Zhu Gaoxu had already sent someone to Yunlong Prefecture to contact the Duan clan and ask the other party to supply it all year round, in exchange, he would use weapons and Duan's easy purchase, if nothing else, the Duan clan would definitely agree.

There are several toasts in the vicinity of Duan's family, and they are in great need of knives, guns and weapons for the territory of Yanjing all year round.

Moreover, Zhu Gaoxu planned to place the place of exchange in Yongchang Mansion.

Yongchang Mansion is in the middle of Yunzhou and Yunlong Prefecture, so that his people can go to get salt, and they can walk half the way.

Shen Jun mentioned some difficulties from time to time, and Zhu Gaoxu answered them one by one, almost all of which were solved for Shen Jun.

Mu Pingshan listened quietly on the side, and was really shocked in his heart.

King Han is almost omnipotent, and all problems are solved.

When he first arrived here, Mu Pingshan was also thinking, what should I do if the Han King stayed in this small Yunzhou and eat, drank and lazard?

Then I saw them farming everywhere and raising poultry, and I knew that eating and drinking was not a problem.

When he saw that there were still cannons and weapons to be made in such a large canyon, he thought, what should I do with these raw materials?

King Han had already prepared and solved all of them.

Even the salt needed by the military households and tenants was solved.

Mu Pingshan thought about it, if Xipinghou was allowed to bring more than 10,000 people from 4,000 households here, he should be able to solve so many problems, but it would definitely take a lot of effort to mobilize a lot of manpower, material resources and even financial resources, and it would be easier than the King of Han.

The key Han Wang is a newcomer, and he seems to know everything about this place, and he has already laid out the layout.

There seems to be no shortage of water in the canyon, but Zhu Gaoxu suddenly asked Shen Jun: "Is there a waterwheel in Mengxi's writings?" ”

Shen Jun was stunned for a moment, and immediately nodded: "Yes, we will use it when we are in Tuntian." ”

Mu Pingshan was moved, Tuntian used a waterwheel, there are almost few in Yunnan, and the military households and toasts will not.

"In addition to Tuntian, waterwheels can also be used to build weapons, and the power of waterwheels, when used well, far exceeds manpower." Zhu Gaoxu said slowly: "How to use it, I can't think of it for the time being, but you can gather more people in your spare time, let all the craftsmen think of ways together, brainstorming, the so-called three stinkers, to Zhuge Liang, everyone thinks together, and they can always think of a way." ”

Shen Jun nodded, and then said, "There are still fewer craftsmen, the king is here--"

Zhu Gaoxu made it very clear here, one category of making artillery and firearms, one category of building armor, another category of weapons, and one type of building siege equipment, so craftsmen are far from enough.

Over the years, Zhu Gaoxu has sent people to search for craftsmen everywhere, and when he came from Beijing, the first few groups of people who left were all along the road, and some of the craftsmen were even deceived and arrested, and there are only more than 100 craftsmen up to now.

"You do it first, and there will be craftsmen who will send it here." Zhu Gaoxu asked Yang Lishan to run a business outside all the year round, and he did part of it, and now Mao Xin and Mao Xiong have also followed him to Yunnan, and they will also specialize in this thing, collecting talents, and running businessmen.

"Any questions?" Zhu Gaoxu asked again at this time.

"Not for the time being, I want to ask the king again." Shen Jun said with a smile.

As they spoke, they came to a playground-like place with a row of firearms on the ground.

It is basically a firearm that appeared in the Jing Martyrdom, and it was made by craftsmen according to official construction standards.

Zhu Gaoxu's request to Shen Jun at that time was that the official firearms of the Ming Court should be shot one for each of them, and let him take a look.

Every time Zhu Gaoxu looks at the same, Shen Jun will introduce him to him.

"Dawang, this is the official bowl mouth gun made in the fifth year of Hongwu (1372 AD), according to the imperial court standards, their length is one to two feet (about 315-520 mm), the diameter is three to four inches (100-119 mm), and the weight is 17-50 catties."

"The sample we took is a test sample, with a length of one foot and one inch, a diameter of 3.5 inches, and a weight of 27 catties."

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, most of them were equipped with naval warships and garrisons of key passes and fortresses along the border and coast.

It was rarely used in field battles, and in the early Ming Dynasty, it was probably only used by Sheng Yong, who was good at using firearms in the Southern Army, during the Battle of Jingnan.

"Is this a stone bullet or an iron bullet?" Zhu Gaoxu asked.

Shen Jun said, there are stone bullets, iron bullets, and lead bullets.

"How far can you hit, accurate?"

Shen Jun said, looking at the caliber, like the 3.5-inch caliber they built, and after using Zhu Gaoxu's improved version of gunpowder, it can hit as far as 60 steps, but the lethal distance is only 30 steps, and the best killing distance should be within 20 steps.

If it's too far, it won't have much power, Shen Jun uses it to hit a target, thirty steps away, on a two-inch wooden board, and it can't be pierced, so it is estimated that it can't break the armor when it hits a person.

"This can be used to defend the city and warships, and the caliber is bigger, so that the craftsmen can try more to ensure that there is lethality within fifty steps."

"Yes, my lord."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't plan to use it in the field, it looked too clumsy, the caliber was small, the killing distance was far lower than that of the bow and arrow, the caliber was large, too bulky, and the efficiency was low, so it was better to use it in warships and defending cities, and there was no need to build too much.

