Zhu Xie's carriage went straight to the Ministry of Works, and the journey was smooth.
Zhu Xie walked in quickly and took an old man who looked to be in his fifties and ran out again.
This is Mr. Xu Yan, who is currently the doctor of the Ministry of Industry. He has been the doctor of the Ministry of Industry for nearly ten years. Emperor Longqing wanted to promote him to a higher position many times, but the old man only liked to study these instruments, and he also
So he stayed in the Ministry of Works. (The Ministry of Works has a lower status than the five departments of officials, soldiers, households, punishments, and rites.)
Xu Yan and Zhu Ji were also old acquaintances. Zhu Ji often visited the Ministry of Industry out of curiosity.
Xu Yan pushed away Zhu Jie's hand on his arm: "His Royal Highness Prince Fu, what are you going to do? Let's make it clear that I don't want to play exciting games with you at my age!"
Every time Zhu Jie came to the Ministry of Works, there would be some accidents. Moreover, Zhu Jie had no interest in the throne and was known as the "Idle King". So all the officials of the Ministry of Works had a headache when they saw him!
Zhu Jie explained: "Mr. Xu, I have a friend who is proficient in some Luban techniques. I would like to take him to see if we can try to improve our firearms."
Xu Yan touched his beard and became more interested: "Oh? Has His Highness's friend come here? Can you introduce me to him?"
Zhu Xie: "Master, please leave quickly. Junchen is waiting outside the door."
Xu Yan confirmed again: "Your Highness is really not messing around this time? You know, His Majesty is very angry right now. If Your Highness is messing around..."
Zhu Xie was so angry at the old man that he jumped up and down, gritted his teeth and said: "I promise not to mess around. If I mess up again, I will take the initiative to fight with my father! Let's go!"
After Zhu Tie and Xu Yan struggled, they finally arrived at the door.
Xue Hong looked at the two people walking out, and an idea flashed in his mind: "Is Zhu Jie okay??"
Before Xue Hong could continue thinking, the two of them turned their eyes.
Zhu Bie introduced: "Junchen, this is Doctor Xu Yan from the Ministry of Industry. This old man has been involved in the Ministry of Industry for more than ten years. Mr. Xu, this is Xue Hong and Xue Junchen, Xie Yuan of Jinling this year."
Xue Hong took the initiative to salute: "Junior Xue Hong, I have met Mr. Xu!"
Seeing such a polite Xue Hong, Xu Yan touched his beard and nodded: "Well! He is indeed Jinling Jieyuan, what a talented person! It's a pity that I don't have a granddaughter, otherwise..."
Zhu Jie dragged Xu Yan away: "What nonsense! Let's talk about it when we get back!"
Xu Yan: "Slow down!! Be considerate of the elderly!!"
…
When they arrived at the commander's office, Xue Hong and the others dismounted.
After verifying their identities, the three people were let in.
As soon as I entered the military department, an official came up to me. Judging from the official uniform, he should be from the fifth rank of the Ministry of Industry.
However, this foreigner from the Ministry of Industry is much younger than Jia Zheng, and he looks to be only 27 or 28 years old.
After Xu Yan explained his purpose, the official led the three of them to a warehouse where newly made firearms were placed.
Yuan Wailang took out a firecracker for the three of them to examine.
This one is a Ming Dynasty standard fire gun, and as expected it is a fire gate gun. You need to hold a match rope in one hand to light the fire and the gun in the other, so the accuracy is worrying.
In fact, the matchlock gun was better than the fire door gun, but because it was too cumbersome to operate and was particularly afraid of rainy days, it was disliked by the Ming army.
Xue Hong tried the gun and found that, as expected, it could easily break through armor at about 20 meters away, but beyond 25 meters, hitting it all depended on faith.
Xue Hong immediately thought of the earliest flintlock gun, which was invented by Frenchman Mahan in 1547. It is characterized by its cheapness and durability. The bolt structure of the flintlock gun mainly consists of hammer, reed, sickle, flint and safety.
