Jianyu asked to surrender to the north, and the prosperity of the past reappeared in the Jingshi, and he was completely unaware of the changes in the Mongolian steppe. At this time, the dawn of Wang Gongchang was quiet, Xu Guangqi stroked a new artillery cannon cast overnight, and silently looked at the northern sky with bloodshot eyes.

This pioneer of the earliest mastery of Yi Chang Technique, has always been friendly with Matteo Ricci and other Western missionaries, and has translated a large number of Western works on astronomy, mathematics, science and technology, etc., and this new artillery is the product of a combination of Chinese and Western styles. Not only the application of the latest portable chassis, the installation of a scale observation device, greatly improved the shooting accuracy, but also the first introduction of the concept of standardization, from the production process to the specifications of parts and components are unified standards, greatly improve the efficiency of production, save the cost of maintenance.

Xu Guangqi also had a flintlock pistol pinned to his waist, which was strictly a revolver, which had lagged behind the West for nearly a hundred years. As early as the beginning of the 16th century, a clockmaker in the German Empire developed this firearm using flint friction ignition, which helped Germany achieve an absolute victory in the First Franco-German War, taking the opportunity to cede a large part of the French territory. The disgraced Frenchman Mahan improved the revolver and developed a flintlock pistol with a striking pin and a safety device, thus reversing the decline of France.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, flintlock pistols began to be popularized in Europe, and Matteo Ricci brought a batch of gifts to the imperial court when he came to the East, but unfortunately Emperor Shenzong was not interested in this kind of Western obscenity, and Xu Guangqi was obsessed with the study of mathematics, astronomy, calendar, water conservancy and other knowledge, and did not have a good impression of this violent aesthetics.

It was not until the advent of the Left War that this kind of thinking of despising barbarian technology changed. Xu Guangqi saw that he was discussing the operation of firearms with Western instructors all day long, so he offered a few well-made short flintlock pistols, but he never thought that it would attract the emperor's great attention, not only personally went to Wang Gong's factory to draw drawings with Western craftsmen, but also allocated 300,000 taels of silver for improvement and production. This made the Wang Gong factory, which was about to grow grass in the courtyard, prosperous again, and Xu Guangqi was also promoted to the director of the factory, responsible for the research and development of firearms.

By the time Zuo Zhan personally conquered Liaodong, more than 4,000 tiger ben and Yulin had all been equipped with this flintlock pistol. After the baptism of war, he found that although firearms were not as easy to operate as bows and arrows, they could use tactics such as digging trenches and three-stage strikes to offset their own disadvantages, and more importantly, the development of firearms was far from the end.

In order to make up for the gap between the Ming Dynasty and the West in terms of firearms as soon as possible, Zuo Zhan clearly put forward some innovative plans in the early dynasties.

First, a new subject of chemistry was added to Taixue. Although gunpowder has been used in the folk in the Spring and Autumn Period, the craftsmen of all dynasties are not good at exploring the chemical reaction principle of gunpowder, and cannot accurately grasp the proportion of nitrate and sulfur in gunpowder, so it is impossible to ensure the constant ratio relationship between gunpowder dose, range and explosion effect.

Second, mechanics and kinematics were added to Taixue. In order to vividly illustrate the concept of parabola, Zuo Zhan personally demonstrated the flight trajectory of the arrow outside the Wuying Palace, and let everyone begin to calculate the trajectory of movement with formulas, thus changing the local method of the Shenji Battalion to ensure the hit rate by selecting those natural archers, which provided sufficient talents for the large-scale popularization of modern rifles.

Third, add a subject of smelting to Taixue. The reason why the cannon of the Ming Dynasty was heavier than the Franc cannon of the same period was that the ratio of gunpowder and the technology of iron smelting were too extensive, and the clumsy method of increasing the thickness of the barrel was adopted after the bore, which violated the principle of scientific and technological development.

