Again, in the dead of night, in the study Zhu Mingzhong picked up a bird gun, this bird gun was captured in Nanjing, if the battle of Nanjing gained something, in addition to fame, I am afraid that the number of various weapons and armor can be described as huge, and nearly 4,000 of them made the loyal army realize the transition from cold weapons to hot weapons.

The three-and-a-half-foot-long barrel is made of refined wrought iron, and there is not the slightest trace of hammering on the octagonal barrel, and it is obvious that after the barrel is formed, the pipe body has been carefully polished, which is completely different from the roughness of the imagination.

Looking inside the gun from the muzzle, you can also see the smooth bore, which is obviously carefully polished. It is completely different from the inferior quality of the bird guns rumored in later generations, and many of these bird guns seized were made during the Chongzhen period, and the manufacturing quality is still not as poor as imagined.

"The caliber should be about 13 mm......"

Yu Xin estimated its caliber, and Zhu Mingzhong was inevitably a little disappointed, the caliber of 13 mm was too small. Because of this, the power of the bird gun is small, and there is even a saying that "the bird gun is not suitable for the Northland". The reason for this is precisely because of its small caliber, which leads to low power, and cannot penetrate heavy armor.

"Small caliber is the root cause......"

Looking at the bird gun in his hand, Zhu Mingzhong's brows were tightly locked, staring at the thin front and thick back pipe, and he thought to himself in the bottom of his heart.

"Can you increase the caliber?"

Increasing the caliber, this is the most realistic choice to increase the power of the bird, if it can be like those heavy arquebuses in Europe at this time, with a caliber of 18-20 mm, the so-called Eight Banners heavy armor is naturally vulnerable.

The question is...... Time!

Can time come in a hurry now?

Now the so-called Annan general Dasu led an army of 100,000 and has arrived in the area of Dezhou, maybe the Kefu of Huai'an Province will delay his trip, but how long can it be delayed? Over there, Shunzhi strictly ordered him to go south as soon as possible. Even if Dasu himself drags it out, how long can it last?

One month? Two months?

After all, it takes about a month to make just one barrel, and if it takes two months, it is possible to make a batch of large-caliber muskets, but what if it is too early?

"The caliber is almost 13 mm, and the outer diameter of the muzzle is ......"

Suddenly, Zhu Mingzhong's eyes lit up, and he looked at the barrel of the gun, and his breathing became a little short.

"Maybe you can expand the ......"

That's right!

Since there is no hurry to make a new gun in time, why can't you modify the old one!

"The outer diameter is almost 30 millimeters, and it is not impossible to ...... if the bore is properly expanded."

Staring at the front and back thick guns, the body is thick at one end and the other is thin, the thick one is the belly, and the thin one is the mouth. The thinnest muzzle of the gun is about 25 mm, and the thickest belly is at least 35 mm. With such a heavy barrel, there must be room for chambering, not to mention that these bird guns can shoot with a strong charge.

"Enlarge the chamber, that's right, as long as it expands by another three or four millimeters, it will almost be used, what Manchurian heavy armor, when the time comes, Lao Tzu will directly line up the gun and shoot ......"

When he was talking to himself like this, looking at the heavy bird gun in his hand, Zhu Mingzhong's thinking was constantly diverging.

"In addition to expanding the chamber, you can also modify the gun, change the arquebus into a flintlock pistol, yes, just take its barrel, its barrel and the barrel of the flintlock pistol are not fundamentally different, if you use its barrel, then remake the flintlock machine......"

When one thought comes to mind, another comes to mind. When the idea of expanding the Bird's Gun to increase its power came to him, another idea of completely transforming the Bird's Gun naturally flickered uncontrollably in his mind.

"What is the structure of the flintlock machine?"

Recalling the structure of the flintlock gun machine he had seen, Zhu Mingzhong took a charcoal pen and drew its structure on the paper, while repeatedly thinking about the principle of its action in his mind, imagining its firing, and making sure that he was not wrong in drawing it.

The principle of a flintlock is very simple: flint is used to produce a spark that ignites the gunpowder stored in the barrel. To create this spark, the flint needs to move at high speeds, striking the steel to burst into sparks, which then fall into the gunpowder and ignite it.

Recalling the principle of the flintlock gun, Zhu Mingzhong first wrote down the required parts on the paper, and then corresponded to the drawing.

"The flintlock bolt machine should include the following main parts. The striking iron, which holds and accelerates the flint, then the main spring that powers the striking iron, or the buckle spring, which is the steel bar that the flint strikes, and finally the powder pool: where a small amount of gunpowder is placed, waiting to receive the spark......"

These four parts are all the basic parts that the flintlock gun machine needs to complete its goal, and after corresponding to these four main parts one by one on the initial sketch, Zhu Mingzhong continued to think about the other parts of the flintlock gun machine, after all, these four main parts are only the parts that can be seen from the surface, and there are other parts inside it.

