"You're probably going to need this. Wang Tom handed Luo Shengdong a strange little object.

Luo Shengdong took it and put it on his face according to Tom Wang's instructions, and found that the front of his eyes was covered by a layer of transparent things.

"That way you don't have to close your eyes when you get shot. Tom explained patiently to him.

Luo Shengdong suddenly realized, and suddenly felt that the practicality of this gadget of Haihan people was really very strong. In order to avoid burning the eyes with gunpowder splashing when firing, the musketeers of this era fired with their eyes closed at the last moment of the firing. And if you want to hit a target a little farther away, this kind of shooting obviously requires a lot of luck.

When Luo Shengdong first enlisted in the army, he was assigned to a bird soldier and received systematic training. Although the fire gun in his hand is different from the bird gun and Lu Mi gun currently equipped by the Ming army, the general structure of the gun body is the same, and Luo Shengdong will not have any obstacles to operate.

Luo Shengdong first cleaned up the priming hole and the priming pot in the middle of the body. This place is very easy to be clogged with gunpowder residue, and if you are not careful, you will fail to ignite and cause the launch to fail.

Then Luo Shengdong picked up the primer, carefully poured it into the primer pot, then closed the lid and gently blew away the primer scattered outside the primer pot. Then pick up the vial marked "Propellant" and pour the propellant from the muzzle into the barrel. Luo Shengdong noticed that the gunpowder used by the Haihan people was not in the form of his usual powder, but in the form of tiny granules. According to the normal operating procedures, the gunpowder can be filled with as much lead as it is, and the weight of the gunpowder should be equal to the weight of the bullet. However, Luo Shengdong did not understand the difference in performance between this gunpowder and the gunpowder he used before, and out of caution, he still subtracted a little from the usual amount.

Luo Shengdong picked up a lead bullet from the small dish on the table and loaded it into the muzzle. Just by the weight he felt, Luo Shengdong was almost certain that the caliber of the arquebus made by Haihan should be the same as the bird gun equipped by the Ming army.

Luo Shengdong stretched into the barrel with a strip, tamped the projectile and propellant, and then lit the fire rope with a lighter, fixed the fire rope on the fire rope clamp on the gun body, leveled the fire arquebus, and aimed it at the target a hundred steps away. The target was newly replaced by Wang Tom's order just now, a wooden board with several layers of concentric circles painted with white paint, even if it was placed a hundred steps away, Luo Shengdong could see it very clearly.

Luo Shengdong held the arquebus steadily, pulled the trigger, and at the same time as the arquebus fell, the lid of the primer pot opened, and the burning gunpowder emitted a dazzling white light, and then he felt a shock in his hand, and this bullet should have been shot. But at the same time as the arquebus was fired, the white smoke caused by the burning of gunpowder blocked Luo Shengdong's vision, so he couldn't see the results of his shooting for a while.

Luo Shengdong was not in a hurry to see if he hit the target, and after seeking the consent of Wang Tom and others, he tried firing five more rounds before reluctantly putting down the arquebus.

"How?" Tao Donglai asked with interest. As one of the future customers of the arms business, Luo Shengdong's experience is obviously very important, which is a reference for the relevant departments to improve the arquebus process in the future.

Luo Shengdong pondered for a while and said: "This firearm is slightly heavier than the bird gun equipped by our Ming army, but when it shoots, the gun body is extremely stable, presumably it is the effect of this wooden handle against the shoulder." ”

The biggest difference between this arquebus and the Ming army's bird gun is the butt at the back of the gun. Although the bird gun also has a structure similar to the butt of a gun, it is more suitable to hold it under the armpit, so that the stability of the gun is naturally not much better. This strange posture of the gun did not seem strange at the time, because it was impossible to open the eyes and aim when shooting, so the height of the gun did not have to be the same as the head. The arquebus adopts the butt design of modern rifles, and when the gun is fired, the butt is against the shoulder, and most of the recoil is removed by the body, and the stability naturally wins.

Luo Shengdong then said: "I deliberately reduced the amount of gunpowder when I reloaded, but the power of the explosion seems to be better than that of a bird's gun, and I guess the production of this gunpowder is also unique. ”

Tao Donglai nodded lightly with a smile, of course, the future arms trade will not only sell guns, but also sell ammunition. In order for the sold weapon to have normal power in use, it must be paired with the special gunpowder made by the Travelers. This combination design is not only to make a few more money, but also to prevent problems before they occur, even if a potential enemy buys a weapon through certain channels, he has to be constrained by others when it comes to ammunition. After the introduction of fixed-loading rifles and artillery in a few years, the effect of this restriction will become even more obvious.

