As a soldier leader, Sun Chuanting had led soldiers for so many years. Of course he knew what the effective range and shooting accuracy of the musket would be.
Now, looking at the distance of this target, it is far beyond that of a musket. It would be strange if he was not surprised!
At this time, to be honest, he actually didn't believe it. After coming back to his senses, he stood aside and watched silently.
Seeing his appearance, Emperor Chongzhen smiled slightly and guessed what he was thinking.
Then Founder came forward to request the order, and the test began.
The person responsible for shooting was still a craftsman from the Military War Bureau. There were three people in total, three Shenwei rifles, and they fired ten rounds of lead bullets in succession.
"Bah, bah, bah..."
The sound of gunfire continued. Without a telescope, the target would not be clear at a distance of 550 meters.
However, Sun Chuanting did not use a telescope. It was not that he did not want to see, but that he was more concerned about the shooter's movements and speed.
As for whether he hit or not, there will be a target reported later, so he can naturally know it.
Sun Chuanting looked carefully and found that the loading of this powerful rifle was similar to that of an ordinary flintlock rifle, and there was not much difference in speed.
After the "bang bang bang" shooting was completed, someone naturally sent a target over to the gun target.
Before it was delivered, Sun Chuanting already had an idea in mind.
Logically speaking, hitting the target at such a long distance basically depends on luck. However, the emperor named this flintlock the Divine Rifle, and he seemed very confident, so it should be possible to shoot.
Hit the target.
He estimated that if he could hit three out of ten shots, then this shot would be worth re-equipping the army.
You know, the rate of fire of this gun is about the same as the previous ordinary flintlock gun, but the shooting distance has more than doubled, which means that you have defeated the enemy before the enemy can hit you. How big of an impact does this have on the battlefield?
, one can imagine!
However, what surprised Sun Chuanting was that with this divine rifle, the three craftsmen hit seven, eight, and nine bullets out of ten shots respectively.
When he saw it for the first time, he still didn't believe it, so he opened his eyes wide again and looked at the three gun targets carefully.
When Emperor Chongzhen saw him like this, he said calmly: "Actually, when Fang Daban reported to me before, he had a record of hitting all ten shots. This time, I'm afraid he didn't hit it well. But it doesn't matter, anyway.
This hit rate is not lacking. What do Sun Qing think?"
When Sun Chuanting heard this, he turned to look at him and said in shock: "Your Majesty, what's going on? Is it just because of the rifling in the barrel of the gun?"
After asking, he knew that Emperor Chongzhen would say again, this is science, no, now it should be talking about physical studies!
Fortunately, Emperor Chongzhen seemed to have passed the time of promoting geophysics and no longer wanted to pretend. He just answered him calmly: "In addition to the spiral rifling in the barrel of the gun, what is more important is actually the divine lead.
bomb."
When Sun Chuanting heard this, he immediately remembered that the lead bullet looked different from the past, so he immediately went to get another Shenwei lead bullet and started looking at it.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at him and explained calmly: "Ordinary lead bullets, because there are riflings in the barrel, if the lead bullet is smaller than the barrel, it will easily discharge and the range will be short; and if the lead bullet is smaller than the barrel
If the barrel of the gun is larger, then loading will be troublesome, and the loading speed may even be about half slower. Although this kind of Shenwei bullet is smaller than the barrel of the gun, it can solve the problem of leakage..."
Sun Chuanting was of course most concerned about the improvement of ordnance. At this time, when Emperor Chongzhen explained to him in detail, he listened carefully.
Emperor Chongzhen was absolutely right. The most critical factor in the power of a rifled gun was actually the divine lead bullet.
In fact, rifled guns have appeared in Europe for a long time. However, as Emperor Chongzhen just explained to Sun Chuanting, because they are ordinary lead bullets, there are problems that cannot be solved. In the end, smoothbore guns have always been used on the European battlefield.
The world of guns.
If we follow the original historical development, it was Captain Claude Edirne Migne and Captain Henri-Gustave Devignet of the French Orleans Chasseurs who invented the invention in 1849 based on the principle of the indigenous blowgun.
This kind of powerful lead bullet was finally the rifled gun that began to replace the smoothbore gun on a large scale.
This thing is actually not difficult at all. Once you know how to do it, it will be very easy to make it at this time in the late Ming Dynasty. The only troublesome thing is actually the problem of mass production.
At this time, Sun Chuanting was still listening to Emperor Chongzhen explaining to him about spiral stability, pointed tips to reduce resistance, expansion and sealing of barrels, and so on. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart. He didn't expect that there was so much knowledge in it!
And these knowledge cannot be understood from the Four Books and Five Classics!
Originally, Sun Chuanting supported Emperor Chongzhen's study of geophysics. Now, listening to Emperor Chongzhen's explanation and looking at the powerful Shenwei rifle in his hand, he felt that Emperor Chongzhen's annual special examination on geophysics was far more important than the ordinary imperial examination.
