According to the rules of the competition formulated by Pingnan Hou Chen Yue, not only the speed of the competition to make the gun pipe, but also the final installation of the gun pipe and the range accuracy of the fire gun in the competition.

Therefore, knowing that the speed of the red-haired ghost drilling pipe is faster than his own, Liu San and the others still have luck in their hearts. Maybe the red-haired ghost was shoddy for speed, and the gun pipe he made couldn't be used at all.

Of course, there are also people who feel bad in their hearts, because according to Lord Chen, the secretary of the Ministry of War, the red-haired ghost makes the best guns. Who is Lord Chen, the secretary of the Ministry of War? That's knowing astronomy and geography, and even the calendar is compiled with the help of others, so how can he be wrong when he speaks!

But seeing Liu Santong's red eyes, no one dared to say what was in his heart, for more than a year, Liu San had been staring at the position of the head of the Ordnance Division, just because he joined the Xishan Army a little late, he was pressed on top of his head by Li Xiong's old man, which made Liu San always dissatisfied, and now that he finally has a chance to go further, he will not give up no matter what.

"Let's all work harder and try to make another gun before the end of the game!" Liu San's eyes were red, and he gritted his teeth.

"The red-haired ghost also scrapped several guns not long ago, who knows if he will scrap them again in the future, we may not lose!" Qiu Ba also said on the side.

"yes, it's hard to say anything until the end!" Others said the same.

However, what made Liu San desperate was that in the next few days, the red-haired ghost did not drill a single pipe, but was making it at a rate of two per day.

With three days left until the end of the game, Anthony the Red-Haired Devil had already drilled eight guns! Even though they managed to defeat eight of them, they had already lost in terms of numbers.

At this time, not only Liu San, but also the other blacksmiths were also extremely depressed, working hard for a month, seeing that there were still three days left before the end of time, but they had already lost, which was really unacceptable.

But what if you don't accept it? How can human power be compared with machines!

"Master Hou is watching us, let's work harder to finish the last two pipes. And then compare with the red-haired ghost in terms of quality! Liu San encouraged morale.

"Okay, third brother." The crowd responded weakly.

In the last three days, Liu San and his people finally made the last two guns. And the red-haired ghost Anthony made six more guns at the rate of two guns a day.

In this way, Anthony made a total of fourteen guns, which is six more than Liu San's eight. But those who know the inside know that Anthony spent only seven days in total, and most of the rest of the time was wasted on blast furnace ironmaking and tuning machine tools.

At the current rate, wouldn't it be possible to drill 60 pipes with a machine tool every month, and more than 700 pipes a year! If the quality of these guns is as good as the speed, if there are more machine tools like this, then the speed of the Ordnance Division's production of guns every year will not be greatly increased!

At this moment, all the people in the Governor's Mansion who were paying attention to this game couldn't help but think about it, and Pingnan Hou Chen Yue's mood was even more excited.

According to the competition system, after the gun tube is made, it needs to be mounted on the musket, and then the range accuracy is contested.

Other parts such as the wooden-handled butt hook trigger had already been prepared, and Liu San and the others took matters into their own hands and assembled the firearm in very little time.

Ordnance Division's Fire Gun Workshop, a courtyard enclosed by a wall, this is the place where the fire gun is tested, thirty steps away from the wall, there are several wooden targets, and the middle of the wooden targets is drawn into circles with ink lines.

Chen Yue, Marquis of Pingnan, watched the battle at the shooting range with an official from the Ordnance Division, and the newly made firecrackers were placed on the ground, standing next to Liu San and Anthony.

For the sake of fairness, whoever makes the gun pipe is responsible for shooting. Those who can make firecrackers are naturally proficient in firecracker launching, which Liu San and Anthony have no objection to.

The quality of the guns of this era could not be compared with the firearms of later generations, because there was no rifling in the barrel, the shooting accuracy was extremely poor, and the battlefield generally relied on the dense projectiles to make up for the lack of accuracy.

And the distance of thirty paces, although not too far, is not so easy for the fire gun to shoot. According to the regulations, each gun needs to be fired ten times, in order to observe the accuracy at the same time, but also to observe the quality of the gun, the poor quality of the gun tube can not withstand ten consecutive shots, sometimes there will be a situation of explosion and boring.

