Chapter 545: A Real Man for a Few Dozen Seconds

After examining the pistol, Zhu Youxiao's excitement grew even greater.

What fun is there in firing a pistol? A man's romance lies not in pistols, but in long guns.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Bi Maokang and said, "Alright, now let's go take a look at the long guns."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Bi Maokang hurriedly agreed.

Whatever the Emperor wanted to see, he had to be shown — that was something Bi Maokang would always have to do.

The group passed through this new courtyard and arrived at the one behind it. People were already waiting there.

The long gun was quickly brought up.

Seeing this gun, Zhu Youxiao grew even more excited.

Reaching out to pick up the gun and quickly examining it, Zhu Youxiao was truly stirred.

Though this gun couldn't compare to the fame of its later descendants, it was truly a groundbreaking product.

Back in the day, the Qing dynasty wanted to produce the finest Mauser rifles and imported a production line from abroad — only for the other side to export the obsolete 1888 Commission Rifle to the Qing.

That 1888 rifle was prone to jamming and barrel bursts, riddled with problems — it was the famous Hanyang-made rifle.

Why was it called the "old sleeve tube"?

Because to solve the barrel-burst problem, several iron bands had to be fitted around the barrel. That's where the name "old sleeve tube" came from.

Even a piece of junk like the old sleeve tube was still in use during the War of Resistance — just thinking about it is heartbreaking.

But now, looking at the gun before him, Zhu Youxiao was genuinely delighted.

This gun might not even match the old sleeve tube, but it signified a new beginning for the Great Ming — better things would surely come later.

This was a breech-loading single-shot rifle, designed primarily around applying currently mature technology — in plain terms, it was convenient, simple to manufacture, and easy to use.

Ideally it would require no skill at all, because that was the level of the Great Ming's soldiers right now. Although the Imperial Guard had trained for many years, they were still unfamiliar with this kind of weapon and would need to grow accustomed to it slowly. Simple operation and convenience thus became the paramount requirements.

Besides, soldiers in this era weren't highly educated — making things too complicated wouldn't do.

This gun was designed precisely around the philosophy of "simple operation, convenience."

It used metallic single-shot cartridges — after every shot, a new round had to be loaded and the bolt pulled back.

The sights employed a three-point alignment system, and new-style gunpowder was fitted. The gun's range could reach one thousand meters, with an effective range of four hundred meters — excellent figures.

Beyond that, the firing pin and primer also used the simplest designs. Aside from ease of operation, the goal was reliability.

Meanwhile, to address the rate of fire, the Hundred Crafts Institute had also designed a new type of ammunition strip. Though called a strip, it was actually a vertical metal structure, with one bullet in each compartment.

After the first shot was fired from this strip, the second bullet would drop into the chamber. That way, loading no longer required hands — the bullet could fall in by gravity alone, and the gunner only needed to pull the bolt each time, and the round would chamber automatically, ready to fire.

Of course, this design might require lying prone on the ground, or holding the weapon steady with both hands.

These were things that could be trained later, serving as the standard for gunners — only soldiers who could fire steadily while on the move could qualify as gunners.

Zhu Youxiao took the gun, loaded a round, and pulled the bolt back, preparing to fire.

Bi Maokang beside him hastily reached out to stop Zhu Youxiao, saying, "Your Majesty, please don't try this casually."

He really had to dissuade him — with the pistol, His Majesty could be allowed some indulgence, but here it truly wouldn't do. This thing had tremendous recoil; if His Majesty were injured, that would be no small matter.

A single shot like that could easily dislocate a shoulder. Without systematic training beforehand, one absolutely couldn't mess around like this.

It was fine if soldiers got hurt in training, but if the Emperor got hurt, that was no joke.

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Bi Maokang and said, "Is there a problem?"

"Your Majesty, if you truly wish to test the gun, there's a firing range over there."

As he spoke, Bi Maokang made a gesture, pointing to a spot not far away.

Following the direction Bi Maokang indicated, there was indeed a range, complete with a stand — clearly a place for mounting the gun.

The stand had clamps and a recoil-absorbing structure — in plain terms, it was meant to mitigate recoil. Firing a shot there would likely produce almost no recoil reaction and wouldn't injure anyone.

Seeing this stand, Zhu Youxiao readily followed the wise course.

He very much wanted to test the gun, but that didn't mean he wanted to hurt himself. With this stand, though the recoil wouldn't be as palpable, he wasn't there to feel recoil — he was there to feel the bullet.

Zhu Youxiao placed the gun on the stand, leaned in behind it, squinted one eye, and aligned the three points for a long while, then squeezed the trigger.

The bullet struck the distant target instantly — no miss.

This pleased Zhu Youxiao greatly. Though the score wasn't high, it was enough.

Nodding with satisfaction, Zhu Youxiao suddenly realized a problem.

