If the leader says a word, the people below will be busy grabbing their hair.

After Shen Shuren explained the research and development tasks after the year, he went back to Wuchang to take care of government affairs a little, listened to the recent reports from all aspects, and was so busy that he dragged it out until the twenty-seventh day of the lunar month, and then he had time to take a boat down the river and prepare to return to Nanjing.

Because I am so busy, I will definitely not be able to reunite with my family during the Chinese New Year this year. Fortunately, Shen Shuren didn't want to reunite with his family, he just wanted to take advantage of the Chinese New Year to walk around the officialdom in Nanjing and lay out some things.

Therefore, on the first day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, even if he arrived in Nanjing, he had nothing to do, but could only enjoy the joy of family.

It is enough to ensure that they can be in Nanjing before and after the Lantern Festival, and it is estimated that the officials of various ministries in Nanjing will also start work at that time, so that it is convenient for Shen Shuren to come to the door to do things.

That's how he manages every day, and everything is based on official business.

In the past few days when Shen Shuren was busy preparing to set off, Song Yingxing, Song Mingde, and Zhou Tieqian were also powerful, and they had already taken advantage of the last few days of the year to make a brief argument.

Although it is still far from making the revolver and carbine trolls that Shen Shuren wants, in a few days, they can finally do a few demonstrative experiments and list the main problems that exist.

Zhou Tie Dan took his apprentices to work overtime overnight, first according to the existing bird gun shape system, nothing else was changed, but the barrel was cut off, the locking mechanism was strengthened outside, and then a small amount of charge was tried to excite, and the bottom of the gas leakage and fire problem was felt to see how serious it was.

The results of the experiment were not as good as expected, and the hands of the musketeers who had been tested in an experiment were burned.

Even with thick leather gloves that had been pre-soaked, it seemed that the extent of the air leak was still underestimated. After a simple adjustment, Song Yingxing decided that the test gunner should wear gloves smeared with wet mud in advance for the next experiment!

After discovering the problem, they also roughly sorted out the main ideas for mitigating air leakage and reducing pressure relief.

After some pondering, it was confirmed that the "paper cartridge shell fixed ammunition" invented last year was not enough to meet the needs of the new breech loading - because there was an opening gap at the tail of the gun chamber, and the oil paper was easy to get stuck in when loading.

In particular, the ammunition bag is originally very tightly attached to the inner diameter of the barrel, and it is necessary to ensure the airtightness of the front, and the better the airtightness, when loading from the back, the paper is easy to be squeezed out, which more or less affects the seal, which aggravates the fire-breathing burns of the hand.

After discovering the problem, Song Yingxing thought of a solution, that is, he could no longer use oiled paper to wrap future reloading ammunition, and the bullets had to be upgraded along with the gun.

On the last day that Shen Shuren left Wuchang Mansion, Song Yingxing reported the problem.

Shen Shuren also attaches great importance to it, saying that the purchase of money, food, resources, and equipment can be spent casually, and this project of improving ammunition and compatible with new guns must be promoted at the same time.

He also asked with a pleasant face: "Sir, in your heart, do you have candidate materials for new ammunition packaging materials?" ”

Song Yingxing thought for a while: "The paper is easy to get stuck and produce gaps, as well as burning ashes, to solve this, I thought at that time whether it could be replaced with beeswax, or seal the ammunition with other wax oil."

When wax and oil are ignited by gunpowder in an instant, they burn more fully than oiled paper, and there is no ash residue, and the wax has good fluidity, even if it is stuck in the gap between the loading port on the rear wall of the gun chamber, the wax oil is easy to stick to the gap, and it can also help alleviate the degree of air leakage and fire.

It's just that the specific wax to use has to be chosen slowly, first, to ensure that it is not too easy to melt and soften, otherwise in the hot summer battle, the pre-loaded ammunition has not been loaded, and it will be covered up, and the lead bullet and gunpowder will be scattered. Even the residual temperature after the previous shot in the chamber of the gun is stimulated, it is possible to bake the wax seal in advance.

