Lu Xiangsheng bowed his hands and said: "Please also ask the supervisor to teach the subordinates."
He knew that Zhong Jinwei must have some ideas when he said this, so he asked for advice.
Zhong Jinwei put on an expert air and extended his hand to Gu Baichuan. When Gu Baichuan saw it, he quickly returned the gun to Zhong Jinwei.
Zhong Jinwei held the blunderbuss level with one hand and pointed at the tail of the blunderbuss with the other hand and said: "Now we use match ropes to light the blunderbuss. There are many inconveniences. So can we think of ways to improve it? For example, when cooking at home, or lighting lamps, it doesn't work.
Match rope, right? It uses fire sickle flint. So can we apply fire sickle flint to this place?"
Zhong Jinwei's words were like a sudden flash of lightning in the darkness, illuminating Lu Xiangsheng who had been walking in the dark, and a look of surprise immediately appeared on his face.[
Yan Yingyuan was even more surprised than Lu Xiangsheng. If the match rope could be successfully replaced, the power of the gun would be greatly increased.
The followers like Dongchang Fanyi and Li Laosi knew less about firearms, but they had heard a lot just now. Now seeing the expressions of Lu Xiangsheng and Yan Yingyuan, they knew that what Zhongxing Hou said was reasonable, and they couldn't help but pay attention.
Zhong Jinwei noticed the expressions of the audience, and was secretly proud of himself. He continued to pretend: "And the primer, can you wrap it in a suitable amount with suitable paper in advance? When you use it, just tear it open and put it in."
Wouldn’t it be faster and more convenient?”
Yan Yingyuan couldn't help but praise: "What a great idea!" This was much more convenient than using a quantitative container to hold it.
Zhong Jinwei enjoyed Yan Yingyuan's appreciation and continued: "Not only can this be done with the primer, but can the propellant and lead also be wrapped in suitable paper and put into the barrel together to simplify the steps and speed up the loading?"
There were nods all around, which made Zhong Jinwei feel very happy. However, he did not forget about it and directly talked about more advanced primers and the like.
He stopped when he was done and said to Lu Xiangsheng: "Let's take a look at that Fo Langji again."
At this time, Zhong Jinwei seemed to have become a firearms expert. Lu Xiangsheng's impression of Zhong Jinwei had a new change, and he quickly led Zhong Jinwei to the moved Folang machine.
Yan Yingyuan followed closely and took the initiative to explain the firearm to Zhong Jinwei: "The Folan machine is composed of three parts, the barrel, the barrel, and the sub-cannon. There is a front sight and a rear sight on the barrel. When firing, the gunpowder pellet is first
Fill it into the sub-cannon, then load the sub-cannon into the belly of the gun, ignite the sub-gun fire door and shoot. The belly of the Folan aircraft is quite thick, and there is a steering rudder at the tail of the gun. This Folan aircraft has
Ten cannons, right over there."
Yan Yingyuan brought the sub-pao over while introducing it, demonstrated it to Zhong Jinwei and pointed out the flaws of the Folan machine.
Because the belly of the gun is open, there is a gap between the sub-cannon and the belly, which will cause the gunpowder gas to leak, the range will be short, and the gunner can easily be injured.
The Folan machine imitated by the Ming army in the later period has been improved, that is, the belly of the gun is slightly tilted, and the sub-cannon is wedged in. The gap is much smaller than before, and the performance has been improved a lot.
Unfortunately, the Folang machine in Yan Yingyuan's hands was still an early Folan machine with relatively large gaps. During the previous training, the gunner who operated it was a novice and accidentally got burned.
Compared with other guns, the advantages of the Folang machine are also very obvious, that is, the rate of fire is very fast, the gunpowder is pre-installed, and there are very few accidents such as explosion of the barrel.
While listening to Yan Yingyuan's introduction, Zhong Jinwei recalled the artillery structure of later generations and wondered whether the flaws of the Folang machine could be improved.
Not to mention, he really thought of a way. Just when Zhong Jinwei was about to show off his knowledge, Sun Chengzong's personal soldiers came to him and reported: "I ask the supervisor to go to the Chinese military tent immediately."
When Zhong Jinwei saw that it was Sun Chengzong who sent someone to look for him, he knew that something urgent was going on, otherwise he would be looking for him again when he returned from patrolling the camp.
Therefore, he had no choice but to give up this opportunity to perform, and went back to the War and War Bureau to talk about it and let them modify the Fo Lang machine according to their own ideas.
He bid farewell to Lu Xiangsheng and Yan Yingyuan, and hurried to the Chinese military tent with his guards.[
As soon as Sun Chengzong saw Zhong Jinwei, he smiled and said to him: "The artillery mentioned earlier has arrived. Let's go and take a look."
