The artillery casting base of Qingquan Village has been built.

Quasi-technician Zhu Yuanshan had already begun to prepare to cast artillery at this time.

Just wait for Lu Yuan to tell him what artillery needs to be cast.

As soon as Lu Yuan came to the artillery casting base, Zhu Yuanshan greeted him: "I've seen the official." ”

"Master Zhu doesn't have to be polite, I don't know if Master Zhu can cast a tiger squat cannon?"

Lu Yuan knew that among the current artillery of the Ming Dynasty, the Tiger Squat Cannon was a light curved artillery suitable for field warfare, and he had no plans to attack the city now, and now that Jiannu was about to enter the customs, what he needed more now was naturally some field light artillery that was easy to transport.

"Back to the official, this small will naturally be, I don't know how many the official wants to make, the tiger squat cannon has thirty-six catties, forty-nine catties and six taels."

Zhu Yuanshan asked.

Lu Yuan knew that many of the current Ming artillery pieces were of different models and there was no unified standard, so he said: "You can make a few first, test it, the one is most suitable for combat, and then locate the rules." ”

Zhu Yuanshan agreed.

Then, Lu Yuan watched Zhu Yuanshan and his apprentices forge cannons.

But seeing that Zhu Yuanshan began to personally teach his apprentices to make clay molds for casting cannons, he couldn't help but ask Zhu Yuanshan: "What are the disadvantages of this kind of clay mold casting cannons?" How's the progress of making an artillery? ”

"If you go back to the official, usually if you don't count the inner wall of the barrel of the cannon, it will take a month to cast it successfully."

I wish Yuanshan to return.

"What about the yield? How many guns will be cast to make a cannon work? ”

Lu Yuan frowned, this is the same as making birds, it is too slow, but the artillery is not a small number of guns at the beginning, so he asked again.

"About ten, basically about ten will be successful."

I wish Yuanshan to return.

"It's too slow," Lu Yuan shook his head.

"The main reason is that when this mud fan cools, it will hide water and there will be voids, resulting in an uneven inner wall of the artillery, and it is generally necessary to wait for it to dry thoroughly before it can be used."

Zhu Yuanshan said helplessly.

"You can cast the cannon with an iron mold, which does not hide water and is not easy to deform, and can make the inner wall of the gun chamber smoother."

Lu Yuan said this, Zhu Yuanshan, a craftsman who has been casting cannons for many years, was a little unconvinced, thinking that this official really thought of what is what, although the iron mold casting cannon has these advantages, but also has disadvantages, such as how to solve the problem of separation from the barrel, the iron mold is not a mud mold, the mud model can be directly broken and knocked off, and the iron mold is extremely hard, once it is bonded with the barrel, it cannot be separated at all.

"When casting a gun with an iron mold, you can use mud and sand as a paint, and apply multiple layers of paint on the iron fan, but the outermost layer should be coated with pulverized coal, and then the molten iron will be cast on it, once the molten iron solidifies, it will form a cannon tube, and the inner wall can be quickly milled before the molten iron is completely solidified, so that the cannon can be cast with an iron mold."

Lu Yuan could see that Zhu Yuanshan had some doubts about his proposal, so he simply said the iron mold casting cannon method that he knew in later generations, and this method was originally invented by an official of the Qing Dynasty during the Opium War, and now he directly uses it in the Ming Dynasty, which should also be realized, as long as it is realized, it can improve the progress of artillery casting.

"The official is really the smartest cannon casting genius I have ever seen! Xiaguan will try it. ”

Zhu Yuanshan suddenly became interested, he had to admit that this Lu Guanye's proposal was very innovative, using the flammable material such as pulverized coal to isolate the cannon barrel from the iron fan, and the pulverized coal could naturally detach the cannon barrel after burning it at a high temperature, which was not clever.

But Zhu Yuanshan also noticed a detail that Lu Yuan had just said, and asked, "When the official said just now that he was casting the cannon pipe, he was talking about casting molten iron?" ”

"What, you're using a bronze cannon now?" Lu Yuan asked.

Zhu Yuanshan nodded: "The copper cannon is not easy to rust and is lighter." ”

"But because of its hardness, the iron cannon has a longer range and more power, and the copper is too expensive, why don't you cast the cannon with an iron core and copper tires?" Lu Yuan asked.

"Please also ask the official for advice."

Zhu Yuanshan was completely convinced by Lu Yuan this time, and took the initiative to ask for advice.

Lu Yuan smiled, and he really instructed.

