According to historical records, in the middle of the 16th century, Mahan, a Frenchman born into a family of gunsmiths, locksmiths and watchmakers, invented the flintlock musket by removing the clockwork steel wheel and clamping a flint to the jaws of the hammer.

Mahan's invention is to set up an anvil on the side of the firearm fire hole, and when shooting, pull the trigger, and under the action of the spring, hit the flint heavily on the edge of the fire door, and sparks emerge, igniting the gunpowder and firing the ammunition. Such an improvement was an epoch-making change, greatly simplifying the firing process, improving the firing rate and shooting accuracy, easy to use, and low cost, convenient for mass production, and finally firearms began to dominate the battlefield.

A little later than Mahan, Bi Maokang, a firearms expert in the Ming Dynasty, also made a flintlock pistol at the beginning of Chongzhen, that is, in 1640 AD. However, compared with the flintlock musket in the West, its construction and performance were relatively backward, and there was no big difference from the previous bird guns, mainly with an improved firing device.

Bi Maokang invented the percussive flintlock pistol, in which the tap of the buckle plate machine was pressed down, and the action of the spring rubbed against the flint to ignite the gunpowder and shoot out the ammunition in the chamber. The principle of firing is similar, but he does not improve on other aspects.

The appearance of the flintlock musket was a revolution in the history of the development of weapons, which not only overcame the difficulties caused by wind and rain to arquebus shooting, but also aimed more accurately and could be fired at any time. The flintlock pistol is equipped with a flint automatic lighter device, which is not afraid of wind and rain and does not need to be ignited by the fire rope in advance, and the firing speed and accuracy are greatly improved. Now I am glad that Daming has already invented the flintlock pistol, and once began to manufacture it.

It's a pity that today's Cao Yue can't recruit Bi Maokang into his command, because this famous firearms expert is no longer alive. Another point that Cao Yue regretted was that Bi Maokang's invention did not make the flintlock pistol popular in the Ming army. Cao Yue doesn't know the reason now, but Cao Yue believes that in this strange time at the end of the Ming Dynasty, when so many freaks in the court stayed, anything could happen.

Bi Maokang must have a successor, and Cao Yue has already asked people to find Bi Maokang's heir, and is ready to spend a lot of money to receive his heir under his name. Now that the Portuguese have ready-made flintlock pistols, and Cao Qian's letter also said that he has purchased a batch of equipment for making new firearms, Cao Yue is no longer too worried about the problem of technical improvement, and he is not satisfied with the fact that he cannot produce new muskets in the shortest possible time. War was imminent, and he did not have much time to wait and had to take shortcuts.

Cao Yue personally went out of the city to meet the Portuguese mercenaries, which made the down-and-out Portuguese nobleman Justin a little flattered.

"Your Excellency, thank you very much for your personal greeting," Constance saluted Cao Yue in his not-so-fluent Chinese and standard Western aristocratic etiquette, "I hope that in the future, we can cooperate happily." ”

After Constance finished saluting, he also presented a box to Cao Yue, "Your Excellency the Honorable General Soldier, this is my greeting gift, I hope you like it!"

"You have worked hard," Cao Yue did not refuse, and asked the people around him to accept the gift from Constant, and opened it on the spot.

To his surprise, it turned out to be a flintlock pistol. The surprise given by this meeting gift exceeded Cao Yue's imagination, and it was really worth it to hire such a Portuguese. Although this flintlock pistol is a bit large, much larger than the anti-pistol of later generations, it can also be carried around and used as a self-defense weapon. Next time, if there is an assassin like the Red Lady, you can defend yourself with a flintlock pistol.

After months of long journeys, Portugal was exhausted. Cao Yue gave them good treatment, arranged for them to be well conditioned barracks, gave them preferential treatment for their daily necessities, and gave them two months' salary in advance, for which Constance and his subordinates were very grateful.

After settling these Portuguese, Cao Yue also had a private conversation with Constant.

Cao Yue was interested in the fighting power of the Portuguese, the muskets they were equipped with, and the manufacturing techniques of various firearms. In order to reassure Cao Yue, Justin also gathered three hundred mercenaries and showed Cao Yue their shooting skills. Not to mention, the combat effectiveness of people who earn money on the battlefield is really not bad, and the performance of the Portuguese surprised Cao Yue, an officer from later generations.

The speed and accuracy of the flintlock pistol are also incomparable to the arquebus, which Cao Yue knows very well.

Epoch-making changes are coming, and Cao Yuebian is ambitious, hoping that he can use advanced firearms to create an era.

The performance of the Portuguese surprised not only Cao Yue, but also other generals. Originally, many people looked down on the Portuguese, and they didn't understand why Cao Yue spent a lot of money to hire them, but after a demonstration, they changed their minds and recognized what Cao Yue had done.

"Mr. Constine, you and your subordinates have performed quite satisfactorily with Ben General," Cao Yue praised Constance in front of everyone, and made another request: "I hope that the next time you fight, you can let Ben General see the very good performance of your subordinates." ”

"Please rest assured, our people will not let you down!" "They are the most effective army, and they have never lost a battle," said Constant, very proudly. ”

"It's just that the muskets in their hands are a little better than our sergeants, and if our sergeants are also equipped with the same muskets, I believe that your combat effectiveness is not as good as ours!" Cao Yue quietly agitated. He had no experience in how to manage mercenaries, but Cao Yue knew how to arouse a person's competitive spirit.

"The next time there is a war, I will let the chief soldier take a good look at our combat effectiveness!" Justin looked very confident.

"Well, Ben will see!" Cao Yue smiled, took out the flintlock pistol that Constance had given him, played with it for a while, and asked Constance in a low voice, "Mr. Constine, if I want to copy your musket, are you willing to help?" I can give you a lot of money!"

"That's fine!" Justin agreed without thinking about it, and he said meaningfully: "As long as you can make it, you can copy it." Didn't the Chief Soldier recruit firearms manufacturing experts at Oyster Glass? After the arrival of those people, as long as there are equipment and raw materials, it will not be a problem at all to imitate our muskets. ”

"Do any of your men know how to make firearms?" Cao Yue is young in the end, and he can't wait for Cao Qian to come back and wants to imitate the flintlock pistol.

"Yes!" Justin hesitated, summoned a young man named Maori from the queue, pointed at this person and said to Cao Yue: "He knows how to make muskets, and his father worked in a firearms factory. As he spoke, Constance turned his head and said a few words of English to the man named Maori, which meant asking Maori to instruct Cao Yue in improving his musket-making techniques.

"Dear Mr. Maori, I hope you can do us a favor!" At this time, Cao Yue answered in fluent English. Before the crossing, Cao Yue was a master's student who graduated from a military academy, he had a good academic performance since he was a child, and he learned foreign languages well, and he got the English certificate of level 8, and it was not a problem to communicate with foreigners in English. The red-haired young man named Maori didn't seem to speak Chinese, so he greeted him in English.

Cao Yue knew English and used foreign dialect to communicate with the Franc Machine, not only the generals around him were surprised, but even the Franc Guy and Maori were surprised.