Since his rebirth, this is the first time that Ning Yu has been to Ningfu, Hanyang City.

When he saw those cowardly women, pulling the two children to say hello to him, Ning Yu was a little at a loss.

The women were his titular aunts, and the two children were his cousins, named Ning Ze and Ning Jie, one was ten years old and the other was only eight years old.

In fact, Ning Yu also has a sister-in-law, but this sister has married the prefect of Huangzhou Mansion next door, and it is rare to come back.

After all, this season is not as good as the future generations, whether it is transportation or communication, it is not so smooth.

Ning Zhongyuan looked at this son who was now a talent, and was very satisfied, what is the situation now? Hugh said that the children of officials in this city, large and small, were ordinary merchants, and they were all extremely lazy and arrogant. And his Ning family has a son like this, which can be called the blessing of the ancestors.

Dinner. Ning Zhongyuan pulled Ning Yu into the study, and asked the people in the house to make two cups of tea, this tea is also the mountain tea that Ning Yu collected in Yunmeng, Ning Zhongyuan felt good after tasting it, so he has been keeping it in the study.

Ning Yu briefly talked about the apprenticeship, although the intermediate links were hidden a lot, but it still made Ning Zhongyuan amazed: "This master's temper is still like this, and there is no difference from back then, but Yu'er, you have to study hard, this master is a really capable person!" ”

Ning Yu thought of a section and said the matter of Chen Shien, especially the last threatening sentence, in Ning Yu's eyes, this sentence seemed unusual.

Ning Zhongyuan snorted lightly after hearing this, and said: "A few days ago, there was news from the Governor's Mansion that the military camp was to check and record the weapons of the military camp, and this matter was originally a formality - but that old boy, who actually relied on himself to hold the Fu Biao, wrote to the governor, to focus on reviewing the military equipment of our city defense battalion, and to see the drill of our city defense battalion!" ”

"What is said about Hanyang City is related to the safety of the government, but also to the safety of the entire Huguang Province, so we must not slack off. But what is the background of that old boy, Lao Tzu is still not clear? Relying on the relationship of Governor Zhang, a good Fu standard was tossed around, and the so-called military equipment had already been sold out. ”

Speaking of this, Ning Zhongyuan sighed again and said: "I don't want to talk about the combat strength of this city garrison, but it is also one of the best in this Huguang area, and it is okay to do anything else, but this cannon is all the goods of the previous Ming Dynasty, and it has long been unusable, and it was also taken away by Qian Ying of Yunmeng last month." ”

When Ning Yu heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty in his heart, after all, he still caused the trouble himself, and said: "Father, this time it is still the trouble I caused, and I will find a way to solve this problem." ”

Ning Zhongyuan said with a smile: "You bastard boy, what is it to kill someone, how can the people of my Ning family really be afraid of anyone?" Don't worry, these days I'm making a deal with those generals in the next house, and I'm going to buy a few cannons at a high price and come back, so it's okay. ”

Ning Yu thought for a while, and said: "I'm afraid it's difficult, this time it's definitely not my Hanyang Mansion to inspect the military equipment, I'm afraid that the neighboring state capital will also face this problem, and I want to know what those soldiers will do, not to mention that you go to buy artillery, I'm afraid they also want to buy cannons everywhere, and there is still a Chen Li secretly watching your every move, I'm afraid that if you do this, you will be caught." ”

Ning Zhongyuan poured the tea tea into his throat together, then put the cup on the table fiercely, and said: "This time I planted it, and it was just a punishment and demotion, after this time, I will go to find the old boy's bad luck!" ”

Ning Yu was a little curious, and said: "Father, my Ning family is also a military family, and this cannon is no stranger to my Ning family, after all, my great-grandfather's old man started by making cannons, and now there is no shortage of iron materials in our workshop, why don't you let the family help cast it?" ”

Ning Zhongyuan smiled bitterly: "How can you kid understand the mystery of making artillery, you Lao Tzu and I have also been exposed to artillery since childhood, this time is too late, now it is away from the review period, but in January, even if it is forcibly cast, it will explode once it is test-fired, how can it be used?" ”

Ning Yu knew what Ning Zhongyuan meant, this year's cannon was mainly made through the mud fan casting method to cast the cannon, before casting the cannon need to be based on the caliber of the gun mold, the outer mold and the inner mold were made with mud first, and then the outer mold was hoisted outside the inner mold with the axis of unity, and the bronze or steel solution was poured into it, which can be cast into the gun body.

One of the most important is that even if the mud fan needs to be dried naturally after it is done, if it is forcibly baked with charcoal fire, it is often dry on the outside and wet on the inside, and the water is steamed into moisture when casting, resulting in honeycomb-shaped holes in the cast artillery, which is easy to explode when fired, which is why Ning Zhongyuan said that it is easy to blow up the chamber if it is forced in a month.

To solve this problem, it is actually very simple, that is, to cast with iron molds. A hundred years later, Gong Zhenlin of Jiaxing County, Zhejiang Province felt the impracticality and cumbersomeness of the overall casting method of Chinese clay molds, and was determined to reform, and later invented the iron mold casting method in 1841, and this method was 30 years earlier than Europe.

After all, the clay fan can only be used once, and each time the cannon needs to be redone, and the iron mold can be used many times, without cleaning the gun chamber, eliminating the defects of the mud mold cannon multi-honeycomb easy to explode, and shortening the cycle of the cannon casting. ”

Ning Yu also thought of this method, and said: "Father, a few days ago, I saw from a miscellaneous book of the previous dynasty that the cast cannon may use an iron mold, and it can be used many times, and it will not cause holes in the cannon body due to the dry outside and wet inside, and naturally it will not explode." ”

Ning Zhongyuan was a little skeptical, and said, "The method you said is really feasible?" ”

Ning Yu smiled: "Whether it works or not, we can give it a try." Father, you can contact the state capital next door first, and I can test this new cannon casting method first, and if one of the two is feasible, then it will be done. ”

Ning Zhongyuan came to confidence at this time, and said: "Maybe most of the artillery technology of the previous dynasty has been lost, so that this method has not been handed down. The artillery technology mastered by the Qing Dynasty was not much stronger than that of the former Ming Dynasty, and the cannons of the past hundred years were just improved on the basis of the red-coated cannons. ”

Ning Yu thought it was true, the artillery-making technology of other eras and countries was constantly rising, but this Qing Dynasty was not as good as it was year by year.

Eighty years later, in the fourth year of Jiaqing, the Qing court planned to renovate the 160 old antiques of the previous dynasty - "Shenshu Cannon" and pull them back to the battlefield.

Before the Yiyan War, Guan Tianpei in order to improve the defensive posture of the Humen Fort, built 40 new cannons, after test firing, 40 became 30, because the other 10 were blown up, one of the bombed cannons had holes in the barrel, which could "store four bowls of water".

Later, the defeat of the Qing army can be imagined, not to mention what is greasy in the middle, purely from the perspective of cannon casting technology, only the Manchu Qing artillery technology is slowly declining.