On the third day of July in the first year of Jiajing, at the end of midsummer, the summer heat was still in full swing. Yesterday just had a rainstorm, the sky was blue like washing, from the capital Fucheng Gate to the west of the twenty miles of the road, business travelers are endless, although the flow of people is not as good as the east of the capital (to Tongzhou), but obviously far better than in the past.

Since the "Tiger Cup" in May, the sport has become more popular in Beijing, and all the nobles have formed their own teams, and those wealthy businessmen have rushed to follow suit, and the sport has spread to all parts of the country, especially in the rich places in the south of the Yangtze River.

The popularity of kicking sports is very popular, and the people who benefit the most are naturally the first to lay out. Nowadays, Higashiyama Ketsu Stadium is extremely popular, and teams rent the field to play almost every day. In just over two months, dozens of buildings have appeared here, most of which are inns and catering businesses, and some sell daily necessities and pen, ink, paper, and inkstones.

Some nearby villagers also ran to the roadside to set up stalls and started a ghost stall business, selling all kinds of things, and the prototype of a small market has been initially revealed.

It is worth mentioning here that in order to further increase the popularity and facilitate the people in the city, Xu Pengju, the Duke of Wei, spent 5,000 taels to widen the 20-mile official road from Fuchengmen to the 500 camps, and also paved it with gravel and fine sand, even if it rains, it will be unhindered, and if the carriage is in a hurry, it can be reached in half an hour, even if it is more than an hour on foot. In ancient times, when transportation was backward, this section of road was undoubtedly equivalent to a modern highway.

As the so-called road to wealth, the road is good, the public security has become better, the past business travelers are willing to take this road into Beijing, if you can't get into the city in the evening, you will choose to live here to stay in the hotel, so the popularity of Dongshan is even stronger.

On this day, when the sun was rising high, the breakfast vendors on both sides of the official road were about to pack up and leave, and several horse-drawn carriages with the logo of the War Bureau galloped past the official road, and finally stopped outside the camp gate of the 500 battalion in Xishan.

Leaning slightly, the wagon of the War Bureau drove into the 500 battalion, and soon after, bursts of gunfire rang out in the camp. It is said that the 500 battalions were established by the emperor's personal order, specially used to test the new firearm flintlock pistol, and the soldier Xu Jinxu, who was responsible for supervising the production of flintlock pistols, often passed by the official road, and occasionally bought food from the vendors on the roadside, which was very approachable and very capable. The vendors are proud to be able to talk to Lord Xu!

At this moment, in the shooting range of the 500th Battalion, 10 sergeants of the 500th Battalion were trying out the new flintlock pistols that had just been brought in by the Military Warfare Bureau. Xu Jin took a group of generals to watch, and the eunuch Lai Yi of the War Bureau, as well as He Bantou and Liu Bantou, were also present, and both of them looked a little nervous.

It is said that since the last time Xu Jin personally tested the gun and exploded the chamber, He Bantou and Liu Bantou worked hard, spent a month improving the flintlock pistol, and spent another ten days experimenting to determine that there was no problem, so they dared to report it to Xu Jin.

As a result, Xu Jin pulled ten samples of flintlock pistols to the 500 battalions for trial, and found many minor problems, which had been revised six times in just one month, and now He Bantou and Liu Bantou were a little nervous.

Not to mention He Liu's two team leaders, even Father-in-law Lai is a little anxious, his eyes are bloodshot, after all, it has been five months since the beginning of February, if he can't get a qualified finished product, it is not easy to explain to the above, the officials of the household department have already complained a lot, and the allocation of money and materials is not as happy as before.

Bang bang bang......

The smoke was everywhere, and eight of the ten targets fifty steps away were broken through, and the cheers were like a tide, and He Liu's two team leaders also looked slightly relaxed.

Xu Jin nodded secretly, the ancient unit of distance measurement is "step", one step is equivalent to the current 1.38 meters, fifty steps is about 70 meters, the maximum range of the Ming Dynasty's fire guns can reach about 100 meters, the effective range is about 50 meters, if you want to pierce armor, the distance can not exceed 30 meters. Nowadays, flintlock pistols can penetrate targets up to 70 meters away, and their effective range is undoubtedly more than 50 meters for passing guns.

Xu Jin also ordered to test the armor-piercing ability of the flintlock pistol, and the result was that within a distance of 50 meters, the flintlock pistol could penetrate the general armor of the Ming army, and it would not work beyond 50 meters. Of course, this power also exceeds the 30-meter armor-piercing power of the Flame Bolt.

In the end, Xu Jin ordered someone to test the maximum range of the flintlock pistol, and the result showed that it was 150 paces, which was also far superior to the traditional firecracker.

In this way, the maximum range, effective range, and armor-piercing range of the flintlock pistol exceeded the traditional musket of the Ming army.

