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Chen Ming is in Xiaonangou, and one ear is always listening to the news from the county seat. The Chen family's sharp methods made the entire Lushan County see the determination of the Chen family, which was really to drive out Qingtiaoling in the county. Although until now, the shadow of the mastermind behind the scenes has still not been caught.

However, after this trouble, Chen Ming's name became a household name in the entire Lushan County landlords and gentry. The Chen family made such a big fuss, which is obviously the importance of Chen Ming, the next generation. To a certain extent, this incident can be regarded as a footnote to the establishment of his position as the heir of the Chen family.

It's just that the impact of this matter is far from over.

If you don't find the mastermind behind the scenes, Chen Ming is not at ease, Chen Hui is not at ease, and the entire Chen family is not at ease.

No one wants to live under the prying eyes of others, and people's interests are like the bones of dogs, and they all have a very strong 'desire to protect'. What's more, the Chen family's industry has more than one bone china, and the real industry that the Chen family is making money from now is iron, and bone china is not worth mentioning compared with iron. If the person in the dark touched the iron material along the bone china, the blow to the Chen family would be immeasurable.

Don't pin your hopes on the enemy's 'cowardice'. If the mastermind behind the scenes is really frightened by the Chen family's fanfare and does not dare to reach out again, it is naturally the best. But how likely is that? Xiaonangou is related to the century-old foundation of the Chen family!

So this matter is definitely not over, and the entire Chen family continues to look at all directions, carefully observing any wind and grass.

Chen Ming felt a sense of crisis in his heart, he didn't know what would happen to their family if Xiaonangou was exposed. Was it devoured and co-opted by the wealthy? Or is it a crime that ceases to exist for the entire family?

Chen Ming began to meddle in the Chen family's firearms manufacturing in a real sense.

In the place near the mountain in Xiaonangou, there is a small workshop, but it is equipped with two hydraulic forging hammers, a total of four craftsmen and six apprentices. These six apprentices were the most reliable candidates selected by Chen Ming among the 87 children of the Zhuang family, in addition to two people with unusual status, two children of the Chen family.

There are a total of twelve people, and this is the Chen family's existing firearms workshop.

The last time Chen Ming came, he didn't interfere in anything, but just asked the four masters to stop repairing and making shotguns, and changed them to handcuffs, or flintlock handcuffs. Now Chen Ming was ready for them to start making flintlock muskets. It's just that **** is not conditionally made by the current Chen family, and Chen Ming will not be ambitious to pursue the fire cap gun. What the Chen family needs now is the flintlock pistol and rifle that they already have.

Is a fire cap gun bad? Is it a modified version of the Mini rifle from the rifle that rifles are bad? Neither. What is wrong is that the Chen family is weak now. When you are weak, it is best not to use advanced weapons that are not too technologically advanced but have epoch-making influence. That's too easy for the enemy to get and imitate.

Secrets are always secrets when one knows. If the fire cap and the Mini rifle were to be manufactured, the former might have to be kept secret in the Qing Dynasty, because the chemical values of China in this era were too poor. But the Mini rifle is different, as long as you get a sample and have a few matching bullets, all secrets are not secrets. With the national strength of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it is very easy to imitate. Even the guns will spread overseas.

Anything that is strictly guarded and strictly restrained is all nonsense. The most difficult thing in the world is to restrain people's hearts, and no matter how loyal a soldier is, he will not be able to resist the temptation of money, not to mention that the Manchu Qing Dynasty at this time is already orthodox in the eyes of many Chinese people. When Chen Ming really raised the army, the standard was anti-thief. This makes it difficult for Chen Ming to have full confidence in the 'hearts of the people' under him. I'm afraid that there is no need for the Manchu court to speak, as long as there are local gentry and landlords who are interested in the Manchu Qing Dynasty and secretly woo one or two, it is enough to get all the information and the best weapons of the Chen Jiajun clearly.

Instead of gaining an unshakable advantage in a war of domination, Chen Ming did not intend to let the fire cap gun and Mini rifle be introduced. At present, it is completely possible for the Chen family to make firearms that are one level more advanced than the arquebuses of the Qing soldiers.

The small workshop is full of bits and pieces. On a stove, a barrel that was already in the seam was heating.

At this time, the barrels were made of wrought iron - iron bars were beaten into iron sheets, wrapped in steel rods, heated again and again, and knocked out little by little. This method continued in the original time and space until the second half of the 19th century, when the new steelmaking method and the new special alloy steel knives became widely popular, and the invention of the new smokeless gunpowder, and the steel barrel was replaced.

Chen Ming also tried drilling, and he asked the craftsmen to prepare the hardest and hardest drill bits of the era. The results were disappointing. All five expensive drill bits were exhausted, and only two good barrels were drilled. Reality proved that this method was not feasible, so the Chen family's firearms workshop returned to the old way of forging. Although the craftsmen of the Chen family have never forgotten Chen Ming's high reward, those who develop high-strength drill bits can receive a reward of 1,000 taels of silver. As long as the drill bit you invented can drill three barrels at once, it is qualified.

China also has a tradition of 'alloys' – bronze is the best example. Chen Ming also opened the door of 'alloy' for them, maybe one day these masters can really make qualified drill bits, but that is by no means now.

Chen Ming also thought about 'steel pipes', if there is crucible steel, then directly use the casting method to solve the barrel. As a result, it is not feasible.

First of all, it costs too much. Although the quality of crucible steel is average, steel is steel. The value is much more than wrought iron. Crucible steel is an important material for the manufacture of machine tools in Europe. In today's Xiaonangou, crucible steel is not much used - to make mechanical tools, but the use of crucible steel is of great use in many small parts of hydraulic forging hammers. Steel parts are much more durable than iron parts, which can greatly improve work efficiency. In this way, crucible steel is also of great use.

Second, the crucible steel belongs to hard steel, with high carbon content, the material is not elastic, and it will break when the force is large, and the hard steel is not heat-resistant. And not suitable for making a barrel.

Finally, the fluidity of the steel is very poor, and it can be said that it is not possible to cast such ultra-thin wall parts. Although it can be used as a barrel, it is not suitable for use, and the success rate is very low.

The Chen family does not have a too urgent crisis now, firearms can be slowly stockpiled, a little bit of preparation, Chen Ming can't convince the Chen family to use ten times the value to pursue speed.

So up to now, the only project that allowed the Chen family to cast the barrel with crucible molten steel was the flintlock handcuff. Is the barrel short?

Chen Ming has already standardized the firearms workshop, unified the scale, and the four craftsmen are also dividing the labor to make the parts of the musket, and the Chen family is to give money according to the pass rate, and the model of deducting money if it is not qualified and sign a new agreement with them, so a master is very serious. Their work is directly linked to their earnings, and the efficiency of the division of labor is surprisingly much higher than when they did it alone.

The biggest problem with a musket is, of course, the barrel, but that doesn't mean that it's all simple except the barrel. Parts that can be cast, such as triggers and fire doors, springs, etc., have also been cast here.

At the same time, it is precisely because of these cast parts that the parts artificially produced by the entire firearms workshop must be standardized. Otherwise, it's going to be a ruckus.