"Bang bang!"

Outside the capital city of Bianliang, the Firearms Division, Zeng Gongliang looked at the hundreds of gun targets that were penetrated fifty steps away, and his eyes were full of calm.

This is the first time I don't know how many trials there have been.

In fact, the principle of firearms does not need to be said by Zhao Jun, and the Song people know it, and it is recorded in the "General Essentials of the Martial Arts".

The assault rifle invented in the Southern Song Dynasty is the originator of firearms, and the earth-shattering thunder of the Northern Song Dynasty is actually the bottom gunpowder, once triggered, the ceramic fragments are splashed out through the explosion.

Therefore, the Song people understood early on that they could use the power generated by the explosion of gunpowder to advance something, and then use the fragments that were pushed out to hurt people.

However, it was not until the Southern Song Dynasty that the assault rifle was invented, and the barrel was still bamboo, not the iron firearm of the later Ming Dynasty.

It's not because the Song people aren't smart enough, but because the materials are not up to par.

The iron tools of the Northern Song Dynasty were shoddy, and even the well-crafted swords, when fighting the enemy, were brittle and more papery, and a collision was easily interrupted by the weapons of the Western Xia and Liao people.

Therefore, not to mention the manufacture of guns, even the manufacture of knives and guns is relatively reluctant, and it is naturally impossible to invent guns.

However, after Zhao Jun came to power, he paid close attention to the quality of ironware, although he did not use coke to make iron, he could directly overtake in the corner, build a small steel plant in Bianliang, and make better quality steel.

And the first supply of these steels is the Firearms Division.

As a result, the Firearms Division finally abandoned the expensive bronze and began to use steel to make cannons and firearms.

Under the auspices of Zeng Gongliang, he invented the rifled gun, and still jumped directly over the arquebus, using flint, and the maximum effective shooting distance was about 400 meters, but the best range was 180 meters.

For the mold used in the chamber, the craftsman first grinds a steel column about 1.2 cm thick with steel, grinds a protruding corrugated line on the steel column, and then pastes heat-insulating clay on it, puts the steel column into the sleeve, and finally pours molten steel into it.

This results in a chamber with a caliber of about 16 mm and a spiral rifling inside. The internal structure is also composed of flint clips, flints, fire sickles, medicine pools, fire sickle springs, springs, barrels, and stocks.

The overall firearm design is not much different from the Ming Dynasty flintlock pistol and the Western flintlock pistol of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the technical content is not very high, and the bullet is still a specially designed mini bullet.

Based on multiple trials.

The flintlock pistol is very powerful, it has no problem with cold weapons, and because of the fire sickle cover, it can be used even if it is windy and rainy, which is much stronger than the arquebus.

But the flaws are also obvious, the probability of flint triggering ignition is not very high, only about 60% to 70%, a thousand people shoot at a time, when they are unlucky, most of them may not be launched, and they have to re-buckle the flint clip to fire again.

And the loading speed is slow, and an experienced gunner can shoot a maximum of 5 or 6 shots a minute if each flint is successful. Under normal circumstances, if the flint ignition fails, it can only be shot 3 times.

In addition, after firing about 70 times, the gunpowder pool must be cleaned, even if the combustion rate of granular gunpowder invented by Zhao Jun is already very high, there is still a little gunpowder residue, which is easy to clog the barrel.

Therefore, when it comes to the power of firearms, the flintlock pistol is still not ranked.

However, before the invention of mercury thunderate, the flintlock pistol was already the king of firearms, and it could almost completely replace cold weapons to deal with the cavalry of the Western Xia and Liao people, which was more than enough.

"Report to the Division, the firing rate of this shot has reached seventy percent, and if you shoot in three stages, it is enough to cover all the ranges of the 100 steps ahead!"

Yang Wenguang, the new commander of the firearms battalion, came to report the situation to Zeng Gongliang.

He now has a thousand musketeers and fifty cannonners under his command, and now in the face of the Liao cavalry, he is confident that he will make the other party pay a terrible price.

Zeng Gongliang's eyes were deep, and he nodded slightly: "Well, you did a good job, I will report your merits to the official family." ”

"Thank you, Chiji."

Yang Wenguang is happy.

Zeng Gongliang immediately returned to his barracks and began to write a report.

In May, before the development of modern sciences such as chemistry, mechanics, mechanics, and materials science, the research and development of firearms almost reached the peak of feudal society.

Not only flintlock pistols, but after years of research and development, cannons have also become more sophisticated, and even flowering shells have been invented.

The shell is wrapped in a layer of iron sheet on the outside, and the inside is gunpowder, and the lead is very long, which is quickly placed into the barrel after ignition, and then ignites the cannon to push out the shell that is in a burning state.

Once it explodes in the crowd, the power caused is considerable.

It's just that the actual lethality of flowering shells is still not as good as solid bullets, so at present, the artillery team of the Great Song Dynasty is still dominated by solid bullets.

