The next day, Zhu Hongsan got up early, because today he was going to find Tie Niu to study and produce weapons together. After having breakfast with several ladies, Zhu Hongsan went out.

When I arrived at the production workshop, I saw that Tie Niu had already arrived early with a few people. When everyone saw Zhu Hongsan coming, they all stood up and said, "The owner is here." ”

Zhu Hongsan nodded, and Tie Niu said, "These are my best blacksmith masters." Several of their grandparents used to make firearms, and the eldest brother could ask them first. ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "Do you all know how to make a gun barrel? ”

A middle-aged blacksmith stood up and said, "Dongjia, my grandfather used to be a craftsman in the firearms battalion in Jingshi, and he made a three-eyed gun. ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "Okay, you can talk about it." ”

The blacksmith said, "The most difficult thing about the gun is the barrel. Pig iron must first be beaten into iron sheets, then rolled up, and then the pipe walls are reinforced with iron bars, and it takes a skilled craftsman a month to make a firecracker. ”

Zhu Hongsan asked: "Can't you use an iron rod to drill holes and directly process them into firecrackers?" ”

The blacksmith said, "Someone has done that, I heard my grandfather say it when I was a child. There were a few craftsmen in their camp who could make iron rods, but they were very time-consuming, and they could not make them in two or three months. My grandfather didn't learn. ”

Zhu Hongsan nodded, thinking that it seems that the musket is still troublesome, and it is okay to produce one or two on a small scale, but it is not possible to produce it on a large scale. No, let's get artillery first.

Zhu Hongsan said to everyone: "Which of you will make the Hongyi cannon? ”

A young man stood up on the side and whispered: "Dongjia, my family is in Shaanxi, my father and I used to be craftsmen in Yulinwei, Shaanxi, and my grandfather used to make Hongyi cannons, I heard my father say it when I was a child, but I didn't do it." ”

Zhu Hongsan didn't expect that he could find such a talent, and asked, "What is your name, young man?" ”

The young man said, "My surname is Li, and my name is Li Er. ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "Li Er is too ugly, I'll give you a name." In the future, you will be called Li Quanzhong. ”

Li Quanzhong knelt down and said, "Thank you for the name." ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "Get up, you become a master." Let's see if we can get one. ”

After that, we started to do it.

Li Quanzhong's method is the traditional Chinese clay method, and the method is very simple. First, use a fine basket to sift the white mud and remove stones and debris. Then the evenly mixed clay is beaten into flat clay sheets, and after the clay flakes are half dry, several large pieces of mud are made into several large pieces of mud according to the shape of the cast artillery, and then dried, or baked over a slight fire, and the defects on the inner surface of the fan are trimmed and mended, so that they are as smooth as possible, which becomes the outer model used in casting.

Then the inner fan is made with the same process, and the outer fan is divided into several parts, and the inner fan is a whole. However, it is smaller than the outer fan, and the size difference between it and the outer fan is the thickness of the cannon. It is also to wait until the inside and outside are all dry, put the inner fan upside down on the base, and then place the outer fan around the inner fan. After the outer fan is closed, seal the outer fan with cement, wait until the cement is dry, and then cover the closed fan cover above, and leave at least one pouring hole on the fan cover.

Then it is casting, the melted wrought iron solution is injected along the pouring hole, and after the molten iron is cooled, the outer fan and the inner fan are broken, and the cast cannon is taken out, which is the production process of the Hongyi cannon.

Don't look at this simple process, this is the crystallization of the wisdom of the ancient Chinese working people, and it was not inferior to the Western artillery technology in the late Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Hongsan looked at the Hongyi cannon that was made, and was very dissatisfied. Why? Because judging from Zhu Hongsan's systematic and modern education, this Hongyi cannon has several fatal shortcomings.

The first point is too heavy, because China lacks copper, so pig iron is used as a raw material. The ductility of pig iron is not as good as bronze, and the process inevitably forms sand holes, in order to prevent explosions, domestic cannons are very heavy, so there is a thousand catties of cannons.

