Chapter 60: Casting Cannons

After the complete success of the Great Operation. The food crisis has also been partially solved, after all, one or two thousand catties of fish and meat were harvested, which made Zhang Xuan also improve his diet, from wild vegetable soup to wild vegetable fish soup. Although it is a little lighter, the taste is not very good. But it's much better than pure wild vegetables.

However, when it comes to the issue of light food. There is not enough salt in the rebels. Zhang Xuan can only limit the use, only when fighting, he puts more salt, and at other times, he can only eat lightly.

Part of the food problem was solved, and the Wu brothers of Zhang Zhi, as well as Wang Jincai, with a group of people, specially made this preparation to turn all the nearby rivers of all sizes upside down. Look at how many catches there are. After the food problem was temporarily resolved, Zhang Xuan's work was back on track.

He did not forget that now is not a peaceful and prosperous era, and the problem he is facing is not only the problem of eating, but also in Xuzhou, which is occupied by the official army dozens of miles north of Linying. In troubled times, the most important thing is force.

Zhang Xuan finally had time to do what he had always wanted to do, and it was nothing else, just casting cannons.

Even without mentioning the restrictive nature of the trebuchet itself, the trebuchet itself is something that has been eliminated by history. History has proven that the era to come will be dominated by firearms. Therefore, Zhang Xuan prepared to cast a large number of firearms. And what kind of firearms to cast, Zhang Xuan thought about it for a while, and finally decided to cast artillery, to be precise, small cannons.

This is not just a process problem, but also a practical requirement.

The craftsmanship of muskets is actually much more difficult than that of artillery, and large guns are difficult to move. Can't cooperate with the rebels to run around. The only option is to send one or two catties of live ammunition and weigh a small cannon weighing about 100 catties.

Of course, Zhang Xuan also asked the soldiers, for the low-level soldiers and generals, they clearly supported the artillery between small artillery and muskets. And if he doesn't like muskets, Zhang Xuan can only be as good as he is.

Zhang Xuan first watched the craftsman battalion build an artillery.

What Zhang Xuan has seen is almost the process of creating handicrafts, first of all, to create a clay mold. Then he worked in the shade for more than ten days, Zhang Xuan couldn't bear this time at all, to be honest, Zhang Xuan himself didn't know how long he could stay in Linying County, a month, two months, or even less than a month, where did he have time, first wait for ten days of clay molds, and then the clay molds could only be used once.

No, it's too inefficient.

Zhang Xuan didn't let him build a clay mold at all, and said: "Isn't there any other way to speed up, such as using an iron mold?" ”

"It's not impossible to use iron molds." Blacksmith Wang hesitated for a moment and said, "Little Lao'er, I think that if you use an iron mold, the artillery is not as good as a clay mold. ”

Zhang Xuan said: "Why? ”

Blacksmith Wang couldn't say it, he just felt it.

Zhang Xuan said: "It's okay, what we have to solve first is whether there is a problem, as for other issues, we can discuss them slowly later, but there is one point, it must be said that the cannon I cast must not be blown up." ”

"Yes." Blacksmith Wang said.

Zhang Xuan breathed and thought of something, and said, "By the way, did you get the big bronze bell on the top of the bell and drum tower?" ”

The king blacksmith said: "It has been brought down, and the general means to use this bronze to cast a cannon?" ”

Zhang Xuan said: "I remember that the copper cannon seems to be much better than the iron cannon cast, in this case, these copper can be used." ”

Blacksmith Wang pondered for a while, and then said, "In this way, my lordship can rest assured, I should wrap the iron core with a copper tire, so that the cannon will not be easy to explode." ”

Zhang Xuan didn't understand these technical details, and he didn't care, and said directly: "I have a word first, all the guns that are cast must be engraved with the name of the craftsman, and if the chamber is blown up, I will come to investigate the name of the craftsman, and none of them can run, don't blame me for being ruthless when the time comes." ”

Blacksmith Wang's head sweated slightly, and he said, "The little one understands." ”

However, cannon casting is a meticulous job. Even if it is to build an iron model first, it is a work that cannot be fast. Blacksmith Wang is also thinking about the method of casting cannons with iron core copper tires, after all, the amount of copper is limited, even if Zhang Xuan forcibly dismantles the bell and drum tower, the copper in Zhang Xuan's hand is not 5,000 catties. How to make better use of these copper materials is a difficult problem.

