"I can't imagine that Han Gang even knows the keel and the ribs of the ship, is he really from Kansai?" Lu Huiqing turned around and smiled at his younger brother Lu Shengqing, and then turned around and asked the ordnance supervisor who took advantage of the night to report the news in the house: "Is it just expensive to cast a keel with steel?" ”

"Not only is it expensive, but there are not so many good steels, and Cizhou is only that little weight a year. The big furnace is not capable of this. There is too much steel used in keels and ship ribs. Bai Zhang's tone was very certain: "Although Xia Guan has never seen how to build a ship, he has finally seen ship repair." A few years ago, the imperial court was rebuilt, and the people of the ordnance supervisor were used. ”

"Repair the boat? It was hosted by Huang Huaixin, right? Lu Shengqing still had some impressions of this, "At that time, the imperial boat was dragged to the pond called Tai O by the Jinming Pond, and the boat was lifted out of the water with wooden stakes, and the boat was repaired on the shelf. After Zhou Xiande during the period of the Jin Ming Pond to build the water army to fight the imperial boat, more than 100 years, this is the first time to repair, how many rotten ship boards have been replaced. Lu Shengqing sighed, "Except for the shelves inside, almost all of them have been replaced, which is as time-consuming and labor-intensive as building a new one." ”

"That's right. The iron nails for repairing the ship were all made by Xiao Jin, and there was no ordnance supervisor at that time, and the lower officials were still waiting for dispatch in the yamen of the three divisions. ”

Before the establishment of the Ordnance Supervisor, the following workshops mainly belonged to the Three Divisions case, but now the case has been revoked, and only the Ordnance Supervisor is in charge of the manufacture of ordnance. This is actually what Lu Huiqing promoted.

Bai Zhang continued to introduce to the two brothers of the Lu family: "The keel and ship ribs are like the beams and rafters of the house, and the materials used must not be saved, so it costs thousands of catties of steel. A horse chopping knife only needs two taels of steel, and if the keel and ribs of an iron ship are made of steel, it is almost half a year's cost of the horse chopping knife! ”

Bai Chang laughed when he heard that Han Gang was going to use steel to cast the keel, and now when he mentioned this matter in the government, he still couldn't help laughing, "If you don't know that firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive, the people of Hanshe are too anxious, three or five iron ships will use up the steel materials that the world has prepared for a year, and Zhang Bao'er, who is a trickster of Sangjia Wazi, can make something out of nothing and look at the sky to pick flowers." If the Han Sheren really want to use steel to build ships, the lower officials can only go to Zhang Bao'er. ”

"Han Gang said that it is not possible to cast a ship directly with iron, is it really not possible?"

"If you want to cast it at one time, you are destined to not be able to build a big ship, thousands of catties of iron Buddha iron bell and iron tripod are easy to cast, and no one can do anything about a ship of more than 100,000 catties. Xia Guan also inquired, Fengxiang Xiegu Shipyard, a 600 materials, 700 materials of the platform, the wood used will be tens of thousands of catties. Replaced with iron, 350,000 catties are indispensable, and a larger ship will cost 100,000 catties...... No one in the world has the ability to do this! ”

"The iron ox on Pujindu [located in present-day Yongji, Shanxi] also has more than 100,000 catties, why can't it be cast?"

Lu Shengqing walked across the pontoon bridge on the Pujin crossing of the Yellow River, tied to the eight iron oxen of the Pujin pontoon bridge, connected to the base below, and there were an average of more than 100,000 catties. Today's casting process is not much inferior to that of the Tang Dynasty, why can't it be cast?

