received a solemn promise from Liang Ziyue and Zheng Zhiwei, and Wang Kunjun and other committee members felt a lot more at ease. The brothers chatted a few more words, and Liang and Zheng said goodbye and left, returned to Liangxiang City, and went all out to investigate the spy who made everyone feel unsure.

sent Liang Ziyue and Zheng Zhiwei away, and Wang Kunjun, Zhang Weixin, Yang Xin and other three also left the "Liangyuan". However, the three of them did not immediately return to the "Qing Garden" and "Jing Yuan", but walked along the opposite side of the Xiangshang Mountain, wanting to go to the "Flying Dragon Village" to see the situation of the flintlock pistols in stock.

Although Xu Shao'an's side had not yet reported to Chai Rongyu about transporting guns by sea, the committee had always adhered to the principle of being fully prepared, and planned to wait for the Ministry of Commerce and Trade, the Ministry of Military Affairs, and the Yellow Sea to immediately arrange for people to transport all the 1,500 new and used flintlock pistols in stock to the seaside. Wang Kunjun and others went up the mountain to see, but they just wanted to be sure.

Wang Kunjun and others walked all the way along the mountain road to the "Feilong Village", and Qian Yuanshan and others, who got the news, came down from the mountain all the way. The two groups of people met halfway up the mountain, immediately merged into one, and went up the mountain with some talking and laughing.

Entering the "Flying Dragon Village", Wang Kunjun first went to the warehouse accompanied by You Yuan, Qian Yuanshan and others to look at the batch of guns. Although it was only a simple sealing and then stacked in the warehouse, but the relevant rules and regulations of the material management department are very perfect, regardless of whether the materials in the warehouse are critical materials, whether they may be used in the future, the warehouse management personnel are carefully maintained according to the regulations, so that they are kept in the state before the sealing. Second, it has only been two years since this batch of flintlock pistols was put into storage, and in terms of the production quality of the weapons section, this batch of flintlock pistols made of stainless steel will not be damaged or corroded.

Therefore, when the warehouse keeper randomly picked a box of flintlock pistols from the warehouse and opened them for Wang Kunjun and others to see, what caught everyone's eyes was still the bright gun body and reliable action that could perfectly reflect the manufacturing quality of the weapons department. In order to confirm that these flintlock pistols were not in vain, Qian Yuanshan also took out a gun loaded with gunpowder and fired a few shots. As a result, not only did the guns go off, but the accuracy was no worse than before it was sealed.

However, although the quality of the gun was not said, Qian Yuanshan found a problem after the test firing, a crucial problem -- this flintlock pistol was not compatible with the flintlock pistol used by the "Shenji Army" in the later Zhou Dynasty.

Of course, the incompatibility mentioned here does not mean that there is a big difference between the caliber and ammunition of the two guns, but the incompatibility is mainly in the way the guns are fired. The flintlock pistols used by the "Shenji Army" in the Later Zhou Dynasty were made by the craftsmen of the Later Zhou Dynasty based on the twelve gift guns brought by the original crossing team "Visiting the Delegation to the South", and then based on the relevant drawings provided by the crossing team. Since the chemical engineering department had not yet developed a primer at that time, the flintlock pistol at that time still used the method of flint hitting to produce sparks and igniting the medicine pool to ignite the gunpowder in the gun and fire lead bullets. This batch of flintlock pistols in stock is a new model produced after the chemical research institute issued a primer, which uses the method of hitting the primer with a hammer to ignite, and then igniting the gunpowder in the gun through a detonator.

In other words, if these flintlock pistols were transported to the "Shenji Army" in the Later Zhou Dynasty intact, then it would be impossible for these guns to fire without a primer. In that case, I'm afraid that these flintlock pistols are really not as good as burning sticks.

After listening to Qian Yuanshan's introduction, Wang Kunjun and the others couldn't help but look at each other. While ordering the storekeeper to take out a few more boxes of flintlock pistols to inspect them, he sent someone down the mountain at once to invite the brothers from the weapons department to come and discuss the matter.

