Chapter Thirty-Three Quality Must Be Guaranteed

  Chongzhen 1st Year

  February 22nd

  Imperial City Garrison.

  Today is destined to be an extraordinary day, the campus has changed its usual calm state. The sound of "bang bang bang" gunfire is endless. It's Yang reform in a large-scale trial shooting of firearms.

  The people who fired the guns were the craftsmen who made the firelocks and those in charge of supervising them. The expressions on everyone's faces were tense, some looked disheartened, some were secretly crying, while others seemed relatively "at peace". All sorts of strange expressions appeared on the drill ground within the imperial city.

  The drill ground was filled with smoke, thick and pungent. The guardsmen watched the craftsmen and supervisors test-fire the firearms with serious expressions. Those who had misfires were immediately dragged away. As for those who requested to withdraw due to cracks, they were also not treated kindly, being escorted out with swords.

  Yang Reform had been standing still on the "watchtower" for a long time, staring at the craftsmen and their supervisors firing guns. When he saw a gun burst, his expression became terrifying. The little eunuchs beside him unconsciously stood several steps away from Yang Reform, afraid of hitting the emperor's volcano.

  Gunsmoke rolled in, and Yang Reform on the viewing platform was choked, coughing a few times before feeling his body go numb. He said to Wang Chengen beside him: "Big companion, come over for a moment, I feel that this leg is a bit numb."

  "Ah! Your Majesty, how did this happen..." Wang Chengen walked to Yang Gaofei's side in a state of terror and concern, hastily supporting him. Not having taken good care of His Majesty, Wang Chengen felt the greatest responsibility, his concern coming from the heart.

  "It's nothing, just numbness from standing for too long. I'll be fine after a rest." Yang Gaizhi sat down on the chair with Wang Chengen's support, feeling slightly better. As an otaku, Yang Gaizhi was all too familiar with numb legs from sitting and standing. He wouldn't make a fuss about it naturally.

  Yang thought to himself that he was too out of shape and should find time to exercise, his legs were already numb from standing for just a short while.

  Yang Reform sat for a while, the smoke on the school field gradually dispersed, and the "bang bang" shooting sound had stopped. A small guard general ran over, knelt on one knee, and reported: "Report to Your Majesty, all firearms have been tested."

  "How is it?"

  "I report to Your Majesty, there are more than 30 guns that exploded on the spot, and over a hundred with problems such as air leaks and cracks." The young general answered very succinctly. He fully supported the emperor's approach of having the craftsmen and supervisors test-fire the weapons themselves, because who knows when those exploding guns would end up in their own hands, so it was better to let the makers try them out first.

  Yang Reform glanced at Fumin De, who was paralyzed on the ground. A surge of unnamed fire rose in his heart. He hated to kill people. However, Yang Reform, a house man born in New China and raised under the red flag, who had received nine years of compulsory education, still had great psychological obstacles to killing people.

  "Fumingde, what do you think about this matter?"

  "I am guilty, I deserve to die! Please, Your Majesty, grant me a swift death..." Fu Mingde had already given up all hope and only wished for death. The explosion rate and defect rate were between 1-2%, originally, according to the old tradition, these would still be considered excellent results, but unfortunately, the Emperor's standards for him were even stricter, so with such results, Fu Mingde could only wish for death.

  "I'm not planning to kill you for now, go back and think carefully about how to improve both the quantity and quality. Use your brain... My patience is limited, this is your last chance." Yang Reform had already decided to give Fu Mingde one more chance, because Yang Reform currently had no other options. What a pity! Moreover, after experiencing this test launch, Fu Mingde would definitely be more sensitive to quality issues and would rack his brains to solve the problem. This was also what Yang Reform hoped for.

  “...Wu wu, I thank Your Majesty for sparing my life. I will definitely do my best to make high-quality firearms for you... Wu wu...” Fu Mingde was choked with sobs. Having walked through the Yama Temple and back from hell to heaven, he was overwhelmed with mixed emotions. The issue of firearm quality had reached his bones. This "quality" thing had been branded into his soul like a hot iron.

  "It's not just the quality of firearms, but all the weapons and items that come out from you, you must remember the word 'quality', this is my advice to you, as well as my hope."

