***
On March 17, the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Qin Mu knew what this day meant, but because Changsha was thousands of miles away from Beijing, the news from there could not be sent back immediately.
What is the situation in Beijing? Even Qin Mu was not sure at this moment whether the situation was developing according to its original history.
Because the local history has changed now, Jiangxi and Huguang have changed and become their own territory. Sichuan has also changed. According to the original history, it seems that it took several months for Zhang Xianzhong to capture Chengdu.
But according to the news just sent back, Zhang Xianzhong is now progressing very smoothly and captured Chengdu on February 26th.
King Zhu Zhishu of Shu and his concubines and maids committed suicide by throwing themselves into a well. King Zhu Zhilu of Taiping committed suicide. Major Sichuan officials including Long Wenguang, the governor of Sichuan, Liu Zhibo, the censor of the inspection, and Zhang Jimeng, the deputy envoy of the inspection, were all executed by Zhang Xianzhong because they refused to surrender. put to death.
After capturing Chengdu, Zhang Xianzhong immediately divided his troops into four groups and captured every state and county in Sichuan.
After Li Zicheng captured Hanzhong at the beginning of the year, he ordered his general Ma Ke to enter Sichuan and capture Shunqing. Zhang Xianzhong regarded Sichuan as his own territory. As soon as Chengdu was conquered, he immediately sent Ai Nengqi to attack Shunqing's Ma Ke. He sent Li Dingguo to attack Baoning, Sun Kewang to attack Long'an, and Liu Wenxiu to attack Maozhou.
From this point of view, Zhang Xianzhong's entry into Sichuan was advanced in time, so will Beijing still follow the original historical path
Everything seems to be unknown now.
Because everything was uncertain, Qin Mu felt that it was better to be still than to move at this time.
Pay close attention to training and wait and see what happens.
After returning from the military camp, after handling the day's government affairs, he took time to go to Yuelu Mountain to teach two hundred schoolchildren. Because his lectures were lively and he also led the children to do interesting experiments, the children were very fond of him. look forward to.
What Qin Mu taught the children today was about mechanics. The first thing he talked about was the gravity of the earth. He held a book in hand and said, "Now, if I let go, this book will fall to the ground, right?"
"Yes." The two hundred schoolchildren replied with some confusion.
"Everyone knows that as soon as I let go, the book will fall to the ground, but do you know why the book falls downward instead of upward?"
No one answered this time, and a pair of eyes full of curiosity looked at him unblinkingly.
Qin Mu said with a smile: "The earth we live on is a round sphere. This has been proven by someone from Franji who has sailed a ship around the earth, proving that the earth is round."
When Qin Mu said this, he took out a prepared sphere and said: "We live on this sphere, and the reason why it does not float into the sky is because the earth has a kind of gravity, which can attract things represented by the earth. Including us, these books, the house, in short, everything is attracted by this gravity. "
At this time, it was like a pot was exploding in the school building. The children kept asking curious questions, and Qin Mu patiently answered them one by one.
Children's imagination is unlimited, and they have all kinds of strange problems.
There were many Qin Mu who couldn't answer, so he smiled and said: "Master, I don't know everything. It depends on you to study in the future and explore the principles. As for anything, you can only understand it after you understand the principles. Take advantage of it while avoiding the harm it brings.”
"For example, gravity has both advantages and disadvantages for us. On the one hand, it allows us to stick to the ground and prevent us from falling into the sky. For example, when a soldier fires a crossbow, when the rocket launches, the earth The gravitational force will pull the rocket downward, making the rocket's range shorter and unable to hit the enemy at a longer distance. Of course, in addition to the gravitational force, there is also air resistance that shortens the range."
Qin Mu then took out a piece of paper and fanned it gently. The paper immediately bent in the opposite direction. He then said, "As you can see, when we fan the paper, the paper will bend due to the resistance in the air." If it is bent to one side, does the resistance of the air have any effect? Yes. Please see, when I push hard against the wall, it will bounce back from the wall. What does this mean? This means that the force is mutual;
Rockets take advantage of this principle of resistance in the air. The flames ejected from the tail of the rocket push the airflow, and the resistance of the air in turn pushes the rocket, just like when we push hard against a wall, the wall will bounce us out. , so that the resistance in the air gives the rocket a forward thrust;
The rocket body itself will also encounter air resistance when flying. How to reduce all the resistance of the rocket body involves the issue of the force-bearing area. If the force-bearing area of the rocket is larger, the greater the force-bearing area of the rocket will be. The greater the resistance, so the front end of the rocket is made pointed to reduce the resistance..."
Qin Mu explained to the students in simple and in-depth terms, and at the same time used physical demonstrations from time to time. The students could easily understand. Song Yingxing, who was listening in, was thoughtful and seemed to have some insights.
