I

It was the fifth day of the first lunar month in the ninth year of Chongzhen.

Those who have good news say that the sky above Ji'an Mansion is shrouded in purple clouds, and a black dragon is seen in the north, followed by five-color clouds. It was night, but I saw red light rushing out of the General Military Mansion, the sound of tigers roaring and dragons roaring could not be heard, and the weeping willows by the river all sprouted new branches...

Okay, without going too far, Fei Rulan gave birth to a son successfully.

In the two prefectures and thirteen counties, the officials and the people rejoiced. They were really happy that their lord had an heir and the cause of rebellion became more stable.

Of course, there were also countless gentry who cursed and expected Zhao Han's son to die in infancy.

But it seems that God is celebrating. The weather has been smooth this spring, with two spring rains falling early, and finally there is no spring drought like in previous years.

Just after the Lantern Festival, the sky suddenly became clear, and Zhao Han took his child for a walk around the garden.

The guard came in and announced: "In the main town, Sgong Song wants to see you."

"Please!" Zhao Han returned the child to the nanny.

As for Fei Rulan, she was doing her confinement period in the house. At first, the doors and windows were closed tightly and the wind was not allowed to blow in. Zhao Han asked someone to hang up the window screens and forcefully opened the windows for ventilation.

Song Yingxing walked in quickly, followed by a subordinate, holding a brand-new gun.

Zhao Han said happily: "Is the gun made?"

Song Yingxing raised his hand and said, "Thirty of them have been made. Last year, many blacksmiths were making waist knives and spearheads. This year, we will recruit some to hammer the blunderbuss bodies. At least 500 bird blunderbuss can be made in a year."

"It's still too little." Zhao Han said.

"We can only train apprentices slowly, as long as there are more craftsmen." Song Yingxing said.

Zhao Han thought for a while and said: "Cotton armor and iron pieces can be made by private iron factories, and official craftsmen will do their best to make firearms."

Although Song Yingxing was in charge of the Public Works Department, his main energy was spent on making gunpowder and gunpowder. He lived in Fenyi and Xinyu counties for a long time. Tian Younian has been transferred to the deputy position of the Department of Public Works. Instead, Tian Younian is in charge of the daily affairs of the Department of Public Works.

Now, Zhao Han has three weapons.

One is located on the outskirts of Ji'an Prefecture and mainly produces spears, bows and arrows, leather armor, and wooden shields.

One is located in Fenyi County Iron Factory, which mainly produces waist knives, gun heads and arrowheads.

An iron factory located in Xinyu County mainly produces iron sheets for cotton armor - chain mail cannot be made, and Song Yingxing does not know the wrought iron drawing technology.

Zhao Han did not occupy all the iron mines, and allowed the local gentry to continue to operate their mines and iron works. In order to centralize blacksmiths to make firecrackers, some simple tasks can be contracted to private ironworks. Especially the iron pieces of cotton armor, there is no technical difficulty at all.

In the past few months, Weapon has made more than 300 sets of cotton armor.

Cotton armor can protect against hacking and bows and arrows. According to what Qi Jiguang said, forty or fifty steps can prevent a fire blunderbuss, and thirty steps will definitely penetrate it. That thing is actually a set of special cotton clothes. The cotton is repeatedly beaten tightly through special techniques, and iron sheets are embedded in the lining or surface. It is much lighter than traditional armor.

At the same time, Tian Younian also gave suggestions and recruited bamboo craftsmen to make helmets.

This kind of bamboo helmet can prevent arrows and knife cuts. Although the effect is limited, the advantage is that the cost is low and the manufacturing speed is very fast. If you want to strengthen the defense, you can also weave in a few pieces of iron when weaving.

Zhao Han took the gun and said with a smile: "Let's go, follow me to the school grounds outside the city."

While walking, I observed that this gun was nearly one meter long. The gun barrel is thick at the front and thin at the back, and it also has a trigger. Pulling the trigger can move the ramie rope.

Zhao Han pulled the trigger a few times and understood its working principle.

