Chapter 2 Preparations for War Construction continues

After the mobilization meeting of the kiln gang, outsiders could not see any changes in the kiln gang at all, and the construction was still carried out with great fanfare. However, the industrial production capacity established by the kiln workers has slowly shifted to the track of preparing for war, and the iron trained in the smelter is directly drawn into a large number of iron wires, and the iron wires coiled into rolls are twisted into thorny wires by machines little by little, and these barbed wires are piled up in the warehouse. The logs were processed by the sawmill into three-metre sections of stakes with pointed ends and stacked in stacks.

The hot molten iron was cast into ** shells one by one. All kinds of **** batches were assembled and sent to the warehouse. Mortars were also produced in one door. Muskets and musket cartridges were also produced in large quantities.

At Lu Bingyi's request, Zhang Zhimu inspected the entire construction site of Yaogang with him. Lu Bingyi is still a person who really works hard. The entire construction of the kiln was carried out in full accordance with the plan. The roads are all built in the way of Bagua City, extending in all directions, and according to Zhang Zhimu's requirements, they are very wide. There are green belts on both sides of the road.

After reading it, Zhang Zhimu made two suggestions, one is that there are too few public toilets, and more flushing public toilets should be built; The second is to light the street lights at night at the main intersections, and the street lights are freshly burned calcium carbide lamps.

When Zhang Zhimu was young, he played with the calcium carbide lamp he made, which was also called Gasi lamp at that time. There is a small switch to control the flow of water to the bucket containing calcium carbide below, and there is a small garden tube on the calcium carbide tube. If the flow of water is large, the reaction between calcium carbide and water produces more acetylene, and the amount of acetylene coming out of which cylinder is sufficient. If you light the lamp, the brightness of the lamp will be greater. The blue flame of the acetylene lamp is very bright. It is very convenient for lighting, but it is also necessary to add a windproof and rainproof glass cover for street lights.

Zhang Zhimu told Lu Bingyi that he could send someone to hang the street lamp with a ladder every night when it was dark. Take it back when it's dawn. There is no shortage of people in our kiln now, and in this way, the kiln will become a city that never sleeps. Because the brightness of the gas lamp can make the lamp do a lot of things. Those merchants who do small business will definitely not miss the opportunity to sell things under the lamp.

What makes Zhang Zhimu happy is that this year's winter wheat harvest can be good. Zhang Zhimu said: "Mr. Lu, our wheat and corn grow better than other people's fields, it seems that you have worked hard!" ”

Lu Bingyi was also interested in this topic, and said: "Yes, our field has been watered on both sides. The two waterwheels kept carrying water from the beginning of the Xiaoling River, but they were of great use. If it weren't for the terrible locusts in the previous period, the harvest would have been better. ”

"To deal with locusts, don't we have chickens and ducks?" Zhang Zhimu asked.

Lu Bingyi said: "Yes, if it weren't for our chickens and ducks, we would probably have no harvest." But the locusts are not good if we don't have them in our own fields, and if they have them in other people's fields, they will still run over, but fortunately the locusts have not yet flown in swarms this year, and if that is the case, we will not be able to hide in our fields. Our ammonium chloride is really amazing, it doesn't take long for the crops to see the difference. I think it can greatly increase production. We still have to produce more of this stuff. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Not only can the yield be increased, but also potassium and phosphorus fertilizers. The simplest form of potassium nitrate is potash. ”

Lu Bingyi said thoughtfully: "It seems that I have to organize a few people to specialize in the study of chemical fertilizers." ”

When he met Li Yunhe on the way, Zhang Zhimu showed Li Yunhe the picture of the gas lamp, Li Yunhe glanced at it and said: "This thing is simple, I'll let them make a hundred tomorrow, it's enough, right?" ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "It's not enough, if all the construction sites are lit with this gas, a lot of work can be done at night." In addition, those who come out at night to buy oil lamps are too dim, and they can use gas lamps in the future. How much do you say you need? ”

Li Yunhe said: "Okay, I understand, this thing should also be produced in large quantities like horse lanterns." ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Then you don't need such a large amount, because there is no calcium carbide elsewhere, just enough for the kiln." ”

"Mr. Zhang, look. Lu Wenchen and their electric welding team all said that this acetylene plus oxygen welding thing is much stronger than gas. The high fire temperature of the welding torch not only makes the welding speed faster, but also the welding quality is much better. Li Yunhe pointed to the construction site that was constantly flashing with sparks in the distance.

