The Rise of the European Emperor

After getting B gunpowder, Marin naturally wanted to test its power. So, Marin found arquebuses and clockwork muskets to test.

The first test was the oldest version of the Spanish Musquette musket. This arquebus was built by the first gunsmiths hired by Marin from Spain. It used the most common wrought iron forged barrel.

It should be pointed out that the earliest version of the Spanish Musquette musket was made by rolling iron sheets. That is to say, first roll a layer of iron sheet, then heat and forge repeatedly, until the iron sheet is beaten and basically put together after a long time. Then, it is wrapped with a second layer of iron and hot forged repeatedly.

In short, the earliest Spanish gun barrel manufacturing method is very time-consuming. It takes months to build a barrel. Later, this method was passed on to the Ming Dynasty by the Portuguese. The bird guns of the Ming Dynasty were forged with double-layer iron, which was very inefficient.

The barrels used in Marin's North Sea Kingdom were actually learned by Marin from the video "The Gunsmith of Williamsburg". It is to use a rectangular wrought iron plate to directly forge and roll it into shape. After rolling into an iron tube, the craftsman sprinkles iron powder on the forging seam while it is hot, so that the forging seam is melted and welded by iron powder at high temperature. Even, the hot forging seam will be sprinkled with iron ore concentrate powder, that is, iron oxide. After being sprinkled, the reddish iron pipe is buried in the charcoal pile, and the iron ore powder is reduced with coal, and the iron ore after reduction is directly "long" with the forging seam... method, making the production of gun barrels easier. A skilled craftsman can forge an iron pipe in a day. If you are not skilled, you can almost finish it in two days.

Later, Marin improved the material properties. The original wrought iron, the quality is actually not good. Because, there is no process of removing phosphorus and sulfur. In fact, the process is very simple, that is, secondary refining, and then put quicklime into the molten iron to make slag, remove phosphorus and sulfur. Then, a certain amount of graphite powder is also added to increase the carbon content. After all, Marin remembers the 45-gauge carbon steel used in later generations of the 56 and a half, not wrought iron.

That said, Marin now has three different barrels in his hands - a traditional coiled iron barrel, a traditional wrought iron forged barrel, and a medium-low carbon barrel with less controlled carbon content. Gun barrels made of steel...

Because the power of B gunpowder is more than three times that of black gunpowder, it stands to reason that Marin should be reduced to one-third of the charge. But Marin wanted to test the barrel's performance. Then, it's loaded as usual...

As a result, the oldest version of the double metal barrel exploded on the spot. Fortunately, Marin used the method of inserting a long fuse in the fire door during the test, and no casualties were caused.

Then, the barrel made of wrought iron could not withstand the pressure, and although the explosion did not occur, the barrel was deformed...

Only the barrel of medium and low carbon steel with no carbon content has withstood the test. However, this is not necessary...

why? Even if the propellant is not reduced,

Take it and waste it! Because, after the musket's signature flew 100 yards, it basically flew around. Even if you use three times the power of B gunpowder, it will be a waste. Because, even with black powder, within 100 yards, the lethality is enough...

Then, naturally, the issue of lowering the charge is considered. Obviously, with the use of B powder, it can no longer hold as much propellant as before. Otherwise, it would be a waste to use it on a musket. Also, it's easy to blow up.

As for how much to reduce, Marin decided to use the data of later Mauser rifles...

The Mauser 1871 is a black powder rifle with a caliber of 11mm and a length of 60mm. The G98, which uses smokeless propellant, has a bullet caliber of 7.92mm and a length of 57mm. Of course, this length includes the warhead part.

Calculated in this way, the charge of the new bullet is about half of the black powder. But the actual power is much greater. For example, in Mauser 1871, the initial velocity of the sub-bore is only 440m/s. And the G98 using smokeless propellant, the initial velocity of the sub-population has reached 800 m/s... The charge is reduced by half, but the initial velocity is doubled...

Originally, Marin used 10 grams of black powder for a clockwork shotgun that used 30 grams of lead. But now with B gunpowder, the charge can be completely reduced. And out of consideration that the kinetic energy is wasted beyond a hundred yards, Marin finally decided to reduce the charge to 3 grams when using B gunpowder...

After testing, the charge of 3 grams is very reasonable. Because, the power has not decreased at all...

But after this test, Marin found that using smokeless powder on a rifle doesn't make much sense...

why? Because no matter whether you use black powder or smokeless powder, the effective range of a musket is only about 100 yards, and the farther it is, it will be a handgun. Moreover, the production cost of smokeless gunpowder is quite high, which is completely uneconomical.

Unless it is a copper-shelled bullet of later generations, the use of smokeless gunpowder is valuable. After all, just saving the copper material of the eggshell is a huge sum of money.

However, that didn't help. Because Marin didn't study chemistry, he didn't know how to make primers...

Primer is a difficult chemical problem. Unless the top students in the chemical industry travel through ancient times, other professionals will not be able to handle primer technology. Although mercury fulminate is the simplest primer, but that thing is not easy to fix, its stability is worse than nitrocellulose, and its power is extremely powerful. If you are not careful, you can kill yourself... So, don't think about it...

