The next day, Zhu Ming took a boat to Liguojian.

On the deck, Geng Dingchen pointed to the north and said: "The canal in the north of the city is opened by Di Wuxiang (Di Qing). The canal in the south of the city was dug by Su Dongpo. The efforts of the second prince in the past have brought about the prosperity of the country prison today! ”

"Does all Xuzhou iron smelting now use coal?" Zhu Ming asked.

Geng Dingchen said: "Coal is cheaper than charcoal, and even loose smelters also use coal. ”

Zhu Ming nodded: "Excellent." ”

Xuzhou iron smelting industry has two leapfrog development in the Northern Song Dynasty.

The first time was when Di Qing was sent to Xuzhou to supervise the manufacture of weapons and equipment, and immediately expanded the scale of iron smelting here.

The second time was when Su Shi governed Xuzhou, sent people to explore everywhere, and found high-quality coal mines in the wild, and Xuzhou Iron Smelting entered the coal era.

One south and one north, the two dug a canal and connected it with the original canal, and also solved the traffic problem.

Half of the iron ore of Li Guojian was soaked in Weishan Lake in later generations. This is also the main reason why the Xuzhou Iron Yard was inferior to the Zunhua Iron Yard in the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, there was no Weishan Lake, and that area was all land.

In fact, in ancient times, the iron-smelting conditions in Xuzhou were far stronger than those in Zunhua. Because the iron ore and coal mines here are all of high quality, and the distance is quite close!

"The front is the Du family's smelting field," Geng Dingchen pointed to the front and said, "The Du family used to only produce iron, and used His Highness's method, but now they have begun to fry steel." ”

"Let's go down and have a look." Zhu Ming said.

Zhu Ming didn't say in advance that he would get off the boat here, and the entourage was suddenly busy, and Du Jiaye also ran to greet him in a panic.

Xuzhou has 36 metallurgical enterprises, that is, 36 private ironworks that have obtained operating licenses. They mine and make iron themselves, and give 20% of the product to the government for tax deductions, and the rest of the products can be bought and sold freely, but the government has the right to purchase at a low price.

The Northern Song Dynasty also tried the official monopoly of the iron smelting industry, but the result was that the products were too many to use, and the government-run iron yards were always losing money, and the local people were forced to change careers to become thieves.

"Grass people Du Yu, knock on His Royal Highness the Prince!" The owner of Dujiaye Farm flew to meet him.

Zhu Ming smiled: "Stand up and speak, the workers will do whatever they have to do." ”

"Yes." Du Yu ordered in a low voice, and the people around him immediately dispersed the idle people and others, and ordered the workers to hurry back to their posts.

Zhu Ming asked this person to lead the way and go to check the situation of the factory.

Hydraulics are not used here as there is no forging involved. However, Zhu Ming's design was used to improve, that is, the steel frying method recorded in "Tiangong Kaiwu" is nothing more than connecting the furnace with the frying pool, which can be directly poured into the frying pool to fry wrought iron, which greatly saves time and labor costs compared with the previous frying method.

Du Yu respects the prince from the bottom of his heart, and he regards the prince as an expert. The prince's improved iron frying equipment has brought him real economic benefits!

Zhu Ming asked: "When the government procures raw wrought iron, there is no indiscriminate price reduction, right?" ”

"No, absolutely not, it's fair!" Du Yu hurriedly swore an oath, for fear of annoying Geng Dingchen next to him.

The price reduction must be the price reduction, but compared with the Northern Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty is much more humane and will not force the merchants to death. will not deliberately pick bones in eggs while lowering prices, saying that the quality of raw wrought iron is problematic and repeatedly tossed.

To be able to do this is nothing more than to rectify the rule of officials.

In fact, the iron smelter Jia is better, but the gold miner Jia is miserable. Those gold mine owners in Jiaodong were forced by the Northern Song Dynasty court to lose money if they didn't smuggle, that is, it was impossible to abide by the law and operate properly!

Geng Dingchen said: "Your Highness, rest assured, the purchase price of the state of Li is only slightly lower than the market price. ”

Not only is it lower than the market price, but it also requires merchants to pay for freight and send the products to the warehouse of Lisan State Affairs.

Du Yu wanted to leave the prince for dinner, so Zhu Ming briefly walked around, asked many basic questions, and hurriedly took a boat away.

Du Yu led people to kneel down to see the fleet leave, and said with emotion: "What a prince of Shengming!" ”

After passing through more than a dozen private iron-smelting yards, the fleet finally arrived at Liguo Town, which was full of official institutions and an ordnance factory was also located nearby.

The sound of clanging was incessant, and black smoke was emitting from the stove everywhere.

Zhang Cheng, the manager of the ordnance factory, also came to visit and took Zhu Ming to check everywhere.

"There are more than 300 firearms, three wrought iron forged cannons, and six pig iron cast cannons." In addition, the 'iron mold method for casting cannons' handed over by the prince has also been mastered by the cannon casting craftsmen, and it can be cast into a cannon barrel in a few days. But ......"

"But what?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhang Cheng said: "The barrels made of iron molds are mostly white iron, brittle but not tough. If you want not to blow up the bore, you have to cast the barrel thicker, and you have to use wrought iron to tie the iron ring on the gun body. It takes about a month to build a cannon in this way, and it will be very large and bulky. ”

Zhu Ming inquired carefully again and basically understood the situation.

The iron mold method of casting cannons appeared in the late Qing Dynasty, but its technology existed in the Warring States period, but it was used to cast the parts and arrows of horse-drawn carriages at that time.

