Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 286 New Firearms
Zhu Shenzhui had originally planned to go to the workshop today, and Zhao Da's arrival was just in time. Zhao Da also said that he had already produced the things he had asked him to do, which made Zhu Shenzhui even happier.

He simply stopped drinking the tea, patted his butt, stood up, and asked Zhao Da to go to the workshop. Zhao Da responded immediately and led Zhu Shenzhui to the workshop.

The path from the 100-household unit to the workshop had been repaired, and it was much easier to walk on than before. It didn't take them long to get to the workshop. The workshop was now very different from before, larger and busier. The two bottle furnaces were particularly eye-catching, emitting smoke and fire. The sound of tinkling could be heard one after another, and many craftsmen were busy and enthusiastic.

Seeing Zhu Shenzhui and Zhao Da coming, many craftsmen hurriedly saluted them. Zhu Shenzhui waved his hand and told them not to worry about him and to continue with their work. He was led by Zhao Da to walk around the workshop, look at the operation of the workshop, and then randomly asked a few people a few questions, and then nodded with satisfaction.

"It's well managed." The operation of the workshop is much better than he imagined. Zhao Da has put a lot of effort into this aspect, which makes Zhu Shenzhu very happy.

"Sixth Master, this is what I should do." Zhao Da grinned and then asked, "Sixth Master, how about you go over to my place and take a look at my things?"

"go!"

Zhao Da led Zhu Shenzhui to a house not far from the workshop, which was Zhao Da's studio. The workshop was for the workers, and their residence was some distance away from the workshop. Originally, the residence and the workshop were integrated, but after the first visit, Zhu Shenzhui suggested that Zhao Da separate the residence and the workshop. After all, the workshop here was very different from their previous blacksmith shops, especially the bottle furnaces, which were dangerous, and they also emitted toxic gases. Considering the health and safety of the craftsmen, Zhu Shenzhui did not think it was a good idea to put the residence and the workshop together.

Although Zhao Da didn't understand these, he had to do what Zhu Shenzhui said as a subordinate. So later, the work area and the living area were separated again. Even though such an arrangement seemed a bit unnecessary to the craftsmen, Zhao Da still strictly implemented it.

Zhao Da's studio was actually his residence when the workshop was first built. After the residence was relocated, the previously built residence became part of the workshop, and this house also became Zhao Da's studio in the workshop.

When they got into the house, Zhao Da asked Zhu Shenzhui to sit for a while and went to the inner room to get something. After a while, he came back with two muskets and placed them on the table for Zhu Shenzhui to see.

At first glance, these two muskets are no different from the previous ones, but a closer look reveals the differences. The original matchlock structure is gone, the powder pool and trigger have also been adjusted, and the firing device is also slightly different from before.

Picking up the musket and taking a closer look, Zhu Shenzhui asked, "How is it after you have tried it?"

"It's much easier to use than the previous matchlock. It won't cause any problems even if it's raining or windy. Why don't you try it?"

Zhu Shenzhui laughed, picked up his rifle and stood up. Zhao Da followed the two men out of the house and went straight to the backyard.

Zhao Da was afraid that Zhu Shenzhui would not be able to use this musket, so he took one out to show Zhu Shenzhui. The loading was similar to the previous matchlock gun, except that there was a small hole at the firing device, and below this small hole was the medicine pool. First load the gunpowder, then put a formed yellow medicine into the small hole, then open the machine head, and then just pull the trigger.

Zhu Shenzhui took the loaded musket from Zhao Da. The steps were not complicated and he learned how to do it at a glance.

He raised his gun and aimed at a place in the backyard. There was a wooden stake as thick as half a person more than ten meters away from him. He took the stake as a target. Zhu Shenzhu took aim and decisively pulled the trigger. As his finger pulled the trigger, the enlarged nose of the gun fell directly down and hit the yellow powder at the small hole accurately. The yellow powder instantly exploded and ignited the gunpowder in the medicine pool below. With a gunshot, the bullet flew out of the muzzle and hit the wooden stake in a blink of an eye.

With a bang, the wood chips on the wooden stake splashed, the bullet was deeply embedded in the wooden stake, and a puff of green smoke came out of the musket in his hand, and the shot was successful.

After a shot was fired, Zhu Shenzhui raised his eyebrows. This gun is well made and much better than a matchlock gun, but I don't know what the failure rate is.

Zhu Shenzhui immediately loaded a gun himself and fired again. Just like the last time, the shooting was successful.

Then Zhu Shenzui asked Zhao Da to help him reload. He wanted to try firing a few more shots. The two of them cooperated, one loading while the other shooting. They fired nearly thirty rounds each from the two muskets. Zhu Shenzui's wrist began to ache, and he put down the musket reluctantly.

All the shots were successful without any misfires. This shooting success rate made Zhu Shenzui overjoyed. Although he had not yet tested the failure rate of the musket's shooting, the current level was enough.

And judging from the shooting situation, even if the probability of failure is very small, even if the yellow powder does not fire successfully, the troubleshooting method is very simple. Just take out the yellow powder that is stuffed into the small hole, reload it and fire it again. It is much simpler than before. Zhu Shenzhui was playing with the musket in his hand with a smile on his face. This musket has taken into account the stability of the matchlock gun and the convenience of the flintlock gun, and is much more advanced than any musket currently used.

