According to Shen Mo's instructions, Qi Jiguang squinted and looked at the chamber of the second gun with another eye. finally found the clue, only to see that in the chamber that should be smooth, there was a circle of spiral-shaped lines. I couldn't help but look up and ask, "Could it be that these lines are working?" ”

"Yes." Silent jaw said: "This is called rifling, don't underestimate it is inconspicuous, but it can make your bullets hit farther and more accurately." ”

After taking over the military department, Shen Mo deliberately ordered someone to carry out an investigation to find out the defects in the current army equipment. Among them about muskets. In addition to the above-mentioned shortcomings, the most criticized by officers and soldiers. It's also a problem with its range, because it's a round bullet and the chamber is not standard, it often targets the deer underground, but after the shot, it almost knocks down the bird in the sky.

Shen Mo handed over this problem to the craftsmen of the Ordnance Factory and the experts of Tai Xilai, and he was also thinking hard about the solution, although he was only a layman, but after all, he had five hundred years of knowledge, and he could always learn from the successful experience of later generations. Find some inspiration.

He thought of two methods, one was to rifle the gun. Because judging by the intelligence gathered. The Prussians had already engraved rifling in the chamber of their guns seventy years ago, but judging from the guns they got their hands on, their rifling was several straight lines, which should have been used to speed up the reloading, not to improve accuracy. Real rifled muskets. It should have been in Prussia thirty to fifty years ago. Shen Mo obtained several Swiss made in 1544 AD, and they were engraved with very beautiful and practical spiral rifling...... Because in Western, the pronunciation of rifling is, back and forth. Therefore, this kind of gun is also called a rifle.

As for the sighting device, it was also invented about seventy years ago, and among the few guns called JAEGER that Shen Mo obtained, there were the most basic crosshairs and door-lighting equipment among the exquisite aristocratic guns.

With rifling and sighting devices, the accuracy of shooting is greatly improved, and it can reach up to 200 meters away. It is said that at the beginning of the XVI century. That is, sixty or seventy years ago. Leonardo da Vinci, the great painter and inventor, once came to the walls of Florence with a homemade rifle and fired a shot at the besieging enemy, hitting an enemy soldier 300 meters away. Since then, breech rifles have been widely used in Prussia and Austria.

But because the rifling of rifles in this era had to be carved by hand, the cost was expensive. It would be enough to make two good smoothbore guns that meet the requirements. But the main problem. Or is it that when using rifles, the warhead and rifling must be tightly engaged, and it is not possible to use a projectile with a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the barrel like a smoothbore gun, so the loading of the breech rifle is very difficult and time-consuming, so in order to maintain a large amount of firepower, the regular troops of various countries are still equipped with smoothbore guns.

And through long-term actual combat shooting, people have explored a set of effective ways to increase it, such as wrapping the bullet with a greased cloth or fur to facilitate the loading of the breech, for skilled marksmen, the loading speed is not much slower than that of a smoothbore gun, so this rifle is still widely sought after in Europe.

LIKE THE SILENT ONE, THE JAEGER, THE SHOTGUN, THE BARREL IS VERY SHORT. The main use is in hunting and competition. It is said that in recent years, this rifle has become popular in Europe, and "aristocrats often hold shooting competitions using rifles." Of course, this long-range and powerful weapon is not just the plaything of the aristocracy. AT THAT TIME, THE MAIN INCOME OF THE PRINCES OF GERMANY WAS TO EXPORT MERCENARIES, WHO PROVIDED MILITARY SERVICES TO VARIOUS EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, AND WERE EQUIPPED WITH THIS KIND OF JAEGER, GUNS" HENCE THE NAME "THESE GERMAN MERCENARIES WERE ALSO CALLED JAEGER," They usually appear as skirmishers in war, have the power to move and shoot autonomously, and are responsible for tasks such as reconnaissance and sniping, and are like thorns in the flesh to make enemies uncomfortable.

For this kind of sharp weapon, silence naturally cannot be indifferent. So let the Ordnance General Factory also develop rifling technology. For Director Philip, who was well versed in the manufacture of all kinds of firearms of this era, "Draw the rifling of the barrel." It was not difficult, and it only took a few days to "he tinkered with a manual rifling machine." And a qualified rifling was carved on the Longqing rifle.

