In December of the tenth year of Chongzhen, Zheng Sen got good news. The Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info Hydraulic Forging Department has successfully broken through the technology of forging copper, and has been able to forge the blank of a six-pounder gun.

"Ade, you can arrange a time for me, I'm going to go to the forge to have a look, oh, what's the name of the master who made a technological breakthrough?" Zheng Sen asked.

"It's called Qian Wanguan." Liu De lowered his head and glanced at the report in his hand and replied. Although the name is easy to remember, and Liu De can completely remember it, the procedure for doing things is like this. This is like in the factory protection team, in the process of preparing for battle, although the team leader sees that the subordinate soldiers have already hung gunpowder cartridges, bullet bags, and bayonets on their waists, he will also ask: "Have you brought the gunpowder cartridges and bullet bags with bayonets?" And the soldiers, although they knew that they were ready for these things, but according to the order, after hearing this question, they had to bow their heads, re-examine all these items, and then answer: "Ready!" ”

Of course, compared with the factory protection team, workers in the industrial sector, even if they violate the regulations, only have to deduct their wages, do not need to be whipped, and seafarers have the highest degree of freedom, they have the right to choose freely between being whipped and deducting wages, but it is said that most sailors are still willing to be whipped. Anyway, you don't have to pay for the medical expenses after being whipped.

"Major General, you were supposed to have a class in the factory protection team tomorrow afternoon, and I think this class could be changed to the evening. What do you think? Liu De checked Zheng Sen's schedule again and said.

"Well, yes, let's arrange it like this." Zheng Sen said.

……

Between the two anvils, a huge copper ingot, burned red, was being struck and squeezed out of shape, making a deafening sound. Zheng Sen looked at the copper ingot from afar, then turned around and asked the factory director Hu Quangui who was accompanying him in the loudest voice: "Director Hu! How much does this copper ingot weigh! ”

However, Hu Quangui's ears are not very good (people who work in this kind of metal processing factory do not have very normal ears), and they can't hear what Zheng Sen is saying in the roar of the machine. However, Liu De reacted immediately, quickly threw out a small notebook, and wrote down Zheng Sen's question on it with a shorthand pen (actually charcoal strips).

Hu Quangui can read and write, otherwise he would not be the factory director. Seeing the words on the small book, he nodded and shouted loudly: "Report to the major general, this copper ingot has three thousand catties!" ”

"Three thousand catties? Wouldn't that be able to be used to make a 12-pounder gun? Zheng Sen asked.

If a full set of forged double-layer barrel technology is adopted, the barrel weight of a 12-pound gun should be about 1,000 catties, and a 3,000-pound copper ingot, taking into account the parts cut off by drilling, should be enough to make a 12-pound gun.

"No, Major General!" In the roaring sound of the machine, Captain Zhang shouted loudly, "Wrought copper is different from forged steel, a large piece of copper skin on the outside will be wrinkled, and it cannot be used." Therefore, when using it, a large piece of the outer skin has to be cut off, so that it is not enough. However, it is the dry season, and the water is not enough. If we wait until June or July of next year, when there is a lot of water in the river, then the machine will be much stronger, and then the materials for the 12-pounder cannon can be forged. ”

Zheng Sen nodded, and then asked, "Then when will we have the ability to forge 24-pound guns and 34-pound guns?" ”

Director Zhang spread out his hands and said, "Major General, unless you build a dam, you can raise the water level several times in one go." In addition, the whole machine had to be redesigned and manufactured. Otherwise, you can forge up to 18-pounder gun blanks here. It depends on whether God can help or not. ”

Zheng Sen nodded, it seems that the navy's 24-pounder cannon can only be cast for the time being.

At this time, under the repeated hammering of the forging hammer, the copper ingot has gradually been forged into a long cylindrical blank. At this point, the forging is over, and then the tempering process is carried out, through which the internal stress of the blank can be released, and its toughness can be enhanced.

The dark red copper ingots were sent into the tempering furnace, and the whole tempering process still took some time, so Zheng Sen could also take advantage of this gap to see the situation of other machines.

