Zhu Hongsan looked at the strange-looking thing in front of him and said, "Tie Niu, let's take a look first." ”

Iron Bull quickly called the staff and began to fiddle with the big guy. You must know that a musket is fifteen pounds, and a barrel is eight or nine pounds, and this guy is composed of forty barrels, which is almost four hundred pounds.

Four staff members carried the big guy to the firing position, and it took twenty minutes to load all 40 barrels with ammunition, and then ignite the firing charge one by one with the fire rope. You read that right, it was the fire rope, because the barrels were tied together, and the lighter could not be fitted, so there was no choice but to use this primitive means of firing.

There was nothing to see during the firing, and as with the muskets, the field was filled with white smoke after the forty muskets were fired.

Tie Niu said on the side: "Lord Wang, what do you think? ”

Zhu Hongsan nodded and said, "The idea is good, but this thing has several fatal flaws. ”

"Your Majesty, please tell us that we can make improvements."

"One is that the firing speed is too slow, is this still lit with an arquebus? Delay time. The second is that the reload speed is also slow, and it is better to train a few more musketeers with this skill. The third is that this thing is too heavy, almost 500 catties, similar to an artillery, and has no actual combat value. ”

Tie Niu didn't expect that what he had finally made up was useless and criticized by the King of Chu, and he was also very frustrated.

Zhu Hongsan touched his chin and said, "But it's not impossible to use it if you improve it." ”

Hearing that there was still a chance, Tie Niu said happily: "King, how do you say to change, we will improve it immediately." ”

Zhu Hongsan circled around the iron guy twice and said, "If the shooting speed is slow, you can develop a bullet plate." The gun body is divided into two parts: the barrel and the cartridge plate, the cartridge part can be disassembled and assembled as a whole, so that you can quickly reload the ammunition, and you can also prepare a few more cartridges, preferably more than ten, and there is a special person to load in the back after use, so that the shooting speed can be guaranteed. There is also this ignition device, you are studying it, don't use a fire rope, can you use a flintlock to ignite the fire. As for the weight, forty barrels is too much, half is enough, so there are also two hundred pounds. Also, the caliber is a little small, so double the caliber. ”

Zhu Hongsan's increase in caliber was not arbitrary, the range of artillery shotguns now has a range of 400 meters, and muskets can only be lethal when they enter 200 meters, and if they want to break through the heavy armor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, they must enter 150 meters, which is too dangerous. It just so happened that the increased caliber of this weapon was used as a kind of firepower supplement between the shotgun and the musket.

Tie Niu hurriedly nodded, indicating that improvements would be arranged immediately.

Ten days later, Zhu Hongsan came to the test site again, and now this musket has been modified according to Zhu Hongsan's suggestion.

Zhu Hongsan saw this ancient machine gun mounted on a gun carriage, the barrel was changed to twenty, and the caliber was also changed to twenty millimeters, which was twice the caliber of the musket.

The reload, which has been separated from the barrel, is a cartridge disc containing black powder* and buckshot. The firing part in the rear was a four-row of triggers, each corresponding to the barrel, which could be fired individually or in a salvo.

Zhu Hongsan nodded and said, "Let's take a test shot." ”

Four staff members came over and began to load. Thanks to the use of a cartridge reload, it is very time-saving, and it takes 10 seconds to complete the reload and start shooting. The increase in caliber brings an increase in firing range. Now it is three hundred meters away from the target, and it seems that the power is good when I see a cloud of dust on the dirt wall on the opposite side of the hit.

The twenty-round cartridge disc was quickly fired, and the next reload disc was fired, and the cycle repeated. Zhu Hongsan looked at it and nodded, this is not bad, but the weight is too heavy, and it can only be used in defensive battles and warships.

After all ten cartridges had been fired, someone went to fetch the target from the opposite side. The target was a pair of armor produced in the arsenal, made of ductile iron, much stronger than the armor of the Ming army. But this kind of armor was riddled with holes by a twenty-millimeter bullet, and Zhu Hongsan was very satisfied when he saw that the power was also good.

The next thing is simple, Zhu Hongsan asked Tie Niu to start production, and each artillery company was equipped with four as filling fire for artillery and muskets.

In fact, this kind of platoon gun has long been developed in Europe. Before the advent of burst weapons, muskets did not have an absolute advantage over cold weapons, so how to put more firepower per unit time became the goal of European development at that time.

