The Ming Dynasty has just been exiled and the Luzon system has awakened.

Early the next morning, the idea of ​​​​finding a maid for Zhu Zhaoyu had not yet been finalized, and he had not had time to look at the miracle market of the new week. News came from the military factory that the first batch of rifles had been produced. It happened that the suppression troops also arrived last night. After returning, Zhu Heyi simply called a group of people to look at the new gun.

"Your Majesty, this is the first batch of Mini rifles produced by our military factory. However, due to the problem of the barrel material, the performance cannot reach the original version."

Xu Tiangong, the head of the arsenal, said while holding a newly released Mini rifle.

Zhu Heyi took the rifle and looked at it. The rifle in his hand was basically the same in appearance as the original Mini rifle, but it was a little heavier. He looked at the barrel. Sure enough, the barrel was heavier than the original. Thick, this is where the extra weight comes from.

Although the Mini rifle production line provided by this system has a full set of production and processing machinery, it does not provide steel-making equipment. Although the first-level blacksmith shop has a steel-making furnace, the quality of the steel it produces does not meet the requirements, so in order to prevent In the event of a chamber explosion, the only option is to thicken the barrel.

Fortunately, this added weight has little impact on the overall use of the rifle.

"Have you tested the specific performance?" Zhu Heyi asked.

"Only the reliability of the barrel has been tested, and the specific accuracy and range have not been tested."

"That's just right. You make arrangements. Now we'll test-fire this new gun."

With Zhu Heyu's instructions, everyone was taken to the gun test range of the arsenal, and the gun target was set up at a distance of 200 meters.

Zhu Heyi stepped forward and picked up a rifle on the table, intending to test fire it himself, but his action frightened everyone around him.

Wang Chen was closest to Zhu Hetian. When he saw His Majesty the Emperor picking up a rifle, his expression suddenly changed.

"Your Majesty, there is absolutely no way you can do this!" Wang Chen rushed over and stopped Zhu Heyi who wanted to test-fire the rifle himself.Others also stepped forward to dissuade them:

"Your Majesty, there is a certain danger in testing this new gun. You are worth a lot of money, so you must not take this risk."

"Yes, Your Majesty, it's up to me to test-fire this gun. Many people in my armed police force are still empty-handed."

Seeing everyone's reaction, Zhu Heyi smiled helplessly and put the rifle back on the table.

This test gun was just a whim. He didn't have to take one or two shots, and loading the bullets of the Mini rifle was indeed troublesome. It was far less convenient than the two Mauser G98s he bought from the Miracle Market.

"Okay, let's see if you are all anxious. Then come on."

Seeing that His Majesty the Emperor gave up testing the rifle, everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief. Su Qiyi also hurriedly stepped forward and took the rifle in his hand. This was obviously because he was afraid that Zhu Heyi would regret it.

Then, he skillfully picked up the gunpowder and bullets prepared on the table and poured them into the barrel of the gun one by one.Although his armed police force has not yet been equipped with Mini rifles, the loading method of Mini rifles is no different from other matchlocks and flintlocks, so this has no impact on him.

"Bang! Bang!..."

After Su Qiyi fired five shots, Zhu Heyi ordered people to take back the gun target in the distance.

"All five shots hit the target, and all the armored chest targets were penetrated! Xu Tiangong, you did a good job!"

Looking at the results of the gun test in front of him, Zhu Heyi patted Xu Tiangong's shoulder with satisfaction. Although he didn't know the specific effective range of this gun, it was sufficient in terms of accuracy and power.Moreover, during actual combat, the effective combat distance is only one or two hundred meters most of the time. If it is further away, it will be difficult to aim with the naked eye.The original Mini rifle's effective range of 200 meters actually has a serious excess of power.

The production of rifles is basically fixed, and the problem of artillery cannot be solved yet, but Zhu Heyi thought of a substitute.

"With the existing materials and technologies, we currently have no way to make a cannon that is both lightweight and powerful. If we try to make it by force, the finished product will not be different from those stupid bronze lumps we melted. Therefore, we need a replacement. Product, or in other words, firepower replenishment!”

While talking, Zhu Heyi asked someone to bring a piece of paper, and then he drew a sketch of a grenade on the paper.

"You can call it a grenade or grenade. The outer shell is made of cast iron, and the inside is filled with gunpowder. Iron pieces and porcelain pieces can also be added to increase the lethality. When encountering the enemy, the soldiers will throw it out and explode to kill the enemy."

"Thunder?" Su Qiyi looked at the hammer-like grenade sketch on the drawing and said tentatively.

Zhu Heyi glanced at Su Qiyi and then said: "It can be understood as an improved version of Zhentian Lei. General Su should know that the Zhentian Thunder once equipped by our Ming Army was unable to be used in rainy days, difficult to preserve, and extremely susceptible to moisture. flaws that grenades don’t have."

"The grenade does not use an open flame to ignite the fuse, but uses a pull-type ignition. The pull-fire tube is installed in a hollowed wooden handle. The friction between the copper wire and the glass powder is used to ignite the fuse and sulfur, and then ignite the gunpowder filled in the missile. Cause an explosion."

"Since the trigger fire tube is buried in the wooden handle, and the end of the wooden handle is protected by a screw cap, the grenade can still be used normally even in rainy days. As for how to determine the time when the grenade explodes, you need to control the length of the fuse to determine ”

In Zhu Heyi's view, grenades had almost no technical content, but even so, it shocked the people around him.

Especially Xu Tiangong, the technician recommended by Xu Jingming, was dumbfounded when he looked at the sketch.

"It turns out that it can be done!"

He tremblingly picked up the sketch and knelt directly in front of Zhu Heyi.

"Your Majesty is extremely intelligent and enlightened, and ordinary people... I am not as good as your Majesty. I am unworthy of your majesty's trust. I also ask your majesty to take back your position as the director of the arsenal."

"Ah!"

Zhu Heyi was not sure whether Xu Tiangong really didn't want to do it anymore, but this flattery...

"Hurry up, Chief Xu. You still need to supervise the production of this rifle and the experimental supervision of grenades. If you want to give up now, I will punish you."

In fact, as Zhu Heyi said, he is short of people, he is very short of people, except for military, he is short of all other aspects.Especially people like Xu Tiangong who understand technology.

There are currently more than [-] Chinese in Manila, but the population base is too small, and most of them are from the bottom of society. There are very few who are truly skilled.

How to solve this problem? The first thing Zhu Heyi thought of was immigration, and the second was to engage in economic development and construction to make Manila bright and attractive enough.

But both of these things take time.

……