After the first experiment of the new gunpowder was completed, Zhu Cijiong did not participate in the subsequent experiments, but directly taught Xu Guangqi how to make granular gunpowder, and let them find their own way to experiment with the killing distance and range of gunpowder.

After several rounds of experiments, Xu Guangqi and others came to the following conclusions:

With the new gunpowder, the penetration power within 35 paces (50 meters) was doubled, and the range was increased by nearly 50%.

With the use of new gunpowder in the form of granules, the killing distance of the bird gun was directly increased to 60 paces (about 85 meters), and the firing range reached 150 paces (about 201 meters).

In this way, the Bird Gun is basically comparable to the longbow in terms of range and killing distance, but the penetration is slightly worse.

Of course, these are not enough, in order for gunpowder weapons to perfectly suppress bows and arrows on the battlefield, the range must be longer, the penetration must be stronger, the killing distance must reach at least 150 meters, and the most important rate of fire must keep up. The arquebus has a congenital defect in the rate of fire, which is useless no matter how much it is improved, and only by waiting for the flintlock pistol to be made, can the problem be completely solved.

To make a flintlock pistol, you must have a machine tool, and to make a machine tool, you must have a power source, so Zhu Cijiong set the original steam engine as the next goal.

The core of the steam engine is the piston and the crank, this piston is easy to understand, it is a cylinder that reciprocates back and forth in a straight line, and this crank is a bit complicated. The crank is a set of devices that convert the reciprocating motion into circular motion in the future, because most machine tools work rotating, so this crank is an indispensable device in the machine tool.

In fact, the crank device is a bit similar to that of modern people riding bicycles, when people ride bicycles, the hip bone is fixed, and the thighs and calves are doing small arc movements. If you look closely at the knee area of a cyclist, you will see that the knee is actually moving in a straight line. If you understand it from this point of view, it is very simple, the crank has two movable shafts, just like human thighs and calves, and then there is also a rotary shaft, which is the small shaft in the center of the sprocket of the bicycle, and the whole crank device relies on these three axes to convert linear reciprocating motion into circular motion.

The problem is, there are no bicycles in the Ming Dynasty! What to do?

Zhu Cijiong thought about it for a long time, and finally came up with a simple model, which is somewhat similar to the ancient pedal waterwheel, but with an additional rotating axis. That is, two square logs are erected, and an iron rod is used in the middle to pierce a round plank, which is equivalent to a bicycle wheel. Then knock out a U-shape at both ends of the iron bar, and then wear a small wooden board about the size of a foot at the bottom of the U-shape, which is equivalent to the foot of a bicycle. Then tie a saddle directly to the top of the two square logs, which is equivalent to the saddle of the bicycle. Of course, this bicycle cannot be ridden on the road, and the wooden wheels can only rotate between two square logs, which is a bit like the spinning bike in the gym in later generations.

As soon as he told Song Yingxing about this idea, Song Yingxing immediately understood that this was just a slight modification of the treadmill, and it was easy to make.

And after making it, Song Yingxing also tried it, and felt that this was much easier to use than the original treadmill, and it was a good thing worth promoting.

Of course, Zhu Cijiong will not be bored to design a pedal waterwheel, and after the bicycle model is completed, he will gather all his cronies to the side hall of the Qianqing Palace for on-site guidance.

Since Song Yingxing can ride this thing, he doesn't even have to teach people to ride, so he just lets Song Yingxing sit on it and step on it slowly, without stopping.

Then he called Xu Guangqi and the others over, pointed to the rotating wooden wheel and then pointed to Song Yingxing's knees, asking them to observe carefully.

This side hall immediately became like a gym for later generations, Song Yingxing was like a fitness coach, slowly pedaling the 'spinning bike' there, and a large number of students next to him were carefully observing.

Zhu Cijiong let them observe for about a quarter of an hour, and when they saw that none of the cronies had opened their mouths, they had to go up and point to Song Yingxing's knee and say to Xu Guangqi: "What will happen if the round rod of the cylinder is connected to this part?" ”

Xu Guangqi suddenly realized: "Then no one needs to step on it, as long as the heat is passed, this wooden wheel will keep turning!" ”

Zhu Cijiong breathed a sigh of relief, the heads of these people are not elm pimples after all, and they can still be enlightened after a few taps. Seeing that everyone was in high spirits, Zhu Cijiong decided to add more content, and he asked, "Do you know the gears?" ”

This time, Wang Zheng reacted the fastest, and he asked first: "Is it a round wheel with teeth?" I know that. ”

Zhu Cijiong continued to guide: "Well, then let me ask you, make two gears of the same size, the teeth are the same size as the teeth, the small wheel has seventeen teeth, the big wheel has one hundred and seventy teeth, and the big wheel drives the small wheel, so how many times does the big wheel rotate, how many times does the small wheel turn?" ”

Such a simple question is asked, when our brains are not good? Wang Zheng replied embarrassedly: "Of course it's ten laps." ”

Seeing that the effect was almost there, Zhu Cijiong ordered: "Xu Guangqi, you cooperate with Bi Maokang to make this set of things, this thing is crooked, let's call him a crank." Wang Zheng is responsible for making two wooden gears, the small one is seventeen teeth, the large one is one hundred and eighty teeth, and the teeth of the large and small gears must be the same size. Sun Yuanhua, you and Song Yingxing hurriedly made the copper cylinder, everyone worked hard, made everything within three days, and we will do experiments again in three days. ”

............

Although Xu Guangqi and the others didn't understand what Zhu Cijiong wanted to do, they could hear from his tone that everyone was not far from success.

This little emperor is a fairy, he casually said a gunpowder formula to increase the power of gunpowder by fifty, this time after preparing for so long, it will naturally be a better thing, everyone is looking forward to it, so after going back, they are full of energy, working overtime, forgetting to sleep and eating, and finally made everything in three days.

On the fourth day, after the early dynasty, still in the side hall where Ming Xizong used to do carpentry work, Zhu Cijiong and a group of cronies got together again and started a new experiment.

The first experiment is the cylinder, Sun Yuanhua and Song Yingxing made a little improvement, the upper and lower mouths of the cylinder are each connected to a kettle, and the spout is connected to a copper pipe, which is directly fixed on the upper and lower two openings, so that as long as one person goes to lift the lid of the kettle.

Open the kettle lid at the lower mouth of Unicom, press and hold the kettle lid at the upper mouth of Unicom, the cylinder rod will drop immediately, uncover the kettle lid at the upper mouth of Unicom, press and hold the kettle lid at the lower mouth of Unicom, the cylinder rod will rise immediately, and the two hands will take turns to press, and the cylinder rod will move up and down there, the faster the action of the two hands, the faster the cylinder rod will move.

Zhu Cijiong saw that they could still use their brains to make improvements, nodded and praised a few words, and then asked them to connect the cylinder rod to the crankshaft device.

These people had already discussed, so the connecting parts were made on both sides, and soon the cylinder was connected to the crankshaft device.

Without Zhu Cijiong's greeting, Song Yingxing immediately began to take turns to lift the lid of the kettle, the crankshaft really rotated, the faster the movement of the two hands, the faster the rotation shaft in the middle of the crankshaft turned, Zhu Cijiong visually inspected, about a minute can turn thirty times.

This speed is fast to the limit for hand tools, but is this enough, not enough, far from enough.

Zhu Cijiong asked them to connect the big gear to the rotating shaft of the crankshaft device, and then put the pinion against the big gear, and then wear a shaft in the middle of the pinion, and use a wooden frame to fix the position.

This is terrible, with Song Yingxing's movements, the speed of the pinion reached a terrifying 300 revolutions per minute at its peak, in the Ming Dynasty of pure manual work, this speed is simply like a mythical story!

It's noisy, it's not smooth enough, but it's just a rough model, and it's definitely better than that. Everyone looked at the spinning pinion with excitement, such a fast speed, isn't it scary to drill holes!

They used to use manual rope to drill holes, and a half-meter-long barrel was drilled by three people for a day, but now with this thing, as long as a drill bit is fixed on the shaft of the pinion, one person can drill ten or even twenty in a day!

Without Zhu Cijiong's guidance, they already knew the role of this set of things, Xu Guangqi excitedly pointed to the middle of the pinion and said, "Your Majesty, is it possible to add a drill bit here to drill holes?" ”

Zhu Cijiong nodded with satisfaction and said: "Well, it can be used to drill holes, let's call it a drilling machine, and it can also be made into other things, you can make the drilling machine first." ”

Then, he pointed to the cylinder and said: "Don't stand so troublesome to press back and forth, add a smaller cylinder next to the two holes, and install a small slider inside, when you go up, you can just block the air hole above and the air hole below, and when you go down, you can just block the air hole below and the air hole above, and then connect a round rod on the slider, and the rod that stretches out is connected to the crankshaft that rotates, and the connection is also bent, just the opposite of the bend next to it, so that as long as the hot air is sent in, it will keep moving by itself." “

When everyone heard this, they were stunned again, this thing can still move on its own!

They pondered for a long time and found that according to Zhu Cijiong's wishes, this round rod can really expand and contract back and forth by itself, as long as the heat is constantly supplied.

Everyone couldn't believe that there were still people in this world who could come up with such a good thing, they looked at Zhu Cijiong with admiration on their faces, and praised in unison: "The emperor is really a god descending to earth!" “