After the full promotion of Emperor Chongzhen, the current Tongzhou City is not only the storage and transfer city of the Ming Dynasty, but more importantly, the establishment of the Armed Forces Institute has made it develop into a northern military and military city. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

After Bi Maokang and Sun Yuanhua took up the post of left and right directors of the Armament Institute, they soon had a tacit division of labor, the former was obsessed with flintlock pistols, so he made every effort to supervise the production of new muskets, and the latter also had experience in making artillery, so he made every effort to supervise the production of new guns.

The Gun Bureau of the Armament Institute in Tongzhou's No. 1 Gun Factory can now produce and assemble about 500 Chongzhen front-loading flintlock smoothbore guns every month, and cast more than 10 bronze Hongyi cannons, that is, Shenwei Invincible General Cannons.

The No. 2 Gun Factory located in Baiyecheng has now adopted the successful iron fan casting method, and the barrel and barrel can be mass-produced, so the output of Chongzhen No. 1 Gun Factory, which is tested every month, is more than double that of Tongzhou No. 1 Gun Factory, and the steel produced by Baiyecheng Iron and Steel Plant is used nearby, and the number of Shenwei invincible general cannons cast is five times that of Tongzhou No. 1 Factory's bronze Hongyi cannon.

Although today's Baiyecheng Iron Works is still called an iron factory, after the adoption of coke steelmaking, 20 of the original 28 iron-making furnaces have been sealed with cement and blast furnace transformation, and have become steel-making furnaces with furnace temperatures of more than 1,600 degrees.

As for whether the blast furnace is finally produced by molten steel or molten iron, the most fundamental thing depends on the temperature in the blast furnace, more than 1,600 degrees, especially when it is close to about 1,700 degrees, the output is molten steel, and usually below 1,600 degrees, the output is molten iron.

Coupled with the application of the iron casting method and the lost wax method, the output of cannon barrels and barrels made of cast steel has been increasing, while the scrap rate has been decreasing.

Moreover, out of confidentiality considerations, Bi Maokang, Sun Yuanhua and others adopted a very meticulous division of labor and production, as well as a method similar to assembly line assembly, so not only the forging of gun parts is much better than in the past, but also the assembly efficiency of the whole gun and the whole gun has also been improved a lot.

In particular, the relatively complex firearm mechanism of the flintlock pistol, such as the forging of the faucet striking iron, the blocking iron, the trigger, the reed, the movement and the closed medicine pool, also has the concept of standard parts, so that the firing, range, accuracy and other properties of each flintlock musket are close to the same.

Since the establishment of the Armament Institute for more than half a year, although it has consumed more than 3 million taels of silver, its results have also been very significant, and it has successively produced more than 400 bronze and cast steel Shenwei invincible general cannons, and more than 6,000 Chongzhen front-loading flintlock smoothbore guns.

In this way, it is better than buying from the gun factory of the Portuguese in Entrenchment, although the price is generally more cost-effective, especially for the Ming Dynasty itself to train a group of skilled gun craftsmen, this harvest is even more unbuyable with money.

What's more, even if you take the silver to buy, even with the output of the Portuguese in Entrenchment, you may not be able to easily reach this figure, and you don't know what year and month it will take to transform all the Shenji Battalion and Guards into new firearms units.

And now, with the establishment of the Armament Institute, from Yizhou, Jinzhou, and Ningyuan on the Ningjin Defense Line, to Shanhaiguan, Jizhen, and Xuanfu on the Nine Border Defense Line, and then to the thirteen city gates in the inner and outer cities of the Beijing Division, they have all been equipped with this Shenwei invincible general cannon produced by the Armament Institute.

The Shenwei Invincible General Cannon produced by the Armament Institute imitation of the Hongyi Cannon, whether it is cast iron or cast steel, is not worse than the bronze casting, and the Shenwei Invincible General Cannon cast by the cast steel is worthy of this name, under the same double diameter conditions, with the increase of the charge, its range and power are even far better than the bronze Hongyi Cannon produced by the Portuguese itself.

Today, all the twenty-four cast steel Hongyi cannons produced by the Armament Institute have been transported to Saibei and sent to equip the fortresses along the border, such as Rehe Fort, Dagushan Fort, and Xifengkou.

For example, Rehe Fort on the bank of the Wulie River, because Emperor Chongzhen attached great importance to it, it got as many as 12 of the total 24 gates.

Coupled with the various old artillery pieces of different ranges that arrived in the early stage, today's Rehe Fort can be said to have become a fortress completely armed to the teeth, whether it is the Mongols or the Jurchens, whoever takes the initiative to attack is doomed to pay a heavy price and get a painful lesson.

Of course, the surprise that the Armament Institute brought to Emperor Chongzhen this time was not the scale and quantity of gun production and casting, but several other cheap and high-quality killing weapons necessary for killing and arson.

After staying in the lecture hall for a day and a night, early the next morning, Emperor Chongzhen took the two ministers of military aircraft and other attendants to the military academy.

The yamen of the Armed Forces Institute is located in the city of Tongzhou, and the gun factory, cannon factory, gunpowder factory and other factories under its jurisdiction in Tongzhou are all in the area of Bali Bridge outside the east gate of Tongzhou.