There is also the fact that the oil paper is cheap after all, and after changing the wax, the wax used should not be too expensive, otherwise every ammunition will be used to consume some oil. ”

Shen Shuren nodded and reminded casually: "Beeswax is not good, then try paraffin wax or something, just have a research direction." There is no need to be afraid of trial and error when experimenting, as long as the experimental results are recorded in detail, even failed experiments are very valuable. ”

After the order, Shen Shuren said goodbye to Song Yingxing and his entourage, and that night, he took his family and staff to embark on the Yangtze River boat and go down the river.

The question Song Yingxing mentioned at the end reminded Shen Shuren of a historical event he saw in his previous life-

In his previous life, when he was a child, he read foreign history and read about the great ambiguity of the anti-British resistance that occurred in the three countries of Afghanistan in the 1850s, and he was very puzzled.

Because the book says that the fuse incident was that the British colonial army did not respect the locals, forced those local soldiers who did not eat pork, and bit the lard with their teeth to seal the bullets, and the result was a mutiny.

When Shen Shuren was a child, he couldn't understand why the bullet was sealed with grease, and he thought it was just to prevent rust. Now it dawned on me:

In the early breech loader, the air tightness of the gun was too poor, if the bullet could be sealed with a slightly harder grease, and the oil would greasy the gap, it would greatly alleviate the air leakage at the moment of firing, and the loss of chamber pressure could also be significantly reduced.

Shen Shuren would not seal the bullet with lard in the year of famine, and the lard effect was not good. Later, the rear-loading guns equipped by his elite troops were upgraded from paper shells to wax shells.

When producing ammunition, the wax is melted first, and then poured into a mold basically filled with gunpowder and lead bullets, so that the wax wraps and seals the gunpowder and lead bullets in all directions, shapes them into a cylinder, and then cools and demolds.

Such a projectile is also harder, not as easy to deform as a paper bullet case, and the situation that the bullet cannot be stuffed in due to deformation can also be alleviated a lot.

Although this will certainly be a little slower to produce, the finished product is expected to look similar to the cartridge barrels of modern shotguns of later generations.

Shen Shuren couldn't help but think of the No. 12 shotgun in the chicken game, the only difference between the two is that before Shen Shuren's wax shell bullet is launched, he still has to manually puncture the beeswax at the bottom and then reload, so that the propellant can contact the ignition hole at the bottom of the chamber.

The flintlock pistol is not a firing pin gun after all, and it cannot be activated directly by piercing the primer, so make sure that the projectile collides with the flint-smashing spark.

……

The follow-up research and development progress on Song Yingxing's side was only made after Shen Shuren left, and Shen Shuren certainly couldn't know it for a while.

On the twenty-seventh night of the lunar month, Shen Shuren took Chen Yuanyuan, Li Xiangjun, some staff, and his confidant Ding Shen Fu and others, plus a few warships escorting his own soldiers, and hurriedly went down the river from Daye County.

In order to be in a hurry, Shen Shuren let the fleet sail day and night, without docking, and the sailors could rest in shifts.

Daye is at the junction of Huguang and Jiangxi, only one hundred and fifty miles away from Jiujiang.

Therefore, Shen Shuren hugged Chen Yuanyuan and Li Xiangjun in the most luxurious cabin on the boat, hugged him left and right and slept quietly all night, and he had already arrived in Jiujiang at dawn the next day.

Chen Yuanyuan rubbed his face sleepily, leaned out of the porthole, and found that the ship was temporarily berthed on the pier at the mouth of Poyang Lake, and was also quite surprised: "It's so fast, it seems that Chinese New Year's Eve can catch up with Nanjing." ”

Shen Shuren was woken up by Chen Yuanyuan, and said casually with a weak breath:

"It's not so fast. In the middle of winter, it is a northwest wind, from Wuchang to Jiujiang, it is a smooth wind. After the mouth of the lake, the Yangtze River turns from northwest to northeast, and can only use crosswinds.

