"Make a place and find some clean paper." Han Du pointed at the table that was completely covered with paper and ordered.
Kuroko smiled awkwardly again, quickly cleared the table, and took out paper and charcoal.
Han Du leaned over the table, looking attentive. After a while, I drew a drawing of a wooden handle grenade.
Heizi looked at the things on the drawing without blinking, and asked doubtfully: "Sir, what is this?"
Han Du smiled and did not explain to Heizi. Instead, he pointed to the drawing and said to him: "Here is the gunpowder, here is the fuse, and here is the pull rope. Is there any way you can prevent the pull rope from being pulled suddenly? Light this fuse and eventually make this thing explode?”
Heizi looked at the drawings and pondered. After a moment, he said hesitantly: "It is easy to set off the gunpowder and the fuse, but this pull cord... I am afraid it will not be easy to light the fuse with the pull cord."
It's not easy to say it, it's to save Han's face. In fact, in Heizi's heart, he felt that this was simply impossible. He didn't know why Han Du insisted on lighting the fuse by pulling the rope. In his opinion, this was completely unnecessary.
"Oh? Why?" Han Du originally vowed when he was drawing the picture, thinking that this grenade would definitely be made. Unexpectedly, Heizi just took one look and was poured cold water on him.
Heizi looked at the drawing and thought for a moment, organized his words, and then said: "Sir, if you want to light the fuse, the best way is to use flint. But the flint needs to collide. I'm afraid it won't work just by pulling on this rope. "
Han Du also agreed with Heizi's idea of using flint, and was not sure whether pulling the rope would allow the flint to ignite the fuse.
After thinking for a while, Han Du said: "Let's get a few out and try them out first. We will know if they work or not."
Kuroko also nodded in agreement.
The production of grenades is not complicated. The iron part of the head can be cast directly after making a mold. The craftsmen of the Ordnance Bureau have long been familiar with the casting of various molds, and nothing more complicated than this is difficult for them. Casting a cylindrical mold is simply not a problem for them.
The wooden handle was even simpler. The carpenter polished the wooden handle easily, and even Han Du's request for drilling a hole in the middle of the wooden handle was easily met.
A total of ten wooden handles were placed on the table. Since it was just an experiment to see whether the flint could be used to light a fire by pulling a rope, there was no need to add gunpowder.
Originally, according to Han Du's idea, sparks were generated by pulling copper wires against flint. However, the two of them tried countless times, but could not produce the slightest spark. Even later, Han Du replaced the copper wire with iron wire.
At this time, even Han Du had to admit that his idea was too naive. Continuously pulling the rope for a long time caused Han Du's right shoulder to feel a little sore.
"It seems that this method won't work." Han Du sighed while rubbing his shoulders. He accidentally rubbed a sensitive area, and it still hurt and he grinned.
Heizi also nodded in agreement and put down the wooden handle. After pulling it so many times, I didn't even see a single spark, let alone light the fuse. It didn't take much thinking to know that this road was not going to work.
Han Du's face suddenly turned red and he was a little angry. After hemming and hawing for a long time, I finally came up with a solution.
"Since the pull rope is useless against flint, what if we use collision? It's like firing a bullet."
"This will definitely ignite the flint, but what are we going to do? We can't make it like a bullet, and we have to use something to touch it, right?" Heizi replied calmly, but he was still not optimistic about what he said. Han Du's method.
Han Du didn't care about Heizi's attitude. Now that he thought about it, he would give it a try no matter what. "We can use a spring to make a mechanism, and keep the spring pressed down at ordinary times. When the rope is pulled, we can release the spring instantly, and let the spring collide with the flint against the hammer."
"This? You can give it a try." Heizi couldn't find anything wrong with Han Du's method, so he thought it should work. Heizi immediately became excited. Sure enough, he was right to follow Han Du. Otherwise, he would have thought hard and never imagined that the spring could have such a wonderful effect.
Just do what you say, springs are abundant in the Arms Bureau. Heizi quickly brought a wooden box over, put the spring and hammer together and installed them into each wooden handle. Soon Heizi had modified all ten wooden handles.
Han Du picked up a wooden handle, slowly wrapped the rope around his index and middle fingers, and pulled suddenly.
With a crisp sound, the fuse made a "hiss, hiss..." sound.
"Successful!" Han Du shouted excitedly.
Heizi watched the fuse with the wooden handle in Han Du's hand burn out without blinking. He quickly picked up a wooden handle and pulled it suddenly.
There was a crisp sound as always, but there was no sign of the fuse being set off.
Han Du was happy when he suddenly saw that Heizi was misfiring, and his face instantly darkened. Asked: "What's going on?"
