"General Jiang has made a request. Let's discuss it with you. Let's brainstorm and see if there is any way to improve our fire blunderbuss!"
In the firearms workshop in Tieshan City, Zhao Yuan summoned his apprentices to discuss together. These apprentices have been with him for at least three to five years, and for more than ten years. They can all be regarded as great craftsmen in firearms.
.
"Our fire blunderbuss is already very good. It fires instantly and has strong gunpowder. Even the fire blunderbuss we eliminated are stronger than those used in the Shenji Camp!"
Someone murmured: "What else needs to be improved? This is already the best firecracker in our Ming Dynasty!"
"There is no limit to skill!" Zhao Yuan snorted heavily: "Who gave you the courage to say such a thing? Didn't we also think that my Ming Dynasty's Hongwu cannon is invincible in the world? There is nothing sharper than my Ming Dynasty's Hongwu cannon.
It’s a heavy weapon, what’s the result? The Francois came all the way to teach us a lesson. When we think our stuff is the best, maybe someone else has already made a better one!”
"Then what requests did Mr. Jiang make?" The disciples nodded one after another, feeling that their master was right. However, the disciple who muttered first did not necessarily think so.
"Our fire gun now has several flaws. This is what General Jiang reported in actual combat. Please listen to it!"
Zhao Yuan said: "First, once it rains, the fire blunderbuss will be basically useless. Even if we have changed all the components to be fired by flint, if it rains heavily, the soldiers will not be able to reload the ammunition.
A gun is still a fire stick!"
"Second, when the firecrackers are facing the enemy, they must be surrounded by a large number of soldiers to protect them. Once the enemy gets close, the firecrackers have almost no power to fight back. The firecrackers weigh more than ten kilograms, plus the weapons they carry with them.
Carrying projectiles, body armor, and other weapons is a waste of ordnance and increases the burden on soldiers!"
"Third, our firecrackers are highly damaged. Once fired dozens of times, the barrel will be useless, but other parts are intact. How can we prevent these easily damaged parts from affecting the lifespan of the firecrackers?
, is also an area where we need to improve!”
He told everyone the requirements put forward by Jiang Wan: "Roughly these are the requirements now. If there are other problems, they will only be discovered in actual combat. You guys should discuss it carefully and see if you can
I can’t come up with an idea!”
The disciples below were whispering among each other, and new ideas popped up from time to time, and were rejected by everyone from time to time. Everyone tried their best to rack their brains to think about these issues.
Zhao Yuan did not participate in the discussion, but listened attentively for a while, and then shook his head slightly in his heart.
Although the apprentices had some methods that seemed novel, they basically could not withstand discussion. In fact, when Jiang Wan made these improvements to him, he also put forward his own suggestions. Zhao Yuan did not say them out, but they were just
I just want to see if these disciples of mine can get along with each other and give me a higher suggestion than what Jiang Wan put forward.
The discussion lasted for about half an hour. During the discussion, there were indeed many ideas that came up, but Zhao Yuan weighed them up and found that none of these ideas were more reliable than Jiang Wan's suggestions.
He coughed lightly: "Among these requirements, the requirement to increase the self-protection ability of the Fire Gun Soldiers is the simplest. Think about it, the other weapons the soldiers carry are nothing more than short daggers and daggers.
If the daggers and daggers are directly made into parts of the firegun, for example, by making a movable ring in front of the barrel of the firegun, these daggers and daggers can be easily installed and removed. In this case,
Even if the enemy rushes in front of you and the Fire Gun Soldier cannot fire the Fire Gun, you can still pick up a short spear or short spear among the Fire Gun and use it!"
"That's right!" The disciples thought for a moment and clapped their hands one after another: "Isn't this the same idea as the three-eyed fire gun? When it goes in, it can be used as a firearm, and when it goes back, it can be used as a spear. The master is really better than
We are so powerful that we immediately figured out the key to this problem!"
"Besides, it's so easy to make a buckle slot. You can solve this problem in minutes!"
"This is not what I thought of, but the suggestion of Mr. Jiang!" Zhao Yuan's face remained unchanged: "Look at you, he can think of this even as a layman, why can't you think of it? Are you ashamed?"
Everyone laughed, but they didn't feel ashamed. Although General Jiang was a general, he was also a scholar. He also had a wife named Fo Langji by his side. They secretly thought about it for who knows how long before they thought of this. They couldn't think of this at the moment.
There's no shame in it at all.
