Chapter 30 - 11: Matchlock Gun (Part 3)
After a moment, Chen Zhou pushed open the door at the end of the corridor and stepped into the second-to-last room.
As soon as he entered, the smell of gunpowder and smoke greeted him. Surveying the furnishings in the room, Chen Zhou identified the owner of the room—a gunner.
As an important combat personnel on the ship, it was only natural for the gunner to have a spacious room.
Apart from the tables, chairs, cabinets, and bed found in every room, this one was also adorned with a deerskin carpet and bullhorn-shaped gunpowder barrels and long guns hanging on the wall.
There were two long guns, one with a shorter barrel and slender body, the other with a longer barrel and a wider, heavier body.
Next to the two long guns, a thick wooden rod taller than a person was propped against the wall, its top secured with a "U"-shaped bracket, resembling the kind used in clothing stores to retrieve clothes from high places.
When it came to firearms, Chen Zhou was certainly more knowledgeable than about dogs.
After the college entrance exams, when choosing his major, he had, without much personal conviction, selected a program suggested by his relatives—one that he wasn’t very interested in at the time.
However, as he entered university, mingled with his roommates, attended classes, and absorbed the campus atmosphere, his attitude gradually shifted, and he developed an interest in mechanics, which eventually blossomed into a passion.
Like most people studying mechanical engineering, through reading textbooks and under the influence of his mentors, Chen Zhou began to actively seek information on car engines, steam trains, firearms, lathes, and other mechanical wonders, naturally coming across the history of firearms along the way.
He roughly read about the journey of firearms from fireworks and firecrackers to simple cannons, and the gradual improvements leading to matchlock guns, which eventually evolved into fully automatic firearms in the military domain.
𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚
His like-minded roommate was even bolder, utilizing hands-on skills to secretly craft a full-scale revolver using a lathe, flaunting it to him multiple times.
Chen Zhou watched enviously, though he didn’t have the courage of his roommate; still, he longed to touch a real gun and fire some live rounds.
Unfortunately, the university he enrolled in did not include live ammunition target practice in the freshman military training, leaving his love for guns confined to fantasy.
Although excited to see the crossbow in the box earlier, Chen Zhou managed to keep his composure.
Now, seeing the long guns mentioned in Robinson Crusoe with his own eyes, Chen Zhou could hardly contain his joy. He hurried forward, eagerly taking the two long guns off the wall, his eyes fervent as if admiring a beautiful woman, caressing the details of the gun’s body, scrutinizing the all-important trigger mechanism.
One of these, the more slender gun, was a light matchlock gun that was popular in the late 15th century.
In the moment he grasped it, the knowledge he had read dozens of times surged from his mind.
In the history of firearms, the emergence of the matchlock gun marked a very significant turning point.
Compared to its predecessor, the fire lance, with its simple and unstable structure, the matchlock gun, originating from the early 15th century, underwent substantial improvements, maturing by the late 15th century.
The matchlock gun’s structure closely resembles modern firearms; it has a barrel, a stock, and a trigger, earning its name from using a lit match cord as the ignition for firing rounds.
As a classic muzzleloader, the matchlock gun had a significant flaw: its complexity of operation.
Each shot required more than forty steps to load and fire, allowing a skilled gunner to only fire one or two shots per minute.
Moreover, its range and accuracy fell far short of modern firearms, and the match cord and gunpowder were highly flammable and explosive when dry, while rain or moisture rendered them useless. On windy days, the priming powder at the touch hole could be blown away, resulting in misfires, making it unusable in harsh weather conditions.
Despite these various shortcomings, compared to other long-range weapons of the time, such as the Longbow and crossbow, the matchlock gun held clear advantages.
Owing to its longer and finely sealed barrel, the matchlock gun had a faster initial bullet velocity, with shooting accuracy, range, and power far surpassing that of bows and crossbows. It could easily pierce a knight’s heavy plate armor from dozens of meters away, making it the new favorite on the battlefield.
However, as the waves of the Yangtze River advance, the glory of the light matchlock gun didn’t last long before it was replaced by the heavier, more advanced matchlock guns with greater power and longer range — truly a case of the new generation replacing the old.
Holding this light matchlock gun was like holding an "antique from a previous dynasty" for Chen Zhou, with its weathered and peeling gun body, the metal components around the trigger rusty and damaged, casting doubt on its accuracy and posing the risk of falling apart when fired.