The eunuch in charge of the Military War Bureau had been notified long ago and led a group of subordinates to greet him at the door.
Seeing Emperor Chongzhen and two important officials of the imperial court coming leisurely, he hurried forward to greet them.
"Pingshen!" Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand and then asked calmly, "All the things I told you have been completed!"
"Go back to Lord Long Live, it's all done." The eunuch in charge responded quickly, "I'm just waiting for Lord Long Live to verify and give instructions!"
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen showed a smile on his face. He turned to his two trusted ministers behind him and said, "My dear friends, you two have led troops in battles a lot, so please comment later!"
After finishing speaking, he entered the war bureau under the guidance of the eunuch in charge.
In a ventilated workshop, there is a thick wooden anvil placed on the front table, which is the most eye-catching.
Du Yinxi and Sun Chuanting also noticed the thick wooden anvil for the first time, and they were a little strange. They didn't know what it was for.
While they were looking at it, the eunuch in charge carefully picked up a piece of white powder the size of a rice grain from somewhere and placed it on the thick wooden anvil, and then respectfully handed over a hammer.
Emperor Chongzhen took the hammer and was actually a little excited. Now, he would verify everything Liu Weichao told him.
He turned to look at his two close ministers, smiled slightly, and then took the hammer and hit the rice-like thing.
Sun Chuanting and the two knew that this white thing like rice grains was probably the key to the new firearm, but they couldn't figure out what it was, so they just stared at it.
Then there was a "pop" sound, and the white thing made a crisp sound under the hammer's blow, and the white rice grains disappeared.
Sure enough, it was exactly what Liu Weichao said. Emperor Chongzhen thought in his heart and gave the hammer to the eunuch in charge. Then he turned his head, looked at Sun Chuanting and the two of them, and asked with a smile: "My dear friends, do you know what I hit just now?"
Object?"
After Sun Chuanting and Du Yinxi heard this, they couldn't help but look at each other. It would be strange if they could see it.
They had followed Emperor Chongzhen for a long time, and of course they understood the emperor's mentality at this time, so they cooperated very well and shook their heads together.
When Emperor Chongzhen saw it, he said calmly: "This thing is a new gunpowder, also called thunder mercury!"
When he said this, he remembered what Liu Weichao introduced to him.
In the original history, the Manchus had no way of inventing this thing on their own. During the Opium War, after being bullied by the British army with breech-loading firearms, they turned to Western powers for large sums of money to purchase it.
Fortunately, this thing has become popular in the West and is available in various countries. The Manchus and Qing Dynasties gave them more money, and they finally purchased this secret recipe from Germany.
At that time, Ding Shoucun, the king of the household department, asked Ding Shoucun to use this secret recipe to make a Western method of controlling automatic fire. First, he first imitated the Western method of making fire, and then made automatic gunpowder, which was to make a gun. The gun was made of red copper and divided into diameters.
Xu, long and divided, hollow, with a layer of Baiyao stuck to the bottom. The so-called secret recipe refers to Baiyao.
Ding Shoucun has very detailed records: first make saltpetre, then alcohol, then mix it into aqueous solution, put the silver pieces into the agaric solution, dissolve it into white powder, pour out the agaric solution, dry the white powder in the shade, and you will make a white medicine. This is a very simple method.
There are no technical difficulties.
And this white medicine has another more well-known name, called mercury fulminate.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was very proud, especially compared to the Manchus who destroyed the Ming Dynasty, which gave him a sense of superiority.
The Manchu Qing Dynasty sought purchase from the Western Barbarians, but today's Ming Dynasty is the first in the world to make mercury fulminate.
The method Liu Weichao gave him was better and simpler than the secret recipe purchased by the Manchus at that time. It was to dissolve mercury in cold nitric acid, then add this solution to a flask containing pure alcohol, and start a violent reaction to generate nitric acid.
Mercury, and white crystals precipitate. When the reaction is completed, add pure alcohol in two additions, and the reaction between mercury nitrate and pure alcohol will produce mercury fulminate. Use a cloth filter to filter out mercury fulminate, wash with water and pass through dilute alkali to remove acid.
Can.
However, Liu Weichao said it was simple, but this kind of chemical experiment was still difficult for the Ming Dynasty at that time. If there was no foundation, it would be absolutely incomprehensible.
Fortunately, the special scientific examination on geophysics has been held for so many years, and in chemistry, his daughter and son-in-law are the leaders.
Having already developed three acids and two alkalis before, and having a basic knowledge of chemistry, the production process Liu Weichao gave them was not too difficult for the couple.
In fact, what Emperor Chongzhen wanted more was nitroglycerin, a real explosive.
However, even if Liu Weichao can provide the production method, it is definitely still a risky thing for a novice to do this. Not to mention his daughter and son-in-law, there are other people who are also the most valuable talents in chemistry in Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen
The emperor absolutely does not want to suffer losses.
Therefore, after careful consideration, Emperor Chongzhen decided to follow what Liu Weichao said and proceed step by step.
Of course, the production of nitroglycerin will eventually be done, but it is best to do it in a laboratory with low temperature and a lot of glycerin, etc.
Liu Weichao also suggested that a laboratory could be set up in the Japanese country of Hokkaido to do this. Not only the temperature there is low, but there are also whales, so a large amount of glycerol can be obtained.
But in the end, this plan was rejected by Emperor Chongzhen. It was too far to go to the Japanese country of Hokkaido.
