Chapter 41: Firearms (1)

Shi Bin's method of recruiting troops is very simple - open a porridge shop. And the chopsticks don't fall down, even if there is a real product, it still attracts many people to see it.

Although many people are hungry and dizzy, people are thinking animals after all, no one believes that pies will fall from the sky, maybe they drink porridge one day, and the next day they become people's long-term workers, so the porridge boiled in the porridge shop in the first few days is eaten by some people who are too hungry to survive.

As soon as the refugees finished eating, Shi Bin's people would run over to "guide", saying that if the person who ate porridge could bring a man who was in good health, he would bring a pipe of five nests, and if he came, he would cash it out immediately, and he would never be in arrears.

It has reached the point of starvation, and it doesn't matter whether this promise is true or false, at least those who go to drink porridge are indeed eaten for nothing, and anyone can eat it.

The influence of public opinion is amazing, and when someone really gets five nests because of the introduction of a man, and he does not become the long-term worker of the porridge shop owner, everything is beyond doubt.

With such a real example, most of the people who conveyed this message were fellow villagers, which naturally attracted those strong men who had no food to eat.

The remaining battalions of men and horses were quickly recruited, although they all looked malnourished, but I believe that as long as they are given to two people, these men who are in the prime of life will soon become strong sergeants again.

With sufficient food and wages, the two armies of water and land are fully equipped with men and horses, and their morale is high. The wood-handled thunder energy used for defense at close range, and the tiger squat cannon for long-distance attack are also produced steadily, and this is also a well-equipped army in less than three months, and it must be an elite soldier after one or two battles, and the situation makes everyone very happy.

However, the lightweight long-range offensive weapon has been empty, which makes Shi Bin, who is used to watching old sleeves, Hanyang-made, Japanese 38-style, and German-style 98K on TV, very unhappy. Without this kind of individual firearms, even if all of them used the current firearms, they would not be able to effectively attack in the war with the Yuan people.

You don't have to think about it to know how pitiful it is for heavy infantry wearing dozens of kilograms of armor, and how chic it is to hold only a ten-pound gun and dozens of bullets.

But it is always a disadvantage to fight this assault rifle, which has a short service life and little accuracy, and a group of cavalrymen who are very mobile.

Thinking of this, he asked Wang San to summon Xie Qiangbing into the mansion. Xie Qiangbing is also a smart person, usually Shi Bin's entourage is Wang San, and now he is called to ask about firearms. So he took it upon himself to take with him two craftsmen who were experienced in the manufacture of firearms.

Knowing that the weapons made in Hanyang in the Republic of China are all standard equipment of Chinese rifles, he does not have much hope for the current manufacturing technology of guns, and just wants to improve the service life and effective attack distance, after all, this bird gun is still in use in the Qing Dynasty.

As soon as Xie Qiangbing entered the door with two craftsmen, Wang San hurriedly pulled a few people in, only saying that the eldest brother's mood was not right in the past two days, and he was sitting on the desk and reading "Wujing General Essentials" for a while happy and sad, I am afraid that there is something wrong.

Xie Qiangbing comforted his resourceful brother and asked him to relax, he already knew why his eldest brother was so emotionally unstable, and said that he had a way to solve this problem.

Hearing Xie Qiangbing's confident tone, Wang San's heart also settled down, and then looked at Xie Qiangbing and the two craftsmen behind him, and Wang San himself understood the reason.

Seeing Shi Bin sitting on the main seat of the hall, Xie Qiangbing and Wang San humbly saluted. Looking at Xie Qiangbing's expression, Shi Bin knew that he had guessed his worries. So he said directly: "Brother Qiang, I want to equip the soldiers with firearms, so that the brothers will have fewer casualties." But this Great Song Assault Rifle really doesn't seem to be very useful, is there any way you can improve its utility? ”

Shi Bin has actually thought of rifling, but this one must be difficult now, and it must be a combination of technologies to be feasible. What's more, he is just a gun enthusiast, so he understands a few data and terms, and the specific operation is even more of a layman, and these craftsmen who are called Confucian contempt and only know how to "strange skills and tricks" have to do it.

"Big brother, this assault rifle is made of a giant bamboo barrel, so it is not heat-resistant, and the gun will be discarded in a short time. So first of all, it is necessary to improve the quality of the barrel. Xie Qiangbing was ready to answer casually.

"I know all this, and I just read "The General Essentials of the Martial Arts" to understand a little. Is there a way to improve the quality of this barrel? For example, steel is used to make the body of a gun? Shi Bin said firmly.

While asking, he stressed to Wang San and Xie Qiangbing that this was a top-secret plan, and all those who knew the secret must be effectively controlled to prevent leakage to ensure everyone's safety and efforts would not be in vain because of the leak.

Seeing that the eldest brother trusted him so much, Xie Qiangbing told everything he knew without reservation. Seeing that the commander also cherished his subordinates, the two craftsmen were also endless.

It turned out that the Great Song Dynasty could also make good steel, but the imperial court was rotten, and the funds were deducted, and then the layers were exploited, and even the giant bamboo tubes were shoddy in order to complete the quantity. However, even if the imperial court does not decay, the cost of making good steel is not low, so I never thought of using steel to make the body of the gun.

Thinking of the giant bamboo barrel as the body of the gun, and it was shoddy, he immediately thought of exploding the chamber, where is this to hit the enemy, it is suicide at all.

It seems that if you really want to make a durable musket, this rifling is not the primary technology, and the steel is smelted, and there is nowhere to pull without good steel rifling.

