"Yes, Your Majesty." Bi Maokang said with his head raised.
This wasn't just Bi Maokang's personal matter, but the entire Baigong Academy's. His Majesty had spent so much money, and everyone had worked so hard for so long, and finally there were results. Bi Maokang couldn't help but be excited, and he wouldn't allow himself to bow his head.
Zhu Youxiao became even more interested and said, "Then tell me, what have you come up with?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," Bi Maokang agreed and said, "The flintlock rifle has been trial-produced, and the first batch of one hundred flintlock rifles has been completed."
"In addition, we have also made progress in the research and development of artillery. Your Majesty reminded us earlier that materials are of paramount importance. Over the past year or so, we have conducted hundreds of experiments and finally found the right ratio, with the right degree of hardness and softness, for casting new artillery."
"The issue of the artillery's airtightness has also been preliminarily resolved."
"We've also tried metal fixed-charge shells, but the black powder wasn't very effective. We're also researching the new type of gunpowder Your Majesty mentioned, but we haven't made any significant breakthroughs yet."
Zhu Youxiao looked at Bi Maokang with a look of relief on his face.
The money was not wasted, they really achieved success and breakthroughs.
First of all, the flintlock rifle, which they have now produced. In fact, according to the current technology, the difficulty of making a flintlock rifle is not very great, but the difficulty lies in mass production and cost.
Judging from Bi Maokang's appearance, he should have solved this problem.
In this era, flintlock rifles were the most complete firearms. If you wanted a breech-fire firearm, you had to solve the problem of metal fixed ammunition. However, the problem of metal fixed ammunition was not so easy to solve. Even metal fixed artillery shells could not be solved.
Zhu Youxiao hoped that Bi Maokang and others could make a mortar.
First of all, the mortar does not require as good airtightness as the breech-loading gun; it is also muzzle-loading and does not require rifling, it only needs to solve the problem of metal fixed shells.
The shells with tail fins can ensure the stability of the flight after the shells leave the barrel, and can accurately hit the target. If this problem is solved, mortars can be put on the agenda.
In this era, if mortars were put to use and metal fixed shells could be mass-produced, it would be a quantum leap forward, but it seems unlikely at this point.
In addition, Zhu Youxiao also wanted the advancement of gunpowder.
Black powder has too many flaws; even with granular black powder, its power is limited. The most convenient new explosive is picric acid dynamite (dynamite), whose detonation speed and blasting power far surpass those of the same mass of black powder. Zhu Youxiao has already tasked Bi Maokang and his team with developing this explosive.
As for nitroglycerin explosives, a group has also been set up to manufacture them. This is more dangerous and is only being tested on a small scale.
Picric acid itself is a yellow dye obtained by treating indigo with nitric acid. Zhu Youxiao asked people to start looking for it in the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty had a lot of yellow dyes. After all, the royal family used yellow the most, and yellow was also used a lot in paintings. After some searching, I actually collected a lot of picric acid.
Picric acid is trinitrophenol, a bright yellow flaky crystal or powder produced by treating phenol with concentrated sulfuric acid or concentrated nitric acid. It is highly corrosive and can corrode metals, generating highly sensitive and explosive picric acid salts.
However, the transportation and storage of picric acid were significant problems. This was particularly problematic for artillery shells, which were prone to corrosion. The Japanese were the ones who truly solved this problem. They painted the inside of the shells and coated them with a thick layer of paraffin wax, isolating the picric acid from direct contact with the shell casing. This simple, ingenious, and inexpensive solution solved the major problem.
Until someone develops a new type of gunpowder, picric acid explosives are definitely the best alternative to black powder.
As long as we have the new type of gunpowder, we will have completed the process from 0 to 1, and it will also provide great inspiration for subsequent research.
Zhu Youxiao had been asking Bi Maokang to work on it, but there had been no particularly good results. Judging from the current situation, the Hundred Craftsmen's Academy was united in purpose, and the emperor was willing to spend money, but there was still no effect.
I don't know how long it will take to get results. But having a flintlock rifle is a good result. Moreover, the artillery of the Hundred Craftsmen Academy is probably the most advanced artillery nowadays.
Zhu Youxiao had to go and see the specific situation in person.
However, Zhu Youxiao did not hold much hope.
Gunpowder is the basis of everything. Without good propellant, everything else is empty talk.
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