The three main index tests were all passed perfectly, Liu Bantou and He Bantou finally let go of their hearts, and Lai's father-in-law's old face was even more happy to bloom like a chrysanthemum, and said with a smile: "Lord Xu, this batch of flintlock pistols is okay, right?" ”

Xu Jin nodded affirmatively and said: "Very good, I have worked hard for my father-in-law and the two team leaders in the past six months, and this official will truthfully return to the emperor, and your merits and rewards are indispensable!" ”

Liu He and the others were overjoyed, and Father-in-law Lai's smile became even brighter, and he said hehe: "Lord Xu has won the award, what is it to work hard for the emperor." ”

Xu Jin smiled and gestured to Wang Lin'er, who immediately understood and led someone to take five hundred taels of silver from the treasury.

Looking at the box full of snowflakes and silver, He Liu's two team leaders were straight-eyed, and Father-in-law Lai rubbed his hands and smiled: "What do you mean by this, Lord Xu?" ”

Xu Jin smiled and said: "Here are five hundred taels of silver, He Bantou and Liu Bantou will each reward one hundred taels, and the remaining three hundred taels will be led by Lai Gonggong, who will drink wine and add food to the brothers of the War Bureau to thank everyone for their hard work in the past six months." ”

He Bantou and Liu Bantou were ecstatic, as if they had been hit by a pie falling from the sky, and the whole person was dizzy.

"What are you doing in a daze, haven't you thanked Master Xu!" Lai Gonggong scolded with a smile.

He Bantou and Liu Bantou were so excited that they hurriedly knelt down and thanked them, one hundred silver, which is equivalent to their wages in the War Bureau for nearly three years.

Lai Gonggong obviously wanted to show justice, so he distributed one hundred taels of silver to He Bantou and Liu Bantou on the spot, and the two of them held ten ingots of snowflake silver, happy as if they were drunk, and they felt that the hard work of the past six months was worth it.

If you want the horses to run fast, you naturally have to let the horses eat good grass, and Xu Jin has always been generous to useful talents. Money is in place, is the source of the employee's hard work, all advocate feelings and ideals, but refuse to give employees profits, are all talk and foolish.

It is worth mentioning here that He Liu's two squad leaders not only built flintlock pistols, but also invented a new method of loading ammunition, and each flintlock pistol was equipped with a "magazine".

Of course, it was not a magazine like that of a modern gun, but a small wooden box with twenty small vials neatly stacked in it, which filled a certain amount of gunpowder, and the soldiers only had to take out one vial and pour the gunpowder into the chamber of the flintlock pistol.

In this way, not only does it save time, but it also achieves a quantitative amount, and there is no need to worry about the soldier putting too much medicine and causing a dud, and there is no need to worry about putting too little medicine and causing a dud.

In addition, He Liu and the others also came up with a method of wrapping lead bullets in rough paper soaked in lard, the rough paper soaked in lard is very lubricated, and when the lead bullets are wrapped in the barrel, they can easily poke into the innermost part, and they can also increase the air tightness of the barrel and greatly increase the range.

Time is of the essence on the battlefield, and every point of range and rate of fire of a flintlock pistol increases the lethality of the enemy several times. Therefore, just for these two inventions, Xu Jin felt that it was not too much to reward He Liu and the others with 10,000 taels.

Father-in-law Lai asked the cash box to be carried into the carriage, and said with a smile: "Lord Xu, since the flintlock pistol has passed the test, can it be built in batches?" ”

Xu Jin nodded and said: "When I go back, my official will play the emperor and ask to build five hundred equipment and five hundred battalions first, but I still hope that the War Bureau can continue to develop flintlock pistols with a range of more than two hundred steps." ”

He Liu and the others had just received a reward of one hundred taels, and they were full of energy, and when they heard the words, they didn't wait for Lai Yi to agree, and immediately patted their chests and said, "Don't worry, my lord, we will definitely be able to make a flintlock pistol with a range of more than two hundred steps by the end of the year." ”

Lai Yi was in a mood at the moment, and he didn't care, and scolded with a smile: "Don't yawn toads, if you can't make it then, be careful of your skin!" ”

Only then did He Liu and the others realize that it was a bit too big, the current maximum range of the flintlock pistol was only one hundred and fifty steps, and it was not so easy to increase the range of fifty steps, and they laughed awkwardly.

Xu Jin smiled and said: "Don't worry, take your time, the power of the flintlock pistol is already very good now, if you can keep improving, it is naturally the best, so let's do it, before the end of the year, if the range of the flintlock pistol can be increased by twenty steps, the official will reward you with another hundred taels." ”

He Liu and the others were ecstatic, only to feel that the small universe in their bodies was about to burst out, and the sergeants of the five hundred battalions around them were all envious, and they all wanted to change careers to become firearms craftsmen.