The wilderness in winter is silent, and only the rustle of snowflakes can be heard. It was not so much a sound as a feeling, a sky of snow fluttering in the air, and a hare seemed to be looking for something in the thick snow.

Suddenly, as if aware of the danger, the hare looked up to the right and left.

In an instant, a gunshot broke the silence between heaven and earth.

When the gunfire fell, seeing that the hare was already lying in the snow, Shi Yiwen praised.

"Shiji is a good gun!"

This is not a lie, after all, it can hit a hare with a smoothbore bird gun from fifty or sixty meters away, this marksmanship is indeed extraordinary, no wonder it is a famous firearms expert in the Ming Dynasty.

Speaking of which, Shi Yiwen and Zhao Shizhen knew each other, completely because of official business, two months ago, Zhao Shizhen, who was the main bookkeeper of Honglu Temple, was ordered to come to him to retrieve the official seal of the "Old Port Propaganda Envoy", and then the two knew each other, at that time, Shi Yiwen really didn't expect that the young man in front of him was actually a famous firearms expert in the late Ming Dynasty.

I just thought it was an ordinary official, but later when he was running a carriage shop, Zhao Shizhen took the initiative to find the door, without him, he was curious about the bearing, so the two of them knew each other, he was originally an idle man in Honglu Temple, but he often ran to Shi Yiwen this time.

This time, he also specially brought a bird gun and pulled Shi Yiwen to hunt with him.

"Zhiyuan is polite, there is no other way to do this, but he is familiar with it."

As he spoke, Zhao Shizhen handed the bird gun to Shi Yiwen.

"Do you want to try Zhiyuan?"

took the bird gun from Zhao Shizhen, looking at the iron body of the bird gun, Shi Yiwen just looked at it quietly, although he had never seen the bird gun in the past, he had also heard of his name, in fact, it was just a smaller caliber arquebus.

"Zhiyuan, don't worry, this bird gun is not an inferior product from the government-run iron workshop, I specially asked the best craftsmen in the city to use the best Fujian iron to make a gun pipe, even if you put a few hundred guns, it will not blow up the chest, those craftsmen, it is really hateful, the bird guns used by the soldiers are inferior, and they are repeatedly blown up, if others pay their own money to let them make guns, but they don't see the explosion."

Seeing that Shi Yiwen was holding the bird gun for a long time, he didn't speak, thinking that he was worried about the explosion, Zhao Shizhen hurriedly explained.

"Not really."

Shi Yiwen said casually.

"The inferiority of this bird gun is not only the problem of the craftsman, the most fundamental reason should be the raw materials."

"Raw materials?"

Zhao Shizhen was puzzled.

"Why does Shiji use Min iron to make a pipe?"

"Because of the high quality of Fujian iron, it is most suitable for making gunmetal pipes, and the gunmetal pipes made of wrought iron produced in other places are unbearable."

"Nashiji knows why the high-quality iron of Fujian can be used to make pipes, while the iron in other places is not usable?"

Facing Shi Yiwen's rhetorical question, Zhao Shizhen couldn't help but be a little puzzled, he really hadn't thought about this question in the past.

"In fact, the reason for this is not because of the high quality of Fujian iron, and the poor quality of iron in other places, but because of the dense mountains and forests in Fujian, the local iron-making is made of charcoal, and the charcoal acrobatics are less, and the iron smelted is naturally good iron, and other places, especially in the north, because of the lack of forests, are often made of coal, and there is a lot of ash in soot, and the quality of the iron smelted is more, and the firearms made of coal and iron-making are naturally easy to explode."

For such an explanation, Zhao Shizhen heard it for the first time, and he saw his eyes wide in surprise.

"You mean, all the problems are on the coal?"

"It is true that there are certain reasons for the poor quality of iron ore, but the most fundamental reason is the difference in the way iron is made."

From a metallurgical point of view, the phosphorus content of iron ore in China generally exceeds the standard, and the use of coal to make iron leads to a further increase in sulfur content, which will cause hot brittleness, and sulfur and phosphorus have adverse effects on the welding performance of steel. This is basically doomed to the use of coal ironsmiths to forge at high temperatures, and the bird guns will often blow up the chamber. In the end, many people blame this raw material problem on the artisan household system and the Ministry of Industry's deductions, and there may be a certain reason, but the poor iron quality is the most fundamental reason.

"It turns out that this root is still iron."

Frowning, Zhao Shizhen said.

"What if it's all about using Fujian iron? But it doesn't seem to work, there is no iron class in Fujian, Fujian iron was only for Qi Shuai's army, naturally there is no problem, but if it is put into the whole country, it is bound to be impossible, and wrought iron must be used to make a pipe, two or three catties of iron to get a pound of wrought iron, a branch of pipe...... I'm afraid this thing can't be done, it can't be done, or I will use charcoal to smelt iron in Beijing? But the charcoal itself is expensive......"

Seeing that Zhao Shizhen was in a delusion, Shi Yiwen did not continue, but picked up the bird gun and gestured.

The vast majority of men have a special emotion for weapons, even this most primitive arquebus, which also aroused Shi Yiwen's interest, but he just made a comparison, after all, this arquebus is too cumbersome to use.

Zhao Shizhen, who came back to his senses, saw Shi Yiwen holding a bird gun there, making an aiming form, so he hurriedly said,

"If Zhiyuan wants to try it, you might as well wait for me to fill you with the medicine first."

"It's not necessary, this bird gun is too troublesome to use, you see, we just talk about it, and this fire rope will be extinguished."

Holding the bird gun, Shi Yiwen said casually.

"This is the biggest disadvantage of the bird, it is susceptible to wind and rain when igniting, and the fire and burning rope cannot be maintained for a long time when the fire rope is lit, and there are too many shortcomings."

In Shi Yiwen's opinion, the bird gun is an extremely primitive weapon at all, but his words in Zhao Shizhen's ears made him quite uncomfortable, after all, he originally respected the bird gun, so naturally he couldn't allow people to belittle the bird gun so much.

"Zhiyuan, it's not right for you to say that, this bird gun is a sharp weapon to defeat the enemy, although there are those faults you said, but all the weapons in the world, how can they be perfect. Do you know why it is called a bird gun, "the back hand does not need to abandon the ignition, then it does not shake, so there are eight or nine out of ten shots, that is, the birds are in the forest, can be shot down, because it is named", so it is named, it can be said that it is a ...... artifact in the world"

Seeing Zhao Shizhen maintaining the status of the bird gun in his mind like this, Shi Yiwen said with a smile.

"Compared to others, this bird gun can indeed be called an artifact, but Shiji, we can't ignore the problems on it because it is an artifact, we must find a way to solve these problems."

"Resolved? What to solve? ”

Zhao Shizhen wondered.

"You don't need a fire rope, Shi Ji, if you want to use a bird gun, how convenient would it be?"

As soon as Shi Yiwen's words fell, he heard Zhao Shizhen say in surprise.

"What, without a firestring, how can this bird not use a firestring?"

"Why not? It's just a different way......"

Before Shi Yiwen finished speaking, someone behind him said.

"Can you make a bird gun that doesn't have to be lit with an arquebus?"