The huge steelmaking furnace is more than ten meters high, which is considered a very tall building in this time and space, especially since it sits on a pedestal of more than one meter, which is even more tall. ★ Chinese When ★ the smoke billows from the fire, no one is not impressed by its majesty. This furnace continued to be produced for half a year and created great value for Liberty Mountain. After this tapping, it will be dismantled due to the expiration of the refractory life of the inner layer and a larger furnace will be rebuilt on the same site. Now it's the last time it was produced, and the most important one, Liberty Hill has begun to cast cannons.

In front of the steelmaking furnace is an open flat field, made of refractory bricks to form small lattices, in which the molten steel condenses into ingots. Now these little compartments have been removed and turned into deep pits. Above the deep pit, a frame is built with a thick steel pipe, and the hoisting equipment is formed together with iron chains and pulleys. The mould of the cannon is being built on a huge ox cart specially built, and four oxen are dragging it for transport; The dismantled refractory bricks are also crashing and will be transported to the brick kiln.

"Rushan, your refractory bricks are transported to the brick kiln, is it to be reused?" Sun Zhigang commanded his army of ox carts and played a huge role in the transportation. This team was originally intended to be used to haul iron ore, but after the Li people took on the task of transporting it, some of the cattle were put into other transportation in Liberty Mountain, which suddenly improved a lot of efficiency.

"Part of it. A kiln chamber will be built in the wheel kiln. It is mainly also experimental in nature, looking at the life limit of these refractories. The rest is crushed...... It is crushed into powder and then used to make bricks. Zhao Rushan lowered his head and checked the workflow in his hand for the last time.

"I said like a mountain, this brick made of refractory bricks is of higher quality? If you keep an eye on me, I'll order the batch to build my house. Sun Zhigang said with great interest.

"Probably not. There should be some differences between the two kinds of bricks in terms of high temperature resistance, but it is troublesome and troublesome, and the cost is much higher. Your house is not an alchemy furnace, why do you want to be so heat-resistant? Zhao Rushan laughed.

"Even if it's not good, it's always commemorative, isn't it?" Sun Zhigang helped him find a step down.

"Mr. Sun said it well! This commemorative significance is not trivial. Zhang Daosong didn't have a specific job here, he stood on the side of the road and watched the two talk for a long time, then suddenly interjected, grabbed Zhao Rushan's arm and said, "Mr. Zhao, please send ten refractory bricks to the library, it must be clean and tidy...... No, there must be defects or steel slag condensation on it...... I'll pick it up myself......" muttering in his mouth, Zhang Daosong let go of Zhao Rushan and walked to the place where the refractory bricks were piled up and checked it.

"This Zhang Caizi." Zhao Rushan said and shook his head and laughed. Sun Zhigang came up again and grabbed Zhao Rushan's arm: "I said, since it takes a lot of work and doesn't increase the quality of the bricks, why does Mr. want you to do this?" Why not throw these refractory bricks into the river? “

"Old Sun, your side is mainly agricultural products, and you can throw anything away, because those things will rot. Not on my side. Refractory bricks will not rot in the river for a hundred years, and neither does the steel slag. Even if they rot, they will stain the river and the land. So my husband asked me to put all the waste away, and if I can reuse it, I must reuse it. Let's just talk about the scrap steel slag, we all hammer it into bricks and lay it on the ground, this brick is much more valuable than the burned bricks. “

"Who says we're just throwing it away? We're all ...... Properly handled. No harm to the environment. This is what Mr. said. “

"That's right. It seems that Mr. is really concerned about this environment. Zhao Rushan called someone to help Zhang Daosong send refractory bricks to the library. Looking at Director Zhang's appearance as a treasure, he said to himself: "If I dig up the floor tiles of scrap steel slag to make paperweights, then Zhang Daosong can't exchange it for silver?" “

Suddenly, a burst of suona sounds, three long and three short. The people around the blast furnace stopped what they were doing and left the blast furnace for a distance, either indoors or behind obstacles, and went into a state of alert. After all, there is still a certain danger in steel casting, especially now that it is an unprecedented large-scale casting. If there is moisture in the mold, it is likely to cause an explosion. So when the casting began, it was put on alert, and the area around the blast furnace was cleared, and irrelevant crowds took refuge.

