In front of these ten fire gunmen, about twenty and thirty steps, white cloths were hung.
This is to test the power of the firecracker.
The power of the firecrackers in the early Ming Dynasty was much worse than imagined.
When the 'fire' order was given, ten fire gunners quickly lit the fire.
boom! boom! boom! ...
The sound is quite loud.
After the gunman finished shooting, a eunuch quickly went up to monitor the damage done to Bai Bu.
Fireguns in the early Ming Dynasty used gunpowder as propellant and then loaded iron bullets to cause damage.
Its damage is about twenty steps, about thirty meters.
After this distance, it's basically useless.
"Your Majesty, I am very happy, I am very happy. The granular gunpowder produced under your Highness' guidance has increased the power of the fire gun by ten steps."
The eunuch took down several pieces of white cloth from a place thirty steps away and trotted up to Zhu Yuanzhang to congratulate him.
Zhu Yuanzhang was very familiar with firearms and was overjoyed to see this.
"Test the power of the artillery immediately."
"I obey the decree."
With the roar, the ten general cannons were ignited, and the filled stones and iron bullets were bombarded one after another.
After a cloud of smoke, the eunuchs quickly measured the distance.
"Your Majesty, one hundred and forty steps, an improvement of twenty steps."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he couldn't help but stood up and shouted: "Okay!"
Then he turned to Zhu Ying and said, "What a great grandson. Just such an improvement has actually increased the power of gunpowder by more than 20%."
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were full of surprise and shock.
In fact, when he came this time, he didn't have much expectations for it. However, it turned out that he had underestimated his eldest grandson again.
"Grandpa, thank you. The power of gunpowder can be improved again if it is refined." Zhu Ying said with a smile.
"Dasun is so familiar with gunpowder." Zhu Yuanzhang asked. He didn't expect that Dasun could improve his power.
Although the current fire cannons are widely used in war, in terms of damage, they are much worse than crossbows.
Due to the limitation of the power of black powder, even granulated black powder cannot penetrate the plate armor of the cavalry.
The greatest damage on the battlefield is still caused by artillery. Fireguns are difficult to kill, but for cavalry, their main function is to scare horses.
If you are facing infantry, repeated strikes can make the opponent's soldiers run around with their heads in their hands, affecting the opponent's charging lineup.
When Zhu Ying heard the old man's compliment, she did not answer immediately. Instead, she said after thinking deeply:
"Grandpa, when I was watching the fire gunners just now, I was so blessed that I suddenly thought of a new way to make fire guns."
"I want to try making it." Zhu Ying said.
The speed of the gunman just now was so touching, Zhu Ying counted the time in his mind.
From charging, compacting, loading, aiming, and igniting, it took about twenty breaths, which is about one minute.
Such speed is very uncomfortable on the battlefield, especially when cavalry is attacking.
Therefore, the current firecrackers and artillery in the early Ming Dynasty are mainly auxiliary, especially in field battles.
It is used more often in siege warfare and water warfare.
Zhu Yuanzhang heard Da Sun's idea, thought for a while and agreed.
Under Zhu Yuanzhang's decree, Zhu Ying became the top officer of the Gunpowder Department.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't have many ideas, he mainly supported Da Sun.
Zhu Ying stayed directly in the Gunpowder Department, while Zhu Yuanzhang returned to the palace.
"Your Highness." Several eunuchs from the Gunpowder Department saluted Zhu Ying.
Zhu Ying nodded and directly ordered: "I need carpenters and blacksmiths with excellent craftsmanship. I have summoned the top masters."
"Follow the order."
What Zhu Ying wants to do now is to invent the matchlock gun first.
The current technology in the early Ming Dynasty could completely make matchlock guns by hand. This was just a matter of ideas.
The next step in the matchlock is to fire the gun.
In fact, the difference between a matchlock gun and a flintlock gun is not very big. To put it simply, it is the difference between matchlock ignition and flint ignition.
There is naturally flint here, so it seems that we can skip the matchlock gun and develop a flintlock gun directly.
After all, the flintlock gun will not be disturbed by rain and other weather conditions, and it can also be used for night combat.
actually not.
This is not a problem of a piece of flint, but mainly a problem of the sophisticated device.
The stable gun appeared after the Western Renaissance and was associated with clocks.
The precision is extremely high and does not require much effort.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, someone had already designed and manufactured a flintlock gun, commonly known as a self-generating gun, but the production cost was extremely high.
The biggest obstacle is the spring.
The hand-made springs in ancient times were relatively rough. In order to ensure that the sparks could be produced and ignite the gunpowder chamber, they were very strong and inconvenient to use.
The most important thing is that there is no industrial foundation. The hand-made spring is simply touching, but has too many flaws, and is far less simple and crude than a matchlock gun.
Summoned by the eunuchs of the Gunpowder Department, three master carpenters and master blacksmiths were summoned.
"Your Highness, these people are the most skilled in craftsmanship in the Gunpowder Department." The eunuch of the Gunpowder Department introduced.
