May 1. Steelmaking workshop.

"Ignition!" Ma Jia looked at the five graphite crucibles lined up in the smelting furnace, and gave orders calmly.

A few days after the smelting furnace was built and dried, the vest was impatient to carry out the first steelmaking in the steelmaking workshop, and at this time, the regenerator, pipes, chimneys, blowers and other facilities on the drawings had not yet been seen. A few migrant coolies pushed and pulled the manpower bellows made by the carpenter improvised by the carpenter, and blew air into the furnace from the feeding port, and someone next to them replaced them at any time.

Five 50# crucibles are placed in the smelting furnace, and the raw materials are scrap iron, scrap steel and lime, which are burned and heated by anthracite (white coal). As the coal burns, the furnace gradually heats up, and the flame color begins to slowly turn from dark red to orange red.

"The flame turned orange-red, indicating that the temperature in the furnace is now close to 1,000 degrees." The vest took the opportunity to impart knowledge to the group behind him, and even the Swiss blacksmith Pierre leaned over and listened as if he didn't understand, and then looked into the furnace in amazement.

At this time, the regenerator has not yet been built and used, and the process of heating and melting is relatively slow. Almost an hour passed, and at this time, a large part of the scrap iron and scrap steel in the crucible had been melted, and the molten iron began to boil a little, and wisps of blue flames appeared from time to time, which was the carbon monoxide produced by the reaction burning.

"Open the furnace door." After a few more moments, the vest spoke.

Two crossers stepped forward and opened the door of the refractory brick furnace, and a wave of heat that almost scorched people came over their faces. The vest took a long spoon and fished out the slag floating on the surface of the molten iron in the crucible.

"The main components of these slags are calcium phosphate and calcium sulfide, which are formed by the reaction of phosphorus and sulfur in molten iron with lime." Ma Jia pointed to the slag thrown in the water and said, "If the phosphorus and sulfur in the molten iron are not removed, it will greatly affect the texture of the iron and make the iron brittle." ”

Then he picked up a long steel drill and stirred vigorously in each crucible, and after the stirring was finished, he immediately ordered the furnace door to be closed, and then said to everyone: "Stirring can speed up the decarburization reaction of molten iron, making it easier for the carbon in the iron to combine with oxygen to form carbon monoxide and burn it." ”

Seeing that there is still a period of time, Ma Jia simply talked to everyone about the difference between pig iron, wrought iron and steel, and talked about the matters that need to be paid attention to in steelmaking. After the on-site teaching was completed, the vest estimated that more than two hours had passed since the ignition was poured, so he walked to the fire viewing hole and observed inside, and then opened the furnace door and fished back the slag to look at it, and then ordered: "It's okay, clamp out the crucibles one by one, be careful." ”

Soon, 10 people worked in pairs to carefully clamp out the graphite crucibles with crucible pliers, and then poured molten steel into the various mold grooves that had already been made. Then someone put a layer of lime on the surface of the molten steel in the mold groove, and another layer of charcoal was spread on the lime to prevent the molten steel from oxidizing.

A crucible can make 43 kilograms of steel at a time, and 5 crucibles are more than 200 kilograms. For example, the production of forging hammers, drill bits, gears, knives and even armor, which are in high demand for high-quality, high-carbon steel, has suddenly been launched.

Peng Zhicheng and Wang Qinian heard that the steel was made on the vest side, so they rushed over with gunsmiths and gunsmiths from Switzerland plus the "translator" Gao Mo. Several foreigners looked at the crucible used for steelmaking, and then looked at the steel ingot that had cooled down on the side, and looked surprised. At this time, there was no way to make liquid molten steel in Europe, and it was more than 100 years later to use graphite crucibles to make steel.

"Can this steel be used to forge cannons?" Peng Zhicheng asked, and Gao Mo immediately asked several gunsmiths in French.

"Theoretically, no problem. Steel can withstand more bore pressure than cast iron, and the gun can be made lighter with the same power. François, the gunsmith, was still immersed in the "miracle" of molten steel from a crucible, but he did not hesitate to answer this question.

