"If you want to put a new gun into service, it may take as little as a few years or as long as ten years."
Zuo Dai was very decisive in throwing cold water on him, which made Zuo Mengeng's enthusiasm disappear.
Watching Huang Long and others having fun with the firing needle gun, Zuo Mengeng was puzzled.
"Why?"
Zuo Dai told the truth and made Zuo Mengeng understand the difficulty.
Although the firing pin gun has been made, it was made purely by hand with the combined efforts of all craftsmen.
In other words, with current industrial capabilities, large-scale manufacturing is still not possible.
Military weapons are meaningless once they cannot achieve large-scale production and popularization.
The difficulty of manufacturing a striker gun is mainly reflected in several aspects.
The first is the poor corrosion resistance of the firing pin.
After testing by Bi Maokang and others, the currently manufactured firing pin will be seriously damaged after about fifty rounds of shooting and must be replaced.
The reason is that although the firing pin is made of steel, it cannot last a few times under the high explosive damage of gunpowder.
If this is not solved, the accessories alone will drive the industrial and logistics departments crazy.
Next is the spring.
The spring is made, but it is handmade.
One problem that arises is that even the most skilled craftsmen can hardly guarantee that the specifications of the spring they manufacture next time will be exactly the same as the previous one.
If this problem cannot be solved, the spring cannot be used universally. It will also cause that once a problem occurs, it cannot be replaced.
"Dongjiao Gong discovered that the performance of metal does not seem to be infinite. When the metal is used for a certain number of times, it will become soft."
Zuo Mengeng understood that Bi Maokang had discovered the phenomenon of metal fatigue.
Zuo Dai added: "After thirty times of loading, the elastic effect of the currently produced springs will be greatly attenuated. Mr. Dongjiao said that solving this problem is the most time-consuming."
Obviously, a spring that can only be used thirty times is definitely unqualified.
No matter how much capital the army has, it cannot be wasted like this.
In addition to the firing pin and spring, the bullet is also a problem.
"The original Mini warhead could not be used in the new gun, so I followed your design and made such a conical metal warhead. However, the craftsmen of this warhead had to machine-cut it thousands of times, but it was difficult to make it qualified. In desperation,
So I had to ask Uncle Tu to grind a batch by hand. The output..."
Under Zuo Mengeng's inquiring gaze, Zuo Dai smiled bitterly.
"One shot can be made in five days."
Zuo Mengeng let out a long sigh and slapped his forehead repeatedly to relieve his depression.
It takes the best craftsmen five days to make a warhead, so it is indeed impossible to popularize it.
"New warheads must be equipped with new barrels. Dongjiao Gong and others made a steel barrel, but the rifling was not ideal. In short, this new gun has too many problems with our current technology. When will it be available?
No one can guarantee a breakthrough."
The problems are all before his eyes, and Zuo Mengeng also knows that there are indeed many difficulties.
And all of this is actually his influence.
After all, according to the normal historical process, the striker gun would not appear until two hundred years later and after several generations of continuous exploration and advancement.
He came up with the concept in advance, but the level of craftsmanship of this era did not match.
Zuo Dai said that it might take more than ten years for striker guns to be put into large-scale deployment, so he was very bitter. In fact, he did not know that even if this goal could be achieved after more than ten years, it would be an unprecedented progress.
Regarding his judgment, Zuo Mengeng not only did not feel depressed at all, but actually found the situation gratifying.
Think about it more than ten years later, when matchlocks and flintlock guns are still being used all over the world to fight you to death, how terrifying an army equipped with striker guns will be.
Moreover, Zuo Mengeng judged that if the firing needle gun is put into service in more than ten years, there should not be a big problem.
After all, what craftsmen have to do today is not to create from scratch, but to reverse engineering.
At least under his influence, the striker gun has been produced, and the real thing is in front of them, allowing the craftsmen to understand the principles.
The next thing to do is to use the actual firing needle gun to reversely deduce and improve the process details and improve the deficient parts.
This is much faster than the original time and space.
"At the Research Institute, funds and resources must be guaranteed. Go back and tell Mr. Dongjiao that the improvement of firing needle guns must not stop. I am looking forward to the day when the entire army changes its uniforms."
Zuo Mengeng guaranteed the development of the striker gun.
With his support, no matter how long it takes, the research and development of striker guns will not stagnate.
This is the meaning of the existence of history cheaters.
"Everyone, how do you like this gun?"
Zuo Mengeng returned to Huang Long and others and asked with a smile.
Huang Long greedily stroked the body of the striker gun. As a soldier, it is difficult not to be tempted when seeing such a good weapon.
"General Zuo has such a magical weapon, so why should the world be uncertain?"