Soon the militia of the new barracks retrieved the target that Luo Shengdong had just aimed and shot, and Luo Shengdong was surprised to find that the one-inch thick wooden board had been pierced by bullets through several holes, and the bullets could still maintain such power at this distance, which was already greatly better than the bird's gun, and it must also be the effect of the unique gunpowder. It was difficult for the Ming army to hit the target at a distance of 100 paces, and only a few well-made Lumi guns could do it. And even if it hits, it is difficult to have the power to penetrate the target. The arquebuses of the Haihan people can directly penetrate an inch-thick plank at this distance, so at least they maintain the power of breaking cotton armor. If an ordinary bird gun wants to penetrate the cotton armor, it probably has to shorten this distance.

"Six shots and three hits, the marksmanship is still quite accurate. Wang Tom praised Luo Shengdong's marksmanship accuracy.

"I'm negligent in practice, I'm smiling!" Luo Shengdong gestured with his fists quite smugly.

Qi Jiguang's "New Book of Ji Xiao" has clear requirements for the accuracy of bird shooting: "Eighty steps to stand five feet high, two feet wide wooden card, three shots and one hit, ten shots and seven hits for fine." "The target that crossed the trees just now is at most two feet in diameter, and Luo Shengdong can maintain a fifty percent hit rate at a distance of 100 steps, plus it is the first time he has used this arquebus, this result is indeed very difficult. In fact, when the military police department tried firing before, because they were not very accustomed to the way of shooting, many of them were one out of five, and none of them could score all the shots at this distance.

"The accuracy of this firearm is comparable to that of the Lumi gun, and the power is especially superior, so it must be quite difficult to build, right?" Luo Shengdong said cautiously.

Since Luo Shengdong was interested in taking the initiative to ask questions, Tao Donglai was naturally willing to answer his questions: "I know that it is very difficult to build the bird gun used by your Ming army, and it often takes a month for skilled craftsmen to complete it. But our arquebus is not so troublesome, different positions produce different parts, and it only takes about a day for a skilled worker to assemble a gun. ”

Luo Shengdong's eyes widened suddenly, he didn't know if what Tao Donglai said was true, but if the Haihan people could really shorten the time for making this kind of fire gun to one day, it would be a great thing. Let's not talk about the cost, just the speed of this equipment unit is the Ming army can not catch up, it is rare to change the outfit for decades, you must know that the Yazhou defenders are now equipped with bird guns and Lu Mi guns, and a considerable part of them are old things in the Wanli period, which can be used to scare people in peacetime, and it is difficult to use them in actual combat in wartime, because no one knows whether the rusty bird guns will be blown up directly when they are fired. If it weren't for this, the last time Luo Shengdong led the team to sneak attack through the crowd, he would not have been beaten with a casualty ratio of fifteen to zero.

Of course, Tao Donglai's statement is actually watery, because if the crossers want to manufacture firearms on a large scale, they will definitely take the form of production in which parts are processed separately and then assembled on the assembly line, and this so-called "day" is actually calculated according to the number of man-hours consumed, and the actual time required is more than this number. But even so, the industrialized manufacturing method will leave the Ming Dynasty counterparts far behind in terms of production efficiency, and the corresponding is a huge gap in manufacturing costs.

It is recorded in the "Artifact Spectrum" written by Zhao Shizhen, a firearms expert in the Ming Dynasty, that "the value of the gun is only the cost of one person to settle down and one month's food." "According to the price of goods at that time, the settlement fee for a soldier was between five and ten taels depending on the region. Because the process is more delicate and complex, the cost of the more accurate Lumi gun is almost double that of this. According to what Luo Shengdong learned from his father, the purchase price of these Lumi guns distributed by the imperial court to the border army during the Wanli period was about 20 taels of silver, and the bird guns were also around 10 taels of silver. Despite the high price, Da Ming gritted his teeth and widely equipped the troops with individual firearms based on bird guns.

Luo Shengdong is now familiar with the traversals, so he told him a little about what he knew. After listening to this, Tao Donglai asked Tom Wang: "How about it, how much advantage can our products have in terms of cost?"

Tom Wang shook his head and said: "It's useless for you to ask me, I'm just engaged in technology, not cost management." All I know is that our arquebuses will definitely be cheaper than the price Ronaldo said, but as for how much lower, you have to ask the person in charge of the project. ”

Luo Shengdong shook his head and said: "No need to bother, this fire gun is excellent, but even if the price is low, Yazhou Water Village does not have the right to buy it by itself." The replacement of ordnance must at least be reported to the capital city of Qiongzhou. ”

Tao Donglai sighed, shook his head and sighed: "Bureaucracy is harmful!"

However, this arquebus is still in the trial production stage, and even if it starts to be produced in small quantities, it will definitely be equipped with militia units first. As for the export of arms, it is unlikely in the short term, at least until the technical department makes more high-tech flintlock pistols to ensure that there is a technological gap between its own armament and the arms it exports. Therefore, Tao Donglai is not too anxious about the export of arms, since Luo Shengdong has indicated that there are still difficulties, it is better to take it step by step.