With Zhao Rusan's order, the molten steel rushed out of the gate and flowed down the trench into the three cannon molds placed vertically. The molds are placed in deep shafts dug in advance, lined up in strict vertical positions. The molten steel flowed into the mold of the black hole and disappeared, only a puff of green smoke rose. The casting process went smoothly, there was no sound, and there were no explosions, leaving three reddish rings on the flat ground, which were the muzzles of the cannons. Three large ring-shaped refractory bricks were carried over by the blacksmiths, carefully covering the muzzles of the guns, revealing the hollow iron mold in the middle.

A furnace of molten steel cast three cannons and ran out. Zhao Rushan ordered loudly: "Open the damper, blow the wind!" Cool the furnace. Preparation! Here, Yu Chaoqin waved his hand lightly, and the three bamboo tubes moved over and began to pour water at the muzzle. The water that had been poured in at the beginning immediately boiled and gushed out of the iron mold, and a cloud of mist swirled in it. As the cold water continues to pour in, the boiling stops, the water vapor dissipates, and calm is restored. Sun Zhenggang immediately brought two cows, put on the reins and began to rotate a shaft fixed to the ground, driving the pumping device to lift the hot water poured into the mold to the ground and flow down the drainage ditch into the Shilu River.

Such a cumbersome way is not to quickly reduce the temperature of the casting, but to cool the inner wall sharply, causing internal stress, so as to increase the strength of the barrel. However, the cold water continues to be poured in, and the temperature of the casting does decrease quickly, just after noon, you can touch it by hand. Several bricks covering the mold were removed, revealing the vertically upward barrel and lugs on both sides. The tripod made of steel pipes was moved, the chains and hoists began to rattle, the cannon was pulled up from the shaft, and the three-meter-long cannon body, the dark surface was still emitting water vapor, which made people feel murderous. Liu Yao walked over and touched the cannon body, nodded with satisfaction, and said to Zhang Yongkai, who had been sweating next to the casting: "The temperature is not high. It seems that this cooling down is really fast. Next time, I will take out the casting according to this time. Zhang Yongkai was like a child guarding the pot and waiting for food, finally seeing the pot, drooling and nodding frequently.

The temperature of the blast furnace has also dropped almost, Zhao Rushan went in to take a look, and came out to order the filling to begin. Watching the molds be removed from the castings one by one and placed in the shaft in front of the blast furnace again, and the steel cannon as the finished casting product was put on the trolley and transported to the workshop next door to boring the inner wall, Zhao Rushan asked Liu Yao: "Sir, our guns are loaded in the back, can this run do the same?" Isn't it going to be faster? “

"That's right. But that's too much to ask. We can't do that at the moment. This cannon is mainly used on ships and batteries, and it is not afraid of wind and rain, so it will be ordered to be front-loaded. Liu Yao explained carefully.

Zhao Rushan thought for a while, glanced to the north, and asked, "Sir, will our 6th Army bring artillery with it when it goes out to fight?" “

Liu Yao smiled, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't think so much about it first." Let's guard this Shilu River first, open up the shipping route, and talk about other things slowly. “

The following days are Zhang Yongkai's festival. He followed from the blast furnace to the lathe, then to the assembly workshop, and watched as the cannon was put on the gun cart and two oxen were hung. With a creak, the gun carriage began to move, the cannon was officially considered to belong to the artillery team, and his festival officially began.

"8 kg, load!" Zhang Yongkai stood on the dirt bag and commanded loudly, his face hideous, and he gritted his teeth. The cannon was placed between two earthen bags, and a group of artillerymen were nervously loading gunpowder. According to the artillerymen captured from Li Chenglin, the cannon could be loaded with up to twelve catties of gunpowder, which is almost 6 kilograms. The pressure resistance of this steel cannon will be higher, but the charge of 8 kg is still very scary.

