"Your Highness, look, these are all the firearms made by the armor factory."

In the Ming Shifang Armor Factory in the capital, Sun Liang, who had a flattering face, was introducing the various firearms placed in front of him to Zhu Youzhen and Wang Chengen.

There are no less than 30 types of these firearms, and they vary in variety.

Zhu Youzhen glanced at it, and Sun Liang also introduced:

"Your Highness, my Great Ming Firearms have two main categories from their classification." So saying, he ran to the table where the firecracker was placed, and said:

"The first category is firearms that are lit with hand-helds, such as three-eyed guns, bird guns, abduction guns, lianzi guns, thunderbolts, five-thunder machines, guns, and a swarm of bees."

"This kind of firearm is generally filled with lead bullets, iron bullets, arrows, etc., and its range is only a few dozen to 200 steps."

Sun Liang took a one-foot-long, short-like thing to explain to Zhu Youzhen, but Zhu Youzhen didn't believe his explanation.

In the Ming Dynasty, one step was 1.6 meters, and 200 steps were 320 meters.

This range is not even attainable by flintlock pistols in a hundred years, and can only be surpassed by rear-loading guns in two hundred years.

If the Ming Dynasty really had a firearm with a range of 300 meters, it would have dominated the world long ago.

Today, he rushed to the armor factory early in the morning, not to listen to Sun Liang's bragging, so he went straight to the point:

"This distance, just listen to the craftsmen, you call the craftsmen, I want to listen to the specific power, and those who say it will not be punished"

"Huh!" Hearing this, Sun Liang was sweating profusely, so he could only call the craftsmen of all kinds of firearms in the armor factory.

Maybe it's because Zhu Youzhen sent the silver last time, and their image is not as unkempt and dirty as before.

Although he was still wearing tattered clothes, it was not difficult to see that he was in his work clothes, and his face and neck were relatively clean.

"From here on, you will introduce the power of these firearms to Gu one by one, but anyone who exaggerates it will be deducted."

As soon as Zhu Youzhen said his words, more than a dozen craftsmen subconsciously shrank their necks.

"Didn't you hear? Don't know how to obey? Sun Liang looked at this group of dumb melons and whispered to them angrily.

"Yes!" The craftsmen were beaten by Sun Liang and finally knew how to communicate with Zhu Youzhen.

In this regard, Zhu Youzhen frowned, and then pointed to the first item on the table, which was also the most used three-eyed gun by the border army of the Ming Dynasty:

"Starting with this firearm, let's introduce them one by one, and you only need to tell Lone, the distance at which the bullets and arrows of this firearm are missed, how many steps can pierce the armor, and how many layers of armor can be pierced."

"Hu ......" Hearing Zhu Youzhen's words, more than a dozen craftsmen breathed a sigh of relief, they were afraid that Zhu Youzhen would ask them to chew the words, and it would be difficult for them.

Thinking of this, a craftsman in his forties stepped forward and carefully prepared to kneel, but Zhu Youzhen frowned and said:

"You don't need to make a fool of yourself."

"Yes...... Forehead...... Yes, sir. The craftsman glanced at Sun Liang weakly, found that Sun Liang glared at him, shrunk his neck and walked to the table, and introduced to Zhu Youzhen:

"Your Highness, this is the three-eyed god gun, my favorite for the border army, it is made of iron or crude steel, gunpowder is added to the gun pipe when used, and finally filled with steel balls or cast iron blocks, crushed iron sand, etc."

"Then add a fire rope to the small hole, light the fire rope when used, detonate the loaded gunpowder to fire the projectile, and the three guns can be fired in turns, and after firing, they can be used as a blunt weapon to swing."

"Where's the power?" Zhu Youzhen didn't expect the three-eyed god gun, just to show other craftsmen the process of talking to him.

As for the craftsman, after hearing this, he hesitated before glancing at Sun Liang.

"What do you want me to do? Your Highness asks you how powerful you are, and you will tell the truth, if you dare to learn from those sour talents, you will not be spared. ”

Sun Liang jumped to his feet angrily, but he also figured out Zhu Youzhen's character.

As long as Zhu Youzhen says something, there will be no time to regret it, so as long as you tell the truth.

"Yes......" Hearing Sun Liang's words, the craftsman could only honestly explain:

"If it is used by foot soldiers, ten steps can penetrate the leather armor, but the power is not great, unless you shoot the cheek, the northern captives can fight again, if it is double armor, even if you are close to the gun, it is difficult to penetrate the armor, you can only shoot the cheek to hurt the enemy."