He looked at the stand, then at the target, and finally at Bi Maokang, and said, "This contraption of yours is fixed in place, isn't it?"

Hearing this, a flash of embarrassment crossed Bi Maokang's face as he said, "To answer Your Majesty, it is indeed fixed. The craftsmen conduct their experiments here, and their marksmanship isn't very good, which is why this method came about. To guarantee hitting the bullseye, everything here is fixed in place."

Bi Maokang was somewhat embarrassed — he didn't actually intend to fool Zhu Youxiao, but this was how everyone normally used it. Surely they couldn't change it to be inaccurate just because the Emperor had arrived?

What would that make it? Wouldn't that be the crime of deceiving the sovereign?

Zhu Youxiao nodded and didn't make things difficult for Bi Maokang.

Scientists like this should focus on their research and not be harassed. Besides, he couldn't go wild and mess around here anyway — if something actually went wrong, Bi Maokang and the others would be in serious trouble.

He'd have them send the guns to the palace later and set up a private firing range. Once there, he could play with these guns freely, since no one would stop him.

If anything did go wrong, it would be his own problem, and these ministers wouldn't suffer for it — that was the best approach.

One shouldn't cause trouble for others — Zhu Youxiao knew this very well.

"Alright, that's enough then." Handing the long gun to the attendant beside him, Zhu Youxiao said, "Let's go see what's in the back — there's a big killer weapon here."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Bi Maokang immediately breathed a sigh of relief, his tone light as he replied.

Bi Maokang had been genuinely worried before; now the Emperor wasn't angry with him and had stopped pressing him — that was good enough.

As for the Emperor wanting to see what was in the back — of course that meant the Gatling machine gun.

Though he didn't know why His Majesty called that gun a Gatling machine gun, everyone called it that now, and they'd grown used to it.

When they arrived at the back, Zhu Youxiao saw the hand-cranked machine gun that had already been manufactured and assembled.

This thing sat on a machine-gun carriage, but could also be dismounted and placed on a position — very convenient.

Beside it lay bullets, much like the rifle ammunition belts in front, all straight up and down.

Beside it was a hand-crank, clearly redesigned. The six muzzles at the front also carried a cold, austere beauty. If one turned the crank, their rotation became even more aesthetically pleasing.

But without electric motor control, this thing would soon be replaced by the Maxim gun.

A hand-cranked Gatling gun like this could never reach its theoretical rate of fire. If cranked too fast, it might jam or burst — and that would be a very troublesome matter.

Moreover, loading ammunition into the Gatling gun was troublesome; every time, the ammunition had to be replaced. The ammunition belt currently equipped held only eighteen rounds, and after eighteen rounds were fired, it had to be changed. In plain terms, after three rotations, one had to swap in a new belt, so its rate of fire wasn't that fast either. Basically, it went rat-tat-tat-tat, and then it was out of ammunition.

As for a rate of fire of 1,200 rounds per minute, that required a continuous brrrrt-brrrrt-brrrrt to achieve such a rate. To truly realize that effect, one would have to wait until later, when electric motors drove the barrel rotation, and then equip countless enormous ammunition belts, firing as if the bullets were limitless.

This kind of thing was extremely large in size and was generally used as an aircraft cannon. Even the modified lightweight Gatling still required carrying a huge ammunition box on one's back.

Even so, it usually meant only a few dozen seconds of being a real man; then it was over.

Yet even so, placing this thing on a cold-weapon battlefield, this great killing instrument could still send countless men into shivers of dread.

The reason was also simple: no one would place just a single one of these guns on a position.

"Excellent." Zhu Youxiao reached out and stroked the barrel, saying, "Find a place to test it."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Bi Maokang hastened to comply.

Seeing that Zhu Youxiao showed no intention of firing the gun himself, Bi Maokang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If His Majesty wanted to operate this thing himself, then there was no way he could allow His Majesty to do so.

In fact, Zhu Youxiao had no such intention either. He knew very well in his heart what should be touched and what should not.

He had never used one himself. Although the Gatling gun looked very good, if one misoperated it even slightly, problems could easily arise.

He must not cause trouble; let them do the demonstration.

As a result, Zhu Youxiao soon saw it for himself.

As the crank turned, bullets flew forth, and the small tree across the way was directly shattered — rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat, the effect was truly excellent.

The gunfire rang out in a continuous roar. Three machine guns firing at a single position was truly ferocious, and it left Zhu Youxiao very satisfied.

"Not bad, not bad, very good indeed." Zhu Youxiao looked at Bi Maokang and said, "Go coordinate with the Imperial Guard Corps later. Have them familiarize themselves with these weapons as quickly as possible. Distribute a small quantity first — don't let them reach the battlefield without knowing how to use them."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Bi Maokang acknowledged.