In the past, I could travel 300 miles in a day and night, and it is estimated that it will be at most 200 miles per day in the future, and from Jiujiang to Nanjing, there are more than 800 miles in a straight line. I still have to stay in Jiujiang a little bit to deal with some official business, so I won't rush. ”

Chen Yuanyuan turned around and persuaded softly: "What kind of official business, do you have to be in such a hurry, is it not easy to deal with it after the year?" The slave family and the monarch are not related, where the son is, where is the home. The son wants to be filial to the old lady. ”

Shen Shuren smiled and explained: "You don't understand what you said about official business, it's an important matter anyway." Before, I explained that Brother Zheng Xian blocked the supplies of Lin Cultivation, and now I have to accept it. Today, you two will rest and play on the boat by yourselves. ”

Between the words, Li Xiangjun also woke up, and hurriedly worked with Chen Yuanyuan to help Shen Shuren wash and dress.

The two daughters were still only wearing bandeau tops, and they didn't have time to dress themselves first, so they shivered from the cold. Shen Shuren also took pity on the fragrance and jade, and hugged them to help heat it.

As soon as I finished cleaning up and had breakfast, there was movement on the dock. It seems that the movement of Shen Shuren's fleet is still relatively large, and there are already visitors waiting there.

……

"Brother Xian has worked hard, how has the harvest been in the past two months?"

A few minutes later, Shen Shuren came to the front cabin with a light robe and graceful demeanor, and met Zheng Chenggong, who had just boarded the ship to report in person.

Zheng Chenggong had already been notified a few days in advance, knowing the eldest brother's itinerary, he was patrolling the river near Jiujiang every day anyway, so he could come as soon as there was news.

"Big brother, you are really a god, you are too accurate, in the past two months, at least seven or eight batches of small boats that Lin Chengcheng tried to smuggle and smuggle in short supply materials, disguised as all kinds of flags.

The gold and silver directly seized by Lin Chengcheng's subordinates alone amounted to more than 200,000 taels! It is estimated that all the thieves looted and saved it a few years ago! Now I want to take it out to buy military supplies to subsidize the soldiers! ”

When Shen Shuren heard this number at first glance, he was still a little surprised, a thief actually had so much money.

But after thinking about it, Lin Chengcheng also claimed to have 20,000 soldiers and horses, and to raise so many troops, more than 200,000 taels of gold and silver was really nothing, and it only cost a dozen taels to spread it on each soldier's head.

Of course, if it is a normal year, a winter to buy subsidies for scarce materials, a little frugality may only use a small half of this figure.

But isn't it that the previous batches were intercepted by Zheng Chenggong, Lin Chengyang lost the gold and silver and didn't buy the materials, so he had to try to change the method again, which made the bloodletting more thorough.

Moreover, Lin Chengcheng is smuggling after all, and the person who supplies him also has the risk of being a bandit, so of course the things must be sold at a higher price.

Can the price of the dirty channel be the same price as the normal channel?

After thinking about it, Shen Shuren couldn't help but touch his beard and groaned: "This Lin cultivation is willing to pay for blood, it seems that the mountains are blocked by heavy snow in the middle of winter, and life is really not easy."

However, he can try so many times, which shows that he is also sure of the original supply channels and friendships. Could it be that there are many people in Jiangxi who are bandits? ”

Zheng Chenggong's eyes lit up, revealing an expression of admiration: "You guessed too accurately, I really tortured and confessed to a few rich businessmen who were bandits, but just a few days ago, I didn't dare to startle the snake, and the confession and physical evidence were all on my boat." How to use it is up to you, big brother. ”

When Shen Shuren heard this, he was also quite excited: "Good job!" The handle should be pinched in the hand and not triggered, so as to have the greatest deterrent effect. Hurry up and bring all the evidence to my ship. ”