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

As for rifling, he already knew about it.

But the problem is that with today's industrial level, it is difficult enough to make a suitable gun barrel. If you also want to carve rifling inside the barrel, you can imagine how difficult it will be.

Sure enough, after Zhang Shikang said this, Bi Maokang immediately frowned.

"You mean, the inside of the barrel... the engraved lines?"

“Yes, that’s roughly what it means.

It is spiral-shaped and divided into positive and negative lines. The raised part is called the positive line, and the concave part is called the negative line.

Mr. Bi can think about it. When the bullet rushes out of the barrel straightly and rushes out of the barrel at high speed, the effect is definitely different. "

This was all Zhang Shikang knew; he had never even touched a real gun from later generations.

Although rifling was invented relatively early, it was not popularized until the 19th century due to the difficulty in manufacturing it.

Although the current industrial level of Ming Dynasty is not very good, the significant difference between Ming Dynasty and European countries is that Ming Dynasty has enough people.

No matter how difficult rifling is, or how slow it is to carve a qualified rifling, as long as there are enough people to do it, the Ming Dynasty can equip its army with rifled guns.

Take black gunpowder for example. Zhang Shikang still remembers the surprised expression on Schrobao's face when he ordered 100 cannons from the Portuguese at the end of last year.

In wars between European countries, seldom more than a hundred cannons were used. It was not because they did not have enough cannons, but because they did not have enough gunpowder.

For example, in order to produce enough gunpowder, the king of Great Britain almost contracted all the toilets in the country just to collect enough saltpeter.

However, the Ming Dynasty was vast and rich in resources, and there was no shortage of saltpeter. The cost of gunpowder in the Ming Dynasty was less than one-sixth of that in Europe.

It was also for this reason that Zhang Shikang chose to use artillery bombardment when attacking Suzhou City.

As long as the artillery does not miss work, the Ming Dynasty will have enough gunpowder.

This is the advantage of having more people.

“It’s difficult, but I will try.

Is there anything else, Lord?" Bi Maokang seemed to be in a hurry to study and asked slightly.

"Black gunpowder. At present, the black gunpowder of our Ming Dynasty is still not powerful enough. I think it can be strengthened." Zhang Shikang said.

"My lord, black gunpowder has been used for more than a thousand years. How can it be strengthened?" Bi Maokang frowned.

"As long as you try more, you will definitely be able to do it." Zhang Shikang said with certainty.

Zhang Shikang had played with the firecrackers of later generations. I heard that they were made with black gunpowder.

With the same weight of gunpowder and the same paper shell, the later firecrackers can kill you, but they are much more powerful than the firecrackers of this time.

This shows that the current black powder formula is definitely not the optimal ratio.

"I have two plans. One is to experiment and figure out a new formula, which means constantly testing the ratio of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal. Of course, you can add some sugar or something. Anyway, try more.

Second, maybe we can try to see how to make black powder into granules.”

Zhang Shikang had thought about this when he set out on the expedition last year. Even with his guidance in the general direction, the updating of firearms would definitely take a longer time.

If you want to increase the power of firearms, you can only work on gunpowder.

Zhang Shikang once played with the largest firecracker in later generations, which was called "Take Ten Thousand Lives". He also took one apart and found that the black gunpowder inside it was in granular form.

Now that I think about it, the purpose of making black powder into granules is probably to improve combustion efficiency.

After all, there are no gaps between the particles of powdered black powder, so there is a lack of oxygen involved in combustion.

Bi Maokang looked at Zhang Shikang in surprise.

"This is something I have never thought of. My Lord, you have a brilliant idea. I will try it."

Bi Maokang has been in Xishan Camp for several months. Now everyone in the camp admires and respects Zhang Shikang very much.

At the beginning, Bi Maokang was actually a little confused, considering Zhang Shikang's personality and the current series of reforms in the court.

