Chapter 286 Testing New Weapons
Bai Yuan, looking utterly bewildered, hopped off the train, followed by the two drivers.
Then, they watched as the train's locomotive seemed to be lifted by an invisible giant hand, flipping once in mid-air to reveal its underside. A huge cover slid open, and two strange cylindrical objects flew out.
Of course, these cylindrical objects were AA batteries!
Li Daoxuan took the two spent AA batteries out of the box, replaced them with two fresh ones, clicking them into the train's belly. He closed the cover, then set the train back down.
The train was repositioned.
"It seems to be ready," Bai Yuan observed, seeing the locomotive reconnected to the carriages and the Heavenly Lord making no further moves. He then led the two train drivers back aboard the locomotive.
Pressing the switch again, the train resumed its journey.
Bai Yuan suddenly understood: "The two cylindrical objects the Heavenly Lord removed and replaced were key to this 'celestial train' running. If I could discover a way to manufacture them, the Heavenly Lord wouldn't need to intervene again. I'll dismantle it later for study."
A large piece of paper appeared in the sky: "You haven't even learned to walk; don't be so eager to fly."
Before long, the train arrived at Gao Family Village.
Bai Yuan disembarked here, intending to transfer to a solar car for the county town.
As he walked from the train station to the bus station, he saw a large group of blacksmiths pouring out of the Craftsman Well. Leading them was Master Craftsman Gao Yiyi, followed by Li Da, Song Yingxing, and others. They were clutching strange firearms, heading towards the Gao Family Village Ordnance Bureau.
Bai Yuan, ever curious, asked, "What are you all up to, gentlemen?"
Gao Yiyi smiled. "Mr. Bai, you've arrived at a perfect time! We're just about to test a new musket. Would you care to join us?"
Bai Yuan's eyes lit up. "Oh? A new type of musket? Heh heh, I'm rather interested."
He no longer felt any urgency to go to the county town and followed the blacksmiths, rushing towards the Ordnance Bureau.
Soon, they arrived. Xu Dafu, Cheng Xu, and others were already waiting outside the Gao Family Village Ordnance Bureau, on a clearing specifically designated for weapons testing.
Seeing the serious expressions on their faces, Bai Yuan knew this was a momentous day and that whatever they were testing was likely extraordinary. His spirits soared. "It seems I've stumbled upon quite a spectacle today."
Gao Yiyi handed over a musket with both hands. "This is a bird-gun, crafted according to blueprints provided by Mr. Song Yingxing. It's much more effective than the Three-Eyed Arquebus. Let's test this first."
A firearm soldier, the former captain of the ten Three-Eyed Arquebus soldiers, stepped out from behind Cheng Xu. He took the bird-gun and weighed it in his hand. "This is lighter and has a longer barrel than the Three-Eyed Arquebus."
Song Yingxing smiled beside him. "A longer barrel increases its accuracy. Unlike the wild guesses of the Three-Eyed Arquebus, this can shoot down flying birds, hence its name, 'bird-gun'."
Even Li Da, the most skilled blacksmith in Chengcheng County, couldn't make this. He had learned quite a bit this time and enthusiastically called out from the side, "Enough chatting, let's fire it!"
The firearm soldier took a Paper Cartridge from Xu Dafu, poured the gunpowder into the barrel, then used a ramrod to tamp it down firmly. Next, he inserted a small, three-qian lead bullet, and again used the ramrod to secure it. He then preemptively lit the matchcord on the musket, opened the pan, and pulled the trigger. The burning matchcord, driven by the mechanism, swung into the pan...
This intricate procedure seemed much slower than loading a Three-Eyed Arquebus.
Cheng Xu, Bai Yuan, and Xu Dafu, who had seen bird-guns before, didn't think much of it. But the blacksmiths, witnessing the bird-gun in action for the first time, all thought: *By the time all those steps are done, the moment would have passed, wouldn't it? How could one fight a battle with this?*
Just as they thought this, they heard a loud "Boom!" The bird-gun fired.
A puff of blue smoke rose from the mountain wall a hundred paces away.
The blacksmiths collectively gasped in astonishment: "It shoots that far?"
"Heh, it's much further than the Three-Eyed Arquebus!" The testing firearm soldier was overjoyed. "That cursed Three-Eyed Arquebus could only hit six or seven zhang, but this bird-gun can reach a hundred paces! Oh my heavens! With this, our firearm soldiers are finally useful, hahaha, finally useful!"
"However, its drawbacks are also obvious," Song Yingxing sighed. "Once the pan is opened, the wind can be quite strong, often blowing away the primer. Using a rotary primer mechanism can damage the pan. After a single shot, the Manchu cavalry would arrive like the wind, making it unsuitable as a defensive weapon. Recently, there have been bamboo-barreled bird-guns and self-closing pan bird-guns, which were innovations of their time, but ultimately still cumbersome."
Everyone exchanged glances silently.
Song Yingxing then dramatically pulled out another firearm from behind his back. "Therefore, we need to improve the bird-gun further. This is a Flintlock Rifle I redesigned and manufactured after receiving a hint from the Heavenly Lord. It uses a spring to propel a clamp, which holds a flint, striking the pan to create sparks and ignite the gunpowder for firing. This overcomes the drawbacks of the bird-gun. I call it the 'Flintlock Rifle'."
He handed the Flintlock Rifle to the firearm soldier. "Try this one."
The firearm soldier repeated the previous steps, loading the gunpowder and lead bullet. But the final firing step was entirely different. There was no need to light a matchcord or open the pan. Instead, he simply raised the musket, aimed into the distance, and pulled the trigger...
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
The musket fired instantly, enveloped in swirling smoke, and another puff of blue smoke erupted from the distant mountain wall.
Song Yingxing exclaimed, "Heh, it worked!"
Everyone paused, then broke into cheers: "It worked!"
"A musket that fires with a single pull of the trigger!"
"How powerful!"
Song Yingxing was also quite pleased. For a scientist like him, researching and designing new inventions was the pursuit of a lifetime.
Now, all that remained was to refine the design, making the musket lighter and the firing mechanism more reliable.
However...
He couldn't help but sigh. "Even with this, we still can't stop the Jiannu. Although the firing method has changed, the slow reloading problem remains unsolved. The time it takes to fire one shot is enough for the Jiannu cavalry to close in."
Bai Yuan's spirits, which had been high, dampened slightly. "Could the 'Three-Stage Volley' technique, invented by General Mu Ying, solve the issue of the enemy closing in after one shot?"
Song Yingxing shook his head. "While the Three-Stage Volley can, to some extent, address the slow firing rate, it requires a much larger number of muskets and a denser musket formation, which demands strong financial support. Moreover, the Three-Stage Volley demands extremely high coordination among soldiers, making training too difficult for ordinary troops. That 'Three-Stage Volley' tactic largely remained theoretical, rarely used in actual combat."
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