He was also impressed by the various ships under construction at the two shipyards, as well as things such as iron-clad rails and large lifting pulley sets, which Zheng Zhilong had not seen much before. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info, however, what really opened Zheng Zhilong's eyes were some other factories.

"Daddy, this is Master Li heard that you are coming to inspect, and specially used our own crucible steel, and spent two days to create a sword for you." Zheng Sen held a sword in a green sharkskin scabbard in both hands, raised it above his head, bent down and respectfully handed it to Zheng Zhilong.

Zheng Zhilong took the sword. From the gleaming brass gauntlets and counterweights, it can be seen that this sword is indeed newly built. He gently drew his sword and looked at it carefully. The blade of this sword is polished so brightly that it can be used as a mirror. Even the bronze mirrors of ordinary people are not so bright. Zheng Zhilong tilted the sword at an angle, and looked at it carefully, from this angle, you can see the faint patterns on the sword.

At this time, a worker pushed over a small cart, and on the small cart, there was a wooden man, and the wooden man was still wearing a suit of armor.

"Dashuai, this is wearing the armor we sold to Da Yue Guo, Guan Ning Jun and Zuo Liangyu. They used it and said it was good. The handsome can try it with a sword. Li Tongzhong, a blacksmith who accompanied him, was originally a blacksmith from Foshan, and was later invited by the Zheng family with a high salary.

Zheng Zhilong nodded, pulled his sword back, and then stabbed it with a slam of his sword. With a click, the sword pierced through the armor of the wooden man and plunged deep into the wood.

"Not bad!" Zheng Zhilong gently shook the long sword in his hand, then pulled it out, and carefully inspected the sword body, and there were no scratches on the sword body. He couldn't help but look at the armor on the wooden man, it was a wrought iron half-length armor, although it was wrought iron, and it was a monkey version sold to others, it was not as good as the quenched high-end goods for his own use, but it was indeed a real thing.

"Yes, the steel mouth is good! Well done! Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but praise again, and then pulled a sword flower and inserted the sword into the scabbard.

"Master Li, it only took you two days to build this sword?" Zheng Zhilong put away the sword, suddenly remembered something, and asked again.

"Back to the marshal, in terms of building this sword, it actually only took one morning, and the rest of the time was actually spent on opening and polishing." Li Tongzhong replied with his hands clenched into fists.

"So fast?" Zheng Zhilong was taken aback. In his opinion, it was unimaginably fast to create such a sword in two days, but he didn't want to think that the actual building process was even faster than that.

"I look at the pattern on this sword, this sword has been stacked many times, right? Can it be played so quickly? Zheng Zhilong asked again.

Zheng Zhilong knew that the faint patterns on the body of this sword were actually the result of the blacksmiths' continuous forging and folding of steel bars, and this process would take a lot of time.

"Marshal, this is all thanks to the good steel that the young general let people refine, the villain has been fighting for so many years, and it is the first time he has seen such a good steel, even if it is a hundred steels, it is not as good as the crucible steel of the young general. There is also a hydraulic forging platform built with people. Li Tongzhong replied, "With this thing, it is much easier to forge." The handsome man is interested again, you can go over there and have a look. ”

"Hydraulic forging machine? Is it something similar to the hydraulic press I just saw? Zheng Zhilong said. Just now, he visited the stamping workshop used to make plate armor, and Zheng Zhilong was shocked by the machine that could stamping a large piece of wrought iron plate into half armor at once under the hydraulic drive.

"That's what Daddy said." Zheng Sen nodded and said, "It's similar to that one, but the extrusion mold was replaced with a forging hammer." Master Li's hydraulic forging machine here is a small one, and there is a larger one over there, which can be used to forge artillery. ”

"Let's go and see Master Li's trumpets first." Zheng Zhilong said.

……

Because of the large drop in Taiwan's turbid water stream, except for a section near the estuary, it is not a navigable river and has a limited role in transportation. However, this small river also has a great advantage, that is, it can provide quite convenient water resources.

Today, along the river, Zheng Sen has built four dams in one go to power nearby weapons factories. After the production of graphite crucible steel began, the machines in these factories were updated to replace many key transmission materials with high-strength crucible steel, which further improved the overall processing efficiency. And the cold weapon department, which was originally unable to use the hydraulic forging machine because of the shortage of iron birch, also has a tall hydraulic forging machine. In addition, it is said that water-powered spinning machines and water-powered looms have recently been developed. He obtained a patent and a loan from Zheng Sen to build another water-powered textile factory in the vicinity.

Li Tongzhong led the way in front, Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Sen followed, and soon arrived in front of a machine that was more than two people tall. The machine was square, with another anvil in front of it, and above the anvil was a forging hammer. And there is a footrest on the ground next to it.

