"General, come and take a look. When I inspected the warehouse in the morning, I found something new. I wonder if it will be helpful to the general." Early in the morning, Gao Heng was conducting equestrian training outside the city. As a soldier, Gao Heng Self-discipline is still very strong. Since in the late Ming Dynasty, riding a war horse was an indispensable training subject, so Gao Heng and the soldiers of the cavalry company trained almost simultaneously. They got up early every day and went to the large campus outside the city. .
It is said to be a large school field, but it is actually an open space that has been deliberately leveled. There is no problem in using it for basic training of cavalry. Gao Heng's war horse is naturally Zheng Zuo's mount. It is a strong black horse. Although Annan produces horses locally, basically the local horses are jungle horses. They have strong adaptability in the jungle, but are small in size and difficult to ride. It's no problem for an adult man, but it will be very difficult if he is wearing heavy armor.
So in fact, the Annan cavalry basically used Mongolian horses. Thanks to the Yuan Dynasty when the Mongolian army went south and was repelled by the Annan people, many war horses were lost. The Annan people bred and improved the Mongolian horses with local horses. , over hundreds of years, Annan has also had good war horses. Although they are not as gorgeous as tall horses like Arabian horses, the advantages of Mongolian horses in endurance and good feeding have been retained.
Zheng Zuo's mount is the best among Annan Mongolian horses, called a black male horse. It is an excellent breed after special selection and breeding. The output is very rare, and it is excellent in terms of speed and endurance. Gao Heng found someone who knew horses among the expats and found out that the horse was just two years old, which is the best time for a war horse. The life span of a horse is basically twenty years. If it is used as a war horse in service, the best age is Aged two to eight years old, it's safe to say that this horse is in excellent condition.
Gao Heng cherished this war horse very much and spent a lot of time cultivating a relationship with it every morning. Horses are living creatures and have spirituality. Only by cooperating with their master can they exert greater power on the battlefield.
Today, Gao Heng was combing the black stallion's mane as usual. When he was lost in thought, Jing Zhao's voice suddenly sounded in his ears. Gao Heng looked back and saw that it was Jing Zhao coming from the city panting.
Gao Heng put down the tools in his hands, wiped the water from his hands on his body and said, "Jing Zhao? What's the matter? Is there anything important that comes to the campus early in the morning?"
Jing Zhao took a breath and said: "General, that's it. A few days ago, didn't you put all the captured materials in the treasury? After distributing them to the entire army, I led people yesterday and today to bring the remaining supplies We made an inventory of the supplies. During the inventory, we found something, which should be Zheng Zuo's horse bag. His horse bag must have flown out when he fell down, so the military advisor simply led people to clean the battlefield. They were put together and I only noticed them today.”
Gao Heng said: "Let's talk about the important point. There must be something inside, right?"
"Exactly, we found a handgun inside. But this handgun is different from what we have seen before. I think it looks like a fresh product from the Folangji people." Jing Zhao said.
Gao Heng suddenly became interested. Of course he understood that firearms were the weapons that would dominate the battlefield in the future, but the current matchlocks were far from being able to do this. They had to be used in conjunction with cold weapons. It would not be until more than a hundred years later Flint-hair muskets were widely used on the battlefield, and the combat mode was fundamentally changed. But now, he did not have a sample of flint-hair muskets. Even if he knew the principle, someone would have to draw the blueprints.
When Jing Zhao said this, Gao Heng's eyes lit up. Could it be that there was some clue to this matter?
He immediately said to Jing Zhao: "Take me to see it quickly."
The two of them arrived at the treasury one after another. Jing Zhao opened the treasury door and guided Gao Heng to a table. At a glance, Gao Heng saw a blunderbuss emitting silver light placed on the table. It doesn't look like a combat weapon at all, more like a handicraft.
Gao Heng said: "Is this what you discovered?" Jing Zhao nodded.
Gao Heng immediately picked it up and looked at it. He saw that the fire gun was beautifully designed and the handle was engraved with the word Zheng Zuo. It seemed to be Zheng Zuo's personal belongings. Such a beautiful fire gun must have been plated with silver because of the silver light emitting from the outside. , and it is true that only people of Zheng Zuo’s level can afford it.
As a soldier of later generations, he had a natural affinity for firearms. Although the handguns at this time were completely different from the pistols of later generations, the basic design principles were still the same. After looking carefully, he discovered some clues.