After getting the news from Wang Kunjun, several brothers from the weapons department did not dare to slack off. On the one hand, he ordered his subordinate steward to take the original production record sheet and check the specific time when the flintlock pistol changed the firing method, and on the other hand, he reported the matter to Li Junwu, and went up the mountain together under the leadership of the latter.

When Li Junwu, Zhou Lei and others entered the gate of "Feilong Village", Tang Chao, who was already waiting here, led a few people directly to the warehouse. At this time, Wang Kunjun and others had already opened and looked at the five or six boxes of flintlock pistols that they had taken out, and confirmed that these flintlock pistols were all new models, and they all used the "primer-detonator" firing method. Although only six or seven boxes were taken out of the front and back, the total was only thirty or forty flintlock pistols, a small fraction of the total of 1,500. However, since it was taken out from different storage locations of this batch of stock guns, it is somewhat representative. Therefore, it is very likely that all of the flintlock muskets in stock will be fired using the "primer-detonator" firing method. ,

Li Junwu, Zhou Lei and others who came later also confirmed the inference of Wang Kunjun and others. By checking the gun numbers recorded by the Materials Management Department when sealing the flintlock pistols with the production records of the Weapons Section, all the flintlock pistols in stock were produced after the successful development of primers. In other words, these flintlock muskets could not be shipped to the south until the firing method of these flintlock pistols was re-changed. As for how to transform into this batch of guns, it depends on Zhou Lei and his weapons department.

After Wang Kunjun handed a flintlock pistol in his hand to Zhou Lei, he asked with concern: "Second brother, can this batch of guns be modified, and is the process of modification troublesome?" Does it take longer or less to build a new gun compared to a modification? I hope that the second brother can give my brother a clear answer. ”

Since all the brothers in the weapons section did not take into account the difference in the firing method between their own flintlock pistols and the flintlock pistols of the Later Zhou Army at yesterday's meeting, all the brothers in the weapons section, including Li Junwu, felt a little embarrassed. After all, if it weren't for Wang Kunjun and others who were more prudent and careful in doing things today, and went to the warehouse in advance to take a look and thus discovered this problem, the weapons department would have continued to produce flintlock pistols using the "primer-detonator" firing method according to the previous drawings. Then, in the next three months, the crossing team will send 3,000 useless flintlock pistols to the Later Zhou court -- although the flintlock pistol with the "primer-detonator" firing method has more advantages than the flintlock pistol with the "flint-medicine pool" firing method, and has more advantages in firing success rate and resistance to rain and snow weather, which is a significant improvement in the performance of the flintlock pistol.

Therefore, after hearing Wang Kunjun's inquiry, Zhou Lei took the flintlock pistol handed by the other party, and replied a little apologetically: "Fifth brother, rest assured, this batch of guns can definitely be changed, and it is not troublesome to modify it at all." ”

As he spoke, he picked up the flintlock pistol in his hand and said while demonstrating: "Although after the primer was developed in the Chemical Engineering Section, the flintlock pistol produced by the Weapons Section all adopted the 'primer-detonator' firing method. However, at that time, considering that the production of primer fires that had just been developed was not high, there was a possibility that the supply of primers would be insufficient in the event of a large-scale war. Therefore, when designing the new flintlock pistol, the Weapons Section deliberately designed the detonator to be detachable. In this way, when the production of primer is insufficient, the soldiers can easily replace the detonator with a medicine pool, so as to ensure the combat effectiveness of the 'Flying Dragon Army'. Unexpectedly, this design was designed to be a case in case and now it really works. ”

After speaking, Zhou Lei held a flintlock pistol in one hand and a detonator that had been unscrewed from the gun in the other hand to show the brothers. He then asked the storekeeper for a pool assembly, re-tightened it onto the barrel, and conducted a test shot.

