Since the seventh year of Chongzhen, John Tang has been involved in the casting, storage, and transportation of Ming artillery, as well as the manufacture of gunpowder and shells.

However, now that Bi Maokang is ill, Zhu Youzhen cannot let him be in charge of the affairs of the Artillery Bureau for the time being, and can only let him temporarily act in charge of the affairs of the Artillery Bureau and be responsible for the research and development of the Artillery Bureau.

"Tang Qing is also an old minister in this dynasty, and has made a lot of meritorious contributions to the Ming Dynasty, I let you stay in the Qintian Prison is considered a condescending talent, and in the future, you will develop firearms for me in the Ordnance Institute, and I will definitely allow you to be a high-ranking official in the future, which is higher than the three-rank military position of Chadri just now, and can even be a hereditary title, how can he be a baron of Chadri compared to my Dukelord of the Ming Dynasty."

After Qu Shiyun returned to the city with Chadri and other Portuguese soldiers, Zhu Youzhen came to Tang Ruowang and gave him to sit at Tang Ruowang, and ordered him to sit under him.

Tang Ruowang half-sat on the pestle brought by Wang Chengen, curled his neck, and his thick white beard became more and more translucent in the fiery red charcoal fire.

At this time, there were already snowflakes outside the house again.

Tang Ruowang glanced back at the snowflakes that melted on the ground baked by the charcoal fire, and then said: "Your Majesty, Wechen is over fifty years old, and I don't want to waste time on this gun, I implore Your Majesty to see that Wechen has been doing things for the Ming Dynasty for so many years, and the quasi-ministers have gone out to preach in various places, if Your Majesty is willing to build a church in Nanjing, Wechen will be even more grateful." ”

Zhu Youzhen didn't expect that Tang Ruowang was still thinking about his missionary career.

"I don't object to my people believing in religion, including foreign religions, but they also have to obey my rules, now the Ming Dynasty is in danger, not when Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and Hundred Religions preach the teachings, at this time the Ming Dynasty can only have one faith, that is I!"

Zhu Youzhen went to Qufu at the beginning, just to let the officials who followed him collapse their belief in Confucianism, and only obey their own national ideas, and now in front of Tang Ruowang, he also said so.

"Of course, I can promise you, as long as Aiqing helps me destroy the Tartars, and when the Ming Dynasty is unified, I will allow you to teach apprentices in the Ming Dynasty, and even build churches, but now you have to honestly develop firearms for me, if you don't agree, I will not only not allow you to preach, but will also kill you, because I am not sure if you will serve the Tartars in the future!"

Tang Ruowang's face showed surprise, he didn't expect that His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would actually say that the Ming Dynasty could only have one faith, and let himself, a missionary, continue to make guns and cannons for the Ming Dynasty, which made him inexplicably a little angry: "You are too domineering!" This is not what a civilized nation should be! ”

At this time, Li Ruolian's embroidered spring knife had already appeared on Tang Ruowang's neck, if it weren't for Zhu Youzhen's wave just now, Tang Ruowang's head would have already rolled to the ground.

Tang Ruowang was also shocked into a cold sweat, and he didn't know why he suddenly said such a sentence in a rebellious way just now.

Zhu Youzhen smiled coldly: "That's right, I am the domineering emperor!" ”

Tang Ruowang reluctantly chose to obey: "Your Majesty the Emperor, Weichen can choose to promise you, but I hope that you can fulfill your promise one day and wait until the day of the unification of the Ming Dynasty, and allow me to preach freely." ”

"I have a joke!"

After Zhu Youzhen spoke, he got up and took Tang Ruowang to the Fire Gun Bureau, and pointed to the craftsmen in a few large bungalows: "I know that you are better at casting cannons, but the worst thing in Daming is not cannons, but guns, and now the four thousand craftsmen in front of you, some make three-eyed guns, some make bird guns, and some make Lu Mi guns, and I now want you to take them to make me a firearm like the Portuguese soldiers just now." ”

Zhu Youzhen said that he asked Wang Chengen to immediately go to Chadri to borrow a flintlock pistol without an arquebus.

Here, Zhu Youzhen told John Tang about the specific requirements and prospects for the manufacture of the Great Flame Gun.

For the musket, Zhu Youzhen is not very clear about the structure, but he still knows the basic direction of the evolution of the musket.

At present, it is basically the world of muskets and arquebuses, and the so-called muskets and arquebuses are distinguished according to the different ways in which gunpowder is fired.

The musket is an era behind the arquebus, and at present, most of the equipment in Europe should be equipped with arquebuses, and the flintlock pistols fired by flint impact should not have reached the popularization stage.

And now Daming has a musket, an arquebus, and a bird gun is an arquebus, but it is not as advanced as the heavy arquebus of the Portuguese soldiers, and Zhu Youzhen has no intention of letting Daming continue to improve the arquebus.

Although the flintlock pistol has not yet been fully popularized, historical experience tells him that the future will be the world of flintlock pistols.

Moreover, as long as flintlock muskets were popularized, future improvements in firearms would be nothing more than the appearance of loading and rifling and gunpowder.

It is equivalent to that once Daming successfully manufactures and popularizes flintlock pistols and forms a combat effect, then Daming's firearms manufacturing will directly enter another milestone.

Bi Maokang is the originator of the Ming Suishou pistol, although the flintlock pistol he made may still have defects or may be related to the lack of financial resources of the government in the late Ming Dynasty, so that the flintlock pistol was not popularized quickly, but Zhu Youzhen felt that allowing Bi Maokang to participate in the production of the flintlock pistol could make the popularization of the Daming flintlock pistol develop rapidly.

However, the fly in the ointment is that Bi Maokang is still sick.

Now let Tang Ruowang make flintlock pistols, Zhu Youzhen is not sure if Tang Ruowang can make them, but fortunately, the Portuguese soldiers brought real objects, which can be used as a reference when the time comes, plus Bi Maokang's "Illustrated Description of Weapons", and he does not worry about creating flintlock pistols that can replace arquebuses and be used on the battlefield.

"Your Majesty, Wechen has been in Middle-earth for too long, and he doesn't know much about this kind of firearm, this gun has no fire rope, and he doesn't know how to start it, it's really strange!"

Tang Ruowang took the flintlock pistol and looked at it for a long time, but finally said such a sentence to Zhu Youzhen, which made Zhu Youzhen feel disappointed, so he had to personally hand the drawings drawn by himself based on his impressions when he learned about the flintlock pistol on the Internet in his previous life to Tang Ruowang:

"This is called a flintlock pistol, and the key lies in the flint and the iron cover, through which the spark from the impact of the iron cover and the flint ignites the gunpowder, and the iron cover can protect against rain, so this gun is faster to fire than the arquebus, and it is more adaptable to bad weather."

Tang Ruowang heard Zhu Youzhen say this, and then looked at it carefully for a while: "Your Majesty has such a master in the court, why bother to let Weichen and a white man bother to study this way, according to the drawings made by this person, the flintlock pistol is not difficult to make, and the proportion and length caliber are also marked on it, my God, what the hell is the granularity of ammunition!" ”

"What's the matter, now I have a request, immediately according to the drawings provided to you, this Portuguese soldier's flintlock pistol, and Bi Maokang's "Illustrated Description of Weapons", I will make a flintlock pistol that is even more sophisticated than this Portuguese soldier's flintlock pistol, and what I want is that each part must have clear specifications, and an ordinary person can assemble a flintlock pistol according to the drawings."

Zhu Youzhen said this to Tang Ruowang, and Tang Ruowang couldn't help but make a difficulty, but he had to grit his teeth and agree.