The low production of guns, thus affecting the expansion of the regular army, has always been a big problem faced by the Tang Dynasty, and it has been like this since the Huangzhushan era, and it has never been truly alleviated.

Although the output of guns in the Tang Dynasty has expanded with the expansion of the Tang Dynasty, more and more craftsmen have been collected, and the raw materials have become larger and larger, but relatively speaking, the number of troops in the Tang Dynasty is also getting larger and larger.

As a result, the army's shortage of guns is also getting bigger and bigger.

In the Huangzhushan era, there was a shortage of dozens of guns, and after taking Zhengtai County, there was a shortage of hundreds of guns, and after going south to Guangxi, what was lacking was not dozens or hundreds, but thousands.

This is all according to the current existing establishment of the Tang Dynasty Division, if it is according to Li Xuan's ideal modern army establishment, and the light infantry uses muskets of all colors, what is missing is not thousands, but tens of thousands.

Due to the shortage of guns, it is extremely difficult to expand the army.

And this is why Li Xuan is so concerned about the output of the Zhaoqing Arsenal, he doesn't care about how big and good the construction is, he only cares about how many muskets and how many artillery pieces this arsenal can produce in a month.

Hearing Li Xuan's culture, Zhou Kesong immediately replied: "Your Majesty, the Zhaoqing Arsenal is still in a temporary state of emergency during the trial production period, the output is slightly low, I am afraid that only 350 two-year rifles can be produced in April, but this number will gradually increase, and by May, there should be 450 rifles, and in June, it should be able to stabilize at the level of 500." ”

"The first three months is the stage of temporary trial production, and after three months, it will be relocated to the new plant one after another, and various supporting facilities will be gradually built, and the output will be further improved, and after half a year, it is expected to reach a monthly output of more than 800!"

The output of guns in the Tang Dynasty is actually not low, as early as the Xingquanfu era, its two major workshops in Zhengtai County and Xingquanfu City were able to produce 500 muskets per month, but at that time, it was accelerated manufacturing at any cost, and it was very cost-effective in terms of cost control.

Subsequently, with the southward movement of the Tang Dynasty, many workshops were also established in the capital of Liuzhou, and they were subsequently integrated into the Liuzhou Arsenal, and then a Wuzhou Arsenal was also established in Wuzhou.

But the scale of these two arsenals is not large, to be honest, the scale of these two arsenals together, is not as large as the arsenals in Xingquan Mansion and Zhengtai County in the past, and the output is also about the same.

In addition, a key point is that with the southward shift of the strategic center of gravity of the Tang Dynasty, the workshops in Xingquan Mansion, Zhengtai County and other places have been relocated, and now there are only a small number of ammunition workshops in Xingquan Mansion, and the gun workshops have been completely suspended, because the craftsmen have been transferred to Liuzhou, Wuzhou, and Zhaoqing.

So in the past three or four months, in fact, the output of guns in the Tang Dynasty has not been greatly improved, and even declined in a certain period of time, and by now in April, the total output has exceeded the previous Xingquanfu era, reaching more than 600.

Among them, the Liuzhou Arsenal occupies the lion's share, with a monthly output of about 400 pieces, and the Wuzhou Arsenal has a smaller output, only 200 pieces.

The monthly output of 600 muskets is simply not enough for the Tang Dynasty Division's needs to fight and expand the army, not to mention the expansion of the army, according to the existing establishment of an infantry regiment will have seven or eight hundred rifles, and then in addition to the infantry regiment, other troops also need to be equipped with muskets. In addition, in addition to the expansion of the army, the battle losses of the replenishment troops are actually a large number.

After every battle, the troops will always lose some muskets for various reasons, in addition to the daily training of the troops, which will also lose muskets, which requires a steady stream of new guns for these existing units.

And this number is also quite huge, for example, the 1st Infantry Brigade has actually been replenished with at least 500 muskets since it went south to Guangxi, and if this number is a little more, it is enough to build a new infantry regiment.

Now if the Zhaoqing Arsenal can be put into operation smoothly, even if it is only two or three hundred muskets in the trial production stage, it can greatly alleviate the musket shortage of the Tang Dynasty, if it is produced on a large scale in half a year, then a Zhaoqing Arsenal can be equal to the total output of the two arsenals in Liuzhou and Wuzhou.

After hearing what Zhou Kesong said, Li Xuan nodded slightly, he was still quite satisfied with this figure, although many craftsmen in the Zhaoqing Arsenal were withdrawn from Xingquan Mansion, but more of them were craftsmen recruited locally in Guangdong, and it was already relatively rare to be able to achieve this kind of output in this case.

