Chapter 256: The Imperial Academy tests the firing of flintlock rifles, Zhu Gang reminds Li Wenzhong to be vigilant against the Japanese pirates' development of firearms
The whole process only took three blinks of an eye, but this was the result of Zhang Long's countless times of practice and mastery.

If a novice who had never touched a flintlock rifle tried it, I'm afraid even if he spent a whole incense stick of time, he might not be able to successfully fire five bullets.

After the loading work was completed, Zhang Long held the musket and raised the muzzle high.

He pointed straight to the boundless sky, not daring to be careless at all for fear of hurting others by mistake.

At this moment, Zhu Gang noticed that Li Wenzhong's face was full of excitement.

He seemed full of anticipation and curiosity about this new weapon, and was eager to try it out.

Seeing this, Zhu Gang quickly reminded him, "Cousin, let Zhang Long try first.

After all, the accuracy of this gun is still insufficient. For those who have never used it, it is not easy to hit the target! "

According to historical records, the concept of rifling already existed before the advent of the matchlock in the 14th century.

However, due to the processing precision at that time, the rifling could only provide a slight chamber pressure bonus.

The effect is nothing more than making the initial velocity a little higher and providing a pitiful amount of damage.

Even the early rifling range would affect accuracy and put the weapon at risk of bursting.

In addition, the processing was too time-consuming and labor-intensive, so rifling did not become popular for a long time in the future.

Over the next period of time, the processing of the rifling became more and more sophisticated.

By 1700, the processing of rifling had reached the point where rifled guns could be mass-produced.

However, rifled flintlocks were still not widely used because they were more troublesome to load.

It takes a lot of force to load the gun from the muzzle to the chamber, which causes a rifled gun to fire more slowly than a regular smoothbore gun.

The flintlock rifle's rate of fire is slow enough to begin with, and after all, it fires spherical projectiles with questionable lethality, so the advantage of rate of fire cannot be underestimated.

Taking all the above factors into consideration, the Taiyuan Gun Equipment Research Institute did not ultimately process the rifling on the flintlock rifle.

In this situation, accuracy becomes a problem. Even well-trained soldiers on the battlefield have to wait until the enemy is within 50 meters before they can open fire.

"Well, let him come."

Li Wenzhong, who had been silent for a long time, finally broke the deadlock.

His words were like a bolt of lightning that cut through the sky, instantly bringing Zhu Gang, who was lost in thought, back to his senses.

Zhu Gang secretly sighed in his heart that when it came to professional fields like firearms, his cousin really showed the proper respect for professional knowledge and talents.

After receiving a signal from Zhu Gang, Zhang Long moved forward steadily and stopped about fifty meters away from the wooden stake.

He took a deep breath, held the spear steadily with both hands, squinted his eyes and aimed carefully at the sturdy plate armor on the wooden stake.

At this moment, time seemed to have stopped. There was silence all around, except for Zhang Long's tense and focused breathing, which was clearly audible.

He stared at the target with full concentration, not daring to relax at all.

Fine beads of sweat gradually seeped out of his forehead and slid down Zhang Long's cheeks.

However, he ignored it all and focused all his attention on the task at hand.

After some adjustments and judgments, when Zhang Long was sure that he had firmly locked onto the target, he pulled the trigger without hesitation.

However, the expected sound of gunpowder explosion did not occur, instead there was only a slight "click" sound.

The officials from the Imperial College who were watching the scene looked in astonishment at the motionless wooden stake and the intact plate armor on it, and were at a loss for a moment.

Li Wenzhong first looked at the wooden stake in confusion, and then turned his gaze to Zhang Long.

There was also a look of confusion on his face, and he obviously didn't understand what was going on.

At this moment, Zhu Gang whispered, "Cousin, this flintlock gun has misfired."

Although his tone was calm, it carried a hint of helplessness that was difficult to conceal. Zhu Gang then added: "Even if the manufacturing process becomes more sophisticated in the future, this type of musket may still have a 20% chance of misfiring."

These words were like a bucket of cold water poured on everyone's hearts.

This made Li Wenzhong, who was originally full of hope, feel worried.

Zhu Gang's face was calm, and he looked at Zhang Long without any emotion, as if all this was expected.

"continue."

His voice was low and firm, revealing an unquestionable majesty.

For someone like Zhu Gang who is knowledgeable and has experienced many vicissitudes of life, it is not difficult to accept the reality before him.

Over the long years, countless historical events had already revealed to him the various disadvantages of the flintlock rifle.

However, witnessing this scene with his own eyes, Zhu Gang couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

Zhang Long, who was standing not far away, looked a little uneasy at the moment, with beads of sweat even oozing out of his forehead.

He swallowed hard, his hands shaking slightly.

Zhang Long kept rubbing his palms, trying to relieve the tension in his heart.

Finally, after taking a deep breath, he raised the flintlock in his hand again and aimed at the target in front of him with all his concentration.

There was only a crisp "click" sound, followed by a loud "bang"!
In an instant, sparks flew and smoke filled the air.

A dazzling light burst out from the hammer and the muzzle at the same time, like a meteor across the sky.

Then billowing white smoke rose into the sky, quickly covering the entire venue.

When the smoke and dust cleared, everyone in the Imperial College looked carefully.

I saw a circular hole with a diameter of several inches suddenly appear on the originally extremely solid wooden stake.

Through the hole, you can clearly see the broken wood behind it.

The fatal bullet was like a bolt of lightning, embedding itself deeply into the stake, nearly penetrating the entire thing.

If the wooden stake had not been a little thicker, it would have broken immediately.

Faced with such astonishing destructive power, all the officials of the Imperial College present were dumbfounded and their eyes became somewhat dull.

They stared at the scene in disbelief, as if time had frozen at this moment.

After a long while, Zhu Gang slowly spoke, his tone gentle but with a bit of solemnity: "My Lords, the times have undergone earth-shaking changes.

We, the Ming Dynasty, must keep pace with the times, otherwise we will be eliminated in the torrent of history!"

Li Wenzhong stepped forward and carefully checked the extent of the damage on the wooden stake.

He looked at the damaged plate armor with his hands, and the more he looked, the happier he became.

"If this hits the enemy, I'm afraid there's no way to save them."

Seeing that the time was ripe, Zhu Gang pretended to be worried and said, "My cousin, you don't know that Japan, which is close to our Ming Dynasty, now also has matchlock guns.

According to the investigation of Jinyiwei, this is closely related to the rampant Japanese pirates in coastal areas.

If we don’t find a way to contain it, I believe that within a few years, Japan will also be able to develop similar firearms.”

In fact, according to historical records: It was not until the 22nd year of Jiajing that Japan purchased the matchlock gun from the Portuguese through the 14th head of the Tanegashima family, Tanegashima Tokiyoshi.

The first batch of muskets were imitated, which also marked the official beginning of Japan's possession of firearms.

(End of this chapter)