"My God!"

Standing in the cannon foundry in Qinghe, Shi Si simply couldn't believe what he saw, in this artillery foundry, which only had sixty people, he could see that many of them had been cast into cannons.

And what really made him exclaim was that such a small foundry could cast several artillery pieces a day, and even now, they have cast more than ten artillery pieces. This efficiency is unmatched by any artillery factory in Europe.

"How is this possible, God, general, didn't you just arrive in Jiangbei?"

Shi Si's tone was full of disbelief and surprise, maybe he was a naval engineer, but he was also proficient in casting cannons. So he was very aware of the problems faced by casting cannons, and it was simply impossible to cast so many cannons in a short period of time.

"Because we've adopted a new way of casting cannons!"

Shi Si's surprise had long been expected by Zhu Mingzhong, after all, the biggest advantage of the sand mold gun over the mud mold gun was speed. He remembered that it seemed to be mentioned in the travelogue of a certain Westerner that a 19th-century Turkish cannon foundry with hundreds of people used sand casting to cast thousands of cannons a year, if they wanted to.

In the era of clay mold cannons, the speed of such cannons was unimaginable. Now the artillery factory in Qinghe can use technology far ahead of the times to cast a large number of artillery. Of course, if the problem of raw materials is solved, for example, the problem of low-phosphorus iron suitable for casting guns, this gun factory can cast guns with much higher efficiency. Now it is the raw materials that limit the size of the artillery plant.

When everything is settled, it should be time to find a way to solve the problem of low-phosphorus iron ore, after all, both muskets and artillery need this high-quality iron ore.

"After the model is made, there is no need to make another model, so only the craftsman and the craftsman who makes the core are needed. There are 60 craftsmen, including the chamber washers, who can produce two guns a day, and even on rainy days, the construction period will not be affected. ”

When introducing this artillery casting workshop, Zhu Mingzhong's tone seemed very proud, because this cannon factory was founded by him, although the gun factory was created on the basis of the iron factory, but after all, its technology was from his hand.

The current Qinghe Iron Works has completely turned into a cannon foundry, and most of the iron produced by it is used to cast artillery, after all, the demand for artillery has not been met for the loyal army. And more importantly, the artillery is really very cheap!

"The cost of a sand mold gun is only a few taels of silver, which is more than ten times less than that of a clay mold gun. And the gun model can be reused hundreds of times and still in good condition......"

The cost of casting cannons in the Qinghe Cannon Foundry is almost "outrageous". The cost of the sand mold cannon is low, far more than everyone imagined, compared with the casting cost of the clay mold gun, the cost of the sand mold gun is almost not worth mentioning, and the largest cost is iron, and the pig iron price of Qinghe Iron Factory is only 0.03 taels per catty, and the pig iron used in each 6 catties cannon is less than 1300 catties, even if it includes the milling and the salary of craftsmen, the actual cost of each cannon does not exceed 6 taels, and in order to ensure the profits of the weapons factory, Zhu Mingzhong even agreed with a wave of the pen to maintain 60% of the profits of the weapons factory, Despite this, the ex-factory price of a complete set of equipment for a 6-kilogram gun, including 500 rounds of shells and gun trucks, is only a little more than 25 taels, and if you just buy a gun body, the ex-factory price is only a little more than 9 taels. It can be said that it is simply the price of cabbage.

When Zhu Mingzhong's words fell, the iron-making furnace that exuded a scorching heat wave was busy again, and the sand box weighing thousands of catties was hoisted into the casting pit, and after everything was ready, with the shouts of the craftsmen.

The fiery molten iron flowed silently down the casting trough to the pouring port like flowing water. For a time, the entire casting pit sand box was filled with smoke, and smoke continued to gush out from the ventilation hole. The choking smoke fascinated Shi Si a little, and he even ignored the choking smell of the smoke and watched everything in front of him while holding back his cough.

"One furnace of molten iron can cast two ......"

When the smoke slowly cleared, Zhu Mingzhong looked at the sandbox and said.

"According to the report of the armory, it is not the other thing that restricts the speed of cannon casting, but the inability of the ironworks to provide a sufficient amount of pig iron......"

The scale of the iron factory is limited, which is the biggest weakness of the cannon foundry now, because there is no iron, so it is not able to cast a sufficient number of artillery, and the reason why there is not enough iron is that there is no iron mine near Qinghe, this iron factory is just a small iron factory built for the convenience of shipbuilding.

Raw material!

The shortage of raw materials limited the casting of artillery, as well as the production of ironworks, and the production of fat.

In any case, the problem of raw materials must be solved, but it is really not possible, even the iron ore in Ma'anshan must be transported for use.