一,一,一"一,壹"一"一,壹"一,壹"

For improvements in the accuracy of firing from guns. Shen Mo also had a suggestion, which was to change the spherical projectile to a long projectile with a pointed end. There is no technical difficulty in this, it is just a layer of window paper, if you don't poke it open. I don't know when someone will have a flash of inspiration for this.

In the tests of the Ordnance General Plant, it was soon found that the long projectile was indeed superior to the spherical projectile. First, the diameter of a long projectile is much smaller than that of a spherical projectile when it is of the same weight, and its head is made pointed, which reduces air resistance during flight. The caliber of the gun can be greatly reduced, "reduce the weight of the gun and improve the robustness of the gun." Second, the contact area between the long projectile and the chamber is much larger than that of the spherical projectile, which can be better embedded in the rifling, so the depth of the rifling can be reduced, which is undoubtedly a boon for reducing manufacturing costs.

Moreover, in the process of experimenting with the material of the warhead, the ammunition engineers found that the warhead made of tin or lead was soft because of its soft texture. At the time of excitation. Often clogs the barrel. It was said that this material should be abandoned, but some people thought that it was possible to reduce the diameter of the projectile a little, and the effect was excellent after testing. After some exploration, the warhead was shaped into a slightly concave bottom, so that the warhead could expand quickly after the gunpowder was ignited. The bullet is kept close to the rifling of the barrel, and under the pressure of the rifling, the warhead can rotate out at high speed. Hit accuracy has been greatly improved. And it will deform immediately after hitting the target, which can cause greater trauma, especially for large animals, and has a strong stopping effect.

But because of such warheads. It can only be made of soft metals, and the only suitable ones are lead and tin at the moment. Among them, tin has a lower melting point. The texture is softer and the effect is better, but the craftsmen are afraid that the soldiers will embezzle this expensive metal, so it has always been decided to use a cheaper bell to make this warhead...... And because the warhead is so easily deformed, the arsenal is not responsible for producing the finished product, but only providing molds, which the soldiers cast themselves before the war.

In addition, in order to quickly deform the bullet in the chamber, the craftsmen also improved the ratio of gunpowder, increasing the charcoal and decreasing the nitrate while the sulfur remained the same. And using the best quality charcoal. In order to achieve the purpose of increasing the heat of combustion...... This is also the experience of hundreds of years of tobacco production.

In this era, playing with gunpowder is better than Daming, not yet.

"The one shot you just shot" is an improved long projectile. Silence said to Qi Jiguang: "Otherwise, the effective range of this gun." Only eighty steps at most. As he spoke, he pointed to the rifled Longqing style and said, "But what can exert the power of the long projectile is this kind of gun, so you might as well give it a try." ”

Qi Jiguang followed his words and retreated one hundred and fifty steps away first, "Aim, hit." Step back one hundred and eighty steps. Hit again...... You can't go back anymore, because the yard is so big. But Wu Dui was very confident that he would accurately hit the target within 200 steps. Yes, there is no problem.

"Back in the chamber, the generals could not come out of the shock...... this unprecedented fast, accurate, and ruthless Longqing style was enough for the infantry to shoot a dense enough rain of bullets, even in the face of cavalry charges. Some people can't help but start to think about it, fantasizing that their troops are holding the Longqing style, but they are the king of the world, and they have won the dream of being famous before and after their deaths.

Finally, someone couldn't help but ask Wu Dui, "Lord Wu." When are we going to change this kind of Longqing style? ”

Wu Dui shook his head and said, "There is no plan yet." ”

"Maybe give it some time." Everyone also gossiped: "You have to give a hope." ”

Wu Dui looked at Shen Mo, this question was not something he could answer.

He silently put down the teacup in his hand and said with a slight smile: "Everyone." Who told you that you were going to change to this gun? ”

"It's all shown in military exercises. What are you doing without pretending? Ma Fang relied on her big face and said with a smile.

"That's called awe. Got it? He smiled silently and said, "Those shots are for those toast heads, and you just follow them." ”

"Then the general will not understand." Ma Fang's eyes widened and said, "Such a good gun, why don't you give it equipment?" Said with a smile: "Seeing this, Longqing style, after that, who still uses that kind of tattered bird system." ”

"I'm sorry", Shen Mo shook his head lightly and said, "Most of your troops" still have to fight with birds. ”

"Why?" Ma Fang was anxious.

