[Note: Recently, I have re-sorted it, and the words "chestnut in the fire" and "coolie" are foreign words, which are the words that were introduced into China at the end of the Qing Dynasty.

Unlike the concrete factory and the glass factory, this firearms factory was built like a fortress, with a stone wall and a high red brick wall, and a small fortress on each side of the main entrance. Coupled with a trench nearly two zhang wide, the factory looked sturdier than many of the lower counties. From time to time, there was a loud roar and knocking sound from within the red wall, black and white smoke continued to rise from behind the wall, and the air was also filled with a pungent smell, all kinds of signs made the factory hideous.

Faced with a hint of uneasiness in his heart, Shen Yourong hesitated slightly, but still followed Akashi and the sergeant who led the way into the gate.

When you enter the door, there is another heavy brick wall, this door looks like an urn city, and the door that enters again is opened at a right angle on the right, Shen Yourong feels that the more the Australians are so solemnly arranged, the different status here becomes.

When the group turned around, they saw a team of people outside the inner gate already coming out.

The first person was thin and tall, wearing short underwear, not much different from those laborers on the river beach, the only eye-catching thing was probably only the bald head, Shen Yourong looked at this person like a leader, and secretly thought that this Australian monk could also be an official? And beside him, in addition to a few sergeants, there are also a few short-haired people who are dressed a little strangely, but looking at the temperament, he has already guessed eighty or ninety, and these people are probably also real Australians.

"In the Lower Song Dynasty, the Taiwan Road passed through Chang Kaishen, and the military gate worked hard all the way." After the person finished speaking, he immediately beckoned the sergeant next to him to bring a cold drink to relieve the heat, Shen Yourong was not polite, and drank a few more sips, and then followed Chang Kaishen into the inner wall.

When you enter this brick wall, you will realize that there is a world in it.

It turned out that the Australian firearms workshop was so big, and now it seems that it was shallow for him to refer to this place as a workshop in his heart. It's just that the road here is a little tortuous, and it is not as straight as the one seen in the port market before, but as far as the eye can see, you can still see houses built of iron frames, three or four stories high, and the size looks like barns.

The houses were all open, and from a distance it was still possible to tell that there were many black machines in operation, similar in style to those on the riverbank, but much larger, and probably driven by coal fires, and the principle was very strange, and if you could go in later, you would have to take a closer look.

Railroad tracks were laid in many parts of the factory, and workers dressed like the outside were busy pushing carts to carry wagons of iron ingots and steel blocks into the houses.

Chang Kaishen took the lead, and several veterans took Shen Yourong and his party to visit the cannon casting workshop first, and the huge heat of more than ten iron furnaces at the same time made it almost impossible for everyone to stand firmly. The workers were so tightly dressed that they even wore towels around their faces and inky goggles taut up from deerskin.

The red molten iron made a 'hissing' sound and flowed towards the pouring mouth of the model, and for a while the smoke was filled, making He Qiaoyuan cough violently, and he quickly covered his mouth and avoided it.

Shen Yourong is better in comparison, although he has never been to Guangdong, and he has not been to the fireworks of Foshan Town, but he also went to the government-run iron smelting in Zunhua when he was guarding the border in the north. As for Shen Shouyao and the two family members, they only stood on the spot, their eyes wide and they didn't know what to think in their hearts.

Shen Yourong had some thoughts about the Australian artillery since he saw the big iron ship, and now standing here, although his heart was shaken, but it strengthened his mind to see what was going on - today he really wanted to see how the incomparably powerful 'Australian artillery' in Akashi's mouth was made.

At least for the moment, the Australian's cannon casting method did not exceed his expectations, and the mold and pouring were no different from the practice of Daming Iron Metallurgy. It's just that this scene is much larger, and the equipment and methods used are more elaborate, and the momentum and efficiency are all up.

But in the next workshop, he even noticed something different—the cast cannon embryo was actually solid!

How does it work? At this time, I saw the workers operate a steam crane, lift the blast embryo steadily and vertically, send it to a hot oven for heating, and then lift the blast embryo again at a certain time.

After the workers operated, the pulley turned the gun embryo straight, and everyone pushed the cart forward, with a crisp sound, and the pulley was stuck. Shen Yourong looked up from that position, and it looked like a huge hammer.

I don't know how those workers operated, in the steam diffuse, Shen Yourong saw the huge hammer slide down from the top of the shelf, slammed the red-hot cannon embryo, and burst into flames.

The workers manipulated the iron tools, and took advantage of the interval when the hammer was re-lifted to turn the cannon embryo slightly at an angle, and the hammer swirled and fell. In this way, the red sparks continued to burst in the huge hammer sound, and the hard iron embryo was flattened and rounded like a ball of wheat candy under the hammer blow.

The loud shaking sound and high temperature made it almost impossible for the group to stay by the stove for a few more moments, Shen Yourong has led the troops for many years, and has also seen other scenes of iron smelting, but after watching it for a while, his clothes are still soaked with sweat.

But whether it was the pungent smell, the strong smoke, and the loud noise, Shen Yourong couldn't help himself. The powerful power of this machine seems to have a unique charm for him, and compared to the battle formations in Liaodong back then, it seems like a quiet breeze in the quiet backyard.

Dressed in clothes stained with black stains from smoke and sweat, the craftsmen manipulated the huge machines in the hustle and bustle to do the same thing over and over again, coupled with the shouts of those running and the green tendons on their muscles, Shen Yourong suddenly felt creepy in this strange environment.

