Before the end of the year, the courtiers were worthy of a three-day filial piety, and several cabinet ministers walked into the workshop of the Daming Firearms Bureau about thirty miles outside the city under the guidance of Wei Jun, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry.

They did not come to inspect, but to report the process of technical research on the delayed detonation technology of artillery shells that came to supervise the Ministry of Industry.

The plan targets of the various ministries were basically implemented, and the two mines connected to the Ministry of Rites were single-handedly eliminated by the emperor, and the difficulties in front of the cabinet were left with only one department left in the Ministry of Industry.

When we will be able to overcome this hurdle has become the most important thing for the Cabinet at present.

"So many difficult and difficult problems have been implemented, and the Ministry of Industry can't hold back the big guys."

The emperor's determination made Yang Shiqi feel his shoulders heavy, so his tone at the scene was also quite solemn: "Otherwise, because of the Ministry of Industry, everyone's credit will be lost, and everyone's faces will not look good." ”

Wei Jun was a little unhappy in his heart, but he was also under a lot of pressure now, as Yang Shiqi said, the tasks of each ministry were basically completed, and many of them were still overfulfilled.

The key is technological breakthroughs, where a large number of high-ranking officials and dignitaries can make the group of craftsmen at the bottom become extremely smart at a glance, and then break through the difficulties in one go.

Besides, just a lot of drawings and data in the hands of that group of craftsmen, Wei Jun himself can't understand it, but Yang Shiqi can understand it?

Summoned a head of the craftsman who developed the R&D, Wei Jun asked the latter to introduce the general situation, and as he expected, several cabinet ministers couldn't understand a word.

What is a firing pin fuse, which is called ignition initiation device embedded, expect Yang Shiqi and his group to understand, then there is no doubt that it is a joke.

They couldn't understand or understand the data of the ghost drawings marked on the drawings, but they didn't come to solve technical problems this time, but to provide non-technical support.

"Is there any data on the test gun?"

On a small plateau, Yang Shiqi asked.

"This one has."

Wei Jun hurriedly waved his hand and asked people to send a stack of question books, which were opened one by one: "The test gun data five years ago was ten cannons and six explosions, and now it is ten cannons and one explosion, but the same barrel can not be used because the barrel is overheated and easy to cause explosion, the fuse of this gunpowder shell is external, so the overheated barrel cannot be used, if it is controlled within five cannons, as long as there is no problem with the shell itself, it will not explode." ”

Yang Shiqi blinked when he heard this: "Doesn't that mean that this problem has been solved?" ”

Wei Jun suddenly smiled bitterly: "If the five cannons are used as the benchmark, it will indeed be solved, but when it comes to fighting, who can take care of the soldiers on the front line, in case of two more rows of artillery, once the chamber is blown up, it will be a dead battlefield."

When the time comes, this information will be returned, and Your Majesty will not want my head. ”

At the very least, the goal set by the Ministry of Industry is to ensure that the 15 to 20 guns are safe and sound.

"Can't you water the barrel because it's too hot?"

The question raised by Xie Jin fully proves the truth of the saying that laymen cannot lead insiders.

"How can you water it?"

Wei Jun smiled bitterly: "Xie Ge doesn't know, most of the cannons we use are made of wrought iron, and it is impossible to refine nine forged steel on a large scale to cast cannons, once it is overheated and watered, a light cough will cause the barrel to deform, and if it is serious, it will even cause the shell to not go out, and it will all be blocked in the barrel and explode." ”

Where will there be alloy steel with carbon, nickel, chromium, platinum and other metal elements added in the Ming Dynasty, and even the steel level of the nine forging steel compared to the later generations of the great steelmaking period of the local method is imitated and imitated, and even slightly insufficient, after all, there is no accurate pilot data to guide the melting point temperature, and it is up to the craftsmen themselves to explore.

The well-known national strength after the Industrial Revolution, that is, the production of steel and coal, makes sense, without high-quality steel, the modern military industry cannot exert its full power.

