Yes, it was an iron pipe, but this iron pipe was not ordinary and was very powerful.

Li Yuanji immediately picked it up and began to look at it. This thin iron tube was the musket that Li Yuanji had asked the Firearms Supervisor to make.

The design of a musket is not difficult. The only requirement is the material used. As his smelting technology is so advanced now, Li Yuanji is not worried about the barrel exploding easily.

After playing with it in his hand for a while, Li Yuanji immediately looked at Zhen Tang.

"Let someone try it now, forget it, I'll try it myself."

As soon as Li Yuanji finished speaking, Zhen Tang was frightened.

"Your Majesty, this musket is dangerous. Please let someone else try it. If anything goes wrong, I will be held responsible."

Zhen Tang refused to let Li Yuanji come by himself. If something really happened, it would be a real disaster.

Seeing that everyone around him was against it, Li Yuanji had no choice but to hand it over to Zhen Tang.

"Okay, get someone to try it out and start right away."

Zhen Tang did not dare to delay, so he called someone and started filling gunpowder, then put iron bullets into the barrel, then took a thin stick, put cotton paper in it, and started aiming.

After aiming, the person next to him ignites the gunpowder in the gunpowder chamber.

boom!
There was a loud bang and smoke came out of the musket. However, Li Yuanji had no intention of looking at it. Instead, he looked at the armored dummy in front of him. Soon someone brought the dummy to him.

Li Yuanji looked at the armor on the dummy being pierced, and his pupils suddenly shrank. The armor did not actually protect him.

This was the armor he had created with such advanced technology, but it couldn't even protect against muskets?

Later, Li Yuanji also understood. It was precisely because of the improvement in smelting technology that not only the armor was stronger, but the strength of the musket was also higher, including the iron bullet.

Li Yuanji then looked at Zhen Tang.

"Tell me in detail the results of your previous tests on this fire gun and its current performance."

Li Yuanji was looking forward to it very much. Although he knew that the musket would look like this no matter how it was made, and there was no corresponding foundation before, it was already good enough that he could make it now and the test was successful.

But there's always a sense of hope, right?

Zhen Tang then said solemnly: "Your Majesty, this musket, I and my colleagues have indeed tested it many times, and the explosion that Your Majesty mentioned only occurred once, that is, after loading ammunition and firing 36 times in a row, the gunpowder chamber exploded.

The thirty-six shots took more than an hour in total. It took too long to refill the gunpowder each time, and this was even with the assistance of someone on the side.

If there is no one to assist, it will take longer, and the gun can only be placed at the waist for shooting, and it cannot be placed on the shoulder when lighting the gunpowder chamber.

The range of a musket, if worn without armor, can reach up to sixty steps to injure someone, but it is extremely difficult to hit the target accurately.

If he was wearing the previous armor, it could be penetrated at forty steps, which was the maximum distance.

If we wear our current armor, it can only penetrate the armor within fifteen steps, and fifteen steps is the maximum distance, it may not be able to penetrate, but within fourteen steps, it will definitely penetrate the armor!"

Li Yuanji listened quietly, with both joy and sorrow. He was happy about the range, which could reach sixty steps, because not every army wore armor.

Even in the Tang Dynasty, only certain border troops and the army in Chang'an had armor. The Tang Dynasty today was not rich enough to provide armor for hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

That's it, not to mention other small countries and forces, even fewer people in the army wore armor.

The armor-piercing range of this musket was the only thing that made Li Yuanji slightly relieved, as it reached a range of forty steps.

As for the armor he was equipped with, Li Yuanji did not take it into account at all, because only he had it, and no other place had this technology.

A distance of forty steps is already very powerful. Compared with the armor-piercing distance of thirty steps before the early Ming Dynasty, it is undoubtedly ten steps more.

"How long does it take to reload ammunition?"

Zhen Tang didn't say anything and immediately asked someone to start the demonstration. After the demonstration was completed, Li Yuanji looked at it and found that it would take at least more than a minute, which was too long.

After firing, you have to clean the gun barrel, put in the iron bullet, fix it with cotton paper and a wooden stick, then tear open the packaging paper containing the gunpowder, open it and pour it into the gunpowder chamber, close the valve, and ignite it with fire.

According to the armor-piercing distance of forty steps, only one round of shooting is needed to complete. The enemy has almost rushed to the front, and it requires people who are fully proficient in the loading process to carry out the second round of shooting, but it is only the second round.

This second round of shooting was particularly thrilling. Once the enemy approached and they could not switch to other weapons in time, the musketeers would be lambs to be slaughtered.

That is, in theory you can fire two rounds, but in practice you can only fire one round.

This is when fighting against infantry. If it is against cavalry, they will have to wait to die on the spot after one round of shooting. There is no other way to go.

At this time, coordination with other arms is particularly tested, otherwise the musketeers will be completely useless.

These were not what Li Yuanji wanted. Just a musket like this was not enough to determine the outcome of a war.

What's the point of wasting manpower and resources just to fire a volley of bullets on the battlefield?

But it is impossible to say that it is of no use. In one round of shooting, as long as there are thousands of musketeers, the casualties caused are actually not small, but that requires that there are enough musketeers.

Moreover, when it is used for the first time, it will surely scare the enemy out of their wits, or at least change the situation of the battle in the initial stage.

Li Yuanji stopped thinking about it and looked at Zhen Tang seriously.

"This musket is indeed feasible, but it is not enough. Next, we need to improve the musket. First, the troublesome thing of igniting the gunpowder can be solved by placing the gunpowder chamber outside and then using a rope. After the rope is ignited, it will not burn violently, but will burn slowly like a spark.

At that time, the rope will be lit and placed on the musket, and a trigger that can be pulled will be designed on the musket.

That is to say, after clenching your right hand, you can press a switch with your index finger, which will pull the fuse downward and ignite the gunpowder, so there is no need to light the fire continuously.

At the same time, holding it directly like this is not conducive to aiming, so you can add a piece of wood at the back, which is the musket stock, and put it on the shoulder for firing.

In addition, in order to solve the problem of insufficient close combat, you need to design a sharp knife that can be placed on the barrel of the musket. When the enemy approaches, the close combat capability of the musket soldier can also be guaranteed.

After you go down, think carefully about what to do. This musket is just the beginning, but it does not mean it is the final result. You should also think more about how to do it so that you can maintain the needs of the battle, kill the enemy better, and make it more convenient for the army to use. "

What Li Yuanji said was actually the original matchlock gun, which was also equipped with melee weapons and bayonets to enhance the melee capabilities of the musketeers.

The number of troops must be limited. He cannot expand the fire gun army by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands alone. The financial burden is too heavy. Now, Li Yuanji is gritting his teeth to supply the 300,000 Type A troops.

If there were tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of such troops, we would simply not be able to survive.

He will establish a musket army, but it will never consist of tens of thousands of people, the number will not reach that level.

As for more advanced firearms, Li Yuanji also wanted to get them, but he didn't want to obtain them through the system because the contribution points required were too many and he couldn't afford it.

I can only come up with a plan myself and let these people do it step by step. If the most difficult part comes at the beginning, how can these people do it?

Only by increasing the difficulty step by step and allowing the people in the Firearms Supervisor to have a basic understanding and gradually improve it can we avoid making these people confused and not knowing how to start.

Zhen Tang listened carefully, and then asked someone to use pen, ink and paper to write down everything Li Yuanji said. He then began to draw, trying to depict what Li Yuanji said.

Li Yuanji looked at it for a while, then took the pen and started painting.

Now that the musket has been invented, it would be much easier to improve it into a matchlock gun. If it were a matchlock gun from the beginning, it would be much more difficult.

The matchlock gun is based on the musket, but with some additional objects added, such as a matchlock, a buttstock, and wood tied to the musket barrel to prevent it from becoming hot and impossible for people to touch.

Then the goal can be achieved by slightly changing the firing structure of the musket.