"If you are a horseman, it takes seven steps to penetrate one layer of armor, and it is difficult to penetrate double armor."

The craftsman's words were very honest, and Zhu You couldn't help nodding when he heard it.

The three-eyed eye gun as a fire door gun, the power itself is a weapon to deal with the Mongolian cavalry war horses in the early Ming Dynasty, if you want to really penetrate the armor, only at a distance of ten steps, that is, sixteen meters, can penetrate the most basic leather armor.

But after this penetration, it can only cause very small injuries to people, and it is almost useless unless it hits an important part.

As for the double armor mentioned by the craftsman, it is a cloth face armor on the outside, a chain mail on the inside, or a piercing armor on the inside, and a cotton armor on the outside.

These two methods of armor-piercing are Nurhachi's requirements for the Ming Dynasty's firearms and the Houjin armor stomach.

So much so that the cavalry of the Ming army and the cavalry of the Houjin Army after that, one side used a three-eyed gun and the other side used a bow and arrow, taking turns to hit each other's faces.

To put it bluntly, it is useless to hit other parts, only shooting in the face can kill the opponent to the greatest extent.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen glanced at Sun Liang, and Sun Liang also said: "Okay, you can go down, and the next one will come up." ”

As soon as he said this, the craftsman fled as if he had fled, and the next craftsman on the scene was about fifty years old, and the firearm introduced was a kind of firearm that Zhu Youzhen was more familiar with.

"Your Highness, this is a Lu Mi gun, weighing about seven or eight catties, some of which are six catties, about six feet long, and there is a steel knife at the tail, which can be used as a sabre if the enemy is approaching."

"The way to use it is to pinch the mechanism, wait for the gunpowder to ignite, and then aim the gun at the north and release it."

"This gun can hit a distance of 100 steps, if you wear cloth face armor, you can make a contribution in 40 steps, and double armor can do 20 steps."

Lu Mi and Zhu Youzhen are very familiar with it, just because Qi Jin's Zhejiang soldiers use this gun.

This gun is about two meters long, and most of the time it is played with the chariots of the car battalion, but because it is too long, it makes it cumbersome to reload, and it is familiar with shooting three rounds in a minute.

But the effect is also very great, that is, as the craftsman said, even if the enemy is wearing double armor, he can shoot at a distance of twenty paces and thirty-two meters.

However, this era is a smoothbore gun, and the hit is all a matter of luck.

This problem is not a problem for Zhu Youzhen, he has been a big soldier for two years, he doesn't know anything else, and the rifling can be said to be clear, but I don't know if the craftsmanship of this era can be made.

If he remembers correctly, there was a straight rifling on the European side more than a hundred years ago, and in terms of muskets and artillery, it was clearly lagging behind Europe.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen asked his own question and said:

"If you make something like a crossbow machine and hit it, and then place a flint and engrave a spiral pattern on the inside of the barrel, can you make it?"

Zhu Youzhen's words were too advanced, the old craftsman looked at Sun Liang, Sun Liang motioned for him to speak, and the old craftsman said:

"A flint crossbow machine may be able to be made, but it may require fine flint to ignite, and if it can't be ignited after being pulled, it becomes difficult."

"As for the spiral pattern engraved on the inside of the barrel, this may be cut by hooking, but after hooking, you need to cut off the front slightly barrel by one inch."

Zhu Youzhen could understand what the old craftsman said, and the other party just wanted a specific drawing.

"Sun Liang, give me pen and ink."

"Yes!" Hearing Zhu Youzhen call himself, Sun Liang hurriedly asked someone to get pen and ink, and Zhu Youzhen also took the pen under the gaze of everyone, and drew it according to the flintlock pistol he thought.

He drew a diagram of the front, side, internal structure and external structure, and then summoned the old craftsman to say:

"How, I think that's it? Can it be made? ”

When he said this, Zhu Youzhen breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

He didn't expect the flintlock pistol to hang Nurhachi, because that wasn't realistic.

Sure enough, as soon as he thought so, the old craftsman spoke:

"If you do this, you should be able to make it, but with this line, if you use marbles, you can only use lead marbles."

"Lead marbles are soft, and if they are used against the enemy, I'm afraid that twenty steps may not be able to penetrate the double armor."

"You don't have to worry about this, as long as you can make it, I will ask someone to remove your craftsman registration and allocate a hundred acres of land to you at the foot of Yan Mountain." Zhu Youzhen, who heard this, smiled.

He knew the power of the flintlock pistol, even with lead bullets, a distance of forty meters could pierce Houjin's double armor, and even a white armor with triple armor could be shot at about twenty meters.