In order to break this vicious circle, Zuo Zhan rejected the absurd theory that swordsmiths used flesh and blood to infuse swords with sword souls, and demanded a careful study of the role of carbon content and other chemical components in refined iron, so as to improve the precision and diversity of smelting.

Fourth, a lot of money was spent on hiring Western mechanics and purchasing advanced equipment. Zheng Gongcheng, a national hero, attacked the 900 Dutch in Lingbao with 20,000 men, but due to the gap between the artillery of the two sides, he could not attack for a long time, and suffered heavy casualties.

Although Huang Kezhang had imitated the Luzon cannon, its inner hole was directly cast, and there was no concept and equipment for processing the gun chamber, so the shooting accuracy of the shell was very low, and the firing range was greatly reduced. At the same time, European countries have adopted the processing technology of manufacturing clocks and watches to process the cannon breech, which greatly increases the power of artillery, so Zuo Zhan wants to make up for the shortcomings in this field by grafting.

Fifth, pay attention to the role of drawings and adopt standardized operating procedures. The specifications, shape, texture and dimensions of each component of the firearm are clarified, and even the roughness of the bore and surface of the shell is required. In terms of drills, training syllabuses and operating procedures have been uniformly compiled, and Western instructors have been hired to guide and train soldiers with scientific theories.

For these requests made by the little emperor, the ministers did not show any surprise, but looked accustomed to it. As the saying goes, one white covers a hundred ugliness, since the left war pacified Liaodong and purged the Donglin Party, his prestige in the court has increased greatly. In addition, he has made many friends with Western firearms experts on weekdays, and he is overly obsessed with this violent aesthetics, and gradually everyone will not be surprised.

Xu Guangqi patiently listened to the emperor's words, and said in passing:

"Qi Shengshang, Weichen and Master Huang Kezhang of the Ministry of Industry jointly improved the Luzon cannon and developed the latest rifled cannon. According to the electric switch and Western revolving rifle invented by Lord Zhao Shizhen that year, a striking gun with a separation of child and mother was developed. ”

At this time, Wang An had already handed over the revolver musket to Zuo Zhan, and he said jokingly while observing:

"When you made a military order, you killed yourself by drinking bullets if you couldn't make these two firearms within two years, and it seems that I saved this bullet. I just listened to Li Can, the imperial history of Xicheng, and said that he received a report from the Chaoyang masses that there were often flat thunderstorms near Wang Gongchang, and there were also sounds of guns and guns at night, which seriously affected the lives and rest of nearby residents. ”

Xu Guangqi could hear that the emperor was deliberately protecting him, and replied tacitly:

"If you go back to the saint, Wang Gongchang is located in the southwest corner of the capital, close to Xibianmen, surrounded by private houses. The people were superstitious about ghosts and gods, thinking that the sound we made when we tested firearms was the sound of demons, and they also invited Taoist priests to go there to do things to exorcise evil spirits. Although this matter is ridiculous, it is indeed a dereliction of duty that the minister did not clarify in time. ”

The two monarchs and ministers ridiculed each other like this, and everyone didn't talk to each other, after all, the emperor used these Western lewd tricks to defeat the Eight Banners, who dared to be unconvinced and would be transferred to Liaodong at any time, Huang Taiji, the sparring partner, was absolutely professional and responsible.

Zuo Zhan also accepted it when he saw it, and asked instead:

"How is the progress of the "Illustrated Description of Weapons" compiled by Bi Maokang?"

Bi Maokang, male, Han nationality, native of Shanglu County, born in 1571 AD. When he was young, this military madman worked in literary rhetoric, was good at painting landscapes, and had Wang Wei's Fuchun brushwork, and also set up a Lishan Academy in Jinan. Successive foreign wars made him devote himself to Rong, obsessed with firearms, and spent all day in Wang Gongchang studying new firearms with Xu Guangqi and those Western craftsmen, and transformed into an excellent weapons expert in the Ming Dynasty.

