The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 254 Flying Shuttle Loom and Rotary Short Gun
While Wu Xi and others were dealing with the Liang family, Jiang Han had already plunged into the workshop.

Longan Prefecture was located in a remote area, making it inconvenient to transport craftsmen and materials.

So Jiang Han simply moved the entire Ministry of Works team to Baoning Prefecture, where transportation was more convenient.

As for Long'an Prefecture, he handed it over to Li Zicheng, instructing him to leave sufficient troops to guard several key passes.

A while ago, Jiang Han signed a large number of orders with merchants from Shaanxi, with cotton cloth being the main focus.

However, he was busy with the imperial examinations and had no time to deal with the orders. He simply instructed the textile and dyeing bureau of Baoning Prefecture to take charge of the matter.

Nearly a month has passed, but the textile and dyeing bureau has not made any progress, claiming that there are too few workers and they cannot keep up with the schedule.

With the delivery date fast approaching, Jiang Han had no choice but to personally visit the weaving and dyeing bureau for an inspection.

He wondered if he should get the flying shuttle loom working.

The principles of weaving are actually quite simple.

It's simply a matter of warp threads intersecting to form a shed, with weft threads passing through it, which can be accomplished with a stick or a mechanism.

Throughout history, working people all over the world have understood this principle.

The Bedouin people in the desert use double-axis looms to weave blankets, while local farmers in Sichuan mostly use lightweight waist looms, which can be woven by one person.

No matter how the loom is improved, there are only five core actions involved in weaving:

Opening (separating the warp threads vertically), inserting the weft (passing the weft thread through), beating the weft (tightening the weft thread), winding up (rolling up the woven fabric), releasing new warp threads.
As early as the Warring States period, our ancestors invented the pedal loom, which was dozens of times more efficient than the double-axis loom.

This was the first major invention in the history of world textiles, and the next earth-shattering change in the textile industry would not come until the flying shuttle loom of the 18th century.

The problem is that if the flying shuttle loom had actually appeared in this era when men farmed and women wove, and every household spun and wove cloth, the shock it would have caused would have been no less than a major earthquake that swept the entire country.

Jiang Han knew perfectly well that if he were willing to ramp up production, all the wealthy gentry, merchants, and ordinary people in Jiangnan who made their living by weaving would be driven to bankruptcy.

So even though he understood the principles of the flying shuttle loom, he never took it out.

Many inventions and creations in later generations are useful and can improve efficiency by dozens of times, but their effectiveness also depends on the specific historical context.

The British only dared to use flying shuttle looms without restraint when they had markets to sell their products, but Jiang Han couldn't do that.

However, right now, the merchants in Shaanxi are pressing him for the goods, so he has no choice but to use this weapon as a temporary measure.

As long as we control our production output, avoid dumping tactics, and ensure that our technology is not leaked, we shouldn't be able to cause any major problems for the time being.

Besides, if Jiang Han keeps this thing, he might be able to completely destroy the gentry class in the Jiangnan region without bloodshed once he controls the Yangtze River waterway.

With this in mind, Jiang Han rushed to the weaving and dyeing bureau and handed over the schematic diagram he had drawn to the foreman, Xu Yao.

Xu Yao was deeply impressed as he looked at the sketches in front of him.

I had heard from the blacksmiths at the Ironworks that the commander-in-chief often had some ingenious ideas, and had even come up with something called a relic.

Unexpectedly, it was his turn to be in charge of the dyeing and weaving department today.

Xu Yao was completely confused and pointed to the parts on the diagram, asking Jiang Han:
"General, what are these shuttle systems and control systems drawn on here? I can't understand a single one of them."

Xu Yao works with traditional pedal looms.

According to the traditional loom procedure, the weaver must use both hands, one on the left and one on the right, to alternately pass the shuttle containing the weft thread from one side of the warp thread to the other.

This job is not only tiring, but it is also limited by the length of your arms.

Generally speaking, weaving cloth becomes difficult after one meter and requires two people to work together to throw the shuttle.

Efficiency naturally suffers as a result.

The beauty of the flying shuttle loom lies in its two key design features that break this constraint:

First, the sliding shuttle box and spring mechanism:

A sliding shuttle box is installed on each side of the loom. The shuttle box is connected to a rope, and the other end of the rope is controlled by the weaver by stepping on a pedal or using a lever.
Second, the shuttle pulls the latitude line:
The shuttle is placed in the shuttle box on one side, and the weaver can move the rope by stepping on the pedal or pulling the lever by hand.

