Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 112 The Hundredth Great Ming First Arsenal

"Everyone has worked hard these days, and now we can finally do business for His Majesty, and we can't let His Majesty withstand the pressure of the Censor Yanguan for us in vain."

Song Yingxing said happily.

Tang Ruowang was also very happy: "With this artifact, Daming will not worry about not ruling the world! Song Gong, you see, should we bring this gun to the palace to meet His Majesty immediately? His Majesty sent the beauty to be strong."

"As Tang Gong said, let's go together!"

As Song Yingxing said, he ordered people to wrap the flintlock gun in red silk cloth.

But at this time, Sun He Ding came over: "Wait a minute, why are the two uncles in such a hurry."

"Why, does my nephew have any objections to this?"

Song Yingxing was older than Sun Heding, and was an official in the same dynasty as his father, Sun Yuanhua, so he called Sun Heding a good nephew.

"Sun Tonglian is from the Gunpowder Bureau. You don't need to take credit for the manufacture of the flintlock gun this time." Tang Ruowang was more straightforward, thinking that Sun Heding would also be involved.

Sun Heding couldn't help laughing: "Uncle Tang, why did you say that? I mean, let's use my newly made ammunition to try it. It won't be too late to present this musket to His Majesty after confirming the range of this musket."

As he said that, Sun Heding took out a pack of paper to reload: "Can this flintlock gun be tried by the younger generation?"

"It doesn't matter." After Song Yingxing returned, he couldn't help asking: "How did you make the ammunition, and how does it benefit the flintlock?"

"Granular gunpowder wrapped in deerskin, put every five pieces into a paper bag, whether the performance is better, just try it!"

As Sun Heding spoke, he took out a paper-cased ammunition himself, then bit off one end, poured the ammunition from the front bore, and began to prepare for aiming.

Snapped!
As soon as Sun Heding pulled the trigger, the hammer hit the fire curtain door, and the spark instantly ignited the gunpowder in the powder nest, and a puff of white smoke appeared at the muzzle of the gun in an instant.

Immediately afterwards, Sun and Ding tried several more shots.

"Report, the accurate range is [-] steps, and the maximum range is [-] steps!"

The craftsman in charge of investigating the shooting results ran back and reported to Song Yingxing and Tang Ruowang.

Both Song Yingxing and Tang Ruowang were dumbfounded, staring dumbfounded at the ammunition and paper shells wrapped in buckskin in front of them.

"In this way, the range can be increased?"

Song Yingxing hurriedly asked Sun Heding to try a few more shots.

This is still the case.

"Sure enough, as Your Majesty said, the ammunition wrapped in deerskin is obviously much smoother, and the shooting speed is faster!" Sun Heding laughed.

Song Yingxing simply burst out laughing: "My Ming Dynasty is hopeful! Hopeful!"

"This, it's not just that the range is longer, the key is that the operation is faster, and the speed is not inferior to that of a skilled archer from drawing the bow to aiming and shooting."

Tang Ruowang said in astonishment.

……

Snapped!
An ordinary piece of porcelain from the outer hall of the Qianqing Palace fell to the ground.

Zhu Youjian blew the white smoke from the muzzle of the gun, touched the slender gun body, pulled out the bayonet, and slashed down on a chair decisively.

The ten-centimeter-thick chair was inserted six centimeters into the bayonet.

"That's right. It's solid and sharp, and has a good range. This gun is named 'Chongzhen Fourteenth Type Musket' and it will be put into production immediately. The ammunition for its caliber will also be produced immediately! The General Armament Department of the Grand Marshal's Mansion is responsible for purchasing the first A batch of muskets was undertaken by the Daming Ordnance Institute of the Ministry of Industry, and the money was paid to Yang Mingshen of the Daming Central Bank."

Zhu Youjian changed the name of the first flintlock gun of the Ming Dynasty to a musket in order to keep it secret. He did not disclose the characteristics of the musket, and at the same time, he did not indicate his military type through the name, but replaced it with the year number. At least for the later improved flintlock.