Before the Civil War, there was a platoon of guns in Europe, which was simply to bundle multiple muskets together and fire them to form a fire suppression. This gun was also popular in Europe for a while, and finally the advent of automatic firearms put an end to its use.

Therefore, Zhu Hongsan's strange-shaped gun was not his first creation, but because Zhu Hongsan used more powerful gunpowder and better steel to make the barrel, it was much more powerful than other platoon guns.

Zhu Hongsan returned home from the musket factory. I have been busy for more than a month, and I should accompany my wife and children.

The wives and concubines were very happy to see Zhu Hongsan coming back, and everyone had a meal together, which could be regarded as a happy one.

Ma Xiaofang said: "Lord, there are still ten days left for the New Year, don't be busy in the past few days, go home and accompany our sisters." ”

Zhu Hongsan smiled and said, "Okay, how do you want me to accompany you?" Is the big one sleeping together? ”

Ma Xiaofang glanced at Zhu Hongsan and said, "Our sisters have discussed, we want to go to Guangzhou to have a look, we have been in Guangdong for more than a year, and we have not been to Guangzhou yet." ”

It turned out to be shopping, and shopping is not brisk. Zhu Hongsan asked, "Aren't the shops in Guangzhou delivering the best rouge gouache to their homes every month?" What to do in Guangzhou. ”

"Lord Wang, you can go with us, it's not about to be the New Year, Guangzhou must be very prosperous."

Zhu Hongsan thought that he had really never accompanied these wives out to go out, and it was not bad to go for a break this time. Thinking of this, Zhu Hongsan said: "Okay, you will prepare for a while, and tomorrow we will go to Guangzhou by boat." ”

Hearing Zhu Hongsan's promise, the wives and concubines were also very happy. In this era, women basically have no status, and they can't go out without the nod of their own man.

Next, everyone split up and prepared. Zhu Hongsan saw that since this was the case, it was better to let Zhu Hongyi bring his family with him. Let the servant find Zhu Hongyi and say, "Big brother, how is the training of the guard company?" ”

Zhu Hongyi has been training the guard company in the past few months since he came back. Zhu Hongsan's original guard company either stayed in Nanjing and became a secret guard, or he became a grassroots company and platoon-level officer in this expansion. So the new guards, even five hundred people, were newly recruited.

Zhu Hongyi said: "The conditions of the 500 people this time are very good, and the training in the past three months has basically appeared. In another half a year, it will be about the same as the original guard company. ”

Zhu Hongsan nodded, these guards were trained according to the specifications of the teaching brigade in later generations, and Zhu Hongsan personally gave them a brainwashing class every night, and he must ensure their loyalty to Zhu Hongsan.

Of course, the treatment of the guard company is also the best, not to mention the equipment, ten taels of silver per month is enough for these guys to work hard.

After listening to Zhu Hongyi's report, Zhu Hongsan asked: "Big brother, isn't this about the New Year, Xiaofang and the others want to go to Guangzhou to have a look." Tomorrow, you can also bring your two sisters-in-law. ”

Zhu Hongyi nodded and said, "I'll ask them when I get home." ”

After breakfast the next day, Zhu Hongsan took the family and set off. The entourage brought 200 guards to escort the group, and the group came to the Dongguan wharf to board the ship.

Of course, the boat made by Zhu Hongsan's family was the best, and Gong Da became the king of Chu's ass, and specially transferred the largest large sea boat of 800 materials for the king of Chu to ride.

Zhu Hongsan and his wives said: "This is our thousand-material sea ship that has not been built, otherwise how majestic it would be to take that trip." ”

It was the first time for the wives and concubines to take such a big ship, and they all asked if there was a bigger ship than this?

Zhu Hongsan began to blow the conch in front of his wife, saying that he would build a big ship with tens of thousands of materials in the future. The sailor on the side rolled his eyes when he heard this, thinking to himself that this King of Chu can really brag about the big ship of tens of thousands of materials? Don't say you haven't seen it, you haven't heard of it, and there were no 10,000 things to say about the ship that the Three Treasure Eunuchs went to the South Seas.

But Zhu Hongsan's wife didn't know, they all thought that her husband was very powerful, and the hero didn't love it, plus Zhu Hongsan now has a lot of soldiers and horses, so he naturally has a momentum. Therefore, the eyes of each wife and concubine are full of affection.

Seeing that his eleven wives admired him, Zhu Hongsan was very proud.