Relying on the elastic force stored in the spring, the shuttle can quickly pass through the warp shed and steadily insert into the opposite shuttle box, completing a weft insertion in the blink of an eye.

With these two changes, the shuttle no longer needed to be passed around by people, nor was it limited by the length of one's arm; a single person could weave a piece of cloth two or three meters wide.

The speed of the shuttle was more than three or four times faster, resulting in a surge in efficiency.

Most importantly, the basic framework of the shuttle loom can be reused from the pedal loom.

The weaving frame, warp bobbin, warp tension adjuster, and heald frame are all readily available and only require minor adjustments.

The core components are the shuttle system and the power control system.

The shuttle system refers to the shuttle, the sliding track, and the shuttle boxes at both ends.

The control system is more complex, mainly consisting of a flexible drive mechanism, levers, and reversing mechanisms.

After Jiang Han explained it to him, Xu Yao finally understood the sketch.

He looked at Jiang Han with suspicion. Why was the commander-in-chief not thinking about how to conquer cities and territories, but instead focusing on studying weaving?
But though he muttered to himself, he dared not show the slightest dissent on his face:

"Your insight is brilliant, sir. I will do my best to give it a try."

Xu Yao is also a seasoned carpenter with many years of experience, and his skills are solid.

He took the sketches and began to work on them himself, starting with the shuttle system.

The simplest shuttle is a small wooden shuttle that is bulging in the middle and pointed at both ends, used to hold the weft thread. It only needs to be about six or seven inches long.

The sliding track is a wooden rail used to guide the shuttle along a straight line through the warp shed, restricting the direction of the shuttle's movement.

Xu Yao found two sturdy templates, each seven feet long, and fixed them firmly to the crossbeams on both sides of the weaving frame, with the height precisely aligned with the opening of the warp threads.

Next, he used a chisel to carve two V-shaped grooves inside the wooden board, slightly wider than the diameter of the shuttle.

Finally, use fine sandpaper to carefully polish the inner wall of the track to ensure that the shuttle can pass through the track smoothly and slide back and forth.

As for the shuttle box, it is installed at both ends of the sliding track, like a funnel, to guide the shuttle precisely into the track.

We've reached the crucial elastic drive unit.

Xu Yao pondered how to use local materials. He cut some tough old bamboo and made it into three-inch-long bamboo strips.

Then, it is continuously heated with fire to bend it to 180 degrees. After the bamboo strip is shaped, it is fixed to the upright of the weaving frame, and the other end is connected to a rope.

Workers can pull the rope on the lever to stretch the bamboo strip like a bowstring and store energy. Then, using the accumulated elastic potential energy, they can drive the shuttle to fly left and right.

In fact, as long as the principles are understood, skilled craftsmen in ancient times could quickly make the actual objects.

In less than three days, Xu Yao completed the loom modification project.

But when Jiang Han came over to check, he immediately noticed the bamboo strips that had been bent by the heat on the loom.

"Xu Zuotou, these bamboo strips will probably be worn out after only a few dozen uses. Haven't you thought about using other materials instead?"

Xu Yao scratched his head, somewhat puzzled:

"General, if it's broken, just replace it. Aren't bamboo plants easy to find?"

"I'll prepare more."

But Jiang Han kept shaking his head when he heard this:

"No, this is too inefficient. If we're going to do it, we should do it well."

"In my opinion, we should replace the bamboo strips with refined steel."

"You take some people to debug first, I'll go to the Iron and Steel Company."

After saying that, Jiang Han left Xu Yao behind and rushed to the Iron and Steel Bureau.

Meanwhile, the Iron and Steel Bureau was also busy. Jiang Han had already assigned them tasks, requiring them to find ways to improve firearms and enhance long-range firepower projection.

Since the cavalry force was expanded, Jiang Han has had an idea in his mind.

He hoped to integrate firearms more closely into the cavalry's combat system.

Traditional mounted archery required proficiency in both archery and horsemanship, which was extremely demanding on the cavalry's skills.

Is there any way to quickly form a cavalry force?

Jiang Han racked his brains and remembered the dragoons of Gustav II of Sweden.

