After drinking tea, Du Zhongxiao asked, "What new machine are you busy with?" ”

Guo Zheng said: "A few days ago, I asked the iron supervisor to find a way to build a machine that produces musket bullets in batches. We discussed that lead for muskets was too expensive. Lead can be used to make money, and although it is much cheaper than copper, it is always valuable. I was thinking of replacing lead with iron, so why not just make iron bullets? These days, a machine has been designed to cut the steel bars to a certain amount, and then the piers are pressed into rounds, and then ground in a few steps to become steel balls. Although it is coarser now, it is also more refined than lead shots. ”

Du Zhongxiao opened his eyes, listened to Guo Zheng's speech, and asked in disbelief: "You can make iron bullets in batches?" ”

Guo Qian nodded: "Yes, not only can iron bullets be made, but the price is extremely cheap." Now that muskets are being fired in the army, there is no need to pick up the bullets that have been fired. It can't be remade, and it's not worth much. By the way, according to the new manufacturing method, the shells can also be manufactured in this way in the future, but they are not cold piers, or cast into blanks, but they can be grinded, and the accuracy is much stronger. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded again and again, but he didn't expect Guo Jian to do this. In the past, lead bullets were used for muskets in the army, which were too expensive, and those who had money such as camp and field work did not dare to let go of it. He has been training for several months as a non-commissioned soldier and has not fired a few shots. Changed to an iron bullet, it can be mass-produced with a machine, and the cost is not known how much it has been reduced. The army can be used for training, and it is not even very interesting to pick up waste bullets.

In fact, Du Zhongxiao himself can also design a machine for mass production of bullets, which is nothing more than quantitative cutting and die forging, and then grinding, which can realize mechanical manufacturing. However, it is too energy-consuming, and Du Zhongxiao is entangled in affairs, so he has no heart for this.

The cost of using guns has come down, and everything is different from before. In large-scale combat, musketeers carry more bullets, and they can fire a few more shots when attacking and defending. Not to mention that in normal times, it is much more convenient to put a gun when there is something than in the era of cold weapons.

Speaking of muskets, Du Zhongxiao said: "Then last year, I asked you to make muskets with rifling in the barrel, how are you doing now?" I've also seen rifled guns made, but the accuracy of the shot is still not satisfactory, and if you are far away, you will not be accurate. ”

Guo Zhi said: "Lift, we have put a lot of thought into this matter, and the rifling in the barrel has been changed countless times, and now it is basically decided." But when it comes to the accuracy of shooting, it's not just about the barrel, it's also about the bullet. One is the shape of the bullet, and the other is when loading and firing the gun, the barrel and the bullet must be sealed. We thought of many ways to do it, tried them all, and thought that in addition to rifling in the barrel, the bullet would have to change shape. Like an arrow, the front is pointed, and the back is thick, like a crossbow arrow. The current method is to use a steel head in the front and a lead bracket in the back, which are tightly fitted together. When the gun is fired, the lead butt and rifling are combined, so that there is no air leakage, and it goes out like an arrow, so as not to tilt the head. ”

Du Zhongxiao was stunned for a while before he said: "In this way, if the bullet hits the person's body, won't the lead tray behind it be deformed?" After deformation, it is more difficult to remove from the human body. Compared with the previous lead pellets, it is more harmful to people. ”

Guo Jian thought about it and shook his head: "We haven't tried this matter, but it makes sense." A few days ago, there were jackals and wild boars in the mining area, and I used this gun to fight, and the lead tray will be deformed. ”

Do you still need to ask, the steel head in front is hard, and the lead support in the back is soft, and it will inevitably deform after hitting it, and the wound will increase. Moreover, the wound was irregularly shaped, and the person who was shot suffered much more damage.

The rifled is a sniper rifle, which is not a great technology, as long as Du Zhongxiao knows the concept of rifling, he will ask his subordinates to make it. With the current technology, after adding rifling, the coordination accuracy of the bullet and the barrel is higher, and the loading is inconvenient. And for musketeers, the most important thing is the speed of fire, which can fire a few shots before coming into contact with the enemy. Shoot one or two more shots and you can achieve a huge advantage. Therefore, rifled rifles are only used by snipers who shoot accurately, and musketeers still use smoothbore guns.

Guo Jian is clever, has a natural passion for invention and creation, and also has a specialty in this area. Unlike Du Zhongxiao, Guo Zheng's mind was on weapons, and he was bent on making several strategic weapons to break the cavalry advantage of the northern nomads. In addition to rifled rifles and bullets, as well as mass-produced iron bullets, a lot of thought has been spent on artillery in the past few months, explaining them to Du Zhongxiao one by one.

Knowing that the key to range and power is to seal the bullet and barrel, and to leak as little gunpowder gas as possible, he worked hard in this regard. The newly made shells also had wooden supports added to the back, and the wooden supports were used to seal the barrels. The principle is the same as that of bullets and lead stocks, but the cannon is a shallow damage, unlike the musket, the shell needs to roll after hitting the ground, so it is still round.

