After Li Zhi was promoted to defensive officer, the number of troops in Fanjiazhuang was also increased. The number www.biquge.info of soldiers in Fanjiazhuang Zhuang was originally only 57 people, but now there are 120 people.

It stands to reason that with such a large number of soldiers, you can receive a corresponding monthly salary every month. However, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the finances were tight, and the imperial court often failed to pay soldiers. In addition, there was corruption in officialdom at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the military salary was plucked and deducted layer by layer, and it was very rare. The 120 people of Fanjiazhuang should have received 240 taels of military salaries per month according to the standards of Tian0jin Town, but when the military salaries were paid for the first time in mid-February, Li Zhi received only 72 taels of military salaries from the Wei Command Envoy, and the average soldier was less than seven cents of silver.

Seeing such a dismal military salary, Li Zhi secretly said that the grassroots military attachés of Daming couldn't be greedy for much money. Even if you eat empty salary, you can't eat much.

Soldiers who are not paid monthly salaries do not have the morale to carry out high-intensity military training, and in the end, the army raised can only be weak soldiers. There were originally twenty-seven old and weak Zhuang soldiers in Fanjiazhuang, four of whom were recruited and transferred to Li Zhi's selection group, and there were twenty-three people left. With such a small salary, it was impossible for Li Zhi to recruit 120 people, so he could only recruit 13 more.

These thirty-one Zhuang soldiers Li Zhi gave two or two monthly salaries, and just used up all the monthly salaries issued above. Usually, Li Zhi asked them to train the city wall defense every day, and when the time came, they could slightly assist the selection of the front regiment to defend the city. At other times, the unit patrols the city, acting as a kind of armed policeman.

The military salary is so small, and Li Zhi has no way to solve the problem of insufficient soldiers. If Shangguan came to check, Li Zhi would find more than 100 soldiers from the Feng Regiment to make up the number.

After finishing these things, Li Zhi went to the five gunsmiths captured in Yanshan to take a look.

After returning to the city for a month, Li Zhi asked the five gunsmiths to build an artillery workshop in the city, but I don't know how it is built now.

When Li Zhi walked to the artillery workshop in the east of the city, he found that the furnace had been built, and five blacksmiths were busy making cannon clay shapes.

Seeing Li Zhi coming, the five gunsmiths hurriedly knelt down: "I've seen the defense lord!" ”

Li Zhi said: "No courtesy! How's your progress? ”

The five gunsmiths replied, "The tools and furnace have been built, and the clay mold is being made in preparation for the first bronze cannon." It has been a long time since a cannon has been made, and the first cannon is ready to cast a small one. ”

Li Zhi thought for a while and asked, "You use mud to cast cannons, what about the water vapor in the soil?" As soon as the copper water at a high temperature is poured into it, as long as there is a trace of water in the mud mold, it will immediately evaporate in the copper cannon to form bubbles. This bubble is a big hazard of artillery, and it can easily lead to a fragile wall and a boring explosion! ”

The five gunsmiths didn't expect Li Zhi to know such a professional problem, so they glanced at each other, and Cao Yu, the head craftsman, said, "Your Excellency is clever!" The mud type is indeed easy to trap water, so we have to air dry it for a month before using it. However, even so, it is inevitable that some slight moisture makes the copper cannon form a hornet's nest, and only one cannon can be used if it is cast ten cannons on average! ”

"Only one out of ten cannons can be used? How much useless work does that have to do? Li Zhi smiled, remembered the method of casting cannons he had learned in later generations, and said, "What if you don't use clay molds, but use cast iron to make casting molds!" There is no water in the cast iron, no bubbles will be formed, and the yield will be greatly improved! Moreover, the inner and outer walls of the copper cannon produced by cast iron casting mold will be relatively smooth, which can reduce the workload of surface cleaning and milling the inner chambering! ”

Hearing Li Zhi's words, the five gunsmiths were stunned, they had made cannons with clay for ten years, but they had never thought of using cast iron to make iron types.

However, after all, they are experienced foundry, and Li Zhi immediately reacted to them, and they all felt that using cast iron to make casting molds did have great benefits.

Without bubbles, wouldn't every cast cannon be usable? There won't be so much scrap again!

How can this defensive adult understand everything?

Touching the back of his head, Cao Yu asked with a smile: "Lord Defense, if you use cast iron as a casting mold, how will this casting mold and the copper cannon be separated at that time?" ”

Li Zhi knew that this gunsmith would ask this question, and recalled a little about the casting knowledge he knew in later generations, Li Zhi said: "When casting a cannon with an iron mold, first brush the inner surface of the mold with fine rice husk ash and fine sand mud and add water to form a coating, and then paint the second layer of paint prepared by extremely fine coal powder, and then clamp the iron mold, bake it, and pour copper water. After solidification, the iron mold is immediately removed, and the burr is removed when the gun body is still red hot, and the finished product is obtained. ”

Hearing Li Zhi's words, the five gunsmiths all fell silent, thinking carefully about Li Zhi's words.

China was the first country in the world to use metal mold casting, and as early as the Warring States Period, iron fans were used to cast pig iron farm tools and tools in batches. The use of iron molds for casting, such as the use of double coating, is also a common technique of traditional casting, and the five gunsmiths have heard of it before. At this time, Li Zhi clicked a little, and they immediately figured it out.

After thinking for half a minute, Cao Yu figured it out and said:

"Your Excellency! This casting method is really high! ”

Li Zhi accepted the gunsmith's compliment with a smile, and explained to the gunsmiths in detail:

"First of all, according to the size of the copper cannon, the clay cannon is made in five sections. Then according to the number of mud cannon sections, the iron mold mud type is divided, each section of the mud type is divided into two petals, and the inner surface is rotated with the car plate to make the surface smooth and clean and the shape is regular, and then dried for later use. A prefabricated handle is placed in the clay mold, and it is cast into one piece with the iron mold when poured. ”

"When turning the cast iron mold with a clay mold, first put the muzzle section upside down on the clay plate, fill one of the petals with mud, after drying, cover the clay plate, tighten the mold, and get a petal of the first iron mold after pouring. Then remove the filling mud, and cast another iron mold in the same way. In this way, the section by section pouring can be cast into a complete set of iron molds with layers of tenons. ”

After listening to Li Zhi's explanation, the other four blacksmiths also figured it out. They were amazed by Li Zhi's methods, and the eyes that looked at Li Zhi were not only in awe, but also with a hint of admiration.

I still have such a military attache in the Ming Dynasty!

Li Zhi said again: "You first build a copper cannon according to the method I said, and after success, we will build an iron-core copper cannon." The cannon with an iron core copper body is stronger and lighter! ”

And better technology?

This defensive master knows more than the Franco machine caster under the command of Sun Yuanhua at the beginning!

Cao Yu's eyes lit up when he heard this, revealing the craftsman's worship of technology.

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