"Tell the story, the iron bull is solid, and the ship is hollow. Speaking of hollow, the tripod is also hollow, but how thick is the tripod body? The hull of the ship can only be an inch thick at most, otherwise it will definitely sink. The Han She people also said the same thing, and also said how to convert. It is said that in order for an iron ship to float on water, its weight must be lighter than that of the water that is discharged. ”

"It makes sense, but it doesn't work." Lu Shengqing said with a smile: "I always thought that Han Yukun was a person who did things, and he was good at curing talents, but I didn't expect to be transferred to the Ordnance Prison, but it was a joke." ”

Lu Huiqing didn't laugh at Han Gang with his younger brother, he still remembered the scene when Han Gang, who had just obtained an official position, talked eloquently in front of Wang Anshi in Wang Anshi's mansion. Underestimating your opponent will never lead to a good result.

"Didn't you say earlier that Han Gang was going to build an iron plate?" He asked Bai Zhang.

"If you want to learn how to do a wooden boat, it's hard to beat iron into planks." Bai Zhang shook his head, "I don't know how many years the hammer will be hammered to Xining." The lower officials heard about the Taoshan prison in Minzhou, Kansai. While minting money, it also builds weapons. When they forged the armor and swords, they used the water mill of broken porcelain stone in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi. It's less expensive than manpower, but it's not good when there is no water in winter. The Hanshe people also talked about the water mill, but almost all the rivers in Tokyo are opened up ditches, and the water flow is extremely slow, so there is no need for the water mill at all. Therefore, a reward has been put on the ground for a forging hammer with animal or human power. ”

Lu Shengqing still couldn't help laughing: "I don't know how useful it is to hold on to Buddha feet temporarily." ”

"It doesn't have to be fruitless. Isn't the well master who helped him open a well in Baima County already awarded an official? Money is a trivial matter, but if someone has an official body in mind, they will definitely do their best for it. Lu Huiqing said with a straight face, "There is also Tian Ji who helped the Son of Heaven build a sand table, he is a clay man, and he was recommended by Han Gang to be an official, and now he is in the Privy Council." ”

"This generation can also be an official ......," Lu Shengqing's tone was indescribably ironic.

"Thanks to the country, chickens and dogs can also be used!"

Over the years, Lu Huiqing has been disgusted by those political enemies who only talk about it, and he has increasingly agreed with Emperor Wei Wudi's employment strategy.

And starting from the divine arm bow, anyone who can offer the weapon of the military state, the court will not be stingy with a portion. Tian Jide's official deserves it, and the well-sinking method from Shu has also spread in Gyeonggi in the past year under the vigorous promotion of Hangang. The words "Drought and Flood Harvest" have attracted many villages to pool money to dig deep wells and build windmills to lift water. That well master also helped save hundreds of thousands of displaced people! Lu Huiqing will not regret the official status that was given to him.

"Even if someone can offer a forging hammer, I don't know when the iron plate will be built, and the keel and ship ribs have not been solved." Bai Zhang, who has been in Xingguofang for more than 20 years, knows very well how difficult it is to promote a new technique, "It is not easy to build a ship, even if it is a wooden ship, it has to be transferred from several major shipyards to Beijing. Getting them used to building ships out of steel is not something that will pay off in a short period of time. ”

The iron ship that Han Gang planned to build required the mobilization of a large number of craftsmen, and required a huge amount of manpower and material resources. The most important thing is that there must be enough time - this conclusion is what Lu Huiqing wants to hear. As long as Han Gang doesn't cause trouble for him, Lu Huiqing is happy that he will build his ship under the ordnance supervision, and it doesn't matter if it takes ten or eight years.

"Since Han Yukun wants to build an iron ship, let him build it, and I will fully support him. In matters of shipbuilding, all the superintendents were to follow his orders, and there was no slack or delay. Lu Huiqing's slow and low tone made his order dare not be disobeyed.

Bai Zhang hurriedly clenched his fists: "The lower official obeys the order, please rest assured." ”

……………………

Another night, another mansion.

Feng Jing smiled at the Tsing Yi official who was standing in front of him with his hands bowed, "Lu Jifu is kind, he actually fully supports Han Gang in shipbuilding. ”

"Lu participated in politics just to let Han She ...... Han Gang didn't have time to take care of other things, and he wasn't really kind. ”

"So he's too kind, is this how the people's fat and people's ointment are used?" Feng Jing's eyes were cold.