Xue Hong immediately drew the required parts drawings and made detailed annotations.
As a veteran of making firearms for more than ten years, Xu Yan saw the advantages of the flintlock gun at a glance!
Xu Yan happily took the blueprint of the flintlock gun and went to find a craftsman to make parts.
Zhu Xie was a little dumbfounded: "You did this? How did you get your brain?"
While walking around the warehouse, Xue Hong replied casually: "I didn't invent this. It was invented by a man named Mahan in the West. I just happened to know about it."
Xue Hong answered while scanning the items in the warehouse, and suddenly he found a pile of large iron cannon barrels.
Xue Hong went up and gave it a try. Good guy, it’s too bulky! This thing can’t even enter the position if it’s rainy or the terrain is bad!
Xue Hong suddenly thought of a very interesting thing in his mind, a simple mortar. It is impossible to make a long-distance and high-precision mortar, but a simple mortar can still be made with the craftsmanship of the Ming Dynasty!
Don’t you know that during the War of Liberation, our military used gasoline tin barrels to make the Flying Thunder Cannon? The tin barrels are fine!
Xue Hong smiled slightly and looked at Zhu Jie: "Your Highness, I have something fun, do you want to play with it?"
Zhu Xie's eyes lit up: "What fun thing??"
Xue Hong: "First let someone build an iron cylinder about one meter high. It doesn't need to be too thick. The bottom is sealed and the mouth is left."
Zhu Jie: "Simple, who is that? Come here. Follow Junchen's instructions and make it for me as quickly as possible!"
After giving orders to a craftsman, Zhu Jie looked at Xue Hong again: "Then what???"
Xue Hong: "Do you have any gunpowder?"
…
After a while of work, a simple grenade and a few kickers were ready.
Xue Hong also ordered people to use some mud to build a small city wall.
After doing all this, Xue Hong adjusted the angle of the grenade, lit a double kicker and placed it inside.
boom!!!
An afterimage flew out from the muzzle, drew an arc in the air and fell behind the small city wall.
Snapped!!!!
After a flash of fire, part of the simple city wall collapsed.
Xue Hong frowned: "The power is much smaller than expected... Is it a problem with the purity of the gunpowder?"
Zhu Xie held his head in both hands and swayed over casually: "Junchen, even if your paper cannonballs are replaced by iron ones, they won't be as powerful as our artillery siege effect! This thing can't break the city wall at all!"
Xue Hong was speechless. Did you ask the mortar to blast the city wall?
Xue Hong opened his mouth to explain the advantages of mortars.
First: easy to carry and transport.
Second: The shooting has a wide angle and a small blind spot! If the gunpowder is pure enough and the shells and barrels meet the standards, you can shoot a high parabola and hit the enemy behind the bunker almost vertically from the sky!
Third: Cannonballs are cheap to make, and the amount of iron used in ten cannonballs is not as much as the amount of iron used in one General cannonball.
Fourth: Easy to disassemble and simple to manufacture.
Fifth: After Xue Hong makes the regular mortar shells, how high the rate of fire will be! There are enough shells, and it will be no problem to fire ten rounds a minute!
This thing is small, lightweight, cheap and durable, and can be used as a large-scale equipment for infantry.
When they were fighting Houjin from the north, the opponent was about to charge when a round of mortars passed by...
Moreover, explosive shells appeared in the Ming Dynasty, and iron nails were stuffed into the shells.
Once mortars become popular, the lethality of this thing...
When Zhu Xie heard Xue Hong's words, her saliva almost flowed out.
Xue Hong: "There are also problems with our smelting process and the purity of gunpowder, otherwise many of the imagined things should be able to be made."
He pulled Xue Hong and ran outside the Bingzhang Division.
Xue Hong: "Where is this going?"
Zhu Xie: "Where else can we go? Find my father!!!"
…
At this moment, on the pier in Beijing, Chen Chen's legs were numb as he stood at the pier. It had been almost an hour, and no one had come to pick him up.
Chen Chen: "So... I was put off by these two guys, right? (??????Dan????)??????????"