"Now that my Ming Court can cast the Zhennan General Cannon, then it is natural to allocate the whole army." Xiao was very dissatisfied with Huang Youde's words.

"Since you can cast such a heavy cannon, but you prevaricate with insufficient iron, are you deceiving me?"

Facing Xiao Wu's questioning, Huang Youde was sweating profusely for a while, his legs were weak, and he was a little unsteady on his feet.

"Lord Xiao, not long after my Ming people became the master of Luzon, it is not easy for the Firearms Division to cast such a heavy cannon, and it is difficult to make more artillery due to the lack of iron, no wonder they are." Liu Yu saw that Xiao Wu was angry, and he also opened his mouth to persuade appropriately.

"Now there are no less than 100 warships of our Daming Naval Division, but they lack such sharp weapons as red-coated cannons, and each three-masted ship is only equipped with eight six-pounder Falcon cannons or Franc cannons, so how can they compete with the Franc Naval Division in Manila?" Seeing that Liu Yu exonerated the Firearms Division, Xiao Wu had no choice but to sigh and said helplessly.

He knew that most of the Zhennan generals' artillery in front of him would have to be equipped with Lu Zhen first.

Even later, the craftsmen of the firearms artillery workshop cast the Zhennan general cannons, and most of them settled in Huben or Fubo Town.

After all, most of the people in the Ming Court are Liu Yu's people, and even the firearms division is looking at Liu Yu's head.

"Now that there is no war in Luzon, the Firearms Division will naturally give priority to the preparation of the Zhennan General Cannon, so as to ensure that the sea frontier of the Ming Dynasty in Luzon is safe."

Liu Yu also hurriedly made a guarantee, and allocated two of the Zhennan general cannons directly to Shuishi Town.

After getting Liu Yu's guarantee, Xiao Wu's face became better.

looked at Huang Youde and said: "You and other craftsmen are all for the Ming Dynasty to make guns, if they are built well, there must be a reward, if they are not built well, not to mention that they have injured the officers and soldiers of the Ming Naval Division, and if they delay the fighters, I will be held responsible."

After finishing speaking, Xiao Wu turned around and left.

Now that Luzon is peaceful, and the Qing court has opened the sea ban, the maritime trade in the South Seas is also flourishing.

Although the Qing court imposed strict restrictions on the ships that could go to sea.

But it can't stand the fact that the scale of people secretly going to sea is increasing.

In the Liangguang area, many local gentry even hooked up directly with Lu Hai.

Especially after the Ming established their own regime in Luzon.

These wealthy coastal merchants even went to sea to the South Seas with impunity.

Laoag has become a backyard and haven for Chinese people crossing the South Seas.

Naturally, this has led to the revival of pirates who had disappeared.

forced the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce to pay a sky-high commission and hire a Daming Navy warship to escort itself.

This made Xiao Wu, Li Du and others angry and scolded.

The dignified Ming Sailor has become a dart game, doing something to serve as a knife escort for the merchant ships of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce.

Although the Ming generals were unwilling, they couldn't stand the Ming Court's three orders and five declarations, as well as the white silver of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce.

can only reluctantly be a guard with a knife.

But Xiao Wu doesn't think so, the Ming Dynasty's warship artillery can't be abandoned.

For so long, hasn't the Daming Sailor become a dart game at sea?

So after Xiao Wu and Li Du and other generals discussed, they finally decided to go to sea again to practice and fight pirates casually.

This time, I came to the army range to try out the artillery, mainly to see what sharp firearms Lu Zhen could use.

It just so happens that these two Zhennan general cannons can come in handy.

"My lord, what kind of materials should be used for this Zhennan general's cannon?" After Huang Youde saw Xiao Wu leaving, he asked Liu Yu.

Only then did Liu Yu remember that this time he came to the Huben Town Shooting Range to observe the test firing, not just to see how effective these new guns were.

