The target of the test was set as a large tree on a hill two kilometers away. The five gunsmiths in the pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info calculated the amount of gunpowder with a ruler specially made for this kind of artillery, and tore apart the gunpowder bags one by one to charge the artillery. Then the gunsmith used a wooden cannon to make the gunpowder, put in the solid cannonball, and then scooped it again. After the loading is completed, the gunsmith measures the straight-line distance from the target to the gun with moments, measures the elevation angle with a gun gauge, and adjusts the angle of the gun. Then pour a little gunpowder into the ignition at the end of the cannon as a firing charge, and then the gunsmiths all stand on both sides, and the craftsman Cao Yu loads the fire rope at the ignition place and prepares to fire.

It had already taken two minutes for the gunsmiths to finish this pass. If it is the second fire, it will take more time to reset the gun carriage and clean the barrel to cool the barrel before charging. Li Zhi had heard that the best gunners in 17th-century Europe could only fire 20 shells an hour, but now watching the gunsmiths test fire, Li Zhi knew that this was true.

Ready to launch, Li Zhi gave an order, and Cao Yu lit the fire rope.

The fire rope burned, igniting the gunpowder inside the barrel. Only a thunderous sound was heard, and the cannon spat out a tongue of fire forward, shaking out the round iron solid bullet. The cannonball drew an arc in the air, flew straight towards the target in the distance, and finally smashed more than ten meters away from the target tree, breaking another big tree.

The crowd of onlookers thought that the artillery had hit the target, and all of them all shouted loudly and cheered loudly!

The military discipline of the Xuanfeng Regiment is strict and does not commit any offense against the people, and will only protect the people of Fanjiazhuang. The stronger Li Zhi's force, the safer Fanjiazhuang became, and the people sincerely hoped that these cannons would be fired and hit.

After the test firing of the solid shell, the five gunners began to test the shotgun again.

The shotgun shell is a cylindrical barrel with a cylindrical appearance, a thin iron shell, a wooden chamber at the bottom, and a small iron projectile in the body.

After the gun fires, the chamber at the bottom of the shotgun pushes the shell forward. The moment the projectile body leaves the barrel, the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the gun is huge, and the shell of the projectile body cannot bear it, so it immediately ruptures, and the projectile inside is released, forming a cake-shaped barrage in space. The barrage will gradually disperse, cutting through a cone-shaped space fixed by the muzzle of the gun, and strafing targets in this cone-shaped space.

Against soldier targets at close range, the power of the shotgun is enormous.

Li Zhi had a hundred scarecrows tied up and placed them densely a hundred meters away from the artillery to let the artillery test fire.

Five gunsmiths cleaned the chambers, loaded them with gunpowder and shotguns, and lit the arquebus. Only a loud boom was heard, and hundreds of small projectiles scattered and flew quickly towards the scarecrows, beating the scarecrows into grass clippings.

Li Zhi sent people to inspect and finally found that thirty scarecrows had been shot. If a person is hit by this shotgun, he will be seriously injured if he does not die, and he will immediately lose his combat effectiveness. Li Zhi was very satisfied with this result, and it is conceivable how lethal such a shotgun would be if it were fired at the rogue and Dongnu.

The five gunsmiths were loyal to their duties and made qualified artillery, and Li Zhi announced on the spot that the five gunsmiths were relieved of their slave status and belonged to the craftsmen of Fanjiazhuang.

"In the future, you will cast cannons for me, and you will pay three taels of silver a month, and you can also eat three meals a day with meat dishes in the canteen."

The five gunsmiths went through countless ups and downs, and finally regained their identity recognized by the official family. When they heard that there were still three taels of monthly money in the future, they immediately burst into tears, were so excited that they couldn't speak, and knelt on the ground with a puff.

"Thank you, official!"

"Thank you, official!"

"The official family is like the reborn parents of the five of us!"

Li Zhi smiled and went up to help the five craftsmen.

The six-pounder cannon was finalized, and Li Zhi asked five gunsmiths to start mass production of the six-pounder cannon according to this standard. Now these gunsmiths can forge a cannon in three days, and ten in a month.

