Li Zicheng's "Hu Merchants of the Western Regions" are the Salar people of the Nian Bosuo, they were originally from the Western Regions, and they are not bad in terms of race, anyway, the Ming Dynasty has not had contact with the Western Regions for a long time, and no one can understand the language of the Western Regions.

The two of them stopped talking, Mu Qingshan left the official office satisfied, and Li Zicheng did not stay at home for long, after he was full of wine and food, he went to the craftsman's workshop.

The matter of the silver has been preliminarily settled, and the rest is the matter of protecting the silver.

Sooner or later, the imperial court will use troops against Xining, and with an army of 2,000 people and a population of 100,000 in Xining, it will be a war of attrition, and sooner or later it will be exhausted, and Li Zicheng must find another way.

In addition to intensive training, each 100 households participated in the battle in turn to improve the combat effectiveness of the soldiers, and in addition, the soldiers were equipped with firearms beyond this era, and the power of science and technology was used to make up for the lack of comprehensive strength.

Li Zicheng first went to the firearms workshop, Fang Zhi heard that Li Zicheng was visiting, he immediately put down his work and led all the firearms craftsmen to come to worship, "The grass people and others knock to see the adults!" ”

"No need to be polite, you guys are busy with yours!" Li Zicheng laughed and waved his hand to signal the craftsmen to get up, "How is it, how about the matter of fire # guns, how far has you studied?" ”

Fang Zhi has seen Li Zicheng many times, and he is not as restrained as before, and his face is full of longing when he hears the words, "My lord, the fire # gun is almost finished, and there are still some parts that need to be polished, and the grass people estimate that in another three or five days, it should be able to be tested." ”

"What about bullets, can they be made?" Li Zicheng is more worried about the paper shell bullet, compared with the body of the M841, the bullet is more precise, and it is even more difficult to manufacture without machinery and machine tools.

"Don't worry, my lord, we have already made twenty bullets," Fang Zhi turned around and took out two intact bullets and handed them to Li Zicheng, "Your Excellency, please see, we are strictly in accordance with the dimensions, and the drawings of this Xiyi ghost guy are really detailed." ”

Li Zicheng played with the paper shell bullet, feeling that it was too cumbersome, the length was at least twice that of the red copper bullet that later generations had seen, and the diameter was at least one and a half times, as for the power, we could only know after the test.

Although the performance of M1841 far exceeds the fire # gun of the same era, but the size is not standardized, there is no meter ruler now, Li Zicheng is just in accordance with the law of later generations, his own hand as twenty-five centimeters, this rough size, I don't know if it will affect the shooting of the fire # gun, even if it is successful, I am afraid it will also affect the range and accuracy.

However, in addition to this local method, he really can't think of other methods, although he has A4 paper by his side, but unfortunately forgot the size, the height of Mount Everest does remember, but with the current level of technology, it is impossible to measure directly.

Li Zicheng put down the bullet and turned his gaze to the body of the gun that the craftsmen were polishing themselves, which had been preliminarily formed, but there were still some parts that had not been installed, and the craftsmen were polishing them quickly.

He sighed slightly, although the craftsmen have worked hard, but compared with the machine, the efficiency is still too low, and the parts polished by hand are often not standardized, and the error is large.

Li Zicheng wanted to make a machine, but that was just a dream, without the assistance of relevant technology and materials, everything was in vain, the Middle Kingdom would enter the machine age sooner or later, however, the precedent must be a relatively simple machine.

He inspected the firearms workshop, and when he left, Fang Zhi said: "If you need anything, you can contact me at any time, if this kind of fire# gun is confirmed to be completed, the prize is two hundred taels, which will be divided equally between you craftsmen." ”

"Thank you, sir," Fang Zhi knelt on the ground with excitement and kowtowed, "The subordinates will definitely speed up the progress and strive to complete this fire # gun as soon as possible." ”

"It's good to speed up the progress, but the quality must be guaranteed," Li Zicheng said awe-inspiringly: "This is responsible for the lives of the soldiers, and also responsible for your own bounty - if there is a man-made problem, I will definitely hold you responsible!" ”

"The grass people understand!"

Li Zicheng left the firearms workshop, went to the blacksmith workshop again, and found that the craftsmen were already polishing the machine tools, and couldn't help but be happy, "Liu Fang, has the problem of iron been solved?" ”

"Lord Hui, it should be enough," Liu Fang smiled shyly, "The grass people are not completely sure, so they have to make it as soon as possible, try it first, and if it doesn't work, it's better to prepare early." ”

Li Zicheng happily returned to the official office, at least the craftsman's workshop was in full swing, and as long as there was enough time, M1841 would definitely be manufactured.

He came to the study of the Central Government, and was looking through the book "Telescope Theory" given to him by John Tang, to see if he could make a telescope, even if he could not make a large-magnification astronomical telescope for scientific research, at least he would make a military telescope, in addition, he had promised the students in Xining Girls' School to bring them microscopes, although the principles of the two are not exactly the same, but there is always a place to borrow.

