Chapter 214

After that battle in Fusang, Great Qin seemed to have been wound up, or opened a floodgate.

Gold and silver mines were transported back ship by ship, and Xianyang's treasury couldn't hold them.

The Shaofu was so worried that he plucked his hair, and finally Ying Zheng waved his hand, building new "national treasury sub-treasuries" in each commandery, specifically to store these yellow and white things.

Gu Shanhe calculated privately that just those few large mines in Fusang were enough for Great Qin to spend openly for decades without feeling heartache.

With money and people (hundreds of thousands of Fusang slaves were working hard in mines, river channels, and construction sites all over the country), Ying Zheng's mind naturally became active in other places.

He always felt that the northern expedition against the Xiongnu, the eastern pacification of Fusang, and the southern conquest of Baiyue, although satisfying, Great Qin's soldiers still relied on sword hacking and spear stabbing, horse trampling and arrow shooting, which was not... neat enough.

Especially after seeing Gu Shanhe's miraculous methods, he always pondered, can mortals also come up with something "neat"?

He told Gu Shanhe this idea.

Gu Shanhe was drinking tea at the time, and after listening, he put down the cup and thought for a while.

"Your Majesty wants... to let ordinary soldiers also have the power to split mountains and crack stones? The ability to kill enemies from a distance?"

"Yes, yes, yes! The Guoshi understands me!" Ying Zheng's eyes lit up.

Gu Shanhe smiled: "There is, but it will take some effort and a different path."

He submerged his consciousness into the system mall and began to search.

Steam engine principle... this must be had, it is the foundation of the Industrial Revolution.

Seamless steel pipe manufacturing method... this is even more critical, without it, don't talk about what comes after.

Yellow gunpowder formula... um, fiercer than black gunpowder, that's it.

Also flintlock structure diagram, detailed explanation of three-stage shooting tactics... all in all, it cost him over two million emotion points.

A bit of heartache, but thinking about the subsequent returns, it was worth it.

The things exchanged were not physical objects directly, but "heavenly books" filled with formulas and structural diagrams.

Gu Shanhe didn't ponder it himself, but packed it up and threw it to two people—

The contemporary Mohist leader Qin Huali, and the head of the Gongshu family, Gongshu Chou.

These two people, one was good at mechanism skills, and the other was proficient in construction machinery, and they were the top two chairs among Great Qin's craftsmen today.

In the past, the two families competed with each other, but since they followed Gu Shanhe to build tower ships and improve farm tools, their relationship had eased a lot, and they often pondered things together.

Gu Shanhe called them to the "Gewu Academy" he had newly established outside Xianyang City.

He pointed to the pile of "heavenly books" and said: "These concern the national destiny."

"Give you half a year, the Mohist family will focus on this steam engine and steel pipe, and the Gongshu family will study this yellow gunpowder and gun structure.

If you need people or money... go find His Majesty.

If you succeed, titles, fields, and houses, and your name will remain in history.

If you fail... bring your heads to see me."

Qin Huali and Gongshu Chou opened those drawing books, and after just one look, their eyes couldn't move away.

What was drawn and written on them completely subverted their previous cognition.

The power of steam? Iron pipes must be seamless?

A new, more violent "medicine"?

And that kind of iron pipe called a "gun" that can spray and kill people?

Both of them breathed heavily, and they knelt down to Gu Shanhe with a thud,

"Guoshi, rest assured! We will do our best, even if we die!"

Ying Zheng gave the green light, giving whatever was needed.

Outside Xianyang City, near the Wei River, a large piece of land was circled,

Surrounded by high walls, clanging day and night, thick smoke rolling, it became a forbidden area, and the people called it "Tiangong Workshop."

Half a year, not long, not short.

Qin Huali's side had movement first.

He led the core disciples of the Mohist family, following the diagrams, using the best refined iron, repeatedly testing, failing dozens of times, and blowing up several furnaces.

Finally, they came up with a big black, round, big guy with a boiler and piston—

The first experimental steam engine.

Although the power was small, it clattered when running, and leaked air, but the piston connecting rod could indeed drive a heavy forging hammer,

One by one, smashing the anvil with sparks flying, more stable and fierce than ten strong men swinging big hammers.