, indeed correct.
Otherwise, it would be hard for him to imagine that if Ming's enemies invented various advanced weapons first, then Ming would have suffered huge losses when it faced its enemies!
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen looked at Sun Chuanting and said to him: "...these are the reasons why this divine rifle has such a long range and such high accuracy!"
After hearing this, Sun Chuanting said with great admiration: "Your Majesty named this type of firearm the Divine Rifle. It is indeed appropriate. I admire you!"
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen smiled slightly but said nothing.
"Your Majesty, that divine artillery must be very powerful?" Sun Chuanting immediately remembered another thing and asked immediately.
Firearms are important, but artillery is equally important! From the test of the Divine Rifle, we can see that the Divine Artillery will probably not be much worse!
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen nodded with a smile and said: "Of course, but this is not suitable for testing artillery. You can go with your companions to the special testing ground of the War Bureau outside the city to see the situation."
"Wei Chen accepts the order!" Upon hearing this, Sun Chuanting was very willing and responded quickly.
Emperor Chongzhen then turned to look at Fang Zhenghua and said: "What are you thinking about increasing the production of the Divine Rifle and the Divine Lead Bullet next? I will give you five years. By then, at least half of the Ming army must have been re-equipped to be able to do this."
What?"
Needless to say, the Ming Dynasty had a million-strong army. The workmanship of this Shenwei rifle and Shenwei lead bullet was obviously more complicated than that of an ordinary smoothbore flintlock gun. In the past few years, the war situation has been changing.
I am doing things to improve industrialization, so I have more experience in this area.
In five years, 500,000 Shenwei rifles were produced. Of course, this is only an approximate number, which means that it is about 10,000 rifles a month. It is still quite difficult.
However, with the Ming Dynasty's manpower and material resources, especially the increasing number of skilled craftsmen, many components have been produced on assembly lines, and steam engines are still the stable power...
With this in mind, Fang Zhenghua responded to Emperor Chongzhen and said, "I accept the decree!"
When Sun Chuanting heard this, he was very happy. With the elite of the imperial army now, coupled with the most sophisticated firearms in the world, not only the archers were eliminated, but also the enemy could be killed beyond the effective range.
As for the enemy, it is really conceivable that the imperial officers and soldiers are invincible in the world!
In this regard, he felt that this trip to follow Emperor Chongzhen to the military battle was really worth it!
Just when Sun Chuanting thought he could go back, he didn't expect that Emperor Chongzhen said to Fang Zhenghua again: "Then let's test the power of white gunpowder again!"
"My slave, take the order!" After hearing this, Fang Zhenghua quickly agreed, and then went to give orders to his craftsmen.
When Sun Chuanting heard this conversation, he was very curious and asked quickly: "Your Majesty, what is white gunpowder?"
He knew, isn't gunpowder black powder? Why is it white gunpowder again? What is this white gunpowder?
"It is a kind of smokeless gunpowder!" Emperor Chongzhen explained to him after hearing this, "To be precise, this kind of gunpowder not only burns without leaving any residue, but is also about three times more powerful than black gunpowder."
Upon hearing this, Sun Chuanting was immediately stunned again.
Firearms, all firearms are based on gunpowder; now His Majesty has actually invented a kind of gunpowder called white gunpowder, which is about three times more powerful than black gunpowder. This will not affect the combat power of the imperial army.
What an improvement!
For a moment, it was a bit hard for him to imagine.
But this time, Emperor Chongzhen sighed and said: "However, it is too difficult to make this kind of white gunpowder. At least it cannot be supplied to the imperial army on a large scale in a short period of time. It can only be supplied in small quantities."
White gunpowder is actually fire cotton, also known as gunpowder cotton. Its scientific name is nitrocellulose. It is the earliest smokeless gunpowder.
After opening the technology tree of three acids and two bases, Emperor Chongzhen immediately arranged for people to develop this smokeless gunpowder.
However, the imperial court's foundation in chemistry was too weak, and the production process of gunpowder was not only dangerous, but some steps were also harmful to the human body. The research and development of this simplest smokeless gunpowder has always been relatively slow.
In addition, although Liu Weichao provided the various material ratios in the production process, it still required the craftsmen from the Ming Dynasty to experiment and understand. This is also the reason why the progress of developing smokeless gunpowder has been slow.
one.
As for more powerful nitroglycerin, the current environment in the capital is not suitable for research and development. Besides, the current Ming Dynasty technology is also far ahead. Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen is not in a hurry to let people test nitroglycerin.
.
Soon, the craftsmen of the Bureau of War and War sent over two kinds of things, both of which were white gunpowder; one was used as a propellant, and the other was used for explosions. The difference between the two kinds of gunpowder was the degree of nitrification.
no the same.
Sun Chuanting looked forward to the next test with the greatest anticipation.