In May, outside the city of Runing, the weapons workshop was finally put into operation as the first batch of craftsmen from Guanzhong were sent to the workshop.

Long before the craftsmen arrived, Gao Yihuan had already entrusted the horsemen to buy a batch of refined iron and copper ingots from Anqing Mansion in Nanzhili, and also bought charcoal from Liu Heizi to build a warehouse to hide.

Among these materials, charcoal is relatively easy to get, and Liu Heizi changed his previous small family spirit and organized nearly 10,000 people to mine. Refined iron and copper ingots are both strategic materials, but they are relatively difficult to obtain, but Gao Yihuan colluded with Liu Liangzuo, and there were officials and soldiers to take care of them, and it was not too difficult to transport them over.

The second brother's territory is not large, and there are no resources in the territory, so he can only rely on heavy bribes to open up trade routes and buy them from other places.

With the materials stored in the warehouse, the craftsmen can start work directly after they arrive, shortening the preparation time of the workshop.

The second brother Gao planned a large area in the south of Runing City, near the edge of the Ru River, as a military workshop. Except for a small number of buildings made of wood, most of the workshops are brick houses with red bricks and red tiles, which are kiln craftsmen transferred from Luyi to build a wheel kiln in Runing, and then burn bricks to build.

Generally speaking, most ordinary people can only use green bricks and tiles, and the height and regulations are restricted, but Gao Yihuan has not paid attention to this for the time being.

Outside the workshop is a section of red brick wall, more than two zhang high, the building inside the wall is also divided, from a distance it looks like a palace, it looks extraordinarily ostentatious, but there are several large chimneys standing inside, often emitting black smoke, which makes people look a little disobedient.

At this time, Gao Yihuan was wearing a robe, with his hands behind his back, walking in the workshop, surrounded by a large group of people behind him. From time to time, the second brother stopped beside the busy craftsman, asked the east and west, pointed and pointed, and sometimes stood without speaking, and a group of people watched a craftsman work, which made the craftsman nervous and almost had an accident.

"Foreman Wang, how is the situation in the workshop now?" Gao Yihuan asked Wang Laohan, who was captured from Shangqiu, as he walked.

"General, according to the general's wishes, the old man divided the new craftsmen into three groups, respectively to build weapons, cast guns, and make armor." Wang Laohan smiled earnestly, "Now the three groups of people have already started work." ”

The second brother Gao is now in the workshop of cold weapons, in which dozens of shirtless men are sweating like rain wielding sledgehammers, "clanging" and hitting red-hot iron. The workshop was full of well-made Miao knives, hook and sickle spear heads, and other cold weapons.

"Well, that's good." The second brother looked around, waved his hand, and said, "Let's go, take me to the firearms workshop to have a look." ”

At that moment, everyone came to another red brick room, there were also sixty or seventy craftsmen in it, but it was much quieter than in the cold weapon workshop, only half of the personnel were quietly fighting, and most of them were polishing the inner wall of the pipe.

Gao Yihuan walked into the workshop, and a craftsman in charge of it immediately greeted him, "Villain Chen Huiting, see the general." ”

"Chen Qijian, I'm still used to coming to me." Gao Yihuan casually picked up a firearm and asked while looking at it.

Chen Huiting, the head of the artisan household who passed through Guanzhong, was busy and said: "The general provided us with food and drink, settled our families, and had wages to receive, and the craftsmen were very grateful to the general." ”

"How about that than at Inspector Sun's?" Gao Yihuan picked up the fire gun and looked at it carefully, the pitch-black fine iron gun tube, the inner wall is very smooth and straight, the hardwood gun bed and the curved gun support, not only beautiful, but also very good.

Chen Huiting heard him ask, but he was suddenly stunned, Gao Yihuan looked at the firecracker, and seeing that he didn't speak, he couldn't help but hold the gun in his hand and stare at him.

This startled Chen Huiting, sweating behind his back, and hurriedly bowed and saluted, with a smile on his face, "It's good to be a general here, a general is good here~"

"Don't be reluctant~" Gao Yihuan saw him panicked, and couldn't help but say something when he heard his tone.

Chen Huiting shook his head again and again, "It's not reluctant at all, the general is really good." ”

Gao Yihuan smiled, "You don't have to be nervous, I just want to ask if there are still some things that Ben will not do well, and what is not as good as Inspector Sun, so that you can improve as soon as possible and make you satisfied." ”

The more Chen Huiting listened, the more frightened he became, and his head shook like a rattle, "We are all satisfied, there is nothing bad about it." ”

When Gao Yihuan heard him say this, his face became serious. "Since I have done everything, then you have to complete the requirements I have to give me, and you must do better than in Inspector Sun."