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and then asked: "Were those artillery pieces purchased from Macau?"
"Yes, we just arrived." Sun Chengzong nodded and replied, then took the lead and walked out of the camp.
Zhong Jinwei had just heard about the quality of domestic artillery and wanted to see this foreign product. He immediately followed Sun Chengzong and remembered what happened in Lu Xiangsheng's camp just now, so he said to Sun Chengzong: "Master Sun, are you too disrespectful to me?
."
When Sun Chengzong heard this, he was a little surprised. He stopped and turned around to look at Zhong Jinwei and asked, "Why do you talk like that?"
"I just went to the camp in Jiutai and looked at the artillery guns you used. I found that many of the artillery guns had explosive chambers, and the gaps in the Folan machine were big enough for a person to squeeze in. Do you think you are interesting enough?" Zhong Jinwei was thinking in his heart.
I complained a little bit about Sun Chengzong, so I told him about it.
When Sun Chengzong heard Zhong Jinwei's exaggerated statement, he couldn't help but smile bitterly, and then said: "Due to various reasons, the quality of the firearms made by Ming Dynasty did have problems, otherwise there would be no need to go all the way to Macau to buy them."
After he finished speaking, he mounted the horse brought by his bodyguard, and then waited for Zhong Jinwei.
"The quality of Portuguese artillery is so good, don't they have explosive chambers?" Zhong Jinwei was a little curious. He asked while taking the reins of the horse from Li Laosi, and then got on the horse.
"That's not true. Their artillery can also explode, but the probability is much smaller than ours. The purpose of our visit this time is to check their artillery and test fire it once. If there are no problems, we will report to the emperor." Sun Chengzong told Zhong Jinwei.
Explained the last step in purchasing Western artillery.
"Master Sun, why do the artillery built by our Ming Dynasty have so many explosive chambers?" Zhong Jinwei wanted to get confirmation from Sun Chengzong.
Sun Chengzong was riding ahead. When he heard Zhong Jinwei's question, he sighed softly, lowered his loud voice, and said with some help: "There are many reasons why artillery and muskets have explosive chambers."
Zhong Jinwei urged his horse to go parallel with Sun Chengzong, and then asked: "What are the reasons?"
Sun Chengzong looked at Zhong Jinwei and saw that he was seriously waiting for the answer, so he had to say: "The first is that the imperial court cannot produce enough silver coins, but it also requires the manufacture of enough firearms."
"Then it's still a matter of money. Doesn't the court know that the firearms made with such requirements are likely to not last long?" Zhong Jinwei commented, and then asked Sun Chengzong another question.
"Marquis Zhongxing, it's not because the imperial court is willing, but because the frontline urgently needs so many firearms, so there is no way not to give them, and the imperial court also has difficulties." Sun Chengzong explained.
Zhong Jinwei listened silently, because the front line needed so many firearms, but the court could not afford so much money, so they forced themselves to collect enough firearms. This could be regarded as deceiving others!
Sun Chengzong saw that Zhong Jinwei didn't speak anymore, so he said the second reason: "You know about the corruption case a few days ago, right? The silver coins allocated by the imperial court for making firearms were intercepted by some people. Corruption, corruption.
, there is very little silver left that is actually used in the manufacture of firearms.”
"No wonder, I said that no matter how stupid the court is and how much they try to hide their lies, they will not let the difference between the amount of money given and the number of firearms required to be made be too big. It turns out that it is a group of moths causing trouble!" Zhong Jinwei suddenly realized that he was really complaining about the court's deception just now.
It's stupid, and somewhat unfair.
Sun Chengzong turned his head to look at Zhong Jinwei's expression and smiled. The joy and anger of Zhongxing Hou were all visible on his face. It was a pity that he did not climb up from the bottom of the officialdom step by step.
"It also has something to do with the lack of dedication of the craftsmen and the perfunctoryness of the officials. It is in the interests of the craftsmen to make more and less. If the officials are serious, the number of qualified firearms they make will not be enough to meet the requirements of the court, so they are all perfunctory." Sun Chengzong added.
Xiang Jinwei made the last point.
Zhong Jinwei was a little angry after hearing this. After being silent for a while, he looked at Sun Chengzong and asked him: "You know these reasons, so why don't you report them to the emperor, repair these people, and improve the quality of firearms? This is
It is related to the life and death of the frontline soldiers and the victory or defeat of the war!" [
It was Sun Chengzong's turn to be silent. His bodyguards and Zhong Jinwei's bodyguards did not dare to speak and followed behind silently. Only the sound of horse hooves could be heard regularly.