When Xie Ergou, an indigenous blacksmith in Kaifeng City, worked hard, it was precisely because of the good effect of the hydraulic forging hammer.
So with fiery energy, he was forging out one piece after another of the embryos of the hundred-forged steel breastplate.
Unknown to him, in a warehouse not far away from him, three grandfathers including Lang Qing, Lao Tie, and Wu Zu, who were regarded as master craftsmen in his heart, were currently looking depressed.
There is even a posture where they are ready to be used as meat on a hob.
The main reason is that it took more than half a month.
All the netizens participating in this mission, in addition to Fengrui, Ali, and Zhan Xiang who are currently in Renbei, there are also four others including Lao She, Li San, Fenghua Hui, and Fan Zhu who are currently planning in Luoyang.
In addition to food personnel.
All the remaining people finally gathered together again tonight.
It's a pity that after more than 20 people gathered together, they were not planning to have a good meal or drink, or have a team battle or something.
In fact, it was Hu Biao and others who collectively came to Lang Qing, Lao Tie and Wu Zu to demand accounts and various equipment and industrial products.
Facing such a group of debt collectors, it's strange that they can be happy...
In his left hand, he picked up a piece that had been processed, that is to say, a fixed beef tendon rope, a layer of cowhide mat as a buffer, and a silver-gray steel-colored half-breastplate.
In his right hand, he picked up a helmet with a brim, which was also made of 100-refined steel.
Hu Biao used the breastplates and helmets on his hands to hit each other hard, once, twice, three times, and finally stopped after hitting them for more than ten times.
In the following time, he took out the butcher knife from his waist and slashed at the helmet and breastplate several times.
When I finally looked at it, I could see that whether it was the armor or the breastplate, although there was some deformation in both, it was not too serious.
The knife marks on it are not deep either, showing the very good quality of the two.
In line with the idea of discussing one thing, Hu Biao then turned to Lao Tie, who was responsible for this task, and started to praise him full of praise:
"Old man, 666.
The quality of the armors you produce is very good. Weapons such as bows, arrows and swords of the Jin people have absolutely no way of breaking through the defenses. Even weapons such as spears can be pierced with one shot without the help of horse momentum.
Even if it cannot prevent blunt force blows, the defensive positions are limited, and it still provides considerable protection to the musketeers.
After all, in front of the musketeers, there are sword and shield bearers and spearmen. Considering their flexibility and continuous combat ability, they don't need to be dressed like an iron can.
Such a protective force is enough."
After hearing the praise from Commander Sipoujie, Lang Qing, Lao Tie and Wu Zu, the Minister of the Ministry of Works, and two ministers of the Ministry of Works, just started to smile.
The problem was, before they could keep their smiling faces for a few seconds, Hu Biao said "but".
Damn it! As long as the word 'but' appears in these desperate words, it is basically not a good thing.
In fact, this is the case. What Hu Biao said later gave them a headache: "But you said that the production here is only half a month.
I took a quick look and found that there were only about 2,000 sets.
In other words, your production capacity is only 4,000 sets in a month, and only more than 20,000 sets in half a year. It is not enough, far from enough, and the output is still far behind the requirements~"
As soon as he heard this, Lao Tie, who was in charge of armor preparations, had to explain.
There is a reason for the current low output. The total number of blacksmiths, apprentices and other basic personnel with some smelting and forging experience in Kaifeng City is only a few thousand.
Even after Wu Zu led nearly one-third of the number of craftsmen to build a large number of earthen blast furnaces, their daily steel output has reached an astonishing 80,000 kilograms.
And this is still the current production, because the supply of raw materials such as iron ore and coal is not stable.
With the improvement of mining, transportation and other aspects in the future, such steel output can be greatly doubled, or even more.
After all, to put it bluntly, the so-called 80,000 kilograms is only 40 tons, and the monthly output is only 1,200 tons.
If placed in the modern world, a factory the size of a booger would have been forcibly shut down long ago due to low output, serious pollution and other issues.
