In addition to attending classes, Zhu Youzhen also had to inspect the construction of the iron and steel smelter, the arsenal, and the soap factory today.

"Your Majesty, look at this steel ingot, although it has not been forged, I think it is even better than Su Gang."

Bi Maokang wore a rattan helmet and a steel ingot, and said loudly to Zhu Youzhen.

"Well, it's okay, after molding, let the craftsman forge more, the more impurities are removed, the tougher and stronger the steel will be, and whether it is forging the barrel, firing needle or spear tip or Mo knife in the future, the soldiers will be more at ease to use."

Zhu Youzhen paused, and then said.

"Weapons are the courage of soldiers, and there is no room for sloppiness, if anyone cuts corners, perfunctory and slack, resulting in a basket on the battlefield, the soldiers have given their lives, and I will punish them severely."

When the craftsmen heard this, they all knelt down and agreed.

These craftsmen were all selected by Zhu Youzhen and asked Bi Maokang to be selected in various places, each of them had at least one tael of silver per month, and they were also given a settling-in allowance.

"How's the flintlock pistol?"

Zhu You checked out the steel smelter and asked Bi Maokang.

"Back to Your Majesty, the minister was about to tell you about this."

"Still not?"

Zhu Youzhen was a little disappointed, it had been more than a month, and a flintlock pistol with stable performance had not yet been made.

"Back to Your Majesty, Wechen used a firing pin made of crucible steel this time, and the success rate of firing has greatly improved, but there is still a certain gap from your eighty percent standard, and it is difficult for Wechen to find out the problem for a while, and I want to ask Your Majesty for advice."

Every time he faced Zhu Youzhen's inspiration, Bi Maokang was ashamed of himself.

"Let's go, let's see."

On the shooting range, Zhu Youzhen fired three shots in succession, but the fourth shot was dumb.

Zhu Youzhen broke the bolt, looked at the firing pin, twisted the gunpowder, and instantly knew what the problem was.

"The firing needle is okay, and the flint is not bad, but this gunpowder is not good, there is some tide, and the success rate of firing naturally cannot go up."

Zhu Youzhen tried a few shots, and then found out what the problem was, and then said to Bi Maokang.

"Don't sieve the gunpowder too finely and make it granular, and the effect should be up to eighty."

Bi Maokang was shocked by Zhu Youzhen again, but at this time he was used to it, and then bowed down and asked.

"Dare to ask Your Majesty, what is the principle of this?"

"The principle is very simple, do you remember what I told you about the composition of the gas and the conditions of combustion?"

When Bi Maokang heard this, he immediately realized.

Air is needed for combustion!

Subsequently, Zhu Youzhen

"Lao Bi, you can't do this."

Zhu Youzhen fired a few more shots and gradually discovered some problems.

Bi Maokang is now very respectful to Zhu Youzhen, and not only the kind of respect for the emperor, but also for the teacher.

So after Zhu Youzhen finished speaking, Bi Maokang hurriedly took out a small notebook, held a charcoal pen, and prepared a record respectfully.

"Don't be nervous, Lao Bi, this gun is still good, much stronger than the Bird Gun and Lu Mi Gun of the Ministry of Works."

Seeing Bi Maokang's face as if he was facing a great enemy, Zhu Youzhen felt that the requirements for Bi Maokang just now were too harsh.

The flintlock pistol in Zhu Youzhen's heart was based on the standard of the Mini rifle in the mid-nineteenth century, so even if it was ahead of the flintlock pistol that was common in this era, in Zhu Youzhen's eyes, it was still too backward.

In the history of firearms, there are several very important turning points, flint fire, rifling, conical bullets (mini rounds), firing fire, fire cap rounds, rear loading and so on.

Among them, the technical barriers such as firing fire, fire cap bullets, and after-loading are likely to be difficult for Zhu Youjian to achieve in his lifetime because they involve the chemical industry.

Therefore, there is no need for a chemical industry base, and only a little physical and technical improvement can be made on the current flintlock pistol, and the Mini rifle that can be realized has become the best choice for Zhu Youzhen.

As a military fan, Zhu Youzhen has studied the Minny gun with people on the forum before, and Zhu Youzhen knows everything about this epoch-making rifle in terms of principle and technology.

But whether it can be achieved in the end, and how much can be realized, Zhu Youzhen can only depend on Bi Maokang, a Ming engineer.

The first is the transformation of the projectile, and the name of the Mini gun comes from the classic Mini bullet.

The conical shape of the Mini bullet makes the projectile flight more stable and the penetration power is also improved, and the design of the hollow wooden plug at the bottom makes it possible to rifled the gun.

And more importantly, the Mini bullet is still made of lead, so there are no technical barriers to such a deformation.

Even if it weren't for Bi Maokang, it was estimated that a craftsman would be able to sneak up in the firearms workshop of the Ministry of Industry.

The second is the procedural and standardized transformation of bullet loading, and Zhu Youzhen, who has accumulated the wisdom of human beings in later generations, naturally does not need to let the soldiers explore again and again, and then transform the loading process.

So at the very beginning, Zhu Youzhen put forward the concept of custom-packed paper bullets.

A Mini bullet and a standard amount of black powder were encapsulated in a paper shell in the shape of a later brass bullet.

When firing, the soldier bites the paper shell with his teeth, dumps the powder in it into the barrel, then inserts the mini bullet, compacts it with a strip, then lays the barrel flat, opens the safety device, and can pull the trigger, hit the flint, and shoot.

Under this standard process, a well-trained soldier can achieve a rate of fire of three rounds a minute, which is a super lead for a one-minute arquebus.

And in terms of the current training level of the Ming soldiers and the quality of the birds, it is impossible to fire one shot a minute, the lack of training in peacetime, the battlefield is naturally tense, it is good to be able to do one shot in two minutes, and this is still on the premise of not exploding.

It is no wonder that when facing the archers who could shoot six or seven arrows a minute from the Tartars, the Ming musketeers could not form a fire suppression at all.

If you can do two shots a minute, and then do a three-stage shot, it will not be a problem to suppress the Tartar archers.

Compared with the first two modifications, the last and most difficult is rifling, at this time there is no special rifling machine, and rifling is as advanced and time-consuming as drilling the barrel.

However, Zhu Youzhen still understands a little bit about the mechanical mechanics principles, so let Bi Maokang design a reloading machine according to these principles, and try a few more times, it should not be a big problem.

With rifling, the rifle will have a longer range and a higher accuracy of shooting.

In the mid-nineteenth century, the Minnie rifle had an effective range of 900 meters, which is no different from the bird's gun, which has an effective range of less than 100 meters today.

Due to the level of the smelting industry of this era, as well as the limitations of craftsmanship and machining accuracy, Zhu Youzhen felt that it was unrealistic for Bi Maokang to completely restore the Mini rifle of the mid-19th century.

However, if it can achieve an effective firing range of 500 meters and maintain a rate of fire of two rounds per minute, such a firepower output will be sufficient.