Not long after Posexi Milu left, Zhu Muchen saw a familiar figure walking into the door of the side hall, then he put down the telescope in his hand and said with a smile: "Aji, have you recovered from your injury?", since last time Aji
After Ji was captured by Guo Gai and severely beaten, Zhu Muchen hadn't seen him for a month.
Aji put down the baggage in his hands, bowed and said, "Young prince."
Zhu Muchen supported Aji who was about to kneel down and said, "It'll be good if you come back. You've suffered." Zhu Muchen found that Aji had a long scar on his face, which was left when he was whipped last time.
, he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the man in front of him. Aji looked like he should be fourteen or fifteen years old. In order to protect his young age, he ruined his appearance. Zhu Muchen felt a little guilty in his heart.
Aji bowed and said: "I'm fine, little prince. Don't worry about me. I am the young prince's cow and the young prince's horse. Even if I lose my life for the little prince, it is still my honor."
"
Zhu Muchen's face showed a solemn look when he heard this. He was shocked by Aji's loyalty. He had read books about ancient civilizations and understood that ancient Chinese society was mainly dominated by Confucian cultural thoughts, which emphasized benevolence, justice, etiquette, wisdom, trust, loyalty, forgiveness, filial piety and brotherhood.
, once they violate these principles, they will be cast aside by civilized society; secondly, ancient people emphasized that scholars would die for their confidants. If they could find a wise master who appreciated and reused them, they would not only be willing to pay a sufficient price, but even sacrifice their own lives.
No matter life is spared! Of course there is still selfishness, and that is fame! In ancient times, one attached great importance to one's reputation, and those who served as ministers would be praised by the entire civilization for being loyal and protective of the master, and could even be recorded in the annals of history and passed down through the ages!
If you can live a short life of only a few decades and be remembered forever, you will not hesitate to sacrifice your life!
Zhu Muchen put a hand on Aji's shoulder and said: "You are not my cow, let alone my horse, and I will never let you lose your life for me."
With a "plop", Aji knelt down on the ground with tears in his eyes, kowtowed and said, "Little Prince."
Zhu Muchen was a little speechless. Why did the ancients like this trick and kneel down at every turn? Didn't the ancients often say that a man has gold under his knees?
"Get up, get up quickly, didn't I just tell you not to do these false etiquettes." Zhu Muchen said helplessly.
Zhu Muchen looked at Aji with tears in his eyes and was really dumbfounded. He couldn't help feeling that these ancient people were very simple. No wonder some people would rise up and revolt if they said some heroic words.
Zhu Muchen picked up the telescope on the table and put it in his arms, and then said to Aji, "There is no future in being a servant in the palace. From now on, you will work as an errand in my escort team. I will tell my father."
After hearing this, Aji wanted to kneel down and kowtow again, but Zhu Muchen stopped him. Once he joined the military, he would not only be allocated land, but it would also be hereditary. Aji even doubted whether he was dreaming.
Zhu Muchen took a sip of tea and then said: "Okay, you ask two people to help move these things to my room." After saying that, Zhu Muchen got up and left the side hall. Aji raised his hands to Zhu Muchen's leaving back.
He said politely: "His Royal Highness, walk slowly."
"Be careful, slow down, there are steps." A man was directing a group of people carrying boxes, and a long team carrying boxes passed by the garden corridor.
"Young prince," the man conducting the command saluted when he saw Zhu Muchen.
Zhu Muchen looked at the long queue and asked curiously: "What's going on?"
Hearing this, the man cupped his hands and said, "Back to the young prince, there are too many copper coins that can't be stored in the warehouse, so I moved them to a vacant house to store them first."
Zhu Muchen waved his hand and said, "Oh, go ahead, get busy." Then the man saluted Zhu Muchen and turned around to follow the moving team not far away.
Zhu Muchen looked at the moving team that was gradually walking away and muttered: "If that doesn't work, we have to find a place to exchange the copper coins for silver." Then he continued walking towards the princess's palace.
"Young prince." Bai Xiaoman first saw Zhu Muchen standing up and saluting. Upon hearing this, Shang Ziyou hurriedly stood up and saluted Zhu Muchen.
The old nanny who was teaching women's virtues to Bai Xiaoman and Shang Ziyou saw her and bowed and said: "Your Highness, Your Majesty."
Zhu Muchen smiled and said: "No need to be polite, you continue, I will come to find the queen mother." Then Zhu Muchen walked to a room inside.
"Chen'er is here." Yuan Xi said with a smile, holding a crystal ball in his hand.
Zhu Muchen bowed his hands and said, "Mother, I have come to see you." Yuan Xi motioned for Zhu Muchen to come to him, and then ordered the maid beside him to bring tea to Zhu Muchen.
"Mother, do you like this crystal ball?" Zhu Muchen said with a smile.
Hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled and said, "I have never seen such beautiful beads." Yuan Xi held the beads in his hand as if he couldn't put them down.
Zhu Muchen responded: "The Queen likes it. I will collect more for the Queen in the future. Anyway, this thing is not a valuable item."
