The use of gunpowder has a long history in China. There is evidence that in the Eastern Han Dynasty, alchemy Taoist priests developed gunpowder through alchemy. However, the main use of gunpowder at that time was to support combustion, and no military use was found.

It was not until the Song Dynasty that gunpowder discovered its military use. The Southern Song Dynasty even invented the world's first barrel weapon, the musket. However, this weapon was made of moso bamboo and was similar to the large gunpowder of later generations. It would not hurt your face.

The upward launch has basically no power.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, because all the rebel armies were entrenched in the Huguang area in the south of the Yangtze River, horses were scarce and they could not form an organized cavalry. In order to deal with the hundreds of thousands of Yuan Dynasty cavalry, the rebel armies vigorously developed firearms. During this period, the copper fire door appeared.

Guns. Chen Youliang, a great warlord in the Huguang area, even moved artillery onto warships, which posed a great threat to Zhu Yuanzhang in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

In order to fight against all forces, Zhu Yuanzhang formed a firearms battalion of a pure firearms force, which was also the first of its kind in the world. In addition to these outstanding generals of the Ming Dynasty, Mu Ying, he also proposed the three-stage attack tactic for the first time. At that time, muskets could not fire continuously.

Under certain circumstances, this tactic makes up for the shortcomings of the slow firing speed of the musket.

In fact, until the end of the Ming Dynasty, China's firearms technology had not been weaker than that of the West. Although China had gone through some detours in the development of firearms, thanks to the development of some outstanding weapons manufacturers, the gap with the West had not widened. This was the case in Wanli

This can be seen in the Ming Dynasty's imitation of the British 18-pound naval gun. After local officials in Guangdong salvaged the sunken ship's gun, they could imitate something with similar power in a short period of time. Even the simple appearance of the European naval gun

The sighting system can be copied at the same time. From this point, it can be seen that the Ming Dynasty was not lagging behind in metallurgy, manufacturing technology, military technology, etc.

Zhao Zhikuan did not expect that Zhao Heng would realize firearms so early. He frowned and said: "Zhao Heng, I know it will not be easy for you this time, but it is much more difficult to make muskets now. At least the rifling cannot be processed!"

Zhao Heng knew that his grandfather was not a military enthusiast and thought that all guns were rifled. Zhao Heng quickly explained: "Grandpa, if the rifling is not easy to process, then let's make a musket first. I have drawn the design. Take a look.

!”

Zhao Heng quickly took out the sketch of the musket he drew and gave it to Zhao Zhikuan to look at. Although Zhao Heng made this sketch without professional accuracy, it had the same length and size, so it was understandable.

The musket painted by Zhao Heng is the famous Brown Bess musket in later generations. Although the Brown Bess is not as accurate as the French 1777 musket, due to its simple design and easy processing, various materials can be obtained locally.

Therefore, it was very popular with the British colonial army, and it became the most produced musket before the emergence of rifles.

The sketch drawn by Zhao Heng is the standard version of the brown bass, with a length of 1.68 meters, which is much longer than the colonial model. Of course, the corresponding range is also increased a lot. It can guarantee 25% shooting accuracy within 300 meters. At the same time, the loading speed can

Guaranteed to be 3 rounds per minute. If you are a veteran, you can reach 4-5 rounds.

Zhao Heng also drew the design for the most important bolt of the flintlock gun. In fact, the Brown Bess' bolt is very simple, with only eight parts. The most important and difficult to manufacture are two spring steel sheets. One steel sheet

Providing power to the trigger, a steel piece is responsible for ensuring that the anvil firmly presses the gunpowder to prevent the gunpowder from being blown away by the wind.

Zhao Zhikuan looked at the design drawing and said: "This is not difficult. If the use time is not guaranteed, it can be made with wrought iron, but this steel

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The film is a bit difficult, and since steel cannot be made, it can only be hammered by manpower!"