On 8 May, Zhang Kang was transferred to the post of deputy envoy of the Privy Council, presided over by Fan Zhongyan, and more than 10 young generals who had made outstanding contributions in the Song-Xia War and the Song-Liao War were transferred to form a new army.

The armaments of this new army will no longer be procured from the original civilian and various government-run workshops, but from the iron and steel factories in Wu'an County, Hebei Province.

In addition to the iron and steel factory, Zhao Jun has also ordered the Firearms Department to set up a subordinate state-owned firearms manufacturing company, and a firearms manufacturing workshop will be set up in Wu'an, and some craftsmen and workshops in Bianliang will also be relocated one after another.

In the Constitutional Yuan, after the end of the early dynasty, a new round of regular meetings of the Constitutional Yuan was opened. Zhao Jun still served as the host, after first talking about the direction of domestic governance guidance this year.

Jia Changchao was the first to ask: "Governor?" ”

"Huh?"

Zhao Jun turned his head to look at him and said, "What's wrong?" Is something wrong with the Yellow River? ”

Because the method of harnessing the Yellow River proposed by Jia Changchao in history was the most reliable, after Han Ju, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, died suddenly of illness last year, he transferred from the secretary of the Ministry of Education to the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and presided over the project of repairing the Bianhe River and the Yellow River with the Zhizheng Yuan.

He has completed a number of small projects and has successfully dug up the first tributary river to connect the Yellow River with the Yuhe River. The following planning was basically done, so he was not on site to supervise it.

Jia Changchao asked: "This morning, the official family suddenly wants to form a new army, and the official wants to ask what is going on?" ”

"The formation of a new army is a normal direction of development, is there any problem?"

Zhao Jun asked rhetorically.

"But shouldn't we talk to the Constitutional Council?"

Lu Yi said with a slight dissatisfaction: "Acting so suddenly really makes me wait without any defense. ”

"What precautions do you need to take here?"

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "The military power is in the hands of the officials, and you still dare to point fingers at the officials?" ”

"Amount"

Lu Yijian choked for a moment, and then said: "That's naturally not, it's just such a big matter, after all, everyone has to discuss it." ”

Zhao Jun thought for a while and said: "Actually, it's not a big deal, it's the upgrade of firearms, and the future needs to transform the era of cold weapons into the age of firearms, which is the development of the times, and no one can stop the rolling wheel." ”

"The Qing Dynasty was backward in the age of firearms, barbaric and stubbornly believed that mounted archery was their foundation, no longer committed to development, and was finally abandoned by the times."

"So grenades and artillery only increase the chances of winning a war, and the emergence of muskets is an epoch-making product, making thermal weapons the mainstream."

"At present, this thing has completed all the design, manufacturing, and experimentation, and within a few years, we have reached the peak level of the Ming Dynasty, which is almost the peak of the non-industrial era, and it is completely capable of crushing the traditional cavalry."

"But these things must be confidential, and once they are known by the Liao people, they will inevitably raise the strength of the whole country to go south. In addition, since mass production has just been carried out, and the army has always been under the control of the government, it is normal for a new firearms army to be formed for the time being to conduct secret experiments. ”

He looked around at everyone and said, "This matter is the highest secret of the Great Song Dynasty, and you must not spread it." If it weren't for the fact that everyone was a colleague of the Constitutional Yuan, I wouldn't have told you about this matter so easily. ”

This argument is obviously a very reasonable and logical thing.

Everyone didn't think much about it, and Lu Yijian couldn't help but sigh: "The era of firearms is here after all, and I don't know how many weapons and equipment manufacturing workshops in Bianliang will close down in the future." ”

"There is no way to do this, a grain of sand in the times is a mountain when it falls on the head of an individual."

Zhao Jun said: "However, they can also be converted to civilian use, and there will definitely be more and more high-quality steel in the future, and in the era of industrialization and mechanization, craftsmen are still needed, which is a challenge for them, but also an opportunity." ”

"It's just that, will it cause opposition from the government and the opposition?"

Wang had hesitated.

Zhao Jun wondered: "Why should the government and the opposition object? ”

"Because there are a lot of stakeholders in it, including your wife's Cao family."

Lu Yijian glanced at him meaningfully.

"The Cao family?"

Zhao Jun was puzzled: "What does this have to do with the Cao family?" ”

Cai Qi said: "The Cao family has three weapons manufacturing workshops in Bianliang, all of which supply more than 20 battalions such as Touri, Huyi, and Masi. ”

"A few years ago, there were several noble families such as the Li family, the Wang family, the Shi family, the Gao family, and the Liu family, hoping that the imperial court could hand over the grenade production of the Firearms Division to them.

Song Shou also said: "We also know that gunpowder is a secret and must not be leaked. But with the advent of gunpowder, it became clear that ordinary weapons and equipment were no longer needed, which seriously infringed on their interests. ”

Zhao Jun's brows suddenly furrowed.

