Since the dinner party in Chunfeng Tower, since the next day, Song Ting has planned to devote all his energy to the development of arquebuses, and he has a premonition that troubled times are coming, and muskets are the magic weapon for survival in troubled times.

Today's situation is just four words: time is running out.

At that time, Chen Gui developed a assault rifle that could shoot a dead duck at close range, in fact, it was already the first step in the development of a musket, and the next step should be to take advantage of the victory to pursue and step up the research and development of the arquebus.

According to historical records, before the birth of the arquebus, there was a tubular metal firearm in Europe, called the musket, which was widely used in the late 14th century, which was the predecessor of the arquebus.

Later, after evolution and improvement, the arquebus that ignited black powder by burning the arquebus was the first to be invented in Europe.

At that time, Spain relied on this kind of firearm with great lethality, conquered the huge and backward Inca Empire, defeated the huge Ottoman Empire, and once dominated Europe.

During the Ming Dynasty, around the 16th century, arquebuses were introduced to Japan from Europe, and the Japanese at that time called them "iron cannons", and in the war between Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu against Takeda Katsuyori, this "iron cannon" came to the fore, making Japan truly realize the power of "iron cannons", and after that, Japan began to mass-produce this "iron cannon".

Arquebuses were introduced to China during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming army in the war against the Japanese invaders, captured the Japanese "iron cannon" (arquebus), the Ming court at that time attached great importance to it, so that the military bureau imitated, and the imitation of this new type of arquebus, the name is very familiar to later generations - bird gun.

In the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing (1558), the War Bureau imitated the first batch of 10,000 bird guns, and then continued to improve them, and equipped them with birds, such as the famous Shenji Battalion, a battalion of 5,000 people, there were 3,600 bird guns.

Ariake attached great importance to firearms. During the period from Jiajing to Wanli, the Ming people learned and improved all kinds of firearms introduced from the West, in addition to the bird gun was equipped in large quantities in the army, the Franc machine was also modified and equipped by the Ming army.

In contrast to the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty rulers ruled in seclusion and closed off the country, hindering the development of firearms, resulting in the late Qing Dynasty still fighting with bows and arrows. During the Second Opium War, the Qing army suffered 2,000 casualties in only 2 hours of fighting, while only 5 enemy troops were killed.

Now, here is the girder, roughly the same as the Northern Song Dynasty, the musket has not yet been invented, and the Song court felt that although it was very difficult to make an arquebus, it was not impossible.

What's more, there is also Chen Dabeard who only drew the drawings this day, and worked day and night to develop the preliminary results, so the rest will be easy to do.

After a few days of exploration with Chen Dabeard, Song Ting felt more and more that the arquebus was not complicated, and theoretically speaking, it was nothing more than the barrel, fire door, butt, metal hook and other elements, as well as projectiles, arquebuses, black powder and other required items.

Both black powder and projectiles are critical.

The problem of black powder was solved in the Tang Dynasty, as one of the four major inventions, it spread to Europe, Japan and other places very early, and the Western Xia, Southern Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty and other dynasties, relying on black powder to invent a lot of firearms, such as "thunder", "thunderbolt", "copper firebolt" and so on, later generations said that China will only use black powder to invent fireworks, it is nonsense.

Projectiles are also easy to do, the girders have steel ball projectiles, which were once used on steel ball crossbows, and the destructive power is also very strong, but Song Ting wants to use lead projectiles, which have greater destructive power and do not affect the range.

After all, although theoretically the arquebus can hit almost 200 meters, the actual effective killing distance, that is, within a few tens of meters, can obviously increase the range with a projectile made of lead.

Therefore, there are only two problems left in the development of arquebuses, one is black powder, and the other is a fine iron barrel.

Chen Dabeard complained more than once, "There is not enough gunpowder, brother Chaozhong!" Can you find a way to manage the court and ask for a little? ”

Song Ting was speechless, "You are the magistrate, you have the right to ask for it, I am a colt, idle work, I can't do these things, why should I want it?" ”

Chen Dabeard muttered, "You know the senior official of the Ministry of Industry, I can only ask the prefect, and the prefect only gives a little, what can I do." ”

The imperial court's control of black powder is still quite strict, and a special organization has been set up, called the Gunpowder Division, basically 80% of the black powder in the Liang is in this department.

The Gunpowder Division belongs to the Ministry of Industry, and the county government also has a workshop, which is equivalent to a small Ministry of Industry, where there are also some black powder, but unfortunately, the amount is too small, and it is gone.

The formula of black powder is extremely complicated, and it is quite troublesome to make it out for a while, and it may be too late in time, it seems that there is really no other way than to find a way to go to the gunpowder division in Bianjing to get a little out.

In addition to black powder, the barrel needs to be made of fine iron, and if you use pig iron to grind a fine iron pipe, it will take at least a month; If you find a craftsman to grind, it is not only very labor-intensive, but also not necessarily good, not to mention the craftsmen in this small county, the craftsmanship may be as exquisite as the craftsmen in Bianjing.

Therefore, Song Ting felt that he had to go back to Beijing. In addition to finding a way to get black powder, he also had to invite a group of skilled blacksmiths to bring them to Yongtai County to solve the problem of black powder and gun barrels.

"Just looking at the drawings, I think it's very simple, but it's even more difficult to really get it out than to climb to the sky, alas......"

"Let's try a few expenses first, and if it works well, I'll pay for hundreds of them out of my own pocket."

"Bearded, you and your apprentice will grind a batch of barrels first, this is more important, and we will solve the problem of lead pellets later. By the way, you can also call in craftsmen to help! You have the money, right? ”

"I didn't...... Mr. Zhu, that has. ”

"That's the end of it!"

After discussing with Chen Dabeard, Song Ting decided to take Lu, Yan, and Hu back to Bianjing on horseback one day in mid-September.

He had already thought that since the princess's wife had some money, he might as well take some out of it to buy off the officials of the Ministry of Industry and get some black powder. As for whether to share the technology with the imperial court after the arquebus is made, it depends on Zhao Jinji's attitude towards him. Of course, you can also inform the imperial court of the backward and eliminated technology, and you must always master the most core technology.

Up to now, he has been too lazy to take care of what Fang La has ascended to the throne, what war has started in the north, as well as the affairs of the county government, and many things in the Horse Mansion, and he wants to make an arquebus.

After all, in a way, arquebuses are a sign of the transition from cold weapons to hot weapons. If the army is equipped with muskets, it is almost equivalent to using the army of the Ming Dynasty to fight the army of the Jin Dynasty. Since he encountered troubled times, he really had no choice but to do so.

"Black powder, fine iron ......" Thinking of these two problems, Song Ting took Lu, Yan, and Hu and rode out of the county office, preparing to return to Bianjing.

(End of chapter)