The uncle and nephew were happy for a while and then continued to talk about the topic.
Wang Rong asked Zhu Shenzui when exactly he planned to set off after spring and whether he was ready.
Zhu Shenzui told him that he just had such an idea now, wasn't he discussing it with him? Moreover, if you want to go to Mongolia, you have to go through a pass. Zhu Shenzui has never walked this road before, and he needs help from Wang Rong.
"This matter is not urgent. Let me think about it carefully. This is not a trivial matter. It must be arranged properly." Wang Rong thought for a while and nodded.
"Then please leave it to uncle..."
"If a family doesn't speak the same language, let's forget about this." Wang Rong waved his hands cheerfully, and then said: "Besides, you definitely can't go alone. You can rest assured that you can pick a few more people in the village to follow you."
Zhu Shenzui originally meant this. The people in Wangjia Village were all his own. Naturally, he couldn't go alone if he wanted to go to the grassland. No matter what, he had to bring some people with him.
After talking about the grassland, the uncle and nephew talked about the serious matter this time.
Before Zhu Shenzui arrived, Wang Rong had almost made arrangements and was waiting for Zhu Shenzui to arrive.
Moreover, winter came very early this year. When the weather really changes and a heavy snow falls in more than a month, the road will be even more difficult to walk.
Therefore, traveling one day earlier would give you more confidence. Zhu Shenzui did not want this matter to drag on for too long. After discussion, the two decided to set off the next day. They would rest one night in Wangjiacun today and set off early tomorrow morning.
After the discussion, Wang Rong got up and went to inform people to prepare for departure. Zhu Shenzui also went to the blacksmith shop in the village.
Most of the people in Wangjia Village are from military households, but there are also craftsmen households in Wangjia Village.
Zhao Da, the owner of the blacksmith shop in the village, is a craftsman, and apart from Zhao Da, there are two other families as well.
Logically speaking, the craftsmen's households should be specially managed, but because Wangjia Village is quite special, these three craftsmen's households have long been no different from ordinary villagers like the military households here. Over time, they have become their own people.
Following the sound of clanging, we arrived at the west corner of the village, where is Zhao Da's blacksmith shop.
Blacksmith Zhao Dazheng is busy with his son Shitou. Zhao is in his thirties and has a strong build. His son Zhao Shitou is only fifteen or sixteen years old. His appearance is almost the same as that of Zhao Dazheng. , also has a strong and honest figure.
"Uncle Zhao, are you busy?"
"Oh, it's Mr. Liu here!" Zhao Da, who was working on iron when he heard the sound, looked up and saw Zhu Shenzui with a smile on his face. He quickly put down his work and asked Zhu Shenzui to sit down.
Zhao Shitou stood aside and grinned at Zhu Shenzui. Zhao Da saw that his boy was so weak, so he was so angry that he kicked him over and cursed: "What are you still doing, stupid boy? Why don't you go?" Bring a bowl of tea to Mr. Liu?"
Only then did Zhao Shitou come to his senses. As a thick-skinned man, he didn't care about his father's kick. He happily ran inside to get a pot of tea and a bowl.
After taking the bowl and pouring the tea, Zhao Shitou said cheerfully: "Brother Six, please have some tea."
Looking at Zhao Shitou's simple and honest look, Zhu Shenzui thanked him, took a sip of tea, and even though it was rough tea, he didn't care at all.
Putting down the tea bowl, Zhu Shenzui didn't beat around the bush and asked directly how the thing Zhao Da asked him to make last time was.
Zhao Ziran knew what Zhu Shenzui was here for, so he immediately smiled and nodded and said it was done.
A touch of joy flashed across Zhu Shenzui's face. Zhu Shenzui stood up and quickly asked where the things were. Zhao Da invited Zhu Shenzui into the house to talk. Zhu Shenzui followed Zhao Da into the house next to the blacksmith shop. This is Zhao Da's home. .
After entering the room and saying "wait a moment," Zhao Da went to the back room to get something. After a while, he came out holding something wrapped in oil paper.
"Sixth Master, the thing is ready. You can see if it fits first. If you are not satisfied, I will think of ways to change it." Putting the thing down, Zhao Da stood aside and said with lowered hands.
"Okay! Let me take a look first." Zhu Shenzhui nodded and reached for the oil-paper bag. This oil-paper bag was quite heavy. He opened it slowly and soon revealed something inside.
This is a musket, which is very different from the self-generated fire blunderbuss currently equipped by the Ming army. It is also much smaller than the commonly used three-eye blunderbuss.
This short musket is about thirty-five centimeters long. The barrel and main body are made of forged iron and are extremely well made.
The fire door of the musket was moved from the top to the right side, and a powder tank, rear sight and front sight were added. The gun handle was made of walnut, medium in size and extremely comfortable to hold in the hand.
The ignition device of this musket is a match rope. It's not that they don't want to use flint hair, but Zhu Shenzhui and the others have tested flint hair before and found that the success rate of flint hair is too low.
The success rate of using a flintlock to ignite a fire is almost less than half. In a critical moment, such a success rate is tantamount to courting death. Zhu Shenzui does not want the advantage that could have won him to become a disadvantage because he cannot start a fire at the critical moment. You must know that in the blink of an eye, half a breath can decide who lives and who dies.
I picked up the musket and weighed it in my hand. Although it was a little heavier than expected, it was not a big problem.
Zhu Shenzui looked at the barrel of the gun carefully, especially the wall of the barrel.
The barrel is very important to the quality of a musket, not to mention that the metallurgical technology of this era is backward. It is simply impossible to use seamless steel tubes to make barrels like later generations.
Now let alone seamless steel pipes, it is impossible to even use fine steel to make gun barrels. The original musket barrel was made of bronze, and later it was changed to wrought iron. The so-called wrought iron is also wrought iron.
The craftsman household system of the Ming Dynasty played an important role in the early days of its establishment. However, as the Ming Dynasty was established for a long time, the original system was different from the original one.
In addition, the Ming Dynasty now emphasizes culture over military affairs, and does not value armaments as much as before. Moreover, there are many cases of empty pay in the army. The Ordnance Bureau and the Military Warfare Bureau, which are responsible for ordnance, are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry, and even the custody of them is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry. The Wuziku and Guangjiku of ordnance also belong to the Ministry of Industry.
Most of the people in the court know nothing about the military, and they have no requirements for ordnance. In addition, there is serious corruption at the top and bottom. It has long been a common practice for the allocations from the top to go to the bottom. The craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry We don’t even have enough to eat on weekdays, so who will do things seriously? Naturally, the quality of Ming Dynasty's ordnance, especially firearms, is really worrying.
The quality of Daming firearms is not good, which does not mean that the craftsmanship of Daming is not good. These are two completely different concepts.
Craftsmen like Zhao Da have skills passed down from their ancestors. As long as they are serious about it, the quality of the things they make will definitely be first-rate.
Looking at the barrel carefully, Zhu Shenzui did not find any signs of holes in the wall of the barrel. Moreover, the barrel was forged very strong and even in thickness. It exuded a metallic luster in the sun, which made Zhu Shenzui extremely satisfied.