However, in the Northern Song Dynasty, it can be regarded as one-tenth of the peak output.
Although the quantity is not large, it has perfectly solved the most basic raw material problem of the Song Dynasty and the New Dynasty.
The key to the problem is that Kaifeng City and the surrounding areas are all flat terrain. Although the water network is relatively dense, there is basically no gap in the water flow.
A machine driven by water power can only rely on artificial construction of dams to create a drop in water flow that can drive waterwheels.
However, the number of such dams that can be built is limited, and the number of hydraulic equipment has basically reached its limit.
More importantly, they still have many manufacturing plans that have not yet been started. Once the planned equipment starts to be manufactured, a part of the hydraulic machinery will still be occupied.
By then, not to mention the increase, it is estimated that even the 4,000 sets of breastplates and helmets per month will not be guaranteed, etc.
As a result, before Lao Tie could speak, several crisp gunshots were heard in his ears, which immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the warehouse.
That was Lao Hei, Da Yu, Feng Che, and Chen Tang, testing out the latest musket made by Lang Qing and others.
Compared with armor and helmets, this key weapon of the new army is naturally more important.
Immediately, everyone no longer cared about the production of armors and helmets, and swarmed towards the open space outside the warehouse...
Soon after, Hu Biao and others saw the open space outside.
The four new recruit battalion chief instructors, including Lao Hei, Big Fish, Fengche, and Chen Tang, are currently using muskets of different lengths.
Facing different positions fifty to one hundred and fifty meters in front of him, he was wearing a piece of fish scale armor or leather armor, and he was constantly loading and firing.
During this process, everyone was pleasantly surprised to see some nice details.
It was in these muskets that they began to use fixed gunpowder in paper tubes.
It is to use a small paper tube to hold a certain amount of gunpowder. When using it, tear off the top with your teeth and pour a little granular gunpowder into the gunpowder pool to start the fire.
More gunpowder is poured into the barrel as propellant.
It is not like the musketeers of the Ming and Qing Dynasties who put gunpowder in a horn, bamboo tube, gourd or other container.
Often when pretending, with a slight shake of the hand, either there is more or there is less.
Also, they could find that there was no match rope on the bolt of the musket or on the arms of Lao Hei and others.
Suddenly Hu Biao was full of surprise and shouted: "Lang Qing, you can do it. In such a short time, you actually used a flintlock gun."
"A small thing, the most complicated thing about the flintlock gun is the problem of the ignition reed; I asked the soldiers to build a special clamping furnace, and it was solved easily."
Faced with Hu Biao's compliment, Lang Qing spoke in a very calm tone.
However, the smile in his eyes and the subsequent introduction show that he is still satisfied with this:
"We have initially selected and trial-produced three types of muskets for the New Army. If you have no objections, we will be able to mass-produce them starting tomorrow.
The first one is to plan to equip the most main guns.
The model is the famous Brown Bess used by John's lobster soldiers back then, which is the 1730-style flintlock gun.
This kind of musket is a front-loaded smoothbore gun with a caliber of 0.75 inches and fires about 28 grams of lead bullets.
A skilled warrior who has undergone long-term training should be able to fire five or six shots in a minute.
Because we don't have enough brass, some components can only be replaced with steel, so the overall weight of the gun is a bit heavier, almost 9 pounds.
The maximum range is 230 meters, but everyone knows how accurate the musket is. At such a distance, the bullets don’t know where they will go.
Fortunately, as long as it hits, it can break through leather armor within 100 meters and heavy armor within 70 meters.
In addition, this thing has a bayonet, which is set on the barrel of the gun, rather than the kind that is directly inserted into the barrel; also after the opponent rushes close, the musketeers can still have some close combat
ability.
The second type is that we have made some optimized improvements based on the first type of Brown Bess musket.
Specifically, the caliber was changed to a smaller diameter of 0.5 inches, the barrel was lengthened by 20 centimeters, and four riflings with a depth of 0.08 millimeters were pulled out of the barrel.
