Driven by a huge waterwheel with a height of more than 20 meters, relying on the rotation of the gears, the crank arm is brought up high, and the hammer head at the top of the crank arm falls high, forging the iron blocks or iron bars placed on the horn, and the blacksmiths skillfully turn over the iron blocks and iron bars, and when they are forged and formed, they are then beaten by the blacksmiths to make the required weapons or armor parts.

In contrast to the previous middle-aged men or white-haired old men who were all over thirty or forty years old, many young blacksmiths joined in, and although many were apprentices, one day, they would become the new skilled talents of the ironworks.

The red molten iron flows down the channel and enters the molds along the pouring opening, which is the casting of the bullet casing.

As for the production of the bullet handle, the production of the fuse, as well as the production of gunpowder, it was carried out in different workshops.

The assembly workshop is the most complex and most populous department, and the personnel are all family members of veterans of the Loyal Army, which is naturally for the sake of secrecy. The assembly shop is usually busy, with dozens of installers always concentrating on the assembly. According to the current output of the iron mill, it can probably produce more than 1,000 sky-shaking thunders per day, which is already the current limit.

From the first year of Jingkang to the third year of Jingkang, nearly two years of repeated improvement, the production and technology of the earth-shaking thunder has tended to be stable, and the number of stocks in ordinary times is basically about 2-30,000.

Wang Song proclaimed the two rivers, and the earth-shaking thunder began large-scale production. Up to now, there is a team of more than 500 people dedicated to the production and assembly of earth-shaking thunder, which, like the production of feather arrows and armor, are the most labor-intensive battlefield weapons.

Shafan shell casting, grinding, polishing, bullet handle production, assembly, etc., are all very strict requirements.

"When the cartridge case is charged, first check whether the thickness of the cartridge case is uniform and whether the thickness is too thick. Fill the gunpowder into the cartridge case with a paper funnel and tamp it with a wooden stick. Remember, be careful, be careful!"

Lin Tianyou picked up a bullet casing and patiently explained to everyone while doing a demonstration.

Most of the women in charge of assembling are ingenious people. In these delicate tasks, women are indeed much better than men.

Fireworks are strictly prohibited in the firearms workshop, everyone must be searched when they enter, and there is also a strict inspection system when assembling, and the chance of an accident is basically zero.

"Don't think that this is just a temporary thing, if you do it well, you will be a person in the iron shop for the rest of your life, just like the ministers of the government, you will not worry about eating and drinking for the rest of your life."

Lin Tianyou said loudly: "Wang Xianggong said that as long as everyone works hard, he will definitely find ways to make everyone live a good life." Everybody's going to get it!"

Lin Tianyou had just finished his instruction, and before he had time to take a break from drinking water, a craftsman had already hurried over and told him that the improved artillery could be tested.

Now, although it is only the simplest and primitive copper pipe, if you try a few more times, it will be a smoothbore artillery, and maybe it will not be long before a more powerful breech gun, or even a musket, can be built.

The artillery Wang Song wanted, weighing about 300 catties, and the small cannon was less than 100 catties, easy to carry, suitable for field warfare, and could be fired with shotguns and solid bullets, whether it was against the warlike Jurchens, or the Western Xia iron cavalry that came and went like the wind, it was no longer suitable.

Wang Song was not an expert in munitions, and even in later generations, he would not be able to build artillery, not even the simplest smoothbore cannon in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

But Wang Song knew the principle, and the basic structure of the smoothbore artillery could not be more obvious. A straight tube with a thin front and a thick back, the back end is closed, and a fire door can be left, without any high-tech things in it. Its basic parts of the body, the medicine room, the gun tail, etc., can be imitated.

For improvised artillery, the high-tech thing is gunpowder, Wang Song has successfully developed it, and later generations he made a living from it, and also died because he stepped on the line.

The structure of the smoothbore gun is simple, and after several days of verification, Wang Song obtained the weight of several light guns. However, the specific design dimensions, including the thickness of the gun, the size of the muzzle, the thickness of the barrel, and the size of the chamber, are to be obtained through testing.

Primarily speaking, Wang Song decided to start with the simplest cannon.

Knowing the approximate length of the cannon, the specific gravity of copper is also easily compared with the specific gravity of water, and once the caliber of the gun is determined, the size of the gun is easily calculated.

The melting point of copper is only 1083 degrees, which is much lower than that of iron. Compared with iron cannons made of iron molds, bronze cannons are of better quality, less prone to exploding, and much easier to cast.

There are many copper mines in Hebei, and there will be no problems with the supply of copper for the time being. When smelting, about 10% of lead is added, which can be used to cast bronze cannons.

If the hardness of the fine iron used in the casting cannon is not enough, it is easy to whiten, and the iron cannon chamber cannot withstand the pressure of granular gunpowder, which can easily cause an accident of exploding. Bronze has good ductility and is easy to process. Bronze cannons can reach a lifespan of more than 1,000 rounds, while cast-iron cannons are only about half of those of bronze cannons.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, coal was used for iron smelting in the north and charcoal was used in Guangdong, which made the sulfur content in pig iron in Guangdong much lower than that in pig iron in the north. High sulfur content means that pig iron becomes brittle and its quality decreases. Therefore, the quality of the artillery cast in Guangdong is much higher than that of the artillery cast in the north.

