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

Chapter 329: Gun
More than half a year has passed since I last came to Zhaowuling. The last time I came, Yao Yuan made a "Plum Blossom Spear" based on the original Five Thunder God Machine. It was also because of this Plum Blossom Spear that Zhu Shenzui suddenly came up with an idea to develop a new type of firearm. He told Yao Yuan and Zhao Da about his ideas and requirements and asked them to develop towards this goal.

After Zhu Shenzhui left, Yao Yuan and Zhao Da worked together to follow his ideas. At first, they planned to use the structure of the plum blossom spear to make improvements, but they soon found that no matter how they improved it, it did not conform to Zhu Shenzhui's ideas. In the end, they had no choice but to overturn the original idea and start the design again.

Because the design involves parts and mechanisms, although Zhao Da is a skilled craftsman, he is actually a blacksmith. He is good at smelting and ironmaking, but he is not so good when it comes to making mechanisms.

As for Yao Yuan, there is no need to mention him. He was originally a fireworks craftsman, and fiddling with gunpowder was his specialty. Although Yao Yuan had learned some other skills from the people in the workshop over the past year because of his interest, he was still not as good as Zhao Da in developing mechanisms.

With no other choice, the two could only bite the bullet and work on it. After half a month, they not only failed to make any progress, but also didn't know where to start. At this time, Yao Yuan's elder brother Yao Liang learned about this and came to see them. Seeing that they looked confused and worried, he gave them an idea.

Yao Liang suggested that they find a craftsman who is proficient in carpentry skills to help. Carpenters are more knowledgeable about mechanisms than other craftsmen. The ancestor of carpenters is Lu Ban. There are various legends about Lu Ban circulating among the people. For example, it is said that the wooden bird that can fly for three days was made by Lu Ban. In addition, some skilled carpenters can also make exquisite things such as Lu Ban lock and Lu Ban autumn lock. In addition, carpenters are also good at creation, especially when making some exquisite things, so it is more appropriate to let the carpenter help with the design.

After hearing this suggestion, the two suddenly realized that they had gone into a dead end and wasted a lot of time. Zhao Da slapped his thigh and stood up to find someone. There were many craftsmen in the workshop, and naturally there was no shortage of carpenters. In a moment, he found an old carpenter with the best skills to help.

After listening to their ideas, the old carpenter looked at the drawings drawn by Yao Yuan and his team and pondered for a moment, and soon came up with a new idea. The old carpenter didn't know how to do blacksmithing, nor did he understand gunpowder, but his ability in mechanical engineering was not comparable to that of Zhao Da and Yao Yuan.

The old carpenter also pointed out that such a design does not need to be made of fine iron. Fine iron processing is difficult and time-consuming. Wood can be used for design and assembly first. After all, compared to fine iron, wood can be found everywhere and is easier to process.

Once the design idea is determined, the wood is used to make the parts, and then they are assembled. Then, a trial is conducted to see if it is feasible. If not, adjustments are made continuously based on this basis until the final design composition is completed. When everything is ready, fine iron is used to make parts in the same proportions, and then they are assembled and tested. If it succeeds, isn't it a success?
The old carpenter's suggestion immediately opened Zhao Da and Yao Yuan's minds. They slapped their foreheads excitedly. How could they not have thought of such a simple thing before? They wasted so much time and energy, which was simply stupid.

With the help of the old carpenter, the design was redesigned and then carved from wood. It took a month to complete the final new firearm.

When Zhao Da and Yao Yuan tried to play with the new firearm made of wood, they were delighted to find that it could really be used. After adding reduced gunpowder, using yellow powder as the ignition device, and wrapping the firing part with iron sheet, it could really be fired. After it went off, they looked at the traces of the bullet hitting the wooden stake not far away, and all three of them laughed.

The development of the firearm was initially completed. This thing made of wood was just an experiment. Because of the material, it was useless after only a few shots. But the success of the experiment proved that their idea was right. Then they adjusted some problems encountered in the experiment and changed the structure of several parts to make it more practical. Then Zhao Da led people to make parts with fine iron.

It took more than a month to finally complete all the parts, and then repeatedly modified and adjusted them during the assembly, and finally the firearm was completed.

What is now placed in front of Zhu Shenzhui is such a new type of firearm. When Zhu Shenzhui saw this firearm for the first time, he was really shocked, because except for the barrel being thicker and longer, the revolver being larger and thicker, and the middle and rear part of the gun being more extended, and the part that looks more like a bird gun, the main parts are not much different from the revolver shape in his memory.

Picking it up and playing with it in his hand, Zhao Da beside him explained to Zhu Shenzhu the structure of the gun, including how to turn the wheel in the main part, how to load bullets, how to fix it, etc.