The second point is that the charge is small, the firing range is short, there is no crosshair, it is impossible to aim, the outer mouth of the gun chamber is wide, the interior is small, and the gunpowder gas cannot be effectively gathered, and the inside of the gun chamber cannot be qualified round, and the gun chamber is not boring. Each craftsman in the production of clay fan does as he likes, and there is no standardization, and the logistics maintenance will be too troublesome in the future. There is no problem with this, this is a design problem, next time Zhu Hongsan will design it with a small mouth and a big belly, this is easy to solve.

The third point is the deadliest, it takes too long to manufacture. It's not a 10,000-pound cannon to get this one, and it's almost two months. What I lack most is time.

The shells are easy to handle, just cast a few solid iron pellets with pig iron. While waiting for the mud fan to dry out, Zhu Hongsan ordered someone to make a hundred cannonballs.

Let's not talk about the rest, let's try this Hongyi cannon first. Zhu Hongsan asked Zhu Hongyi to transfer his guard company, found a few horses, and pulled the cannon to the playground. At the same time, let people notify the Ma family brothers and Tong Yangjia to come over and have a look.

The soldiers who were training on the playground stopped to watch the excitement when they saw the commander pulling a cannon. Qian Yong came over and said, "Sir, everyone wants to take a look." ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "Okay, let the team come out and line up on the side." A few of you battalion commanders come and take a look. Qian Yong rushed down to gather the troops.

Zhu Hongsan ordered four mounds to be set up at 300 steps, 500 steps, 800 steps, and 1,000 steps. Then let someone go and fetch a few hundred pounds of gunpowder.

When they were preparing, Ma Jiyuan, Ma Mingyuan, and Tong Yangjia came. The baby daughter Zhu Luo saw that there was a lively scene and followed.

Ma Mingyuan looked at the cannon in the middle and said, "The lord can actually make a Hongyi cannon?" I don't think it's much smaller than the one on the head of Beijing. ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "This is just a test model, and it needs to be improved." After saying that, seeing Zhu Luo, Zhu Hongsan said: "My daughter will go home first, tell your mother and second mother, and you will fire the cannon in a while, let them be careful, don't frighten my son." Zhu Luo ran back to inform him, but he didn't expect that Ma Xiaofang was also a master who loved to watch the excitement, so he actually led Ma Ruyan and the Dong sisters out to watch. This can scare Zhu Hongsan, this is a test model, what if it explodes? Hurriedly went to persuade the ladies to go back to their yard to see.

After everything was arranged, Zhu Hongsan asked everyone to withdraw 500 meters to a safe position, and he took a few soldiers to first load two catties of gunpowder, and then picked up a projectile weighing about three catties and put it into the breech. Then aim, leaving a long fuse*. After looking back and seeing that everything was arranged, Zhu Hongsan left a soldier and ran to a safe position himself.

Zhu Hongsan motioned for the soldier to light the fire, and the soldier immediately ran backwards after lighting the fire, and when he ran two hundred meters, the cannon let out an angry roar. There was a burst of gunsmoke, and people in the distance saw a black dot go out of the muzzle of the cannon and fall on the edge of the mound of earth five hundred paces.

It took a while for everyone to react, and Zhu Luo was so frightened that he couldn't close his mouth on the side, and said, "Good girl, it's so loud." ”

Zhu Hongsan said to everyone: "Let's go, let's go and see how the effect is?" ”

Everyone came to the impact point, a ten-centimeter-deep pit in the ground, because this was a playground, the ground was trampled very hard by the soldiers, the shells formed a catapult, and the shells were found twenty meters in front of the impact point. There was green smoke on the ground. If this is a real battle, everything in these 20 meters will be destroyed.

