Taking advantage of some leisure, Ren Siqi inspected other workshops. Under the management of Chen Zhong and Hoyle, everything is quiet and orderly, and dozens of workers perform their duties, and tens of thousands www.biquge.info of catties of gunpowder can be produced every month. Hoyle, a Dutchman who surrendered, adopted the advanced method of dissolving and filtering out impurities in the black powder and drying it, and the gunpowder produced was of extremely high quality, far better than the gunpowder purchased through Lu Zonghan's connections.

Chen Zhong, a scholar, is really capable, has strong management skills, and has a strong learning ability. After Professor Ren Siqi gave him the idea of assembly line production, he divided the entire production of gunpowder into five links, each worker was only responsible for one of the links, and a foreman was set up in each link. In this way, the entire production of gunpowder became clear and organized.

In addition, Chen Zhong also formed regulations on the production of gunpowder, the precautions needed in production, and the storage of gunpowder, and finally compiled them into a booklet, which was named "Regulations on the Production of Gunpowder".

Looking at the booklet in his hand, Ren Siqi knew that he had obtained a very good talent.

After a brief conversation with Chen Zhong, Ren Siqi knew that Chen Zhong's family was a merchant family, and he had been in business for several generations. When the business was the largest, it had several silk and satin farms and two silk reeling workshops. It's a pity that Chen Zhong's father accidentally offended his peers who had a backstage, and after being deliberately suppressed, he lost all his money, and in the end, Chen Zhong's father was mixed up to the point that he could only be a partner.

No one in the family is an official, even the biggest industry will be swallowed up, Chen Zhong's father has this realization, so he tried his best to let his son Chen Zhong study, hoping to cultivate a scholar.

But Chen Zhong planned to play very slippery, but he didn't make much progress in his studies, he was in his twenties, and he didn't even take the county exam many times. After the death of his father, Chen Zhong could no longer study, so he could only find something to do to make a living, so he came to Daishan.

Ren Siqi immediately announced that he would double Chen Zhong's salary, and then send him to be in charge of the development of canned fish. Chen Zhong put forward a request, that is, like the production of gunpowder, the production of canned fish should also be streamlined, and the output should be as large as possible.

As for the gunpowder workshop, there is a technician from the Dutchman Hollier, and there are gunpowder production regulations summarized by Chen Zhong, so you can manage it by any person.

The gunpowder workshop was in good order, but the blacksmith was not as good as it could be.

The entire blacksmith shop was divided into two groups, with the Daming blacksmith headed by Liu, and the Dutch craftsmen Bell and White.

Although there were quite a few people, a few months passed, and the blacksmith could only produce the simplest ironware.

After producing a certain number of artillery shells for the army, the blacksmith shop did nothing else.

Liu Cheng and his apprentices made a lot of tools in their spare time, such as sickles, axes, kitchen knives, etc., to meet the needs of the entire Daishan people.

However, the Dutchmen Bale and White's group did not do well. Bell was a blacksmith who had made cannons in Europe, and White was a watchmaker who could make small parts, and he once made a musket on his own, both of whom were technical talents, and Ren Siqi had always had high hopes that they would help him make muskets and cannons.

A few months later, the gun mold that Bell was in charge of had been made, and a cannon had been cast, but the gun was blown up and bored during the fire test.

"My lord, the temperature of this blast furnace is too low, and there are too many bubbles in the molten iron, so if you want to build a cannon, you need to raise the temperature of the furnace first." Bell explained to Ren Siqi in a half-baked Da Ming dialect.

Ren Siqi didn't know anything about how to make cannons, so he could only entrust this matter to Bell.

"As long as you can build a good quality long-range artillery this year, I will reward you with a thousand eagles." Ren Siqi promised.

Bell's eyes lit up suddenly: "Dear Inspector, don't worry, it won't take half a year for me to build you a six-pounder cannon." ”

Ren Siqi nodded, and secretly instructed Lin Shan, the blacksmith apprentice sent to Bell's side, to pay attention to his observation, and he must learn the advanced artillery-making technology of the West.

"Inspector, unlike bulky artillery, muskets require a high level of skill and a lot of specialized tools. You don't have anything here, and I'm afraid I won't be able to make you a musket anytime soon. The watchmaker White said to Ren Siqi in embarrassment.

"There are no tools to buy, you make a list, and I'll send someone to buy it." Ren Siqi said.

"Well, dear Inspector, it is not easy to buy the tools to make muskets in this far east. First of all, I need a machine tool, you know that for muskets, the most important thing is the barrel, I have seen the muskets of the Ming Dynasty, the barrels are rolled in a sheet of iron, you know that this method is easy to leak, and the barrel diameter is also different. The best way to make a good musket is to drill the barrel with a drill......"

White said a lot, and Ren Siqi basically couldn't understand a word.

"Stop, stop, stop! Mr. White, just tell me where I can buy the tools you need, and it's your business to make muskets. ”

White stopped his mouth unsatisfied, thought for a while, and said, "In the Far East, I'm afraid that you can only buy the tools you need by going to Macao, and the Portuguese in Macau have a firearms factory, and the muskets and guns they produce there are of decent quality." ”

"You said there was a firearms factory in Macau?" Ren Siqi asked in surprise. After getting White's affirmative answer, Ren Siqi immediately thought about it, in this era of alternating hot and cold weapons, if an army wants to quickly form combat effectiveness, the first choice is hot weapons.

For the Daishan Army, the next year was a period of rapid expansion, but the weapons needed could not be solved. The Daishan Army is not an army formed by the imperial court, and the weapons can only be thought of by themselves. Weapons such as spears are easy to use, and you can buy them for as long as you are willing to spend money. But muskets and artillery are not easy to do, these two weapons are very strictly controlled, not to mention that they are not easy to buy, and even if they can be bought of quality, it is not good.

Then there's the armor, which is a necessity for an army. The combat effectiveness of the army without defense is vulnerable, take the Daishan army as an example, it is okay to fight pirates, but if it fights against the regular army, it will be much worse, not to mention the Manchu army. But armor is more tightly controlled, and you can't buy it even with money.

Now that he heard that there was an arsenal in Macau, Ren Siqi's only thought was to send a ship to Macao to buy muskets and artillery from the Portuguese.

decided to go to Macao to buy artillery, but Ren Siqi couldn't think of a suitable candidate. Ren Siqi has a lot of subordinates, but there are not many who may stand alone. Thinking about it, I had to send Antony, who was sleek and had been dealing with the Westerners for a long time, and was fluent in Dutch, such a person should make the Portuguese feel friendly. Anthony alone can't do it, his force is too poor, Ren Siqi asked Li Xingjiu to accompany him and be responsible for the safety of the line.

Macau belongs to the Zheng family's sphere of influence, in order to ensure safety, Ren Siqi gave Anthony an official document stamped with the seal of the inspection department, so that with an official identity, the Zheng family should not be embarrassed.

Anthony and Li Xingjiu left Daishan on a three-masted galleon and went to Macau. Looking at the sail shadow in the distance, Ren Siqi was uncertain, so much time has passed, why is there no news about the reward for clearing the pirates and catching the bandit leader Gu Rong? (To be continued.) )