Speaking of this, Guo Zheng said: "The lower officials think that in fact, it is not impossible to add lead or copper supports to the back of the shells, but the price is higher. Ordinary solid bullets are just down, such as flowering bullets, because they will explode after they go out, and the more accurate they are, the better. At this time, if the barrel is rifled, use the lead support to match the rifling, calculate the flowering time, and directly hit the enemy's head, which can be like a bullet, instead of a circle, into a cone. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "To be able to do this, there must be a trustworthy fuse." Otherwise, it will be useless if it is blown up early and late. ”

Guo Qian said: "We have a new young man in the iron prison, named Zhang Qian. He was originally from Raozhou, and when he saw that Tiju had used iron to smelt copper from bile water, he felt very novel, and he specially threw himself into the iron prison. This man was very intelligent, and he was a family heirloom, and he was very good in school, and he was assigned to Seventeen Lang's men. Zhang Qian is very interested in refining all kinds of drugs into new drugs, which is the chemistry of mentioning——"

Du Zhongxiao said: "To turn one thing into one thing, this Dan family often does, and the Taoist Tan Qiao made the "Book of Transformation" in the fifth generation, which is exactly what it means. We regard this as a science, and naturally it should be called chemistry. That Zhang Qian, what did he make? ”

Guo Qian said: "This person is attentive to gunpowder and has made a new type of medicine twisted out. It is a tube that stores special gunpowder, which burns stably and can be timed like incense. We tried many things to make pipes, and finally found that a kind of dry wood from the mountains was the most suitable. It is a thin tube with special gunpowder in the middle, and when fired, it is loaded into a flowering bullet made of matter. As long as the artilleryman calculates the distance and calculates the time, he can cut the medicine and twist it to a suitable length. At this time, the cannon is fired at the target, which is accurate, and it can bloom when it lands, and it is especially powerful. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded, not knowing what to say for a while. The requirements for the primer are very high, and Du Zhongxiao doesn't even know the principle, otherwise if the primer is made, these people will be able to push into the era of rear-loading guns. To say that artillery is not to mention, once it explodes and injures people, it is completely two different things.

After listening to Guo Zheng's introduction, Du Zhongxiao said: "I didn't expect that in a few months, you made so many novelties. In this way, fighting a war is very different from what I used to think. It's good to pull the army to the iron prison for drills, otherwise wouldn't you miss it again? Now that you have arrived, you can also go to the army to have a look at it and improve your weapons in light of the actual situation. ”

Guo Qian nodded in agreement, and said: "Lifting, since it is an all-army exercise, can you try the invincible thunderbolt?" We've made a lot of changes to the car, reducing parts and adding weapons, which is very powerful. I reported to the Imperial Court, and the Privy Council took it very seriously. It is said that if this car is popular in the world, there is no reason to be invincible against the northern cavalry! ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled and shook his head: "Governor, I never doubted that the car was useful, and I also knew that the cavalry would inevitably be crushed into pulp. But how? Such a big car can only be transported to other places by rail, and it can barely support it for one or twenty miles by itself, and it will definitely not work if it is farther. And with coal and water, how can there be a war at the front? ”

Guo Yu hurriedly said: "Lift, these are nothing. We tried it, the car was full, and it was a stretch of five miles! With the small size of the battlefield, those who should die within five miles will be defeated, and this benefit is worth using! ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded again and again: "I know what you said is right, and I don't doubt it." But why not, I'll make it clear to you. First, with a steam engine, the car must not be small, unless it is flat, there are ravines that cannot be crossed, and ordinary bridges cannot be passed. In this way, the usefulness on the battlefield is limited, and it can only be used when facing the enemy head-on, which is stronger than the ironclad cavalry. Again, the price of this kind of car is extremely high, and if the army becomes large, the amount of money consumed is too large. Not only that, but it is much more expensive to maintain it than to raise people and horses. The most important thing is that with this kind of car, whether it is a driver or a person who fights in the car, it must be professional. It is necessary to have studied and trained specially, and it is even more rare than excellent cavalry. If there are ten people in the car, I am afraid that the number of people who will repair and maintain them will be several times, and these must be read and read and have skills. It's expensive, the money can still be solved, where to find so many professionals? As long as people are a little unfamiliar with each other, it will be difficult to lay down on the battlefield. Governor, this thing will definitely be popular on the battlefield of the world in the future, and you are right to be more attentive. However, before the popularization of schools, there were not so many talents, and the army did not dare to use them. ”

The invincible thunderbolt car is a tank no matter how improved it is, and Du Zhongxiao certainly knows that it is very useful. But the steam engine did not work for a long time, and the ability to maneuver on the battlefield was not strong, which limited its use. In the era of cold weapons, it is too cost-effective to break the enemy head-on in this way. And if it can't maneuver, it loses the biggest function of the tank, it can't maneuver to pull the enemy's line, and after defeat, it can't chase the enemy, and this machine becomes a chicken. Not to mention such a car, its operators and a complete set of guarantees, all need professionals, and the most lacking thing in this era is talent.

Compared with the surrounding countries, even if you don't count the factories of the Iron Prison, the Song Dynasty was rich and belonged to a rich country. With thunderbolts, it's still too much to spend so much money on the army. When the personnel training system is formed in the future and the army becomes more professional, it is not impossible to pile up money and smash people like this. At that time, in the northern steppes, the overwhelming armored vehicles pushed over, and no cavalry could stop it.

What Du Zhongxiao is thinking about now is to go south to fight Nong Zhigao, this car can neither be transported, nor can it be used on the front line, how can it be equipped in the army? Guo Zheng can study it, and he should spend some money, and he is too anxious to let the army use it.