Daming pirates

In the autumn of the eleventh year of Chongzhen, under the command of Governor Hong Chengchou, Shaanxi Governor Sun Chuanting and other officials, as well as the Ming Dynasty's officers and soldiers, the various refugee armies that originally invaded several provinces began to be suppressed.

Many of the refugee armies were wiped out by the official army, surrendered or dispersed, and the rest were squeezed back to the border areas of Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Huguang. The area of ​​activity was extremely compressed and no longer the grand event it once was.

However, new rioters continued to appear in various places, gathering together spontaneously, opposing the government, constantly raiding villages and towns, and even attacking prefectures, counties and cities.

But overall, the situation of the refugee army during this period was not optimistic. The main forces of the refugee army, under the suppression of the government, no longer had the grand occasion of the past when the refugees came and went without any scruples.

Therefore, officials in both the Ming Dynasty and the public began to be more optimistic about the future situation. Even Chongzhen, who had hardly seen a smile for a long time, looked much more relaxed during this period.

In the eyes of many people, as long as there is another half year, these various refugee armies can almost be completely wiped out. Even if there is a little left, it is no longer a problem and is nothing to worry about.

At this time, Chongzhen began to discuss intensively with the ministers how to deal with Xiaotian in the next step. Although the slaves outside the pass were always eyeing the inside of the pass, and even invaded the pass several times to plunder the capital area, but the people of the Ming Dynasty and others

, most people don’t know why, but they always have a contempt for the slaves.

Many people, mainly from the south, privately believe that although slavery is rampant, it is only a scabies disease after all. Although the slave chief Taiji has now ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor in Liaodong, he has established some kind of Qing Dynasty, but Liaodong

It was a bitter cold land outside the Pass. How could the Ming Dynasty not be their opponent with such a vast territory?

Therefore, civil and military officials mostly believe that the outside of Xiang must be settled inside first. Only by wiping out the refugee army first, and then cutting off Yu Xiaotian, a close enemy of the Ming Dynasty, and then remobilizing a large number of official troops to go north will sooner or later be able to wipe out the Jiannu slaves and conquer Liaodong.

.

As a result, a big war against Yu Xiaotian in Fujian seems to be on the verge of breaking out. It will start as soon as the suppression of the migrant armies in several provinces in the Central Plains is completed.

All kinds of news about the imperial court's plan to conquer Yu Xiaotian flew to Fujian from the capital and other places like snowflakes, and landed on Yu Xiaotian's desk.

But Yu Xiaotian was not moved at all. After taking a look, he just threw it aside, as if it had nothing to do with him.

But in fact, after the middle of the 11th year of Chongzhen, all departments of Sea Wolf have been transferred to wartime status, especially the factories and workshops related to ordnance industry, all increased manpower and machinery, and stopped all non-war

The production of products was turned on at full speed and started to work intensively.

Moreover, in July, Yu Xiaotian also received good news from an industrial department and received a product sample that he had dreamed of.

Yu Xiaotian held this batch of samples, and his mouth was almost full of joy. This batch of samples were small yellow-orange copper caps. This was the first batch of flash caps officially trial-produced by the Seawolf Industrial Department.

As early as a few months ago, the Seawolf Industrial Department, with Yu Xiaotian's personal participation, had already developed nitric acid. The first use of nitric acid was produced. Yu Xiaotian ordered it to be used to develop this kind of fire.

cap.

The flash cap is filled with mercury fulminate. There were some problems in the development of mercury fulminate, which even led to many accidents, two of which were major accidents. People in this era had no idea about nitric acid, and they had no idea about it.

There is no awareness of the dangers of nitrification reactions, so operators often perform brutal operations, and it is surprising that no accidents occur.

Even though Yu Xiaotian repeatedly reminded those involved in this field to be careful and careful, and even personally formulated test procedures and specifications for them, he still couldn't stop these guys from doing whatever they wanted, and it would be strange for them to be immortal.

It was not until this group of people fully realized the dangers of doing this kind of thing that they knew what it means to be careful, and the subsequent accident rate was reduced. Just by manufacturing this small flash cap, the industrial sector

It cost dozens of casualties.

But no matter what, flash caps are still being trial-produced, and during the trial production period, they have been tested and the fire rate has reached more than 90%. The first few flash cap-type Wolf fang rifles that were trial-produced are using flash caps as firing devices.

Since then, the reliability has been greatly improved, the operability has become simpler, and the adaptability to weather is much better.

No matter it is a windy day or a rainy day, as long as the gunpowder does not get wet and the flash cap is properly stored, the rifle can still be fired normally. This will undoubtedly play a huge role in improving the all-weather combat capabilities of the Sea Wolf Army and Navy.

Yu Xiaotian held this box of the first batch of trial flash caps. He was so happy that he couldn't see his teeth. He quickly called his men and went straight to the shooting range. At the shooting range, he used a newly made flash cap gun, which was later called

Yu Xiaotian personally conducted a test firing of the firing gun. He fired a hundred rounds of minie rounds in one go and only encountered one misfire. After replacing the flash cap of the misfiring, the shot was fired successfully again.