When Qin Mu finished class and left, Song Yingxing stopped him and said, "Your Excellency just mentioned rockets, which reminded me of something. In the 26th year of Wanli, Zhao Shizhen, who developed the Thunder Gun, made a rocket called " "Rocket slide" rocket launcher. Using this rocket slide to launch a rocket can give the rocket a certain shooting direction and shooting angle, improve accuracy, and this rocket slide is easy to carry... "
Before Song Yingxing finished speaking, Qin Mu immediately thought of the rocket launchers of later generations. Artillery casting requires very high craftsmanship and high material requirements. However, this recoilless rocket launcher for individual soldiers has an extremely simple structure and requires both casting materials and craftsmanship. Not high. As long as the problem of artillery shells is solved, the army can be equipped in large quantities.
"Sir Song, go to your study quickly." Qin Mu pulled Song Yingxing and rushed to his study.
Now Ganzhou is probably not far away from developing yellow gunpowder, but explosives alone are not enough. The current artillery is too heavy and heavy, and it is still difficult to meet the demand for launch. Now there is not even seamless steel, and ordinary materials cannot withstand yellow gunpowder. It is unrealistic to achieve a major breakthrough in the quality of this steel due to the chamber pressure generated. The rocket launcher is a very good choice.
After entering Song Yingxing's study, Qin Mu first asked Song Yingxing to find the rocket slide pattern he had hidden. Qin Mu couldn't help but be overjoyed when he saw it.
This kind of rocket is also cylindrical in shape, but much smaller than the rocket launchers of later generations. However, according to Song Yingxing, the arrow range is much longer than that of crossbows and bows. When it hits, it will produce a small explosion, but its power is limited. The scale of the explosion is about It's like a fire suddenly burning up.
But in general, its firing principle is very similar to that of later rocket launchers. It's just that it's too small and uses black powder, so its power is of course limited.
But if the size of the rocket is increased, and the shells and propelling gunpowder are replaced with yellow explosives, wouldn't there be a qualitative leap in its range and power
In other words, with Ming's current technology, there are no technical difficulties in manufacturing the rocket launcher. All it takes is yellow explosive to increase its power.
Qin Mu was so happy that he grabbed Song Yingxing's sleeve and asked urgently: "Sir Song, who did you say invented this just now?"
"Zhao Shizhen."
"Where is he? He is such a talented person. I have to dig deep to find him."
Song Yingxing looked at Qin Mu strangely and said: "Your Excellency, you have never heard of Zhao Shizhen. Zhao Shizhen is a talented person. He entered the officialdom as a commoner. During the Wanli period, he was an official in the Wuying Hall and was a scholar. He is the author of "The Book of Divine Weapons" and "The Book of Divine Weapons". "Miscellaneous Theory", "Spectrum or Questions of Divine Weapons", "Anti-Captain Car Guns" and other treatises on the development and use training of firearms. In the 31st year of Wanli, he was physically and mentally exhausted due to his involvement in the "Demon Book Case" and eventually fell ill. I couldn’t afford it and ended up depressed.”
Depend on! I really had to dig three feet into the ground to find Zhao Shizhen.
Qin Mu blushed slightly and defended himself: "At first, I only wanted to be famous and get a gold medal. I didn't hear anything outside the window and only read the books of sages. After filling the vacancy in southern Jiangxi, there were endless wars and unruly troops... . . . . Well, let’s not mention it.”
After Qin Mu finished speaking, he immediately brought the topic back to the rocket launcher. While drawing pictures with a pen, he said: "Zhao Shizhen's rocket slip has given me a lot of inspiration. Mr. Song, please take a look... ... ... ... ... "
Qin Mu drew the structure of later generations of rocket launchers in detail. The structure of the rocket launcher itself is very simple, but the rocket itself is relatively complicated.
"This is the protective cap at the front. Before launching, you need to remove the protective cap and pull out the match cord. This is the warhead. At the back is the propellant chamber. Here is the firing fuse. This is the roar... . ..
This is the catch slot, this is the stop slot, this is the connector, and the retaining spring tab is inside here. Rotate the aiming cover so that the fixed spring piece exits the launch barrel and enters the stop groove, then moves the aiming cover back to the rear of the connector, and then rotates the connector to separate the aiming cover with connector from the rocket... .. . ... "
After Qin Mu finished the drawing, he added text descriptions between each component and explained them one by one to Song Yingxing. In fact, except for the relatively complicated shell, the structure of his rocket launcher was similar to that of Zhao Shizhen's rocket launcher. Song Yingxing knew it immediately.
Speaking of which, it would be just as easy to replace the warhead and propellant of Zhao Shizhen's rocket with yellow gunpowder, but it would be easier to launch according to the rocket launcher drawn by Qin Mu.
Of course, the bomb type and the roar design of the propulsion device will also affect the accuracy of the rocket, so these improvements are still necessary.
Song Yingxing was also the deputy director of the General Armament Department. Qin Mu immediately said to him after finishing the drawing: "Sir Song, take this drawing to the General Armament Department for physical development and testing as soon as possible. You might as well develop a few more models. As long as As long as a single soldier can use it. Ganzhou should be able to develop powerful gunpowder soon. After you develop it here, you can just replace it with that kind of gunpowder. "
Song Yingxing was actually conducting research on mercury fulminate, so he naturally knew what he meant by the more powerful gunpowder. He responded repeatedly: "Don't worry, sir. I will go to the General Armament Department immediately." (To be completed.) Continued.)
...