I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 221 Gun Test
The Ming Dynasty started manufacturing bird guns relatively early, and was not considered backward in the world. However, by the late Jiajing period, the Ming Dynasty's military manufacturing had become rotten. The officials in charge of military manufacturing were corrupt and withheld manufacturing materials, and the craftsmen who manufactured them were just doing their job perfunctorily. As a result, the quality of the bird guns they manufactured varied greatly, and barrel explosions were common. The soldiers did not dare to use the bird guns they manufactured.

The quality of bird guns continued to decline with the collapse of the Ming Dynasty. In the later period, the Jin soldiers did not dare to use the bird guns made in the Ming Dynasty after they were seized. Therefore, until the demise of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming official army had not completed the army's matchlock transformation.

"Let me try!" Zhu Houzhao said excitedly.

Zhu Houxuan handed the bird gun to Zhu Houzhao with confidence. He was very confident in the quality of the trial-produced bird gun, and then explained the structure of the bird gun in detail. It consists of a barrel, gunpowder pool, bolt, front sight, gun handle, etc. Its basic structure and appearance are close to modern rifles, and it is the prototype of modern rifles.

Zhu Houzhao quickly learned how to aim. He had played with muskets before, and urged Zhu Houxun to teach him how to load the gunpowder.

Zhu Houxuan took out a small oil-paper bag and handed it to him, saying, "This is the prepared gunpowder. Just pour it in and compact it."

Zhu Houzhao did as he was told immediately. The first record of fixed-load gunpowder in China appeared in the 20th year of Chenghua, but it was fixed in small bamboo tubes, which was already very popular in the Ming army, so he was not surprised by the fixed-load gunpowder.

"Why is your gunpowder in individual grains?" Zhu Houzhao asked in confusion after tearing open the oil paper package and seeing the gunpowder.

Zhu Houxuan smiled and said, "I have also improved the gunpowder. This gunpowder is much more powerful than the current gunpowder."

"Really?" Zhu Houzhao said half-doubtfully.

"Don't you still believe me? When did I ever brag?" Zhu Houxuan's face darkened.

Zhu Houzhao did not dare to refute anymore. He just loaded the powder and bullets skillfully. Then, under the guidance of Zhu Houxuan, he opened the firing door, loaded the primer into the chamber and compacted it. Then he closed the firing door, lit the fuse and clamped it in the clamp on the trigger.

Then he put the gun handle against his shoulder, aimed and pressed the trigger. The fuse was pressed directly into the strobe chamber. With a crisp "bang", the bullet was fired.

The people around him cheered immediately, and Zhu Houzhao exclaimed: "It's so accurate!"

"If you don't use one hand to light the gun, it won't shake and you can aim more accurately." Zhu Houzhao immediately figured out what was going on.

The problem with a matchlock gun is that after taking a rough aim, you have to let go of one hand to light the fuse, which will cause your body to shake, and the direction you were aiming in will change. Also, you can't aim again after the fuse is lit, so it's basically impossible to aim.

Compared with the firearms of the Ming Dynasty at that time, the firing method of the matchlock gun directly freed one hand and allowed better aiming. This was the subversive aspect of the bird gun compared with the firearms of the Ming Dynasty at that time.

"There is a sight at the back and a star at the front. When the machine gun is launched, without moving your hands, aim to the millimeter and hit the target. With the long tube and the concentrated energy, it can reach far and destroy strong objects." Zhu Houxuan said with a smile.

"Great! This is a powerful weapon for the military. With this bird gun, all other firearms are useless!" Zhu Houzhao exclaimed.

"This bird gun was introduced from the West. Western armies all use bird guns in battle. The firearms of the Ming Dynasty are no longer as powerful as those of the West," said Zhu Houxuan.

"The Western Regions?" Zhu Houzhao raised his eyebrows. "Those red-haired and yellow-haired barbarians? They do have some good points."

Seeing Zhu Houzhao's high interest, the people accompanying him picked up other bird guns to try them out, and each of them had a deeper understanding of the advantages of bird guns. Jiang Bin was even more of an expert in playing with firearms. He fired a few shots and couldn't help asking, "How did you make this gunpowder, uncle? I'm very familiar with fire guns. Fire guns have much more gunpowder than this bird gun, but they're not as powerful as this bird gun's gunpowder."

"I've already told you that I've improved the gunpowder. The force of this new gunpowder when it ignites is 70% to 80% higher than that of the old gunpowder!" Zhu Houxuan explained.

This is the granular black powder made by Zhu Houxun according to the scientific gunpowder ratio.

It is actually very simple to describe gunpowder using modern scientific theories. It can burn fully at this ratio (the ratio of black powder was written here, but it was deleted by Qidian). It also involves the purification of saltpeter and sulfur.

The earliest record of Chinese gunpowder can be found in the Tang Dynasty. The alchemists at that time recorded the formula at that time:

"Mix sulfur, realgar and saltpeter, and burn them closely."

Although this formula is simple, the sulfur and saltpeter needed for black powder are already available. Add a little charcoal and it becomes the standard formula for black powder.

In the Ming Dynasty, although the formula of gunpowder was one of the highest secrets of the imperial court, Zhu Houxuan was able to see the formula of gunpowder with his status and position. After seeing it, I really don’t know what to say.
"For fire attack, saltpeter and sulfur are the main ingredients, charcoal is the secondary ingredient, poisons are the auxiliary ingredients, and qi drugs are the assistant ingredients. It is necessary to know the properties of the drugs in order to achieve the magic of fire attack. Saltpeter's property is to make things straight (for straight hair, saltpeter is the main ingredient), sulfur's property is to make things horizontal (for horizontal hair, sulfur is the main ingredient), and ash's property is to make fire (for different types of fire, ash is the main ingredient, and there are indigo ash, willow ash, phoenix ash, tree ash, gourd ash, sunflower root ash, and eggplant root ash)."

Do you feel that this gunpowder formula is strange? It is right to be strange, because people in the Ming Dynasty prepared gunpowder according to the traditional Chinese medicine theory of monarch, ministers, assistants and messengers, and the harmony of the five elements. It is not surprising to come up with such a formula.

How can we use traditional Chinese medicine theory to guide gunpowder manufacturing and produce gunpowder with scientific proportions?

“I told you, handing over the manufacture of military equipment to Prince Jing is the best choice. Look, it’s only been a short time, but so many things have been improved. Prince Jing has made more improvements in the two months since he took over than the Ming Dynasty had in the hundred years since its founding.” Zhu Houzhao looked around at everyone and said proudly.

The crowd expressed all kinds of approval and flattery.

After everyone quieted down, Zhu Houzhao continued to ask: "Brother, how much does this bird gun cost?"

"The current cost is five silver coins. If we produce it on a large scale and develop specialized tools, the cost will be further reduced. It is estimated that the cost will be four silver coins, or even less than four silver coins," Zhu Houxuan replied.

"It's so cheap?" Everyone exclaimed again. The cost was beyond everyone's expectations.

"But the firing rate of this bird gun is still too slow. It takes a bow to shoot four or five arrows in the time it takes to shoot one shot." Jiang Bin said with a frown.

Jiang Bin's words were very pertinent, but Zhu Houxuan didn't feel anything after hearing them.

The firing rate of the bird gun is indeed a problem. It usually takes one minute to fire one shot. However, the advantage of the bird gun is also obvious, which is the training cost. It takes two or three years to train a skilled archer, but only two or three months to train a skilled bird gun shooter.

(End of this chapter)