Because the danger of gunpowder is too great, so the Gunpowder Department has been outside the city on the site of the original gunpowder, after several expansions to form the current Gunpowder Department, last year in the southwest corner of the Gunpowder Department was built a separate workshop, by a young craftsman named Qi Yu in charge, used to study the manufacture of muskets and artillery, this matter was personally confessed by Zhao Yan, so it was also highly valued by the superiors, Qi Yu needed manpower and materials have never been deducted.

Today, Zhao Yan went to the Gunpowder Department under the leadership of Su Shi, and then went straight to the workshop where Qi Yu studied artillery and muskets, as soon as he entered the gate of the workshop, he saw that there were many large and small iron cannon barrels placed in the courtyard, these cannon barrels have different specifications and sizes, but they all have one thing in common, that is, the cannon barrels are broken, some have some small cracks, and some are simply cracked into several pieces.

"King Jun, Qi Yu has also been paying attention to it, in the yard these are the cannon bodies they tried to make during this time, but these cannon bodies are not very ideal, and the best cannon bodies can only be used if they insist on a dozen cannons, but speaking of which, the power of this cannon is really good, if the shells fired can hit the target, they are definitely not less powerful than ballistas." Su Shi pointed to the cannon barrel in the courtyard at this time and said.

Zhao Yan nodded after hearing this, but there was nothing at all, and he took a step into the yard at the moment, but soon heard a burst of "clanging" knocking sound from inside, and then Zhao Yan saw that under a workshop full of sparks, several blacksmiths were beating on something, which looked like it should be a part of the cannon, and I don't know what it was for?

At this moment, I saw a young man hurriedly come out of a room, and when he saw Zhao Yan and his party, he was also stunned, and then saluted with a happy face: "Villain Qi Yu See His Royal Highness the King of the County!" ”

The young man who came out was Qi Yu who was in charge of this place. After a few months, he lost a lot of weight, and two obvious dark circles hung on his face, looking like an addict in later generations, which frightened Zhao Yan, and hurriedly asked, "Qi Yu." You...... How did you become like this? ”

As soon as Zhao Yan's words fell, he saw Su Shi standing next to him but said with a wry smile: "The county king doesn't know, Qi Zuotou is our famous desperate San Lang of the weapons superintendent, in order to study the artillery and musket you said as soon as possible, he can be said to have forgotten to sleep and eat during this time, only sleeping for two hours a day, sometimes forgetting to even take care of eating, I persuaded him a few times, but unfortunately he didn't listen at all." ”

Although Su Shi is a reader. But I usually have more contact with these craftsmen, but there is no discrimination against them, and even I admire some dedicated craftsmen very much, among which Qi Yu in front of him is the one that Su Shi admires very much, because he can't do such a desperate job as Qi Yu when he asks himself.

"This ...... Su Jucheng is really a little too exalted of the villain, but the villain boasted about Haikou in front of the county king, so naturally he couldn't disappoint the county king, so he should work harder. "For Su Shi's praise. Qi Yu looked a little shy and modest, although he and Su Shi had a superior-subordinate relationship. But in his opinion, Su Shi is a scholar, and his status is much stronger than that of a craftsman like him, and being able to get his praise also makes Qi Yu feel a little embarrassed while being excited.

Seeing Qi Yu's appearance, Zhao Yan couldn't help but step forward and pat him on the shoulder. He said with emotion: "Qi Yu, doing things is a combination of work and rest, and you must not hurt your body because you are too tired!" ”

"Thank you for your concern, the villain understands!" Qi Yu said excitedly again at this time, he didn't expect Zhao Yan to care about his little person. At this time, his face was also flushed, although he explained it clearly, but he made up his mind in his heart that he must redouble his efforts to repay the kindness of the county king.

"Qi Yu, I also saw the cannon barrel in the courtyard, you have failed so many times, is there any new progress?" Zhao Yan nodded when he heard Qi Yu's words, and then suddenly asked.

Hearing Zhao Yan ask about the development process of artillery and muskets, Qi Yu once again showed an excited expression and said: "King Qiyu, if you came here a few days ago, the villain may disappoint you, because at that time, the villain's research on artillery encountered a big problem, and he couldn't think of a solution anyway, but just a few days ago in the evening, I suddenly thought of a thing that the county king mentioned to me, and the result made me think of a good way, although it has not been manufactured yet, but I am sure that this time it will be successful!" ”

When Qi Yu said the end, there was also a confident expression on his face, which also made Zhao Yan and the others very curious, and Su Shi even asked: "Qi Zuotou, what did you think of the thing that the county king mentioned to you before you thought of a good way?" ”