"What cannon do we need now?" Ma Jia asked, "The carbon content of the steel smelted this time can't be measured, but I estimate that it must be above 1%." Although the ductility is not as good as copper, the cost is also low. By the way, how much steel does a cannon use? ”

"It depends on how heavy." Wang Qinian replied, "It's easy to say about small-caliber and short-barreled field artillery, but it's hard to say about heavy siege artillery, fortress artillery, and naval artillery, and there are one to several tons of them." But this is the weight of cast iron cannons and copper cannons, and I don't know what to say about steel cannons. ”

"Try it. Cast a few more doors and test more. So there is a spectrum. Ma Jia said, "It's just that in this way, the steel I make is not enough for you to toss." ”

"Hehe, no way. Now we have no defense. Wang Qinian smiled, "At least you have to cast ten or eight guns from the shore defense fortress first." Otherwise, we will not be able to bear it if a few gunboats come and fire a few cannons at us outside the dock. ”

"What about the army field artillery?"

"It's easy to say, at the moment a few four-pounder guns are enough for the size of our army. Of course, I'm fine if you build us a few more fortress guns. Hehe. Peng Zhicheng joked.

"Do you have a gunner? With the size of your dozens of people, how many cannons can you serve? Ma Jia also smiled and said, "By the way, didn't you buy ten cannons from Cuaite this time?" What kind of cannons are they? ”

"Four four-pounder field guns, four eight-pounder field guns, and two 24-pounder naval guns, all bronze guns." Peng Zhicheng said, "We can train more reserve gunners after resting, and save people who are caught off guard when they really come to the door." ”

"What kind of cannon will these people make?" Vest asked.

"I asked before. They have only cast a few small cannons, three-pound, four-pound, six-pound, and those who can cast cannons are talents, and the treatment is generally very good, and they will not be reduced to coming to the New World to try their luck. Of course, even people like them are experts I hired as experts, free people, and they are paid every month. Peng Zhicheng said.

"Let's not talk about the cannon for now. What about guns? What exactly is the 50 muskets that I bought this time? Harquebus? The vest asked.

"Said to be the latest Sur arquebus." Peng Zhicheng sighed, "I tried a few shots, in addition to being a little more powerful, the accuracy and rate of fire are far inferior to our hunting crossbows, and the range is about the same, but the hunting crossbow has the ability to shoot continuously." In short, for us, this arquebus can only be said to be better than nothing. ”

"Arquebuses? I remember that flintlock pistols were the mainstream of this era, right? Ma Jia wondered.

"Now Europe is still massively armed with arquebuses. There are flintlock pistols, but they are still equipped in a small area. But seriously, at this stage, the flintlock pistol is really not much stronger than the bow. Whether it is an arquebus or a flintlock pistol, the advantage is that it is cheap, and the soldier can go into battle with a little training, and it does not consume physical strength, which is something that the bow and horse can't catch up. Peng Zhicheng explained.

"But what we're lacking right now is manpower. They can train a lot of cannon fodder, we can't, each of us is precious. Although I don't know about guns, I also know that the rear-loading rifled gun is the king. Ma Jia looked at Peng Zhicheng and said.

"Don't look at me, I don't know these 17th-century guns." Peng Zhicheng smiled bitterly, "These gunsmiths have only made some arquebuses, and their performance may not be as good as the batch we bought, and the craftsmanship is not clear." ”

"Practice! Let them practice! Take a few more apprentices, and no matter how bad the arquebus is, we will try to make it ourselves. Wang Qinian gritted his teeth and said, "Large-caliber cannons must also be cast!" Isn't it just that the yield is low, and we will return to the furnace when it is cracked and exploded! ”

While the three committee members were gritting their teeth for steel and guns, a group of novices in the garrison also looked left and right around a few field guns. Referring to the newly compiled artillery shooting compendium, they will constantly practice the steps of clearing, charging, loading, aiming, and firing, so as to master the firing skills of artillery in this era as soon as possible.

In addition to this, the use of arquebuses should also be mastered as soon as possible. Although they don't ask to go through the crowd to play in line and be shot, they don't have the courage or the skills. Peng Zhicheng's requirements are only to be able to release guns, be able to release guns, and be able to hide in bunkers and shoot when the enemy attacks, which is already qualified. Of course, there were a lot of former mercenaries among the Swiss immigrants, who had decent military skills and could be drafted to fight if necessary. As long as they promise heavy profits, I believe that these former mercenaries will be happy to fight for the crossers.