In ancient China, it was impossible to directly make steel because the furnace temperature could not be raised. However, the Chinese working people invented the steel filling method, which can produce steel in large quantities. However, Zhao Zhikuan now has no blacksmith who knows the steel filling method, so he has no choice but to trouble Blacksmith Wang.

, the steel is hammered out with hammer after hammer. Fortunately, the amount of musket steel sheets is not much, and production can be guaranteed through manual labor.

In Zhao Heng's mind, the best thing is of course a musket made of whole steel, but now because the technology is not up to par, wrought iron is better than using a broadsword or a spear!

"Okay, let's ask grandpa for help. How about making a hundred of them first?"

Zhao Zhikuan nodded in agreement: "It's easy to say a hundred, but I don't know when your father will bring the iron materials. In order to repair these steam turbines, I have used up the last bit of inventory, and now there is no iron material at all!"

Due to design flaws of this original steam turbine, the full-size impeller would resonate when running at high speed. Zhao Zhikuan had no choice but to reduce the length of the impeller. Although the resonance was eliminated, about one-third of the power was wasted. This time, production was to be discontinued.

During the maintenance, Zhao Zhikuan took this opportunity to improve the steam turbine and added three sets of six-blade impellers. In this way, the wasted power will be greatly reduced and the power of the steam turbine will be nearly doubled.

What restricts the Zhao family now is raw materials. Without raw materials, even if Zhao Zhikuan has hundreds of industrial equipment in his heart, there is nothing he can do if he cannot manufacture them.

Zhao Heng sighed and said, "Didn't my dad say he was going to mine? Why is there no movement now?"

Zhao Zhikuan said while studying the drawings: "Your dad is so busy right now that he has no time to find people to mine. But I heard that he has found a group of people to mine Shilu Iron Ore. I don't know what's going on now!"

"

In fact, the people sent by Zhao Fuxiang to prospect have already found the address of the iron mine. However, due to lack of manpower, there is no good way to hope for such a large mine. The Shilu Iron Mine is fifteen miles away from the Changhua River. If the iron ore can be transported

After reaching Changhua River, it can be transported by sea to Haidian Island for processing, but this transportation capacity cannot be solved.

The people sent estimated that if it was to be put into production, one thousand to two thousand people would be needed. This did not include the manpower used for transportation. Zhao Fuxiang calculated that even if there were one thousand people, the daily food and food expenses would be

The figures are astronomical. His current scale is not large. It is much cheaper to purchase pig iron from Guangdong than to mine Shilu iron ore. Therefore, Zhao Fuxiang plans to purchase pig iron first and wait until the scale expands later.

However, at this time, Zhao Fuxiang had no time to care about the iron mines. He now had a huge plan in mind, a plan to replace thousands of households in Haikou.

Without interrogating the unlucky Zhang Quanli, Zhao Fuxiang also guessed that the mastermind behind the piracy incident was Zhang Qianhu from Haikou. The reason is very simple. How can others be allowed to snore on the side of the bed?

After more than three months of development, the Zhao family has become a force that can vaguely compete with the Zhang family. If Zhao Fuxiang is willing to farm and do business and pay tribute on time every month, the Zhang family will not deal with the Zhao family. But Zhao Fuxiang and

The Zhang family is engaged in ocean trade, and because Zhao Fuxiang produces and sells many of his own goods, the cost is much lower than that of the Zhang family, which is a second-rate dealer. In the long run, the power of the Zhao family will surely exceed that of the Zhang family, so the Zhang family has a strong influence on the Zhao family.

It has become inevitable for everyone to reach out.

Since the two families are competing for local dominance in Haikou, there is no possibility of reconciliation, so Zhao Fuxiang

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The plan is to get rid of the local power of the Zhang family and instead support an obedient Haikou family. Zhao Fuxiang has already found the obedient candidate. He is Fan Jian's son-in-law brother and Zhang Rong, a hereditary Haikou family!

