The one who can really solve this problem well is Gong Zhenlin, an artillery expert in the late Qing Dynasty. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Gong Zhenlin's iron mold casting method is to first make a mud cannon out of mud, and decompose the mud cannon into four to seven sections, each section is divided into two petals, left and right. Then correspond to each petal, make an outer fan with mud, leave a handle on the outer fan, and there are bamboo shoots that can connect each petal together. Then the molten iron is poured into the inner and outer clay of each petal, and the iron fan of this petal is made.

Next, cast the cannon, fasten the iron fan together with bamboo shoots, fix it with an iron hoop on the outside, brush the inner layer with a slurry to prevent adhesion, and then insert the gun core, pour the molten iron into it, and when it is cooled and formed, the outer flaps of the iron fan are peeled off piece by piece, and the surface is polished and trimmed while the gun body is hot. After that, the mud core is cleaned and the inner chamber is rotated to form. As long as the iron mold is made, the cost of making a cannon will be greatly reduced, according to Gong Zhenlin's calculations, the artillery silver for casting a thousand catties of cannons will cost a hundred taels for one piece, and the iron mold will only cost a few taels. According to Gong Zhenlin's account in "The Diagram of Casting Cannon Iron Mold", forty gunners, if they are in a hurry, can build nine cannons in two days, which is still a thousand-pound cannon.

The biggest change in Gong Zhenlin's iron mold casting method is to speed up the casting of artillery, improve the product qualification rate, and reduce the cost. Although there is actually no qualitative improvement in the quality of artillery, it is already very good for Zhu Youhua, and what Daming lacks most now is time!

After those gunsmiths used the casting method provided by Zhu Youhua, the casting speed of the cannon was really greatly improved, and the original average of only six or seven Fulong machine guns could be cast per month, after using the iron film casting cannon method, more than 30 guns could be cast per month, and the output of the tiger squat cannon also increased from 20 or 30 guns per month to more than 70 guns.

Artillery is the god of war, is the key to the success or failure of the war, as long as Zhu Youhua is given another year, the arsenal can produce four or five hundred Franco cannons, once put into the army, the overall combat strength of the Ming army will be doubled, under the elimination of the other, Manchuria Eight Banners want to sweep China again, I am afraid it will not be so easy.

There is no shortage of resources, no lack of population, no lack of technology, only lack of money, Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen died of lack of money, a huge empire, mixed to the end even to defend his own Beijing camp can not be paid, it is really tragic to the extreme!

As long as the financial problem is solved, there will be much less resistance to the rectification of the administration of officials, military administration, integration of manpower and resources, and so on; a while ago, many gentry and feudal towns were copied, and now the central household department has 30 or 40 million taels of silver, and they are very wealthy, and they are not afraid of spending money, and at least in the next three or four years, there will be no more money shortage.

Zhu Youhua walked and watched, shuttling through the workshops, and the craftsmen and apprentices in the workshops were all in full swing doing their work. They transport iron materials, forging forging, washing finished products, everything is in order and in an orderly manner.

In the midst of a busy situation, everyone is working very hard, and in this year, there are not many places where they can eat and live, and they can't be driven away because they don't work hard.

The apprentices eat white rice and hot noodles every day, they can eat enough at each meal, and they can also eat meat once in a while, which makes them very grateful, and many of them are from the north, when they wandered in the provinces and counties of Jiangnan and Jiangbei, they had seen a lot of the world and the cold of the world, and their senses were becoming numb, but here, for the first time, they felt the warmth of life. I am even more grateful for the kindness of the Son of Heaven, and for the first time in my heart, I have a sense of identity with the court and the Ming Dynasty.

But there are also some treacherous ones, although they have strength, they are relatively lazy, always grinding foreign workers and cutting corners. Zhu Youhua will not be polite to these people, and when he found out that one of them was a mess of sticks, he was beaten up, and then drove out of the arsenal and let himself destruct.

He took his personal guard, walked through the corridors and aisles with great interest, watching the largest arsenal in the Ming Dynasty be established little by little in his hands, his heart was quite excited, and from time to time he pointed out the surrounding ordnance, and when he returned, he was surrounded by a lot of various owners.

Zhu Youhua turned around and said: "In the future, the safety of firearms and gunpowder workshop craftsmen is the first, during the test, the relevant people stay in a safe place, the operator is covered with iron armor, and the trial is repeated hundreds of times, and the potential safety hazards must be found.

Of course, the food and wages of ordinary military craftsmen are also not less, and every time they make a qualified bird gun, cannon, armor, and waist knife. The imperial court will give certain rewards. However, there is a reward and a punishment, and if the weapons produced in the future are unqualified, the relevant people will have to deduct the monthly salary and monthly food to replenish the material loss, and if there is any injury to the sergeant, it will be severely punished. ”

"We will obey the commandments."

Under the kowtow of the heads of the workshops, Zhu Youhua slowly stepped out of the arsenal.

After returning to the palace, Zhu Youhua summoned Ma Shiying, the secretary of the first auxiliary army, Lu Zhenfei, the secretary of the second auxiliary department, Ruan Dacheng, the secretary of the household department, Qian Qianyi, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Chen Qiyu, the secretary of the criminal department, Zuo Maodi, the secretary of the imperial history of the left capital, and Wang Duo, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and other powerful officials of the southern capital to the front of the palace to discuss the major matters of military reform.

Zhu Youhua is generally very satisfied with this year's cabinet ministers, regardless of their ethics, they generally have real talent and practical learning, Lu Zhenfei and Zuo Maodi are all ministers and direct ministers in the "Tingfu faction", and it is rare to be a doer, and Zhu Youhua has always been stingy and reused for such a courtier. One of them is in charge of the ministry, the other is in charge of constitutional discipline, the power is heavy, the center and the cabinet are there, even if Ma Ruan's party jumps hard, they can't cover the sky with one hand, not to mention Chen Qiyu and Qian Qianyi, these enlightened Donglin parties contain Ma Ruan, the three forces check and balance each other, and the power is firmly in his hands.

In view of the chaos of the Ming camp system, the gradual proliferation of military ranks, titles, and ranks, it is imperative to take advantage of the success of cutting the feudal domain, reshape the discipline program, and reorganize the armies of the southern provinces.

The traditional guard system of the Ming Dynasty has existed in name only, and the current implementation is the system of recruiting soldiers to fight the soldiers, because of the temporary and random nature of its incident and the withdrawal of nothing, resulting in the next province, the battalion system is not quite the same, and the official rank is not comparable, and it is difficult to distinguish between rights and responsibilities.