For the next period of time, Zhu Yunwen would spend his free time learning some martial arts techniques with Zhao Qingzhu.

It must be said that practicing martial arts is indeed good for physical health. Although Zhu Yunwen only learned some routine moves in a short period of time, it still had the effect of improving his physical health.

Therefore, Zhu Yunwen devoted more effort to practicing martial arts, since what he learned was indeed useful.

Not only can it improve physical health, but it can also help you deal with any dangers you may encounter in the future.

During this period, Zhu Yunwen was still dealing with some matters of the court.

In particular, there is a focus on the southwest region.

After all, the southwest region has now been recovered, so the construction there must catch up as soon as possible.

Cement roads have now been built all over the country.

With determination, it is not difficult to develop the Southwest region like other places.

Therefore, Zhu Yunwen also discussed with Yang Shiqi and others, and found a distinctive specialty product from the southwest region. He planned to order local officials to make full use of the local specialty product and turn it into a highlight and selling point for the region.

This was a policy aimed at enabling the Southwest region to sell its local specialties and unique products to other parts of the Ming Dynasty, thereby enriching the Southwest region.

Besides handling matters of the court, Zhu Yunwen also paid close attention to the people who came from the Eastern Island Kingdom.

He also heard some rumors that the prince and princess of the Eastern Island Kingdom were very arrogant, and that they were supposedly spreading the word about how powerful the Eastern Island Kingdom was.

They even went so far as to belittle Zhu Yunwen, saying that his so-called political skills, military capabilities, and some of the more trendy things he did, such as making cement, were all insignificant.

They even said that the people from the Eastern Island they brought this time were the real geniuses.

In short, the various methods of using provocation have provoked a significant reaction among the public.

The people were furious at the words and actions of the Eastern Island Kingdom, but the more they were furious, the more they fell for the tricks of the Eastern Island Kingdom.

What they wanted was the anger of the people of the Ming Dynasty, preferably extreme resentment. Once the public outrage was stirred up, the grandson of the Ming Dynasty would be forced into a contest with the people of the Eastern Island Kingdom.

Of course, Zhu Yunwen didn't pay too much attention to these things.

After all, in his view, he was going to win this contest no matter what, and no matter how these people from the Eastern Island tried to stir up emotions and hatred, it wouldn't affect Zhu Yuanzhang's state of mind.

The more these people from the eastern island nations escalate the situation and anger the people of the Ming Dynasty, the better.

In this way, as long as Zhu Yunwen severely humiliates the people of Dongdao Kingdom, they will be greatly disgraced.

The people of the Ming Dynasty will be very comfortable.

In Zhu Yunwen's view, it wasn't the people of Dongdao creating momentum for themselves, but rather they were creating momentum for Zhu Yunwen and laying the groundwork for his own cause.

So the bigger they make a scene, the better; they'll only embarrass themselves even more in the end.

...

Besides practicing martial arts and handling official court affairs every day, Zhu Yunwen also had the people from the Ordnance Department bring over some muskets. At that time, muskets were very primitive, just very rough iron rods.

Moreover, each use was extremely troublesome, requiring the pouring of gunpowder and then using a stick to firmly pack it in place.

Then you put a steel ball in, and firing the musket is also troublesome, as you need to light a fuse at the back.

Then the gunpowder inside was ignited, and the force of the explosion propelled the iron ball out.

Only then can it be considered a complete use.

However, this process is very complicated. If you're not careful, the enemy might come up and stab you before you've even finished filling the gunpowder properly.

This not only fails to serve any practical purpose, but also wastes time and gives the enemy an opportunity to exploit, which is definitely not a good thing.

Therefore, Zhu Yunwen decided to use his advanced professional knowledge and understanding of the world he had come from to modify the musket and make it into a pistol.

Of course, this requires very strict technical manufacturing and processes.

Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty now has a very good foundation in steel forging and gunpowder manufacturing technology.

In Zhu Yunwen's imagination, making a relatively exquisite pistol shouldn't be a big problem.

After all, before his time travel, Zhu Yunwen was a very passionate military enthusiast and had a great understanding of various firearms.

So when he got tired from practicing martial arts, Zhu Yunwen would take out some paper and draw some simple pistol models on it based on his memory.

Next, draw all the parts of the finalized pistol model, keeping the design as simple as possible.

It's mainly for ease of production.

After some planning, Zhu Yunwen only managed to draw a revolver, because in his memory, it had fewer parts and was the easiest to make.

Moreover, the principle is very simple. It is actually very easy to make a pistol, but it is more difficult to make bullets.

Ultimately, a pistol is just a vessel, a vessel for people to hold and fire bullets.

The production of bullets is extremely complex.

Even Zhu Yunwen, as a time traveler, still felt that making bullets required extremely high craftsmanship.

Fortunately, by the Ming Dynasty, the forging of steel was already very convenient, and the cost of making bullets out of steel was also very low.

So Zhu Yunwen began to draw the structure of the bullet on the blueprints. He also wanted to make the simplest bullet that could be made under the current conditions.

As a military enthusiast, he knew exactly what size and shape of bullets his revolver would use.

What kind of streamlined lines should a bullet have?

So he quickly drew the bullet, and after drawing it, he began to think about how to implement the underlying principles.

The principle of a bullet is actually very simple; it consists of a cartridge case and a primer made of gunpowder inside.

The gunpowder is at the rear of the cartridge case, while the bullet is at the front of the cartridge case, and the primer is behind the gunpowder.

This primer was, in Zhu Yunwen's opinion, the most difficult part of making a pistol.

Because this involves chemistry, the goal is to create an explosive that is more likely to self-detonate.

In the early days of guns, the primer commonly used in bullets was called mercuric fulminate.

To produce mercuric fulminate, metallic mercury, nitric acid, and alcohol are needed. After precipitation, mercuric sulfate can be obtained.

Mercury, or quicksilver, is relatively easy to obtain.

Alcohol is relatively easy to obtain. Zhu Yunwen had previously made distilled spirits, which is alcohol obtained by distilling spirits to achieve a higher concentration.

It takes some effort to make nitric acid.