"Let's get the rifled guns out of here. This is our top priority. Zhang Zhimu said, and led Li Yunhe back to his office.

But as soon as they entered the house, Yang Yulin pointed to Zhang Zhimu's back room and said, "Director Li Zhida is here." ”

Zhang Zhimu listened to Yang Yulin's words, was a little displeased, glared at him and said, "How can you speak!" Yang Yulin was so frightened that she stuck out her tongue, because Zhang Zhimu rarely lost her temper.

It's no wonder that Yang Yulin, because Li Zhi rarely interacts with others when he is fine, except for Li Jing and others in Yaogang, everyone thinks he is very strange, but because he is very favored by Zhang Zhimu, most people dare not say anything. That is, Yang Yulin dared to be presumptuous. Zhang Zhimu also knew that this was due to the particularity of Li Zhi's work, first, Li Zhi was indeed very busy, and second, he also paid attention to socializing with others as little as possible, because when interacting with others, it was easy to accidentally speak and leak his mouth.

Li Yunhe knew that what Li Zhi and Zhang Zhimu said was a secret thing, so he didn't enter the house and chatted with Yang Yulin and them in the outhouse.

Zhang Zhimu also knows that now Li Zhi doesn't have any major things to do, he usually comes to himself, and he knows what he should do for his own affairs, and he has slowly established an intelligence network, but Zhang Zhimu believes that his network is still a little far from an intelligence network that can really operate effectively, because an intelligence network needs time to operate, and Li Zhi's main energy at present is still in training and organizing personnel.

Seeing Zhang Zhimu enter the house, Li Zhi stood up with joy on his face and said, "Mr. Zhang, the second letter came, they entered Xiangyang smoothly and stood still." The main thing is that they got in touch with **. ”

The number two Li Zhi said is Sun Yuejiao and them, ** is Liu Jun. Zhang Zhimu hurriedly asked: "**Is there any news coming?" ”

Li Zhi raised a stack of papers in his hand and said, "**Send back a secret piece of information through No. 2." ** is already a squad leader of the hussars, and the brothers and sisters of the Huwei Dart Bureau have also been contacted. **After bringing Uncle Chen and Liu Yun's letters, they promised to bring their troops back when they had the opportunity, and they were trying to master their army. Some of them are already quite officials on Li Zicheng's side. However, despite Li Zicheng's strict control over the army, information from the outside world rarely reached the army. But they can still get some news about the kiln. Liu Jun and the others also deliberately and quietly publicized the situation of the kiln in the army. ”

Zhang Zhimu couldn't help but clap his hands and said, "Okay, it seems that our first step is too good." You write back and tell them that seclusion is the most important thing. Be careful not to expose yourself and wait for the right moment before moving. ”

Li Zhi said: "Yes, I will tell them this in reply." **The letter that came back said that Li Zicheng and the others already knew that Sun Chuanting was going to attack them, and their army was still very panicked. is preparing for a war with Sun Chuanting. Also, it is said that after each issue of "Yaogang Weekly" has been issued, it will not be long before Li Zicheng can get a copy. ”

Zhang Zhimu smiled at Li Zhi and said, "This provides you with another clue, use it well." It seems that there are still Li Zicheng's people in Yaogang, and it should be a big fish, otherwise he would not have "Yaogang Weekly" so soon. ”

Li Zhi nodded and said, "It's good news, it's easy to handle with a little clue." In addition, the "Ming Mixed One Map" and "Ming Garrison Map" and "Ming Garrison Map" made for us by Wang Shichang, the garrison of Hukou, have been sent back to Beijing's intelligence point, and I have already sent them to Uncle Chen's command center. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Great, it seems that there are many happy events." The people who came back didn't say how Wang Shichang is now? ”

Li Zhi said: "Wang Shoubei has no real post yet. However, he said that there is a lot of discussion about the kiln people in Beijing now. There are many people who say that the Yaogang people will definitely rebel in the future. There are also ministers in the court, some people want to play the emperor, and they want the emperor to borrow silver from the kiln people. Wang Shoubei asked you to prepare early. ”

When Zhang Zhimu heard this, he smiled bitterly and said, "It seems that Wang Shichang still hasn't got a suitable position, but if the emperor really comes to borrow money, he has to think about it carefully." ”