Ramie rope can be burned slowly and its effect is similar to that of incense. With this device, the matchlock gun does not need to be specially ignited, and the gunpowder can be ignited by pulling the trigger.

This kind of bird gun should actually be called Malacca Matchlock Gun.

Zhao Han asked curiously: "How is the barrel of the gun made?"

Song Yingxing explained: "First make the iron trusses, then wrap them with red-hot steel and beat them continuously. After many joints, the tubes can be formed. Then, a four-sided steel cone is penetrated into the tube, rotated and ground, so that the tube wall becomes If it is as smooth as a mirror, the medicine will be released without any obstruction."

As he gradually approached the school grounds, Zhao Han couldn't help but ask: "Isn't it easy to explode?"

Song Yingxing could only say: "Sooner or later, the blunderbuss will explode, but the blunderbuss I made will definitely be hundreds of times better than the court's. First of all, it is better to make a furnace fire with charcoal than with stone charcoal. Secondly, the blunderbuss tube They are all made of steel, not wrought iron. Of course, if too much medicine is put in, the chamber may still explode."

Song Yingxing didn't know how to make Su steel, but he knew the Guangnan steel filling method, which was the kind of Tuan steel produced in Foshan.

"That's so troublesome," Zhao Han said. "Without long-term training, it will be difficult for the soldiers to get the correct dosage of medicine. Can you first determine the appropriate dosage and then wrap it in an oil paper shell, which can prevent moisture and getting wet at ordinary times. When fighting, the soldiers Hold the paper shell in your hand, tear it open with your teeth, and then fill the shell with the medicine in the gun?"

"This method is wonderful!" Song Yingxing said happily.

Walking to the gate of the school ground, Song Yingxing asked again: "There is another kind of shotgun in the main town. Does it need to be built?"

"Is a shotgun different from a cannon?" Zhao Han didn't understand.

Song Yingxing explained: "The shotgun is shaped like a spear and requires two people to control it. The shotgun will be exhausted after a hundred steps (the longest range), but the shotgun can shoot more than two hundred steps."

Zhao Han finally figured it out. The shotgun was the pistol used during the Opium War. The barrel of that thing was taller than a human being.

"No need," Zhao Han ordered, "Only build a bird gun. The bird gun is too difficult to operate."

Song Yingxing added: "There is another kind of enemy with ten thousand people, which is a weapon for defending the city."

Zhao Han asked: "What is the enemy of ten thousand people?"

Song Yingxing described in detail: "Use hollow mud balls dried in the shade, stuff them with gunpowder, add poisonous fire, sacred fire, etc. After the medicine is passed through Anxin, use wooden frames to surround the outside, or use wooden barrels to mold clay. When the enemy attacks the city, Light the fuse and throw it under the city, and the enemy's troops will be in trouble."

Poison fire means adding arsenic, cinnabar, feces, silver embroidery (the residue of refining silver ore) and other substances to gunpowder.

Divine fire means adding cinnabar, realgar, orpiment, borax, magnetic powder, chili powder and other substances to gunpowder.

By the way, many strange firearms were invented in the Ming Dynasty. Even when Zhu Di was in trouble, landmines had already appeared. Zhu Di's Yan army almost collapsed when they stepped on the mines, and they didn't know how those mines detonated.

Zhao Han understood immediately that this thing was a large grenade.

However, the outer shell is made of mud. To prevent the mud from breaking, wooden strips are used to hold it in place.

Using wooden barrels to hold them is even more insane. It can no longer be called a grenade, but a bomb as big as a barrel.

It definitely can't be thrown far and can only be used to defend the city.

Zhao Han asked: "Can we use ceramics to make shells? The mountains under my control are rich in white soil, so we can bake ceramics. We can make some small ones that can be used by tens of thousands of enemies. They can also be thrown in the field. The fragments of the ceramic explosion can also kill the enemy."

"This method is feasible." Song Yingxing nodded.

The grenadier used ceramic bombs. I wonder if European missionaries saw it and thought Zhao Han wasted his resources.