Especially when he doesn't have enough iron now, this thing is still the last thing to consider.

Then Zhu Gaoxu looked at the guns, assault muskets, long bamboo muskets, flying muskets, and also saw the mines and flying rockets that had suffered for the Yan army in the Jingjing War.

At this time, the firearms of the Ming army were varied and very numerous, but most of them were flashy and had limited lethality.

Even if it is a so-called landmine, it also relies on the explosion to frighten and cause chaos, even if it hits people and horses, it is only injured, and it is difficult to kill people.

Finally, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the Hongwu Iron Cannon.

It is also the most commonly used firearm on the battlefield and can play an important role.

Shen Jun said that this was built according to the standard of Hongwu ten years, the cannon was straight, the shape was short and thick, the caliber was about seven inches, and the total length was about three feet.

The standards that Shen Jun said were all samples he had seen.

After each war, Zhu Gaoxu would summon him to check on samples of Deming's firearms.

Zhu Gaoxu also has a firearms craftsman who has built it.

According to the understanding of the craftsmen, now in the Ming Dynasty, the most used is the artillery of Hongwu from ten to fifteen years, and the artillery made after fifteen years is becoming less and less, because it is used less.

During the latter period, the Ming army was attacking in all directions, and the artillery was only used to defend the city.

This Hongwu iron cannon weighs more than 500 catties, and the firing range is only more than 100 steps.

But there are three models in the Ming army, and there are more than 700 catties, or even 1,000 catties of cannons, and Shen Jun is the smallest one built.

The farthest firing range is only more than 300 steps, which is much worse than the artillery at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

On the one hand, it is the cause of gunpowder, and on the other hand, it is also related to the current technology.

The current cannons are all wrought iron cannons, and the cannon body is rolled up, unlike the mold monolithic type invented in the late Ming Dynasty, both sealing and chemical resistance have been greatly improved.

Zhu Gaoxu asked, how did you fight this big iron cannon? How long does it take to build one.

Shen Yang Jun said that to smelt pig iron into mature iron, it is best to use charcoal smelted Fujian iron, followed by Jin iron smelted with coal, which has a relatively high sulfide content, and pig iron will be very brittle. Then the pig iron is smelted seven or eight times, and the pig iron loss rate is generally about 70%.

The smelted wrought iron is repeatedly beaten tens of thousands of times by several people until it is forged into an iron plate, and then hammered into a "roll" with a quarter of an arc, or a roll with two and a half arcs. It resembles the shape of a tile, and is then forged from two or four rolls to form a cylinder.

Repeat this step to make multiple cylinders. Then after the end of the iron cylinder is burned red and soft, the sections are spliced and hammered together, if there is a gap, you need to use the iron bar that is burned to the red and soft to make up. Generally, the length of a cylinder is thirty or forty centimeters, and the barrel can be forged as long as it takes.

After splicing, the gun body is polished until it is bright enough to illuminate the human figure, and then the front and back are smoothed with a file. Then use the iron rope through the gun chamber, pull back and forth, polish the gun chamber smoothly, until there is no trace of forging between the barrel, and then forge and splice out the gun tail (bottom) and finally open the fire door hole.

The number of hoops depends on the demand, and those without hoops are called photospheres. A large Hongwu iron cannon requires ten craftsmen to make it for about forty days.

After listening to this, Zhu Gaoxu thought to himself that this was indeed the case, and the current iron cannon was still rolled and spliced.

He called Song Jun aside alone.

"Such a cannon body is not airtight and durable enough, and if you put too much gunpowder, it is easy to explode, isn't that so?"

Song Jun thought for a while: "What the king said makes sense, it is true. ”

"Have you ever thought about building the cannon body as a whole? This makes the seal much stronger and more durable. Zhu Gaoxu asked.

"Hit it out as a whole? How to type out as a whole? "Song Jun is inexplicably wonderful.

"Make a mold, then pour the iron liquid into it, and then take off the mold, isn't it the whole outcast?"

Song Jun was at a loss at first, thinking about it carefully, it seemed to make sense, and he couldn't help but rejoice: "The king is really still a genius, so not only can it be made from the whole body, but the construction time will also be greatly shortened." ”

But what is used to make a mold? It seems to be very mold-intensive, and every time you build a cannon, you have to destroy it and rebuild it.

Zhu Gaoxu said again: "You can use mud or wax." ”

"The wax is harder when it's cold, and it will melt when it's hot, first make a fake cannon body out of wood, wrap mud or wax on it, and then take off the wood, make a mold in the city, pour needle juice, and the cannon body will be formed."

"But as for what kind of clay to use, how to use wax, you have to study it yourself, I must not be this professional after all."

Zhu Gaoxu's limited knowledge was all learned from reading history in his previous life, and these craftsmen had to ponder what lost wax method, fan casting method, and how to operate it.

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu said this, Song Jun was already enlightened, and immediately understood the process.

"My mold cannon body building method, you have to carry out it secretly, no leakage, this method of building, only a small number of craftsmen need to participate, wait for the cannon to fill the juice into shape, and then hand it over to other craftsmen to polish."

"Some of you specialize in iron juice, some artificial wood fake cannons, some people make mud molds or wax film, and when you fill the juice at the end, you only need a small number of craftsmen."

(End of chapter)