Heizi took the wooden handle and inspected it carefully. He raised his head to Han Du and replied with an unchanging expression: "It seems that the hammer was deflected by the spring and did not hit the flint."
If the flint is not struck, there will naturally be no sparks.
Han Du frowned and took the wooden handle from Heizi's hand to take a look. Sure enough, not only was the hammer deflected, but it was also pressed against the inside of the wooden handle by the spring.
Putting down the wooden handle, Han Du, who did not believe in evil, picked up the remaining wooden handles on the table and pulled them one by one. Including the one that Han Du set on fire for the first time, there were ten wooden handles in total, only two were set on fire, and the remaining eight all misfired due to various reasons.
I want to make grenades. It takes ten people to explode two. This is just a joke.
Looking at the wooden handle full of failures, Han Du sighed and said: "The spring pushes the hammer forward because the inner hole of the wooden handle is too big. If we make the hole the same size as the spring, it will Wouldn’t it be easy to go astray?”
Heizi was startled for a moment and said politely: "This way, it will definitely not be easy to deflect, but it will be too troublesome for us to install the spring and hammer."
You must know that the spring must be compressed into the wooden handle first, and the hammer must be stuck on the spring. If the inner hole of the wooden handle is the same size as the spring, then the installation will be very difficult. Heizi himself doesn't know whether he can succeed.
Han Du was thinking with his eyebrows lowered.
Suddenly, Heizi interrupted and said: "Since you want to light the fuse to detonate the gunpowder, there is a simple way."
"Oh? What can I do?" Han Du thought for a while but couldn't come up with any good ideas. Suddenly he heard that Heizi had a way and quickly raised his head to look at him.
Heizi looked at the grenade drawings on the table and said casually: "We don't need to make this thing so complicated. The fuse is not easy to ignite, so we just don't use flint."
"Then what's the use?" Han Du frowned even more tightly.
"Use fire to break it, just light it directly." Heizi said concisely.
The words woke up the dreamer, and Han Du suddenly raised his head. He knew that he had entered a cognitive disorder. The grenade Han Du had seen looked like this on the drawing. And the one with a wooden handle like this is already the crudest. But I never thought that even such a simple grenade could only be manufactured on a certain industrial basis.
The only thing related to industry in the Ming Dynasty was the handiwork of these craftsmen. It is simply impossible to make a qualified wooden handle grenade under such conditions.
Since the grenade ignition problem cannot be solved, why do you have to solve it according to the methods of later generations? Isn't it also possible to light the fuse directly with a fire stick?
Anyway, my requirement is that this thing can explode when thrown. As for whether it is thrown out after pulling the rope, or ignited with a fire stick and then thrown out, does it matter?
It doesn't matter at all.
"Hahaha, that's what I was thinking. You're right, we don't have to bother with these nonsense, we can just bury the fuse and light it with a fire stick." Han Du turned his head and looked at Heizi , with an unconcealable smile on his face.
Things fell into place in an instant, and without hesitation Han Du asked Heizi to put gunpowder into a cylindrical iron can and bury the fuse.
Originally, Han Du was ready to test the power of this extremely crude grenade, but when he looked at the grenade in his hand, he frowned.
Han Du held the grenade in one hand, looked at it, and suddenly said: "Since there is no need for a wooden handle, is this thing a little smaller? Otherwise, let's make it bigger."
Heizi didn't care about this. He would do whatever Han Du said anyway. Since adults dislike this small one, then make it a big one.
Han Du thought for a while and simply didn't even want the shape of the cylinder. It's made directly into a ball, so it's easier to hold. And since the fuse is lit directly, waterproofing must be considered. And if you want this grenade to explode, the opening must be as small as possible.
Taking many factors into account, Handu finally shaped the grenade into a spherical shape, with all the internal space used to hold gunpowder, leaving only a small hole for filling gunpowder and burying the fuse. The leads are tightly wrapped with several layers of oil paper, and the ends are sealed with wax.
Following Han Du's instructions, Heizi quickly prepared a batch.
Han Du grabbed one casually, checked that the grenade was tightly sealed, and couldn't help but nodded with satisfaction. The only bad thing is that this thing is a bit heavy. The iron shell weighs about half a catty, and the optimal ratio of gunpowder inside is also half a catty. So this one weighs a pound. It's heavy in the hand, a little heavy.
With this weight, Han Du couldn't carry it very far even with his strength. However, it is not yet known whether this thing is heavy or light to the soldiers.
Anyway, I'm just trying it out first. If it's too powerful and too heavy, I can make it smaller when the time comes.
