Hearing that Marquis Zhongxing had arrived, Fan Jun, the eunuch in charge of the military affairs bureau, came out to welcome him with a smile on his face.
He hates and loves Marquis Zhongxing at the same time. He hates that Marquis Zhongxing often proposes weird things and asks him to do them, but it takes a lot of effort every time. He loves Marquis Zhongxing because the things he wants to do are weird sometimes.
, but it can often be done after trial and error. And once it is done, it is another achievement of one's own.
"Master Hou, our family has finally fulfilled its mission. The Thunderbolt has been finished, and we are just waiting for Master Hou to come and inspect the goods, haha..." Fan Jun spoke first as soon as he saw Zhong Jinwei.
Not only Fan Jun was excited when the thing was made, but Zhong Jinwei was also happy. Seeing Fan Jun's proud look, he also smiled and said: "Then father-in-law, take me to see it."
"Master Marquis, please." Fan Jun pointed sideways and led Zhong Jinwei inside.
After twisting and turning, we came to a spacious open-air place. There were already craftsmen waiting here. When they saw the eunuch of the palm seal and the Marquis of Zhongxing approaching, they all came to greet them.
Fan Jun ignored them. After arriving at an observation point, he pointed to the middle of the field and said: "Master Marquis, please look, there are scarecrows in armor over there, and there is the jumping mine buried in the middle."
Zhong Jinwei nodded, knowing that these scarecrows were used to test the power of landmines. He looked at them for a while and said to Fan Jun: "Let's start, I'll wait and see."
Fan Jun immediately raised his hand towards a slope in the distance. The craftsman there had been watching this side. After receiving the message, he began to push a stone wheel.
When the stone wheel began to roll down the slope, the craftsmen immediately squatted down and hid behind the slope.
Only then did Zhong Jinwei discover that there was a groove on the slope that could just hold the stone wheel from rolling down in one direction so that it would not deviate from the direction.
After seeing the stone wheel rolling past the straw crowd, a few seconds later, Zhong Jinwei saw gunpowder smoke coming out of that place, followed by a loud noise.
Zhong Jinwei's eyesight was pretty good and he saw a few things bouncing up from the ground and then exploding in the air. After hearing several noises in succession, the craftsmen pushing the stone wheel revealed themselves and ran towards the scarecrow.
Although Zhong Jinwei didn't know the effect at this time, seeing this scene, the meaning of the thunder was already there.
"Master Marquis, please." Fan Jun saw the craftsmen waving this way, turned around and said to Zhong Jinwei.
As soon as Zhong Jinwei heard this, he immediately walked towards the testing site.
As he got closer, he saw that the explosion site was a large crater, but some fragments of wooden boards could be seen on the ground. Centered on the explosion point, the closer the scarecrow was, the greater the damage to its armor.
Zhong Jinwei took a cursory look and found that an area of dozens of feet was affected by the thunder. The power of the thunder was far beyond Zhong Jinwei's expectation.
Overjoyed, he quickly asked Fan Jun: "How was this jumping thunder made? Why is it so powerful?"
Fan Jun smiled and moved his hands like a master, and the two craftsmen brought two things and placed them in front of Zhong Jinwei and Fan Jun.
Fan Jun pointed to the two things on the ground and introduced to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Hou, you see, this wooden cabinet has two layers, upper and lower. The mines are placed on the top, both of which are round mines made of iron; the bottom is where gunpowder is loaded and connected.
Mine fuse. There is also an ignition device on the wooden cabinet."
When Fan Jun was talking, a craftsman opened the cabinet based on what Fan Jun said and displayed the things Fan Jun said in sequence.
"When using it, first bury the wooden cabinet in the ground, place a rollover cart next to the cabinet, and connect it to the ignition device in the cabinet. Once the enemy mistakenly steps on the cart and overturns the ignition device, the gunpowder will explode and the mine in the cabinet will be thrown up to the ground.
feet high, it explodes in the air. Its killing range can reach dozens of feet in radius, and it is extremely powerful."
After Fan Jun finished the introduction, he looked at Zhong Jinwei, as if he was waiting for him to ask questions.
Zhong Jinwei ignored his proud look. After looking at the structure of the jumping thunder, he pointed at the ignition device and asked, "Is this the ignition device?"
"Yes, this is the steel wheel fire invented by Marshal Qi when he was guarding Jizhou. After the enemy triggers the mechanism, the steel wheel rotates, rubs against the flint and ignites, and the mine can be detonated." Fan Jun introduced immediately.
Zhong Jinwei kept nodding his head. The structure of this jumping thunder was indeed good. At the level of the late Ming Dynasty, it was not easy to make use of the existing conditions to create this jumping thunder. No wonder it took several months.
He didn't know that historically, this type of jumping mine was developed by Ding Shoucun, Huang Mian and others during the Opium War. Firearms technology in the late Ming Dynasty had not regressed, so it took several months to develop it.
Not surprising either.
"Okay, Eunuch Fan is really powerful. I'll give the New Army a hundred of these jumping mines first, and come back and pick them up in half a month. Is it okay?" After Zhong Jinwei finished studying, he looked up at Fan Jun and asked him.
Unexpectedly, Fan Jun, who had been pretending to be a master just now, dropped his jaw to the ground when he heard Zhong Jinwei's words, and replied with a grimace: "Master Marquis, please spare our family!"
"What?" Zhong Jinwei actually finished watching Thunderbolt and saw that Fan Jun was still pretending to be teasing him.
Fan Jun hurriedly explained to Zhong Jinwei, so as not to suffer the consequences if he actually issued an ultimatum: "Master Hou, the cost of these mines is very high, and it takes a lot of effort to make. You asked for a hundred in one mouth, and it only took half a month."
We really can’t afford this time!”
In fact, this kind of jumping mine is much bulkier than ordinary mines. Depending on the power requirements, the size of the cabinet is different, and the number of mines placed in it is also different. It is not very convenient to use.
Zhong Jinwei changed his mind and said to Fan Jun: "Then let's get ten first, let the new army and special forces use them first, and then get twenty more jumping mines of different powers before going back to the expedition. Is this okay?"
Fan Jun nodded quickly after hearing this and said: "No problem, no problem."
At this moment, Zhong Jinwei thought of something else and asked, "How is the progress of the rifle?"
"Our family has mobilized the most skilled gunsmiths and is currently building it. Mr. Marquis, I am dissatisfied with you saying that the rifled gun is not very difficult, but it requires slow work and careful work, and it takes time." Fan Jun replied quickly.
Zhong Jinwei understood what Fan Jun meant. He was saying that this rifled gun must be carefully crafted and would take a lot of time and effort to produce. In other words, this thing cannot be mass-produced yet.
"Okay, then I will give you another month, and you must give it then. Otherwise, it will delay the expedition." Zhong Jinwei looked at Fan Jun and warned him.
Fan Jun heard that there was still a month left, and the amount requested by the Marquis was not much, so he nodded quickly and said: "Okay, okay, it must be built within a month."
"Okay, then I won't disturb Eunuch Fan. When I see the emperor another day, I will tell him about the power of this thunder to make him happy."
Zhong Jinwei's words made Fan Jun overjoyed, and he immediately sent him out of the war situation diligently.
"Let's go to the capital camp and have a look." Zhong Jinwei left the war station. Seeing that it was still early, he said to the guards around him.