After Zhou Xian finished speaking, there was a quiet pin drop below, and all the craftsmen looked at Zhou Xian with a look like a saint.

Everyone wondered what kind of person could imagine a machine like a steam engine.

I don't know who shouted, "Lord Zhou is mighty!" ”

Then everyone started shouting, "Lord Zhou is mighty!" Lord Zhou is mighty! Lord Zhou is mighty! "It was too loud and it went all the way outside.

Zhou Xian looked at these excited craftsmen and asked with a smile, "Have any of you ever read a book?" ”

Then three men stood up, a tall and thin young man, a young man with a somewhat dark skin, and a sturdy man.

Zhou Xian looked at the three people and asked, "What's your name?" How many years have you been reading? Where do you live? ”

The tall and thin man said: "My name is Zhao Bugui, I have studied for five years and failed to pass the imperial examination, and then my family fell into the middle of the road, and I never went to the imperial examination again, I used to live in Shanxi, and now I live in Datong Fucheng." ”

The dark-skinned young man said: "My name is Qian Si, I have studied for two years before, and my family lives in Datong Fucheng. ”

The sturdy man said: "My name is Li Zhen, I have studied for two years, and I live in Lijia Village. ”

Zhou Xian nodded and said to them: "In the future, Zhao Bugui will be the captain of the steam unit, Qian Si and Li Zhen will be the deputy team leaders, the three of you are responsible for all matters related to the manufacture of the steam engine, and everyone here will obey your arrangement, and the three of you will pay five taels of silver per month in the future." ”

Zhao Bugui and the three of them became excited, and hurriedly bowed down and thanked them.

Zhou Xian realized that they didn't need to be polite, so he told them again.

Seeing that the explanation had been made, Zhou Xian asked the craftsmen to go to a new workshop to develop a steam engine.

After the craftsmen left, Zhao Laoyan walked up to Zhou Xian and said, "My lord, why don't you let me be the leader of the steam engine, I am also very interested in this steam engine." ”

Zhou Xian said: "The steam engine is nothing, there will be more advanced machinery in the future, I need you to help me take care of the entire arsenal, not just study a small steam engine." ”

Zhao Laoyan heard that Zhou Xian valued him so much, Zhao Laoyan was moved and said with tears in her eyes: "Lord Xie values it, I will live up to my expectations and take good care of the arsenal." ”

Zhou Xian nodded and said: "Okay, in the future, you will have thirty taels of silver per month, Zhao Laoyan, I am optimistic about you, by the way, how many flintlock pistols and bullets have been made now, how are the cannons made, and have the bearings been manufactured?" ”

Zhao Laoyan was even happier when she heard that she would have thirty taels of money every month in the future.

"Now the manufacture of flintlock pistols has been very fast, 20,000 flintlock pistols have been manufactured, 400,000 bullets, cannons have been successfully manufactured, I haven't come to report to the adults yet, now go and see the cannons we made, the bearings have already been manufactured, each model of bearings has been manufactured a thousand, in the future steam engines will also use bearings, we will make more bearings."

Zhou Xian heard that the cannon had been manufactured, so he walked with Zhao Laoyan to the workshop where the cannon was made with great interest.

As soon as Zhou Xian came to the workshop where the cannon was made, he saw a cannon standing in the middle of the hall.

The cannon is about two meters long and emits a metallic sheen, with a cold glow from the muzzle of the black hole, and the cannon is mounted on a gun carriage made of two metal wheels.

Zhou Xian looked at the cannon and said with satisfaction: "Have you tested it?" ”

"I haven't tested yet, I'm going to test it when you come."

"Then let's get someone to take it to the shooting range and test it."

An area on the periphery of the arsenal was built into a shooting range, and the guns and cannons produced were tested on the range.

On the shooting range of the arsenal, Zhou Xian watched as the four craftsmen were doing the final inspection work for firing the cannon.

After a while, the inspection was completed, and the four officially began to prepare for the launch.

Since it is a modified breech-loading rifled gun, it is very simple to operate.

A craftsman measures the bearing and distance, a craftsman opens the bolt, a craftsman puts the shell into the barrel and closes the bolt, and a craftsman ignishes the fire.

Only a loud thunderous sound was heard, and the ears of everyone present were booming.

Looking at a hillside in the distance, it was hit by a shell and exploded a cloud of smoke and dust.

It took a while for Zhou Xian's ears to return to normal, and the sound of the cannon was too loud, so Zhou Xian was secretly frightened.

Zhao Laoyan hurriedly asked people to pick up the newly made soft ruler and began to measure the distance of the cannonballs.

After a stick of incense, the surveyors ran back and reported: "The range of the shell is 3,520 meters. ”

"So far?"

Zhao Laoyan said a little dumbfounded.

You must know that this is six or seven miles away, and now the red-coated cannons of the Ming Dynasty only have a range of two or three miles, which is two or three times the distance.

Zhou Xian said with satisfaction: "This range is not bad, and if you improve it in the future, you can fight farther, Zhao Laoyan, you have done a good job, speed up the production of this kind of cannon in the future, and send it to the artillery regiment as soon as possible." ”

"Yes, my lord, we must speed up the production, I wonder what the name of this cannon is?"

What is the name of the cannon, Zhou Xian really didn't think about this question, this cannon was modified by himself, and it was not the same as the cannons in history.

Zhou Xian thought for a while and said, "Let's call it Tianwei Cannon." ”

"Tianwei cannon, this name is good, firing the cannon is like Tianwei, good name." Zhao Laoyan laughed.

After trying the Tianwei cannon a few more times, Zhou Xian returned to the arsenal hall satisfied.

After sitting down, Zhou Xian said to Zhao Laoyan: "You go and get a pen and paper, and by the way, find twenty craftsmen to come over, and I will teach them to make a revolver for close self-defense." ”

When Zhao Laoyan heard that Zhou Xian was going to teach the manufacture of new weapons again, she immediately became excited, and walked out of the hall after agreeing.

Soon Zhao Laoyan came back with pen and paper and twenty craftsmen.

Zhou Xian didn't talk nonsense and said directly: "I came to you to make a melee weapon revolver. ”

Then Zhou Xian began to teach them how to make revolvers.

The barrel and chamber of a revolver are separated and usually consist of three parts: the bottom handle, the runner and its rotation, the braking device and the locking, firing, firing mechanism.

There are many slots on the bottom of the gun in order to unite all the mechanisms and parts together, such as the barrel, frame, grip, etc.

The runner, slewing and braking devices are fixed to the frame by means of a rotating shaft, which is both a chamber and a magazine, on which there are six nests.

In order to match the habit of most people using the right hand, the revolver is mostly swinged to the left, so it can also be called a revolver, and Zhou Xian wants to make a double-action revolver.

As for the revolver, the method of making bullets was also taught to craftsmen, and the bullet consisted of four parts: a cartridge case, a primer, a propellant, and a bullet.

Brass is used to make ordinary bullet cases.

The primer is composed of: a fire hole, a fire anvil and a firing agent.

Its function is to produce a flame that ignites the propellant quickly and reliably.