Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"Shit! It's the boss!"

Zhang Shikang blurted out with a look of surprise on his face.

As early as several months ago, he had been looking for people, including Mao Yuanyi, Song Yingxing and Erbi.

As soon as Mao Yuanyi received the news, he rode an old horse for ten days and nights and soon arrived at the Xishan camp.

Erbi wrote back saying that he had important matters to attend to at home and would not be able to respond until next year.

On the other hand, there has been no news about Song Yingxing.

Firstly, transportation was inconvenient and information transmission was slow. Secondly, there was no Internet at that time and there were many people with the same name, which wasted a lot of effort.

The man in front of him was about the same age as his father Zhang Zhiji. He was not tall, had thin cheeks, and looked like a typical scholar.

"Your Excellency is too kind. I was previously a teacher and was afraid that it would affect the studies of the tribute students. That is why I came here today to answer the call. I hope your Excellency will forgive me."

Song Yingxing said very humbly.

"That's it, that's it. It's good that you're here."

Zhang Shikang asked his subordinates to enter the military camp one by one, then he dismounted from his horse and looked Song Yingxing up and down.

The word "big brother" is probably the dialect of Guangdong and Guangxi regions. It is quite interesting that the old man could understand it.

"I wonder why you have summoned me here?" Song Yingxing felt it was very rude to be pointed at and looked at, but he did not dare to get angry as he had little influence.

"Oh, of course it's for military and national affairs." Zhang Shikang retracted his gaze and said seriously.

Song Yingxing frowned, feeling that the young man in front of him was a little unreliable.

If Mao Yuanyi hadn't praised him so much before, Song Yingxing would have felt a little regretful.

Although he and Mao Yuanyi had never met, they had been friends for a long time. Their interests and hobbies overlapped to some extent. During the time when Zhang Shikang was away, the two of them had been chatting about their respective interests to pass the time.

The spontaneous-fire musket was developed during such casual conversation.

Yes, for most inventors at that time, invention itself was just a small hobby of theirs.

After all, inventions can’t feed a family.

"I'm serious, Mr. Song. How's the writing of your book 'The Exploitation of the Works of Nature' going?" Zhang Shikang asked subconsciously.

Song Yingxing could no longer remain calm after hearing this. In his spare time, he was indeed compiling a book. In fact, he had been working on this for more than ten years.

However, he only decided on the title "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature" a few months ago, and because it has not been completed yet, he has never mentioned it to anyone.

How did the person in front of me know?

"In reply to your question, I am still sorting it out. May I ask how did you know the title of the book?" Song Yingxing's mind was full of question marks at this time.

Zhang Shikang realized his slip of the tongue as soon as he finished speaking. This happened before the book was even published, but he was able to predict the future.

"Hehe, to be honest, I'm good at fortune-telling. I can know the answer just by counting with my fingers." Zhang Shikang laughed.

This answer did not satisfy Song Yingxing, but fortunately he did not dare to say more.

Mao Yuanyi had reminded him long ago that the commander-in-chief of the military camp, now the Grand Marshal and Marquis of Champion, was originally a playboy in the capital.

Song Yingxing agreed with this deeply, and felt that the young man in front of him met all his fantasies about a dandy boy - frivolous behavior, reckless speech, nonsense, and lies.

However, out of trust in Mao Yuanyi, he was still very curious about the person in front of him, because Mao Yuanyi said that it was just the past, and the current adults were strategic and highly respected the study of craftsmen.

Song Yingxing did not think that personality could be split to this extent. He was curious about why His Majesty summoned him here.

Mao Yuanyi said that the adults wanted to revitalize engineering, but Song Yingxing generally didn't believe it.

No one in this world really cares about engineering, at least, he has never met anyone like that.

"Your Excellency must have come from afar, you must be tired. Let's go in and talk. I will ask the kitchen to prepare some food to welcome you." Mao Yuanyi showed his rare high emotional intelligence.

"No hurry, let's go and check out the self-fired gun first.

General Mao doesn't know that the banjiu gun you made is very powerful. If you were not so poorly equipped, it would not be an exaggeration to give you the title of earl just for this battle."

Zhang Shikang said casually.

The turtledove-foot gun can break the heavy armor of the Jiannu, but unfortunately its production capacity is too low, and it is inconvenient to operate, so it is not suitable for large-scale equipment.

But as part of special operations equipment, it is still necessary.

These words shocked Mao Yuanyi. He originally thought that Zhang Shikang was just saying it casually to encourage him, but he didn't expect that it seemed to be true.

At this time, the news that Emperor Chongzhen had conferred more than a dozen titles in one battle had not yet spread. Mao Yuanyi didn't know about it, and Song Yingxing knew even less about it, and he looked unconvinced.

"Mr. Song, I never lie to anyone. After the battle with the Jian Nu, Your Majesty conferred more than a dozen titles on me.

If the Banjiu musket does play a decisive role in this battle, I will definitely commend General Mao for his contribution," Zhang Shikang vowed.

When Mao Yuanyi heard this, he muttered to himself, "My lord, you have deceived me before."

As the three of them were talking, they came to the barracks where the craftsmen were. Dozens of craftsmen were working there, most of them were polishing the most labor-intensive part, the gun barrels. On a table in the corner were several newly-made muskets.

The overall length of this musket is about the same as that of a bird gun, about 1.56 meters. The main modification is at the tail of the musket.

According to the general idea he provided, the bird gun was added with a trigger and a flint. Mao Yuanyi was a very strict person in his research, and each piece of flint was polished into the same shape.

The flint is set in the jaws of the hammer. The design of the hammer is also very clever. There is an anvil behind it, which is connected by a small part similar to a spring.

When firing, you only need to pull the trigger with your right hand. Under the action of the spring, the anvil hits the flint violently. The sparks generated ignite the gunpowder in the chamber, and then the projectile is launched.

The previous research and development progress was stuck on a small spring-like component. Song Yingxing was knowledgeable and solved this problem in just three or four days.

Zhang Shikang picked up one and measured it. The weight was not much different from that of an ordinary bird gun. He took out a medicine bag from the side and skillfully loaded the musket with gunpowder and bullets.

Zhang Shikang then went to the shooting range in the camp for a test firing. He held the musket in his left hand, gripped the gun body in a standard manner with his right hand, and his right index finger was on the trigger.

In fact, the firing method of the matchlock gun is different from that of the current self-propelled musket, but Zhang Shikang seemed to be very familiar with it, which surprised Mao Yuanyi and Song Yingxing.

boom--

As a burst of black smoke came out, the bullet from the musket accurately hit the wooden target more than ten steps away.

Zhang Shikang then reloaded and fired a few more shots, and found that the loading efficiency and accuracy were about one-third faster than the old bird gun and Rumi gun.

Under continuous loading, the barrel and other parts perform stably, which shows that it is a good gun.

"Okay, okay! Just like this, I want 10,000 of them." Zhang Shikang played with the musket in his hand and praised it endlessly.

Mao Yuanyi's face suddenly turned dark.