"How do you talk to the elder of the pavilion!" Lang Lun hurriedly scolded.

Shen silently waved his hand to indicate that he couldn't, and said lightly to Ma Fangqi: "You only know that this kind of gun is good, but you don't know how much it costs......

"Yes", Wu Dui hurriedly picked up and introduced: "Don't look at this gun as inconspicuous." But it's not easy to build. Don't have to say, just talk about the barrel. As he spoke, he looked at Qi Jiguang and said, "Brother Yuan Jing has the most say in my Ming Dynasty's bird system," you said our original gun barrel. What's the problem? ”

"It's not a small problem." Qi Jiguang sighed lightly and said: "Not to mention rust, it is easy to explode." And the barrel is not straight either. You can only fight whichever you want. ”

"Yes, the reason why our Ming Bird System cannot be compared with Western arquebuses is that the quality of iron is not good. Wu Dui sighed.

"This problem, when the anti-Japanese war was fought back then, the last general was aware of it", Qi Jiguang nodded and said: "Our weapons can always be cut by Japanese knives, and the iron-making technology of the dignified Ming Dynasty is not even comparable to a mere Japanese country, which is really embarrassing to the people." ”

"It's not that the technology is inferior to the people." Wu Dui shook his head and said: "In the past two years, we have inspected the iron-smelting technology of more than a dozen steel-producing countries in Taixi and Dashi, and found that their craftsmanship has lagged behind my Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years. He said with a wry smile: "Including Francois and Spain, it's like this." ”

"Then why are our muskets lagging behind?" Qi Jiguang asked puzzled.

"There are two important reasons." Wu Dui stretched out two fingers and said: "First, my country lacks high-grade iron ore. The military headquarters sent personnel to inspect 15 large iron-making factories across the country, and found that the iron ore they used was relatively high in impurities and content......

"To be precise, the phosphorus and sulfur content are relatively high." Shen Mo said lightly that in his later era, the exploration technology was so developed, and China still could not find high-grade iron ore, and still had to import a large amount of iron ore from abroad. He figured out what science couldn't solve at that time. As a liberal arts student, I don't even think about it.

"Another reason is the problem of fuel for ironmaking. Whether it is the day, the big food, or the Taixi, but wherever good steel can be produced, it is made of charcoal to make iron. In fact, we in China have also used charcoal to make iron since ancient times, although after the Song and Ming dynasties, we switched to coal to make iron. But in fact, the essential reason is not the progress of technology, but the increasing depletion of northern forest land, and the supply of charcoal cannot be guaranteed. Only a large amount of coal can be used to make iron. Wu Dui sighed lightly.

"Our coal, like iron ore, is high in phosphorus and sulfur." Shen Mo continued: "Under the influence of this coal, it has caused a sharp deterioration in iron quality. In terms of application, iron pipes containing too much sulfur are prone to bursting. Cast iron with too high phosphorus content is brittle, and it is easy to break as a sword, and it is easy to blow up the chamber when used to make guns. This has the greatest impact on gun building, because gun building cannot be compensated for by the thicker wall thickness and greater weight like cannon building. ”

"At present, there are three solutions to this problem", Wu Dui said: "One is to replace it with copper, but the cost is high, and Daming is also short of copper." There is no possibility of mass production at all: the second is repeated forging at any cost, to meet the standard of Taixi barrel, the pig iron produced by my Daming, ten catties can be forged into one catty of fine iron, and five or six catties of refined iron can be made into a bird. This cost is not low, and it is too time-consuming. ”

"And the third one?" Yin Feng asked.

"It's about importing iron ore from abroad. Iron is made from charcoal in the country. Wu Dui said: "At present, the iron used in the Longqing style is through this method. It was smelted in Wuhu. And then transported to the capital, this cost is actually the highest, but it is currently the only way to produce energy. He said and gave a number: "At present, the cost of a Longqing style is fifty-four taels of silver, and the minimum can be reduced to fifty taels in the future, of which this iron pipe accounts for seventy percent of the price." ”

"Isn't that made of sterling silver?" The generals were speechless.

"So before the problem of raw materials is solved", Wu Dui gave the final "answer" and said: "The output of the Longqing style can only be 10,000 per year, not that the military department can't make more, nor does it not have so much iron ore, but the imperial court has no money." ”