Chapter 255: In order to quickly popularize the flintlock rifle, Zhu Gang used wood to make the rifle body
Li Shanchang frowned slightly, his eyes were deep and solemn, as if he was lost in deep thought.

After about an incense stick of time, he slowly raised his head.

Then Li Shanchang showed an extremely serious expression on his face, and said to Zhu Biao in a firm tone: "Your Highness, in my humble opinion, this matter is probably far from being as simple as it seems.

You have to know that the Jinyiwei is famous and powerful. How can ordinary people have the courage to easily challenge them?

However, the magistrate of Chongde County dared to act so recklessly and wantonly. He must have a powerful backer behind him to give him courage! "

When Zhu Biao heard this, he couldn't help but nod his head repeatedly to show his agreement.

He knew very well that what Li Shanchang said was true. This incident was by no means accidental. There must be some unknown inside story and conspiracy hidden behind it.

Zhu Biao then said righteously: "That's right, this matter must be investigated to the end!

We must not allow those innocent people to suffer injustice, and we must not allow those who break the law to continue to go unpunished!"

Li Shanchang hurriedly bowed and said respectfully: "Your Highness is wise!
I believe that the best thing to do now is to send capable personnel to conduct a secret investigation and make sure to find conclusive evidence.

At the same time, the Jinyiwei were instructed to do their utmost to protect the personal safety of relevant witnesses to prevent them from encountering unexpected events and being murdered to silence them.

When everything is ready and the time is ripe, we will arrest all the people involved in the case and bring them to justice. We will never tolerate any evildoers!"

Zhu Biao nodded slightly to indicate that he fully agreed with the strategy proposed by Li Shanchang.

“No matter how great the difficulties and obstacles are, I will definitely find out the mastermind hiding in the dark and manipulating everything, and bring justice and fairness to the people of the world!”

At this moment, Zhu Gang did not discuss the details of the wedding with the Minister of Rites Li Yun as he did in the past.

At dawn, he hurried over to Li Wenzhong, who was busy handling official business in the Imperial College, holding a sample of a flintlock rifle carefully crafted by the Taiyuan Gun Equipment Research Institute.

"Cousin, come and see what a rare thing I have brought you!"

Zhu Gang couldn't hide his excitement and shouted loudly.

Upon hearing the voice, Li Wenzhong put down the book in his hand and looked up, only to see Zhu Gang handing him a strange-looking firearm with a look of joy on his face.

He carefully took the flintlock rifle with a caliber of nearly two centimeters and examined it carefully.

The musket in front of you is made of solid wood with smooth and natural lines.

The most eye-catching feature is the hammer that resembles a dragon head, which looks lifelike and seems to be able to take off at any time.

In addition, the trigger design located in front of the grip is unique and ingenious.

"Such a strange and unique appearance and structure is hard for those who don't know the truth to imagine that it is a powerful weapon that has never appeared before and can change the situation of war!"

Using solid wood to make the gun body is the optimal solution found by the Taiyuan Gun Machinery Research Institute after many studies.

Through practical testing, the benefits of doing so include the following eight points:

1. Helps to enhance the antifreeze performance of firearms
The wooden gun body can prevent frostbite on the hands when using metal guns in cold environments.

㈡ Reduce weight and make it easier to carry
It is well known that wood is lighter than metal. Using wood for the gun body can reduce the overall weight of the gun, making it easier to carry and operate.

After all, wooden parts are much lighter than steel castings. The weight of individual equipment is a very important criterion on the battlefield, and often determines the life of the soldier at a critical moment.

Even in later times when modern manufacturing levels are highly developed, wooden elements are still added to military firearms.

㈢Easy to process and convenient for mass production.

㈣ Comfortable feel, shooting accuracy will not be affected in winter

The wooden gun body provides a good grip, especially when used in winter, and will not affect the soldier's shooting accuracy.

5. Cost-effectiveness. In the Ming Dynasty, when smelting technology had not yet entered the stage of assembly line production, hundreds of thousands of fire guns would need to be produced in the future.

This requires a high level of modernization in mining, smelting, and fusion manufacturing. Processing wood materials is indeed the best way to reduce costs in this era.

Most importantly, the gun body is made of walnut, birch, catalpa, etc., which have dense wood structure, are hard, not easy to corrode, and have many vegetation.

It is easy to replace after damage and will not cause significant economic losses.

㈥Flexibility and convenience.

Wooden gun bodies are more flexible than metal ones, making it easier for soldiers to move and operate quickly on the battlefield.

㈦Absorb impact force.

Although the steel structure strengthens the overall structure of the firearm, the rigid link has a small compression range, so a large amount of impact force generated during shooting cannot be absorbed.

In contrast, wooden rifle carriages perform well in this regard. Their soft structure allows them to absorb most of the recoil, reducing damage to soldiers.

(8) High temperature resistance and friction resistance.

Although wood is rarely used in later firearms, modern materials such as engineering plastics also have properties similar to wood.

If the silence is not interrupted in time, once it continues, it will become increasingly difficult to break.

After about a cup of tea, Zhu Gang was the first to break the silence.

"Cousin, don't you really need to try it first?"

Li Wenzhong smiled and said, "Look at you. You are a vassal king after all. Why are you so nervous?"

Zhu Gang replied solemnly: “Things like this used on the battlefield should show their truest side.

I cannot report false data just to please my father. That would be irresponsible to the soldiers.

Therefore, I need my cousin to help test it and make timely improvements if there are any problems. "

As he spoke, Zhu Gang ordered his men to drive a wooden stake into the open space of the Imperial College, and asked Zhang Long to bring a set of plate armor and tie it on it, in preparation for testing its power.

When all the test items were ready, Zhu Gang turned his gaze to Zhang Long standing beside him and motioned him to come forward and explain the specific usage of the flintlock rifle.

Zhang Long walked steadily to the front of the crowd and first saluted Zhu Gang.

Then he began to explain in detail: "My Lord, the first step is to carefully pour the gunpowder into the barrel from the muzzle."

After saying that, Zhang Long began to demonstrate the operation himself. He reached out and touched the small medicine pot filled with gunpowder hanging around his waist with skillful and neat movements.

Then Zhang Long accurately aimed the mouth of the medicine bottle at the muzzle of the gun and slowly tilted it.

Let the black gunpowder flow into the barrel like fine sand until it is full.

After completing this step, Zhang Long did not stop, but continued: "Next, you need to place a gasket made of soft cloth above the muzzle."

As he spoke, he quickly took out the small gasket from his body and placed it steadily on the muzzle of the gun.

Then Zhang Long picked up a heavy lead bullet and gently placed it on the gasket.

After doing all this, he picked up a long ramrod and carefully pushed the lead bullet deep into the barrel of the flintlock.

Although this series of actions seems simple, it actually requires extremely high skills and experience to complete it so quickly and accurately.

(End of this chapter)