At this time, ten gunpowder makers had already been brought to the door of the official office, and Fanning said to them, "Come with me, all of you!" ”

Ten craftsmen followed Fanning to the backyard of the official office, where there was a large empty courtyard, covering at least one acre, which was originally a temporary dormitory for officials, and later after the new dormitory was built, it was vacated just for Fanning to use.

Fanning sat down the craftsmen and asked with a smile, "How is life here?" Can you adapt to the diet and climate? ”

An old craftsman smiled: "I was quite excited when I first came out, and I felt that there was not much difference between living in the Song Dynasty for a period of time, the air was wetter than the capital, the water quality was better than the capital, and the food was good, but the family was not around, and it was a little lonely." ”

"It's good that my family isn't around! If you go to the brothel, the wife can't take care of it. A young craftsman said something in a loud voice, and everyone laughed tacitly.

Another craftsman said: "There is nothing to do, we are all busy and used to it, and once we are free, we are uncomfortable." ”

Fanning nodded and said to everyone: "You will be very busy in the future, I want to ask first, how many of you are from gunpowder kilns?" How many of them came from the firearms workshop? ”

The gunpowder kiln is to make gunpowder, and the firearms workshop is to assemble firearms, both of which are under the jurisdiction of the Gunpowder Bureau.

The old craftsman at the head said: "Half and half, five are gunpowder kilns, and five people are firearms workshops, all of whom are selected masters." ”

Fanning nodded and said: "From now on, you belong to me directly, you should know my position, now you elect a leader first, and then we will talk!" ”

Everyone looked at the old craftsman together, and a craftsman pointed at him and said with a smile: "We are all the apprentices and grandsons of the old craftsman of Song, of course he is the leader." ”

Fan Ning smiled and asked, "What do you call my husband?" How old are you? ”

The old craftsman hurriedly said respectfully: "Back to Fan Yushi, the little old man's surname is Song, everyone calls me Song Laojiang, I am sixty years old this year, I have been making gunpowder for 40 years, and I have made gunpowder and firearms." ”

"That's good! I'll get down to business, this time we were transferred to Kunzhou to make a new firearm, that is, iron-shelled firearms, I think you all know it in your hearts, right! ”

Everyone looked at each other, and Old Craftsman Song said: "Iron-shelled firearms have been studied for more than ten years, and they have not been successful. ”

"But when you get to me, you should succeed!"

Fan Ning looked at everyone: "As far as I know, you have signed a strict confidentiality contract with the imperial court before making gunpowder and firearms, but the iron-shelled firearms are even stricter, it will become the top secret of the Great Song Dynasty, once the secret is leaked, your own and your families will be in danger of life, but the income will also be very rich, three times that of ordinary gunpowder craftsmen, so ugly words and good words will be said in front, now you don't want to do it, you can quit, I will not be held responsible, but once you start to do it, you can't quit if you want to, you should think about it now!" ”

Everyone was silent, and at this time, a soldier outside the courtyard gate said: "Qi Yu Shi, the raw materials for gunpowder have been sent." ”

"Please move in!"

Soon, more than a dozen soldiers moved dozens of jars in, a total of thirty jars, and sent three large damp-proof wooden boxes.

At this time, Old Craftsman Song came over and said to Fan Ning: "Yushi, we are all used to keeping secrets, and all of us are willing to accept it!" ”

Triple the income made it impossible for anyone to refuse, and besides, everyone longed to be able to build iron-clad firearms, secrecy was the minimum professional requirement for them, and everyone had long been accustomed to it, so after thinking about this, no one quit.

Fan Ning was overjoyed and said with a smile: "Will you make an iron shell?" ”

Old Master Song nodded, "Firesmiths have been making iron shells for many years, but they have never succeeded, I don't know what the problem is?" ”

"Let's go into the room! Let me tell you about it. ”

Everyone walked into a large room, Fanning stood in front of a table with a few paper fireballs on the table, Fanning said to everyone: "Everyone watch carefully! ”

He pulled out an unusually sharp dagger, slowly cut the paper fireball in half, and placed it on the table, "Did you find a problem?" ”

Everyone took a closer look, and slowly reacted, the three gunpowder raw materials in the paper fireball were actually layered, charcoal powder was on the top, sulfur powder was in the middle, and nitrate powder was at the bottom.