Therefore, Marin was embarrassed to find that the B gunpowder had no effect on the musket...

And when it comes to using propellant for artillery... It doesn't seem to work... After all, gun propellant is shot in a few grams, and artillery propellant is measured in pounds, and a few pounds of propellant is shot in one shot...

Now the cost of making smokeless powder in Marin is so high that it can be used as artillery propellant... I can't afford it, I can't afford it...

So, Marin was completely depressed - finally came up with a modern smokeless gunpowder, but it's useless, so sad...

...

In the end, Marin's depression was "cured" by Doni Tseri...

How to "govern"? It turned out that, as the captain of the demolition team, Donny Tserui came to Marin to apply for a batch of powder kegs for training. After all, demolition work is also very important. In wartime, the demolition team can blast the enemy's gates. And in peacetime, they can still mine...

Donny Tsering himself does not heal or persuade others, but his presence reminds Marin that since B gunpowder is not suitable as a propellant for muskets and muskets, it can be used for You can still drop explosives when...

In any case, the explosion speed of B gunpowder is also close to 2000 meters per second, which is still the effect of passivation. But it's still better than black powder with a detonation speed of 500 meters per second.

So, Marin asked Donny Tserui to get a powder keg filled with B powder to practice blasting, and it turned out to be much more powerful, almost injuring the members of the blasting team. However, this still falls short of Marin's expectations...

Why? According to theoretical data, the explosion speed of B gunpowder is 4 times that of black gunpowder, and the amount of gas generated by combustion is also more than 3 times that of black gunpowder. In theory, the power should be three times that of black gunpowder barrels. However, tests have shown that the blasting power of this new type of B powder keg is less than twice that of black powder...

"What's going on?" Marin didn't understand. But when he picked up the B gunpowder particles in his hand to observe, he discovered the reason...

It turned out that Malin himself was to blame for this. Because, in order to reduce the burning speed of B gunpowder, Marin deliberately passivated the surface of the particles. That is, a thin layer of wax film is plated on the surface of the particles with beeswax solution. The existence of wax film affects the burning speed of gunpowder particles, and also affects the speed of deflagration...

Therefore, Marin soaked the remaining B gunpowder in alcohol again, and washed and filtered it to remove the wax film on the surface. In this way, after further testing, the power has indeed reached about three times that of the black powder keg.

In the end, Marin settled down - B powder was specifically used to make blasting cartridges...

However, now Marin won't fight people for several years, even if he gets a blasting tube, it's useless... I'm really distressed...

In the end, it was an alcoholic who reminded him...

Marin went out to relax, and saw an alcoholic who probably went crazy after drinking a bottle of Erguotou, and threw the half-pound glass bottle directly out of the way. That posture is very similar to throwing... grenades...

"Yeah, I can use B powder to make grenades..."

Before, it wasn't that Marin didn't think about getting grenades. It's just that the power of black powder is too low, and the grenade made can only injure people, not kill people. Even with steel balls added, the power is still a little low.

Many historical novels say that putting black powder into a clay pot can kill the Quartet, which is simply a comparison. In fact, the Eighth Route Army used black powder to make grenades. However, the grenades produced in this way are of poor quality. Let's put it this way, earth grenades made of black powder often explode in half. As for the killing effect... it only kills and kills the enemy on the spot... Its biggest effect is to send one or two devils to the hospital. Of course, there is another function, which is to scare the enemy a lot...

However, it would be wrong to say that this kind of earthen grenade can't kill people at all. After all, if the steel balls or nails in the grenade happened to fly to the enemy's temple and other vital parts, it could also kill them on the spot...

Those historical novels talk about blowing up the enemy with black powder jars... don't brag, but it's very possible to blow up the enemy's warhorse. After all, animals are generally afraid of the sound of explosions. Especially in situations that have not been encountered before, it is more likely to be frightened.

Speaking of it, the reason why the Ming army was able to beat the Mongolian and Yuan cavalry to the bottom in the early Ming Dynasty had a lot to do with the fact that the horses of the Mongolian army had not received relevant training at that time. In a decisive battle, the horses were frightened on a large scale, and they even made a P?

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Manchu army knew how to train horses to adapt to the sound of guns and guns (if they were not adapted, they would be eliminated directly), and they also gave them earmuffs. Then, the role of firearms in the Ming army was greatly reduced...

...

Of course, it was talking about earth grenades made of black powder. That kind of power is definitely not good, but if it uses three times the power of smokeless gunpowder... Although the power can't keep up with the effects of later high-explosive products, it is still much better than the scary local grenades made of black gunpowder...

So, Marin ordered, began to develop a small iron can with a wooden handle, used for B gunpowder, as a grenade. The way to ignite, because there is no cable technology, it can only be ignited with a match rope...

Its shape is made into the style of later wooden handle grenades. The wooden handle is hollow and sets the fuse. Usually the top of the wooden handle is covered, mainly to prevent moisture from the fuze. When using, first open the lid, light the fuze with a match string, and then throw it out with the wooden handle...