At present, in this processing plant, in addition to this forging machine, in Zheng Sen's opinion, the most important thing at present is another hydraulic stamping machine, which is used to make armor. At present, the production of flintlock pistols is still very insufficient, so many of them still rely on hand-to-hand combat. In fact, even in the future, when flintlock pistols become popular, hand-to-hand combat is still inevitable, and even enough to determine the outcome of the battle. So armor is still very important. And in the future, after the Andalusian horse and the Arabian horse, Zheng Sen also planned to build two cavalry, one was a dragoon with muskets as the main weapon, and Zheng Sen planned to equip them with Arabian horses or mixed Arab horses. Arabian horses are excellent in speed and stamina. In the various long-distance endurance races of later generations, the top 10 places were almost all won by Arabian horses, and in terms of endurance alone, Arab horses still have the stamina of nuclear-powered Mongolian horses. However, the Arabian horse has a big drawback, that is, its roughage tolerance is not very good, so the heavy use of Arabian horses can be a lot of logistical pressure. However, in a short period of time, Zheng Sen did not intend to let his cavalry troops move too far away from the waterway. So the logistical problems are not big for the time being.

The dragoons who wielded muskets did not need much armor, and their role in Zheng Sen's view was mainly to reconnoitre, harass, and pursue the enemy's defeated troops. But the other cavalry was different, and that was the heavy cavalry that used Andalusian horses. The Andalusian horse is fast, explosive, determined, and flexible relative to its size, making it a naturally warlike horse. Zheng Sen plans to build his own heavy cavalry unit on the basis of this kind of war horse in the future. And the heavy cavalry used for shock combat, of course, needed strong armor. Zheng Sen intended to equip them with cuirassiers similar to those of the later Napoleonic emperors' cuirassiers. Instead of expensive and heavy full-body armor. The purpose of this was, of course, in the hope of retaining the speed and agility of the heavy cavalry. Considering the explosive power and short-distance speed advantage of Andalusian horses over Mongolian horses, if those Mongols were riding their Mongolian horses and playing harassment with their riding bows, they would have to consider whether they would be caught up by Zheng Sen's heavy cavalry with an acceleration when they approached the range of the riding bows, and then hacked to death with random knives.

To achieve such an effect, the cuirass must be both strong and lightweight, and integral stamping is of course the most technical means to achieve such a requirement. And it can greatly reduce the labor cost of armor. A few days ago, it was reported that this kind of machine has also been put into trial production, and the products produced are still very good. Now it's good to take advantage of this time difference to go over and take a look.

After leaving the forging shop, we walked a little further along the river to another place where the riverbed was constricted, and where the current was rapid, where several huge wooden water turbines were slowly rotating. And from the room by the river, the roar of machines was also heard.

Director Hu took Zheng Sen and others into the workshop, relatively speaking, the conditions of the stamping workshop are much better than those of the forging workshop. It's just as deafening, but at least it's not that hot, because it's all cold plates.

Although the smelting department has not yet developed a usable refractory brick, it is impossible to make crucible steel, let alone converters and open hearths. However, the use of frying technology has made it possible to produce wrought iron in large quantities. If the frying steel is properly controlled, it can directly fry high-carbon and medium-carbon steel, but due to various reasons, this control is quite difficult. So many times, it is often simply fried to the end, and a lot of wrought iron is directly fried. Today, Zheng Sen's smelting department has adopted a similar approach, continuously producing mild steel, which is close to wrought iron.

These "mild steels" (mild steels) are first hot-pressed into thin sheets by pressure rollers, then cut and then sent here. Now Zheng Sen is seeing that the workers have cut the mild steel plate that has been cut, about the same thickness as a silver coin, put it on the punch press, and then the hammer falls, and with a bang, the hammer is pulled up by the machine, and a worker sends the punch to take out the half piece of armor that has been formed, and puts it on the finished table next to it, while another worker has already put a new mild steel plate in front of the punch. On the other side of a press, the same process was underway, except that the second half of the cuirass was produced. The two parts are then hinged together, and it is a complete cuirass.

"It's going to be produced very quickly." Zheng Sen said, "How many armors can you find in a day?" ”

"If there are enough raw materials, and in the wet season, we can make about 1,000 sets of first products a day. Then they can send it back to the smelting part and let them process it again, but they can't do it as fast as we do, so if the Major General is talking about the final product, it depends on the speed of the metallurgical department, not ours. ”

Zheng Sen knew that these initial products had to be sent for carburizing and quenching, and this process was the most important, time-consuming, and technical. Only after this process is completed can it be considered a truly finished cuirass, ignoring any bows, javelins, slashes, or even musket shots from a certain distance. However, if it is sold to me Daming, it can completely save this last process, anyway, even if it cuts corners like this, Zheng Sen is sure that his things are definitely much more conscientious than those made by my Daming Ministry of Industry.