After sighing, Xu Guangqi opened the wine bottle, poured two glasses of wine, took out two appetizers from the table, and began to drink by himself. There were two small dents on the table, which were just the size of cups.

Put it inside, but unexpectedly it will be poured out by the shaking of the carriage.

Looking at the wine in front of him, Zhu Youxiao just looked at it and did not drink it. Xu Guangqi was not surprised and drank to himself. The wheels rolled and went out from the door. After passing the wall, he walked along the long

The planned road goes forward all the way.

"Here is the brewery, here is the dam, here is the new dock..."

Xu Guangqi picked up a volume of atlas that had been placed on the desk for a long time. After unfolding it, he pointed at the simplified diagram and compared it with the actual objects to introduce the now greatly changed Tiangong Workshop to Zhu Youxiao.

The entire Tiangong Workshop is distributed along the Yongding River. From the former site of the Tiangong Workshop, which is closest to the capital, up the Shuo River, and to the east bank of the river, it now extends to an area of ​​only more than ten miles, which can be called a small city. Now it is in full swing

More than 100,000 people were working non-stop under the command of a large number of officials from the Ministry of Industry.

If the Hongwan Rebellion was a storm that hit the upper class, then the Tiangong Workshop was a storm that hit the capital and even the entire Beizhili. Almost all the idle laborers in the surrounding area worked here to earn three meals a day and

Thirty cents wages.

Although the scene here is huge, according to rough calculation, it is only a million taels of silver. The income from just searching those officials is far more than this amount, and there is no need to use the savings of Zhu Youxiao himself and the Zhu Ming royal family. A total of three thousand taels.

The savings of ten thousand taels were like a devil, constantly bewitching Zhu Youxiao, asking him to let go of his hands and do something big.

Tiangong Workshop now occupies a vast area and is a grand scene. Even if you are riding a horse-drawn carriage, it took you an entire morning to browse through this scene. By the time you returned to the original location and had a hasty lunch, it was almost three o'clock in the afternoon.

The old site of Tiangong Workshop was used by Xu Guang as a research and development base to conduct various experiments and imitations due to its high walls, thick walls, tight defense, and excellent confidentiality. The other areas were used as large-scale production sites. Zhu Youxiao handed it over

Xu Guangqi's imitation flintlock gun is here.

After everyone had finished eating, Xu Guangqi led Zhu Youxiao to a secret factory. This place was very similar to the workshops of later generations, with all kinds of tools. A dozen or so senior craftsmen were hard at work here. Looking around.

After one glance, Zhu Youxiao was quite pleased. The people gathered here were all top craftsmen, representing the most profound technology of the Ming Dynasty. They could create any exquisite parts with just one hand.

Chinese people are very smart, and Chinese craftsmen are even more so. They have exquisite craftsmanship and have created countless inventions that amaze the world. However, they pay too much attention to the improvement and inheritance of their own skills and have never thought about how to promote them and how to simplify the technology.

ization and popularization. And this is precisely what the tide of industrialization is taboo about.

"Your Majesty, please take a look. This is a finished product imitated by craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry." Xu Guangqi came to a workbench, picked up a musket and introduced it.

"Come on, Lao Yu, take apart this musket." Xu Guangqi waved to the old craftsman with a gray beard who was waiting next to him.

"Here you go, Mr. Xu." The old craftsman laughed, and deftly took apart the musket, pulling out the parts one by one and introducing them, "This is the barrel, this is the flint, this is the trigger, and this is the medicine.

Pool, pull the trigger and pass..."

Perhaps because of his age, Lao Yu couldn't stop talking when he talked about his professional stuff. He introduced it in a lengthy manner, and even tried to explain in detail the firing principle of this flintlock gun. For this, Zhu Youxiao didn't

Can't be clear.

He waved his hand to stop the opponent's movements, then picked up the musket himself, observed it carefully, and slowly assembled it. After observing closely, he had to sigh for Lao Yu's craftsmanship. It was so ingenious that every award was received.

The polishing is round and smooth, very precise.

After a few clicks, Zhu Youxiao recalled the dismantling action he had just taken, and assembled the musket in just a few clicks. The entire musket was made of a riveted structure, and looked like one piece, like a handicraft. He picked up the gun, and after a few false starts, he

Put it down.

"This musket is good, but it's a pity that it's not practical." Zhu Youxiao sighed and said with a bit of pity. The entire musket is made of fine steel, the barrel is round and flawless, and the inner bore is polished smooth and round, just like a handicraft.

It can be done in a short time.

"That's true!" Xu Guangqi also nodded, "At that time, I gave the flintlock to Lao Yu, the best firearms craftsman. Unfortunately, he understood the wrong direction and spent a month to build this musket."

"Fortunately, he was discovered later when he asked me for credit, and I quickly asked him to reuse ordinary materials and make some more." Xu Guangqi glanced at the embarrassed Old Yu next to him, and picked up a musket from the table again.

Zhu Youxiao took it over and looked at it. This one was much more normal. The barrel was made of wrought iron, and the butt still had log burrs. Except for the inner bore, which was as smooth as that rod, everything else was worse by more than one grade.