On April 10, Li Zhi's glass kiln was ready.

There are six crucibles arranged in the glass cellar - all of which are fired by Cai Huaishui with the best porcelain clay by a special crucible craftsman. After the glass kiln was ignited, the crucible burned in the kiln for two days, and it burned white-hot, and Li Zhi put the raw materials into the crucible.

Li Zhi used the first furnace as an experiment, placing slightly different raw materials in different crucibles: some crucibles only have soda ash, limestone and quartz, some crucibles have different proportions of these three main raw materials, some add a little borax to the crucible, and some add a little feldspar - to see which recipe produces the best glass in the end.

Thanks to Cai Huaishui, Li Zhi knew where to buy ingredients such as borax and feldspar.

Speaking of which, firing glass is quite troublesome:

Saltpeter is added to the hot glass water to decolor - the glass is green because it contains trace amounts of iron, especially the divalent iron is green, and the trivalent iron is not significantly green. After Li Zhi added saltpeter, the saltpeter oxidized the ferric iron to ferric iron, and the glass appeared colorless and transparent.

Not only that, but the glass also needs to be clarified after firing – a fining agent, such as table salt, is added to the glass hydrothermal fluid. The volatilization of the clarifying agent when exposed to heat will form large bubbles, and these large bubbles will bring out small bubbles as they rise, which can reduce the bubbles in the glass and thus clarify.

Li Zhi's stove was successfully designed, and it took one day to burn all six pots of raw materials into glass hydrothermal liquid. After the molten glass entered the annealing channel for annealing, Li Zhi checked the fineness of the glass test and found that the glass with borax in the third crucible had the best transparency, which was the best formula. In the second furnace of glass, Li Zhi fine-tuned the optimal formula found in the first furnace, until he found a more perfect formula, and then gave up and began to make the finished product.

In the third furnace of glass, Li Zhi began to mold glass products with a molder. Li Zhi used wrought iron to make a molder, and the molder was smeared with a layer of charcoal powder mixed with tung oil to prevent the mold from sticking to the glass. After the molten glass of a crucible is poured into the annealing channel to cool down, some of the molten glass is poured into the casting mold, and the craftsmen press down the casting mold press, forcing the liquid glass to form in the molder. Once the glass in the moulder has cooled, a round glass is made.

The transparent glass is made and placed on the table beautifully, exuding a crystal-like sheen. Cai Huaishui shouted magically, and excitedly followed Li Zhi to look left and right.

"Boss, it's done! It's done! Now I can marry Cui'er! ”

The five craftsmen who had laid down their hands were also full of surprise, and their eyes were full of admiration when they looked at Li Zhi.

In this era, glass is an absolute luxury, and such a large transparent glass has never been seen by craftsmen, and it can definitely be sold at a good price when it is put on the market.

However, Li Zhi picked up the glass and took a closer look, but found a deficiency - there were still some bubbles in the wall of the glass. Not only are these bubbles unsightly, but they can also make the glass fragile and prone to breakage.

Li Zhi thought about it and felt that the clarification work had not been done thoroughly.

Determined to get rid of the bubbles, Li Zhi increased the amount of salt in a new pot of glass hydrothermal fluid. After putting too much salt, the bubbles decreased, but the whole glass emulsified, and the glass made became no longer transparent, and became like frosted glass in later generations, which disappointed Li Zhi.

Li Zhi thought about it for a long time and decided to maintain the original salt dosing amount and increase the mixing process! He asked the blacksmith to build dozens of iron rods, and asked the craftsmen to constantly stir the glass hydrothermal liquid in the crucible before the molten glass cooled, stirring the foam in the thermal glass as much as possible, and then adding table salt as a clarifier.

After adding the stirring procedure, Li Zhi instructed the craftsmen to pour out the pot of glass and mold it. After the new glass was ready, Li Zhi was pleasantly surprised to find that the bubbles were basically gone. He was given a crystal clear round-bottomed glass.

Looking at this completely transparent and basically colorless glass, Li Zhi felt that the silver was waving at him.

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