"Ah~" Chen Huiting was stunned when he heard this.

Gao Yihuan picked up the fire gun and asked again: "What are the difficulties in the production of this kind of Lu Mi gun now?" How many pieces can be produced in a month? ”

Chen Huiting didn't understand the meaning of Gao Yihuan's last sentence, so he hurriedly replied: "General Hui, the gun pipe used to make bird guns must be fine iron, generally ten catties of crude iron can be smelted into one catty, the purity of the refined iron in the treasury is different, we need to smelt it again, only the guns made of the best fine iron can be strong and durable, and they will not explode when shooting." ”

Gao Yihuan nodded, the probability of the explosion of the Ming Dynasty fire gun is high, that is, the raw materials are not strictly controlled, and the corrupt officials use ordinary iron ingots instead of fine iron, cutting corners, so the fire gun is easy to damage.

Gao Yihuan has a little understanding of this, he got several batches of firearms before and after, some of which were captured by the Chuang army when the official army of Zhuxian Town was defeated, some were obtained by the ambush of the left army in Yuncheng, and some were left after the defeat of Sun Chuanting Nanyang. Among these firearms, the quality of the guns used by the Zuo army was the worst, followed by the guns used by the officials and soldiers of Zhuxian Town, and the best guns were those used by Sun Chuanting's Qin army.

Gao Yihuan heard that Sun Chuanting used strict punishment and strict laws to govern weapons and manage places in Guanzhong, and he was decisive in killing, which seemed to be indeed useful.

"Well, the control of raw materials must be strict, you are practicing the fine iron in the warehouse, and it is no problem to spend a little more effort." Gao Yihuan bowed slightly, and then continued: "You continue." ”

"General, the most important thing is the gun pipe." Chen Huiting glanced up at Gao Yihuan, and hurriedly lowered his head, as if the second brother looked terrifying, his voice became a little quieter, "When making the gun pipe, we roll the fine iron into two iron pipes, one large and one small, with large bags and small ones, temper the two tightly, and then polish the inner wall to be smooth and straight, but this drill process is very precise, and each person can only drill about one inch per day, so it takes about a month for each person to make a bird gun~"

After saying that, Chen Hui was a little afraid to look at Gao Yihuan, and after the second brother heard what he said, he also understood, this guy began to say that he needed fine iron, and then said that he was big and small, and finally just to tell him that it would take a month to make a gun.

The second brother Gao's face sank when he heard this, but he couldn't complain, after all, he just nodded in approval, so it was not good to turn his face immediately. Besides, if you want to make a qualified good gun, you must do it like this, otherwise it will be easy to blow up, so it is better not to make it.

Thinking of this, the second brother's expression eased a little, knowing that not only could not be urged in this matter, but he also had to tell them not to worry, and to make more progress.

"Well, okay, just like that, pay attention to every step of the way, and don't make any mistakes." Gao Yihuan said in a deep voice.

Chen Huiting was ready to be scolded, he couldn't help but be stunned when he heard the words, and looked up at Gao Yihuan with some surprise, he was about to speak, but Gao Yihuan waved his hand, and then said: "If there is a problem with the gun according to what you said, my punishment for you will be even more severe than that of Inspector Sun, do you understand?" ”

Chen Huiting shuddered, and hurriedly saluted: "The villain understands." ”

Gao Yihuan bowed slightly, thought for a while, and then suddenly said: "Let me give you a suggestion, you can see if you can subdivide the craftsmen in the workshop, those who smelt refined iron will specialize in smelting refined iron, those who cast rods will specialize in casting rods, and those who polish and drill rods will specialize in drilling. What do you think? ”

Chen Huiting was stunned after hearing this, he was a little shocked in his heart, feeling that doing this would definitely improve the efficiency, but each craftsman has his own craftsmanship, they used to make a gun, and now a few people make one, how to calculate if something goes wrong, whether they are willing to hand over their skills to others, Chen Huiting is a little unclear.

"You ponder this slowly, and after three days, you will come to the government office to talk to me in detail." Gao Yihuan looked at him, waved his hand, asked him to digest it first, and then asked, "Has the artillery been cast?" ”

"Back to the general, the abrasives have been produced, but the finished artillery will not come out until at least next month."

Gao Yihuan nodded when he heard this, "Take me to see it first." ”

At the moment, the crowd checked the casting cannon and armor making, Gao Yihuan stayed in the workshop for a day, and only returned to the mansion after dark, and Zhao Zhuzi greeted him in front of the yamen, "Second brother, Yicheng is back from Shandong!" ”