In a very short time, Li Yuanji finished drawing the structure of the matchlock gun, which could be said to be basically not difficult.

Anyway, it is not difficult for him to draw it. As for whether it is difficult to actually do it, it depends on the ability of people like Zhen Tang. He can't do it anyway.

"Take it and show it to them later. This is called a matchlock gun. Make it as soon as possible.

Now that we have experience in making muskets, this matchlock gun is just a slight change based on the musket, so it shouldn’t be that difficult.”

Zhen Tang looked at the structure of the matchlock gun carefully, and then agreed excitedly.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will lead my colleagues to study the production of the matchlock gun and try to make it as soon as possible!"

Li Yuanji nodded calmly, and then said: "Okay, you guys go down and study this matter, now take me to see the big guy."

Li Yuanji is now full of interest in the big guy he is going to see next.

This musket was just a snack. What Li Yuanji was really interested in was the big one next to it.

Zhen Tang then took Li Yuanji to another test site. This test site was much larger, more than ten times larger than the previous test site.

And on this testing ground, there is also a big guy, which looks not much different from a musket. It can be said to be an enlarged version of the musket, which is the cannon that Li Yuanji has been thinking about.

Li Yuanji walked closer and felt it with his hand, but he didn't feel anything. However, it did not hinder his excitement at all.

"Has this artillery been tested? What's its range?"

Zhen Tang, standing aside, looked at him with burning eyes, and said respectfully, "It is all thanks to Your Majesty's suggestion that I was able to make this cannon. I have never thought that weapons can be made in this way.

I have already had someone conduct the test, and have specially found a deep mountain to test the artillery.

The range can reach nearly one thousand meters, which is as far as one thousand two hundred meters.

This cannon is made of steel and iron. The gun body is mainly made of steel provided by the Ironware Inspectorate. It has sufficient toughness and strength, and is better than the copper and iron bodies tested before.

Moreover, after using steel, the overall weight of the cannon has also been reduced. When iron was used before, the cannon weighed 1,453 kilograms.

After using a mixture of steel and iron, the weight of the artillery was reduced to 894 kilograms, making it more convenient to transport.

The gunpowder chamber uses what the King called the iron cannon with a copper core, which indeed greatly reduces the risk of explosion at the contact between the gunpowder chamber and the gun body. Especially after using steel as the main material, the risk of explosion is even lower.

As for its power, I have never seen such a divine weapon before. If it were placed on the battlefield, the enemy would probably flee immediately after seeing it. "

Listening to what Zhen Tang said, Li Yuanji was very happy. Both the range and weight were within the range that Li Yuanji approved.

Judging from its weight, range, and the size of the muzzle, Li Yuanji knew very well that this was roughly a medium-sized artillery.

If it is replaced with heavy, that is, large artillery, there will be an increase in all aspects.

Since Zhen Tang produced a medium-sized artillery, he could also take a look at the power of this artillery.

On the battlefield, it is precisely small and medium-sized artillery that participate in the attack. Heavy artillery is often more suitable for defense because it is easy to transport and can be placed on the top of the city without moving or transportation.

As for the navy, whether it is medium or large, it can be used, so there is no need to worry at all.

"Let's get started now. I can't wait to see how this artillery performs."

As soon as Li Yuanji finished speaking, Zhen Tang asked people to start preparing. They also loaded stone bullets, but these stone bullets were much larger.

Then put in tissue paper, fix the shell with a wooden stick, and then start filling the gunpowder chamber with gunpowder.

When all preparations were completed, Zhen Tang came to Li Yuanji.

"My king, please step back. The artillery is dangerous."

This time, Li Yuanji was very tactful and continued to lean back. Not to mention the roar of the artillery, once the barrel really exploded and the distance was close, he would really be gone, it would be him.

After retreating to a distance, Zhen Tang took out a chess piece and waved it downwards. The gunner next to the cannon immediately ignited the gunpowder in the gunpowder chamber.

boom!
A moment later, a loud noise was heard, and in the blink of an eye, a shell fell straight into the distance.

(End of this chapter)