During the Apocalypse, the explosion of Wang Gong's factory made the cabinet ministers no longer dare to arrange firearms production workshops in densely populated urban areas.

Therefore, when Bi Maokang, Sun Yuanhua and others went to Tongzhou to survey and set up factories, they did not consider Tongzhou City at all.

Besides, the city of Tongzhou is not large, and it is crowded with all kinds of large warehouses of the household department, and the household department cannot agree to put the production of firearms in the city, because it is indeed too dangerous.

Emperor Chongzhen and his entourage went out of the east gate of Tongzhou, and soon arrived outside the gate of the gun factory of the Baliqiao Armament Institute.

Nowadays, the guards of the gun factory are all in charge of the governor of the Zhili Governor's Yamen, and Sun Chengzong has always been strict in governing the soldiers, so the gunpowder factory and gun factory in Baliqiao are definitely heavily guarded, and idle people are not allowed to approach the factory wall at all.

Emperor Chongzhen's car drove to the gate of the gun factory, and he saw Bi Maokang, Sun Yuanhua and others waiting there from a distance.

Emperor Chongzhen took a four-wheeled carriage until he got off at the gate, and Sun Chengzong and Li Banghua had already brought Bi Maokang, Sun Yuanhua and others to greet him.

Bi Maokang, Sun Yuanhua and others immediately knelt on the ground and paid their respects after more than a dozen steps.

Emperor Chongzhen stepped forward to pick up the two, and ordered Sun Heding, Liu Han, Rodriguez and others, who were waiting with them, to get up without courtesy, and then entered the gun factory surrounded by everyone.

Along the way, Bi Maokang and Sun Yuanhua, who were walking beside the emperor, introduced the situation of the various bureaus and factories of the Armament Institute sentence by sentence.

Bi Maokang said: "Your Majesty, I asked the Armed Forces Institute to expand production while bringing forth the new. Nowadays, the output of the guns and artillery factories of the Armament Institute has not only increased greatly, but also the newly established guns and artillery factories have also made a lot of breakthroughs. ”

Sun Yuanhua, who was following him, also said: "Since the ministers received His Majesty's command, they dare not slack off. Such as today's Youdaming, the ministers are fortunate not to be dishonored. In addition to the significant increase in the availability rate of gun production, there are also several new products that have been successfully trial-produced. The ministers dare to ask Your Majesty to take a look. ”

As he spoke, he came to the outside of a workshop.

At this time, Li Banghua suddenly stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, the minister is ordered to be in charge of the affairs of the Armed Forces Academy, because he knows a little about several new products of the Armed Forces, but it is still in the trial production stage, and this thing is too dangerous. ”

Emperor Chongzhen thought about it, and two people came out of the workshop, and after a few steps away, they knelt on the ground and saluted, and said: "Weichen Sun Hedou, participate in Your Majesty!" Long live my emperor, long live, long live! ”

Although the person who followed Sun Hedou was also dressed as a Han official, he had a Western face, and at this time he also knelt down behind Sun Hedou and saluted.

Emperor Chongzhen stretched out his hand and swung it upward, signaling them to be exempt from courtesy.

Seeing Sun He fighting, Emperor Chongzhen said: "I heard that you have a new firearm here, and I want to see it, in your opinion, is this matter feasible?" ”

Sun Hedou bowed and said, "Your Majesty, this thing is tentatively named Thunder to distinguish it from the Earthquake Thunder of the former Song Dynasty. This is Wechen's workshop for making thunder, and Wechen really can't ensure everything. Your Majesty is a body of ten thousand gold, so it is better not to enter. ”

After saying this, Sun Hedou said again: "If Your Majesty wants to watch it, you can follow Weichen and others to the firearms test site, and the minister will throw it into the distance, and Your Majesty can watch its power from a distance." ”

At this time, Sun Chengzong also said: "Your Majesty, what Sun Hedou said is quite reasonable. Your Majesty, please be wise! ”

Emperor Chongzhen nodded when he heard this, and then said: "Since this is the case, then look at its power from a distance." In addition, Sun Hedou, you can prepare a thunderbolt without gunpowder projectiles, and show it to me to take a closer look. ”

After hearing this, Sun Hedou immediately bowed down and received the order.

The group followed Sun Hedou and went to the firearms test site instead.

The so-called firearms testing site is actually just a circular pit with a radius of several hundred meters.

However, at this time, in the middle of this deep pit, there is a low wall that reaches to the chest, and more than ten steps away from the low wall, there are several scarecrows wearing cotton armor.

Emperor Chongzhen and others stood in a battlement above the pit, and Sun Hedou personally took out a black and slightly larger than a fist from an iron cabinet prepared in advance, with a handle, and then held the torch prepared in advance, and went down a step down to a deep pit that was about two feet deep.

Sun Hedou stopped at a chest wall in the pit and unscrewed a lid at the handle of his so-called thunderbolt, revealing a lead in the cover.

I saw that he held the handle of the thunder in his right hand, lit the fuse with a torch in his left hand, and quickly threw it at the armored scarecrow outside the breastwall, and then quickly squatted on the ground against the wall.

The thunderbolt that flew out first landed and rolled a few steps, and after a while, everyone heard a loud "boom", several scarecrows staggered, and the nearest one was blown to the ground.