On June 23, Di Lie, who was training students in the university field, received good news from Zhou Dewang, the industrial supervisor: the musket was finished!

Di Lie was overjoyed. It had only been more than half a month! It had been done? The skills of the top craftsmen of the Song Dynasty were really incredible. He immediately left the training to the assistant Yang Zaixing, and then rushed to the No. 1 military restricted area.

In addition to being wide enough, this natural stone cave halfway up the mountain also has a wonderful feature. It leads to a very empty valley. The valley is surrounded by cliffs, there is no way to climb, and there is no surrounding cave that can connect to it.

, perfect for conducting secret research.

The defense and dark sentry of this restricted military area were planned and arranged by Di Lie himself. Even if he entered in person, he would have to verify his identity and give the password, and the password would be different every time the defense was changed. The most outrageous thing is that Di Lie would also

One of the several euro coins he carried with him was sawn in half, half of which he brought with him, and half of which he left for the guards to collect. Metal coins of this kind are unique in the world, and no one can hope to counterfeit them.

Such strict triple checks, at least at this stage, can ensure that confidentiality will not be leaked.

As soon as we entered the cave, we were greeted by a wave of heat. The roaring fire illuminated the dark cave with a bright red light. The bare-chested figures of the blacksmiths swinging hammers and striking anvils were projected on the uneven rock walls by the firelight.

, it looks so twisted, weird, and bizarre... From time to time, you can hear the tinkling sound of metal banging coming from inside the cave and outside the valley. After a while, your ears start to buzz a little.

Di Lie shook his head. He still thought a little. He should move all the iron production team out of the valley and move all the gunpowder team in. He told Zhou Dewang this idea, and Zhou Dewang also agreed and said that this matter has been done.

It's in progress. After a few days, all ironwork production will be moved outside the valley.

Zhou Dewang led Di Lie into a naturally formed cave. The sound insulation effect here is pretty good. There is an area of ​​about ten square meters, with tables, chairs and benches. The table top is filled with various drawings and iron scraps. It looks like

This is the prison cell of Zhou Dewang, the Hundred Works Supervisor.

"Things are so messy that it makes the village owner laugh." Zhou Dewang hurriedly cleaned up.

Di Lie frowned and said: "It doesn't matter if the tools are thrown around, but the disassembly drawings of the parts of these firearms are all confidential. If you throw them around like this...immediately call for a reliable person who can read and write over and label the drawings and file them.

But if something is missing, we will deal with it seriously!”

Zhou Dewang answered the question repeatedly, breaking into a cold sweat. In fact, it’s no wonder that he was there. How many people in this era have a sense of confidentiality?

Di Lie currently has on hand two of the most powerful weapons of the era: gunpowder and muskets.

Among them, gunpowder is only a hundred years ahead. Even if Di Lie does not come up with an early version, it will take another century. At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, gunpowder will also officially appear on the battlefield. With the current ability of the craftsmen of the Song and Jin countries, in

There is only a thin layer of paper between making firecrackers and making **. As long as a little secret is revealed, this layer of paper can be easily pierced... At that time, it is not just you who can blow up others, but others can also blow up.

is you.

Di Lie must prevent such a thing from happening, and let the process of gunpowder develop slowly with the trend of history - in addition to his own power...

As for the muskets...

As soon as Di Lie thought about the musket, the musket appeared.

Arms Supervisor Lu Dacheng rushed over and respectfully presented a slender black lacquered wooden box to Di Lie, his eyes full of excitement.

Di Lie couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart. He took the wooden box with both hands and slowly opened it - a gun exuding the unique smell of wood and a faint metallic smell appeared in front of him. This was the gathering of dozens of people from the Song Dynasty.

, the result of half a month's hard work by the top craftsmen of the outer court.

Di Lie reached out and took out the musket from the box and weighed it in his hand. It was estimated that it weighed between eleven and two pounds, which was heavier than the "Brown Bess". This was related to the material of the iron material and the thickness of the barrel wall.

In this regard, I won’t be too strict. From the appearance of the whole gun, it is very similar to the figure I drew, which is the "Brown Bess" in later generations. The barrel is made of all steel, with a fine texture, thick and smooth, and the gun

The outer edge of the mouth is slightly trumpet-shaped, which makes it easier to load ammunition. The gun bed is made of hard beech wood and has been painted three times to make it shiny. The most critical part of the gun mechanism, the firing groove, is actually the same as what I remembered.

The "Brown Bess" is exactly the same.

Di Lie tried to pull the trigger, but felt a lot of resistance and a lot of effort when pulling it. The hammer hit the steel plate hard, making a crisp sound, and several sparks splashed into the medicine chamber. He pulled the trigger five times in a row.

, except for one misfire, the other four times, it can fire successfully. In other words, the misfire rate is between ten and twenty percent. For a front-mounted flintlock gun, this level of misfire rate is considered

Very good.

Di Lie secretly nodded, and while using the rear sight to aim the front sight at a certain point in the void, he asked casually: "Is it difficult to make this gun?"

Zhou Dewang and Lu Dacheng looked at each other, and then answered honestly: "It is not easy to make this artifact. Without the drawings and the exploded view of the gun mechanism delivered by the village owner, we would have spent our entire lives trying to figure it out.