Zhu Ying nodded and told the carpenter his thoughts without being verbose.
Don't underestimate the ancient carpenters. The craftsmanship of ancient carpenters, especially the master craftsmen, started as carpenter apprentices in elementary school.
Some extremely precise handwork is not a problem at all for a master carpenter.
Things like triggers are not difficult. After Zhu Ying's explanation, the three carpenters understood it and said that it would not be a big problem to make it.
Zhu Ying only needs to tell the carpenter master her request.
Then there is the production of the gun body, plus the structure of the trigger. This just tells the carpenter the rough shape.
Next is the more difficult part of the matchlock gun, the barrel.
At Zhu Ying's request, the barrel was forged from fine iron instead of copper.
The biggest problem in ancient times was accuracy. However, although the cost of hand-making a few matchlock guns was relatively high, it was not a big problem.
A skilled blacksmith can achieve this with patience and polishing, but it just takes a long time.
It took Zhu Ying almost two hours to make arrangements, and finally asked the three blacksmiths:
"Which one of you three is the most skilled?"
After saying this, the two blacksmiths on the left and right looked at the older blacksmith in the middle, who was about fifty years old.
"Your Majesty, the common people may have some experience in blacksmithing." The blacksmith took a step forward, bowed and bowed.
"Okay, then you stay, the others will leave first, and do as I ask."
"Follow the order."
The reason why Zhu Ying kept this old blacksmith was because he wanted to make a rifled barrel.
Rifling production is not a very complicated matter for a skilled blacksmith. Even if it is rough, Zhu Ying doesn't care.
The next step to slowly improve is to get things out first.
Historically, rifled barrels were used in the fifteenth century, but due to the difficulty of the manufacturing process, they did not become popular until the nineteenth century.
Now it is purely handmade and can be honed slowly.
Under Zhu Ying's explanation, the blacksmith quickly understood the requirements and said he could make it.
After Rifling finished telling the story, what Zhu Ying told next was the highlight of the highlight.
Mine bomb.
A muzzle-loading rifle without minie rounds is soulless.
The combination of the two is the power of the muzzle-loading rifle.
Bullets with shells, this is where the power of the matchlock explodes.
This is completely equivalent to the superposition of two sections of power.
However, due to the current industrial restrictions in the early Ming Dynasty, the manpower and material resources generated by the creation of the Migne bullet and the muzzle-loading rifled gun could not be popularized.
The minie bullet is okay, it's nothing more than a cartridge case containing granular gunpowder.
As for the production of front-loading rifled guns, it may not be possible to produce one even in a month.
The key is that this thing needs to be done by a master.
At this stage, muzzle-loading rifled guns can only appear in the form of handicrafts. Even if all the masters work together, they may not be able to produce a hundred guns a year.
The muskets currently used by the Ming army are, to put it simply, a reduced form of artillery.
The power of black powder has been gradually improved through continuous experiments. The current black powder, even if it is granulated, causes less damage than imagined.
The production of minie bullets and matchlock muskets could not increase. At most, they were distributed to a very small number of personal guards.
The workmanship is rough and the gun itself has a limited lifespan, so its popularity is of little significance.
The simpler matchlock gun is the key to production. The damage can at least reach the level of killing people when used by a single soldier.
After the explanation, Zhu Ying did not leave the Gunpowder Department.
Instead, he stayed in the Gunpowder Department for three days, and finally saw the carpenter making the model of the matchlock gun that Zhu Ying had in mind.
The time span from when the model is made to when it is completed by the blacksmith is relatively long, and it is estimated that it will take at least half a month.
It was naturally impossible for Zhu Ying to wait here for such a long time, so he returned to the capital on the morning of the fourth day.
.....
Daming Palace.
Zhu Yuanzhang played with the matchlock model made through Zhu Ying's explanation.
Before Zhu Ying left the Gunpowder Department, the eunuch of the Gunpowder Department immediately arranged for people to work hard and deliver the finished model to Zhu Yuanzhang.
"Is this the matchlock gun that our eldest grandson thought of?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked the eunuch in charge of the Gunpowder Department while playing with the matchlock gun.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, His Highness's idea is simply a stroke of genius. The matchlock gun made in this way, coupled with granular gunpowder, will make the soldiers use it faster and faster."
As the eunuch in charge of the Gunpowder Department, he stayed in the Gunpowder Department almost every day, and was obviously very familiar with the use of fire guns.
Zhu Yuanzhang held a matchlock gun and imagined that when his army was equipped with a large number of such guns and swept across the enemy's army, he couldn't help but feel happy.
"I think Da Sun already knew about such a perfect fire blunderbuss. This is just perfecting it."
At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly felt grateful to his fourth son, Zhu Di.
If it hadn't been for him, I'm afraid the eldest grandson would have gone to Annan to found a country by now.
And such a matchlock gun will not be controlled by Ming Dynasty.