Zhao Yan also wanted to know what he had said to Qi Yu, and he also showed a curious expression at the moment, only to see a smile on the other party's thin face and said: "Hehe, this matter is also a coincidence, the king of the county once said that the principle of muskets and artillery is actually the same, and the size of artillery is larger, which is cheaper than research, so I have been focusing on the manufacture of artillery for this time, and I can only put aside the musket for the time being." ”

When he said this, he saw Qi Yu pause for a moment and then said: "But although I don't have time to study the musket, the king of the county has told me some principles and structures of the musket before, and the most impressive thing is that the king of the county said that when the musket develops to a certain extent, there will be something called a bullet, which is a metal shell, which wraps the gunpowder and the bullet in it, and only needs to press the bullet into the gun to launch when used, and it is this bullet that gives me a new idea. Let me solve a big problem with artillery! ”

Su Shi didn't know what a bullet was at all, and he was naturally confused when he heard this, but Zhao Yan's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said to Qi Yu with some excitement at the moment: "Do you want to apply the structure of bullets to artillery?" ”

"The county king is wise!" Qi Yu saw that Zhao Yan also guessed his thoughts, and said excitedly again, "The biggest problem encountered by artillery now is that the cannon body is not strong enough, cracks and even explosions will occur after firing several times, this is a problem caused by the material of iron itself, there are two ways to solve this problem, the first is to use better iron or directly replace it with copper, but the price of good iron and copper is not cheap, a cannon needs a lot of iron or copper, if you really change the material, then the cost is too high." ”

Speaking of this, I saw Qi Yu pause again, and then said: "There is another way, that is, to increase the thickness of the cannon body, but the cannon made in this way is too bulky and very inconvenient to move, and the thick cannon body cannot completely eliminate the danger of explosion, so this method is not advisable." ”

"Originally, I only thought of the above two methods, but after thinking about it, I had a third way." When he said this, he saw a confident smile on Qi Yu's face again, "This method is like what the king of the county just said, apply the structure of the bullet to the artillery, first cast a small cannon barrel, which can put a certain amount of gunpowder and shells, and then build a large cannon barrel, when you use it, you can put the small cannon barrel in the cannon barrel, so that there are two layers of cannon barrels, which will make the cannon body stronger, and even if the cannon barrel bursts, it generally starts from the small cannon barrel inside, and when the small cannon barrel is broken, you can replace it with a new one, The cost of repairing artillery was significantly reduced. ”

The artillery structure that Qi Yu told was actually a very popular sub-mother cannon in the Ming Dynasty in the later generations, also known as the Franco machine gun, which is said to be a kind of artillery specially designed by the Portuguese for the Ming Dynasty at that time, mainly for the poor iron quality of the Ming Dynasty at that time, regardless of the huge bore pressure generated when the artillery was fired, so this kind of artillery appeared, but I didn't expect that now Qi Yu also thought of this structure, of course, this has an important relationship with Zhao Yan's previous inspiration to him.

Zhao Yan also felt very satisfied with Qi Yu's appearance, because this proved that he really didn't see the wrong person at the beginning, and he also reminded him again with a smile: "Qi Yu, this kind of cannon set small cannon is indeed a genius idea, I also think it is very feasible, you can do your best to develop a sample cannon, don't forget to notify me when you test fire, in addition, I think the structure of this cannon is very similar to the appearance of a mother with a child, so it is better to call it a child and mother cannon!" ”

"Sub-mother cannon? Good name, thank you for the name! Qi Yu's eyes lit up when he heard the name of the mother and son cannon, and he immediately nodded without hesitation, the idea of the mother and child cannon was originally inspired by the aisle, so he didn't have any objection to the naming of the aisle, and even if Zhao Yan didn't say it now, when the artillery was successfully manufactured in the future, he would ask the aisle to give it a name.

"By the way, a mother is not more than one child, I think when making sub-cannons, Qi Yu can prepare multiple sub-cannons for each mother cannon, when on the battlefield, soldiers can fill all sub-cannons in advance, so that they can be fired continuously, greatly reducing the interval between artillery firing and improving the rate of fire of the artillery, which is also one of the biggest advantages of sub-cannons." Zhao Yan thought of one more thing at this time, and said again at the moment, this is also the standard equipment of the sub-mother cannon in later generations.

"Good idea, thank you for the reminder!" Qi Yu shouted excitedly again when he heard Zhao Yan's words, when he thought of the structure of this sub-mother cannon before, he just wanted to build the sub-mother cannon as soon as possible, and did not dig deep into the advantages of the sub-mother cannon, at this time Zhao Yan's words gave him a wake-up call, you must know that the rate of fire is also a very important standard for weapons, for example, the rate of fire of the bed crossbow was very slow before, and it was not until it was modified by Zhao Yan that the rate of fire was increased a lot. (To be continued......)