Such a high firing rate surprised all the soldiers present, and they were also very excited, because although the Sea Wolf's flintlock gun was more advanced than the matchlock gun, its firing rate always hovered between 70% and 80%, that is,

It is said that an average of about seven launches will result in a misfire. Although the industrial sector has repeatedly tackled key problems and improved the fusilier mechanism, the misfire rate has never been significantly reduced.

But now that this kind of flash cap is available, the fire rate can actually be increased so much. Moreover, after using the flash cap, the rifle can be loaded easier and faster, and the ability to deal with bad weather is stronger. If these guys don't like it,

That's weird.

Yu Xiaotian's uncle Liu Wang has now become the battalion commander of the Sea Wolf Guard Battalion. Although his official position is not high, his status is high and he is quite prominent among the Sea Wolf.

Moreover, Liu Wang, who followed Yu Xiaotian, has always kept a low profile and won Yu Xiaotian's trust. Now this guy has grown into a strong man. Although he is not tall, he has developed well horizontally and has developed a muscular body.

, in every move and gesture, he looks very tough and fierce.

This guy likes to play with guns the most. He is a famous gun slave among the sea wolves. He hugs his Wolf Fang rifle every day and never lets go. He carries it wherever he goes. After becoming a battalion commander, he should not be used to it. Inside his waist

He carries two double-barreled short guns and a finely crafted Wolf Fang sniper rifle on his back.

After seeing the new flash cap gun held by Yu Xiaotian, his hands immediately became itchy. He stepped forward and took out a newly modified flash cap gun and conducted a test firing. He was very interested in this flash cap gun.

It can be said that he was so full of praise that he even asked someone to notify the arsenal to carefully build a high-precision flash cap sniper rifle for him.

Yu Xiaotian also ordered to immediately start mass production of this kind of flash cap, and the ordnance industry department also immediately stopped the production of flintlock guns. All of them were converted to the production of this kind of flash cap gun, and they were called Langya II-type rifles.

Quickly start production.

Moreover, the ordnance industry department also began to modify the original Wolf Fang rifle, converting it into a flash cap gun and re-equipping it for use by the troops.

In addition, the successful trial production of mercury fulminate and flash caps, as well as the mass production of springs, have enabled many weapons to be applied. Although the current output of nitric acid is very low, for the time being, all of it is used to make flash caps, which is basically enough.

Yes, anyway, we don’t expect to use nitric acid to mass-produce high explosives. This kind of output should basically be enough for Sea Wolf.

As for the copper bowl for producing flash caps, it is much simpler to produce. The brass is first rolled into a thin copper sheet, and then it is directly stamped into a stamping machine.

It's a pity that the current technology cannot make bullet casings. Otherwise, Yu Xiaotian would even want to trial-produce the entire bullet.

But with mercury fulminate, at least it can be made to produce grenades that do not need to be dragged around with a pigtail and have to be ignited manually. Next, detonators can be made. The next step can even be to develop rifled artillery. Trial production of pointed explosive grenades, and finally

At the very least, the next step of trial production of mortars should be possible.

So Yu Xiaotian immediately handed over the drawings of a set of mortars that he had already completed to the ordnance industry department. He also handed over the structural drawings of the mortar shells to the ordnance industry department to start trial production.

Because the spring is currently restricted by materials, resulting in unstable quality and poor elasticity, it is quite difficult to manufacture a firing fuse for a high-pressure artillery, which may cause premature explosion or misfire.

Therefore, although the problem of temporarily developing a rifled gun with high bore pressure is not very big, it is probably still too early to create a fuse for artillery shells that can withstand high bore pressure and high muzzle velocity.

However, for artillery such as mortars with low bore pressure and low muzzle velocity, it should be possible to create a usable shell fuze using existing springs.

Once this kind of mortar bomb fuze is developed, it will not only increase the firepower of the infantry by a small amount. As a lightweight army artillery, the mortar can greatly improve the army's battlefield interdiction capability. In addition, it will also be used to attack difficult situations.

It is said that it is much easier to use than ordinary smoothbore mountain howitzers.

As for gunpowder production, Sea Wolf has now solved the supply of saltpeter. Sulfur is also found on Taiwan Island and can be collected directly to meet Sea Wolf's production of black powder.

Nowadays, the invention of mercury fulminate has enabled Seawolf's weapons industry to take many strides forward. With the improvement of materials and machinery, it won't be long before Seawolf can develop more advanced rifles.

Cannons to meet the needs of the Chinese people to compete for hegemony in the future.

But Yu Xiaotian is not in a hurry to do these things at the moment, because the weapons he has on hand are already advanced enough in this era, and have formed a big generation gap with the enemies. If they are too advanced, firstly, it is not necessary, and secondly,

It's too wasteful of resources, so rifled cannons and cylindrical pointed explosive grenades are not in urgent need right now.

Only when the Ming Dynasty is conquered and he begins to arrange for global hegemony, rifled artillery will be put on the agenda. By then, even light ships equipped with a small number of rifled cannons can easily beat the heavy gunboats of Western countries into sieves.

(Haha, I finally came back. After thinking about it, I decided to open a new volume. Looking at the name of this volume, everyone can guess that Pig's Feet will have a showdown with Chongzhen, and then the rampage against the Ming Dynasty will begin! Brothers

, the monthly pass will be more expensive!)