In front of these ten musketeers, there were white cloths hung about twenty or thirty steps apart.
This is to test the power of the musket.
The power of the muskets in the early Ming Dynasty was much worse than imagined.
When the order to 'fire' was given, ten musketeers quickly ignited the fire.
Boom! Boom! Boom! …
The sound is still quite loud.
When the musketeers finished fighting, a eunuch quickly went up to monitor the damage Bai Bu had suffered.
The fire guns of the early Ming Dynasty used gunpowder as propellant and were loaded with iron bullets to cause damage.
The damage is about twenty steps, or a little over thirty meters.
Beyond this distance, it is basically useless.
"Your Majesty, great joy, great joy! The granular gunpowder produced under your guidance has increased the power of the musket by ten steps."
The eunuch took down several pieces of white cloth from thirty steps away and trotted to Zhu Yuanzhang to congratulate him.
Zhu Yuanzhang was very familiar with firearms and was very happy to see this.
"Test the power of the artillery immediately."
"I obey your order."
With the roar, ten general cannons were ignited, and the stones and iron bullets they were filled with were fired out one after another.
After a cloud of smoke, the eunuchs hurriedly measured the distance.
"Your Majesty, one hundred and forty steps, an increase of twenty steps."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang stood up and shouted, "Good!"
Then he turned to Zhu Ying and said, "Great grandson, just by making this improvement, the power of gunpowder has been increased by more than 20%."
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were full of surprise and shock.
In fact, he didn't have high expectations when he came here this time, but the facts proved that he underestimated his eldest grandson again.
"Grandpa, you're too kind. The power of gunpowder can be further enhanced if it is refined." Zhu Ying said with a smile.
"My eldest grandson is so familiar with gunpowder." Zhu Yuanzhang asked. He didn't expect that his eldest grandson could improve his power.
Although current muskets are widely used in wars, they are far inferior to bows and crossbows in terms of damage.
Due to the limitation of the power of black powder, even granulated black powder cannot penetrate the plate armor of cavalry.
The greatest killing power on the battlefield is still mainly caused by artillery. It is difficult for muskets to kill people. However, for cavalry, the main function is to startle the horses.
If it is against infantry, repeated attacks can make the enemy soldiers run around with their heads in their hands, which has the effect of affecting the enemy's charging formation.
When Zhu Ying heard the old man's praise, he did not respond immediately. Instead, he said after thinking for a while:
"Grandpa, just now when I was watching the musketeers, I suddenly had an idea of how to make a new musket."
"I want to try making it." Zhu Ying said.
The speed of the musketeer just now was so touching that Zhu Ying calculated the time in his mind.
It took about twenty breaths, or about one minute, to load the powder, compact it, load the bullet, aim, and ignite it.
Such a speed is very uncomfortable on the battlefield, especially when cavalry is charging.
Therefore, the firearms and cannons of the early Ming Dynasty were still mainly used for auxiliary purposes, especially in field battles.
It is used more frequently in siege warfare and naval battles.
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard his eldest grandson's idea, he agreed after a little thought.
Under Zhu Yuanzhang's decree, Zhu Ying became the highest official of the Gunpowder Bureau.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't have too many thoughts, and he mainly supported his eldest grandson.
Zhu Ying stayed directly in the Gunpowder Bureau, while Zhu Yuanzhang returned to the palace.
"Your Highness." Several eunuchs from the Gunpowder Department saluted Zhu Ying.
Zhu Ying nodded and gave the order directly: "I need carpenters and blacksmiths with excellent skills. Gather the top masters."
"Yes, sir."
What Zhu Ying wants to do now is to invent the matchlock gun first.
With the current technology in the early Ming Dynasty, it is entirely possible to make a matchlock gun purely by hand. It is just a matter of ideas and concepts.
The next step in the matchlock gun is to fire the gun.
In fact, there is not much difference between a matchlock and a flintlock. To put it simply, it is the difference between igniting a matchlock and igniting a flintlock.
Of course there is flint here, so it seems that we can skip the matchlock and directly develop the flintlock.
After all, the flintlock rifle will not be affected by weather conditions such as rain, and it can also be used in night operations.
Actually, it is not.
This is not a problem with a piece of flint, but mainly a problem with the precision device that fires it.
The stable rifle appeared after the Western Renaissance and was inspired by clocks.
The precision is extremely high and does not require much strength.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, people had already designed and manufactured flintlock rifles, commonly known as self-igniting firearms, but the production cost was extremely high.
The biggest obstacle is the spring.
The handmade springs in ancient times were rather crude. In order to ensure that the trigger could produce sparks and ignite the gunpowder chamber, a lot of force was required, making them inconvenient to use.
The most important thing is that without an industrial foundation, the hand-made springs are simply touching and have too many defects, and are far less simple and crude than the matchlock gun.
At the call of the eunuchs from the Gunpowder Department, three master carpenters and a master blacksmith were summoned.