Just using copper to cast a cannon, it hurts to think about it, but it is a copper coin to cast a cannon, which is really luxurious.

A few months ago, he had already drawn the general graphics of the cannon and gave it to Lin Tianyou, asking him to start with the development of the simplest small cannon.

Wu'an County is located in the north of the Zhanghe River, has been in the front line of the Song and Jurchen war, the location of the iron mill is close to the Taihang Mountains, the terrain is complex, there are many hills, it is difficult to carry out the battle of large troops, so the war has not yet spread.

It's just that there are frequent wars in Hebei, and a large number of people are rushing to the Taihang Mountains between the two rivers.

"Li Xiaochun, Lin Tianyou, recruit troops on the spot in Tiefang, if the number is too large, send them to Xiangzhou after reorganization, and hand them over to Yue to control."

If there are more lice, you are not afraid of biting, and if you absorb one more person, you may be able to save a family. It's really not good, a dead horse should be a live horse doctor, and another idea will solve it.

Copper water flows out of the furnace like a stream, slowly flowing into a mold, forming a simple tube, which is the simplest artillery barrel.

Cool down, and then drill out the gun door on the gun body, and then go through a series of procedures such as polishing and polishing to make the inner wall of the gun smooth, and detect whether the gun body is defective, cracking, and water seepage.

When the first small cannon was cast and happily pushed to the front by the craftsmen, Wang Song almost spit out a mouthful of tea in his mouth.

This shape is ugly, I don't know who is still at the front of the barrel, casting a delicate and small tiger head on it, it looks like a tiger, is this a battlefield weapon or a private custom craft?

In order to test the secrecy of the artillery, Wang Song deliberately chose a hidden mountain forest, and the soldiers isolated the forest to ensure that no outsiders entered.

"Everyone retreat far away, don't be hurt by the artillery!"

According to Wang Song's arrangement, Lin Tianyou told everyone to step back and cover their ears.

After the small cannon was fixed, the gunpowder was loaded, and a hundred iron pellets were also loaded, Wang Song ignored the dissuasion of everyone and stepped forward to personally light the fuse.

He wanted to see how powerful this artillery was, and whether it could change the times.

With a loud bang, the small cannon was fired, and a thick smoke rose from the muzzle.

Just listening to the sound of the cannonball, Wang Song couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

When he went over to take a look, he saw that on the two-centimeter-thick wooden board 100 meters in front of him, some lead shots had sunk into it, and some fell to the ground, and no lead shot penetrated the board!

"Change to solid bullets!"

Seeing the expression on Wang Song's face, Lin Tianyou panicked and hurriedly shouted loudly.

This time it was Lin Tianyou himself who lit the fuse, the iron ball roared out, and the wooden board 100 meters away made a "fluffy" sound, the wooden board did not break, and the iron ball was bounced back and fell to the ground.

Everyone else shouted with joy, apparently unaware of the true power of the artillery.

Wang Song laughed and said: "Everyone has done a good job, at least this artillery can fire shells, which means that we have done a good job!"

Although the 100-meter plank failed to penetrate, the effect was greatly reduced, and even the bow and crossbow were not as good, but the artillery was really studied, but the shooting distance and power were not so great!

Wang Song groaned: "God bless, add two more taels of medicine!"

Lin Tianyou increased the number of primers, reloaded the iron ball, lit the extended fuse, and ran away.

The explosion of "Peng" sounded, and everyone ran over to look again, and the 100-meter plank was still not broken, but there was a little crack.

Everyone tried several more times, and felt that the limit of the amount of explosives had been reached, and at a distance of 100 meters, the planks still did not crack, which seemed to be the cause of the artillery itself.

Wang Song came to the cannon and looked at the artillery. The cannon body is hot, the length has not changed, it must be that the medicine room is too short, and the caliber is too thick, the cannon body is too thin, and the iron ball is too heavy.

"Don't be discouraged, this cannon can't work, it has to be melted and recast, double the size of the medicine room, reduce the caliber by half an inch, and try again!"

Looking at the group of listless subordinates, Wang Song shook his head and said.

"God bless, don't be discouraged!"

Wang Song pondered for a while, and told Lin Tianyou: "Tianyou, if what I expect is good, get two or three more times, and it will probably be fine." There are several ways to transform and cast cannons at the same time. If a cannon can shoot about 300 to 400 paces and penetrate a two-inch plank, it is basically a success!"

The most perfect condition for the launch of the cannonball is to push the cannonball to the mouth of the pipe at the moment when the gunpowder is completely burned, so that the range is the longest and the most powerful.

Therefore, in order to maximize the power of the artillery, it is necessary to test it again and again, pay attention to the size of the shells and the amount of gunpowder, and finally calculate the excellent ammunition ratio.

And this test over and over again is the only way to science.

Lin Tianyou nodded and said, "What the minister said is very true. Next time, the villain will try a few more cannons, and make changes in the medicine room and caliber, I believe that he will not disappoint Xianggong!"

Wang Song nodded. Every scientific progress is the accumulation of countless attempts and tears of blood and tears. Standing on the shoulders of those who came before me, I still have to suffer all kinds of setbacks.

Sure enough, it is "shallow on paper, and I never know that I have to bow to it", so people are honest and do not deceive.