After Zhao Jinrong fired the shot, he opened the card slot and blew out the gunpowder residue.
Turning his head, he realized that something was wrong. He saw Tie Mo bending over and opening his mouth like a fool.
Fortunately, in this important military area, especially in this courtyard, there were no other people. Otherwise, Tie Mo's image as a garrison general would have been completely ruined.
Seeing Tie Mo's demented look, Zhao Jinrong raised his leg and kicked it, "Boy, are you crazy? I want to ask you, how is this gun? Does it meet your requirements?"
"Ah? What?" Tie Mo could only see the spear in his eyes, and could not clearly hear what Zhao Jinrong said.
"Let me ask you, how about the gun?"
"This... magic gun." Tie Mo snatched the gun into his hand, "Dad, you are so powerful. You don't even need to light a match rope or stuff lead bullets into the barrel.
A shot fired accurately and far away."
Zhao Jinrong looked happy. As a craftsman, the happiest thing is for his work to be liked by others. But soon, there was a trace of bitterness between his eyebrows.
"Hey, actually speaking, this is not my credit. When my father, your grandfather, was still alive, he had already figured out a way to use flint to ignite gunpowder. At that time, a new type of gunpowder had been made, and I asked the workers several times
The ministry's suggestions were all rejected. The old man was so frustrated that he sealed the flint firing device. I just improved some of his ideas."
Speaking of Zhao Shizhen, Zhao Jinrong's mood became much weaker. Tie Mo put the gun on the ground, made a face, and said with a smile: "Dad, don't mention those unhappy things. Tell your child, that ammunition is
what happened?"
"What do you mean?" Zhao Jinrong took out a cone-shaped ammunition from the bag, pointed at the tail, and explained patiently, "Actually, this thing is not complicated. It is the same as the Sky Monkey. It just replaces the paper shell with the shell.
It was made into a copper shell, and the tail was filled with gunpowder, and after it was pressed tightly, a little gunpowder was left."
"The flint strikes the flint, igniting the gunpowder in the groove. The gunpowder ignites the gunpowder, then ignites the gunpowder in the copper shell, and finally shoots out along the barrel."
Zhao Shizhen said it was very simple, but in fact it was very complicated. At least the change from front-loading to breech-loading was a change in thinking, and it was also a technical breakthrough.
If it is not a tapered bullet, you can still use the previous lead bullet and load it into the breech, and you will definitely get the problem.
"Dad, can't you just hit the flint to ignite the gunpowder in the bullet? This will save you the trouble of pouring some gunpowder into the groove."
"Hey, you think I haven't thought about it? But to do this, the impact position must be accurate, and the bullet must be preloaded with tinder and other materials. It's too troublesome to do."
Tie Mo slapped his forehead and secretly thought that he was too greedy. With the current level of technology, it is impossible to make future bullets. Nowadays, almost all of them are made by hand. The caliber of the ammunition is filled with gunpowder and tinder. The process is extremely complicated, and Zhao Shizhen cannot use it.
The way in which gunpowder ignites the bullet again is definitely the limit that can be achieved under the current conditions.
But even so, compared to the blunderbuss, it was an earth-shattering leap.
Think about a musket. After loading the gunpowder, you still have to fill the barrel with lead bullets, and finally you have to poke it with an iron bar. It's incredible to be able to fire one shot per minute.
With this new type of flintlock gun, as long as you master it proficiently, it is absolutely not a problem to fire four shots per minute. Pour some gunpowder, fill the bullet, close the slot, and just raise your hand and fire, saving time and effort.
"Dad, let's see if the barrel of this gun can be equipped with a sharp blade, like a tapered knife. Many times, once caught in close combat, the gunman will only be beaten passively!"
Zhao Jinrong raised his eyebrows and smiled, took the musket and pointed at the groove at the top of the barrel, "Do you see this?"
As he spoke, Zhao Jinrong walked back to the warehouse and took out a sharp blade. The blade was like a gun head, but it was thinner and longer than the gun head, and the whole body was conical. The blade had a wooden handle and an iron ring on the handle.
, the ring just fits the barrel of the gun.
The blade rotates half a turn, and the handle is stuck in the slot. In this way, the blade is fixed on the barrel.
Seeing this spear, Tie Mo seemed to have an illusion, as if he saw the spear bayonet that emerged in the 18th century.
"Okay, great, Dad, let's make as many guns as we can!"
Zhao Jinrong rolled his eyes and glared at his cheap son, "Xiao Tie, are you sure you can make as many as you can? Do you know how much one shot of such a firecracker costs?"
"How many?"
"I've calculated it for you. A spear costs at least one hundred taels of silver..."
"Pfft" Tie Mo almost spit blood on the ground. One hundred taels? This is just the cost of the gun. The later maintenance of bullets is more expensive. In other words, if you want to get a hundred such guns, you must prepare at least 10,000 taels.
silver.
This is just the foundation, related iron and copper smelting, craftsman manufacturing, all costs are taken into account, one hundred muskets, not even 50,000 taels, you can't even think about it.
This is the limitation of the times. The technology is limited and it all depends on manpower, and the cost is terrifyingly high.
Firearms are awesome, but they are also expensive. No wonder the Ministry of Industry repeatedly rejected Zhao Shizhen’s proposals.
The Ming Dynasty was as stable as a rock, with no major worries. It seemed that there was no urgent need to improve firearms. Even if a clown caused trouble, the current firearms could handle it, so why bother spending a lot of money to replace firearms? Moreover, even if the Ministry of Industry and the
The Ministry of War agrees, and the Ministry of Personnel will definitely not allocate funds.
Are those officials short-sighted? Yes, they are somewhat short-sighted, but they are understandable.
However, Tie Mo had the memory of later generations, and he knew the importance of developing firearms. No matter how much money he spent, he had to develop them. Moreover, he not only had to develop muskets, but also artillery.
Thinking of the Hongyi cannons he was using now, Tie Mo felt a pain in his head. There were five Hongyi cannons placed over there in Datong Mansion. Those things were so heavy that it took a long time to clear the barrels of the cannons with one shot, but the shells blasted out were still killing people.
Power is limited.
The most terrible thing is that the Hongyi cannon is best at fixed firing. It takes a long time to turn the muzzle and adjust the angle, let alone take it outside for field combat.
Just do it if you think of it. Even if you don't have enough money now, you must at least make preparations first.
"Dad, you old man don't have to worry about money and supplies. These things will be taken care of by the children. You can just make firecrackers and do whatever you think is good. If you need anything, just ask Miss Chang. If she can't solve it, you can do it.
Find me."
"Really?" Zhao Jinrong's old eyes flashed with light. He thought about it, so that he could try many things that he had thought about but couldn't do.
"Of course, can I still lie to you? By the way, Dad, can you think about the artillery? It would be best to reduce the weight of the artillery and make it easier to move, and see if you can use the method of firing flint.
On to the artillery!"
Zhao Jinrong held his chin, thought for a while and whispered: "It should be possible, but I am not proficient in artillery, but there is a person who has done a lot of research on artillery."
"who?"
"Sun Yuanhua!"
Sun Yuanhua? Tie Mo muttered a little, I would like to get him over, but is it possible?
"Dad, can the child please this old man?"
"You? Of course you can't do it. Wait for me to write a letter and make sure he obeys me!"
"real?"
Zhao Jinrong snorted coldly and went into the house with a gun to write a letter.