Zhang Zhimu suddenly thought that Li Zhi hadn't had time to go back to Hengshui to pick up his family, "Oh, I forgot a big thing, you haven't had time to go home to pick up your family." Since you promise others, you must keep your promises. Mr. Lu recently has a caravan going to Zhongshu Province, so you can go home and bring your family over. ”

Li Zhi also smiled bitterly and said, "Do you think I have time to go back now?" Why don't I bring a letter and ask them to come with the caravan. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "No, in this troubled world, it is impossible for your family to follow people you don't know." It's better to let Li Jing follow him, your family knows him. ”

Li Zhi said: "Is it appropriate to let Li Zhi run for my family? ”

"If there's anything inappropriate, it's settled." Zhang Zhimu said.

After sending Li Zhi away, Zhang Zhimu hurriedly let Li Yunhe in. He thought it would be better to produce the automatic rifle as soon as possible, and with this weapon, he would not be afraid of anything.

Zhang Zhimu said to Li Yunhe: "You also know that after adding a little tungsten to our manganese steel, the hardness of the turning tool has increased a lot. Then it's very difficult for us to use it. ”

Li Yunhe has also been worried about this, and has tried many methods, but he can't process this material, he said: "Until now, I haven't found a material that can process him." ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "I told you that cemented carbide is used to process this thing. ”

"Tungsten carbide? I've been waiting for you to make cemented carbide, it's not until now. Li Yunhe said helplessly.

Zhang Zhimu ignored Li Yunhe's dissatisfaction and said: "Cemented carbide, we use metal cobalt as a binder, and use powder metallurgy and tungsten carbide powder to make alloy, and directly make the tools we need." ”

Li Yunhe said: "You have said all this, and I know it. But the key is how to produce tungsten carbide. As soon as tungsten powder and toner are heated, the carbon becomes carbon dioxide. ”

Zhang Zhimu said with a smile: "That's why I haven't made this thing all the time." If we want to keep the toner from turning into carbon dioxide, we need to block the air. In other words, tungsten powder and toner are heated in a vacuum furnace. ”

Li Yunhe was even more confused, and asked, "What stove can be lit without air?" ”

"We can energize a carbon electrode, and this carbon electrode is a resistor, and when it is energized, it will be heated and turn red. We put tungsten powder and toner powder in a graphite crucible, put it on the graphite electrode and heat it in a vacuum, and the tungsten powder is carbonized into tungsten carbide. Then grind it into tungsten carbide powder. Zhang Zhimu said.

Li Yunhe sighed and said, "Oh my God, first of all, you have to make a vacuum pump." This empty stove will take a little effort. ”

Zhang Zhimu continued: "The next step is to grind the metal cobalt powder and tungsten powder together in the alcohol with a ball mill, and then evaporate and dry them through a sieve. Mix a little paraffin wax and then dry it to make powder, put it in a metal mold and press it, and then enter the sintering furnace to heat it to 800 degrees in a hydrogen atmosphere, keep it for a certain time, and then cool it down, so that you can get the cemented carbide material we need. However, such cemented carbide materials cannot be processed under our existing conditions. So no matter what shape we need, we have to do it with a mold beforehand. The difficulty lies in the fact that during sintering, the pressed material will shrink, and it is not easy to calculate the shrinkage. What I'm going to tell you is the principle, you have to organize people to do more experiments on these processes, and you will slowly master these things. My request was that one was to make a drill bit out of tungsten carbide, and I wanted to use a carbide drill bit to drill out the barrel in manganese steel. It is also necessary to make a mold for the rifling. We are now punching the barrel directly out of a cylinder, this time when we are *** tube, we have to leave a little margin, and then use the mold to pull out directly together with the rifling and the barrel. Our barrel caliber is 5.8 mm, rifling is four, winding is 244 mm, and rifling depth is 0.2 mm. Because the actual caliber of our bullets is 5.8 + 0.12 mm. ”

After listening to Zhang Zhimu's words, Li Yunhe, who had finished taking notes, was a little dizzy, but there was one thing he was still very sober, he asked: "After you drill the barrel, do you directly use the mold to pull the rifling, or do you heat it up and pull it again?" ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Manganese steel has a characteristic that it is particularly easy to process when it is burned to orange. However, in the rifled guns we will engage in in the future, we must set aside the amount of manganese steel for heat and cold contraction. You're going to have a lot of experiments. So you have to organize a lot of people, divide the work into a part, and tackle the problems together. ”

