Sun Yuanhua was indeed frightened by this number, nearly two thousand artillery pieces, Liaodong and even the entire Ming Dynasty combined, I am afraid that there are not so many!

If nothing else, how much does it cost to have so many artillery, does the governor know?

He couldn't help but remind: "My lord, the cannons are almost all cast in copper, and casting cannons is very expensive. ”

Copper is indeed very valuable at this time, because copper coins are made of copper, and a penny is almost a penny of copper, that is to say, more than seven catties of copper are worth one or two silver.

How much copper is needed for these nearly 2,000 guns?

four hundred doors weighing fifty pounds;

800 doors weighing 100 pounds;

four hundred doors weighing five hundred pounds;

two hundred doors weighing a thousand pounds;

This adds up to 500,000 catties, and each Franc cannon is equipped with five guns, and it costs nearly 100,000 taels of silver to buy copper alone, does the governor have so much money?

At this time, Zhang Bin also calculated silently in his heart.

It's only 500,000 catties, which is not much money, which scares me.

He breathed a sigh of relief and smiled: "Well, money is not a problem, it depends on how long you can mint it." ”

100,000 taels is not a problem?

Sun Yuanhua said a little incredulously: "Lord Governor, this is nearly 100,000 taels of silver, will the imperial court give it?" ”

It may be a bit difficult for Chongzhen to allocate so much silver, because there are too many places to spend money at this time, and Wei Zhongxian left him with an empty treasury, and he is still waiting for himself to make money for him.

At this time, Zhang Bin's bad taste of joking came up again, he pretended to be serious, shook his head and said: "The court will not pay this money, when the official took office, the court did not allocate any food. ”

"Ah", no food has been allocated, how to fight this battle, how to build this cannon!

Zhang Bin saw Sun Yuanhua's stunned appearance, and felt proud in his heart, but the joke can't be overdone, it's okay to open it a little, it's not good to overdo it and cause people to be disgusted.

Sun Yuanhua was obviously taken aback, this is almost it, Zhang Bin then explained: "However, after this official came to Fujian, he organized a fundraiser, and thanks to the face of the major merchant gangs, a total of two million taels of silver were raised for military expenses, and there is no problem in taking 100,000 taels out to cast cannons." ”

Sun Yuanhua was stunned again, two million taels of silver, are these merchants so rich?

However, he didn't dwell on the issue of money anymore, the governor said that there was, then there must be, as a subordinate, he was entangled, it was purely too wide and there was something wrong.

Problem, it's not enough to have money, casting cannons is very troublesome, especially the Franc cannon, the general warcraftsman can't cast well, you need a master who is proficient in the art of casting to be expected to cast, where can he find so many warcraftsmen who are proficient in the art of casting!

He arched his hand and said truthfully: "My lord, this Franc cannon is not something that ordinary military craftsmen can cast, this is mainly because there can be no mistake between the mother and the child, if it is too tight, the child gun will not be stuffed in, and if it is too loose, it will leak, and it is too difficult to make no gap between the child gun and the mother gun." If it's an ordinary artillery, it's better to make a little bit, the Franc machine gun, nearly 2,000 pieces, I'm afraid the students won't be able to cast it for ten years! ”

What he means is that it is easy to say that the casting of tiger squat cannons, bowl mouth guns, and even Hongyi cannons is easy to make, but this Franc cannon is not easy to do.

Zhang Bin shook his head firmly and said: "No, it must be a Franc cannon, other artillery reloading ammunition is too time-consuming, and it is not good for war!" ”

Sun Yuanhua said with a sad face: "My lord, the Franc machine is easy to use, but the casting requirements are too high, and it is difficult to find a military craftsman who can cast it." ”

Purely rely on casting to meet the requirements of size matching, it must be difficult, people at this time do not have experience in metal cutting, to make precision parts take a long time.

Zhang Bin then explained: "Chuyang, it is definitely difficult to rely on casting for the cooperation between the mother and the child, you can consider enlarging the size of the fit, and after the casting is done, it will be processed again, so that it will be simple." ”

In fact, there is no need for Zhang Bin to say this, Sun Yuanhua also knows that there are some places where the problem cannot be processed at all with the current processing level, and he couldn't help but carefully argued: "My lord, this student also knows that Zi Gong is good to say, it is all outside, it is easier to polish, but it is not good for Mu Gong, it is a gap, it is difficult to grind round." ”

Zhang Bin really didn't know much about how metal was processed in the Ming Dynasty at this time, so he couldn't help asking: "What about the inside of the barrel, how to polish it smooth?" ”

This Sun Yuanhua naturally knew, he said like a few treasures: "This is not polished, the inside of the barrel must be made a special iron drill, first fix the artillery, and then fix the iron drill with rod on a large runner like a wheel, knock it into the barrel, and then make people turn the runner, turn a section, and then knock in a section, and so on, a three-foot-long artillery gun, it takes about a day." ”

This is a manual drilling machine, it takes a lot of effort to drill such a large barrel manually, Zhang Bin couldn't help but shake his head and said: "This method is not appropriate, it is time-consuming and laborious, and you need to make a drill bit that can rotate by yourself to drill." ”

Unexpectedly, Sun Yuanhua was not surprised at all, he actually shook his head and said: "Are you talking about something like a waterwheel and a water mill, that is indeed labor-saving, but the speed is much slower than making people drill, and it can't process a single cannon for a few days, which is too time-saving." ”

Zhang Bin forgot that there were still people using water power at this time, but the speed and thrust of the flowing water were not suitable for the power of the machine tool at all, so he continued to shake his head and said: "Chuyang, what the official is talking about is not something like a waterwheel and a water mill, but a new method of propulsion. ”

Sun Yuanhua couldn't help but be curious: "Dare to ask your lord, what are you going to use to push the wheel?" ”

Although the steam engine was not developed by Sun Yuanhua, he must also know that there is such a thing, after all, he is the one who uses it in the end.

Zhang Bin simply explained: "This official is going to ask Wang Zheng Wang Liangfu to make a new type of machinery, using the steam generated by boiling water to push the runner, so that the runner can rotate rapidly, and the cannon barrel can be processed, and even the outer wall of the child gun and the opening of the mother gun can be processed with this kind of machinery. ”

Steam? Boil water Sun Yuanhua naturally knew that the hot air that came out was called steam, he really didn't understand this very well, but at this time, his mind was not on this, because Zhang Bin mentioned Wang Zheng.

He exclaimed, "Your Excellency knows Philip too?" ”

Philip Bosun Yuanhua is pronounced in a foreign tone, which does not mean that Wang Zheng is a count, but Wang Zheng's religious name, they are parishioners!

This Zhang Bin didn't expect it, he was also surprised: "You know Wang Liangfu, and what kind of Philip is a foreign name, right?" ”

Sun Yuanhua nodded again and again and said: "The student and Wang Liangfu are friends, and they also love the way of learning from things, which can be regarded as close friends. ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he was curious: "So, you also have a foreign name, what is your foreign name?" ”

Sun Yuanhua solemnly arched his hand and said, "The student's teaching name is Enajure." ”

Ignatius! An earl, a knight, this name is really a bit of a coincidence.

Well, Zhang Bin is just curious, it would be better if they were friends, and they would be more cooperative.