  "Yes, Your Majesty. I will definitely remember the word 'quality' in my heart and never forget it." Fuminde had stopped crying, his eyes were much clearer, with a resolute look on his face. After finishing speaking, he knocked his head on the ground several times, making a "thud" sound, before stopping.

  Yang looked at Fu Mingde's resolute expression and knew that his future firearms would probably be of good quality. Thinking this, he felt a bit better.

  Also saw a large group of craftsmen and supervising eunuchs on the school field, guessing that after this trial shooting, these people would also remember "quality" deeply in their souls.

  "Let them all disperse, the gunsmiths and supervisors who have no quality problems will each be rewarded with two taels of silver." Yang Reform still plans to reward silver, and cannot let some craftsmen's quality problems affect everyone's enthusiasm.

  Those workers heard that there were two taels of silver to be had, and immediately changed from their previous tension and fear, knelt down on the ground and shouted "Long live" again.

  "Let Li Gong, Zhang Gong and a few others come see me." Yang Reform intended to meet the several "experts" in charge of researching firearms.

  "Yes, Your Majesty." Wang Chengen replied.

  Before long, Li Gong, Zhang Gong and a few others arrived in front of Yang Gao's face.

  "Humble subjects... pay respects to our emperor, may he live for ten thousand years, ten thousand years, and forevermore." Several people kowtowed to wish him well.

  "Get up."

  "Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty." Several people stood up.

  "What happened today, you all saw it, the quality issue is what I care about. I hope that in the future when designing weapons, you will also pay attention to this quality issue." Yang Reform starts with a warning, aiming to ensure the quality of the weapon.

  "The common people obey." The crowd replied in unison again.

  "Hmm, what's new lately? Anything about firearms and bird guns?" Yang Reform started asking about the progress of firearms. In fact, at this time, firearms (matchlocks) were far from reaching their "limits", such as upgrading to flintlocks, or developing paper cartridges, speeding up loading times, etc., there was still much potential for development. Of course, proper rear-loading copper-jacketed bullets, the current level of technology couldn't produce them no matter what.

  "We report to Your Majesty that the commoners are all studying the technique you mentioned, using paper shells to load gunpowder and speed up the loading process, and some progress has been made."

  "Li Gong, quickly tell me, did it succeed?" Yang Gaige had an impression of the people in front of him, and only remembered Li Gong and Zhang Gong. The others didn't leave any impression on him. So when he saw Li Gong speak, Yang Gaige called out his name directly.

  Li Gong was overjoyed, the emperor remembered his name, this is a great honor! With a hint of excitement in his voice, he said: "I report to Your Majesty, there are some clues, the common people have already made a sample, and they are waiting for the test results to be reported to Your Majesty."

  "Bring it over and try it out." Yang said with a smile.

  "The slave is here, what does Your Majesty command?" Wang Cheng'en replied.

  "Quickly get the paper shell bullets made by Li Gong and his men." Yang's reform was somewhat impatient.

  "Yes, Your Majesty."

  Before long, a small eunuch brought over the samples. They were almost identical to the firecrackers Yang had seen before the reform, just slightly larger and wrapped in red paper. At first glance, one would almost think it was a string of firecrackers.

  "Is this the fixed cartridge case?" Yang Gaofei asked.

  "Yes, Your Majesty."

  "Give it a try."

  "Yes, Your Majesty, I obey." After finishing speaking, Li Gong took out a paper cartridge, carefully tore open the paper seal of the paper cartridge, revealing the granular gunpowder inside. Li Gong said again: "Your Majesty, this is the finished paper cartridge. When using it, break off one end of the paper cartridge and align it with the muzzle of the firearm. In this way, the gunpowder can be directly poured into the firearm, saving a lot of trouble..."

  "Oh? That's it! Let's try it quickly then." Yang reform seemed to have understood, when using it, just pull off one end of the "firecracker", and pour the gunpowder from the "firecracker" into the rifle barrel. Because the gunpowder in the "firecracker" is a fixed quantity and granular, so it's much faster than pouring gunpowder from a powder flask. Of course, it can't be compared to the real bullets of later generations.