The most important thing is to decide on the materials used to cast this cannon.

"There are many copper mines in Luzon and Chongzhen used copper to cast red-coated cannons in one day, so use iron core copper body, remember that the cannon core should be wrought iron." Liu Yu thought for a while and then spoke.

The main reason why copper cannons are used instead of iron cannons is that the Ming Dynasty has limited iron smelting capacity, and iron is much more widely used than copper.

In order to build a few more Zhennan General Cannons, you can't pull all the iron pots and farm tools in the hands of the farmers to smelt.

Luzon has a lot of copper and silver, and its mineral deposits can be excavated on the spot.

"Huang Youde, is our army using iron or copper to cast cannons now?" Liu Yu remembered the question of the use of iron and asked.

"There are both, our army's guns and barrels are made of high-quality wrought iron, and the small and medium-sized guns are made of iron cannons or copper cannons, and our army imitates the rear-loading rotary guns of the Franc machine, that is, the Franc machine is mostly iron cannons, and the imitation of the nine-pound Saiko cannon is mostly cast in copper." Huang Youde said.

"So our army uses more iron for small artillery and copper for artillery, right?" Liu Yu asked.

"Yes." Huang Youde nodded.

"Don't hide it from your lord, copper is light, tough, and not easy to explode, but the price is too expensive, so it has to be used as a cannon material."

"And most of the artillery in the towns of our army are small cannons, and there are many small cannons for casting, and there are naturally many materials, if copper is used, the price is too expensive, so the small cannons are made of iron." Huang Youde analyzed 1510.

After listening to Huang Youde's words, Liu Yu roughly understood the good intentions of the Firearms Division.

The Ming army mostly used small cannons, so the casting needs to be cheaper, so it is not suitable to use expensive copper.

Heavy artillery, on the other hand, is easy to explode if it is made of iron, so copper is used with a tougher texture and lighter weight.

"The craftsmen of your firearms division have a heart." Liu Yu couldn't help but praise.

"My lord, where should these three Zhennan general cannons be used?" The general of the Ming army on the side stepped forward and asked.

"Since it's called Zhennan General Cannon, let's pull it all to Mingcheng, just to deter that group of red-haired ghosts." Liu Yu said without thinking.

Now that they have all arrived at the Tiger Ben camp in the suburbs, they have watched the artillery test firing.

Then Liu Yu naturally has to go to the iron-smelting mill that is also located in the suburbs.

The Ming court's ironworks were built near the coast of the city of Laoag after the Ming people occupied Laoag.

The reason why it was built near the coast of Laoag is naturally for the convenience of materials.

The Ming court made good use of its location in the South Seas, which is located in the tropics.

Most of them are primeval forests and rainforests, and the most important thing is wood.

Therefore, the Ming Ting Iron Smelting Plant mostly used charcoal to smelt iron.

Every month, merchant ships from all over the world bring large quantities of timber to the docks, where they are unloaded to the suburbs and burned into charcoal, which is used as fuel for smelting.

Similarly, iron ore excavated from the Luzon veins was transported by sea to the outskirts of Laoag.

By sea, the cost and time of transportation are greatly saved.

Because the ironworks are too dangerous, ordinary people should not approach them.

Therefore, Liu Yu did not let the civil and military officials of the Ming Court follow.

Just let Huang Youde and his own soldiers accompany him.

"The villain Wang Qing, a native of Foshan, Guangdong, has seen adults." As soon as I arrived at the iron-smelting plant, I was greeted by a hot air, mixed with the smell of sweat and iron slag.

"No courtesy." Liu Yu waved his hand, not very satisfied with the ventilation environment of the iron-smelting plant.

Today's Mingting Iron Smelting Plant has also begun to take shape.

Traditionally, pig iron is smelted in blast furnaces.

The blast furnace is a vertical cylinder that resembles a bowling pin, with wrought iron plates on the outside and refractory bricks on the inside.