Slowly, with the continuous recollection, coupled with the natural advantage of learning machinery, Zhu Mingzhong quickly figured out the basic principles of the flintlock gun machine on the basis of the pictures he had seen, such as maintaining and releasing the power of the main spring, and transmitting the power to the movement of the striking iron, and when the trigger is pulled, the machine core is mesh, and then it is released to release the blocking iron and the blocking iron spring, and naturally there is a cover fixed to the buckle spring attached to the powder pool, so that the flintlock gun machine can withstand the wind and rain. In the end, Zhu Mingzhong's pen drew such parts one by one, although the drawings look sketchy, but they have already outlined its basic principles, and the rest is naturally how to unify them together and turn them into a weapon component that can change the course of history.

“…… The hammer pulls up to the first lock, and the curtain of fire pushes forward away from the primer pot, at this time it is more convenient and safe than ever to load the gunpowder into the primer pot, and this first lock is also the insurance when waiting to be shot, even if the hammer is put down, it will not ignite. When firing, the hammer is then pulled up to the second lock, and the fire curtain is lifted back to the firing position, and a primer pot lid is connected under the fire curtain to cover the gunpowder in the pot...... The fire curtain is linked to the reeds, and the reed is automatically locked and buckled without moving......"

Trying to recall the structure of the flintlock gun machine, one by one the patterns were drawn on paper by Zhu Mingzhong, and then because he felt something wrong, he couldn't form these linkages in his mind, and he crumpled them together and threw them directly on the ground, just like that, one after another patterns were drawn one after another.

Although most of the drawings were very close to the pictures of the flintlock gun he had seen, there was always a feeling that there was a certain gap, and that there were always some problems when combining those parts in his mind.

“…… Pull the trigger, release the contact resistor, let go of the hammer, move downward, strike the curtain of fire and lift the lid, scrape off the hot iron filings, and ignite the gunpowder in the primer pot. The gunpowder placed in the ignition pot ignites the propellant in the explosion chamber through the ignition hole, and the projectile is ejected. ”

In this way, for the whole night, Zhu Mingzhong has been there studying the flintlock gun machine. Even in the second half of the night, he even specially ordered someone to call the carpenter in the house, and then the two of them spent more than two hours to make a wooden model of the flintlock gun machine from wood chips, so that Zhu Mingzhong had to study and improve the gun with the model.

In the end, it was not until the day was about to be released, after repeated trials, that the best structure was finally determined, looking at the wooden model that was very similar to the brown shell flintlock musket a hundred years later, Zhu Mingzhong was relieved, he even took this flintlock musket that could not be fired with some pride, aimed at the front and shot, imagining the appearance of the musket team of the Loyal and Righteous Army when the musket team was shooting in a platoon on the battlefield, secretly thinking,

"As long as these barrels are properly expanded, there is probably no suspense in this battle......

But this kind of joy only lasted for only one hour, and when Zhu Mingzhong was enthusiastic to find the master of the military craftsman's battalion with the gun, the answer he got was impossible.

"The military gate, it's not that the little old man doesn't want to, but if it's the idea of the military gate, it's really a bit unbelievable......

Looking at the military gate in front of him, although he was unwilling to pour cold water on him, Sun Yubai still said with great certainty.

"Military gate, not to mention others, you see, this Chongzhen year of the bird gun, the body length of the gun is three feet, by three sections of the gun tube connected, as for the Qing system of the gun pipe is four feet, from the Chongzhen Dynasty, this bird gun is three money lead pill, although it can not penetrate the heavy armor, but if you want to penetrate the heavy armor, or increase the gunpowder, this Chongzhen Dynasty bird gun is to add two points per money, medicine for three money and six points, so forty steps can wear heavy armor. And the Qing Lu lengthened the gun pipe by one foot, so that fifty steps can wear heavy armor, if the military gate wants this bird gun to wear heavy armor, if it is lengthened by another one foot of the gun pipe......"

As Zhu Mingzhong invited an expert in making guns from Nanjing, Sun Yubai's answer was very direct, in his opinion, this bird gun was a projectile three coins.

"The three coins of the bird gun are for the long term!"

Sun Yubai's insistence made Zhu Mingzhong stunned for a moment, and then asked with a smile.

"If there are only three coins of birds, then why are there two coins of birds? Just like the red cannon, there are hundreds of catties of red cannons, and thousands of catties of red cannons? ”

Being asked by Zhu Mingzhong, Sun Yubai suddenly became dumb, and just when he didn't know how to answer, he listened to the military gate again.

"So, since there are two coins and three coins, what does it matter if you have four, six, or even eight coins?"

Although Sun Yubai couldn't refute the words of the military gate, he looked at the gun and shook his head and said.

"Junmen, it's not that Xiao Lao'er doesn't want to, it's just that if it's like what Junmen said, drill this bird's gun pipe rough, Xiao Lao'er is really worried that when the time comes, this gun pipe will be unusable after it becomes thinner......"

Ask for support, ask for a monthly pass...... Welcome everyone to join the "Daming Iron Bone" reader exchange group: 150536833 discuss together