Chapter 6 Craftsmanship

Most of the vehicles were pulled by mules or donkeys. However, these vehicles made Zhang Xuan feel uncomfortable, too heavy without him.

First of all, there are no tires. It is all solid wood wheels, which are directly rolled over on the ground, which can leave a rut mark on the ground, which is still Zhang Xuan always has to walk on the official road, if he walks in the field, he may fall somewhere, and he will not be able to walk.

Also, Zhang Xuan found that the car seemed to have no bearings.

Without bearings and tires, the car is not dead, and it is a problem that it can go fast.

Tires, Zhang Xuan has no way to solve them, if you want to solve tires, you must first solve the rubber tree, solve the rubber tree, you must first lay down Southeast Asia, because the climate here is suitable for planting, this idea passed in Zhang Xuan's mind, and immediately extinguished his mind.

However, is there really no way to hit the bearing?

Zhang Xuan felt that it was not necessary.

With this idea in mind, Zhang Xuan rode to the craftsman's camp.

Although he had been to the craftsman's camp, when he came here again, Zhang Xuan still felt a word: "miserable."

Because it was summer, dozens of men were naked, and the bones on their bodies protruded one by one, as if they were covered with a layer of skin on top of the bones, which even made Zhang Xuan feel like he was seeing zombies. Even so, there were wounds on their bodies, on their backs, large and small, most of which were whipped from sticks and skins, and some were burned, as if they had been splashed by sparks while working. All of them are like this, as if they are challenging the limits of skinny and rugged, but even if they are thin like this, they still can't escape the labor, and they are still carrying heavy iron.

To tell the truth, the peasants of this era, no matter which one they are, can't escape the word "miserable" in Zhang Xuan's eyes, but among the craftsmen's camp, they are still the worst.

Zhang Xuan was very worried about whether these iron materials would crush these people to death.

"What's going on?" Zhang Xuan said: "I remember that in the craftsman camp, there are carriages? ”

An old man with gray hair fell to his knees with a thud and said, "Report to your lord, there is a carriage, but the horsepower is limited, and it can't pull the iron." ”

When Zhang Xuan looked at it, he found that there seemed to be nothing on top of the carriage, but in fact, it was full of pieces of iron.

These pig iron are extremely important strategic resources for the rebels, and they must not be abandoned. And the transportation of these things naturally has to be placed in the hands of these craftsmen, and even some blacksmith stoves are also carried on the carriage, these large and small iron lumps, are all used by these blacksmiths to eat, and they are things that must not be discarded.

These things, don't look at the small size, but they are all solid iron guys, much heavier than grain or something.

There was not much animal power allocated to the craftsmen's camp.

After all, for the rebels, the first thing to ensure is nothing else, that is, the combat effectiveness of the horse team, and then the combat effectiveness of the soldiers, and the status of these blacksmiths is equal. For the rebels, a large number of weapons were not made by themselves, but were stolen from the officials and soldiers, and the role of these blacksmiths was only used for tinkering.

After a big battle in the era of cold weapons, I don't know how many blades will be damaged, even if it is a well-made long knife, even if it cuts several people, it will be curled. This requires the blacksmith to re-hammer the blade, otherwise it will not work.

But so it goes. It is only natural that the blacksmith does not pay attention to it at all.

Zhang Xuan pondered for a while and said, "Dismount." ”

Zhang Xuan's personal soldiers were not foot soldiers, or foot soldiers on horseback.

This is also the convenience brought by Luo Yujiao's marriage to Zhang Xuan. Zhang Xuan himself had a few horses, but he provided a war horse for a team of 100 people, which was brought by Luo Dai. Zhang Xuan was the first to dismount, and then said, "Give these horses to the craftsmen to pull the carts." ”

"Your Excellency." Luo Dai suddenly changed color and said, "How can it be, this is a war horse?" Not a pack horse. ”

For Zhang Xuan, horses are just a means of transportation. Although Zhang Xuan is good at his horses, and spends a lot of time feeding and cultivating his feelings, he has never had the feeling of being a knight, living and dying with horses.

After all, no one wants to live and die with their car.