The most important thing is that the flintlock pistol has a fast rate of fire, which can shoot four times a minute with a skilled hand, and the hit rate is greatly improved.

This cannot be a decisive weapon, but it can improve the combat power of the army of the Yanshan battalion.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen picked up a one-foot-long, pistol-like crutch and said:

"It's the same with this crutch gun, according to the structure I gave you, shorten the gun tube to one foot five inches."

"If you can make it, you are the thousand households of the Yanshan Ordnance Institute!"

"Obey orders, obey orders......" Hearing Zhu Youzhen say this, the old craftsman didn't dare to pat his chest and say that he would definitely be able to make it, but became empty-hearted.

"Cheng En, take someone to bring this old master and his family, as well as the other firearm craftsmen of the armor factory he fancies, to the Yanshan camp, and ask Man Gui to build another outer camp in the north of the armor factory."

"The slave takes the command." Seeing Zhu Youzhen say this, Wang Chengen bowed slightly, and Sun Liang also came up and said with a smile:

"Your Highness, do you still want to see these other firearms?"

"Talk about artillery." Although Zhu Youzhen was very interested in a swarm of bees, that thing didn't have much effect, and the Five Thunder God Machine that looked like a revolver was too cumbersome to fit Zhu Youzhen's idea.

For him, the simpler the better, so he only needs light artillery and heavy artillery.

When Sun Liang heard this, he flattered a few artillery craftsmen and said with a smile:

"There are more than ten kinds of artillery cast by His Royal Highness and the armor factory, and the favorite ones of the border army are the general cannon, the exterminating cannon, the attack cannon, the tiger squat cannon and the Furlong machine gun."

After that, Sun Liang said to the artillery craftsman who handed over: "Don't you introduce it to Your Highness?" ”

Hearing this, a craftsman in his thirties stepped forward, walked in front of the three cannons, and explained to Zhu Youzhen:

"Your Highness, this is my Ming Dynasty's great general cannon, and it is also the heavy artillery in the army right now."

"This cannon is cast with pig iron, with three feet, four feet, and five feet as three specifications, and the weight is divided into 1,000 catties, 1,500 catties and 2,000 catties."

"There is a shining star in front of this cannon, and there is a light door in the back, the charge is more than one catty, and the stone projectiles of seven catties, three catties and one catty are fired, and the general cannon can shoot one mile, and the thousand five hundred catties are less than one and a half miles, and the two thousand catties can reach about two miles."

"This cannon is carried in a two-horse cart, the wheels are high in front and low in the rear, and it can be fired directly from the car, which has great power."

After that, he saluted Zhu Youzhen and retreated, and the next craftsman walked to another cannon mounted on the gun carriage and said to Zhu Youzhen:

"Your Highness, this is an offensive cannon, with a vehicle-mounted cannon, two wheels under it, a car box on the top, the gun body embedded in it, and 5 iron hoops."

"There are 2 iron anchors on each side of the carriage, and the iron anchors are placed on the ground and compacted with soil to reduce recoil."

"The cannon is three feet long, made of pure iron, weighs six hundred catties, is loaded with eight taels of stone bullets, can hit two hundred paces away, and is used to drag it with a mule and horse on weekdays, and can be used to maneuver with the army."

"Okay, these cannons are so heavy, I need artillery that can shoot two miles without exploding, and it is also light......" Zhu Youzhen became more and more dissatisfied the more he looked at it, because these did not meet the light and heavy artillery he wanted.

The army heavy artillery he wants is only about 1,000 catties, and the light artillery should not exceed 300 catties.

However, as soon as he said this, the craftsman who introduced the artillery glanced at Sun Liang hesitantly.

"Say! If you have a way, you can say it! Sun Liang is in a hurry, he is still waiting to curry favor with Zhu Youzhen and become the eunuch of the Palm Seal of the Military Bureau.

When the craftsman saw Sun Liang say this, he could only say:

"Your Highness, if you want the cannon to be light, it's not impossible."

"Tell me about it." Zhu Youzhen frowned and asked, and the craftsman also said:

"The iron cannon is not powerful enough, and the weight is heavy, all because of the use of inferior iron, and my iron cannon is famous all over the world, if you use high-quality iron as the cannon body, and then use copper as the cannon core, and add high-quality coal, you can make a high-quality iron cannon."

"Not only can the weight be reduced, but the risk of exploding can also be reduced, and the distance of the bullet can also be increased."

"It's just ......," said the craftsman at the end, hesitating:

"It's just that if you use this method to cast a thousand catties of artillery, I'm afraid that the cost of a cannon will be about sixty taels."