One of Li Tongzhong's apprentices picked up a reddish iron bar from the furnace next to him with iron tongs, put it on the anvil, and then gently stepped on the pedal with his foot, and the forging hammer immediately hit down heavily, and the iron bar was rapidly deformed in the midst of the sparks, and the apprentice constantly adjusted the iron bar according to the rhythm of the falling of the forging hammer, and the red iron bar was quickly forged into a large iron plate, and then folded again, and then quickly forged into a thin plate ......again.

"What kind of crucible steel is this?" Zheng Zhilong asked.

"Dashuai, what he is building is something that is sold to ordinary people, where can he use something as good as crucible steel." Li Tongzhong replied, "It's just some wrought iron, and a little more steel is enough at the end." Unlike Dashuai's sword, the sword body is made of soft crucible steel, and the blade is made of hard crucible steel, which is the best steel. ”

"Even if it's wrought iron, I'm afraid this forging hammer has the strength of thousands of catties every time, right?" Zheng Zhilong sighed, "And I'm not afraid of being tired, it's really not comparable to ordinary people." ”

By this time, the apprentice had beaten the iron bar into the shape of a machete, and then put it in the furnace to burn it red, and then placed it on a shelf already full of similar half-finished products to anneal and cool.

"That's how the knife was beaten?" Zheng Zhilong asked.

"Not yet." Li Tongzhong replied, "Now put it here for annealing, and when the annealing is done, it will be burned red again, then quenched, and then polished to open the edge." This kind of thing is simple, but Dashuai's sword is much more complicated. It has to go through four processes: annealing, normalizing, quenching, and tempering, especially quenching, and the methods used are different from ordinary swords. Nature takes more time than this. However, it is still much faster than the traditional method. ”

At this time, the apprentice came over, first saluted Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Sen, and then said to Li Tongzhong: "Master, the gun over there. The thorns have been de-fired, and now it's almost time to put them back in the furnace, and it's time to quench. This batch of goods is for the model army, and you still have to do the quenching thing. ”

Quenching is the most critical step in the heat treatment of weapons, if it is not done well, it is easy to cause the sword to be scrapped directly due to too much internal stress; Either because the quenching is not in place, the hardness and toughness of the product are not good enough. This batch of guns. Thorns are to be equipped for model soldiers, and naturally better quality is required, so the quenching thing must be done by experienced masters.

Li Tongzhong nodded, and said to Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Sen: "Great marshal, major general, some smells are not very good when quenching, please retreat a little further and go to the upper hand." ”

Zheng Sen nodded, and retreated some distance from Zheng Zhilong, and the apprentice handed Zheng Sen and Zheng Zhilong masks again. Zheng Sen helped Zheng Zhilong put on a mask, and the two looked towards Li Tongzhong together, but saw that he had also put on a mask, and Li Tongzhong walked to a fireplace. There were dozens of bayonets that had already been built and were waiting to be quenched. The bayonets were fastened to an iron rack by clips and inserted into the hearth, where they were now burned bright white.

Li Tongzhong shook a handle, and the iron frame slowly rose, and these bayonets also left the furnace. Then it was turned to the top of another stove along with the iron shelf. There is a large pot in this stove, but the lid of the pot is still tightly covered. A worker came over, shook the handle and removed the lid, and Li Tongzhong put those white-hot bayonets into the cauldron.

"What's in this pot? God mysterious. Zheng Zhilong asked.

"Daddy, it's nothing, it's just some hot alkaline water." Zheng Sen replied.

As the red-hot bayonets were put into the alkaline water, a white steam suddenly rose, Li Tongzhong waited for a while, then pulled the bayonets out of the alkaline water again, and then said to the apprentice: "When they are cold, you can go and make a temper for them." After speaking, he walked towards Zheng Zhilong and the others again.

"Master Li, do you have something that has been completely made here for me to see?" Zheng Zhilong asked.

"Yes, handsome, yes. We have a batch of swords to sell to the South Seas, and they are ready, just waiting to be dragged out and loaded on the ship. Li Tongzhong said.

……

"Even if it's an ordinary sword sold to outsiders, the quality is actually very good." On the carriage back, Zheng Zhilong said to Zheng Sen, "It's a pity that the steelmaking factory has been moved to Qiongzhou, and I can't see how the crucible steel was made." However, it doesn't matter, the important thing is that after these few days, Daddy found out, Asen, you guy......"

Speaking of this, Zheng Zhilong sighed again and said, "You guy is still not human!" How did you come up with all these things? Nowadays, I think this Taiwan can only be managed by yourself. Your father is going to take over your current position, and I'm afraid I'm going to go abroad soon......"

"Daddy, child......" Zheng Sen wanted to defend a few words.

"You don't need to say it," Zheng Zhilong said, "I've already decided, this place is only in charge of you." As for you to help, I will find a way to get your third uncle back to help you, and in addition, I will throw all of your younger brothers to you, you take them, and they will be able to help in a few years. As for your father, I ......" Zheng Zhilong smiled, "I can't come and help you, can I?" And after watching Taiwan, I was also relieved, and I was just able to have a good time. ”