After Qiu Xiang followed Zhong Nan to Jizhou, she lived a stable home life, in addition to bringing small sweet potatoes on weekdays, she was doing housework such as female red at home. Zhong Nan has always been worried that he was too busy and neglected to care for Qiu Xiang, but fortunately, after ancient women got married and started a family, Qiu Xiang didn't mind because of this.

Now that the arsenal has been built, Zhong Nan wants Qiu Xiang to be in charge of finance, and after talking to her, Qiu Xiang happily goes. The reason why I grasped the finances of the arsenal in my hands was not for the convenience of doing things in the future, but because I was worried about being manipulated by others. Although greed for ink was prevalent at this time, such as the state-owned salt factory, ceramic factory, ship department and other units, all of which nourished a large number of moths, Zhong Nan still hoped that the Jizhou Arsenal could be left alone, at least not to damage the dynasty's military foundation.

Just after the Spring Festival, Zhong Nan threw himself into the work of the arsenal non-stop. In the past two months, he has shifted his focus to the development and improvement of munitions, and he will go to the arsenal every once in a while to inspect and understand the progress of various research and development.

On the morning of the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, Zhong Nan was checking documents in the barracks, and Xu Wanzhou came in to report that there was a major breakthrough in the arsenal. Zhong Nan dropped the documents in his hand and rode to the arsenal with a group of personal soldiers.

When he arrived at his destination, Hong Tianliang was already waiting at the gate, and after seeing Zhong Nan, he didn't say much, until he entered the confidential room, and then briefly reported the situation.

It all started from before. At the beginning of the establishment of the Jizhou Arsenal, due to the lack of skilled craftsmen, Zhong Nan issued a document, saying that every soldier in the barracks and the old employees of the arsenal introduced skilled hands to come, and they could get a reward of two taels of silver, so everyone enthusiastically participated in this recruitment campaign.

There was a craftsman named Kang Le in the arsenal, who introduced a distant cousin of his, and after the evaluation of Hong Tianliang and others, he entered the research and development department of the arsenal. According to Zhong Nan's standards, you must have more than three years of experience in firearms, or someone who has unique views on firearms research and development can enter the department.

The researchers in the R&D department are all of the engineer rank, from the first to the sixth class, in order of highest and lowest, and if they can become first-class engineers, their income can almost catch up with the guerrilla generals in the barracks. As soon as the person introduced by Kang Le entered the R&D department, he was given the treatment of a fourth-level engineer, which was assessed by Hong Tianliang and one of the few first-level engineers.

Yesterday evening, the fourth-level engineer successfully improved the firing mechanism of the firebolt, and then reported it to Hong Tianliang overnight. Hong Tianliang ate and lived in the arsenal, and after he knew the news for the first time, he first checked the real thing and confirmed that it was safe before sending someone to inform the chief soldier in the morning.

After listening to Hong Tianliang's brief explanation, Zhong Nan asked him to bring the fourth-level engineer and the improved firecracker with him. After a while, a middle-aged man about forty years old came to the confidential room with Hong Tianliang, Zhong Nan looked at each other, and saw that this person was not tall, a little thin, with a slightly long face, and a bit of the unique taste of science and engineering men in later generations. The middle-aged man was a little nervous when he saw that Zhong Nan had been observing him, and when Hong Tianliang introduced Zhong Nan's identity, he became even more nervous.

Seeing this, Zhong Nan asked in a calm tone, "Dare to ask the name of Gao?" ”

The middle-aged man wiped his forehead and replied respectfully: "Lord Hui Zongbing, the little one...... Little Zhao Shizhen. ”

"Zhao Shizhen?" Zhong Nan was surprised, stood up and looked at this fourth-level engineer named "Zhao Shizhen" again. As a figure as famous as Li Shizhen, Xu Guangqi, Song Yingxing and other scientists, Zhao Shizhen was a firearms expert in the late Ming Dynasty, and developed a variety of new firearms for the Ming Dynasty.

Zhong Nan took two steps forward and reconfirmed, "But people from Yueqing, Zhejiang? ”

When the middle-aged man named "Zhao Shizhen" heard this, he immediately trembled with fright, and beads of sweat the size of beans fell to the ground like rain. In less than half a minute, as if he had made up his mind, he fell to his knees with a thud.

"Adult, small...... Little one knew that he was wrong, and I didn't want to hide like this anymore. ”

This sudden change made the two factory owners confused, and Zhong Nan didn't know why, originally he thought that this "Zhao Shizhen" was Zhao Shizhen, a firearms expert, but now he is a little afraid to confirm it.

Hong Tianliang on the side stepped forward to help "Zhao Shizhen", explained the other party, and "Zhao Shizhen", whose emotions slowly calmed down, poured beans into the bamboo tube and said.

It turned out that this "Zhao Shizhen" was in his hometown of Yueqing, Zhejiang Province in his early years, and an accident occurred due to the configuration, which caused an accident and killed and injured many people. At that time, he fled Yueqing, and then wandered around, but he never dared to return to his hometown.