In fact, this kind of iron core copper tire casting process has appeared in this era, according to later archaeological discoveries, there is a kind of cannon in the Chongzhen period is the copper iron core, but because it is in troubled times, this technology has not been greatly developed.

Later, because of the rebellion of Geng Jingzhong, Shang Kexi, and Kong Youde, the three Shun kings, this artillery technology was transmitted to the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

As a result, today's Jiannu's technology in artillery casting is not lagging behind the Ming Dynasty.

The so-called iron core copper tire is nothing more than using iron as the gun core, and then wrapping the gun core with a mold and then casting the copper tire.

However, Lu Yuan now has a more advanced steel smelter, and the high-carbon steel smelted by the graphite crucible steelmaking method can be used as a stronger steel core, and the range will undoubtedly be longer than that of a cannon barrel of the same caliber.

However, Lu Yuan thought that in the future, he would not only need the curved artillery of the Tiger Squat Cannon, but also a light direct-fire cannon that could be used to fight with the cavalry in the plain area, so he asked Zhu Yuanshan not to cast the Tiger Squat Cannon, but to determine a light long cannon as the main artillery that Lu Yuan was about to fight against Jiannu.

In the end, Lu Yuan and Zhu Yuanshan determined a light long gun with a caliber of 2.53 inches, a shell of 5.4 taels, and a weight of 900 kilograms as the main field light direct-fire artillery.

Lu Yuan named it the Chunfeng 253 light long cannon!

Lu Yuan first asked Zhu Yuanshan to make ten Chunfeng 253 light long cannons and ten Tiger Squat cannons, and prepared to form an artillery team with them.

Moreover, Lu Yuan also appointed Zhu Yuanshan to serve as an artillery instructor, and recruited soldiers who were good at arithmetic in night classes to form an artillery team.

At the same time, Lu Yuan also asked Zhu Yuanshan to add Western sighting devices.

In the original history, Western missionaries hid this technology in the early stage of teaching artillery technology, and it was not until later that Nan Huairen took out this technology during the Kangxi period.

Now, since Lu Yuan knew that Zhu Yuanshan was a missionary, he naturally wouldn't allow him to hide his secrets, so he used some special means to force him to take it out.

However, Zhu Yuanshan was also amazed by Lu Yuan's mathematical ability, and he didn't dare to play any clever tricks in front of Lu Yuan.

With the artillery corps, only the cavalry of the mighty army has not yet been formed.

"Uncle Fei, I remember that you used to be a cavalryman under the command of Mao Du of Liaodi, have you ever thought about returning to Liaodi one day?"

Lu Yuan found Uncle Fei and asked him this day.

Uncle Fei was silent for a long time, and smiled sadly: "How can I not want to, but it's a pity that I can never go back, since I built a slave and killed Wugu Hanmin, I have no old people in Liaodi." ”

"Then Uncle Fei has ever thought about riding his horse back to his homeland in Liaodi one day?"

Lu Yuan asked.

Uncle Fei did not answer.

Lu Yuan continued: "I asked Xiao Chunlai to buy fifty war horses from the merchants who went out of the customs, and they used the silver obtained from the bandits. ”

"Brother, you give me these fifty war horses, and then allow me to choose fifty of all the field soldiers who can ride horses, and I will definitely be able to train you an iron horse!"

Uncle Fei suddenly knelt down on one knee in front of Lu Yuan and threw his hand heavily.

Lu Yuan smiled: "Okay, Uncle Fei, from now on, you are the commander of the cavalry company of the mighty army!" ”

……

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Four months have passed.

Ten Chunfeng 253 light cannons were built.

The artillery team also began artillery training, and at this time it was firing ten iron bullets, smashing the targets in front of them to pieces.

……

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Meanwhile.

It is at the Qingshan Pass to the east of the Great Wall.

Kennu's red-coated cannon blasted down the walls of Aoyamaguchi, turning it into a slope.

Kong Youde of the Eight Banners of the Han Army hurriedly ran to Dolgon: "General, the minions' artillery has collapsed the Qingshan Pass, and the army can rush into the pass!" ”

Dolgon didn't bother to pay attention to Kong Youde, and only ordered the army to enter the pass immediately.

After all, in his eyes, even if Kong Youde became a prince by offering artillery technology, he was also a servant of his own Qing Dynasty.

At this time, Qingquan Village is as calm as ever.

But on this day, the sound of the iron hooves of the Jiannu iron horse began to sound at the Qingshan Pass of the Great Wall.

Time.

Smoke everywhere!

Alarm ringing!