"Your Majesty, the cannon is cast from Iron Fan, it's done!" Fan Jun repeated excitedly.
Emperor Chongzhen had not yet reacted, but Zhong Jinwei stood up from his seat with a whoosh and asked in surprise: "Seriously?"
"It's absolutely true. It was just when the iron cannon was peeling off its shell. We wanted to report the results to His Majesty as soon as possible, so we came a step late."
Although Fan Jun answered Zhong Jinwei, he also calmly explained to Emperor Chongzhen the reason for his lateness.
After finishing speaking, he turned to Emperor Chongzhen and said: "Your Majesty, this iron mold cannon is more than a hundred times stronger than the clay mold cannon. I congratulate your majesty."
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't sit still anymore and immediately ordered: "I want to go and take a look."
When Fan Jun heard this, he stood up straight and bowed to lead the way.
All the big guys on the observation platform didn't care to watch the flintlock rifle comparison exercise and left in a hurry. This made the new sergeant and the craftsman in charge of shooting look at each other, but because they didn't receive the order, they could only stand still.
move.
When Emperor Chongzhen came to the cannon-making workshop, the craftsmen knelt on the ground to greet him.
Emperor Chongzhen did not pay attention to them. Under Fan Jun's diligent guidance, he came to the scene where Tie Fan was casting the cannon.
I saw a brand new Falang machine placed in a conspicuous place, and beside it were iron molds made one by one.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at it for a while, but didn't see anything special, so he asked: "You just said this is a hundred times more powerful than a clay mold cannon. What do you mean?"
When Fan Jun heard this, he quickly explained: "Your Majesty, the first advantage of this iron mold cannon is that the construction period is short. It only takes a few days to build a cannon, which is dozens of times faster than the clay mold cannon."
When Zhong Jinwei heard about this advantage, he couldn't help but smile. He was worried about the New Army's artillery, and this solved the problem.
"The second biggest benefit is that an iron mold can be used repeatedly, so that the cannons produced are basically the same, which saves raw materials and facilitates later corrections."
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he glanced at Zhong Jinwei and thought, isn't this the standard part required by Master Zhong?
"The third major benefit is that the quality of the artillery has been significantly improved. The iron-moulded cannon no longer has the honeycomb problem encountered by the clay-moulded cannon, which also avoids the practice of clay-moulded cannons having to thicken the wall to prevent the chamber from exploding.
, the weight of the artillery will be greatly reduced."
Liang Tingdong, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, couldn't help being surprised when he heard about this benefit. At the same time, he was very happy. One of the biggest shortcomings of artillery is that it is too heavy. Now that the weight can be reduced, it is really good.
"The fourth major benefit is saving money. Compared with clay mold casting, the cost savings is several times greater."
Emperor Chongzhen, who had already shown a smile, heard this and looked at the first assistant, Wen Tiren, and smiled at each other. The artillery produced by this iron-cast cannon is of high quality and saves money. It is really perfect!
Emperor Chongzhen's interest suddenly became very high, and he immediately praised Fan Jundao: "Yes, yes, it is good that you are in charge of the military battle. As for the craftsman, let him tell me how to cast the iron cannon."
Fan Jun was happy to hear this and wanted to speak on his own, but Emperor Chongzhen called his name, so he had to call over the craftsman who was kneeling aside.
Only then did Emperor Chongzhen realize that the craftsmen were still kneeling on the ground, so he immediately ordered them to get down.
The craftsmen stood up one by one with joyful expressions of gratitude, and then stood to the side. The middle-aged craftsman who pioneered iron mold casting of cannons explained the method to Emperor Chongzhen.
To put it simply, the gun body is divided into sections according to its length, using iron as a mold, and each section of the iron mold is divided into two parts.
When casting a cannon, the two petals of each section are closed together, tightened with iron hoops, and then the sections are joined according to the bamboo shoots to make it look like a cannon.
Then, paint a paint made of fine rice husk ash and fine sand mud mixed with water on the inner surface of the iron mold. After it dries, apply a second layer of paint made from very fine coal powder.
Then it can be heated, matched with the cannon core, and poured into molten iron to start casting. After the molten iron solidifies, immediately peel off each piece of iron mold according to the segment to expose the cannon body.
While the cannon body is still red, use iron brushes and hammers to remove burrs, remove the mud core, and trim any uneven parts of the cannon body, and it becomes a cannon.
Every time the middle-aged craftsman explained a step, he pointed out the corresponding molds, tools, and sites to Emperor Chongzhen.
It is simple to say and not complicated to do. Everyone present basically understands the process of casting cannons from iron molds.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen smiled and said to the craftsman: "It's rare that you have the courage to respond to Marquis Zhongxing's suggestion and come up with this idea. This iron cannon has made a great contribution to the Ming Dynasty, so I will call you the gunman."
To show appreciation.”
Originally, Zhong Jinwei was very excited when he agreed to let this craftsman enter the Ordnance Research Institute. But now Emperor Chongzhen made such a eloquent statement that he directly made him a count.
The craftsman couldn't help but feel stupid after hearing this, thinking that he was dreaming.
Fan Jun listened on the side and couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Seeing the craftsman standing there stupidly, he couldn't help but shouted: "Why don't you thank your Majesty quickly?"
The craftsman just woke up from a dream and fell to his knees with a thump. He was speechless and kowtowed to show his gratitude.
When the craftsmen on the side heard this, they really wanted to bang their heads against the wall. Why didn't they come up with this method themselves in the first place? They often did it, but they had never thought of applying this method to artillery casting.
Zhong Jinwei was a little worried at first that others would object to such a heavy reward for a craftsman, so he specifically turned to look at the two civil servants.
But they saw Wen Tiren and Liang Tingdong stroking their long beards and looking at the craftsman with a smile.
They did not have any objection to Emperor Chongzhen's decision, but they just lamented the craftsman's good luck.
What Zhong Jinwei didn't know was that in later history, Song Yingxing mentioned in the preface to "Tiangong Kaiwu" that everyone in the Ming Dynasty, including the officials in office, wanted to make a name for themselves in firearms so that they could soar into the sky.
.
If he sees this in later generations, he won't be worried.
Emperor Chongzhen then announced a heavy reward of one hundred taels of silver to each craftsman who participated in the iron cannon casting, which made those craftsmen feel a little better.
After sealing it, Emperor Chongzhen said to Fan Jun: "This method is classified as a first-class secret and must not be leaked in the slightest."
"My slave obeys the order." Fan Jun quickly bowed and replied.
"Let's see if there is any room for improvement in this iron-cast cannon. Today I will look at the flintlock gun first, and I will also see the iron-cast cannon another day." Emperor Chongzhen ordered again.
After finishing speaking, Emperor Chongzhen ordered the driving practice field to be set up. But just as he turned around, he remembered something and turned to Fan Jun again and said: "As for how to improve, you'd better ask Marquis Zhongxing. If it weren't for him this time, you wouldn't be able to do this.
I can do this."
The gunman looked at Hou Zhongxing with gratitude, then knelt down and kowtowed to Zhong Jinwei.
Fan Jun also said gratefully: "Your Majesty is wise. If it weren't for Marquis Zhongxing this time, I and my subordinates would never have thought that there would be a cannon cast by Tie Fan."
Zhong Jinwei saw them kneeling and thanking Emperor Chongzhen after he said something, so he glanced at Emperor Chongzhen and found that he was looking at him with a smile on his face, so he shrugged helplessly.
We are living Lei Feng, and we never leave our names behind when we do good deeds. How embarrassing to say it so bluntly!