Zhu Mingzhong, who was thinking so in his heart, knew that there was actually a better choice, but this choice needed to solve some problems. However, the problem does not seem to be big, and there is always a way to solve it.

After the casting of the cannon is completed, the gun will need to be slowly and naturally cooled in the sand box, and in order to ensure that the pig iron cools fast enough to precipitate graphite, the natural cooling process is now carried out in the insulated sand pit, and the sand box is buried in the sand pit several feet deep, so that it can be cooled slowly, this process can be up to four days, so that the cannon blank can be more fully precipitated graphite, so that it can be boring and milling.

"After four days, until it has cooled completely, the flask is taken out again, and then the barrel is removed, at which point a craftsman is responsible for removing the remaining ash from the barrel and the chamber. Although at this time the 6-pound cannon had already been cast. But it also requires further processing, boring and milling of the breech. A simple hydraulic boring machine was used by the river to further process the chamber. This step of boring and milling can greatly improve the finish of the inner wall of the gun, which can improve its accuracy......"

Of course, for Zhu Mingzhong, what he has always looked forward to is casting a solid cannon and drilling the chamber directly on the solid cannon blank, instead of boring and milling the chamber like now.

However, this is just an idea now, after all, there are still some problems to be solved, and it is relatively more time-consuming to cast a solid cannon blank and drill the barrel directly on the cannon blank, and now the first thing the loyal army needs to solve is the problem of quantity. When the current hurdle is over, it is not too late to consider these issues.

Shi Si, who was originally a little arrogant, completely put away his somewhat arrogant mind after visiting the entire cannon casting process, and in his opinion, the cannon casting technology here is far ahead of any country in the world.

"After all, I think even the most advanced cannon foundry in Europe can't compare to your gun factory!"

This is not a compliment, but a fact. For this fact, Zhu Mingzhong is naturally very clear, not to mention anything else, that is, the simple chambered bed composed of wood and waterwheels, although it looks simple, but it is more than half a century ahead of the world, and this is the advantage of standing on the shoulders of giants.

"Jinglu, after you solve the problem of raw material supply, I believe that with these artillery, it will be enough to make your army the most powerful army in the East!"

"No,"

Facing Shi Si's compliment, Zhu Mingzhong shook his head and said.

"Although this cannon foundry is very good, I am not very satisfied with the artillery cast now, this 1200-pound 6-pound cannon is not what I need......"

Standing beside the barrel of a six-pound cannon that had just been taken out of the insulated sand pit, Zhu Mingzhong looked at Shi Si and said.

"You and I know very well that compared to cast iron, bronze is more suitable for casting field guns for land warfare, its life is longer, it may be as many as 1,000 rounds, and only a few hundred rounds, and the power of the 6-pound cannon is always too limited, so I hope to be able to design a 9-pound cannon in the future, and his barrel should be around 900 to 1000 catties,"

The 9-pound cannon in Zhu Mingzhong's mouth is actually based on the 12-pound Napoleon gun, after all, it is a time-tested artillery, and the current 6-pound cannon is just a temporary excess. In the future, the Loyal Army will be more powerful, but also lighter.

"This kind of artillery is relatively lighter, so it is more suitable for ...... on the battlefield."

The speaker was unintentional, listening intentionally, and when they were talking, Zhang Di, who had been following Shi Si's side, looked at the cannon on the ground and silently remembered this sentence in his heart. Of course, Zhu Mingzhong didn't notice this, he just said to Shi Si.

"But at the moment, the most important thing is to build a galleys, as for the guns on the ship, there is this gun factory, what is there to worry about?"

Yes, there is no need to think about the problem of artillery anymore with this artillery factory, and the artillery factory can solve the problem of artillery in the shortest possible time.

"What kind of artillery is needed on a warship, you can come up with drawings, and then make molds here, you can come up with drawings today, maybe tomorrow at most, the guns can be cast."

Velocity!

This is the biggest advantage of sand mold casting, and even the iron mold casting with various problems that has been blown into the sky cannot be compared with it in terms of speed. After all, it takes time to make an iron mold, but the production of a sand mold is very simple.

"General, if you are in Europe, you will definitely become the richest man in Europe just by virtue of this cannon foundry, and then the whole of Europe will buy your artillery."

Shi Si said in an envious tone, after all, this method of casting cannons has completely subverted the entire artillery casting industry.

After a burst of laughter, Zhu Mingzhong said with a smile,

"It seems that it is necessary to strengthen the secrecy measures here, so that no one else will learn this."

In fact, Zhu Mingzhong knows very well that the sand mold casting that has existed in ancient times cannot be kept secret, and what really needs to be kept secret is not the sand mold, but the entire casting technology, and now all of this is still being explored.