Originally afraid of casualties, Chen Yue only let the test firing three times, and let the fire gun soldiers carry out the test firing. After all, Liu San and Anthony are both skilled craftsmen, and if there is a death or injury caused by a bore, the gain outweighs the loss.

However, Liu San was full of confidence in the firearm he made, and thought that there was no problem with ten consecutive test firings, so he insisted on ten test firings, and went down to test firing himself.

Anthony readily agreed to Liu San's request, and he was also full of confidence in the gun pipe he made.

As a result, a game officially began, and gunshots were heard from time to time on the shooting range, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air.

Clean the chamber of the gun, load the primer and projectile, compact the projectile and gunpowder with a strip, clamp the ignited fire rope on the fire rope clamp, aim the gun, hook the trigger, and the dazzling white light flashes, and then there is a loud gunsmoke, and the projectile is pushed by the thrust generated by the explosion of gunpowder, and leaves the barrel with great momentum and flies towards the target.

At the moment of firing, the gunner should tilt his head and close his eyes to prevent the eyes from being irritated by the bright light and the heat from the burning of the gunpowder from burning his face.

There were bursts of gunfire on the shooting range, and the smoke of gunpowder was filled, Chen Yue watched the game with a smile, and talked to Chen Yujie and Pan Xuezhong beside him from time to time.

"Nowadays, muskets are lit with arquebuses, and they can't be used on rainy days, so it would be nice to be able to make muskets that don't require arquebuses, and you can fight on rainy days." Chen Yue said.

In the south, there are a lot of rainy days, especially in summer, when arquebuses are simply unusable, and no matter how many firearms are used, they have become burning sticks, and it would be nice if flintlock muskets could be popularized in the army.

"I've heard that there is a kind of firebolt that starts a fire by hitting it with flint, so we can try to make this firebolt." Chen Yujie suggested that he had also heard of flintlock pistols and had seen flintlock handcuffs with Xiyi missionaries a few years earlier.

In conversation, the game is over. Liu San was already completely desperate, all the firearms made by the red-haired ghost Anthony shot ten times in a row, and the shooting accuracy was much better than his.

Liu San's firing shots can only hit the target once or twice, while Anthony's ten shots tend to hit four out of three.

"Master Hou, I lost." In front of Chen Yue, Liu San's face was ashen, and he said dejectedly.

"Your skills are no longer under Anthony, you just lost to the machine, if you also have a machine, you can make the firebolt so fast." Chen Yue comforted him with good words, and no longer mentioned the bet of apprenticeship if he lost, after all, worshipping a Xiyi person as a teacher is difficult for Liu San to accept.

"I am willing to gamble and lose, and I have nothing to say." Liu San's face changed, and he finally gritted his teeth and came to Anthony, bowing to the ground, "I've seen the master!" ”

"Oh, what is he doing?" Anthony looked at Liu San in front of him dumbfounded, and asked inexplicably.

"He admires your skills, as if he were a teacher to learn how to make firecrackers." Chen Yujie translated on the side.

"Of course you can. Chen, you ask the marquis of Daming, does the salary of 1,000 taels of silver per month still count? Anthony is more concerned about whether he can get a thousand taels of silver, as for teaching Liu San to operate a machine tool, this is nothing at all.

"Hahaha, of course Ben Hou's words count." After listening to Chen Yujie's translation, Chen Yue laughed, compared to the technology brought by Anthony, a thousand taels of silver per year is nothing!

"Ben Hou has decided, and you will be named an eight-rank military attaché, with an annual salary of 1,000 taels of silver!" Chen Yue thought about it and said angrily.

"Eight-rank military attaché, what kind of official position is that, is it as big as a baron?" Anthony asked in surprise.

He was just an ordinary watchmaker, an absolute commoner in Portugal, and had no chance of becoming an official and a nobleman. Unexpectedly, Daming, who came to the East, had the opportunity to become a nobleman, which made Anthony extremely excited. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty is much larger than Portugal, and it is of greater significance to become a nobleman of the Ming Dynasty.

"Baron? There is no baron in the Ming Dynasty, and the military attache of the eighth rank should be similar to you knights in the West. Chen Yue thought about it and said.

"Thank you, Lord Marquis!" Although he only became a knight, Anthony was still very happy, because the knight was already a member of the nobility.