Zhu Youjian is very satisfied with the current flintlock gun. The accurate range can reach [-] steps, the shooting speed can be fired more than five times in a row, and the accuracy is greatly improved. This is already the best flintlock gun in the world today. .

Therefore, without even thinking about it, Zhu Youjian asked the Grand Marshal's Mansion to purchase immediately, and then directly distribute it to the troops, start training immediately, and establish new tactics.

As for Song Yingxing, Tang Ruowang, Sun Heding and other scholars and craftsmen who made outstanding contributions to the manufacture of Chongzhen [-]-style muskets, Zhu Youjian naturally gave rewards.Directly promised [-]% of the profits from the order to the participants as an annual bonus. At the same time, Song Yingxing, Tang Ruowang, Sun Heding, etc. were bestowed with Jinshi background, awarded Imperial Academy review, joined Daming Academy of Engineering, and became the first batch of academicians of Daming Academy of Engineering.

Song Yingxing and Tang Ruowang also added an academician of the Ming Academy of Sciences.

At the same time, the Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau of the Ordnance Institute, the Fire Gun Bureau, and the Gunpowder Bureau jointly established the first workshop, organized a capable force, and made every effort to produce the first batch of Chongzhen [-]-style muskets.

Every time one more Chongzhen [-]-style musket is produced, each participating craftsman will be rewarded with one more point. Therefore, the craftsmen are highly motivated to produce and almost complete the work with the greatest energy.

The General Armaments Department sent special personnel to supervise, so as to ensure that the second-best ones are not shoddy.

The Artillery Bureau is still developing new artillery and adding a rangefinder and a rear sight. Sun Hedou saw that his brother had already obtained the imperial official, so he was naturally envious and jealous, and wished to immediately manufacture the artillery requested by Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian. come out.

As for the range finder and the rear sight, because the Portuguese artillery has them, Zhu Youjian also provided some suggestions, but they can be manufactured, but the gun barrel has always made it difficult for Sun Hedou.

Copper gun barrels are easy to deform and cause blockage, while iron gun barrels are easy to explode. Now Sun Hedou has to pull Song Yingxing to find a way to test an alloy steel that is more suitable for making gun barrels.

But Zhu Youjian made another decree. It is okay to find alloy steel suitable for gun barrels, but the cost should not be too high. For example, the alloy materials composed of precious metals such as gold and silver must not work.

On the other hand, Sun Hejing was still not in a hurry, and there was another explosion in Wang Gong's factory when nothing happened. No one knew what Sun Hejing was playing.

Song Yingxing took the initiative to raise the issue of the shortage of manpower in the Daming Ordnance Institute to Zhu Youjian. From grassroots apprentices to professional researchers, there are still very few. Any technical improvement requires the dedication of many people. He is responsible for iron and steel smelting every day. The bureau's management and participation in the production of Chongzhen [-]-style flintlock guns and the improvement of iron and steel smelting and forging technology are now very busy.

Following Song Yingxing's suggestion, Zhu Youjian began to prepare for the establishment of the Daming Manufacturing School to train talents in equipment manufacturing, and recruited young people to enter the school for initial manufacturing and then to work in the Ordnance Institute. Starting from apprentices, he gradually participated in research and development.

At the same time, it is preparing to reorganize the No. [-] workshop as the Daming No. [-] Armory Factory, and the Armory Factory will directly recruit labor from outside.

This kind of labor is involved in unskilled transportation and logistics services, assembly and maintenance.

In this case, the research is separated from the beginning of production, the school is responsible for the training of technical personnel, and the arsenal is directly responsible for the training of skilled grassroots workers.

At the same time, it is also used to increase the utilization rate of Ming Dynasty's refugees and reduce the unstable impact of unemployed refugees on society.

But in order to encourage the common people to send their children to the manufacturing school instead of taking the imperial examination, Zhu Youjian said that the school is at the same level as the Guozijian.

School graduates take professional exams, and those with excellent grades will also be awarded scholar or even Jinshi background, and can also enter the court as an official.

Moreover, if you study in the school, you can enjoy free tuition, even those who are outstanding will be subsidized, and there are two meals, but it must be a boarding system, and there are two days off every ten days.

(End of this chapter)