Ping An Biography

Wuchang City Weapons Bureau.Zhang Ning saw with his own eyes that the flintlock guns modified by officials and craftsmen were tested. They were not loaded, but only the percussion powder and propellant powder were loaded. After ten trials, they only fired twice.It didn't take much time to manufacture a few for experimentation. The barrel was ready-made, but the firing mechanism was rebuilt; but this result made everyone very frustrated. Obviously, this kind of thing cannot be mass-produced and put into the battlefield, otherwise it depends on whether it can be fired or not. No luck at all for stability.

On the spot, someone simply questioned: "To ignite a fire with a scythe and flint, you have to first use tinder and then a touch lamp; it's really not easy for us to trigger the medicine just by hitting the flint with the steel sheet."

The so-called bureaucrats in the Weapons Bureau are really not official because of the population barrier. Most of them come from bad backgrounds, have no fame, and have little experience and knowledge; otherwise, more thoughtful officials would definitely not question this plan, because it is The king of Xiang personally proposed it.Fortunately, Zhang Ning didn't care about such things.

Zhang Ning glanced back at the person who spoke just now, and said in a very sure tone: "It is definitely possible to make a flintlock gun that does not use open flames and only relies on flint. The poor effect this time should be a problem with the design agency. It will definitely work out after a few tries.”

He can be so sure, naturally because this kind of thing has appeared in history, it is the experience of people in later generations, not a hypothesis.And he clearly remembers: the Industrial Revolution happened in 1960 and the middle of the 200th century, which is basically common sense; and the advent of the flintlock gun was around the end of the [-]th century to the beginning of the [-]th century, at least [-] years away from the Industrial Revolution At that time, around the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, there was no so-called industry in the east and west of the world, and things like machine tools were all made by hand.Since this thing has appeared in history, it must be manufactured with the technology of this era. [

And now it is the Xuande period, you can only invent this kind of thing by yourself, there is no way to introduce technology; because China is now the most developed region in the world in terms of economy and technology.When the East lags behind in pure technology, it will be about the Wanli period.

However, the group of supervisors and craftsmen in front of them looked helpless, which made Zhang Ning feel very bad. He felt that talented people were indeed very scarce.He took the test product and pondered for a while, "Maybe it's because the firing force is not enough, and the friction and impact can't produce a reliable spark, so it's not easy to ignite the gunpowder."

The structure of firearms from the matchlock mechanism to the flintlock mechanism is already a bit complicated, and Zhang Ning can't figure it out, so he can only talk on paper, hoping to help the craftsmen's skills and ideas. "To increase the strength of the mechanism, some principles can be used. For example, the gear And leverage..." As he spoke, he found that the Weapons Bureau had already asked someone to bring paper and ink to record the promotion of Ma Dapeng. He hoped that Ma Dapeng was not just pretending to be flattering, and it would be better if he really put his heart into it.

Thinking about it now, the secular flattery and worldly sophistication are really dross. When you really want to do business, it is useless at all, but it increases operating costs and reduces work efficiency.No wonder "Wei Xiaobao" chooses generals when he chooses whoever doesn't flatter him.

"You must have seen a waterwheel. The human pedal is slower but laborious; the water on the other side travels faster but lighter. The principle of gear transmission is similar, but the structure is a little different... I have to draw a picture to get it down. Make it clear." Zhang Ning turned around and walked towards the chopping board where the paper and ink were placed.

At this moment, a voice behind said: "The villain knows what the prince said. A bell tower was built in the Song Dynasty, which was for the emperor's words and deeds to respond to the weather; the bell tower was driven by a waterwheel built by the river, and there were many large and small bell towers inside." Gears tell the time along with the sun, the moon and the stars. In addition, there is a thing in the building called "Caoshen", which can automatically ring the alarm every quarter of an hour, and requires manpower. The bell tower was later destroyed by the Yuan army, but its The structure is recorded in books, and the villain has seen the manuscript of that ancient book."

After hearing this, Zhang Ning became interested, and quickly turned his head to see who was talking. He saw a thin middle-aged man with a thin goatee and a narrow face.This person's remarks reminded Zhang Ning that he realized that there were many exquisite skills in ancient China, but there was no systematic theory, and there were not many widely used technologies. The imperial government attached great importance to support, because food production was the technology that the Central Plains dynasty always paid attention to, including the astronomy and calendar to guide agriculture.

He immediately praised: "You are quite knowledgeable. What's your name, what position did you have, and what career did you have?"

Everyone turned their heads to look at the goatee, many of them looked stunned, obviously they knew him.Only Zhang Ning didn't know this person at all, he only came to the Weapons Bureau occasionally, and he was only familiar with Ma Dapeng and a few officials.Even so, a "prince" like Zhang Ning is very rare. The superior person personally asks the craftsmen about the technical details, which is really different from the behavior of the nobles at this time; Do some big things that people can't understand.However, Zhang Ning's thinking is different. He thinks that macro events are evolved from small and small events through reasonable rules, and it is not necessarily useful to talk about general principles.Therefore, in a more advanced modern society, human beings are not only studying the macroscopic social economy, but also focusing on quantum mechanics in small areas.