The Tsing Yi official nodded: "What Xianggong said is true." ”

"I heard that Han Gang offered a reward for Baiguan to solicit what kind of forging hammer?" Feng Jing asked about something else.

The Tsing Yi official laughed and said: "Actually, it was changed by a hammer of Chung Mi, and Han Gang also rewarded him with fifty times." ”

"This is a horse bone in Qianjin City!" Feng Jing sneered, Han Gang's trick was not unusual. After taking two sips of hot tea, he slowly asked the key sentence: "How is the lantern of the ordnance supervisor prepared?" ”

"Don't worry, you will definitely be able to do it before the Shangyuan Festival!"

……………………

It is already the twelfth day of the first lunar month, and there are only two days before the Shangyuan Festival.

Han Gang has been in a very good mood these two days.

Among the thousands of craftsmen in the Ordnance Prison, he offered a reward for the new type of forging hammer. It only took five days, and it paid off.

The simplest kind of forging hammer is stepped on by foot, the kind used by farmers to scoop rice, but the stone mortar is changed into an anvil. With a simple lever principle, the long lever, the short section is the pedal for the foot, and the long end is tied to a hammer head of fifty or sixty catties. A person stands on the pedal and steps up and down to drive the hammer. As ridiculous as it may seem, it's still much more convenient than a sledgehammer! In particular, the landing point does not deviate, and it is very stable, so even novices can use it.

There are also a few forging hammers, which are more like real machines. There are also forging hammers with foot pedals, but they can be operated and used by one person, and even a connecting rod is used, as if it is a deformation of a textile machine. In addition, there are two bodies that use animal power, both of which are driven by ropes or belts, and carry more than 200 pounds of hammers to fall at a height of one person.

The structure of the hammer is ridiculously simple, and the structure of several other hammers is similarly uncomplicated, but the effect is remarkable. The hammer is lighter, but it can be used to create delicate parts. The forging hammer of animal power hammer a wrought iron ingot of five or six catties was hammered into an iron plate as thin as a page, and it only took the effort of eating a meal.

This is also an alternative to forging hammers without hydraulics, and if you use water power, a hammer can fall in the blink of an eye. The saber that Han Gang hung in the study was a hundred steel knives that had really been folded and beaten hundreds of times in the blacksmith camp of the Taoshan Prison - there were two kinds of hydraulic forging hammers, one was heavy and slow, and the other was light and blocky. Both types of hammers have their own uses. The supply of raw materials for Jingdezhen porcelain also relies on heavy hammers to crush porcelain stones, and small hammers to fine hammer into powder.

As long as the bait is big enough, the fish can swim fast enough. In Han Gang's opinion, Lu Huiqing and Zeng Xiaokuan were too much of a waste of the treasure house of the ordnance superintendent. These thousands of world's most outstanding craftsmen only need a directional guide and a piece of fat that is large enough to burst out with amazing strength.

The technique has long been in place, as long as you think differently.

Han Gang was in a good mood, and today he came with Zeng Xiaokuan to see the mountain of lanterns that were urgently made for the Shangyuan Festival Lantern Festival.

The shape of the ordnance superintendent lantern is that of a sloop, the size of a real ship. It is made from thin pieces of wood. A circle of small lanterns was hung along the boat, and a dozen large lanterns were also hung on the high masts. And the sails, on which hundreds of small lanterns were hung. The outside is painted reddish-brown, like rust. It looks like a model of an iron ship in the hearts of the world.

Bai Zhang, with his chest straight, stood in front of the iron ship lantern with the official who was actually in charge of the matter. Towards the two judges, he smiled confidently.

can see the lantern shape of this year's ordnance superintendent, Zeng Xiaokuan's face changed abruptly, but he looked at Bai Zhang in shock and anger. Han Gang, on the other hand, patted Bai Zhang's shoulder very affectionately, and smiled as brightly as the lights on the ship: "Well done!" ”