After using special lead bullets, loading is a little more troublesome. In one minute, the rate of fire is only two rounds.
Fortunately, after such a modification, the range and accuracy are much stronger.
Of course, hand rifling is a disaster these days, so this improved Brown Bess musket is only intended to be produced in small quantities for use by snipers in the army.
The third type is the short gun that Big Fish currently has.
It looks familiar, right? It looks familiar.
In fact, this thing was the special pistol used by John's fleet officers back then. The short musket that appeared in the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean" was this thing.
The barrel of this thing is shorter and has no rifling. After it exceeds 30 meters, there is no need to think too much about the accuracy and power.
However, within 30 meters, the lethality and accuracy are quite good, and it can be regarded as a portable musket for future cavalry units and officers."
Needless to say, the above three types of muskets are very suitable for the current new army of the Song Dynasty.
I believe that with Brother Langqing’s level 8 fitter skills and his unique hobby of studying this stuff whenever possible, a more advanced breech-loading musket can be manufactured.
However, considering the various current restrictions, it is quite possible that the gain outweighs the loss.
Especially in the following time, after everyone tried firing a few shots, they all praised Lang Qing, Lao Tie, Wu Zu and others.
Lao Hei handed over a hand-rolled trumpet cigarette in a flattering manner, and begged Lang Qing:
"Brother, help me modify that Rumi gun later. Otherwise, I have to blow it every time before firing, even if I lie down and fire. It's really troublesome."
"No problem, the parts are readily available and can be easily done." After hearing this, Lang Qing agreed easily.
For a time, these three people from the Ministry of Industry were praised by everyone, and it was a scene that received rave reviews.
**********
Unfortunately, in the following time, Lang Qing and the other three became quite uncomfortable;
It was after a burst of compliments, while the windmill was whirling and laughing, that he made a rather urgent request: "Hey! Brothers.
I also know that if we want to fully equip the new army, it will take a process. We can take our time on this, as long as everything is completed before the Jin soldiers send out troops.
But the current training subjects in the recruit camp will soon involve the use of muskets.
If this kind of old-fashioned musket can shoot quickly and accurately, it cannot do without repeated loading and shooting. So within a week, can you provide us with 5,000 ordinary Brown Bess?
In addition, just fifty of each of the improved Brown Bess and short guns will be enough; it will also allow the novices to take turns touching the guns and get started in advance.
Please, I also got a jar of good wine there, the kind with tiger whip soaked in it, I’ll have it delivered later~"
But faced with such a request from Windmill and a bribe of good wine, the smile on Lang Qing's face suddenly froze.
The main reason lies in the production of the barrel of the Yiying musket.
As a man with level 8 fitter skills, he certainly couldn't let the craftsmen use that backward method of wrapping red-hot iron around an iron rod and knocking out a gun barrel bit by bit.
Using a hydraulic drilling machine, a more efficient method, is his current choice.
But even so, he currently only has six hydraulic drilling machines on hand. Each drilling machine works in two shifts day and night, and can only produce sixteen or seventeen gun barrels in a day.
After all, you have to take into consideration that during the drilling process, the inside of the barrel will get hot. You have to stop from time to time and pour a little rapeseed oil in to cool and lubricate.
After removing some unqualified and defective products, we can produce about a hundred gun barrels per day.
So, just for these 5,000 muskets, it would take him more than a month to deliver 5,000 muskets in seven days? Even if he had to risk his life to do it, he wouldn't be able to do it.
Not to mention, in the army reorganization plan.
The total number is no less than 35,000 muskets, such a scary figure.
Of course, Lang Qing can also choose to continue to increase the number of hydraulic drilling machines to increase production; but this involves the driving force that the limited waterwheels can provide.
Increasing the number of drilling machines means reducing the number of hydraulic forging hammers, grinders and other machinery.
When they thought of this, Lang Qing and the other three people from the engineering department looked at each other in confusion. They could all tell that one of them had a severe headache.
But soon they realized where they were now? More troubles were still to come.