"Master, since Commander Jiang has suggestions for this request, Commander Jiang will always give some suggestions for other requests!"
"Hmph, I knew you would ask that!" Zhao Yuan snorted, and then a slightly reserved look appeared on his face: "He does have suggestions for several other requests, but they are just suggestions. He is just one
It’s good for a layman to be able to do this and solve a problem. He can think whatever he wants, but how to do it still depends on us!”
"Master, stop being so pretentious and tell me quickly!"
Everyone started to make a fuss. They were all a group of craftsmen who hung out together every day, and they were all people who were not interested in officialdom and were only interested in their own skills. They did not play officialdom tricks with their masters.
!
If you want to know, just ask directly.
"Regarding the fact that the barrel of the fire gun is easy to break, and if it breaks, the entire fire gun will be scrapped. Mr. Jiang's idea is whether it is possible to make a fire gun with a detachable barrel. He can stand and talk without pain in his back. It can be done.
A disassembled firecracker, is it still a firecracker?"
"No, master, I think this should be feasible. Master, the five-shot fire blunderbuss you made in a row. If one of the fire blunderbuss is broken, the whole fire blunderbuss will not be useless. I think about it, this fire blunderbuss
Let's think of the blunderbuss barrel as the barrel of a cannon. The firing parts can be put aside. No, if this is the case, all the firing parts can be made the same, and the barrel of the fire blunderbuss can be made
There are many kinds, and when the time comes, it may not be possible to make a fire gun that fires continuously like the three-eyed fire gun, and it is even possible to use different barrels to fire different projectiles!"
"You seem to have an idea. It's a good thing to have an idea. Just think about it while you're at it. Don't get involved in other things. Once you've figured out a rough idea, let's talk to my teacher..."
Zhao Yuan sent the disciple away, and then suggested the third improvement method: "You can't use firecrackers on rainy days. It is indeed a shortcoming of firearms. Mr. Jiang's suggestion is whether you can use oil paper to separate equal parts of the gun."
The gunpowder is preloaded so that it will not get wet, and the flint firing device can ignite the gunpowder in the barrel and fire it out as long as it can produce sparks."
"What's so difficult about this!" All the disciples exclaimed: "It's just a little effort. It's just a little more effort. This suggestion is not good!"
"I haven't finished speaking yet!" Zhao Yuan glared at the disciples, "If it's so simple, just give the order from the front and we will do it later, why do we need to use our brains to do it!"
All the disciples nodded, this was pretty much it, but they knew it wouldn't be that simple.
"General Jiang said that this kind of suggestion is only a temporary response and emergency response. It only treats the symptoms but not the root cause. If we really want to solve the problem of fire guns being afraid of water, then all parts from the trigger to the gunpowder projectiles must not be exposed to water.
He asked me if it was possible to make the gunpowder and projectiles into a whole and encapsulate them in metal. In this case, there would be no fear that the musket would fail to fire even in water!"
"It's all installed in a metal case, how can the flint ignite the gunpowder?" All the craftsmen were stunned.
"If we could find a way to fire and ignite the projectiles and gunpowder contained in these metal shells, wouldn't the problem be solved!?" Zhao Yuan said.
Everyone started thinking hard.
"Hmph, this is a matter to be considered later. Let's solve the problem of the gun barrel first, and you can figure out the rest slowly!" He shook his head: "However, they gave us all the ideas, but we haven't figured out a feasible solution.
After a period of time, people have come up with all the methods. I wonder if you still have the nerve to stay here. Making fire blunderbuss is our profession, and others' profession is fighting!"
The disciples ignored him, and even ignored his master's departure. They were just thinking about it, as if this matter could be done...
In the Zhenjiang Fort, Geng Jingzhong walked up to Jiang Wan excitedly: "Commander, fortunately you have fulfilled your destiny. All three thousand three-eyed fire guns will be delivered!"
"Thanks for your hard work!"
Jiang Wan nodded slightly: "Did you buy it from the arsenal of the state capital in Shandong? Have you reported all the expenses to Sihai?"
"Commander, we got this batch of fire blunderbuss from the arsenal in Dengzhou, Shandong!" Geng Jingzhong said proudly: "This batch of fire blunderbuss didn't even cost a single tael of silver. They just boldly agreed to the offer of Lord Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai.
A request!”
"Sun Yuanhua?" Jiang Wan was stunned. He vaguely remembered this person, and this person was also considered to be from the group of Mr. Sun Chengzong, the former Minister of War. It was just about Yuan Chonghuan. Wasn't he implicated?
