Speaking of the two concepts of flintlock and rifled guns, they are actually not new in this era.
Even in the current Ming Dynasty, there are still flintlock guns. As for the concept of rifled guns, it is not new to Tang Ruowang.
"In Bi Maokang's "Illustrated Notes on Weapons," there is a record about self-generated fire muskets. It should refer to the flintlock gun that His Highness mentioned..."
Bo Jue, as one of the few weapons experts in the Ming Dynasty, is naturally familiar with "Illustrated Weaponry". He continued: "If His Highness wants to produce flintlock rifled guns, why doesn't he send someone to ask Bi Maokang?"
Indeed, when it comes to the history of the development of firearms in the late Ming Dynasty, Bi Maokang is naturally indispensable, and his "Illustrated Description of Weapons" is also a book that brings together various advanced weapons today.
In this "Illustrated Weaponry", Bi Maokang introduced a self-generating fire gun. The fire gun is modified into a charging chamber with a match rope ignition device to burn the gunpowder, generate gas thrust, and eject the projectile, which can effectively overcome the problem.
The weakness of match rope lighting is that it is afraid of wind and rain.
Lin Jing shook his head slightly and said: "Of course I sent someone to invite him, but as Bi Maokang is the right minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing, and he is getting older now, I am not so confident that he will travel thousands of miles to the capital...
.....And this matter needs to be approved by His Majesty."
Compared with the identities of Tang Ruowang, Song Yingxing and Bo Jue, Bi Maokang's identity is undoubtedly much more sensitive, and he is deeply trusted by Chongzhen. Lin Jing does not have the confidence to let Bi Maokang come all the way, but plans to
First, he relied on the talents of Bo Jue and Tang Ruowang, as well as his own knowledge of miniguns, to create new firearms.
Bo Jue nodded slightly, but with a little worry on his face, he said: "Your Highness, although Mr. Bi has invented a self-generating fire gun, the range of this fire gun is relatively short, coupled with its exquisite structure, the cost is too high
, I’m afraid it will be difficult to equip the entire army even if it is designed.”
Indeed, compared with the simple structure of the matchlock gun, the bolt action of the flintlock gun is too complicated, and since the self-generating gun has no spring, it needs to continuously pull the trigger, which is not so convenient for daily use.
In fact, even though the European flintlock was invented a hundred years ago, before the middle of the seventeenth century, the firearms used by the armies of various countries were mainly matchlocks. It was not until the end of the Thirty Years' War that large-scale installation of flintlocks began.
As for the East, after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing court continued to use matchlocks until the 19th century.
Of course, the main reason for this is mainly due to the problem of immature technology, because the flintlock gun has great advantages over the matchlock gun, not only the increased rate of fire and the convenience of filling, but also not only the ability to use it on rainy days, in fact the flintlock gun has great advantages over the matchlock gun.
The real power of the rifle is that the shooter does not need to carry an open flame when using it.
Not needing to carry an open flame is nothing on the surface, but in fact it is of great significance. This means that the musketeers can line up more closely without having to worry about the open flame igniting the gunpowder on their teammates. This is the basis for line tactics.
Secondly, this tactic can also enable the musketeers to form a hollow square formation and have certain close combat capabilities.
During the subsequent Qingzhun and Qing-Burmese wars, the Qing army actually encountered many opponents who used flintlock guns. However, they usually did not know line tactics and still adopted the tactics of the matchlock era. There was no real
To bring out the power of the flintlock, the Qing army had relatively good iron smelting technology and a well-made barrel, which made the matchlock more accurate. Therefore, when the Qing army laid out the so-called nine-in-ten chain square formation, those
Opponents using flintlock guns could not reach the firepower density of the Qing army.
Although Lin Jing understood the twists and turns involved, it was difficult for him to analyze these people from a tactical perspective. He could only say: "The reason why the flintlock gun is not good enough at the moment is entirely because the technology has not developed to this point.
, the tactics have not been updated, and its power will definitely be demonstrated in the future.”
On the contrary, Tang Ruowang agreed with Lin Jing's idea and said: "It is true. Now Western countries have begun to install flintlock rifles on a large scale. This is not an unreasonable thing."
"The design of the flint device can be based on the self-fire gun, but I suggest adding a spring inside to increase the strength of the flint."
Lin Jing did not understand much, so he continued: "If possible, it would be best to send someone to Macau to buy a few flintlock guns, and then refer to Western designs."
"Yes, I accept the order."
The two of them quickly wrote this down. Tang Ruowang was naturally no stranger to springs.
Tang Ruowang quickly continued to ask: "Your Highness, there should be no problem with the flintlock gun, but the rifled gun may be very difficult, and when used, it is not as easy to use as the smoothbore gun now."
Indeed, compared to the popularity of flintlock guns, rifled guns were later. Strictly speaking, in the entire muzzle-loading gun era, only miniguns used rifled technology on a large scale. Before that, most countries
The army was unwilling to equip such guns with spiral rifling.
In fact, rifled technology appeared earlier than the emergence of flintlock technology.
The earliest rifled guns can basically be traced back to the early 15th century. However, the riflings at that time were linear grooves, just to make it easier to load projectiles. Later, people discovered that if spiral rifling was carved into the barrel, it would be fired.
The projectiles will spin and fly more stably, thereby effectively improving shooting accuracy and range.
Tang Ruowang continued with emotion: "This sounds good, but a problem soon arises, that is, the breath-holding properties of this rifled gun cannot be maintained, and its power is greatly reduced."
Projectiles in the musket era were usually round. In order to facilitate loading from the muzzle, the diameter of the bullet was usually slightly smaller than the diameter of the barrel, so there was no problem in using it. However, due to the existence of rifling in rifled guns, the barrel and the projectile formed a
The air-holding property cannot be maintained, and the power of use will be greatly reduced. If the caliber of the bullet is to be equal to or even slightly larger than the caliber of the gun, it will be very inconvenient during loading, and it will also affect the rate of fire and the rate of fire of the rifled gun.
efficiency.
Since the problem of bullets has always troubled everyone, even in those armies that use rifled guns, there is a stupid way to solve this problem, which is to carry a mallet with you and click the ejector rod when loading.
The result often leads to more dangerous gun barrel ruptures, which are also difficult to satisfy the world.
Lin Jing nodded lightly and said with a smile: "It sounds like there is a big problem. What if we change our thinking and use a different design of warhead?"
"A different design of warhead?"
Tang Ruowang shook his head strangely and said: "Your Highness, in fact many people have also thought about this problem, but until now there is no good solution."