Now the entire grassland belongs to the Ming Dynasty, and there are many places that meet the conditions. There is no need to go there.
But no matter what, the invention of nitroglycerin was postponed for now.
Having said that, at this time, after Sun Chuanting heard what Emperor Chongzhen said, he still didn't understand. He immediately asked a little surprised: "Your Majesty, is this thing called gunpowder? Is it better than the previous gunpowder?"
"Of course!" After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately smiled and said, "You can go and see the improved Fran cannon first!"
As soon as the eunuch in charge heard this, he immediately led them to the gun room that had been prepared.
The Fran cannon is loaded with cannons, that is, separate chambers, so the rate of fire is extremely fast.
In other words, in easy-to-understand terms, the fuselage and barrel of the Franco machine gun are separated. It consists of one barrel and n multiple barrels.
However, the original Fran cannon had a gas leakage problem, which not only easily injured the artilleryman, but also prevented it from firing far.
However, this shortcoming had already been improved in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, when the plug-in Liu Weichao was introduced.
That is to say, add a flange to the cannon, put it into the barrel and push it forward to fit into the barrel. The rear end is fixed with a wedge-shaped bolt. This completely solves the air-holding problem of the Franco machine gun. For the early battles of the Ming army,
For example, the Fran machine gun suddenly became the main type of gun, and the rate of fire was very fast, because it could be replaced by another gun.
In a sense, the Fran cannon at this time was already a bolt-type locked breech-loading cannon with a bolt, and its locking structure was almost the same as the Krupp cannon in the mid-to-late 19th century.
However, there are still things that can be improved on the Fran cannon. It is not about adding rifling, which has already been improved before, but the key point that really limits the Fran cannon: the cannon it replaces is not a cartridge case, but a cartridge case.
It's the barrel. The difference is huge.
Later generations of cartridge case breech-loading guns, whether they are divided or assembled, insert the entire cartridge case into the barrel, and the cartridge case can play an airtight role in sealing the gunpowder gas, nothing more. It can truly withstand the explosive pressure of the gunpowder in the barrel.
It's not the cartridge case, but the barrel that covers the cartridge case.
However, the gun of the Franco machine gun is not a cartridge case, but has the dual function of a removable barrel and a cartridge case.
In this case, there is a problem. Since it is a cannon chamber, it must serve the purpose of a cannon chamber. Therefore, the Franco machine's cannon must withstand all, or at least most of the gunpowder explosion pressure on its own, so it must do
It's very thick. Otherwise, it will explode.
And this leads to a problem, that is, the caliber of the Fran cannon is not large. If the caliber is increased, the weight of the cannon that also serves as the barrel will increase rapidly, reaching tens or hundreds of kilograms, including the weight of the gunpowder and shells inside.
.
Then the problem arises. Loading is a problem for a very heavy cannon. How many people can carry it? It is simply unrealistic on the battlefield, and the possibility of rapid loading and firing of the rear loader is lost.
In fact, there are weight limits for later generations of artillery shells. Generally speaking, the upper limit is 20 kilograms with a shell and a charged warhead. If it exceeds the limit, it will be changed to a shellless cartridge type, otherwise it will be difficult to load.
.
In fact, it is not difficult to solve the structural problem of the Fran cannon. Just don't load from the rear and top. Make the cannon as thin as possible and insert it from directly behind the rear of the gun, and then insert wedges to fix it.
In other words, since the cannon will become too heavy if it is subjected to the explosion pressure, then don't let it bear the explosion pressure, just let the barrel bear it.
If you just do this, all the Fran cannons will have to be completely modified. And the early Ming Dynasty was always war, war and war.
Therefore, this project, which was equivalent to completely modifying the Franco cannon, was pushed back. After all, the fast Franco cannon, which was originally only a rough modification, was already sufficient for war.
Now that there is mercury fulminate, and the Fran cannon is completely improved, it will become a true breech-loaded artillery. This is the latest model that is epoch-making, or in other words, it is very far away from the previous artillery.
Artillery.
At this time, listening to Emperor Chongzhen introducing the new Franco machine cannon in front of them, Sun Chuanting and Du Yinxi's eyes widened. They ignored the emperor's presence and went directly to touch the cannon. Judging from the way they touched it, they definitely loved it.
thing.
Emperor Chongzhen was very satisfied when he saw it, and then introduced: "This new type of artillery is completely different from the previous Franco machine guns. It has various calibers. I named it Shenwei Artillery Type A!"
Artillery is the most powerful among long-range weapons. In the past, it was limited by the rate of fire. Therefore, in land battles, its greatest use was to bombard immovable objects such as city walls. In a confrontation, the deterrent power was greater than the actual destructive power.
However, the rate of fire of this artillery has been increased, and in field battles, it can crush the enemy in all aspects.
From a long way away, the imperial officers and soldiers here can shell at extremely high speeds. Even if the power of a single shell is not great, if it can only plow out a line, the more shells fired, the damage will definitely be considerable.
More importantly, the extremely high-speed artillery bombardment is likely to destroy the enemy's morale before they can attack at close range.
Not all armies are brave and fearless and attack desperately regardless of casualties. Even the Ming army may not be able to do this. Perhaps only the robot army mentioned by Liu Weichao has this possibility.
As long as you are human, fear is your instinct!
Touching the Type A of the Divine Artillery in front of him, Sun Chuanting suddenly thought of a question and quickly asked Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, what about the Divine Rifle? Is there a Type A?"