"What's the range, how much time it takes?" Zhu Youxiao played with the musket and asked three questions in one breath.

"If you use the new granular black powder, the range can reach 120 steps. If it is powerful, it can penetrate iron armor within 60 steps." Xu Guangqi thought for a while and reported a test data. This value made Zhu You

The colonel was pleasantly surprised. At this level, the musket was already useful. A musket of this level was already twice as powerful as the Lumi Gun, which could penetrate iron armor at fifty paces.

Even though the projectiles of the Rebel Forbidden Army that night could reach a distance of hundreds of meters, which is about seventy or eighty steps, bows and arrows of that level basically have no power. As long as they are armor-clad units, they can basically be ignored.

Projectiles can only be used against unarmored soldiers.

"Your Majesty's granular gunpowder is really a magical skill. It increases the effective range of the musket by ten steps out of thin air." Xu Guangqi sighed.

At this time, the Qing army's bows and arrows were so powerful that they could penetrate iron armor at twenty paces, cotton armor, leather armor, etc. at fifty paces. They were powerless against armor from any further distance. Ten more steps would increase the striking distance by ten more steps.

This can already determine victory on a battlefield.

The ancient step is a compound step, that is, the modern step of taking two steps is the ancient step. The distance of one step is about 1.5 meters. Ten steps is also fifteen meters. In other words, after using granular gunpowder, the muskets of the Ming Dynasty

It has an attack distance of about fifteen meters longer than that of bows and arrows. When the two armies faced each other, the Qing army's bows and arrows were not yet lethal, but the Ming army's muskets were able to penetrate iron armor.

The Ming Dynasty also had the Rumi gun, which was a very precise matchlock gun that could penetrate iron armor within fifty steps. If used properly, it was also a powerful weapon. Although Zhu Youxiao developed a flintlock gun at this time.

Guns, but they are all made of cast iron. The range of the musket should be about the same as the Lumi gun.

The reason why it can take more than ten steps is entirely due to the use of granular gunpowder technology. The black gunpowder made into granules can slow down the burning of black gunpowder, so that the gun can obtain a stable chamber pressure and prevent the powdered gunpowder from burning too fast.

This causes the projectile to burn up before it even comes out of the barrel.

After using black powder, the barrel can be made longer, allowing the projectile to gain more acceleration time and increase its power.

"In this way, we need to find a balance between the material of the firearm, the range and the amount of powder." Xu Guangqi is a scholar and has a deep understanding of Western science. After Zhu Youxiao explained this, he immediately

Come to understand.

"Yes, that's it, but the most important thing is the material of the forged musket, that is, the quality of the iron. If the musket is made of hundred-smelted steel, it may be able to penetrate the armor from a hundred steps away." Zhu Youxiao replied,

After thinking for a while, he then asked, "The most critical part of a musket is the barrel. How many such useful barrels can be produced today?"

Xu Guangqi did not answer, but lowered his head and thought, silently calculating in his heart. After a while, he said, "With water power, it is much easier to forge iron. After making an iron plate of suitable thickness, a blacksmith can roll it."

Grinding tools, this is a water grinding skill, the forging should not be too hard or too fast, otherwise the forging joint will be uneven and the inner diameter of the iron pipe will be easily deformed."

"This is the most important process of gun barrel manufacturing, and it is also the most time-consuming. If you are experienced, plus the polishing of the bore and scrapped products, it will take almost half a month to produce a qualified one." Xu Guangqi said slowly.

He gave an answer, "Now there are about 500 blacksmiths with such skills in the Imperial Palace Workshop, and they can produce two thousand muskets in a month."

two thousand!

This number may sound pretty good, but you must know that the Imperial Palace Workshop has gathered all the craftsmen from the entire Ministry of Industry and the Imperial Court of the Ming Dynasty, so that this number can be achieved.

"One thousand, and if you save it for a few months, it will be barely enough. Let's determine the length of the musket, and then go into full production. During production, we will also conduct experiments to see if there is any better way to speed up the barrel.

Forge speed." Zhu Youxiao nodded and gave the order.

"How's the artillery casting going? Take me to see it." Zhu Youxiao turned to ask other questions, but before Xu Guangqi could answer, he changed his attention again, "Forget it, I don't know how to cast artillery either.

You'd better take me to see the blast furnace you have erected."

"Your Majesty, please come this way."

Under the leadership of Xu Guangqi, Zhu Youxiao followed him to another place. When he passed there, he was not idle and threw out several advanced technical terms for cannon casting that he had seen in novels, such as iron mold cannon casting.

What about cold core casting, what about erecting molds to cast cannons, etc. The Chinese language is profound and profound, and as soon as Zhu Youxiao finished speaking a few words, Xu Guangqi roughly thought of how to apply these technologies.

After thinking carefully, his eyes flickered and shined. He didn't expect that His Majesty had so many fantastic ideas, which were really breathtaking. He couldn't be sure about the quality of these technologies, and he couldn't guarantee whether they would work. He still had to

Specific development, but only based on his personal experience and vision, if it is really applied in practice, it will definitely greatly improve the speed and quality of cannon casting.
Chapter completed!