In the following time, netizens spoke one after another based on the work they were currently responsible for, and more requests rang in their ears, which was like urging them to die.
Windmill, after wiping away his non-existent tears, began to plead:
"Brother, I'm not saying that Brown Bess is not good; the problem is that this kind of volley firepower can handle the charge of infantry, but the cavalry can't handle it at all.
So, our cannon is gone?
The long-range "Red General" heavy artillery, the short-range Tiger Cannon, the Folang Machine and other small artillery; I thought, if they all added up, it would take 200 to form a batch of firepower, which would be enough for the new army.
The use of ~"
Chen Tang then quickly joined in: "Yes, Fengchao is right.
So the heavy firepower of infantry, such as grenades and landmines, should they be produced as soon as possible?
Even if time is limited and I don’t have time to study the hair-pulling method, setting it on fire and throwing it out is still better than nothing, right?"
Even the imperial concubine is the only female netizen in the Kaifeng area.
While shaking one of Lang Qing's arms, he said sweetly: "Brother, Brother Lang Qing, when can you burn out glass and make products like mirrors?"
In addition, soap, perfume, shampoo, when can these products be available?
You must know that according to reliable information, the first batch of wealthy merchants from the Jiangnan area have already arrived with a batch of grain; my plan to get some fabrics and money depends entirely on these products.
I still have two pairs of 'Pear Shijia' socks that I haven't worn yet. Do you want to see if..."
"Come on, don't be polite, just kill the three of us~"
This was the reaction that Lang Qing and the other three people from the Ministry of Engineering made after looking at each other under the overwhelming requests from everyone.
He lay straight on the ground and started yelling at Hu Biao and others.
It looked like they were going to smash it and make meat on the hob.
But it seems that they can't be blamed, even if they know that the requirements of the above people are relatively reasonable; the reloading of the musket is trivial, and must be trained many times to develop muscle instincts in order to ensure a guaranteed rate of fire.
The Jin soldiers' iron pagoda heavy cavalry and a large number of light cavalry were unable to withstand the attack just by volleying their guns.
It really needs to be combined with artillery, mines, grenades, etc. to form batches of firepower, so that they can be destroyed when they rush to the front of the formation.
Otherwise, it will be very troublesome and cause heavy casualties when we get close.
As a girl like the imperial concubine, her requests are also very reasonable.
Although in Kaifeng City today, they have more than 20 netizens who have mastered modern knowledge, but when it comes to military, government affairs and other aspects, one carrot has to occupy several pits, and it is not easy for everyone.
For example, the imperial concubine received different jobs from the Commercial Department and the Imperial City Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
The latter is in the Imperial City Division that Yu Hanfeng is in charge of, let alone the intelligence work involved.
In the former Department of Commerce, the imperial concubine needed to find ways to obtain dozens of urgently needed materials such as money, grain, oil, war horses, various large livestock, cloth, and copper for the new Song Dynasty court.
The key point is that today's Kaifeng City, except for a few people, really doesn't have anything they want, and there is nothing left to eat.
If you want to get so many things from outside, you can only rely on some high-value products; the few handicrafts brought by Hu Biao and others are simply not enough to sell.
Fortunately, most of them are veterans who have read online articles for many years. Of course, they know that products such as glass, which are not high-tech but can be sought after by ancient people, are completely good things that attract a lot of money.
I'm afraid it's a palm-sized mirror, and if it sells for a hundred pieces, it's a reasonable price.
When the time comes, merchants from all over the Song Dynasty will first transport all kinds of materials and then go back with these high-value products, won't the market come alive?
It’s just that no matter how simple this thing is, if you know the principle, you still need to personally lead people to test it several times before you can make a barely suitable product.
Unfortunately, there were so many things going on at once, and the three of them couldn't handle it even if they were split in half.
For a moment, Lang Qing and the other two people were lying on the ground. Facing these life-threatening ghosts in front of them, they were extremely exhausted physically and mentally.
Even the 'tiger whip wine' and 'socks from the pear family' have lost their appeal...