After the reloading, the long lead was dragged behind the dirt bag, and everyone was hidden before igniting it. With a loud bang, the cannon was unharmed. Zhang Yongkai crossed the dirt slope to the cannon, looked up into the distance, and the person who reported the range could not see it - he was probably 5 kilometers away. The cannon was so hot that it only pushed the cart to break the stake stuck behind the wheels and plunge headlong into the mound of dirt behind. After cleaning the inner wall with a water-soaked brush, Zhang Yongkai reached in and stroked it carefully. The tentacles are all smooth surfaces, warm and supple, like healthy skin, as if you can still feel the beating of your pulse. Zhang Yongkai didn't have a crack, he tried to reach out as much as possible, hoping to touch a deeper place. The further back, the higher the boring pressure, the more likely it is that cracks will appear. But the man's arm was only so long that half of the barrel could not be touched.

A gunner looked around the cannon and saw nothing wrong, and he touched the barrel with emotion and said, "This is really a good thing." I've never seen a cannon that can hit so much gunpowder. “

Zhang Yongkai pulled out his arm, slapped the cannon body vigorously and shouted: "Stop, I'll report to Mr., this test will not be done!" Such a good cannon, I am reluctant to blow it up! If we had such a cannon at the beginning, we wouldn't have let Li Chenglin kill so many of us! "The gunners around were also very excited, and some of them crouched down and cried.

The purpose of this test was to check the tolerance limits of the cannon in a destructive way, and of course to test the range under various charges. Zhang Daosong asked the artillery team to always shoot at a 5-degree elevation angle, and he said that the range of different elevation angles would be calculated based on the range data of the fixed elevation angle. But such a good cannon is really unbearable to hit alive until it explodes.

Like any protagonist, Liu Yao appeared at the shooting range at the right time. He listened to Zhang Yongkai's report and looked through the records. The last range has not yet been reported. After all, it takes time to run from 5 kilometers away, even if you have a horse. The last again had a range of 7o meters under a 367 kg charge. Such a range is quite sufficient. On the other hand, at this range, the target is not clear to see, and the shooting accuracy can no longer be pursued, and it can only hit a large area of targets, and the significance of the cannon is relatively limited. And then this is only a 5-degree elevation angle, and if the elevation angle is raised, the range will increase.

"Yongkai, I just heard that if there had been such a good cannon in the first place, we wouldn't have died so many people. But have you ever thought about it, if the cannon is blown up, it may lose more than the enemy's most accurate shot. When a projectile hits, it is generally difficult to wipe out all of our artillery crews, and it is even more difficult to destroy a cannon, but once the chamber is blown up, even the cannon and the artillery crew are all gone. That's why I'm testing the limit. As you know, I'm going to limit the charge to half of the limit to make sure it doesn't blow up. If we don't know the limit, we don't know where half is. It's dangerous. “

Zhang Yongkai looked down at the cannon and thought for a long time, then raised his head and said, "Sir, 7 kilograms of gunpowder were used in the last cannon. When it comes to 5 kg of gunpowder, the distance is 184o meters. I also asked the aisle pine if the elevation angle was a little higher, and it could be increased by half. That's about 27oo meters. At this distance, neither the man nor the horse could be seen, only the boat could see a little. It is enough for the artillery team to have artillery that can hit such a distance. Let's take half of 7 kilograms, which is 3.5 kilograms of gunpowder, you see? “

Liu Yao looked at the tears in Zhang Yongkai's eyes, nodded, and said, "I can promise you." I can't bear this cannon either. However, after the first batch of guns has been cast for 3oo, you still have to test it. Because, you'll soon find yourself in need of artillery that can shoot far away. We may come across 5o warships at once, all equipped with cannons with a range of 5ooo meters. “

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yongkai immediately calmed down and hurriedly asked, "Sir, how can we have so many enemies?" Liu Yao laughed and said, "Of course, we shouldn't have so many enemies. But who becomes our enemy, this is often not up to us. Zhang Yongkai nodded and said softly: "Sir, I have changed my mind and want to continue the experiment." Liu Yao didn't speak, handed over the record book, turned around and left the shooting range.

It wasn't until it was dark that the sound of artillery at the shooting range stopped. Zhang Yongkai became more and more excited, and the cannon actually withstood 18 kilograms of explosives but did not explode. At this point, there really isn't a need to do any more experiments. Combined with the data of this test, the artillerymen quickly sorted out the firing parameters, that is, the relationship between charge and range. Of course, this range is 5 degrees of elevation, and the range of other elevation angles will be handed over to Zhang Daosong and asked him to calculate it. (To be continued.) )