In history, Geng Jingzhong and Kong Youde would eventually rebel, and the Denglai governor who confronted them was Sun Yuanhua. Jiang Wan remembered the fate of the other, as if he was beheaded by the emperor.
Moreover, Jiang Wan also believed that this man's death was not unfair at all.
Sun Yuanhua should also advocate firearms. In Dengzhou and other places, he recruited Western craftsmen and made firearms on a large scale. However, after the Denglai Rebellion, the Hou Jin Dynasty directly took away the fruits of his hard work. This is tantamount to
Almost overnight, Houjin gained firearms capabilities.
Regarding Sun Yuanhua's evaluation, Jiang Wan said, "I am a kid who invests a lot of money in the market!"
Sun Yuanhua is that kid. If you don't have the ability to hold and use dangerous things like firearms, but you still develop them vigorously, the final outcome will be to endanger the enemy.
"What request did Sun Yuanhua make?" Jiang Wan asked calmly.
Because of Jiang Wan's appearance, the possible rebellion of Kong Youde and Geng Jingzhong has become impossible. Jiang Wan will not allow such a thing to happen. Moreover, with his current strength in Dongjiang Town, these two people will not be able to
In the soil of rebellion, if Jiang Wan really had different intentions, he would have enough ability to push these two guys to the ground and rub them as many times as he wanted.
"He heard that my current job in Dongjiang Town is to train new soldiers. He wanted to ask our Dongjiang Town to help him train some soldiers. Think about it, this is not a big deal. It can be trained in a few months and it doesn't take much time.
We only had one tael of silver, so we agreed to it!"
"Are you training recruits for Denglai, or training servants for Sun Yuanhua?" Jiang Wan thought about it and felt that no matter how selfless Sun Yuanhua was, he would not waste resources on a local army.
"They should be Master Sun's servants!" Geng Jingzhong replied: "There are a thousand people, they bring their own food and supplies, we just train their troops!"
"Well, okay, I understand this!" Jiang Wan waved her hand: "It's done well. With you on Pidao, I feel relieved here!"
"I'm willing to serve the commander-in-chief!" Geng Jingzhong replied solemnly, and then laughed: "By the way, when I came back from Shandong this time, I also met a few Folangji people and brought them back. They said they were old friends with the commander-in-chief.
I also know the Marshal’s wife, would the Marshal want to meet them?”
Jiang Wan was stunned, thought for a moment, and immediately laughed: "These Fo Langji people are also Sun Yuanhua's people!"
"As expected, the commander-in-chief is very good at predicting the situation. He is a man from Folangji hired by Governor Sun with a lot of money. However, these guys said that they are old acquaintances of the commander-in-chief. I am afraid that they are putting money on his own face, so the commander-in-chief should ignore them.
If I report it to the commander here, it can be regarded as an explanation to Governor Sun!"
"Call in!" Jiang Wan waved her hand: "We in Dongjiang Town have many opportunities to go to Shandong to recruit troops, collect food, and even buy ordnance. Since you agreed to this, I have to support you!"
"Thank you so much, Marshal!" Geng Jingzhong suddenly felt that all the bones in his body were lighter by several taels. The Marshal really gave him enough face. When these Folangji people went back and said that they were so valued in front of the Marshal, then
If I go to Shandong in the future, I will get more benefits.
The door opened and two Francois walked in. When Jiang Wan saw the faces of the visitors, she immediately laughed.
"It's really an old acquaintance. Mr. Jose, how have you been lately..."
"See General Jiang!" Jose also had a smile on his face: "It took us so long to see General Jiang again after we left the capital. It couldn't be because of the little unhappiness between my niece and me.
, let the general not want to see me!"
Jiang Wan laughed: "Your Excellency Jose, I would have almost forgotten this matter if you didn't tell me. Catherine is now my wife. The little unpleasantness he had with Mr. Jose, Mr. Jose is still...
Are you worried about it?"
Neither of them said it clearly, but they both knew what the other said, but Geng Jingzhong on the side was a little confused.
For a moment, he didn't know if it was appropriate for him to resign immediately. After all, there seemed to be some things between his commander-in-chief and this Folangji man that he didn't want outsiders to know.
"I should have left just now. Why did I come in? I'm really drifting. I think of myself as a direct descendant of the commander-in-chief. Geng Jingzhong, Geng Jingzhong, you have to be more careful. Being drifting will kill people."