Unexpectedly, Zhu Di shook his head repeatedly.
"Fireguns are naturally good, but their shooting distance is not far, their accuracy is much worse than that of bows and arrows, and their power is not great. They can only scare wild animals and are difficult to kill."
Zhu Yunxuan opened his eyes wide.
Then I remembered that most of the thermal weapons of this era are not good enough.
But isn’t this something that can be changed?
Zhu Di continued: "I am also very interested in fire guns. I have ordered craftsmen to make them carefully many times. Fire guns can scare horses and were very useful in the war against the Northern Yuan Dynasty, but they still have many shortcomings."
"Your imperial grandfather also attaches great importance to the fire tradition. There is a fire gun making workshop near this hunting ground. If you are interested, you can go there and have a look."
Zhu Yunxuan was overjoyed and said hurriedly: "Then let's go now."
He couldn't continue the hunt.
With his "superb" archery skills, it might not be difficult to shoot a wild beast to the sky.
He couldn't sit still on the horse just by drawing the bow and arrow.
He was afraid that the beast would not kill him, but he would fall to death first.
In this case, it is better to visit Daming's gun workshop.
Both Lao Zhu and Zhu Di attached great importance to fire guns, and the Ming Dynasty set up many production workshops.
"I think this gun should be improved."
After arriving at the workshop, Zhu Yunxuan found the old craftsmen inside, expressed his ideas, and pointed out what improvements should be made.
The industrial base at this time would not allow Zhu Yunxuan to make too many changes.
Therefore, he only thought about one thing, the flintlock gun.
In real history, the later Right Minister of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty also proposed the manufacture of flintlock guns, not many years later than the West.
However, due to various reasons, flintlock guns were not promoted in the Ming Dynasty.
This situation lasted until after the Opium War.
In fact, Zhu Yunxu didn't know much about flintlock guns.
No way, in that era, except for a very small number of niche enthusiasts, who would understand this kind of thing in depth.
Often you only know a name, a general understanding of the history, and the most superficial principles.
If he really wanted to make it, he would be blind and unable to start.
What surprised Zhu Yunxuan was that the old craftsman in charge of the workshop was experienced and very powerful.
He just made a few gestures and vaguely talked about some specious principles, but these old craftsmen were able to understand them at a glance.
Then, under his guidance, several craftsmen slowly drew out the drawings of the flintlock gun bit by bit while constantly deliberating.
The principle of the flintlock gun is very simple, but Zhu Yunzhen is also a person who only knows a little bit about it.
Not even half-assed.
Fortunately, with the cooperation of the craftsmen, we were able to gradually clarify our thoughts and finalize its specific principles and how to make it.
Then, Zhu Yunzhen added another aiming baseline to it.
The big open fire guns of this era did not hide the baseline. Firing and aiming relied on the intuition gained through training.
Naturally, there are many of them who are superb in their skills and can hit extremely accurately.
After all, there is no shortage of masters when it comes to acrobatics.
But the vast majority of people are definitely not accurate.
Zhu Yunzhen is still very clear about the role of aiming at the baseline.
That's basically the difference between a sharpshooter and shooting with your eyes closed.
After working on it for several hours, it was all done.
"This thing is a little complicated. Let's see how long it will take to make it." Zhu Yunxuan looked at the completed drawings and let out a sigh of relief.
Even he couldn't believe that he could actually draw all the drawings of the flintlock gun.
Although it is certainly not difficult for those who have studied this knowledge.
But he really hasn’t done any research!
It all depends on the craftsmen's inferences. Often when he brings up one point, the craftsmen will think of other things.
He only mentioned a general outline and explained the basic principles, and the craftsmen could add specific details.
You can even correct what he said wrongly.
In this way, such a "great project" can be completed step by step.
"Please rest assured, His Majesty the Emperor and Sun, we will be able to make the first batch of new fire blunderbuss in as soon as ten days or as slowly as one month."
The foreman was extremely excited and said: "The new type of fire blunderbuss proposed by His Royal Highness is much more powerful than the original Huo Tong."
"Use flint to ignite the fire, ignite the gunpowder, and shoot. In this way, the shooting steps can be greatly reduced, and the effectiveness of the fire system can be increased tenfold."
"And this targeting baseline, how come we never thought of it before?"
"This is called a flintlock gun." Zhu Yunzhen corrected his wording mistake and said with a smile: "I usually just think about it when I have nothing to do, wondering if this can be done."
"But I haven't thought about it too clearly. Today, with your help, I can finally implement this idea."
The foreman shook his head repeatedly: "We dare not take credit. Your Highness, the Emperor, is so talented that you can have such fantastic ideas. I have been a craftsman all my life in vain, and I am not as good as His Majesty."
He was truly impressed and extremely excited.
These craftsmen, most of whom are hereditary, have been in the workshop since childhood. Being able to make new things is a great inspiration to them.
What's more, it's a strange thing that has never been heard of and is extremely powerful.
And the person who asked them to make it was the current Emperor and Grandson.
After witnessing the whimsical thoughts of the seven-year-old grandson, I realized that there is a world outside the world and there are people outside the world.
I thought to myself that he was worthy of being the son of a dragon, but he was simply not comparable to ordinary people like them.
Next to them, Zhu Di and Dao Yan's eyes were wide open.
The two of them had been watching from the side just now, watching Zhu Yunxu turn a crudely conceived new firecracker into a "flintlock gun" step by step?
Zhu Di was already very interested in gunpowder guns. Seeing these improvements today, he felt like he had found a treasure.
He grabbed the drawing, looked at it again and again, and asked excitedly: "Zhen'er, how did you come up with this thing? Isn't it too... too amazing?"
The words were trembling, and he had lost his composure.
When I knew that Zhu Yunxuan wrote that "talented people have emerged from generation to generation, and each has led the way for hundreds of years", he did not lose his composure.
When I learned that he proposed the "double-entry accounting method", he didn't lose his composure.
Even when he knew that he was improvising and casually wrote "The green mountains are still there, the sunset is red several times", he did not lose his composure.
But when he saw the drawing in front of him, he lost his composure.
Later generations believe that Emperor Yongle's literary and military strategies were good at domestic and foreign affairs.
But what he is best at and what he likes most is still leading troops to fight and killing enemies on the battlefield.
Otherwise, he would not have led troops to conquer five times after becoming emperor.
For a general, nothing interests him more than powerful weapons.
Zhu Di's hands were shaking slightly and his breathing became extremely heavy.
He has long lost his previous carefree, calm and composed appearance.
"I figured it out slowly." Zhu Yunxi stretched his body and said, "Fourth uncle, I'm hungry, let's go eat first."
Before he knew it, the day had almost passed by and he hadn't even eaten lunch.
I had been immersed in contemplating the making of the flintlock gun just now, and now that I stepped away, I felt physically and mentally exhausted.
Zhu Di did not answer immediately, but looked at him blankly.
"What's wrong?" Zhu Yunzhen felt a little uncomfortable when he was stared at by Zhu Di.
Why does it feel like he suddenly changed into a different person?
Zhu Di still didn't answer, but slowly put down the drawing in his hand, bent down and bowed deeply to him.
…