Maybe it's a problem with Zhang Xuan's riding skills. But for Zhang Xuan, after Zhang Xuan was in Nanyang, he trained and marched, and he also practiced it himself, and he could support it by walking sixty or seventy miles a day. Therefore, Zhang Xuan felt that this animal power should be used in the most important place.

The most important place is these blacksmiths.

Science and technology are the primary productive forces, and the best way to implement this is these craftsmen. Therefore, Zhang Xuan attaches great importance to these craftsmen, but in this way, some people are unwilling. For example, Luo Dai.

"It's an order." Zhang Xuan said: "If you don't want to, you can go back to the Chinese army by yourself." ”

Luo Dai gritted his teeth, Zhang Xuan could even hear the sound of Luo Dai's mouth gurgling, if it was possible, Luo Dai would probably want to eat Zhang Xuan.

Although Luo Dai served under Zhang Xuan, he was not too convinced by Zhang Xuan, he felt that Zhang Xuan was just a little white face, relying on nepotism, how could he compare to him, fighting with a knife and a gun.

But the official level crushed people to death. He snorted coldly in his heart, and said secretly: "When I have time in the future, I have to beg for the plate, his son-in-law, Lao Tzu will not serve." ”

No matter what he thought in his heart, it was not good not to give Zhang Xuan face on the spot. Hateful dismounted.

After Luo Dai dismounted, the rest dismounted and put their horses into the carriage.

Animal power is added. The carriage, which could not be pulled, began to move forward in a hurry.

These carriages are not much different from the Taiping cars that Zhang Xuan saw in later generations. Zhang Xuan asked, "Old man, may I ask your surname?" ”

The old man said: "Little old man, surnamed Wang, adults will call me Wang Blacksmith." ”

While walking, Zhang Xuan asked casually, "Old man Gui Geng?" ”

The blacksmith Wang said, "Little Lao'er has six out of thirty. ”

"Thirty-six?" Zhang Xuan was taken aback. Looking at the wrinkles on Blacksmith Wang's face, coupled with his gray hair, people believe him when he is over sixty years old, Zhang Xuan never thought that he was only thirty-six years old? It was so surprising to him.

Zhang Xuan sighed in his heart, the more he understands this era, the more he understands the cruelty of this era, thirty-six years old is an old man, and in the entire craftsman camp, I am afraid there are no more than thirty-six people.

"Bearings, will they be made?" Zhang Xuan asked.

"I don't know what the bearings you are talking about?" Blacksmith Wang asked cautiously.

Zhang Xuan gestured to Wang Tiejun and said: "It is a big iron ring with a small iron ring, and there are some balls in the middle, which are put on the axle, just like this, to reduce friction." ”

The blacksmith said, "My lord, I know what you said, this is a roller, and I can beat this thing, but it takes a lot of work. ”

Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, he was afraid that if the blacksmith said that he couldn't build it, Zhang Xuan would have no choice, and it would be easy for him to compare a bearing to the blacksmith, but it would be a fantasy to let Zhang Xuan personally preside over the research and development of a bearing.

Zhang Xuan said: "You build a --- for me first" Zhang Xuan secretly said in his heart: "A carriage needs at least two, and the carriage of the army needs at least several hundred." "Fifteen hundred."

"Plop." The blacksmith fell to his knees with a thud and said, "My lord, even if you kill the little old man, you will never be able to build it, these rollers are coming." ”

Zhang Xuan pulled the blacksmith up and said, "Get up, you can't fight it, and if you don't talk about things that can't be beaten, no one will kill you." How are you going to build it? ”

"Such a bearing can't be made of good steel." The blacksmith said, "Therefore, in my opinion, I can only think of making two iron rings, and then casting a batch of iron beads, and then finding a way to assemble these things." ”

Zhang Xuan listened and said: "Why can't you build a batch of iron molds first, then cast them all, and then assemble them?" ”

Blacksmith Wang said: "It's not that I don't want to, but I can't, there are too many burrs in the things that are cast, and the specifications are also of different sizes, and they must be carefully polished to get together." Blacksmith Wang told Zhang Xuan in detail.

But Zhang Xuan didn't understand one thing.

He is not a blacksmith, and the blacksmith industry has almost disappeared in the future, and Zhang Xuan's understanding of some things is not at all the same as that of Wang Blacksmith.