The advantages are very obvious, the casting time is short, and the barrel can be formed in just a few days, instead of drying in the shade for three or four months, as in the mud mold method. Moreover, the iron mold can be used repeatedly, which greatly saves the cost of casting guns. The resulting cannon is well-proportioned and smooth, with very few sand holes, which can improve the stability of the gun.

The disadvantage is even more obvious, the risk of blowing up the bore is very high. In order to prevent the explosion of the bore, the barrel must be thickened, and the wrought iron hoop on the outside should be added several more times. It is difficult to polish after casting, and once there is a problem during casting, it can only be scrapped and recast, and forcing it to be made will greatly increase the risk of exploding.

That is, it took more than a month to save a lot of costs to create a clumsy artillery that weighs as much as a siege cannon but is as powerful as a field artillery.

"The iron mold is made?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhang Cheng replied: "The iron mold that can be used is enough to make three pairs." ”

Zhu Ming instructed: "In the next two years, all cannons will be cast in this way." All the craftsmen of wrought iron have been transferred to make firecrackers! ”

Zhang Cheng said: "With the existing number of iron molds, if there are no errors in casting, it is guaranteed that three guns can be cast within 40 days." ”

Now no matter how much, the cumbersome problem can be ignored, and more artillery can be used to confront the Jinren, and then think of a way to logistics and transportation.

This kind of artillery is actually more suitable as a coastal defense artillery and a city defense artillery!

The coastal defense artillery in the late Qing Dynasty was almost all this thing.

The gunners brought by Zhu Ming were sent to carefully inspect the artillery, and the musketeers also went to test the guns produced in Xuzhou.

Soon they came back and reported that the goods here were all good, and they were better than those produced in Sichuan.

This is a very normal result, and at the height of its heyday, there were 4,000 iron-smelting craftsmen alone. Together with the miners, blacksmiths, coolies, and so on, the total number of all workers is one or two thousand.

Every household deals with iron!

Now the quality inspection link is strict, and each part has a relevant responsible person, and the most serious punishment is to directly cut off the head.

After inspecting the firearms factory, Zhu Ming went to the armor factory again.

Zhang Cheng brought a huge piece of armor, which could already be called a small plate armor, and said: "This is repeatedly forged with a water hammer, and the armor is made faster." ”

"Fabulous." Zhu Ming nodded in approval.

The armor of the Song Dynasty was already highly modular, and after it was separated, many parts were like plate armor, and they were heavier than plate armor.

Why not just replace it with a plate layout? It's light and cost-effective, what a good thing.

Quite simply, the cost of fine plate armor is too high, and ordinary plate armor is not defensive enough.

With water hammer, it is perfectly solved, and the plate armor is repeatedly forged with a water hammer to replace some modular armor parts. The resulting armor is lighter, saves cost and time, and ensures that its defense is not weakened.

Eighty pounds of foot armor can be reduced to fifty or sixty pounds.

Zhang Cheng took Zhu Ming to see the finished product again, only to see a huge nail piece on his chest, a large nail piece on both sides of the nail skirt, and the rest of the nail pieces have also become larger as a whole.

"How?" Zhu Ming asked.

"Fifty-six catties," Zhang Cheng said, "In the past, such a strong armor was made at least seventy catties or more." ”

Zhu Ming was extremely satisfied with this, this thing not only reduced the cost, but also allowed the soldiers to reduce the load, and also saved trouble during daily maintenance, and the large armor piece was easier to repair.

As for chain mail, the major ordnance factories in the country have completely stopped manufacturing and will rebuild it when manpower is not tight in the future.

That stuff is too labor-intensive!

Keyboard Warrior belittles the poor defense of the chain mail, and that's because when they tested it, they used a butt-like model, which can be easily shot through with a single arrow.

Ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, butt chain mail, only ancient Japan often used.

Most of the chain mail of the armies of other countries are riveted and welded, and that thing is actually very carryable.

"Bring the bounty!" Zhu Ming commanded.

Baskets of silver and copper coins were carried off the ship by the guards, and Zhu Ming began to reward officials and craftsmen.

When the news broke, cheers rang out, and everyone became more motivated.

Zhu Ming said to Geng Dingchen, Zhang Cheng and other officials: "If a craftsman has a novel idea, let them try it, and those who can improve the craft will be rewarded, and their competent officials can also be counted in their political achievements." ”

"Yes!" Officials are in unison.

Zhu Ming also said: "I plan to build a school here, the Confucian classics only teach the Analects and Mencius, and the rest of the courses are mathematics, physics, iron smelting, wrought iron, cast iron, cannon making, gun making, armor making, and so on. As long as the people are registered in Liguo Town, their children can go to school. The school is also divided into five levels according to the three-round method, and the top 100 students in each level are exempt from tuition. ”

"This method is so good that it will surely teach countless craftsmen!" Geng Dingchen hurriedly patted his ass.

Zhu Ming said: "Students who graduate from the school dormitory examination can be given priority to be selected as the trick officer of the Li Guojian, and even transferred to other state capitals to be the trick officer. In the future, I will set up 12 such schools. It is not only iron smelting and armor making, but also other superintendents related to craftsmen, such as shipbuilding and car building. ”

Zhu Ming's plan is to build one school in three years, and twelve schools can be built in thirty-six years.

Of course, in the future, when the finances are abundant, several schools can be built in a year, and the scope of enrollment will also be expanded.

After this kind of school system matures, the development of technology will definitely be faster, and it will be more systematic and theoretical, and it may be possible to burst out some scientific sparks.

(End of chapter)