The construction of Zhongyang is changing with each passing day, new factories are constantly rising from the ground, Zhang Chu went to the largest of these factories, the factory is located in Chenwan Village on the bank of the Qingshui River, after the capture of Zhongyang, Zhang Chu ordered people to build a dam in Chenwan Village, cut off the Qingshui River, raised the water level, formed a reservoir outside Chenwan Village, under the dam is a large factory area, a water diversion pipeline leads the water to the water wheel, the water wheel flies and drives various equipment in the factory.

The factory where Zhang Chu went was also under the dam, and it was a place specially used by the security forces to produce weapons and armor. After arriving in Zhongyang, the craftsmen from the extension of the water wheel have been transformed, they have more and more experience in making water wheels, now all the parts are made of steel made by Deng Qingnian, and the moving parts are also made of lubricating oil refined from petroleum, which runs more smoothly and transmits more power, which can drive more new machines, and many things that can not be done before can now be made.

Deng Qingnian took Zhang Chu to visit the factory, Zhang Chu was busy during this period, and it was the first time to go to this factory.

The factory building has completely departed from the image of a small workshop, the factory building is tall and spacious, and the machines inside are also huge.

Deng Qingnian said: "The machines here all need huge power, and they can't be driven by the previous human and animal power anyway. The hydraulics are amazing, we have raised the dikes, we have used stronger cast pipes, and the turbines are all made of steel, which is stronger and lighter. There is also your credit here, after you sent us with the shape of the bearings pinched in the mud, a craftsman here has solved the manufacturing process problem after continuous experiments, and it can be mass-produced, although it will break after running for a period of time, but it is a material problem, and it has nothing to do with the production process. He thus became the second person to receive the Silver Cup of the Artisan. The rest of the craftsmen will die of envy. Deng Qingnian suddenly talked more when he saw Zhang Chu.

"That's good, everyone has upward motivation, a lot of novelties will be made, I also have a design here that can get a craftsman's silver cup, I don't know who to give?" Zhang Chu deliberately teased Deng Qingnian.

"Of course it's given to me, here to talk about the craft, I am the best, I am the most experienced, if you tell me the idea, the management and insurance will be completed quickly and well." Deng Qingnian knew that as long as Zhang Chu thought of almost all of the unprecedented things, it would raise the manufacturing level of the factory to a higher level, so he hurriedly took it down.

"You and I are still relieved, I will tell you my thoughts in a while, but you also have to pay attention not to be conservative, you can do it and drive a group of apprentices to do it, in the future, not only will you send silver cups, but the corresponding bonuses will still be issued, and some people who play an auxiliary role in the work should let them get real rewards. In the future, almost all of the projects will be completed by the team. ”

"Okay, I'll remember. Come and take a look. Although this process is not new, it was difficult to do before. Deng Qingnian took Zhang Chu to the wire drawing workshop. The huge forging hammer in the workshop rises and falls, hammering the steel ingots into steel bars, and then the steel bars are put into the wire drawing machine, pulled again and again, and the steel bars change from thick to fine, and then become qualified thickness. It is wound by a special machine, cut into small steel rings by a knife.

Deng Qingnian grabbed a small steel ring and handed it to Zhang Chu, and said: "The silversmith and coppersmith will do it before the wire drawing process, and it is very difficult to draw wire with stainless steel, the strength of the mold can not reach before, and the tensile force is not so great, now there is a new steel, there is a hydraulic wire drawing machine, the difficulties are solved at once, these steel rings are then combined by the workers of the factory, and finally go to the steelmaking furnace to weld the molten steel into a closed ring, which is a good chain mail, and the helmet, breastplate, and back armor we produce. It's hard for an ordinary bow and arrow to hurt our soldiers. The difficulty now is that the welding process needs to be improved, and the quality of welding is unstable. However, it is better than ordinary armor, and it can be manufactured in large quantities, and it will not take long to equip all the soldiers of the security army. ”

Zhang Chu is a modern otaku, who is more accustomed to long-distance attacks from both sides in war, and is still not very comfortable with meat hunting and fighting. He tried his best to destroy the enemy from a distance, and the musket and strong armor became what he wanted most, and he was naturally very happy that the armor had been made one step further.

Next to it is the manufacturing workshop of the cuirass and the back armor, the equipment of the workshop has been upgraded, the strength of the forging hammer is stronger, the quality of the steel plate hammered out is better, the steel plate of the right size is placed under the forging hammer with the mold installed next to it, with the fall of the forging hammer, the approximate shape of the nail piece is there, and the craftsman next to it is carefully trimmed, a piece of armor is completed, and then the cuirass and the back armor are connected together with leather strips, and the soldiers can wear it, although it is a little inconvenient to move, Zhang Chu's idea is to equip these armors, The soldiers lined up with muskets to shoot, and flexibility was secondary.