There is such an exquisite device in this world... It is not difficult to make the barrel and gun bed of this thing. It only requires good iron materials and a skilled blacksmith. The most difficult thing is the firing tank. Every part is made.

After repeated castings many times, we barely managed to get some qualified finished products. And the most difficult thing is the bolts and springs..."

When Di Lie heard this, he was also attracted. He put down his gun and asked, "That's right! I was just drawing pictures and didn't think about this problem... How did you solve it?"

Zhou Dewang replied: "The bolts are made using a stupid method, filing them in circles. Although most of them are unqualified, it is still feasible to pick one out of a hundred. After making a finished product, use it as a model, recast it, and then polish it by hand.

Smooth, fortunately there are enough craftsmen in the village... As for the spring, we made a crude wire drawing machine..."

"Wire drawing machine?" Di Lie was surprised. Is there such a technology in this era?

"Yes, in fact, there was a wire drawing machine in the past. Some generals' armor plates were wrapped with copper wire. But this machine is simple and cannot draw long wires. It can only draw some thick and short copper wires. Fortunately, it has springs.

The length of the iron wire is not too long. We will wrap the pulled out iron wire around the threaded pottery rod while it is hot. After the iron wire has cooled and formed, we can remove it..."

Di Lie nodded repeatedly. It's not surprising that copper and iron wires could be made in ancient times. In the Han Dynasty, those jade clothes with gold threads and silver threads were made of jade pieces twisted with copper wires.

?This thing could be developed in the Western Han Dynasty, not to mention the Song Dynasty, which was technologically prosperous at this time.

"There's just one thing..." Zhou Dewang said carefully, "It's extremely difficult to draw iron wire. If it's small, it's easy to break, but if it's thick, it's difficult to pull the hanging knife... Well, it's a trigger. And the wire drawn out is uneven in thickness, so it doesn't last long.

It breaks and needs to be replaced from time to time..."

"No wonder I said that the resistance of the drawing machine is so great..." Di Lie pondered for a while and said decisively, "Inform all the craftsmen about the problem of the wire drawing machine, and let everyone brainstorm together. If anyone can solve this technical problem! Shang Tian

Ten acres, one plowing ox, and a complete set of farm tools.”

Zhou and Lu were both surprised and delighted. They hurriedly agreed and made up their minds to overcome this technical difficulty even if they worked all night tonight.

The gun has been tested and tested, and there are basically no major problems. The next step is to test the gun.

Di Lie took the two men with ammunition and moved to a relatively flat uninhabited space in the back mountain. He erected a three-centimetre-thick wooden target thirty steps away, and put on a light leather armor of a Jin Army cavalry.

Di Lie opened the ammunition box. The box was divided into two compartments. One side contained black powder and the other side contained round lead bullets. The production of lead bullets is very simple. Semicircular concave shapes of fixed specifications are pressed out on two pieces of copper or iron sheets.

Groove. After melting the lead block, pour it into the groove. Clamp the two boards together. After the lead shot solidifies, the lead shot that pours out will be like a steel ball. This thing can be used and pressed at will, and it will be ready in a while.

Make a bunch of them.

While recalling the loading steps that Tony had told him, Di Lie carried out step by step: first, he raised the musket, poured the predetermined amount of granular gunpowder into the barrel, and then poured it from the bottom of the barrel.

Remove the purge bar and insert it into the barrel to press the gunpowder evenly; wrap a lead bullet in a soft leather coated with grease and stuff it from the muzzle (in the early days, the lead bullet was hammered into the barrel with a wooden wedge, which was very laborious).

The airtightness is not good. Later, a British missionary invented this method of stuffing bullets. Not only was it easy to stuff bullets, but the airtightness was also perfect. Di Lie's knowledge came directly from later generations, and he avoided many detours in this regard)

, it is also necessary to insert a purge bar to push the lead bullet to the bottom of the chamber to press the propellant to ensure air tightness and increase the initial velocity of the projectile; then for the flat-end gun, push the buckle spring forward to expose the firing groove, and move the bolt to a safe position

;Finally, pour a small amount of gunpowder into the firing groove, and pull back the buckle spring to cover the firing groove.

After completing all the steps, Di Lie took a deep breath, put one knee on the ground, and shot from a kneeling position. With the flat-end musket, he pushed away the buckle spring to reveal the medicine chamber, and then raised the gun to aim... When he felt that it was about the same, he suddenly held his breath.

Pull the trigger hard——

Bang! There was a loud bang, and dazzling flames erupted from the medicine chamber and the muzzle at the same time, as well as yellow-white smoke.

Di Lie yelled and almost threw away the musket. He kept rubbing his eyes with his hands - damn it, the fire and smoke were too irritating to the human eyes. It was really uncomfortable to be caught off guard.

Zhou Dewang and Lu Dacheng on the side saw this kind of weapon that was smoking, burning, and making noise for the first time. Their jaws almost dropped to the ground. After a while, Lu Dacheng smacked and said:

"That target, that leather armor, seriously, really broken..." (To be continued...)

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Chapter completed!