"The Cao family supplies more than 20 battalions, which is the manufacture of weapons and equipment for more than 10,000 people, and a set of weapons and equipment for the forbidden army is as little as twenty or thirty times, and as many as hundreds of times, guess how many interests are involved? If they were to be completely replaced with firearms, how much would they lose? ”

Lu Yijian couldn't help but smile when he looked at him.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin forbade the local construction of weapons and equipment, moved a large number of handicraftsmen to Bianliang, set up a military supervision department, and established a government-run weapon building system.

This measure can concentrate the scale of the industry and create an upstream and downstream structural system for the manufacture of weapons and equipment; Second, it can also weaken local weapons manufacturing, and achieve the strategy of "strong cadres and weak branches" originally set by Zhao Kuangyin.

However, with the passage of time, the poor quality, low efficiency, and chaotic management of the weapons and equipment built by the government became prominent, making the imperial army's army reluctant to use these weapons, and simply procured them from the people.

Moreover, the private sector has gradually liberalized the creation of weapons, and even some prohibited weapons can be produced privately.

The main operators were the magnates and generals, who recruited a large number of skilled craftsmen from the government-run weapons workshops to set up private weapons workshops, and gradually became the arms suppliers of the imperial court.

To some extent, this is also a favorable reform.

After all, the income of craftsmen in the former government-run workshops was constant, and the supervision system was poor, so that many craftsmen were perfunctory and had no motivation to make good weapons.

After privatization, in order to seize the market, a large number of private manufacturing workshops in Bianliang had to improve the quality of their products.

However, in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty during the reign of Song Renzong, as the supply of weapons to the imperial court was slowly occupied by these private enterprises, the cake was constant, their capitalist faces were exposed, and the quality of products began to decline seriously.

In the Song-Xia War, there was even a phenomenon that the swords of the Song army could not cut through the armor of the Tangut people at all, while the swords of the Tangut people could easily cut the weapons of the Song army and pierce their armor.

So much so that Tian Shi, who was serving as a judge under Xia Zhu's account at that time, was very shocked, and said, "Today, the thief's armor is all forged by cold, smooth and shiny, and non-strong crossbows can enter."

The matter was reported to the imperial court, and the imperial court had no choice but to open the warehouse and send the armor of the Zhao Kuangyin period to the northwest. Because the armor of the early Song Dynasty was of higher quality, it could still be used after replacing the leather rope eroded by the years.

From here, we can see that from the Zhao Kuangyin period to the Zhao Zhen period, the 80-year history, the armament industry of the Northern Song Dynasty has gone through four stages: first state-run, state-run rotten, then private, and then private.

This situation lasted until the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, when Zhao Gou gave the army the green light to allow Wu to build armor and weapons for himself, so that the Song army's weapons and equipment could barely compete with the Jin army.

But at least now it is still in the situation of private rottenness, 800,000 forbidden troops, a total of 1,927 battalions of the temple division, horse division, and infantry division, each battalion should be 500 people, and the majority shortage is at least 200,000.

Not to mention the empty salaries of 200,000 people, the weapons and equipment of these 800,000 people alone have been divided among the weapons manufacturing workshops of the Commanders, and the benefits involved may be as high as tens of millions.

This means that Zhao Jun has not yet started the major disarmament, and he has already started the cake of the nobles of the gate.

It's no wonder that Lu Yijian showed such an expression.

With this knife, I really cut myself first, although I have nothing to do with my interests, but it involves my wife's family.

Thinking of this, Zhao Jun couldn't help but realize the seriousness of the problem, his face became serious, and he said: "I haven't investigated the manufacturing of weapons and equipment of the Song Army, so it seems that I really need to find out." ”

"If you really want to change cold weapons into firearms in the future, and all vested interests will inevitably oppose it, how do you plan to face this situation?"

Lu Yijian asked again.

"Know it with reason, move it with emotion."

Zhao Jun sighed: "Don't say that I don't give them a chance, this is the trend of the times, and you should also understand." If it is stubborn, I can only use the knowledge and the reason. ”

"Does it make any difference in reverse?"

Everyone wondered.

"The difference is very big, it is known that it is cyanide, this cyanide is poison, it is reasonable, this reason is physics!"

Zhao Jun gestured with his right hand and said fiercely: "If they are unwilling to follow the general trend of the country, it means that they can't keep up with the pace of history, and it's time to eliminate." ”

In a flash.

Everyone's body unconsciously felt a deep cold.

Future.

If those with vested interests really want to oppose the wheel of history, I am afraid that they will be crushed into the rolling torrent.

Of course, the protagonist doesn't say that he will kill when he starts killing, there must still be strategies and methods, and it is impossible to be so brainless. Only real diehards will suffer, so don't think about killing more than 100,000, it's not that Zhu Yuanzhang wants to stabilize the imperial power, it's really unnecessary.

Finally, I wish you all a happy New Year's Day.

(End of chapter)