In the past, there was a lack of glass, and he only hastily flipped through the book "Telescope Says", but now that he had the necessary materials, he decided to give it a try, and if it didn't work, he would hand over the matter to John Tang.

In this book, John Tong first introduces the Galilean telescope and its principles, and more space is an improvement of the Galilean telescope.

"This John Tang is really a character, and it is really a waste to be used as a missionary!"

According to the book, the principle of the telescope is very simple, the front part is a long focal length convex lens, called the objective lens, which is used to collect light, and the lens close to the human eye, called the eyepiece, has a much shorter focal length.

In the Galilean telescope, the eyepiece was a concave lens, and John Tong suggested in the book that the eyepiece should be changed to a convex lens with a short focal length, so that an upright image could be obtained.

Whether it is a convex lens or a concave lens, it is made of ordinary glass, the convex lens is thin at the edge and thick in the middle, and the concave lens is thin in the middle and thick at the edge, as long as it is polished to a more standardized standard.

Whose point of view is correct, or which kind of telescope is more practical, can only be made separately and then compared and identified.

The book "Telescope Theory" was written after John Tang came to the Ming Dynasty, it is estimated that there is a lack of glass, and John Tang has not actually made it, but it is only in the theoretical stage.

If you have time, it is also very interesting to make a telescope, but if the glass needs to be polished, it is completely dependent on hand, so forget it, let the craftsman workshop do it, it is really not possible, or bring the materials and let John Tong do it, he helped him so much in the missionary matter, just so that he can have time to engage in scientific research, after all, he received a relatively systematic scientific education in the Holy Roman Empire.

Returning to Houya's house from the study, it was already dark, Song Yulian had already prepared a meal, knowing that Li Zicheng was in the study, waiting for him to come home for dinner, Chen Qiudie was hungry several times, and she was killed by her eyes.

Seeing that Li Zicheng was finally back, Chen Qiudie jumped three feet high, "The adults are finally back, and if you come back a moment late, I'm afraid there will be one less servant at home." ”

Her mother immediately gave him a roll of the eyes, "Say unlucky things!" Li Zicheng came over and put his hands around her face, squeezing her little mouth into a cartoon, "Die'er is hungry, right?" Hurry up and eat! He turned back to Song Yulian and said, "Lian'er, if I come back late in the future, even if you eat first, maybe I will eat outside." ”

Song Yulian was still modest, and Chen Qiudie hurriedly said: "Mother, the adults have already said it, let's eat first." Song Yulian had to smile and shake her head, "They are all adults, and they are still like children, so they know that they are poor, since the adults are back, why don't you go and bring the food over?" ”

Li Zicheng sat down at the dining table, picked up a steamed bun and was about to bite into it, but He Xiaomi hurriedly came over, "My lord, an urgent message from the ranger!" ”

"Wang Anping?" Li Zicheng was stunned, could it be the message of which health center? The content of the message is very long, the carrier pigeon is difficult to deliver, it is sent by someone on a special trip, Li Zicheng opened it and looked at it, and immediately had a happy face, and got up to wait for a reply.

Chen Qiudie called in a low voice: "My lord......"

Li Zicheng smiled, "Let's eat first, Ao, Xiaomi, you can reply to the visitor for me!" After whispering a few words to He Xiaomi, He Xiaomi went to the study in a hurry.

Song Yulian hurriedly taught Chen Qiudie a lesson, "Die'er, don't be so rude in the future, adults are busy with big things, but you can't delay!" ”

"Got it, mother!" Chen Qiudie exaggeratedly kneaded half of the small steamed bun into a dough, stuffed it into her mouth, and chewed it.

Song Yulian scolded with a smile: "It's really a child, you know how to eat!" ”

Chen Qiudie rolled her eyes, swallowed the piece of steamed bun, looked at her mother and said, "Didn't the adults let me eat more?" Eat more to ...... will grow faster! ”

Li Zicheng almost burst out laughing, this Chen Qiudie, how can he connect the two? No, you must see at night, how is her cotton peach, last night she was "a long drought and a rain", quite active, almost dragged hard, I was affected for a while, just to go straight to the topic, too late to savor.

He used bamboo chopsticks to nod on Chen Qiudie's face, "Die'er is right, I want to eat more, come, eat quickly, the food will be cold in a while." ”

"My lord," Song Yulian laughed in a low voice, her smile was always like a dragonfly, as reserved as an innocent girl, and seemed to deliberately suppress her emotions, "Butterfly is spoiled by you, and she is more ...... than at home before."

"Lian'er don't worry, Die'er is a smart child, she won't be pampered and arrogant," Li Zicheng also chuckled, "This is at home, you can say whatever you want, you can eat whatever you want, there is no need to deliberately please anyone!" ”

Li Zicheng comes from the next generation, although he enjoys Song Yulian and Chen Qiudie's bodies, but he still has some concept of equality in his mind, especially for the family, for his own family, he hopes that everyone will always be happy and happy, and he will really give him the feeling of home.

"The servant is not a child, the servant is fourteen years old, and she has already served......" Chen Qiudie suddenly realized that something was wrong, and her face couldn't help but turn red, and she hurriedly sandwiched the mutton and blocked the small mouth.