Ma Jiyuan and Ma Mingyuan looked at it in surprise, and Ma Jiyuan thought: "I've heard of the prestige of the Hongyi cannon in Liaodong, but I didn't expect it to be so powerful." If there are a hundred and ten gates, there will be living people on the other side. ”

Ma Mingyuan said: "Congratulations to the lord for making such a sharp weapon. ”

Tong Yangjia said: "Lord, what are we going to Guangdong for when we have such a sharp weapon?" Build three or four hundred gates here, and the one who comes will kill him. ”

Zhu Hongsan scolded: "Do you think this Hongyi cannon is made of mud? There are only 24 gates in the whole country in the Ming Dynasty, and they are all in Beijing and Liaodong. Our power and range are not as good as those of the imperial court, and it took two months to get it right. The weight of the imperial court is 10,000 catties, and the range is three miles, and you can't get one every two years. ”

At this time, the six battalion commanders on the side reacted, and in order to get this cannon, they hung up and fought. The angry Zhu Hongsan scolded: "What the hell are you doing? There is no one in his mother's fight, this is our own construction, and we want to equip as much as we want in the future. ”

When the six battalion commanders heard Zhu Hongsan say that everyone had a share, they stopped.

Zhu Hongsan said to Ma Mingyuan: "Sir, don't be too happy, this cannon is only experimental in nature, and there are still many problems that have not been solved." It's already November, and there is still half a year to go, and at most a few doors can be built. ”

Ma Mingyuan nodded and said: "Yes, it is useless to have only a few doors, but we can make them on a large scale in Guangdong." ”

Zhu Hongsan said: "Let's talk about it then, I will improve this cannon in the next few months, and all the preparations at home will trouble the three gentlemen." ”

Erma and Tong Yangjia said that they didn't dare to do it, and then the four of them chatted for a while and went to work separately.

Zhu Hongsan called Tie Niu and said, "Tie Niu, you find a few people to test how many shots this cannon can fire." Be sure to pay attention to the danger, be sure to check the gun body after each launch, and don't use it if there is a crack. Tie Niu nodded, and arranged for no one to mention.

Zhu Hongsan knew that this cannon could shoot nearly 400 meters was the power of new gunpowder, and this should not be considered an artillery piece by the standards of the imperial court, but a large musket. Because it weighs only 500 pounds, it is only heavier than some large lifting guns. Thinking of this, Zhu Hongsan is still not satisfied, and it seems that he will continue to improve tomorrow. In his mind, the ideal artillery should weigh 500 pounds, have a range of three to five miles, and two horses can pull it away, so as to ensure power and mobility at the same time.

Seeing that his wives were still waiting for him, Zhu Hongsan thought that he should go home after being tired for a month. After speaking, he pulled Zhu Luo, who was squatting and looking at the shells, to go home.

Walking to the door and seeing the four ladies coming out to greet her, Ma Xiaofang was the most happy. Because since he and Zhu Hongsan got married, they have heard others talk about Zhu Hongsan, who is unlearned and ruthless. This time, her husband finally didn't have to kill people and set fires to prove that he was better than others, and Ma Xiaofang, as a wife, was naturally happy.

Zhu Hongsan saw Ma Xiaofang, who was holding an eight-month-old belly, and said, "What is Madam still doing when she comes out?" Hurry inside, it's too cold outside. ”

Ma Xiaofang said with a smile: "Don't worry, I'm not cold at all, and I'm very happy to see my master's success." ”

Zhu Hongsan smiled and led the ladies back to the room without mentioning it.

When they were in the same room at night, the Dong sisters said: "Master, our sisters will not be able to serve the master in the future." ”

"Oh? What's wrong with you guys? Menstrual affairs? ”

"Nasty, my sister and I are pregnant."

Zhu Hongsan's eyes lit up, he didn't expect that after many years of marriage before, he had a daughter, Zhu Luo, and this time he was finally going to break out. Zhu Hongsan smiled and said: "Okay, you can't use the mouth below and use the mouth above, it's all the same anyway, hahaha... ”