Following Zhao Da's explanation, Zhu Shenzhui tried it and easily opened the revolver, then saw the five magazines inside.

"Or five shots?" Zhu Shenzhui asked.

"Yes, Sixth Master. We originally planned to make it six or even seven rounds. However, because there were too many magazines, the walls would be thinner. We were worried that it would burst when firing, so we used five rounds. This is safer," Zhao Da explained.

After carefully examining the material of the gun in his hand, the whole gun is not light, a little heavier than an ordinary bird gun, especially the thick part of the central rotating wheel. It's not that Zhao Da and his team don't want to make it more delicate. When making a model with wood, it is much lighter than the final gun. It's mainly because of the material. Although the smelting technology of Zhao Wuling's workshop is very advanced, this advancement is only based on this era, and it is still far behind the smelting technology of modern technology after the industrial revolution.

Even if this gun was assembled by Zhao Da himself using parts made of fine iron, it could not be compared with real industrial products. Due to the lack of materials and technology, it was already very good to be able to make it to this point.

Nodding, Zhu Shenzhui asked if the gun had been test fired. Zhao Da and Yao Yuan smiled and said of course it had been tested, otherwise they would not have let Zhu Shenzhui come over.

Immediately, Zhu Shenzhui began to load the bullets under their guidance with great interest. The loading of this primitive revolver was naturally different from the one-piece bullets of later generations. Its loading was divided into two steps. One step was to load gunpowder and cloth-wrapped marbles from the front end of the revolver, and then press them in with a cleaning rod to compact them.

After completing this step, place a fixed amount of yellow medicine behind the wheel, and then return the wheel to its original fixed position to complete the loading step.

The next step is firing. The firing method is similar to that of a musket. First, pull down the hammer at the back, open the nose, then aim at the target and pull the trigger directly.

When the trigger is pulled, the hammer drops instantly, and the tip directly hits the position of the yellow powder in the revolver. The yellow powder explodes under the violent impact, thereby igniting the gunpowder at the front of the magazine. Then, under the action of the gunpowder, the bullets in the magazine are directly ejected from the barrels connected in a line and hit the target directly...

With a "bang" sound of gunfire, Zhu Shenzhui's hand holding the gun jumped up slightly, a puff of smoke came out, and the pungent smell of gunpowder hit him. In front of him, a piece of wood used as a target instantly flew with wood chips, and the bullet hit it directly.

"Wow, that's powerful." The recoil was stronger than he expected, but not unbearable. The smoke was also greater than he had imagined. This was normal. After all, a revolver gun did not have a better closed structure than a bird gun and a smoothbore gun. There was inevitably a gap in the middle due to the revolver. In order to ensure the range, the gunpowder was slightly stronger. In addition, the overflow of gas in the gap also made the smoke more than that of an ordinary bird gun.

After taking a look at the wooden target, Zhu Shenzhui pulled the hammer again and manually adjusted the revolver. The revolver of this gun could not automatically shift, that is, after firing a shot, the revolver automatically adjusted one notch to prepare for the next shot.

Due to technical reasons and material limitations, even though it is possible in principle, the manual wheel method is still adopted. Although this is more troublesome, it can ensure safety and shooting stability. In addition, there are restrictions when turning the wheel. When moving, a slot mechanism is specially made. Turn it once to align the position. If you don't push it hard a second time, the position will not change until you repeat the above action after the second shooting.

It has to be said that this design has both advantages and disadvantages, and it took a lot of thought. But judging from the current situation of this gun, the advantages of this design far outweigh the disadvantages. When the material technology is further improved in the future and better and lighter steel is used, we can consider reconstructing the design in a semi-automatic way, so that it will be no different from a real revolver in the future.

I turned the dial, felt the feedback on my hand, and then pulled the trigger again. The second shot was fired smoothly just like the first time.

Then, Zhu Shenzhui repeated the above actions and fired the third, fourth and fifth bullets. After he had fired all five bullets, the wooden board that served as the target was almost broken into pieces.

Zhu Shenzhui was extremely delighted. He couldn't put the gun down and fiddled with it. He didn't expect that the gun would bring him such a surprise.

Although it was just an imperfect revolver, it already had the basic structure and power of a revolver. Although it still had many shortcomings, especially the inconvenience of loading bullets, the operation of loading bullets was basically the same as that of ordinary muskets, and the time required to load five bullets was several times that of ordinary muskets. In addition, the range and power were slightly inferior to the bird gun, and even less than the more powerful Rumi gun, but it did not mean that it was unique and advanced.

Not to mention anything else, the fact that it can fire five times in a row, and that these five shots can be fired simply by pulling the hammer and turning the cylinder, surpasses all current muskets.

(End of this chapter)