"This gun is indeed interesting. It is not fired with a match rope." Gao Heng pointed at the fire gun and said. Jing Zhao didn't have much research on this aspect. In his knowledge, it was unheard of to fire a musket without a match rope.
After Gao Heng finished speaking, he pulled the trigger in front of Jing Zhao, and saw a delicate gear-shaped object above the gun body rotating with a click, followed by a burst of sparks, but there was no gunpowder inside, so there was no Start.
But this time, Jing Zhao was also surprised, "This? General, I saw sparks. How can I light a fire without a match rope?"
Gao Heng said: "The principle is very simple. I have heard of this kind of fire gun before. It is called a spring wheel gun. It is a type of self-generated fire gun."
"Self-generating fire gun? As the name suggests, it is a gun that can make fire by itself, but the fire gun does not have a match rope, how can it make a fire by itself?" Jing Zhao said.
Gao Heng said: "It's very simple. Have you seen flint and steel before?"
As soon as Gao Heng's words came out, Jing Zhao suddenly realized that of course he had seen flints before. People traveling around for business would bring flints with them if they didn't have fire breakers. When they were heating in the wild, they would get some hay and pile firewood and flints underneath. The impact ignites the dry grass and you can start a fire.
"General, are you saying that this gun uses flint to make fire?" Jing Zhao asked in surprise.
"That's right, it's easy. Now let's go to the blacksmith shop and have a look. There are a few craftsmen there who know how to repair firecrackers. Maybe they can have some ideas." Gao Heng took Jing Zhao to the craftsman's shop. .
These days, the craftsman's shop is no less busy than the military camp. The repair of weapons and armor is a heavy job. They only have so many craftsmen. They work hard and only sleep for two or three hours a day, but they still feel that there is not enough time.
As soon as Gao Heng arrived at the craftsman's shop, he immediately ran to the innermost room, which was where firecrackers were repaired. Three craftsmen were tinkling and knocking inside.
"Damn it, the craftsmanship of the Annan people is not good. The gun barrel is not in a straight line. How can it hit people? What nonsense." When I walked to the door, I heard curses coming from inside.
Jing Zhao was a little embarrassed. He knew this man, his name was Cheng Ping. He used to work in the Ordnance Bureau of Guangzhou, and later he wanted to go overseas to make a lot of money. It happened that Zheng Ruan was at war in Annan, and the Zheng family needed craftsmen, so he temporarily went to Lang Son Prefecture. The Ordnance Factory, together with many craftsmen, was responsible for repairing and imitating fire guns for the Annan Army. This time something like this happened. As a Chinese expatriate, he naturally couldn't escape. He was imprisoned in a concentration camp. After being rescued, he Work on it first at the craftsman's shop in the city.
This person has good skills, but he usually has a loud voice, loves to curse, and has a bad temper. You can't blame him. His brother who came to Annan with him was killed by Annan people. There was no way to resolve the resentment in his heart. It's normal for his personality to be a little weird.
Gao Heng pushed the door open directly and went in. Cheng Ping said without looking back: "Didn't you see that we are busy? Don't rush me, don't rush me. How many times a day do I have to rush you? You soldiers treat me like a beast."
"Master Cheng, I'm not here to rush you. I just want to ask you a question." Gao Heng said with a smile.
Cheng Ping turned around and said: "I'm so busy, how can I have time? Ah! This, General!" Cheng Ping was stunned on the spot, his face turned red. Little did he know that the person talking to him turned out to be Gao Heng. Gao Heng now has a very high prestige among the expatriates. Among other things, Gao Heng is their savior. It is a miracle that they are alive.
Cheng Ping's words made several other craftsmen stand up and rub their hands in embarrassment. Everyone heard Cheng Ping's curse words. An older craftsman said: "General, he is like this. He has no ill intentions. Please be magnanimous and don't argue with him."
Cheng Ping's lips moved a few times, but no words came out. Gao Heng waved his hands and said: "How can I take these trivial matters to my heart? You have all worked hard these days. When you are done with this period of work, I will definitely reward you for your merits. It's really annoying to disturb everyone's work these days. I have something to ask you, please take a look at this."
After saying that, he took out the spring gun from his waist and handed it to everyone. "Ouch!" Several people came up to take a look and exclaimed. Cheng Ping couldn't put it down and touched it many times.
