On the fourth day of the first lunar month, it was snowing heavily, Chongzhen was still nesting in the warm pavilion, no way, it was too cold outside, and Chongzhen didn't want to step out.

"Your Majesty, the eunuch of the Palm Seal of the War Bureau asks to see you."

"Quick!" Chongzhen said happily. Liang Chengsi came to ask for a meeting, it should be that the flintlock pistol matter has progressed.

"Slave Liang Chenghei, knock to see Your Majesty." Liang Chengsi walked into the warm pavilion and bowed to him.

"Father-in-law Liang is exempt. Liang Gonggong came, but the matter of the new fire gun has progressed? Chongzhen asked impatiently.

Liang Chengsi stood up, bowed down and hugged his fists and said, "Back to Your Majesty, the new type of firearm that Your Majesty said has been manufactured."

"Oh? Show it to me. ”

A little eunuch walked into the warm pavilion with a firecracker, and when he looked around, the firearm had no arquebus, but a flintlock pistol.

The little eunuch presented the flintlock pistol to Chongzhen, who took the flintlock pistol and looked at it carefully. The flintlock pistol was about 900 mm long, and was equipped with serrated steel wheels, chains, springs, and hammers, with a dozen flints on the head of the hammer, which was indistinguishable from a flintlock pistol.

"Good, good. Father-in-law Liang, I've worked hard, I don't know who made this new firecracker? Chongzhen asked.

"Back to Your Majesty, it is made by a few skilled craftsmen selected by Your Majesty."

"Oh? Haha, okay, I just don't know how powerful this is? Chongzhen said with a smile, the flintlock pistol is made, then there must be quality assurance, if the power is not great, it must be transformed in a targeted manner.

In the square outside the temple, there is a target, where Chongzhen wants to test this flintlock pistol.

A brocade guard lieutenant stood fifty paces away from the target with a flintlock pistol, aiming at the target and preparing to fire.

"Bang!"

After a gunshot, a little eunuch ran over, took the target, and brought it to Chongzhen. Chongzhen took a look, and it hit the target, and it was quite deep.

"Let's put the target seventy paces away and try it out." Chongzhen said.

After a while, the target was placed seventy paces away, and the Captain of the Brocade Guard picked up his flintlock pistol again, and after inserting the fixed ammunition, he aimed at the target.

After another gunshot, the little eunuch took the target again, Chongzhen looked at it, this time it was still the target, but compared to the last time, the projectile was obviously not so deep.

"Put the target eighty paces away and shoot five times in a row."

"Bang!" After a gunshot, the captain of the brocade guard added ammunition and continued to shoot, and when five shots rang out, the target was brought to Chongzhen again.

Chongzhen counted it, except for the two bullet holes just now, there were only three bullet holes, that is, eighty steps away, only three of the five bullets were shot.

"Try it a hundred paces away this time."

When five shots rang out again, Chongzhen looked at the target and only hit one. Chongzhen has a bottom this time, the best range of this flintlock pistol is about 80 steps, and it will be difficult to shoot if it is more than 80 steps, which is farther than the range of the beak gun commonly used in the Ming Dynasty.

But Chongzhen was not satisfied with this, he said to Liang Chenghe: "Liang Gonggong, this new type of firearm is very good, I am very satisfied, but I feel that it can be improved. For example, when loading a projectile, you need to put the projectile into the muzzle and use an iron bar to push the projectile into the chamber, which is very time-consuming. In this way, it not only speeds up the reloading speed, but also plays a sealing role, so that the accuracy of the firearm can be improved, and the range of the firearm can be increased. Also, the inside of the barrel of the firebolt is notched. ”

"Engraving?" Liang Chengsi asked.

"Yes," Chongzhen said, taking the flintlock pistol, and continued, "Look, straight lines are carved into this barrel."

As he spoke, Chongzhen pointed to the barrel of the gun, Liang Chengsi came over, looked at it, thought for a while, and said, "The slave understands!"

The rifling can be said to be the soul of the barrel, so that the warhead can still maintain a set direction after being discharged. In fact, the use of rifling has been recorded in the 15th century, but due to the difficulties of the manufacturing process, it was not popularized until the 18th century.

"That's good, then do what I said, and then transform it and strive to do better."

"Slave Command!" Liang Chengsi hugged his fists.

"This time the battle is meritorious, and I want to reward it heavily. Gao Shiming, you take Liang Gonggong to my inner palace and receive 3,000 silver coins, Liang Gonggong and those meritorious craftsmen will each reward 200 pieces, and the rest will be distributed to other craftsmen. Chongzhen said to Gao Shiming.

Liang Chengsi was immediately happy when he heard that Chongzhen rewarded him. He had also heard of this silver coin, and he heard that some of the palace maids and eunuchs who served Concubine Liu in the harem had received some rewards, that is, the silver coin, and I heard that this thing still had a nice sound when it blew. During the Yuan Dynasty, Chongzhen rewarded the ministers with silver coins, and this silver coin is also a rare thing, and now His Majesty rewarded himself with 200 pieces, how could he not be happy? And this is rewarded by His Majesty personally, which means that he has been reused by His Majesty.

Liang Chengsi hurriedly knelt down and bowed, "Thank you, Your Majesty for the reward."

"Excuse me, get up, as long as you remember, do your job well, and do your job well." Chongzhen said.

On the sixth day of the first month, Chongzhen was roasting a fire in the warm pavilion, and the little eunuch came to report again, saying that the eunuch of the Palm Seal of the War Bureau had come to see him again.

Chongzhen heard it, hey, this Liang Chenghei's work efficiency is quite fast.

"Slave Liang Chenghei see Your Majesty." Liang Chengsi walked in with the flint hair and bowed.

"Father-in-law Liang doesn't have to be polite, but the new-style firecracker has been transformed?" Chongzhen asked.

"Back to Your Majesty, exactly."

"Let's go, let's try."

This time, the target was directly placed a hundred paces away, and it was the Jinyi guard captain who stopped after shooting five times with a flintlock gun.

The little eunuch took the target and showed it to Chongzhen, five projectiles, four of which hit the target, and with the depth of this depression, it was obviously deeper than the depression that was hit eighty paces away last time.

Five more shots were made at a distance of 120 paces, and three of them hit the target.

After 130 paces, only one out of five hits the target.

Chongzhen was very satisfied this time, and said to Liang Chenghei: "Okay, very good." How long does it take to build a new type of firecracker? ”

"Your Majesty, if you are a skilled craftsman, you can make a new type of firebolt in one day."

"It's too little, I want to produce it on a large scale, so I can do this, divide the labor. Several craftsmen form a team, each of which is responsible for a process, which increases production. Chongzhen said, "In addition, recruit more craftsmen, there are many Liaodong refugees in Beijing, right?" You can recruit them, by the way, and build more workshops. The amount of silver taels, which is to be appropriated by the internal funds. ”

After confirming that he had not missed anything, Chongzhen stopped.

After Liang Chengsi remembered what Chongzhen said one by one, he responded: "Slaves obey the order!" Please also ask Your Majesty to give a name to this new type of firecracker. ”

"Let's call it a flintlock, a flint-fired firebolt." Chongzhen said.