Zhang Xuan just came to the craftsman camp every day to inspect and understand how far the cannon casting process had come.

Other things came in the way, and for the rest of the days winter was at hand, and one day and one night passed, and the river was frozen on the ground, and the whole city was full of smoked fish. There are enough fish reserves, and Yingshui is only a river, not a sea, and the catch from the river is gradually decreasing. Zhang Xuan also stopped fishing with all his might, and began to prepare for another thing for the winter, that is, firewood.

If there is not enough heating in winter, it will freeze to death.

Every day, large firewood is prepared to fill the streets and alleys, which is the only year that the people of Linying have been fed and clothed for several years.

Of course, Zhang Xuan didn't mean to raise idlers, and the city was now a big collective. No manpower or material resources can be wasted, Zhang Xuan easily straightened out the city defense. A new plan has also begun. He took Zhang Zhen to the outside of the city, but saw several people digging the soil somewhere, straight down.

"General, this is?" Zhang asked.

Zhang Xuan said: "I will let people experiment with how to dig wells faster. These people are all familiar hands found from all over the army. ”

"General, do you want to dig more wells in Linying?" Zhang Zhen said.

"Yes." Zhang Xuan said: "There is almost no harvest this year, and we must not do this next year, otherwise, we will not have another Yingshui to dig up." I had to prepare early, I wanted to promote the technology of digging wells, but I didn't believe it, digging tens of thousands of wells, and still drought. ”

Zhang Xuan dug wells to fight drought, completely due to the memory of later generations, he remembered that when he was a child, there were people who used water from the canal to water the ground, but when he grew up, almost all of them used well water to water the ground, and almost every family had a well. However, Zhang Xuan's investigation in Linying now shows that there are no more than 300 wells in the entire Linying County, and most of them are in population gathering areas, villages and cities, which are acceptable for human consumption, and it is impossible to use well water to irrigate the ground.

"Of course, it's freezing right now." Zhang Xuan said: "I don't plan to break a lot of ground at this time, but after the beginning of spring, I will prepare to renovate the water conservancy, and digging a well is just one of them, and then it will depend on the eldest brother." I don't understand the matter of water conservancy, I want to ask my eldest brother to survey the vicinity of the county in the past few days, where to start construction, after the beginning of spring, it is also good to start construction. ”

"General." Zhang Zhen said: "With such a lot of effort, how long does the general think you can stay in Linying?" Even if it is excavated in the spring, the results will be after the autumn. Does the general really think you can stay in Linying for so long? ”

Zhang Xuan said: "I won't stay long, if Cao Ying's order comes now and lets me leave Linying, I won't be surprised at all." However, in life, there is always something to do. Henan is also a township, so if you can do a few points, you can do a few points. Anyway, there are some things that must be done, and I do them, and the Chinese have gains, so why ask me not to be here? ”

Zhang Zhen was shocked.

He has been a pro-people official, so he naturally knows how difficult it is to do things in Daming, but all water conservancy projects are bound to be swayed by the gentry and large households, and they have to compete for the land to be built in their own fields, and the labor of the government has always been pushed and pushed, and there are more than 1,000 county officials in the world, and they dare not say that each of them has fewer resources than Zhang Xuan. But what Zhang Xuan thought of was to benefit the people, dig wells and repair water conservancy, and fight drought. And can do it, but this distraction is more than I don't know how many magistrates.

Zhang Zhen knows very well that in the past few decades, although the climate in Daming has been abnormal, if it were not for the water conservancy not to be repaired, the officials at all levels did not have much real power in their hands, and even the previous water conservancy projects could not be maintained, and things would not have developed to this point.

"What would happen if he won the world?" Zhang Zhen thought in his heart.

At this moment, he doesn't know if Zhang Xuan has a chance to touch the power of the world, but Zhang Xuan's love for the people alone is a person worth following.