What Zhang Zhimu didn't expect was that Li Yunhe didn't seem to see this matter too difficult, he said: "Mr. Zhang, don't worry." We have now trained a large number of people, especially the marine steam engine, which is really training people. It will take a little time, and I will give you an explanation as soon as possible. After saying this, Li Yunhe said again: "Lu Wenchen didn't dare to ask you, he asked me when you would help them with electric welding?" He said you told him. ”

Zhang Zhimu patted his head and said, "Oh, I forgot about this." In fact, electric welding is to use the principle of carbon arc lamp to melt the metal to complete the welding task. Tomorrow I will call Li Di and him together and tell them how to do electric welding. ”

Li Yunhe was more interested in this matter, he said: "With electric welding, is it more convenient for us to weld?" ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Of course, welding will be much more convenient in the future." ”

When Li Yunhe was leaving, he suddenly asked: "I think we are preparing for war now, why don't we stop the locomotive for a while and let them all come over to get guns?" ”

Zhang Zhimu looked at Li Yunhe a little strangely and asked, "Are you not confident in defeating Li Zicheng?" ”

Li Yunhe said with a smile: "When our rifle comes out, don't say that Li Zicheng is here, even if the officials and soldiers come together, we are not afraid." ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Those who engage in trains can't stop, this is a matter that must be solved in the long run, and many of our things are limited by transportation capacity, so it can't work." ”

When Li Yunhe went out, Zhang Zhimu saw Lu Chengxiang waiting outside, and Li Zhi was also waiting when he came back.

Seeing Li Yunhe coming out, Li Zhi said to Lu Chengxiang: "Mr. Lu, wait a minute, I have something urgent." ”

Lu Chengxiang stretched out his hand with a smile and said, "You come first, I'm not in a hurry." ”

Li Zhi was not polite, and when he entered the house, he casually closed the door and said, "Just now, Gonggong Li sent someone to send a letter, saying that you must go to him." I guess there's something urgent, or he wouldn't be like this. ”

Zhang Zhimu lowered his head and thought for a while, this Gonggong Li should tell Li Zhi and them if he has something. It seems that there must be something wrong with Emperor Chongzhen in Beijing, otherwise he can't let me go. Maybe it was the borrowing of silver that Wang Shichang said, and said, "Okay, I'll go to see this Gonggong Li tomorrow." Tomorrow you come with me. ”

"Okay!" Li Zhi said yes and went out.

Lu Chengxiang, who came in, was holding a big account book again this time. Zhang Zhimu knew that Lu Chengxiang was going to report again.

Zhang Zhimu said: "Mr. Lu, I'll talk about the accounts later." Did the food to be sent by those who killed Hukou and Zhangjiakou be sent away? ”

Lu Chengxiang said: "That's right, there is still some grain on the side of Niutou Mountain. I asked the camels and wagons to go to Niutou Mountain to pull the grain, and from there the old grain was sent away. If you don't send food, you won't be able to stand it. The letter sent back said that there was a severe shortage of food there. Our branch over there has long run out of food. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Okay, the food of our branch over there must not be cut off, just by virtue of this, we will stand firm over there." ”

Lu Chengxiang said: "I want to transport Huai'an's grain back as soon as possible, and we have produced a lot of products and sent them out, and these things are a lot of silver." We still have more than 10,000 horses, and I think we'll be able to take them away this time. ”

Zhang Zhimu has always wanted to establish a rapid reaction force, and wants to expand to 10,000 people based on Liu Chenghuang's cavalry, so that the horses can no longer be sold, he said: "These horses are all kept, I want Liu Chenghuang to expand to 10,000 cavalry, and these horses will be given to them." Wait for the horses from the north to come down in the autumn, and then pick some, and it is not too late to knock out the unsuitable ones and sell them. However, he told Li Mao to continue to send people to Quanzhou and Guangzhou to continue to buy a large amount of grain. Think about it, if we have a million stone of grain in our hands, then one day, Shanxi will not need to use swords and soldiers, and the people's hearts will be recovered. Zhang Zhimu said.

Lu Chengxiang smiled and said, "Hehe! The people of Shanxi now also know that many of them did not starve to death because of the food we sent and they were all grateful to us. Tell me how much silver we have, right? ”

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Calculus formulas, tables of chemical elements; Conquer Japan in the east and attack Mayi in the south; Penicillin, syringe. --Progress of "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty".