Since Zhu Cijiong ascended the throne, the court has been peaceful, the eunuch party is no longer so unscrupulous, and the Donglin party has also temporarily died down under the hint of Sun Chengzong, and is no longer entangled with the eunuch party. Everything seems to be so beautiful, giving people a feeling that the prosperity is about to begin.

Is this the case? Of course not.

The eunuchs just no longer blatantly exclude dissidents and harm the loyal and good, and they do the same thing as forming a party for personal gain and bending the law for bribes.

The Donglin Party is not really dead, he just gritted his teeth and hid in the shadows, just waiting for Sun Chengzong's order, they will rush up desperately to compete with the eunuchs.

The living standards of ordinary people have not improved at all, and wherever there is a drought or flood, a large number of people will still starve to death.

The threat of Houjin in the north is still there, but the Ningjin defense line is too difficult to gnaw, and they have no choice for the time being, so they will annex the Mongolian tribes and strengthen themselves. Once they develop, the danger is also great.

Zhu Cijiong did not relax because of the tranquility and peace on the surface, and after the initial establishment of the team, he immediately set about establishing the military industrial system.

As mentioned earlier, the military industrial system is actually a set of systems for the industrialization of science and technology, and the entire system is divided into four parts: research and development, experimentation, production, and improvement.

There are task rewards for the military industrial system, and research and development are naturally not a big problem, Zhu Cijiong only needs to guide them, and the direction is definitely not wrong.

The research and development was completed, and then the experiment was carried out, judging from the current situation of black powder weapons in the Ming Dynasty, they did not have the link of experimentation at all. Without experiments, we don't know the advantages and disadvantages, and the weapons we make will naturally not be able to withstand the test of actual combat.

In order to establish an experiment from scratch, it is natural that a set of modern experimental methods cannot be moved directly to let them do it, in that case, the experimenter does not know why he wants to experiment, and naturally the experiment will not have any effect.

In order to experiment effectively, it is necessary to guide their thinking and let them find their own way to experiment.

The first experiment that Zhu Cijiong was preparing to carry out was the power test of black powder, although the cylinder mechanism of the steam engine was not complicated, but there was no modern processing level during the Ming Dynasty. This black powder is different, the powder of the three materials is ready-made, as long as the ratio is changed.

After this morning, Zhu Cijiong summoned the team members to the side hall of the Qianqing Palace and organized a seminar, the main topic of which was black powder.

In front of outsiders, Zhu Cijiong always pays attention to maintaining the majesty of the emperor, and there is no need in front of his cronies.

After everyone sat down, Zhu Cijiong first asked: "How is the gunpowder prepared now, who of you knows?" ”

The people below basically knew this question, and everyone gave in for a while, and finally Xu Guangqi spoke: "Your Majesty, the current gunpowder is matched with sixty percent saltpeter, two percent sulfur, and two percent charcoal. ”

Zhu Cijiong continued to ask: "Then have you tried to change the dosage of the three things?" ”

Everyone was embarrassed, and no one in the room thought of changing the ratio of gunpowder.

Sun Yuanhua was the most familiar with gunpowder among these people, and he asked carefully: "Your Majesty, why do you want to change the dosage?" This is a recipe handed down from the older generation, so there's nothing wrong with it. ”

When Zhu Cijiong heard this, he encouraged: "Well, it's a good question, why change the formula if there is no problem?" Have you ever wondered what gunpowder is mainly used for? ”

Perhaps it was Zhu Cijiong's approachability that infected everyone, Bi Maokang took the initiative to reply: "Naturally, it is used in guns to fire bullets and shells." ”

This is exactly what Zhu Cijiong wanted, and he took advantage of the situation and said: "Since it is to launch bullets and shells, it is natural to hit as far as possible, and the more powerful the better." Can we change the recipe and try it. ”

When everyone heard this, they thought about it, and they all showed hesitant expressions, after all, the formula of this gunpowder has been circulated for so long, it should already be the best formula, not to mention the time-consuming and laborious change of this change, and it may not necessarily change the gunpowder that is better than the current formula, is it necessary?

Seeing everyone's expressions, Zhu Cijiong knew that they were idle and didn't want to try. As a scientific researcher, how can I do it without the habit of doing experiments, I do everything when I think of it, and use it when I make it, but I don't care about it if it is not practical, how can there be progress.

It seems that it is not possible to guide it in a way of going around, or to make it clear, he said directly: "I have a recipe here, take 7464 taels of saltpeter, 1185 taels of sulfur, and 1351 taels of charcoal to synthesize 10,000 taels of gunpowder, you make it first, and then we will try it together." ”

When everyone heard this, they thought about it again, and continued to show a hesitant expression, Zhu Cijiong was inexplicable, this is not a formula, what are you hesitating about?

It was Sun Yuanhua who raised everyone's questions: "Your Majesty, how can you try this?" We haven't tried it before! ”

Zhu Cijiong was speechless, such a simple question came to him, he had seen a lot of weapon tests in his previous life, combined with the conditions of the Ming Dynasty, he thought about it casually and had an idea.

He said angrily: "Isn't this simple, take a thick plank, stand fifty paces away, take ten parts of the old and new gunpowder, use the same gun, hit the plank, and then look at the depth of the bullet to know that the gunpowder is powerful." ”

When everyone heard this, they suddenly realized that this new formula and experimental methods are available, and everyone naturally no longer hesitates, anyway, this thing is all powder, and when the time comes, it will not work and then make up for it according to the old formula.

After Zhu Cijiong announced the dismissal of the meeting, several people from the Ministry of Industry went to the gunpowder factory to personally supervise the work, and it was made in the morning.

In the afternoon, Zhu Cijiong organized the first ever experiment on the power of gunpowder in the Ming Dynasty, which was arranged to be held in a small square between the Qianqing Palace and the Kunning Palace for reasons of secrecy. The people who participated in the experiment were also his cronies and more than 20 eunuchs under Cao Huachun.

Sun Yuanhua took a few bird guns from the arsenal, Song Yingxing brought a jar of old and new gunpowder, and Bi Maokang, the right attendant of the Ministry of Works, personally went to the field to test the gun.

If this is seen by the literati of the Donglin Party, it is estimated that it will cause an uproar. A group of officials from the six ministries did not study the sage classics well, and ran to the palace to play with guns! The emperor didn't go to review the folds, he ran here to accompany them crazy! This strange and obscene skill is really harmful, Sven sweeps the floor, Sven sweeps the floor!

Zhu Cijiong naturally couldn't let the Donglin Party find out, and the people present could be said to be his hardcore cronies.

Bi Maokang is worthy of being the first person to invent the flintlock pistol in the Ming Dynasty, and he is very familiar with the arquebus, and he fills and reloads in one go. After he finished preparing, Sun Yuanhua next to him took the tinder and lit the fire rope directly.

After a while, there was a bang, a puff of smoke rose, and a small black crater appeared on the thick wooden plank leaning against the railing fifty meters away.

After the shooting, Bi Maokang took out his tools and began to clean the barrel, while Wang Zheng and Song Yingxing ran to the thick wooden board to measure the depth of the crater.

Zhu Cijiong secretly counted seconds on the side, alas, this rate of fire, sure enough, it takes a minute to fire one shot. It takes at least three minutes for the barrel to be cleaned and cooled, otherwise there is a danger of exploding!

This kind of standard bird gun equipped by the Ming army has a range of 150 meters, an effective killing distance of 50 meters, and two bullets in five minutes.

Of course, Zhu Cijiong was not discouraged, he wanted to be the latest flintlock pistol, and following the bird gun was not a concept at all. Although it is still in the stage of R&D testing and talent training, and it is still far from real mass production, he believes that as long as it is made, it will definitely save Daming.

Here, Zhu Cijiong is silently planning the road of the Ming military industry in his heart, and Wang Zheng and Song Yingxing over there have already measured the depth of the crater. Since it is an experiment, it must be recorded experimental data, Zhu Cijiong completely instilled modern experimental methods into these cronies, so as soon as the data was reported over there, it began to be recorded here, and Xu Guangqi, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Dongge University, was the recorder.

He sat at a small table next to Zhu Cijiong and began to record experimental data under Zhu Cijiong's guidance. The first gunpowder test is drawn on the head, and a simple table is drawn below, three columns and eleven rows, the first column is written from the first to the tenth, the first row of the second and third columns is written respectively, the old gunpowder test results and the new gunpowder test results, and the next ten rows are the experimental data.

After Xu Guangqi finished recording, Bi Maokang began to reload again, this time using new gunpowder.

After a while, Bi Maokang finished loading, and Sun Yuanhua lit the fire rope.

Bang, this time the sound was obviously louder than just now, and the recoil was also significantly larger, Bi Maokang almost missed the bird's gun!

With a snap, the bullet was directly embedded in the thick wooden board, and the power was at least fifty percent greater!

All the cronies were stunned, they didn't expect the power of the new gunpowder to be so great, they looked at Zhu Cijiong like gods, all this is really amazing!

In fact, there is no need to experiment, and this new gunpowder is definitely much better than the old gunpowder.

However, Zhu Cijiong asked them to continue to complete the test, the scientific experiment must be rigorous, and the set experimental plan must be meticulously completed, so that the experimental data obtained is true and comprehensive. It's not that Zhu Cijiong is bored and wants to entertain them, this is a matter of concept, only people who are rigorous to the point of being almost rigid can make the best products, and there are many examples of this in later generations, such as Germany...... (It may offend the god of river crabs, so I won't talk about it here.) ）

At the end of ten experiments, it was concluded that the new gunpowder was indeed better than the old gunpowder, and the penetration power within fifty meters was more than doubled when tested with a bird gun. As for the range, there are still further tests, these are not for Zhu Cijiong to worry about, he has already given a perfect demonstration, and the next experiment will be for Xu Guangqi and them to figure it out.