In the eyes of a liberal arts student, iron and steel seemed to be no different, so he asked if he could make a gun out of iron.

Xie Qiangbing said that of course he could, but the body of the gun made in that way would be very rough, which would not only increase the cost and weight, but also not much longer the service life.

After hearing this, I realized that it was not that the gun body was not made of iron, but that the cost performance was too low and could not be used.

Knowing that Shi Bin must have discovered the importance of firearms from the sneak attack on the Yuanren grain and grass and the two battles against the raids of the water bandits, and wanted to develop a single firearm.

So he suggested that he could try to open an iron-striking shop and smelt "100 steels". 100 steel? He had only seen this word in the poems of Liu Kun in the Western Jin Dynasty, "What does it mean to make steel and turn it into a soft finger." "What kind of enemies do you kill when you turn your fingers around? Puzzled him.

Looking at Shi Bin, who looked puzzled, Xie Qiangbing said with a smile: "My lord, this hundred refining is just an overview, which means that the steel has a good flexibility after repeated tempering. ”

These words can make Shi Bin as excited as if he has been beaten with chicken blood, he is not afraid of exploding if he has good flexibility, and the most suitable material for making the body of the gun, even if it is more expensive, he must be.

However, Xie Qiangbing's next words made Shi Bin a little disappointed, because he said that a skilled blacksmith can only make a standard waist knife in three days when the materials are good and sufficient, so there will be no more than ten at most in a month, which is too inefficient.

Thinking that he has to feed so many soldiers, it is so difficult to refine a knife, let alone a new assault gun of acceptable quality?

He suddenly remembered a method similar to stir-frying and making steel. After communicating with Xie Qiangbing, I learned that what he said was called "frying steel", and there was another "steel filling method". Xie Qiangbing saw that his eldest brother was just a mountain man who actually knew the method of frying steel, and he was immediately shocked, and he admired him even more. However, he knew that he still had to explain the pros and cons carefully so that Shi Bin could decide.

The basic method of frying steel is to heat the pig iron into a semi-liquid and liquid form, and then add iron ore powder, and at the same time constantly stir to reduce the carbon content in the pig iron, remove the slag, and directly obtain the steel, which is the steel frying technology. Its advantages are that the composition can be properly controlled, the productivity is relatively high, and the quality is relatively good. However, the disadvantages are also obvious, this is wrought iron low-temperature steelmaking, iron and slag are not easy to distinguish, and carbon cannot penetrate quickly.

The steel filling rule is to select iron ore with a relatively high grade to smelt high-quality pig iron, and then, the liquid pig iron is poured on the wrought iron, and after several degrees of smelting, the iron is carburized into steel. Since pig iron and wrought iron are "stayed" together, the steel smelted is called "staying".

The advantages are:

1: Pig iron (carbon content 2~4.3%) as a kind of carburizing agent, due to the high temperature after melting, accelerate the speed of carburizing into wrought iron (carbon content less than 0.2%), shorten the smelting time, and improve productivity.

2: Wrought iron becomes steel due to carbon infiltration, and pig iron can also become steel due to decarburization, which increases the output of steel.

3. At high temperatures, the carbon, silicon, manganese, etc. in the liquid pig iron react with the oxide inclusions in the wrought iron to remove impurities, purify the metal structure, and improve the quality of the metal.

Fourth: the steel filling method is easy to operate and easy to master. If you want to obtain steel with different carbon contents, you only need to mix pig iron and wrought iron in a certain proportion and smelt them.

Hearing this, Shi Bin immediately understood the difference. The cost of the steel frying method will be low, and the cost of the steel filling method may be high, but the amount of impurities is the most important measure of steel quality, and it is natural that the steel filling method can produce better quality steel.

Affirming this, Shi Bin immediately said: "Brother Qiangbing, I have decided to use the steel filling method to make steel, you don't have to worry about the funds, the eldest brother fully supports you." ”

And Xie Qiangbing said with a bitter face that there are only about a dozen skilled craftsmen under his command, even if the funds are sufficient, there will be no more than thirty blacksmiths gathered in the city, and I am afraid that he is weak.

It is estimated that he knew that Xie Qiangbing would definitely say this, but Shi Bin said with a smile: "We don't know how to make a steel assault rifle at all, of course, don't rush to make it in batches, it's enough to get a few samples first." ”

This made Xie Qiangbing very surprised, although he knew that his eldest brother cherished soldiers, but he didn't expect that he would not spare money like a "wealth boy". He hinted to Wang San to dissuade him, after all, Shi Bin didn't have much surplus, but Wang San turned a blind eye and just stood there and didn't move.

Knowing that Xie Qiangbing would definitely not be able to understand, Shi Bin explained: "Brother Qiangbing, most of the steel made by this steel frying method can only ensure that the guns we make will not explode, but they cannot increase their service life. In this way, it will not be long before you have to go back to the pot and refine, in fact, it is better to refine good steel to make guns at one time. ”

Seeing that the eldest brother had this consideration, he no longer discouraged him, and only listed all the expenses and asked Shi Bin to allocate funds.

Saying this, Xie Qiangbing's pressure suddenly eased a lot, and he said that he would definitely complete the task assigned by Shi Bin well. Then he got the approval slip stamped with the big seal, and Xie Qiangbing left the conference hall happily with the other two craftsmen.

Shi Bin was very excited, as if he had seen his soldiers defeat the Yuan soldiers with good guns.