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 order to "light a fire" 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 Baibu.

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 prepared under the guidance of Your Highness 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 filled the air, 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 firecrackers 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 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 charge formation.

When Zhu Ying heard the old man's compliment, she did not answer immediately. Instead, she said after thinking for a while:

"Grandpa, when I was watching the firecrackers just now, I was so blessed that I suddenly thought of a new way to make firecrackers."

"I want to try making something." Zhu Ying said.

The speed of the gunman just now was so touching that 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 muskets and artillery in the early Ming Dynasty are mainly auxiliary, especially in field battles.

It is used more frequently in siege warfare and water warfare.

Zhu Yuanzhang heard Da Sun's idea and agreed after thinking about it for a while.

Under Zhu Yuanzhang's edict, 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 summon the top masters here."

"Follow orders."

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 and concepts.

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 appearance of the stable gun can be traced back to clocks after the Renaissance in the West.

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 they could produce sparks and ignite the powder chamber, they were very strong and inconvenient to use.

The most important thing is that there is no industrial foundation, and the hand-made spring is simply impressive, 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 the 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.

"Reporting to Your Highness, ordinary people may have some experience in blacksmithing." The blacksmith took a step forward, bowed and bowed.

"Okay, then you stay, the others will step aside first, and do as I ask."

"Follow orders."

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 15th century, but due to the difficulty of the manufacturing process, they did not become popular until the 19th 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 them.

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 ammunition is soulless.

The combination of the two is the power of the muzzle-loading rifled gun.

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 Minie bullet and the muzzle-loading rifled gun could not be popularized.
To be continued...