"Just sixty taels?" Hearing this price, Zhu Youzhen thought that he had misheard, and Sun Liang next to him hurriedly stepped forward and said:

"Your Highness doesn't know, my Daming iron cannon casting technology far surpasses Xiyi, those Xiyi are good at most to make copper cannons, but the cost of copper cannons is high, and a thousand catties of cannon costs two hundred taels of silver."

"In comparison, our iron cannon technology is superb, I heard that among the western Yi of Europa, only Dark Elia (England) has mastered the iron cannon casting technology, but their iron cannon is not as good as our court."

Speaking of this, Sun Liang smiled a little embarrassedly: "It's that some people in the imperial court have deducted the first-class iron, causing me to shoot the artillery, ...... Hey hey ......"

Sun Liang didn't say it too clearly, but Zhu Youzhen could guess it.

He remembered that in his previous life, he had read a letter written by a Spanish missionary to the Spanish emperor, mentioning that the iron cannon casting technology of the Ming Dynasty was superb, and the copper cannon technology was not bad.

The artillery imitated by the Ming Dynasty surpassed the Spanish artillery in terms of performance and quality.

Xiong Tingbi once used the double-loading gunpowder method to test the Spaniards' Luzon bronze cannon, blew it up, and then proudly told the court that the Luzon bronze cannon was very poor, and it was not as good as the exterminating cannon made by the forging method.

Later, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, he secretly learned the iron cannon casting of the Ming Dynasty, and the Portuguese Bugarao Cannon Foundry in Macao once became the first in the world arms trade in the 17th and 18th centuries.

But if that's the case, then why did the Ming buy the Portuguese artillery? Zhu Youzhen didn't understand this, so he asked:

"According to what you said, since my firearms are better than Xiyi's, why is Xiyi's artillery inferior to Xiyi's fire in terms of distance and power?"

"Uh...... This...... This ......" Sun Liang couldn't speak for a while, but at this time, an artillery craftsman came out and said:

"Your Highness, the grass people think that it probably has something to do with the appearance of Xiyi's artillery."

"Look?" When Zhu Youzhen heard this, he turned his head to look at the Ming Dynasty artillery next to him.

At this time, he seemed to notice that something was wrong.

According to his memories of visiting some military museums, the caliber and medicine room of ancient artillery should be small in caliber and large in medicine room.

But at the moment, the medicine room of the Ming Dynasty artillery is not large, and it is even almost the same as the caliber.

"I ......" Zhu Youzhen wanted to scold his mother, even if he was a big soldier and not an artilleryman, but he also knew that if the part of the artillery chamber was not stressed enough, there would be a risk of exploding.

From the chamber to the muzzle, the stress gradually increased, and at present, the thickness of the chamber of the Daming artillery was insufficient, and the barrel of the gun actually paid a lot of useless weight because of the same wall thickness everywhere.

In such a cannon shape, after the gunpowder is burned, the force on the chamber is the greatest, and the muzzle is gradually reduced, and the thickness of the barrel wall is the same.

Zhu Youzhen thought that scolding was not fake, obviously the iron cannon casting technology surpassed the West, but because of the shape of the artillery and the problem of corrupt officials, the Ming artillery could not beat the West, which was simply a shame.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen took a deep breath and said:

"You go to the Yanshan camp together, and I will draw a map for you later, and you will cast artillery according to that drawing."

"Obey the order...... more than a dozen artillery craftsmen responded one after another, and Zhu Youzhen also calmed down and said:

"Any other firearms?"

"Yes! Your Highness, there is. Sun Liangxian, who finally found an opportunity to insert the topic, said with a smile:

"In addition to artillery and firearms, I also have mines, mines and other firearms."

"Landmines? Mine? "Zhu Youzhen was stunned, are these two things things that appeared in this era?

However, he was not stunned for long, and Sun Liang told Zhu Youzhen about the mines and mines.

The landmine had a prototype at the end of the Song Dynasty, and it was called the earth-shaking thunder at that time.

This weapon could be planted in a pass area, and when the enemy approached, it would be detonated with a slow-burning fire rope to kill the enemy, which was also the prototype of the early landmines.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were documents on the use of mines, and Jiao Yu in the Yongle period recorded in the "Fire Dragon Artifact Formation" the preparation methods of mines such as "mine bombing battalion", "self-committed artillery", "explosive cannon", "stone explosive cannon" and "invincible mine cannon".