The goatee hurriedly bowed and said: "If you go back to the lord, the villain's surname is Tang Mingyang, a craftsman in the Weapons Bureau, who used to... look at Fengshui."

The bystanders finally couldn't help but said: "My lord, the younger ones call him Tang Daxian, using a compass to read Fengshui is a side job, selling coffins to write sacrificial rites, as long as people die, he will do anything, even catch demons and exorcise ghosts!"

Everyone has laughed out loud.

Tang Daxian hurriedly said: "The villain dare not lie to the lord, the first thing to do when a dead person is buried in the earth is to look at Fengshui."

"With this king, the heroes don't ask where they come from, but only their talents." Zhang Ning said calmly.This sentence is very popular in Xiangwang Group, because almost none of the people who took refuge in Zhang Ning in the early stage had anything to show off, and some were even down-and-out men who had made a living before.Even Ma Tiju, the current top officer of the Weapons Bureau, used to be the head blacksmith who fled to Fengxia Mountain, so what a noble status he has.

But this Tang Daxian only caught Zhang Ning's attention, and he deserves credit, so saying a hero is just a casual remark.

Tang Daxian may have also realized the opportunity, so he tried to talk more and show up more, and said: "Generally, gears are rarely seen in the folk, and most of them are made of wood. The most important thing about this thing is that the two wheels should bite each other, and the size is suitable, otherwise We can’t use it. Most of the items in our Weapons Bureau are iron and forged steel. To make gears, they need to be smaller and more precise. The scale used by workshops is longer, but the scale in Changde is slightly shorter...Even in Wuchang City, there are slight differences in the size between different workshops. Therefore, the villain suggested that copper plates should be used to engrave the dimensions. From now on, all workshops under the Weapons Bureau will use Make measuring tools according to the rules, and the things you make can be used universally.”

Zhang Ning made a decision on the spot and ordered Ma Dapeng to be promoted to adopt this suggestion, which will be implemented soon.This incident reminded him, and he immediately asked the Weapons Bureau to set another rule: tolerance.

The concept of tolerance is very simple. The size of any part cannot be completely consistent and accurate, and there will always be some discrepancies, especially for things that are all handmade.But some things are almost impossible, such as the rivet fasteners commonly used by craftsmen in the Weapons Bureau and Ming Dynasty. The connection is also not reliable.

The role of tolerance is to specify whether the error is too large or too small, within the allowable range; you can't make a pair of screws and nuts, the screw is a little bit bigger than the nut, how can it fit in?But it’s okay if the screw is a little smaller than the nut. If the error is too large, the quality will be poor at most, but it can be used. [

This kind of rule is quite simple, but only Zhang Ning can come up with it in this era.Because many things are developed in industrial society, people's thinking has no practical experience as a foundation, and even simple things are not realized even if they are cranky.

Zhang Ning intends to develop the so-called industry, because what he needs has greatly exceeded the scope of his professional knowledge accumulation.But he wants to make the technology and rules of weapon manufacturing more reasonable, so that the quality and stability of the weapons can be guaranteed, and the soldiers can use them easily on the battlefield; But he just couldn't make a firearm of acceptable quality.

"The victory or defeat of a war may be determined by a thick fog, or it may be just a small stone in the general's boots." Thinking of this, Zhang Ning looked back and said solemnly, "These things you made are directly related to Suzaku The lives of the warriors of the army on the battlefield must not be trifled with."

The expressions of the crowd suddenly became solemn, because there is a law that stipulates that after the artillery and muskets are delivered to the army, if they are filled with gunpowder of a specified weight and explode within the specified number of times of use, and people are killed because of this, then they are directly responsible for the manufacture of these weapons If someone wants to be beheaded, the punishment is so severe that life is for life. If there are rules to follow, who would dare to play tricks?

Otherwise, it will be useless for those in power to talk about it with reason and emotion.Once an accident occurs, if it is a discretionary forgiveness and someone will intercede, then people will always have an excuse to shoddy every link, and in the end there may be a situation where they only want to benefit and cut corners, and there will be more problems with the equipment that is finally completed. ; There are rules and clear punishments, which is the way to restrict.

Then Zhang Ning talked about the principle of leverage, which is also common sense to him, but in this era, only he can explain it himself.

Leverage is common, and needless to say artisans understand it, and it can be found everywhere.However, the levers used by the Weapons Bureau are different, and some parts are bent; how to calculate the size and ratio of the force arm, there is a simple multiplication formula.

He knew that many people present were at a loss and definitely didn't know what to say, but there must be someone who understood.Because when he convened people to formulate the gun regulations for artillery, he had already selected some sensible people.