The man in charge of the blacksmith in Homusan was a Syrian named Edmond.
The Greeks are very good at playing this trick. For example, since this is an area of Iran, they intend to promote Syrians to officials and appoint Iranians or Turks in Syria...
This can not only prevent officers and soldiers from colluding, but also make all ethnic groups hate each other... When you are an official, you will inevitably blame or punish your subordinates, and the subordinates will naturally hate the officials.
The result was that they were incompatible with each other and unable to unite, making it easier for the Greeks to enslave and control this area.
Shen Bing said to Edmond:
"I want to know if I can trust you."
Edmund replied calmly:
"Of course you can trust me, my dear general."
"Because I am neither a Greek nor a Homusan, everything that has happened here so far has nothing to do with me or hatred!"
"I'm just an ant who has to surrender in order to survive."
Then Edmond added:
"Of course, with all due respect. If the Seleucids capture Homusan again, I will betray you too!"
Shen Bing nodded to express his satisfaction. This is the kind of person he wants.
If he said how he would be loyal to the Qin army from the very beginning, it would obviously be a lie.
Shen Bing handed the drawn drawings in his hand to Edmond and said:
"I need you to make 5,000 pieces in two months. Is there any difficulty?"
Edmond took the drawing and looked at it. After doing some calculations, he frowned and replied:
"We don't have enough iron. I'm afraid it will be difficult to make it within two months."
Shen Bing replied:
"All armor and weapons in the warehouse can be used as raw materials!"
Edmund looked at Shen Bing in surprise and said:
"That's enough, General."
"But, are you sure you want to use all those armors and weapons to make... this thing?"
As he spoke, he raised the drawing in his hand.
"Of course." Shen Bing replied.
"Okay!" Edmond replied: "As you wish, five thousand in two months!"
Shen Bing said:
"I think you should know that first make a few according to the drawings for testing. Once they pass the test, we can mass-produce them!"
Edmund nodded and said:
"Yes, dear general!"
"I'll have someone rush out to make a few of them right away!"
The blueprint that Shen Bing gave to Edmund was a matchlock gun.
Shen Bing did not want to remain passive when facing Seleucid super-pikemen and Roman infantry, especially when he needed to defend the city.
Compared with artillery, matchlocks are obviously more advantageous in dealing with dense infantry.
For example, the concentrated firepower of artillery can kill a few people after firing a solid bullet, while the matchlock actually divides the solid bullet into dozens of small iron bullets, which are then launched by dozens of people to hit the target.
In addition, the matchlock gun has the characteristics of light weight and fast transfer speed.
Of course, the disadvantage of the matchlock gun is that it is difficult and time-consuming to make.
As mentioned before, the actual barrel of a matchlock gun needs to be drilled out slowly with a steel drill using a whole tube.
Of course, Shen Bing could not produce such a high-quality matchlock in time. Shen Bing could only lower his requirements, that is, use the most primitive method to mold it in one go.
There is a serious problem with barrels made from molds, which is that they are prone to explosion.
The reason is that there will inevitably be many small bubbles when the mold is cast in one step.
When the matchlock gun is used, the gunpowder explodes again and again in the gun chamber, which will gradually form cracks around the bubbles. When these cracks reach a certain level, the chamber will explode with a "boom" sound.
The explosion of the musket is a very serious problem. It not only means how many people will be injured, but also makes everyone lose confidence in the match rope and dare not use this equipment.
Shen Bing's solution to this problem is very simple... that is to put a layer of iron sheet outside the barrel of the gun.
This is actually not Shen Bing's invention. A rifle made in modern China also had the same problem, that is, it was easy to explode, so another barrel was placed outside the barrel.
Therefore this gun is called the "old sleeve".
Of course, there are problems with weight and portability after wearing a tube like this, but for the sake of safety, we can only make do with it.
Shen Bing also made do with it at this time. For the sake of speed and to solve the problem at hand, he could only do this.
Therefore, Edmond didn't find it difficult after seeing the drawings. He cast the barrel with a mold, made a sleeve with ready-made armor iron sheet and wrapped it around the outside, and then tightened it with several iron rings on the handguard. , then install a trigger device and tie a matchlock... a matchlock gun is complete.
It's just that Edmond didn't understand the use of this thing when he made it. He was still feeling pity that the silk country general had to melt the armor and weapons into raw materials to make iron pipes and cut them into sleeves.
Edmond even said to the other blacksmiths while holding the matchlock gun and looking at it:
"I don't know what General Silk's use of this thing is."
"But if you don't want to lose your lives, hurry up and make it!"
In only three days, Edmond rushed out ten weapons for Shen Bing to try out, and also made some matching iron bullets and rods.
Ten guns were requested by Shen Bing, because in addition to testing the guns, they also needed to test the amount of ammunition.
Of course, the amount of charge is also particular...
If you charge too much, the gun will explode in one go.
If the charge is too small, the fired bullet will not be able to penetrate the enemy's wooden shield or armor.
When testing the gun, Shen Bing brought Wang Ben and Yao with him as usual.
Shen Bing weighed the matchlock gun. Perhaps it was because of the thick cast iron pipe and the addition of a sleeve, so it was quite heavy. It probably weighed twenty kilograms.
Shen Bing took a gunpowder tube, stood the barrel up and carefully filled some gunpowder, then stuffed a ball of paper into the barrel and pushed it to the bottom with a straight strip to seal it tightly...
This is to ensure air tightness, or you can use a ball of linen, but of course it is more convenient to use paper.
Then put in the iron pellets and poke it to the bottom to plug it tightly.
In fact, the standard should be to use soft lead to make projectiles.
The reason is that soft lead has a certain degree of plasticity, so the projectile can be made slightly larger than the barrel, so that it can be airtight and more powerful when the rod is inserted into the bottom.
But Shen Bing certainly didn't dare to ask for such high demands.
This aspect is that there is no soft lead at this time.
On the other hand, even with soft lead, it would be more troublesome and time-consuming to make with the current technology, and it would not be able to meet the high standard of being just a little larger.
Therefore, the projectiles used by Shen Bing will be smaller than the caliber of the barrel, making it easier to load into the barrel.
This will make it less powerful, but Shen Bing has nothing to do due to technological limitations.
Then pour igniting powder on the fire door, put on the lit match and be ready.
These are actually similar to artillery, which is why the most primitive muskets are called "hand cannons". As the name suggests, they are cannons held in the hand.