"Your Highness, these people are the most skilled in craftsmanship in the Gunpowder Department." The eunuch of the Gunpowder Department introduced.
Zhu Ying nodded, and without further ado, he told the carpenter his idea.
Don't underestimate the carpenters in ancient times. The skills of ancient carpenters, especially the master carpenters, all started as carpentry apprentices.
Some extremely precise manual work is not a problem at all for a master carpenter.
Something like a trigger is not a very difficult thing. After Zhu Ying's explanation, the three carpenters understood it and said that it would not be a problem to make it.
Zhu Ying only needs to tell the carpenter his requirements.
Then comes the production of the gun body and the structure of the trigger. Just tell the carpenter the general shape.
Next comes the more difficult part of the matchlock gun, the barrel.
At Zhu Ying's request, the gun barrel was forged from fine iron instead of copper.
The biggest problem in ancient times was accuracy, but although it was costly to hand-make a few matchlock rifles, it was not a big problem.
A skilled blacksmith can achieve this with patient polishing, it just takes longer.
It took Zhu Ying almost two hours to make the arrangements. Finally, he asked the three blacksmiths:
"Among the three of you, who has the best craftsmanship?"
After saying this, the two blacksmiths on the left and right simultaneously looked at the older blacksmith in the middle, who was about fifty years old.
"Your Highness, I may have some experience in blacksmithing." The blacksmith stepped forward and bowed.
"Okay, then you stay, and the others step back and do as I ask."
"Yes, sir."
The reason why Zhu Ying kept the old blacksmith was that he wanted to make a gun barrel with rifling.
Rifling production is not a very complicated task for a skilled blacksmith, and Zhu Ying doesn't mind even if it is a little rough.
We will improve it slowly in the future, just get the product out first.
Historically, rifled barrels have been in use since the 15th century, but due to the difficulty of manufacturing, they did not become popular until the 19th century.
Now it is purely handmade and you can hone it slowly.
After hearing Zhu Ying's explanation, the blacksmith quickly understood the requirements and said he could make it.
After Rifling finished his story, what Zhu Ying told next was the highlight of the highlight.
Minié bomb.
A muzzle-loading rifle without the Minié bullet is soulless.
The combination of the two is the power of the muzzle-loading rifle.
Bullets with shells are where the explosive power of the musket lies.
This is completely equivalent to the superposition of two levels of power.
However, due to the current industrial limitations in the early Ming Dynasty, the manpower and material resources required to build the Minié bullet muzzle-loading rifle could not be popularized.
The Minié bullet is okay, it's just a shell filled with granular gunpowder.
As for the production of a muzzle-loading rifle, it may take more than a month to produce one.
The key is that this thing needs to be done by a master chef.
At the current stage, muzzle-loading rifles can only appear in the form of handicrafts. Even if all the master craftsmen work together, they may not be able to produce 100 rifles in a year.
The muskets used by the Ming army now are, to put it simply, a smaller form of cannon.
The power of black powder has been gradually improved through continuous experiments. Today, even in granulated form, the damage caused by black powder is lower than imagined.
The Minié bullet was used with the matchlock musket, but the production was not high enough and at most it was distributed to a very small number of guards.
Due to the rough workmanship and the limited lifespan of the gun itself, there is little point in popularizing it.
The key to production is a simpler matchlock gun, which can at least cause enough damage for a single soldier to kill someone.
After giving the instructions, Zhu Ying did not leave the Gunpowder Department.
Instead, he stayed in the Gunpowder Department for three days, and only when he saw the carpenter make the matchlock gun model that Zhu Ying had in mind was the work completed.
It takes a long time from the model being made to the blacksmith completing it, and it is estimated to take at least half a month.
Naturally, Zhu Ying couldn't wait here for such a long time, so he returned to the capital on the morning of the fourth day.
…
The Ming Palace.
Zhu Yuanzhang played with the matchlock gun model that was made according to Zhu Ying's explanation.
As soon as Zhu Ying left the Gunpowder Department, the eunuchs of the Gunpowder Department immediately arranged for people to rush and deliver the finished model to Zhu Yuanzhang.
"Is this the matchlock gun that our eldest grandson thought of?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked the eunuch in charge of the Gunpowder Bureau while playing with the matchlock gun.
"Your Majesty, your idea is simply a stroke of genius. With such a matchlock gun, coupled with granular gunpowder, the soldiers will be able to use it even faster."
As the eunuch in charge of the Gunpowder Department, he stayed in the Department almost every day and was obviously very familiar with the use of muskets.
Zhu Yuanzhang held the matchlock gun in his hand, and he couldn't help feeling happy when he imagined his army equipped with such guns in large numbers sweeping the enemy.
"I think that my eldest grandson has already had an idea for this perfect firearm, and this is just the perfecting of it."
At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly felt grateful to the fourth son Zhu Di.
If it weren't for him, my eldest grandson would probably have gone to Annan to establish a country.
And such a matchlock gun would not be controlled by the Ming Dynasty.