If you can't water it, you have to wait for it to cool naturally, and it doesn't last long.

"The barrel of the gunpowder shell is at least half of the life of the barrel that fires the original solid shell."

Wei Jun now scratched his head: "Therefore, the current difficulty encountered by the Ministry of Industry is not only to overcome the delayed detonation technology as soon as possible, but also to work refining and refining the barrel material." ”

After complaining about the bitterness, it was another professional analysis of Balala, and I heard Yang Shiqi and others have a big head.

"Okay, we don't understand these things, of course, professional things have to be done by professional people."

Yang Shiqi waved his hand again and again: "Let's be straight, what support does the Ministry of Industry need from the cabinet now?" ”

"What the cabinet can support, there may be only money and manpower left."

Wei Jun thought about it for a long time, and he could only think of this.

"To build a furnace to make steel stronger than the Nine Forged Steel, you need to add some metal other than pig iron, you need cupronickel or meteoric iron."

Cupronickel, a metal containing zinc and nickel, was discovered as early as BC and has been used as silver, but because of magazines, the purchasing power cannot be equated with sterling silver, and it has not been found to have any other role for thousands of years, so it gradually faded out of the historical stage.

However, in the past few years, the Ministry of Industry has tried one by one for this cannon-making business, and finally excavated the role of this white copper, mixed with iron and cast together, and the solidity will increase.

As for meteorites, that is, extraterrestrial meteorites, in modern terms, they are meteor fragments that fall from outside the universe.

Containing high-purity iron and nickel, the material is strong and pure, in ancient China, the so-called divine weapon, at every turn is the so-called extraterrestrial meteorite iron to create.

In fact, it contains high-purity nickel.

It's a pity that Zhu Yunwen is not from engineering, otherwise he would definitely be familiar with the major materials of alloy steel, so as to help guide the Ministry of Engineering to excavate, unlike now, the Ministry of Engineering of the Ming Dynasty can only rely on adding experiments again and again to determine which metal is useful.

"Cuproux ore is scarce, the Ministry of Industry now finds one in Kansai, but the supply is seriously insufficient, and it is necessary to send more people to excavate, in addition, there is a stripe of brown and black light red copper in the South Seas, which was burned and cast by rich merchants along the coast to make some gadgets, and the Ministry of Industry has tested it, and the efficiency is not worse than that of cupronickel. It is necessary to send additional manpower to Nanyang to purchase. ”

The light red copper with brown and black streaks in Wei Jun's mouth is the so-called red arsenic nickel ore.

Hearing that the left and right were nothing more than spending money, Yang Shiqi's heart became steady.

Is it still a matter of spending money to settle things?

"No problem."

Yang Shiqi directly took it: "First grant 30,000 labor slaves to the Ministry of Industry to dig white copper for you in the northwest, Qi Butang, and the household department came forward to find the maritime merchants in Quanzhou and asked the price of this red copper, buy, buy as much as you want, not bad for the three or five million taels of silver." ”

After speaking, he muttered.

"Anyway, after buying it back, it will be used to make cannons, and after the cannons are made, the money will be snatched back."

The crowd around them burst into laughter.

Spend money to hire people to work hard to mine, and then grab the money back when it's over.

This kind of unprofitable business is really pleasant to do.

What kind of face do you want, and your face can't be eaten as a meal, so it's better to be happy like this.

"Our old guys don't know how to make steel and cast cannons, Wei Butang, I'll leave it to you."

Yang Shiqi patted the latter's shoulder heavily, and said earnestly: "There are only ten months left, and the Ministry of Industry must not let Your Majesty and the cabinet down." ”

Wei Jun snorted slightly, he heard the killing intent from this sentence!

Frightened, his forehead sweated, and his chest was puffed.

"Please rest assured that Yang Ge and the cabinet will not be assured, in ten months, the Ministry of Industry will definitely hand in a perfect exam paper!"

That's it!