Ying Zheng was invited to visit.

He looked at the iron lump that didn't need manpower or animal power, and could "work" by burning water itself, and was stunned for a long time.

Then, he slapped his thigh suddenly: "Good! With this thing, why worry about the weapons and armor not being sharp!"

Immediately after, Gongshu Chou's side also reported good news.

After countless ratio tests that almost sent himself away, yellow gunpowder was achieved.

On the day of the test explosion, far away across the earthen wall, one could feel the ground shake violently, and after the loud noise, the thick wooden boards and stone piers used as targets were blown to pieces.

The power was many times greater than the previous black gunpowder.

The most difficult thing was the seamless steel pipe.

This era had no lathes, all relying on manual labor.

Qin Huali thought of a stupid method, which was also hinted at in Gu Shanhe's diagrams—

Using a solid iron rod as a core, wrapping it with red-hot wrought iron on the outside, letting a dozen strong men use the heaviest hammers to forge it repeatedly while it was hot,

Letting the wrought iron tightly wrap the iron core, melting into one, and then finding a way to corrode or knock out the iron core.

The scrap rate was extremely high, and it was good if one out of ten could succeed.

But Ying Zheng was willing to spend money, giving iron when iron was needed, and people when people were needed.

Slowly, qualified seamless steel pipes could also be accumulated one by one.

With steam forging hammers to forge gun mechanism parts, seamless steel pipes for gun barrels, yellow gunpowder, and fixed paper shell bullets (also figured out by the Gongshu family following the diagrams).

The first sample of the "flintlock gun," finally, when the half-year deadline was approaching, was placed in front of Gu Shanhe and Ying Zheng.

The appearance was a bit ugly, the gun barrel was black and heavy, and the wooden stock was rough, but the structure was correct.

Shooting range.

A hundred paces away, three layers of iron armor were set up, which were found from the treasury of a six-nation noble family that had been wiped out.

A carefully selected sharpshooter who had been trained for several months was a bit nervous while loading the bullet.

Bite open the paper shell, pour in gunpowder, stuff in the lead ball, press it tight with a copper rod, pull back the hammer, and aim.

Ying Zheng, Gu Shanhe, Meng Tian, Qin Huali, Gongshu Chou, and a group of high-ranking generals all held their breath and watched.

"Bang!"

A loud explosion, much louder than the sound of a crossbow firing, accompanied by fire and gunpowder smoke.

Everyone hurriedly looked at the target.

I saw that the three layers of iron armor, at the chest position of the outermost layer, had a fist-sized hole!

The lead ball not only pierced the first layer but also tore the two layers behind it, and the deformed lead head was embedded in the back of the last layer of iron armor.

Everyone was silent for more than ten seconds.

Then, Meng Tian rushed over first, picked up the ruined iron armor,

His fingers touched the sharp hole, and he weighed the deformed lead ball, a gurgling sound in his throat.

He turned to look at Ying Zheng, his eyes red,

"Your Majesty! This... this..."

Ying Zheng also walked over and looked carefully again and again.

He looked up at the distance of a hundred paces, turned around suddenly, grabbed Gu Shanhe's arm, his voice a bit distorted,

"Guoshi! This... can this thing be mass-produced? How many can be mass-produced?!"

Gu Shanhe gently broke free and smiled: "Your Majesty, since the sample has been made, mass production is only a matter of time."

"With steam forging hammers, parts can be produced faster and in larger quantities."

"Seamless steel pipes are more troublesome, but production can also be gradually increased. As for this gun..."

He paused, looking at the generals around him who were flushed with excitement,

"This thing is called a 'flintlock musket.' Within a hundred paces, it can pierce heavy armor."

"Training a qualified musketeer is much easier and faster than training a crossbowman."

"Crossbowmen have to pull bows for several years to have strength, while this musket, ordinary strong men, can go into battle after three months of training."

Meng Tian asked urgently: "Guoshi, what is the rate of fire of this thing? Can it match the continuity of our Great Qin's crossbow array?"

Gu Shanhe nodded: "This is the key, it can be arranged in three rows, or even more rows."