Fear finally soaked through him, making him feel like he was losing his self-control, and he felt that he should get away from this place immediately, but an unprecedented force seemed unwilling to let him go. He was vaguely aware that he might be seeing something he shouldn't see, a power that no one in the world had ever harassed.

A door suddenly opened to him, and he couldn't help but want to see it.

The forged cannon embryo was loaded on an iron block and sent out of the room, and everyone was finally able to escape from this 'purgatory'.

In the next workshop, the forged blast embryos reappeared, this time with machines that rotated with iron shafts and belts. The fixed blast embryo is still held in place by hoop and brought to a set of knives at an angle. As the blast embryo rotated, wisps of shining iron filings were constantly peeled off the blast blank and splashed on the ground around it. As the tool is cut, a kind of black grease keeps flowing out of the machine, and when the blade is heated, it emits an indescribable odor.

But in contrast to this filthy smell, when the cannon embryo was teleported out of the belt array, the original beaten and mottled cannon embryo had become blue and shiny.

Looking at the mirror-like cannon body, Shen Shouyao was stunned, even though he was already well-informed among his peers, but it was inevitable to lose his mind when he saw such a scene.

Sharpening iron like clay - these are the four words that immediately pop into his mind.

He had seen Japanese swords sold in his father's family, but they were all made of the best steel, and it took countless efforts, and they were also treasured knives in Japan, and the sharpness of the Australian knives was still on them, but they were actually used for heavy work such as cutting artillery embryos.

But then, the teenager was even more shocked and inexplicable.

The freshly machined blast blanks were clamped up again, and a polygonal steel knife appeared at the right time, and the rotating tip of the flying block moved steadily towards the center of the solid blast embryo. The iron filings were constantly carried out by the blade from the muzzle of the gun, which was still mixed with the black dirty oil, and the smell of hot iron mixed with grease permeated again.

The Australians' guns are all drilled out with knives, and the Australians' knives are so powerful!

Shen Yourong didn't care about his son's expression, because he finally saw the finished product of the Australian cannon, the barrels of different sizes were shining, and they were neatly installed on the rack of the iron pulley, and Shen Yourong and the others couldn't know that the process of processing rifling was not shown here.

Master Shen looked at the situation in the workshop and secretly calculated, just in this piece of foundry alone, he was building more than thirty or forty cannons at the same time. In Daming, even if it is a Daye like Zunhua, it will take half a year just to supply all the raw materials, which is not counting the preparation of a month for pouring mud molds to dry.

Looking at the expressions of Shen Yourong and the others, Chang Kaishen secretly calculated, and he asked several of the cannons of different calibers to be pulled to the shooting range under the mountain, and several targets had already been drawn on the mountainside, and there were many signs standing in higher places, and on the white background of each brand, there was a big red character written in Song style, but they were all vulgar.

Shen Yourong read it carefully, but it was like the first seven laws - 'A sassy and heroic five-foot gun, the dawn of the first light on the battlefield.' The sons and daughters of China have many strange ambitions, and they do not love red clothes and love arms. ’

'Sons and daughters of China. Looking at these four words, Shen Yourong read them twice more in his heart, and felt a little touched, this Australian really regarded himself as a kind of Chinese.

As he was thinking this, the sound of the cannon had already sounded, like a thunderbolt, and another breath, and he saw thick smoke and dust rising from the target on the mountainside, and he saw that it was a target.

"It's breathtaking!" Seeing this momentum, Shen Yourong suddenly felt thrilled, "No wonder they all say that your firearms are sharp, and it's no wonder that the cannons made in this way can be compared to a few blacksmiths pouring molten iron." ”

"It's just some tricks, and it's not worth being so praised by the military." Chang Kaishen was quite proud in his heart, but he was very polite, "Earlier, the military gate saw Yang Niangzi of the third division, and I won't go around the corner, Yang Niangzi's meaning is actually the meaning of the Senate, I don't know if the military gate is willing to be this person?" ”

Shen Yourong looked silent, and waited for a moment before saying, "Yang Niangzi can say that your people are willing to sell artillery, I don't know if this matter can be taken seriously?" ”

Chang Kaishen had the expression of a cat seeing a fish, squinted his eyes and looked at Shen Yourong, even the bald head like a tea egg became more and more translucent, and he smiled: "How can it not be taken seriously, this is not willing to sell, that is not willing to sell, how can I make this strategy." ”

Shen Yourong still felt that it was difficult for Australians to accept the private awarding of the title, and he couldn't even call the word Jingluo, and he was thinking about how to get close to the title.

Zheng Jiefu, who had been with Chang Kaishen for a long time, had already given up half of his body and invited his hand.

"If it's not early today, the Economic Strategy Division has already prepared a banquet, why don't you talk while eating?"

[References]

1, "Daming Huidian"

2, "Records of Emperor Mingshen Zongxian"

3, "History of the Late Ming Dynasty" Fan Shuzhi

4, "Wanli Ye Ed" Shen Defu

5. "Examination of the Origin of Science in Fujian, Volume 75, Mr. Situ He Jingshan, Qiao Yuan"

6, "History of the Ming Dynasty • The Biography of Shen Yourong"

7, "History of the Ming Palace"

8, "Da Ming Law"

9. "Research on Folk Literature in the Ming Dynasty" Zhang Bo

10, "Seven Uniques: Inscription for the Female Militia" Mao Runzhi

11, "Book of Min" He Qiaoyuan

12, "The Book of Diseases of the World Counties" Gu Yanwu

13, "East-West Foreign Examination" Zhang Xie

14, "The Temple Stays in the Middle Song to Collect the Meeting" Dong Qichang