After listening to Zhou Lei's introduction and watching his actual operation, although he was relieved, Wang Kunjun praised the weapons department for being thoughtful, and at the same time, he still asked You Yuan with some worry: "This gun is very convenient to modify, but I don't know how many pieces of this medicine pool component you have here, is it enough for all flintlock pistol modifications?" ”

You Yuan didn't answer immediately when he heard this, but ordered the warehouse manager to bring the account books to check, and asked the warehouse keeper to go to the warehouse to check on the spot before saying: "Fifth brother, there are a total of two thousand and one thousand medicine pool components in stock, which is completely sufficient. ”

Wang Kunjun finally felt solid in his heart after hearing this, and said to Qian Yuanshan on the side: "In this case, Old Eleven, you will send some people over, and together with the warehouse managers of the Material Management Department, first move all the flintlock pistols here down the mountain, and let the craftsmen of the weapons department immediately modify them." ”

After speaking, he turned to Zhou Lei and the others and said: "After the flintlock pistol is refitted, don't move it back to the 'Feilong Village', and store it directly in the warehouse of the 'Liangyuan'." After a few days, the eleventh, twelfth, and fourteenth agreed to transport jihua, and they were transported directly to the sea, which also saved the trouble of moving up and down. ”

Qian Yuanshan, You Yuan, Zhou Lei and others nodded in agreement when they heard this, and then went their separate ways.

As the saying goes, "there are many people," and although 300 boxes and 1,500 flintlock muskets are quite a lot, the two companies of the "Flying Dragon Army" sent by Qian Yuanshan have an average of less than one box per person, and the company commanders and supervisors, including the deputy company commander, are empty-handed, and they can only direct their soldiers to carry them.

It took only half an hour for the soldiers of the two companies to carry 1,500 flintlock pistols down the mountain, and although the craftsmen of the weapons section modified these flintlock pistols in a very simple process, it was only a process of unscrewing the detonator and then replacing it with the assembly of the medicine pool and tightening it, because after the modification, each gun had to undergo three test firing to test its reliability, so the whole modification work was carried out for nearly five days. ,

Although the modification of the flintlock pistol was delayed for a few days, first, Xu Shao'an had to arrange the date of reporting to Chai Rong according to the communication speed familiar in this era, and second, it also took some time for the Ministry of Commerce and Trade, the Ministry of Military Affairs and the Yellow Sea to draw up a transportation plan, so the modification of the flintlock pistol did not have an impact on its southern transportation.

On the afternoon of August 16 of the fifth lunar calendar of Zhou Xiande, Xu Shao'an entered the palace eight days after receiving the holy decree to make guns, and reported to Chai Rong that the "Qingyuan" brothers had received the holy decree, and sent someone to send a reply, saying that the brothers would definitely obey the decree and build 3,000 flintlock pistols for the imperial court within three months with quality and quantity. At the same time, in order to ensure the safety and smoothness of the transportation of guns, it was hoped that the imperial court would agree that the "Qingyuan" brothers would transport the flintlock pistols by sea to the place under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, and then the imperial court would send people to Kaifeng.

Seeing that the "Qingyuan" brothers accepted their will and promised to deliver the guns on time, Chai Rong, who had achieved the goal of strengthening his strength and weakening the potential threat Liliang, killing two birds with one stone, was naturally happy in his heart. Therefore, after he encouraged Xu Shaoan and the "Qingyuan" brothers in his words, he agreed to the other party's request for shipping and the imperial court to complete the part of the transportation from the sea to Kaifeng. He agreed with Xu Shao'an that the "Qingyuan" brothers' sea ships would dock in Binzhou to unload their cargo and hand it over to the official sent by the imperial court to receive the goods, who would be responsible for transporting the goods to Kaifeng.

Coming out of the palace, Xu Shaoan returned to his mansion and reported the relevant information to the committee through the radio as quickly as possible. So, early the next morning, according to the plan reached by the Ministry of Commerce and Trade, the Ministry of Military Affairs, and Huang Hai, 25 four-wheeled carriages loaded with 500 flintlock pistols and corresponding cover goods, escorted by a company of soldiers of the "Flying Dragon Army," set out from the "Liangyuan" and headed for the east sea.