And he also knows that relying on hand-made muskets, it is also very good to be able to produce six or seven hundred muskets a month, although this Zhaoqing Arsenal is said to be a factory, but in fact, it is still a handicraft industry.

Each musket is built by the craftsmen themselves, without the use of any mechanical assistance.

Thinking of this, Li Xuan said: "How are the waterwheels and lathes I said some time ago?" ”

When Zhou Kesong heard this, he was embarrassed: "Your Majesty, we have made the waterwheel and lathe, but now it is not very useful!" ”

Hearing this, Li Xuan frowned slightly: "Why is it unbearable?" ”

If you want to increase the output of industrial products such as guns and guns, you can only play industrialization, and industrialization requires power and equipment, and in the era when there was no even steam engine, the only power that could be used was a waterwheel.

As for the machinery, it can only be built by yourself.

In the past, there was no time or conditions to do this, but after settling down in Zhaoqing, relying on such a Xijiang River, it was a waste not to engage in the hydrodynamic industry, so Li Xuan would let the people below to engage in waterwheels and lathes.

Whether it is a waterwheel or a lathe, in fact, it is not a new thing, many craftsmen heard the first thing, immediately came back to their senses, waterwheel, is not to let the water provide power, and then drive the movement of the equipment, thousands of years ago ancestors had a waterwheel.

And the lathe, isn't it through rapid rotation, and then use the tool for processing, the principle is very simple, so when Li Xuan asked them to engage in lathe processing, he didn't think it would be too much trouble.

At this time, Zhou Kesong said: "Although we have built the waterwheel and the lathe, but the linkage is more troublesome, and the waterwheel is constantly changing because of the water flow, the things provided are also constantly changing, and it is very troublesome to want to transmit it stably to the lathe, in addition, this tool is also a big trouble, the tool we made is barely OK for processing wood, but it is not very difficult to use when trying to process the barrel!" ”

Hearing this, Li Xuan also felt helpless, if you let him talk about waterwheels and lathes, he will also know a rough idea, but he doesn't know the detailed technical details, in addition, this tool problem involves a seemingly inconspicuous, but very important discipline, that is, raw materials.

Ordinary cast iron, and even knives made of low-quality steel smelted now, are naturally not good, you have to use special steel, at the very least, you have to make a slightly passable steel!

In this year, some of the steel that can be mass-produced on a small scale, that is, the steel used by the Tang Dynasty to build all-steel waist knives, if measured by the quality standards of later generations, it is not even scrap steel, and the quality is poor enough to make people desperate.

Of course, there are some good steels, for example, the quality of the steel that the blacksmith spent countless hours hammering is slightly better, and Li Xuan's sword uses this kind of steel, but it is worth noting that the number of such steels is very small.

But if you look at it by the industrial standards of later generations, it is actually not much better.

Just take a kitchen knife from later generations to ancient times, it is definitely an artifact in the artifact, and you with a kitchen knife in your hand may not be able to mix the prestige of a kitchen knife hero!

For the problems encountered in trying to use waterwheels and lathes, Li Xuan has no way to solve the tool, the special steel required for the tool is already out of the category of ordinary steel, Li Xuan did not remember the formula of these special steels in his previous life, and the mechanical transmission can be solved, but to be honest, he doesn't have to solve it himself, there are so many craftsmen, there will always be a way.

Besides, Li Xuan may not be better at playing with these waterwheels than those craftsmen!

"The waterwheel can't be used for the time being, you can use storage or manpower!" At this time, Li Xuan gave a lesson to a group of officials and craftsmen under his hand: "As long as the processing efficiency can be improved, all kinds of methods are possible, and it doesn't have to be on the waterwheel!" ”

"The problem of knives, you think about it again, if the current knives can't process steel, then it's always okay to process wood, and also, this ordinary steel can't make knives, that is, test a few times, Guozi Jian has also said, steel and iron are almost just the amount of carbon, since this steel can be carbonized, naturally you can add something else, test a few more times, this good steel will not come out!"

Now Li Xuan can't wait to be a science student back then, but unfortunately, he is a liberal arts student, Nima still learns English, comes to this era to rebel, can English is useful, it is better to learn history and Chinese, if it is a physical chemistry, it is even better, get the nuclear bomb out in minutes!

However, Li Xuan also knew that these craftsmen were of little use in saying that these were basic, many of these craftsmen were actually illiterate, and even the Royal Academy of Sciences was useless, the current Royal Academy of Sciences was just a place for the elderly, and there was no scientific research strength at all, most of them didn't even know what carbon was, and to develop new materials and make new tools, they had to rely on the Guozi Supervision Academy and the young military camp.

Especially in the young military camp, the scientific research ability of a small number of senior students in it is enough to beat the world!