Further inside, the weapon production machine is much smaller than the previous one, some small forging hammers move up and down rapidly, craftsmen skillfully turn the workpiece, make the desired shape, and then quench and shape, the grinding wheel driven by the water next to it flies, grinding the steel out of a splash of sparks, a sharp weapon is made.

"After the division of labor, each craftsman here is only responsible for one job, and the work efficiency has been greatly improved, and many knives and guns have been produced, which can completely replace all the knives and guns of the security army with stainless steel. In the future, we can lay off some workers from here and move them to other workshops. Deng Qingnian introduced.

"Don't lay off the workers here, continue to produce, and after enough security forces to change their clothes, use some cheap iron to produce some knives and guns, as long as they can be used, I will still be of great use with them." Zhang Chu didn't explain too much. Deng Qingnian is now completely convinced of Zhang Chu, and he agreed without much thought.

After seeing the situation in the factory, Zhang Chu became more confident in his plan, said goodbye to Deng Qingnian and was about to leave, but Deng Qingnian stopped him. "Don't go, big handsome, you just said that the design of the craftsman's silver cup hasn't been said yet."

"Didn't you have one of the new steel you made last time, what do you want so much for?" Zhang Chu joked.

"I'm afraid of that thing, I still need a set, and then I'll have a drink for a treat." Deng Qingnian also said with a smile.

The two came to Deng Qingnian's office in the factory, and Zhang Chu ordered everyone else to wait outside before saying to Deng Qingnian: "This improvement is about the barrel, first tell me about the current barrel manufacturing situation." ”

"Now the manufacturing process of the barrel has matured, we use stainless steel and hydraulic forging hammer as tools, the barrel rolled into is very firm, in the case of standard charges, it will basically not explode, and the craftsmen are still constantly testing, reducing the weight of the barrel little by little. In the work there was also a craftsman who invented the lathe. Machining the inner wall of the barrel with a lathe is quick and clean. In fact, this lathe is also very simple to say. At the beginning, the craftsman buried half of the four legs of the large wooden bench in the soil, nailed two iron forks to one end of the wooden bench, and put an iron rod with a wooden wheel in the middle of the fork as an axle, and nailed an iron fork in the middle of the stool in front of the axle, and the barrel of the gun was stuck on the axle at one end, and rested on the iron fork at the other end. This makes it the simplest lathe. Later, we made improvements, using all iron parts, and also using water power as power, and the accuracy and speed were improved. Deng Qingnian introduced.

"It's great, and with that experience, it's even less difficult. The next step is to engrave rifling the barrel. With rifling in the barrel, the bullet can fly better, fly farther, and hit more accurately. The simplest way is to bury a thick stump in the ground, bury a thick wooden board vertically opposite, nail an iron ring with six iron tips sticking inward in the middle of the plank, use a hardwood shaft to carve a spiral groove opposite the iron tip, the wooden shaft passes through the iron ring on the wooden board, install a carving knife with four knife edges at one end, install a wooden handle at the other end, and insert the carving knife into the barrel of the gun fixed on the stump. Holding the handle and pushing and pulling the shaft back and forth, the shaft will rotate in a spiral, and the continuous elevation of the carving knife will carve deep rifling in the barrel. ”

"It doesn't sound difficult, it's about the same as the lathe." Deng Qingnian should have understood.

"The barrel can be further processed. Last time, we didn't recruit a few craftsmen who made glass, how are they doing? Zhang Chu recalled the simple tools he saw when he was traveling in a certain place, and the tools at that time were not necessarily as good as Zhang Chu's, but they made qualified firearms, and Zhang Chu believed that his craftsmen would also be able to succeed. And the beautiful tour guide lady also made an introduction to the barrel processing, Zhang Chu remembered the tour guide and her words, so he asked Deng Qingnian.

"A kiln for firing glass has been built, but it is still an old process, and some utensils can be fired, and there is no hope for burning the transparent glass you said now." Deng Qingnian replied regretfully.

"That's enough, you go to them and find some pieces of glass and grind them into pieces with a machine, and use a fine sieve, and then you can make a polishing machine, and put an iron rod into the barrel of the gun, pour lead on it, take it down and smear it with vegetable oil, and then sprinkle the glass powder on the lead stick. If the rifling has ballast, rub it back and forth in the barrel with a lead stick sticky with glass powder, and after a while, the rifling will be smooth and slippery again. ”

"I don't know how you came up with all of this, it's all simple and practical." Deng Qingnian couldn't help but praise Zhang Chu.

"It's all the wisdom of our ancestors, I just remember it." Zhang Chuxin said that there is really a group of people who are more magical than the traversers in this later life, and they have created countless miracles.

"The simpler these techniques are, the more we must strengthen the work of secrecy, which is the foundation for our security forces to lead other forces, and we must not leak them." Zhang Chu was uneasy and told him again before leaving the factory.

Now that everything is ready, only Dongfeng is owed, Zhang Chu returned to Zhongyang to wait for the arrival of that important news.