How expensive is porcelain in Europe?

When they arrived at the military camp, the officers immediately came to pay their respects, and Zhao Han asked them to practice the army on their own.

Arriving at the shooting range where archers were trained, Zhao Han opened the gunpowder bag and found that it contained granular black powder. He couldn't help but ask, "Why is this powder black granular?"

"Gunpowder for guns and cannons are all of this kind." Song Yingxing replied.

Black granular gunpowder was born in the late Tang Dynasty and was made by Taoist priests through alchemy.

But its real large-scale use in actual combat began in the Yuan Dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty bronze cannon unearthed in Wuwei in later generations contained granular gunpowder. Landmines unearthed in Hohhot from the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty also found residual granular black powder.

Zhao Han became more and more surprised and asked: "Is this the gunpowder produced by the imperial court?"

Song Yingxing sighed: "Many of the gunpowder issued by the imperial court to officers and soldiers cannot be used. The generals have to pay for the gunpowder themselves."

According to Xu Guangqi's account, due to the poor quality of the gunpowder and the shoddy manufacture of blunderbuss, the Ming Army's musketry troops sometimes could not even penetrate Tatar heavy armor.

Zhao Shixin, the governor of Beijing Camp, also said: "The gunpowder made by cunning craftsmen was shoddy and shoddy. When the generals received the gunpowder, they sold it at a low price to buy good medicine."

Are the craftsmen really cunning?

No!

Officials deduct the cost of gunpowder production in various ways. No matter how good the craftsman is, it is difficult for a skilled woman to make a meal without rice.

The Ming Dynasty was not technically incompetent, but its official administration was completely corrupt.

Zhao Han retreated fifty steps away and asked Song Yingxing how to load ammunition and then aim at the target in front of him.

"boom!"

The smoke cleared, and the target remained the same.

The projectile didn’t know where it flew.

The onlookers were a little embarrassed and embarrassed to laugh.

Song Yingxing said: "It is normal for people who are new to shooting guns to miss the target."

Reloading the ammunition, Zhao Han moved forward with a smile, walked to a distance of thirty steps, pulled the trigger again and fired.

"boom!"

This time he actually hit the edge of the target.

Everyone was shouting for the magic shot, and Song Yingxing was also surprised and said: "You can hit the target with the second shot. The general is very talented."

He fired the second bullet. Before Zhao Han traveled through time, he was considered a shooting expert in the company, and he was fed with countless ammunition.

However, Zhao Han was quite surprised that a smoothbore gun like the Bird Gun could achieve such accuracy.

Mainly due to the long barrel, almost one meter.

Of course, the firecrackers presented by Song Yingxing are strictly crafted fine products. If we increase manpower and increase production, even if quality control is stricter, the overall quality will decline a lot.

This kind of musket still needs to be fired, and it is difficult to achieve results by shooting separately.

Zhao Han smiled and said: "This gun is good, it will be mine from now on."

Among the senior generals in the army today, the ones with the strictest rules and the best discipline are undoubtedly the troops trained by Li Zheng.

Zhao Han decided to let Li Zhengheng lead the firearms camp. For the time being, there were only a few dozen firearms, but in another year there would be hundreds.

"Is there still a shortage of gunpowder raw materials?" Zhao Han asked.

Song Yingxing replied: "The saltpeter must be purchased from Ningdu County, and there is no shortage of other raw materials."

Ningdu County is adjacent to the southeast of Yongfeng County. Merchants selling saltpeter can take a small road in Xingguo County and transport the goods to Ji'an along the Gan River.

There is also a more convenient route, which is to transport by water all the way to Ganzhou, and then from Ganzhou to Ji'an.

However, the Ganzhou side was tightly guarded and no strategic materials such as saltpeter were allowed to be transported.

Zhao Han warned: "Work hard to build fire guns. Craftsmen who do well and quickly can be promoted and rewarded for reuse. If there are craftsmen who can improve the craftsmanship, they will also be rewarded greatly!"