Chapter 448: The Airtightness Problem
Gao Yiye slowly moved to stand about half a step behind Li Daoxuan, settling into place as her secretaries often did behind her.
Next, San Shier, Tan Liwen, and others working in the main keep arrived, drawn by the commotion. A little while later, even Cheng Xu, Wang Er, and those from outside the main keep rushed over. The small Craftsman Well became packed with people, all gathering around Li Daoxuan, creating quite a spectacle.
Li Daoxuan thought to himself, "I'm just sitting here, barely doing anything, and all of you are crowding around to watch. This feels incredibly awkward."
He was about to grumble and tell them to disperse.
Just then, Xu Dafu, the head of the Gao Family Village Ordnance Bureau, squeezed out from the crowd. He moved with extreme caution, glancing left and right, as if he were entering a dragon's den.
Li Daoxuan smiled at him. "Xu Dafu, why are you so incredibly cautious?"
"Heavenly Lord," Xu Dafu replied, "though this place has your divine protection, it is, after all, where we forge blades, firearms, and all manner of dangerous implements. If this humble one isn't careful, and I were to hastily bump into something I shouldn't, a falling hammer could still crush me to death."
The crowd exchanged silent glances.
There was no reasoning with a fellow who feared choking on water. Li Daoxuan said, "You squeezed out from the crowd; I assume you have something to tell us?"
The moment he spoke, everyone with a technical mind turned their full attention to him, scrutinizing the object he held in his palm.
It was tiny, no bigger than a fingernail, and not perfectly round, more like a flat, round disc.
Li Daoxuan immediately recognized the shape and thought to himself: *This is that tiny component at the very base of a bullet. In modern firearms, when the trigger is pulled, a spring pushes the firing pin, striking the base of the bullet—which is precisely where this percussion cap is.*
The percussion cap ignites upon impact, igniting the gunpowder, and *bang!* the bullet is propelled forward.
While Li Daoxuan was still pondering these technical issues, Li Da emerged from the blacksmith's workshop, carefully carrying a firearm.
This was the early breech-loading Chassepot Rifle that Li Daoxuan had tasked him with creating when they first met. After the issue with springs was resolved, forging the rifle itself hadn't been difficult; the real challenge lay in the bullet.
Now, with the percussion cap issue resolved, the bullet problem was effectively solved.
Xu Dafu compared the cap to the Chassepot Rifle's barrel, then took out a piece of paper and began to assemble a paper cartridge on the spot.
Early breech-loading rifles used "paper cartridges," which were essentially hand-wrapped. The bullets themselves were enormous, more than twice the size of older copper bullets.
The smallest lead projectile was wrapped at the very front, black powder in the middle, and the percussion cap at the back. Once these three sections were arranged, they were rolled tightly in paper and pressed firm, resulting in an elongated, spindle-shaped bullet.
Li Da opened the breech, loaded the freshly wrapped paper cartridge into the barrel. The entire process took only a few seconds, far simpler than the complicated loading procedure of muzzle-loading rifles.
He then raised the rifle, aimed at a wooden target on the wall at the other side of the Craftsman Well.
The trigger was pulled. With a loud bang, a large hole appeared in the center of the target.
The civilian administrators present couldn't discern much, but Cheng Xu and Wang Er burst into applause. "A fine invention, a truly fine invention!" they exclaimed. "The loading speed of this thing is many, many times faster than ordinary firearms; it's truly remarkable!"
Wang Er added, "Rifled firearms, because they're too slow to load and the time between shots is too long, we haven't dared to equip the militia with them in large numbers. Only a select few could use them, while our main forces had to rely on smoothbore guns to ensure a decent firing rate. But once our main forces can use these firearms that load from the rear, we won't have to worry about rifling affecting loading speed anymore!"
Cheng Xu nodded. "This means all our smoothbore guns can gradually be phased out and replaced with these breech-loading rifled guns."
A flurry of new tactics immediately flashed through both their minds...
However, Song Yingxing, who was standing not far away, spoke up. "I see a major problem with this rifle."
Everyone looked puzzled.
Li Daoxuan's eyes lit up. *Oh, you noticed?*
Song Yingxing explained, "The rear of this rifle has a complex mechanism—a whole lot of things like firing pins, springs, and slides—making the airtightness at its rear rather poor. The explosive force generated when the gunpowder ignites leaks out from the edges of the mechanism, which weakens the forward propulsion. Didn't you notice? The power of that bullet just now was weaker than that of a muzzle-loading rifled gun."
As he said this, everyone suddenly understood. Indeed, the power of that shot just now was clearly lower than a rifled gun; one only needed to look at the target to see it.
Song Yingxing sighed. "This problem, in fact, is the same one my steam engine is currently facing. Due to poor airtightness, the steam generated from boiling water also leaks out from various gaps in the machine, wasting a lot of its power. If the airtightness problem could be completely solved, then the power of this firearm could surpass muzzle-loaders, and the efficiency of steam engines would also greatly increase."
Li Daoxuan secretly praised him. *As expected of Song Yingxing, his observational skills are truly sharp. However, you have no way to solve airtightness; with the materials technology of the Ming Dynasty, it's impossible.*
Just as he thought this, a strange expression appeared on Song Yingxing's face. "I actually just discovered a material," he announced, "that could be used to solve the airtightness problem."
The crowd urged, "Tell us!"
Song Yingxing pointed a finger at Li Daoxuan. "Using the material of the Heavenly Lord's statue."
The crowd gasped, then burst into startled laughter.
It turned out that Song Yingxing had just reached out and touched Li Daoxuan's statue. An idea had immediately formed in his mind: the material of the Heavenly Lord's statue seemed incredibly convenient for solving airtightness problems—just stuffing this soft, pliable material into the critical gaps of the mechanism...
"Blasphemy!"
At least seven or eight people simultaneously shouted at Song Yingxing. "What twisted ideas are you cooking up in your head? Do you intend to chop up the Heavenly Lord's statue to patch machine gaps? What utter sacrilege!"
Li Daoxuan laughed. "Hahaha! Everyone, don't be so agitated. Song Yingxing is a technical mind; he only considers technical problems, not other issues. There's no need to over-interpret his words."
He smiled at Song Yingxing. "Compared to the material of this statue of mine, there is actually another material even more suitable for solving the airtightness of steam engines and breech-loading rifles. It's a pity your chemistry hasn't advanced to that level yet, so I will provide you with some for now."
Having said this, the next instant, his consciousness returned to his original body outside the box. He reached out and grabbed the rubber he had prepared earlier and dropped it into the Craftsman Well.
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