Fortunately, Shen Shikui and Shen Shouyue did not speak, but their expressions clearly indicated that they agreed with Huang Long's words.
Zuo Mengeng looked serious.
"No matter how good the weapons are, they must be used for justice. Throughout the ages, those who use force to show off violence are as powerful as the Meng Yuan Dynasty, but they are just a flash in the pan. Why is this? It's just because those in power don't have the world in mind and regard the people as objects of wanton oppression.
The same is true today when the world is in chaos. The Zhu Ming Dynasty was overthrown not because of strong enemies, but because of self-will and depravity. Everyone, the general trend of the world is vast. I hope you will consider it carefully and don't make mistakes."
Huang Long and others were speechless, but huge waves were rolling in their hearts.
Zuo Mengeng's words made them realize how scary the young man in front of them was.
He is not proud of possessing such a subversive weapon, but still has a clear understanding of the world.
Such a person might actually be able to accomplish something.
Zuo Mengeng left them enough time to think, and then said: "There are some new things today, you are really lucky."
The new weapons brought by Zuo Dai are not just striker guns.
There are also mortars.
After several adjustments, the mortar was finally finalized.
This step can be achieved mainly due to the application of collodion explosives.
During the previous Battle of Mengshan, mortars were used in actual combat for the first time by special forces, and the effect was unsatisfactory.
The range and power are both very lacking, and are all limited by black powder.
Later, collodion was put into mass production, and arsenals used it as propellant and explosive for mortars. Both shortcomings were eliminated at once.
Huang Long and others saw four soldiers coming out. One of them was carrying an iron pipe as thick as a bowl (they didn't know it was a steel pipe), and another was carrying a square iron plate.
The other two people carried the wooden box and entered the firing position in front.
After a while, the gun barrel was placed on the iron plate, and the wooden box was opened, revealing the warheads.
Today's mortar shells are almost the same as those of later generations. They also have tapered warheads, touch fuses, and tail fins to improve accuracy.
The soldiers installed the fuse and dropped the shell from the muzzle.
Huang Long and others only heard a slight noise, and then saw a black dot rushing into the sky.
The black spot rose to a very high altitude, then fell rapidly, and finally fell behind a section of the city wall fortifications.
boom……
The violent scene, which was obviously not caused by a projectile, surprised them.
The shattering scene caused by the round solid projectile is definitely different from this kind of horrific explosion.
Sure enough, when they followed Zuo Menggeng to check the effects of the artillery fire and saw that all the targets within a radius of 20 meters were destroyed, they understood that compared to the extremely fast-firing muskets, the new army had more trump cards in artillery.
sharp weapon.
When the new army conducted heavy artillery tests, the last bit of persistence in the hearts of Huang Long and others was crushed.
Seeing the city wall as strong as Dengzhou City being torn into pieces by heavy artillery shells, several people were stunned, knowing that under such heavy artillery, all the city walls in the world would be turned into decorations.
Zuo Mengeng was most satisfied with the impact of the new heavy artillery loaded with collodion explosives.
After going back and seeing Lu Hao, he said, "I have a new building material here that will become popular in the world in the future. If your Lu family is interested, how about we form a partnership?"
Lu Hao was absolutely convinced of Zuo Mengeng and just asked: "What kind of material makes you admire it so much?"
Zuo Mengeng took Lu Hao to a secret place.
Here, some craftsmen are building a wall.
Lu Hao saw that the craftsmen scooped out some gray muddy stuff from a bucket, and after smearing it, they pressed the bricks and stones on top.
After a while, a brick wall as tall as a man was built.
Zuo Mengeng waited for a long time, waiting for the thing between the cracks of the masonry to solidify, and then said to Lu Hao: "Try?"
Lu Hao understood what he meant, stepped forward, stretched out his hand and pushed hard...
The wall didn't move at all.
Lu Hao was already shocked, took a few steps back, then flew up and kicked him.
The wall is still as solid as a rock.
"This...what is this?"
Zuo Menggen didn't say anything, but pointed to the side to show him.
Several craftsmen built a frame on the ground with wooden boards, and then poured the novel mud water into it.
The muddy water slowly solidifies and hardens at a speed visible to the naked eye. Even if the craftsmen remove the surrounding wooden boards, the formed muddy water block remains stable.
Zuo Mengeng smiled and handed Lu Hao a hammer.
"Be careful, don't get hurt."
Lu Hao squatted down and hit the muddy block with a hammer again and again, as if he had encountered a favorite toy when he was a child.
His strength became stronger every time, and even the bricks and stones of the city wall would be broken by him. However, the muddy block in front of him was just like a real stone. Apart from the crunching sound, there was no damage at all.
Lu Hao suddenly raised his head and said firmly: "This business... I will take over it from the Lu family."