As for the mines, they were developed in the 28th year of Jiajing, and they were also called "underwater mines," which were mainly used to crack down on the invading Japanese invaders along the coast.

It used a wooden box as a thunder shell, putty glued to the seams, black powder was contained in it, and its firing mechanism was unknotted with a long rope, and it was detonated by human fire.

There are 3 iron anchors under the wooden box to control the depth of the mine body in the water.

Subsequently, during the Imjin War, at the request of the naval division, in order to block Japan's delivery of supplies to Korea, the War Bureau invented a drifting mine.

This kind of mine, which uses incense as a timing fuse, is called the "underwater dragon king cannon" by the craftsmen and sailors of the War Bureau.

Perhaps because I think this thing is easier to use, in the twenty-seventh year of Wanli, a thousand households called Wang Minghe along the coast invented the "underwater thunder" with ropes as the contact line, and destroyed enemy ships in naval battles many times.

However, it is still the same old problem, because there is no money, so the mines and mines made by the War Bureau and the Ministry of Industry are not of good quality.

"To put it this way, the Ming Dynasty made mines and mines hundreds of years ahead of Europe and the United States?" Zhu Youzhen was a little speechless, and then he was angry.

So many good inventions have not been improved because there is no silver.

Or maybe after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, they should have seen these mines and mines, but they didn't use them, which is really ......

"Alas......" Zhu Youzhen felt a little tired, and could only say to Sun Liang:

"Get some minesmiths and minesmiths to the Yanshan camp, as for your business, wait for it."

tomato

"That artillery ......" Sun Liang remembered the artillery that Zhu Youzhen asked him to make before.

"Don't make the guns and artillery for the time being, and the ones that are made will be transported to the Yanshan camp." Zhu Youzhen explained:

"As for the armor stomach, safflower cloth face armor made of 40,000, flying saucer helmet 40,000, chain mail 40,000, arm armor 40,000, and other weapons according to 40,000 people."

"The armor factory still has enough silver, right?"

"It's not enough ......," Sun Liang said with some embarrassment:

"The War Bureau can receive 50,000 taels each from the military department and the internal treasury every year, and according to the price of the capital, 40,000 saffron cloth armor and flying saucer helmets need a total of 180,000 taels."

"A set of chain mail and gauntlets is 5 taels, 40,000 sets are 200,000 taels, and other gourd hammers and seven-force bows, spears, waist knives and other objects are about 50,000 taels or less."

"All of the above ......" Sun Liang paused, and after careful calculation, he reported the account:

"A total of 430,000 taels of silver are needed......"

"430,000 taels ......" Hearing this, Zhu Youzhen felt a headache, and could only say to Wang Chengen:

"The 100,000 taels sent by the imperial brother haven't been transported to the Yanshan camp yet, right?"

Wang Chengen bowed slightly, and Zhu Youzhen said: "Since this is the case, transport 100,000 taels of clouds to the armor factory." ”

After that, he said to Sun Liang: "One hundred thousand taels of silver, how many armor and stomach weapons can be made to equip soldiers and horses?" ”

Sun Liang hurriedly saluted and replied: "If you use a soldier's cloth armor plus gauntlets, chain mail, and a six-force bow, a pair of gourd hammers, a waist knife, and a spear, it should be 12 taels of silver."

"One hundred thousand taels of silver, plus the balance of the armor factory, should be able to make armor and stomach weapons for eight thousand people."

Afraid that Zhu Youzhen would not believe it, Sun Liang explained by the way: "The main thing is that there is still food and labor silver, according to this configuration, it will take three months to complete, and the food and silver will be at least seven thousand taels." ”

"Hmm...... You can just do it, and in three months I will send someone to bring the silver again, and you can do it. Zhu Youzhen didn't doubt Sun Liang either.

For him, as long as Sun Liang doesn't steal too much food, and can ensure that the armor stomach weapon is okay, then this person can use it.

"Let's go......" With that, Zhu Youzhen turned around and walked towards the outside of the armor factory, while Sun Liang and Wang Chengen hurriedly followed.

Finally walked to the door of the armor factory, Sun Liang watched Zhu Youzhen's carriage go away, his heart was happy, and he returned to the armor factory humming a little song.

As for Zhu Youzhen, after the carriage drove out of the alley of the armor factory, he saw the soldiers and horses of the Five Cities constantly patrolling on the streets of Ming Shifang.

The affairs in Jingcha and Huaibei are still fermenting, and they are far from completely breaking out.

"The situation is getting more and more chaotic, alas......"

With a long sigh, Zhu Youzhen also closed the car window and drove back to the palace out of sight and out of mind......