Xu Guangqi knew that the emperor was going to inspect Wang Gong's factory when he asked about Bi Maokang, and replied respectfully:

"When compiling the "Illustrated Description of Weapons", Lord Bi Maokang was deeply inspired by the Holy One, and decided to abandon some impractical firearms and concentrate on the study of cannons, ramming guns, divine artillery, slow artillery, and mines, in order to quickly equip the new army, hoping to help the Holy Lord's thousand-year hegemony."

Xu Guangqi mentioned the slow artillery and mines were the patents of Zeng Mill, the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi during the Jiajing period, and in order to deal with the Tatar cavalry, this person used chariots to arrange in a circular formation, with archers on the cart and pikemen under the chariot, and the opponent had no temper at all. Last year, Zuo Zhan and Huang Taiji fought in the Salhu field, which was borrowed from this method of warfare, but the archers were changed to musketeers.

Zeng Mill is also an artillery expert, creating his own slow cannon, that is, the ancestor of hand grenades. This thing is round like a bucket, wrapped in five-color decoration, with a mechanism in the middle, and a fire line hidden inside. When the two sides were fighting, they were deliberately thrown into the path of the enemy's attack, and the cute Tatars looked curious and stood around to watch, and waited until the line of fire burned to the end, and there were casualties with a bang. The Tatars, who had been injured countless times, called this slow cannon a fetish, and Zeng Mill as a great-grandfather.

In addition, Zeng Milling also invented landmines, and the history of "Zeng" type mines is like this: "The hole is more than a stretch, and the gunpowder is hidden in the middle, and then it is covered with sand, and the ground is level." The fire rope is below, and the hair is tied to the ground where people do not pay attention. If the passer stumbles, the fire will fall and the medicine will be released, and the stone will fall to death, and the enemy will be frightened. ”

Empty talk misleads the country, but hard work prospers the country. After the dispersal of the dynasty, Zuo Zhan didn't have time to have breakfast, so he led Xu Guangqi, Huang Kezhang and others straight to Wang Gongchang. There have been rumors in the factory for a long time, only to see everyone sprinkling water to clean the street, and officials kneeling on both sides to welcome the arrival of the Son of Heaven.

Zuo Zhan had long been accustomed to this kind of pomp, and while waving his hand, he held Bi Maokang's hand and came to the martial arts arena and ordered the gunners to demonstrate the latest rifled guns. I saw that the well-trained gunners began to load the shells, skillfully adjusting the sighting device, and with a bang, a puff of dust rose from the mound in the distance, and after a while, the observers reported that the shells had penetrated a foot-thick stone slab, and the error radius was within ten meters.

The cunning left ordered the other gunners to continue to shoot with this rifled gun, and a dozen shells in succession had the same effect, and he applauded with satisfaction, and turned to observe the shooting drill of the new rifle.

Inspired by rifling, now the barrel also features grooves to increase the exit speed of the bullet and the accuracy of firing. The most important thing is that the bullet uses fixed ammunition, although the current meaning is only to facilitate the carrying and control of the amount of charge at a time, but the left war has already begun to develop a firing pistol, so that the first rifle in the modern sense can be made. From now on, there is no need to reload gunpowder first, then warhead, and then gunpowder, but open the chamber to push a whole bullet forward, and after closing the chamber, it can be fired immediately.

This was not a whimsical of the Left War, and although the firing pistol was officially patented by the English priest A.J. Forsyth in 1807, its prototype was already in existence in the early seventeenth century. It's just that because the scale of the war in Europe was small at that time, everyone could be an uncle with a flintlock pistol, so there was no need for popularization.

In fact, from the perspective of human history, war will indirectly promote the development of science and technology, and many innovations will be used in the transformation of weapons for the first time, but blindly reckless militarism will lead to the destruction of countries, such as Germany in World War II and the Red Soviet Union in the last century. As mentioned above, war is a continuation of politics, and the world can be fought on horseback, but it is impossible to rule the world, so the science and technology generated by war must be transformed into civilian use, so as to promote the prosperity of all industries, and the strength of the country and the prosperity of the people, this is the way to long-term peace and stability.