Bi Maokang had to re-examine Zhang Shikang's ability. He was only twenty-one years old!

Bi Maokang looked at Zhang Shikang deeply, and at this moment he had the same idea as Emperor Chongzhen and others.

He also wanted to open Zhang Shikang's head and see what his brain was like.

Why can he always come up with different solutions to the same problem?

He had unique insights into military affairs, state governance, commerce, industry and agriculture, and even firearms and gunpowder.

This is simply not knowledge that a twenty-one-year-old can master.

Not to mention that this kid was a big playboy in the capital before. After all, he used to be an official in the capital, so this cannot be fake.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Mr. Bi?" Zhang Shikang felt a chill on his back.

As the saying goes, old people become more cunning. Bi Maokang is already seventy years old and has experienced all kinds of storms. Being stared at closely by such people, he always feels like a thorn in the back.

"Nothing, if you have nothing else to do, I will go and do my job.

I will try everything the commander-in-chief has told me to do." After saying this, Bi Maokang bowed to Zhang Shikang and left to do his job.

If you can’t figure out something, just stop thinking about it. It’s not related to scientific research anyway.

As long as I can continue to contribute my remaining energy to the court, I have nothing else to ask for.

More importantly, Bi Maokang likes this place.

Here, he no longer had to be constrained by other colleagues in the government and could focus on his research. It seemed that Zhang Shikang was also deliberately separating the General Manufacturing Bureau under construction from the court government.

There are no officials working here, only a group of like-minded craftsmen. It is really comfortable.

In fact, it was not only Bi Maokang who thought so, but also Song Yingxing, Wang Zheng and others.

Although Wang Zheng is already seventy years old, at his age he should be staying at home to enjoy his retirement, but he still came.

Unlike other people who play chess with other old men or take a walk when they get old, old scientists are still interested in scientific research even when they are old.

After Zhang Shikang successively told Song Yingxing, Wang Zheng and Bi Maokang what he had thought of, he asked someone to place a new order with the Ministry of Works - 4,000 sets of heavy armor.

If this happened a year ago, he wouldn't even dare to mention it. Not only would the Ministry of Works not take it up, even the Ministry of Revenue's King of Hell would have fought with him to death.

But now the court has money. Although the cost of 4,000 sets of heavy armor is high, it only takes a little more time and requires more iron ore to be smelted.

Problems that can be solved with money are not problems. The difficult ones are those that money cannot solve temporarily.

For example, food. No matter how much food the imperial court has now, it cannot solve the problem of food shortage in the entire north for the time being.

The north has always been dry and rainless, especially last year, and even many places in the south of the Yangtze River have missed the farming season.

At least this year, we have to tighten our belts when it comes to food, but fortunately the Ministry of Revenue still has more than one million shi in reserve.

But Zhang Shikang couldn't guarantee how long it would last. After all, when the canal digging campaign began in the spring, it would not only cost a huge amount of silver, but also grain.

Now he could only hope for the 200,000 shi of grain every month that the Zheng family promised.

As he was thinking this sadly, he strolled up to Sun Weifan.

"Why did you decide to come to our camp today, Marshal? I heard that you have been playing in the city with the Crown Prince and Princess recently."

Sun Weifan had a strange expression on his face. What he actually wanted to say was that it was okay to bring the prince along, but it was not appropriate to bring Her Royal Highness the Princess along.

It was unknown what Emperor Chongzhen was thinking, and he did not make public the fact that the Crown Prince and Princess Kunyi had become Zhang Shikang's disciples. Only the couple knew about it.

"Uncle Shi, what do you mean? What are you talking about?

I was teaching them how to behave!" Zhang Shikang glared.

"Oh, yes, yes, the Marshal is right." Sun Weifan grinned. He didn't care about the details. It was a good thing for him that Zhang Shikang was close to the prince.

"I have something to tell you. Pick out 10,000 men from our Beijing camp.

Come with me on a long journey in a few days."

……