Yuan Xi poked Zhu Muchen's forehead with his finger and said: "Silly boy, don't waste money, this one is enough." In fact, Yuan Xi has a better glass ball than this one, but it was just sent by Zhu Meng.
It was said that Zhu Muchen bought it for her. The more Yuan Xi looked at the bead, the more she liked it. Zhu Muchen used to suffer from brain disease and was crazy all day long. Yuan Xi also cried all day long. Now her child has not only recovered, but is also very filial to her.
Moreover, this is the first time Zhu Muchen has given her a gift. Even if it is just a copper coin, she will treat it as a treasure.
Zhu Muchen held Yuan Xi's hand and said: "As long as the queen likes it, let alone spending money, I will find a way to pick off the moon in the sky."
"Haha" Yuan Xi couldn't help laughing when he heard this, and then poked Zhu Muchen's forehead with his finger and said, "You, you are glib and don't learn well." Although he was educating Zhu Muchen, his face was full of joy.
color.
"It's getting late, Queen Mother. I'll take Xiaoman and Ziyou back first." Zhu Muchen said.
Yuan Xi poked Zhu Muchen with his finger again, and said with a smile: "You child, are you here to visit me? Is it okay to leave for only half a day? She has been studying hard at me these days, you go first
Let's go back."
Zhu Muchen heard this and said, "Of course I am here to visit my mother."
Yuan Xi shook his head with a smile on his face and said: "It's getting late, let's go."
Zhu Muchen bowed and saluted and said: "Mother, queen, son, please retire." Then he chatted for a few words with Bai Xiaoman and Shang Ziyou outside, and then left the princess's palace.
Bai Xiaoman and Shang Ziyou were not around in the evening, and Zhu Muchen felt a little uncomfortable. Usually they and Zhu Muchen were inseparable, but today they suddenly felt a little lonely without them.
Zhu Muchen said to a maid outside the door: "Help me find some paper and pen." After hearing this, the maid sent Zhu Muchen the Four Treasures of the Study.
Zhu Muchen was grinding the inkstone, thinking about how to draw a blueprint of a Hongyi cannon. It was not difficult for him as an engineering major to draw a mechanical drawing, but the technology these days is too backward. If it can be made according to the current forging level,
It's still a bit difficult, after all, he doesn't understand the current situation very well.
Zhu Muchen remembered that the main materials of the Hongyi cannon were copper and iron. Although copper is not easy to explode, is not prone to pores, and even has a longer lifespan, the manufacturing cost is extremely high. There is another
The fatal shortcoming is that it is too heavy, and copper was a coin metal during this period. The Ming Dynasty was generally a copper-deficient country, so a large proportion of artillery in the Ming Dynasty was made of iron.
Zhu Muchen moved the inkstone aside, picked up a brush and dipped it in ink. He poked his chin with the brush in his hand. He felt that the Hongyi cannon still had its obvious advantages in design. Its barrel was long and its wall was thick.
, and is gradually thickened from the muzzle to the breech, in line with the principle that the chamber pressure goes from high to low when gunpowder is burned; there are cylindrical lugs on both sides of the center of gravity of the gun body, and the artillery can use this as an axis to adjust the elevation angle.
The range is changed according to the amount of gunpowder. It is also equipped with a front sight and a rear sight. The ballistic trajectory is calculated according to the parabola. The accuracy is relatively high. Most Hongyi cannons are about 3 meters long, with a caliber between 100-130 mm and a weight of
More than 1 ton.
Moreover, the most outstanding advantage of the Hongyi cannon is its range. For heavy artillery, the range is the most important link to measure its performance, even in modern civilization. According to the data of the same type of Western artillery at the time, the Battle of Ningyuan
The earliest batch of Hongyi cannons used had an effective range (direct fire at an elevation angle of no more than 5 degrees) of more than 500 meters, and the maximum range was less than 1.5 kilometers.
Zhu Muchen scratched his head and remembered that there were many problems with this thing. Not to mention the slow rate of fire, every time it was fired, it would seriously deviate from the original shooting position. It needed to be reset again, reloaded, and set the direction angle and elevation angle again.
These actions are very cumbersome, and the reloading and firing rate is not high. Another fatal weakness is that the cannon body is heavy and heavy, and it cannot quickly move its position. It is often only possible to fix the point before the war begins, and then bombard it. When the enemy's situation reverses,
At that time, there was no way to respond effectively.
Zhu Muchen's final conclusion was that the Hongyi cannon was characterized by a slow rate of fire and a heavy body. However, it had a long range and high power. It was only suitable for siege warfare and defensive warfare. It was useless to take it out for marching. He wanted to
Looking for a way to improve it into a lightweight Hongyi cannon, Zhu Muchen already had a rough design plan in mind.
"Oops... Damn it!" Zhu Muchen accidentally turned the brush in his hand, and ink splashed everywhere. This turning of the brush can be regarded as a habit of modern young scholars, and Zhu Muchen still can't change it for a while.
Breaking this habit, he asked the maid waiting outside the door to come in and clean it up, then laid out a new piece of white paper and carefully drew the blueprint of the Hongyi cannon.