At this time, Zhao Fuxiang was entertaining Zhang Rong at home. Zhang Rong had brought fifty people to help suppress the bandits in the past few days. As a landlord, Zhao Fuxiang naturally had to arrange a meal!

Zhang Rong is in his thirties and looks similar to Fan Jian. After all, they are brothers. However, Zhang Rong has a resolute look, calm and scheming. This magnanimity is much stronger than that of Fan Jian, who has always followed him.

The chef of the Zhao family was hired from Guangzhou by Zhao Fuxiang at a great price, and his cooking skills were even better than those at Yuehai Restaurant in Fucheng. Naturally, the table of fresh seafood on the table opened Zhang Rong's eyes.

Seeing Zhao Fuxiang spending so much, Zhang Rong said with a smile: "Zhao Yuanwai, a member of a small household, would not be able to spend so much money as a member of the Yuanwai family!"

Zhao Fuxiang laughed: "General Zhang, you have helped Zhao a lot this time. If General Zhang hadn't led a team to help, Zhao doesn't know how much he would have lost! How much can such a meal cost?"

Zhang Rong knew that what Zhao Fuxiang said was polite. He was the one who sent Zhang Shitou and Ma Desheng. He knew the situation on the island. He only cleared up some pirates who had fled to the woods. Those tough battles were fought by the young master of the Zhao family.

of.

Mentioning the young master of the Zhao family, Zhang Rong, he was really impressed. A rich man dared to lead a group of refugees who had been trained for more than two months against pirates, and even won. Zhang Rong had experienced the battlefield and knew this kind of recruits.

It would be nice not to be scared away when encountering such a situation, and he can still fight with a gun. It seems that the young master of the Zhao family is quite capable!

"Other than Mr. Zhao, your son should be the first to take credit this time. If your son hadn't repelled the pirates immediately, the losses on the island would have been even greater!"

When Zhao Fuxiang heard Zhang Rong praising his son, he smiled from ear to ear, but he still said: "That boy is just lucky, but he is far less brave than General Zhang! Zhao heard that General Zhang was the first to ascend in the past, and it was because of his bravery that he

Being chosen as a son-in-law by a hundred households?"

Being a son-in-law is not an honorable thing. When Zhang Rong heard Zhao Fuxiang mention this matter, he said awkwardly: "Haha, my father-in-law didn't have a son back then, and I was in agreement with a lowly insider. I couldn't watch my father-in-law's family die, so I took the initiative to become a son-in-law."

This son-in-law!"

Zhao Fuxiang secretly laughed at Zhang Rong's expression. If Zhang Rong had no shame in becoming his son-in-law, it would be hard for Zhao Fuxiang to persuade him. But now that Zhang Rong explains it like this, the Zhang family probably used some shady means to force him to do so.

Accept this fact. Since Zhang Rong has a grudge in his heart, he will have the opportunity to add fuel to the fire and make him hate the Zhang family.

Zhao Fuxiang guessed that Zhang Rong's father-in-law was Zhang Chengdao, who was the cousin of Zhang Chengde, the current member of the 100th household, and the direct nephew of Zhang Guozheng, the former 100th household member. After Zhang Chengde fell in love with Fan Rong, Fan Rong did not agree to give up his son-in-law.

For those who have a son-in-law, you must know that the law of the Ming Dynasty stipulates that the status of a son-in-law is very low. In addition to the fact that his own offspring must bear the father-in-law's family name, the social status of a son-in-law is like a beggar and a thief. When the country recruits corvee, the son-in-law is the first batch to be drafted.

.

In order to force Fan Rong to marry his grandniece as his son-in-law, Zhang Guozheng even threatened Fan Rong with the lives of Fan Tong and his family. You must know that Fan Tong is a military household, and Zhang Guozheng, as a thousand households, can do it for any reason.

Fan Rong died in the same family. In order to protect his family, Fan Rong had no choice but to agree to this humiliating condition and come to be his son-in-law. Of course, his name was changed from Fan Rong to Zhang Rong.

(End of chapter)
Chapter completed!