The cold metallic texture came from the body of the flintlock gun.
Raising the flintlock and aiming ahead, Xiao Ming said, “Maybe you can try another type of bullet. This kind of bullet is easier to load because it is round-shaped.”
The flintlock gun had been in production and equipment for some time. Xiao Ming was already mentally prepared for the appearance of rifled guns. The first rifled gun in history was born in the early 15th century, and at that time, rifled guns were generally called muskets.
In the early 17th century, the Danish army in Europe was the first to equip themselves with muskets. However, rifled gun production was complex, and loading the bullet was very difficult. This made rifled guns rare in European armies, used only as a part of skirmisher units supporting flintlock troops during attacks.
Besides the loading difficulty, the low-explosive black powder limited the rifled gun’s range. But compared to smoothbore guns, rifled guns using black powder increased their range from about 90 meters to roughly 200 meters, which was already quite good.
Right now, he could not change the black powder. But for Xiao Ming, he could change the bullets. He was very aware of the rifled gun’s drawbacks and knew how to overcome them. What he told Song Changping was about what later became the Minié ball.
“Your Highness, are you talking about the cylindrical-headed bullet mentioned in the books?” Song Changping said, “Because round lead bullets are hard to load, I am currently trying to produce this kind of cylindrical-headed bullet.”
“You are already making these bullets? Good. Your progress is getting better and better,” Xiao Ming smiled.
The Minié ball was used in the Minié rifle, a front-loading rifled gun from the 19th century. This rifle was powerful, with a range of up to 900 meters and accurate within 500 meters.
Unfortunately, Song Changping’s rifled gun with the reproduced Minié bullets met the rifle’s standards, but the gunpowder could not keep up, since the black powder used at that time was still low explosive. The real Minié rifles used high-explosive gunpowder.
So according to his estimate, Song Changping’s rifled gun with Minié bullets could reach a range of about 300 meters, and maintain accuracy within 150 meters.
Also, because these bullets were slightly smaller than the rifle’s caliber, they solved the problem of front-loading bullets being too large to fit or blocking the barrel.
The slightly smaller Minié bullets could be easily pushed into the chamber by the ramrod, greatly increasing the rate of fire.
At the same time, the Minié ball had spiral grooves on the bullet body to match the rifling. The grooves were filled with animal oil, and the bullet base was made of soft cork.
When firing, the gas pressure from the gunpowder hit the cork, which instantly expanded the bullet.
Because the bullet expanded, it sealed the chamber during firing, preventing gas leakage that would reduce the bullet’s kinetic energy, thus greatly increasing the bullet’s range.
This was why Xiao Ming guessed that using Minié bullets, Song Changping’s rifled gun could increase its range to 300 or even 400 meters.
“But unfortunately, producing these bullets is complicated, and soldiers cannot make bullets anytime on the battlefield,” Song Changping said.
Xiao Ming said, “Every advantage has a drawback. Rifled guns take a long time to produce, so for now, produce a small batch for the troops. Also, Lin Wentao has invented the steam engine, so maybe soon this won’t be a problem anymore. Now, you should focus on researching how to cut the rifling grooves and produce cylindrical bullets.”
Song Changping nodded. This rifled gun was hand-rifled with a hook blade, which was very time-consuming and laborious. Although he did not know what the steam engine was exactly, it seemed to be something powerful.
Leaving the rifled gun behind, Song Changping shared some manufacturing tips with Xiao Ming, then returned to the military workshop.
He came here mainly to seek Xiao Ming’s opinion about the rifled gun. Now with Xiao Ming’s authority backing him, he could freely produce new-style rifled guns.
Watching Song Changping leave, Xiao Ming smiled as he examined the first rifled gun of the Great Yu Empire. The progress of his territory each day made him feel very comforted.
With these technological foundations, he felt his territory was becoming safer. But for him, the most important thing now was how to apply the steam engine to various industries in Qingzhou.
Thinking about this, he spent the whole night carefully planning. The next day, he went to the machinery department and called Lin Wentao and Zhang Liu.
“Your Highness,”
Lin Wentao was still excited from the steam engine’s appearance, while Zhang Liu was much calmer since the machinery department had worked closely with Xiao Ming early on and had experienced many ups and downs.
After thinking for a long time last night, Xiao Ming decided to have Lin Wentao and Zhang Liu establish the Qingzhou Steam Engine Workshop, dedicated to mass-producing steam engines. He said, “The reason I called you here is simple. From now on, you two will be responsible for producing steam engines. To do this, I will form a special workshop. This workshop will be managed by the two of you, Lin Wentao as workshop director, Zhang Liu as deputy director.”
“Steam Engine Workshop?” Lin Wentao was immediately excited. Previously, he was just a trainee, but now he was becoming the director of a workshop. This status was equal to Chen Qi and Lu Tong, so of course, he was happy.
Zhang Liu also smiled. For both of them, this was a promotion.
“What? Not happy?” Xiao Ming joked.
“Happy, happy. How could we not be?” Lin Wentao and Zhang Liu laughed together.
Xiao Ming nodded and handed a book to Zhang Liu. The book recorded how the steam engine could be combined with other machinery. Lin Wentao would be responsible for production and technical improvement, while Zhang Liu would handle the steam engine’s applications.
Zhang Liu flipped through the book and felt deeply shocked. In his eyes, Xiao Ming was practically an omniscient being.
After deciding the personnel, the remaining tasks were to select the location, funding, and craftsmen for the workshop.
To ensure the steam engine workshop could start production as soon as possible, Xiao Ming decisively transferred half of the craftsmen from the machinery department to Lin Wentao.
The craftsmen in the machinery department had always been Xiao Ming’s personal craftsmen. Now he gave up half of them, showing how determined he was to apply the steam engine.
The three agreed on this plan. Xiao Ming immediately assigned Chen Wenlong to select a factory building in the workshop area. At the same time, he asked Lin Wentao to send the first steam engine to the lathe workshop to combine with the boring machine for cutting cylinders.
The hardest part of steam engine production was cutting the cylinders. Now, with the first steam engine as a base, efficiency would naturally improve.
After setting up the steam engine workshop, Xiao Ming also gave Chen Wenlong the structural diagram of the Jenny spinning machine and told the remaining craftsmen to start production.
This year, he wanted Qingzhou’s textile industry to dominate the Great Yu Empire.