"Self-generated fire gun, this is the latest good thing from Fo Langji." Cheng Ping murmured to himself.
Gao Heng said: "Why, do you know him?"
Cheng Ping said: "I know, this gun has the word Zheng Zuo written on it. It must be from his personal collection, that's why it is so beautiful. I have seen lower-grade spring wheel guns. That was when I was in Guangzhou. Fo Langjiren When I came to Guangzhou, I saw it on their officers. It was not as exquisite as this, but the principle is the same."
Gao Heng asked: "Tell me more about this gun."
Cheng Ping said: "This blunderbuss is also called a self-generating fire blunderbuss. In simple terms, the principle is to use the spring wheel to rub the flint in the clip. You see, it is right here." He pointed to a part of the blunderbuss. There is a small clip holding a small cylindrical length of flint.
"The spring wheel is rough, and when it rubs against the flint, it will naturally create a fire. Then the primer in the medicine pot is ignited, and it will naturally fire. In fact, the biggest difference from the matchlock gun is that the match needs to be ignited. Keeping the match burning is equivalent to a fixed A fire source can bring everyone together, but a self-generated fire gun is not needed and can be fired at any time, making it much more convenient to use." Cheng Ping introduced.
He gestured, "For example, on a rainy day, if the match rope gets wet and cannot be used, this self-generated fire gun can be fired without being affected by the weather. Another example is at night, when the match rope of the match rope is clicked, the position is exposed, and the self-generated fire gun does not have this concerns. In short, there are many benefits.”
Gao Heng said: "It seems that Master Cheng knows a lot about self-generating fire guns. Let me ask, if we want to make self-generating fire guns ourselves, or transform the match rope guns we have into self-generating fire guns, is it feasible? "
Cheng Ping was speechless for a moment. After a while, he sighed and said, "With the current conditions, I'm afraid it's not possible."
Gao Heng was stunned, "Why is this?"
Cheng Ping said: "Three factors are limiting. First, the complexity of this spring-wheel gun is far beyond imagination. General, think about it, if this gun can be made so easily, why don't the Folangji people change their equipment on a large scale? General, please look at how many parts there are on this gun. Let’s put aside the gun itself and just look at its firing structure, that is, the gun machine. From the trigger, there are auxiliary hooks, left and right grinding wheel hooks, reeds, and transmission. Chain, grinding wheel cover, rotating shaft, grinding wheel body, positioning reed, lever, medicine pot lid, pot lid reed, left and right flint clamp reeds, flint clamp, brake shaft, and finally a panel cover, at least Twenty tiny parts, this is just the gun, not the gun itself. Even if there is no decoration on the gun, it would take a craftsman three months to build such a gun."
"This." Gao Heng didn't know how to answer the question for a while. It takes three months to make a handgun. How many craftsmen are needed to mass-produce it? Where can he get so many people.
"Secondly, the precision of these parts is very high. To be honest, I think my craftsmanship is pretty good, but I really don't have the ability. None of the masters here should be able to do it, unless the general can find a more powerful one. Master, but how many such masters can there be in this world? This is too much of a test of personal skills, and to be honest, it is not suitable for mass production." Cheng Ping said.
"The third is the cost. Since it is so complicated, the cost of this handgun is much higher than that of a matchlock gun. When the villain was working at the Guangzhou Ordnance Bureau, a matchlock gun in the Ming Dynasty cost about two taels of silver. When it comes to matchlock guns, the Japanese The quality of the iron cannon is better. They have more contact with the Folangji people, so the iron cannon manufacturing is more mature, which is about three taels of silver. The price of this spring wheel gun is at least five times more, and the raw materials and technology are limited, so the cost It's too high and still not suitable for large-scale equipment." Cheng Ping added.
Every time he said something, Gao Heng's heart became colder. It seemed that he had some wishful thinking. Indeed, even in later generations, military industry would require a complete industrial chain to be completed. Now he has just rescued it. A group of expatriates selected some craftsmen, occupied a small county town, and had the ambition to make large quantities of fire guns, which was a bit fanciful.
Moreover, he did not have a suitable military industry leader to take charge of the work. This was a science, and it was not something that a skilled craftsman like Cheng Ping could take on. Let alone spring-wheel blunderbuss, it is impossible for him to mass-produce matchlock blunderbuss now. From raw materials to money, there is no shortage of everything.