Fanning said: "The arquebus burns in, but it encounters toner, and it can't be lit for a while, and the arquebus goes out, which becomes a dumb fireball, or too little nitrate, and the combustion is not sufficient, and then it only smokes and does not burn, and this is the problem." ”

Old Craftsman Song sighed and said, "This question was actually raised a few years ago, but I am still not satisfied with the revision. ”

"The problem is in the gunpowder powder, which should be mixed together to make gunpowder particles the size of soybeans, and the rougher the surface, the better, and the more burrs there are, the more effective it is, just like we burn fire, the more debris on the firewood, the more burrs, but the easier it to burn."

Everyone suddenly realized, and Old Craftsman Song slapped his forehead, "Gunpowder granules!" We went in the wrong direction and tried desperately to purify the nitrate and sulfur, but we didn't think about changing the morphology. ”

Fanning said: "In addition, there is a problem with the gunpowder formula, I will give you a new formula of gunpowder, and then everyone will work together to make the gunpowder granules, and then test the iron shell, don't worry, test again and again, this can't be made in half a year." ”

Fanning gave the recipe of black powder from later generations to everyone, and the craftsmen began to work busily, in fact, they also needed a lot of tools, such as baking stoves, cast iron furnaces, fine scales, etc., and all kinds of tools needed to make gunpowder and firearms were brought by craftsmen, and Fanning asked a dozen soldiers to help them carry them.

Fan Ning called Song Laojiang to his official room again and asked him, "What difficulties still need to be solved now?" ”

Song Laojiang thought for a while and said: "It's best to have a special house, gunpowder is a dangerous item after all, it's better to put it in a remote place, and then there is a coordination officer, sometimes you need the help of the army, you need some raw materials, etc., this official is responsible for coordination." ”

Fan Ning nodded, "I have already agreed with Di Dashuai, he will arrange more than a dozen camp tents for you, and then there are camp tents around, strictly guarded by soldiers, just on the edge of the barracks, it is estimated that it will be built tomorrow, as for the special officials, there will be one who is responsible for daily affairs, and after the approval of the imperial court next year, Kunzhou will set up an ordnance supervisor, and the firearms department will also have." ”

Old Master Song breathed a sigh of relief, "Then there is nothing else." ”

Fan Ning instructed again: "I still say the same thing, iron-shelled firearms are the top secret of the Great Song Dynasty, and they can even change the national fortunes of the Great Song Dynasty, the ten of you must keep it strictly secret, if you want, you can send your family members too, in short, the court will never treat you badly." ”

"Please rest assured, we will never divulge any secrets."

At this time, a young civilian officer walked in quickly, bowed down and said, "Humble Zhang Qu, I have come to report to Fan Yushi on the order of Di Shuai!" ”

Fanning said with a smile: "I am now preparing for the establishment of the Firearms Department, and I will be the supervisor for the time being, but I need a Secretary to be responsible for the daily management of the Firearms Department, and from now on, you will be in charge." ”

"Obey the order!"

Fan Ning pointed to the old craftsman Song next to him and said: "This is the leader of the craftsmen, called Song Laojiang, who has been working in the Beijing Firearms Bureau for forty years, and I don't know what you should usually do, but he knows that he will tell you one by one, I hope you will cooperate tacitly, if you have any difficulties, come to me directly, if I am not here, you can find Di Shuai." ”

Fanning explained a few more words to them, and the two left together.

The room finally quieted down, Fan Ning pinched his forehead lightly, only to feel a headache, Zhao Zongshi returned to China, leaving a thousand things for him to deal with, as well as the crisis of war horses, as well as the problem of winter, and also to go to Japan to recruit people, repair cities, build roads, build schools, and so on.

However, his biggest problem now is that there are not enough officials, in addition to fifteen horse breeders, there are only ten officials in the official office, which is not enough at all, and it would be good if he knew that Mingren and Mingli would have stayed.

Fanning sighed, took out a piece of paper, and listed the various problems to be solved one by one, and divided them into three categories according to the urgency of dealing with them.

Category A belongs to the most urgent to solve, there are three major things, one is to build a new warehouse; the second is to solve the problem of wintering war horses and personnel; The third is to solve the problem of the survival of war horses.

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