Ten years ago, he defected to Kang Le, a distant cousin in Jizhou. This Kang Le is also a craftsman, since his father has taken root in Jizhou, he didn't know the accident that happened in Yueqing's hometown, and the two of them were somewhat related, plus "Zhao Shizhen" was also a door, so he let him work in his own shop.

Last year, Zhong Nan vigorously recruited all kinds of craftsmen from the arsenal, and because the treatment was really good, Kangle closed down the shops that did not do well and entered the arsenal to work. "Zhao Shizhen" couldn't find anything to do for a while, so he had to do odd jobs near Jizhou, and later Kang Le saw that he could introduce a familiar hand to the arsenal and get a reward of two taels of silver, so he remembered his distant cousin and pulled him into the arsenal.

Originally, "Zhao Shizhen" thought that so many years had passed, and the accident of that year should have been forgotten by everyone even if the sea fishing document was issued, but today Zhong Nan was very surprised when he heard this name, and then asked him where he was from, this "Zhao Shizhen" thought that the East Window incident happened. Because he has been frightened for more than ten years, and he has been accustomed to a stable life in Jizhou, he does not want to embark on the road of escape again in the year of confusion, so he knelt down and surrendered.

After hearing what happened, Zhong Nan had determined that this "Zhao Shizhen" was Zhao Shizhen, a scientist from the Ming Dynasty in the original time and space. may be that his own crossing has caused a change in the trajectory of the other party's life, he should have been a petty official in the imperial court, but he has been displaced for more than ten years.

Fortunately, Zhao Shizhen did not change his career because of these changes, and he was still rolling in the firearms industry. Zhong Nan didn't want to delve into Zhao Shizhen's case, what he cared about was the new firearm that the other party had just improved.

"Master Zhao, I won't pursue what happened more than ten years ago, and you don't have to mind too much, as long as you work in the factory in the future, I will ensure that you are safe and sound!" Zhong Nam made a guarantee.

"Thank you Lord Commander, thank you Lord Commander, the little one will do his best in the future to repay the kindness of the Lord!" Since Zhong Nan spoke, Zhao Shizhen believed that his case record was definitely not a problem, and then he took out his work and introduced it to his boss.

Zhao Shizhen's new musket is an imitation of the Lumi gun, which is based on the arquebus paid tribute by the Turkish Rumi Kingdom (Ottoman Empire), and absorbs the advantages of the Lumi gun and the European Franc machine. This is a single flintlock pistol, the gun is about six feet long, the weight is about five catties, and it adopts the form of a rear-loading sub-gun, with five sub-guns, which can be *.

The firing device of this fire gun is different from that of Lu Mi gun, it is a percussive flintlock pistol, and other things such as construction and performance are not much different, mainly the firing method is improved, and the fire rope ignition method is improved to flint fire. * Clamp the flint on it, and press down the faucet of the buckle machine, which will be ignited by the friction between the spring and the flint. In this way, not only did it overcome the difficulties caused by wind and rain to shooting, but it also did not need to press the faucet with your hand, and the shooting accuracy was more accurate, and it could be fired at any time under various conditions. At the same time, a retainer was added under the firebolt, and the sub-guns were preloaded and loaded into the barrel in turn to fire, which accelerated the firing speed.

Zhong Nan carefully inspected the structure of the firing part, and then had to sigh at Zhao Shizhen's genius ability. Although it seems that this firing device still has limitations, mainly because it cannot guarantee that the trigger rope can be ignited every time, as long as you can find a good flint and increase the elasticity of the spring, it will definitely greatly increase the power of the firing gun.

Zhao Shizhen listened to Zhong Nan tell the shortcomings of this fire gun in a short time, and he was also very impressed in his heart. It seems that the boss of his boss is also an expert, but isn't the chief soldier specifically responsible for fighting?

Driving away the distractions in his heart, Zhao Shizhen and Zhong Nan discussed, he already had many years of practical experience in firearms manufacturing, and with the help of Zhong Nan, a traverser, although this traverser didn't know much, he still produced many useful ideas. For example, adding rifling to the barrel, such as * and so on, the more the two talked, the more speculative they became, and Zhong Nan also admired the other party's understanding ability and inference mind more and more. In this way, a genius is a genius, and with a little touch, he can open a door in his world and generate many wonderful ideas.

Zhong Nan was only responsible for saying that as for when these ideas can be realized, it depends on the ability of Zhao Shizhen, Hong Tianliang and others. Today's Zhao Shizhen has undergone a qualitative transformation after a hearty conversation with Zhong Nan, he is no longer limited to the rules and regulations in his mind, and over time, he will definitely create a cross-era firearm.

When he left the arsenal, Zhong Nan was in a good mood, not long ago, he was still thinking about how he didn't meet those scientists and bigwigs in his memory, but he met one today, how could he not be excited! He recalled the names of those people in his mind, Zhao Shizhen, Xu Guangqi, Song Yingxing, Wang Zheng, Li Shizhen......

Wait, Zhong Nan thought about it, and suddenly found that there was a name that seemed to have just been heard. By the way, isn't Li Shizhen the military doctor in his barracks? It seems that he may have been too busy before, this kind of famous cow appeared in front of him, and he didn't take it seriously, which is too undeserved!