Once such muskets are equipped in large quantities, it will change the entire war situation. The firearms of the Ming Dynasty were not bad. At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there was the Shenjiying, which was a pure firearms army.

However, over the past two hundred years, although the Ming Dynasty had a wide variety of firearms, there was not much progress in technology. Moreover, because they were officially made, the manufacturing and quality of firearms also had great problems. This led to the Ming army not being keen on the use of firearms. Apart from the more frequent use of cannons, light firearms were not used very often. In addition, because muskets often exploded in the army, soldiers often refused to use them.

But Zhu Shenzui knew very well that the era of hot weapons replacing cold weapons had arrived. The current technology of firearms was still imperfect, and no breakthrough progress had been made. In addition, the shoddy products limited the use of firearms. Of course, there were also various other factors such as training and tactics.

From a development perspective, there is no doubt that firearms will eventually replace cold weapons. Today, firearms have been widely used in the West and play an increasingly important role in wars. Firearms were invented by the Chinese, but they were further developed in the West. This is a tragedy. In history, after barbarism defeated civilization, the development of firearms in the East did not progress but regressed, which eventually led to the humiliating consequences of modern times.

In addition to the needs of ordinary civilian ironware and military equipment, Zhu Shenzhui attached more importance to the manufacture of firearms when establishing this workshop. These firearms include not only artillery such as Portuguese lances and tiger squat cannons, but also muskets, bird guns, etc. No one in the world knows better than Zhu Shenzhui what the future war model will be like. Only by mastering advanced technology and vigorously developing the use of firearms in war can we take the right path.

Zhu Shenzhu was very satisfied with the performance of the two muskets. He asked Zhao Da if there would be any problem if all the muskets currently equipped, including the bird guns, were replaced with the current firing mode. Zhao Da said without hesitation that there would be no problem. Whether it was a musket or a bird gun, their basic structure was the same, with only a slight difference in the firing device, but the difference was not big.

As long as he is given some time, all these firearms can be replaced. After hearing what Zhao Da said, Zhu Shenzhui had a plan in mind, and immediately told Zhao Da to take a group of craftsmen to modify the existing muskets and bird guns, and replace all their firing devices with yellow powder firing devices. In the future, the original matchlocks will no longer be produced, and all will be replaced with the current new muskets and bird guns that use yellow powder firing devices.

Zhao Da agreed to this immediately. He said that he would immediately select people to transform the current muskets and bird guns, and it would be completed in a short time.

Nodding, Zhu Shenzhui looked at the new musket in his hand, and then threw the two old muskets he carried with him to Zhao Da, and the two new muskets belonged to him. As for the bullets and gunpowder, Zhao Da also prepared the shaped firing powder and put it in a leather bag. When needed, he could take it out of the leather bag and install it.

However, Zhao Da reminded Zhu Shenzhui that yellow medicine cannot be subjected to strong impact. Once it is hit, it will easily explode. Once it explodes, the yellow medicine will be ruined and it will also be dangerous. Therefore, the leather bag is filled with anti-collision stuff to prevent this situation from happening.

Zhu Shenzhui understood this, and this was probably a weakness of Huangyao. After all, there was nothing perfect in the world, and it was already very good to be able to reach the current level. Compared with such a weakness, the benefits of stability and convenience were more pleasing.

After putting away the two new muskets, Zhu Shenzhui suddenly remembered the matter of the second son of the Yao family mentioned by Zhao Da earlier, and asked about it.

Slapping his forehead, Zhao Da laughed and said that he had just thought about showing him the new musket and almost forgot about it. He called Zhu Shenzhui back to the house. When they got there, Zhao Da went inside and took out another thing. When he took out this thing, Zhu Shenzhui was slightly stunned.

"Five Thunder God Machine? No, why is it so small? What is this?"

The thing that Zhao Dan took out really looked like the Five Thunder Divine Machine. Speaking of the Five Thunder Divine Machine, we cannot fail to mention Qi Jiguang. Yes, this thing was also tinkered with by Qi Jiguang.

Qi Jiguang's fame in later generations is not as well-known as Guan Yu and Yue Fei, and he is not as famous as Huo Qubing who traveled across the desert and conquered the Wolf's Lair. As for famous generals such as Xiang Yu, Bai Qi, Li Mu, and Lian Po, he is not as famous as them. Even Li Jing in the Tang Dynasty was more famous than Qi Jiguang.

But if we really talk about battle records, Qi Jiguang can be said to be invincible since he trained the Qi Family Army and swept across the country without a single defeat. His record was extremely brilliant and he could be regarded as the strongest military general in the 16th century. His Qi Family Army was also known as the strongest army in the world.

In the era of cold weapons, a casualty ratio of two to one or even three to one was considered a great victory. However, Qi Jiguang often led troops in which casualties were one hundred to one, meaning that for every one hundred enemies he destroyed, he only lost one of his own men. This is unique in the entire history of human warfare.

Qi Jiguang was not only good at fighting, but also good at training troops. The Qi Family Army was trained by him. At the same time, he was also good at inventing military equipment. Not to mention that the Mandarin Duck Formation and Chariot Formation of the Qi Family Army were Qi Jiguang's first creations, the Tiger Crouching Cannon was also from Qi Jiguang's hand, and the Five Thunder Divine Machine was another invention of Qi Jiguang.

(End of this chapter)