Although at the turn of the Ming and Qing dynasties, in terms of the ferocity of the war and the sophistication of the equipment, the Eastern battlefield was undoubtedly the "strongest battlefield of the 17th century".

During the Ming Dynasty, in terms of firearms tactics, the sophistication of equipment, the ratio of officers in the army, and the density of artillery, it far surpassed Europe at the same time.

When Gustav proposed tactics such as army professionalization, artillery independence, and the three-row rotation firing method...
Zhu Di had already led the Shenji Battalion deep into the northern desert to drive out the barbarians and quell the rebellion.

In the late Ming Dynasty, there was even one rapid-fire cannon for every fifty men on average.

However, the consequence of the Ming army's large-scale use of firearms was that it became highly dependent on logistical support.

After the Wanli Emperor's reign, the Ming Dynasty's system gradually began to collapse, and its logistics were in complete disarray.

Therefore, by the time of the Tianqi and Chongzhen reigns, the battlefield situation had undergone tremendous changes. In the local battles of Liaodong, small units of the Guan Ning Army fought very tenaciously, often causing the Tartars to flee in terror.

However, whenever a large-scale battle involving tens of thousands of people is fought, the team is bound to falter.

Although the intensity of warfare in Europe at the same time was less than that on the Eastern front, Gustavus Adolphus's military innovations, especially his ideas on improving cavalry, were definitely worth adopting.

Jiang Han's idea was to upgrade the traditional horse archers into mounted infantry capable of charging on horseback, forming ranks on dismount, and continuously firing muskets.

To achieve this goal, equipment is the key.

The first feature is that it is a flintlock long-barreled musket that is easy to carry and use on horseback;
The second is a revolver that can fire rapidly in bursts.

The technical threshold for the flintlock mechanism itself is not high; the Ming Dynasty called it a "self-generating firearm."

Bi Maokang, the Vice Minister of War, provided a detailed account of this in his book "Illustrated Explanation of Military Equipment".

(The "Illustrated Treatise on Military Weapons" was published in the eighth year of the Chongzhen reign, but Bi Maokang was merely a recorder, not the inventor.)
Jiang Han's expectations for the flintlock rifle were not actually that high.

He knew very well that this thing alone was not enough to defeat all the heroes, nor could it completely eliminate cold weapons.

The combination of Minié bullets, percussion caps, and rifled muskets was what could truly eliminate cold weapons completely.

However, for cavalry, being able to fire an extra bullet from horseback and provide even a little more suppressive firepower is always a good thing.

The border troops preferred to use the three-barreled gun, which could be used to fire at long range and could also be used as a sledgehammer in close combat.

But when it comes to long-range firepower, we still have to rely on bows and arrows.

A small and agile revolver can effectively solve the problem of insufficient firepower.

The world's first truly practical revolver was the Colt M1835 revolver, invented in 1835.

However, as early as the 16th century, when Ming Dynasty craftsmen were still in the era of matchlock guns, they had already invented a revolver gun called "Five Thunder Divine Machine".

Many people mistakenly believe that the three-barreled gun is the ancestor of the revolver, but that is not the case.

The three-barreled gun has no shaft or cylinder; the user can only change the barrel by rotating the shaft.

Furthermore, the three-barreled gun had no trigger.

When firing, one had to hold the match cord by hand to light the powder pool, making it essentially closer to a matchlock gun.

The Five Thunder Divine Machine is different.

It has an iron barrel, with five tubes, each one foot and five inches long, weighing a total of five pounds, arranged in a wheel shape around the central handle.

The gun also has a front sight, and each tube contains two qian of powder and one lead bullet.

The five gun barrels share a single match cord. The barrels can rotate, turning from one to the next after the previous one is lit. It can fire at 120 paces when firing horizontally.

(Five Thunder Divine Machines)
In addition to the Five Thunder Divine Machine, Zhao Shizhen, a firearms expert in the Ming Dynasty, also invented the "Thunderbolt Gun" in the 26th year of the Wanli Emperor's reign.

This thing has five barrels. Each time you fire a shot, you only need to rotate the cylinder seventy-two degrees to aim at the next barrel and fire. This cycle continues until all five barrels are empty.

Although the "Five Thunder Divine Machine" and "Thunderbolt Gun" were touted as revolvers, their practicality was questionable.

Both of these things are too bulky!

With a weight starting at five pounds, plus the resistance of the wheel, operating it with one hand on a bumpy horseback is a nightmare, severely affecting the cavalry's agility and rate of fire.

Jiang Han found Chai Yu at the Iron and Steel Bureau, pointed to the Five Thunder Divine Machine on the table, and put forward his idea:

"Old Chai, this revolver is too heavy and cumbersome."

"Could you perhaps remove these gun barrels that are arranged side by side?"

Jiang Han's finger tapped heavily on the rotating mechanism.

"How about we change our approach? Instead of rotating the barrel, let's make a rotating magazine?"

"Preload the gunpowder and projectiles into the cylinder, leaving only one barrel for firing."

Upon hearing this, Chai Yu scratched his head.
"General, do you mean to have multiple pharmacy chambers revolving around a single axis, but all aimed at a single gun barrel?"

"This is indeed a good way to save iron and reduce weight."

Chai Yu picked up the Five Thunder Divine Machine from the table and weighed it in his hand.

By removing the four iron pipes and redesigning it as a short gun, the weight can be reduced by at least half.

For cavalry, this weight was acceptable.

But then he thought again and raised a new question:

"General, this method is good, but what about ignition?"

"The Five Thunder Divine Machine relies on a fire rope. It lights one fire gate, turns it once, and then lights the next one."

"Now that we've replaced it with a gun barrel, how do we ignite it?"

Jiang Han smiled slightly; this position was perfect for introducing a flintlock mechanism.

He took out two inconspicuous gray-black stones from his pocket and tapped them together forcefully.

"Crack!"

A burst of bright sparks instantly erupted.

"This is... a flint?"

Chai Yu recognized it; it was a commonly used fire starter.

"Yes, it's flint!"

“Let’s make a small mechanism to ignite the medicine pool with flint.”

As Jiang Han spoke, he picked up a charcoal pencil and quickly sketched on the paper:
"First, there's the hammer."

"Make a rotating iron arm here, with a slot cut into its head, like this,"

Jiang Han drew an L-shaped curved iron piece.

“We call it a hammer. The principle is similar to that of a matchlock gun. As long as the flint can be inserted, it will work.”

"Next came the flint and steel, which had a piece of fine steel attached to the gun body to strike the flint and create sparks."

Jiang Han drew a vertical steel plate at the point where the hammer would strike and explained:
"This thing is called a 'smashing iron'. It's connected to the ignition hole of the gunpowder pool at the bottom. As long as a spark is generated, it can ignite the gunpowder pool."

"Moreover, it can also act as a lid to cover the gunpowder pool and prevent rainwater from entering."

Chai Yu nodded; he basically understood the principle.

Jiang Han slowly explained:

"It's mainly the spring mechanism; the flint needs enough force to strike and produce sparks."

"Normally, the sear behind the trigger engages the spring to store power. Once the trigger is pulled, the sear will release instantly, and the flint will strike the flint, generating sparks."

Jiang Han recalled the gun structures he had seen before and designed a simple "single-action firing" mechanism for this revolver.

Before firing, the user simply pulls the hammer backward with their hand. As the hammer moves backward, it will move the cylinder via a clever lever.

The cylinder rotates, aligning the next chamber with the barrel.

Then pull the trigger to fire.

Chai Yu nodded repeatedly after hearing this, and he quickly realized the benefits of this firing device.

But Jiang Han immediately raised the difficulty:

"Old Chai, I've explained the principle to you, but how to do it specifically is up to you."

"You need to figure out how to ensure the powder bath is aligned with the gun barrel."

After listening, Chai Yu pondered for a long time:
"General, it's not difficult to aim the powder pool at the gun barrel."

"Simply carve positioning grooves on the pivot or edge of the magazine."

"The gun body only needs one latch. As long as the cylinder is rotated to the same position as the barrel, the latch can immediately lock into the slot and lock it in place."

"In this way, the cylinder and the muzzle can be kept level."

But then he changed the subject and raised a new question:

"General, the barrel is fixed, but the cylinder is movable, so leaks are inevitable."

"If the gunpowder gas escapes through the gaps, the force of the lead bullet will be weakened."

"This thing is a bit complicated. I need to work on it with my guys."

　Bad news, I have to go on a business trip for three days.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)