Zhang Yanling smiled and said: "Mr. Xu, you have worked hard today. Without your help, I would be in a hurry. Thank you very much."
A simple and honest smile appeared on Xu Gao's dark and thin face, and he waved his hands and said: "This is all for the relief of the victims, for the common people, why are you so polite, Mr. Hou? Speaking of which, if Mr. Hou had not intervened, the victims outside the city would have suffered. I would like to thank you."
Mr. Xie is the one."
Zhang Yanling said with a smile: "That's all, we don't need to thank you anymore. I think Mr. Xu is neat and serious in doing things, and he seems to be a practical person. What affairs does Mr. Xu take charge of in the Ministry of Industry?"
Xu Gao said: "Xia Guan is a craftsman and has not passed the imperial examination. When the outer city was expanded, I was one of the craftsmen. I also participated in the Yong'an Gate Tower. After it was completed, the imperial court rewarded me.
When I joined the Ministry of Industry as an official, I also dealt with related technical matters. Before the relief work, I worked in the Yuheng Qing Officials Department, in charge of construction and forging matters."
Zhang Yanling's heart moved and asked: "What about forging? But I wonder if Mr. Xu knows how to forge firearms?"
Xu Gao smiled and said: "That is just what I am doing as a lower official. Our Ministry of Industry has a special department and the Department of Weapons of the Ministry of War work together to forge firearms for the imperial court."
Zhang Yanling was ecstatic, but asked calmly: "Interesting. In Mr. Xu's opinion, how do the firearms of our Ming Dynasty look like? For example, the firearms used in the army. Is there anything that can be improved?"
This question brought up Xu Gao's major. Xu Gao thought for a while and said: "Others say that the firearms in the Ming Dynasty are limited by smelting skills and costs, so the firearms are very rough. The amount of powder cannot be increased, so they are not very powerful.
.Actually, in my opinion, this is not the case.”
"Oh?" Zhang Yanling was surprised. Xu Gao's words surprised Zhang Yanling. In fact, Zhang Yanling thought so too.
"Isn't that the reason? Why? The problem of gunpowder?" Zhang Yanling said.
"Hahaha, Mr. Zhang was wrong. It's not a problem with gunpowder. My Ming gunpowder is powerful enough. In fact, it's a problem with cost. As early as two years ago, I submitted a proposal to refine it with green iron.
In addition to some auxiliary raw materials, there is a way to forge stronger refined iron. However, the cost of casting and forging is too high. The Ministry of War has calculated an account and made fire blunderbuss by smelting high-strength refined iron. The cost of each fire blunderbuss is
Up to a hundred taels. Including the consumed gunpowder, bullets, etc., it is extremely expensive. The silver taels used to make one fire blunderbuss can be used to make dozens of strong bows. Comparing the two, how can the power of one fire blunderbuss be compared to more than a dozen?
A volley of strong bows, both in terms of range and power, are far behind. So it is impossible for the court to agree." Xu Gao said with a smile.
Zhang Yanling said excitedly: "It turns out that it is not a problem of materials and smelting technology, but a problem of silver. Mr. Xu, the refining of green iron you mentioned, plus auxiliary raw materials, can forge refined iron with strong toughness and strength, but I don't know
What did you add to it?”
Xu Gao smiled and said: "What is added is a kind of soil. I call it white soil. This kind of soil is a very special kind of soil. It contains many unknown things. I don't know what it is. In short, this kind of soil
It is much heavier than ordinary soil, which is very strange. I went to Jiangxi that year and discovered this kind of soil in Longhu Mountain. At first I thought it was a gold mine, but later I found out that it was not. Xiaguan has been studying the smelting of high-strength and tough refined iron.
I wanted to add everything to try. So I added this kind of soil, and I didn’t expect to get high-quality refined iron. Speaking of which, I was really lucky.”
Zhang Yanling couldn't close her mouth when she heard this. It was really hard to find anything, and it took no effort to get it. She went to dozens of blacksmith shops in the capital but could not find satisfactory iron for casting firearms, so she thought it was
The smelting technology has not developed to that point. Who knows, someone in the imperial court has already been able to smelt high-strength refined iron.
From what Xu Gao said, he did have some luck. The white clay he was talking about was probably a mineral soil containing a variety of minerals. After being added to the smelting of steel, the trace elements in it changed the properties of the iron.
, it should be that an alloy steel was created.
"In other words, as long as there is no shortage of money and you are willing to spend a lot of money, you can naturally increase the power of the fire gun, right?" Zhang Yanling said with a smile.
"Of course." Xu Gao smiled.
Zhang Yanling nodded and continued to ask: "Mr. Xu, in addition to the material that limits the amount of powder, do you think the format of fire cannons can be improved? For example, our Ming fire cannons now need to be ignited with an open flame, and the firing time is long.
Furthermore, the fire gun needs to be reloaded once it is fired, which is time-consuming. If the open flame can be changed to flint fire, and the single shot can be changed to multiple shots, wouldn't it be more powerful? Has Mr. Xu considered these issues? "
Xu Gao looked at Zhang Yanling in surprise and said: "The Marquis seems to be very interested in firecrackers. No wonder the Marquis carries a firecracker with him. Others would never think about such things. How could the Marquis think of this?"
This is really a surprise to my subordinates."
Zhang Yanling said with a smile: "It's just a random thought. Isn't it too fanciful? It's completely impossible to realize? If so, Mr. Xu will just think that I'm joking."
Xu Gao mused: "It's not a whim. What the Marquis thought about was something I have also thought about before. From a theoretical point of view, it's not really difficult. However, it requires careful research and continuous testing before it can be achieved.
There is still time for me to be demoted, but it is a pity that the imperial court is not willing to spend more money on ordinary fire guns, let alone spend more money on this matter."
"Oh?" Zhang Yanling was even more pleasantly surprised. He just mentioned the matter as a question and did not expect a satisfactory answer at all. However, Xu Gao's words seemed to be an understatement, and he did not feel that his
There is something wrong with the problem, and it shows that it can be realized. In other words, he has really thought about this problem, and the only thing that restricts him is money.
Zhang Yanling felt that he had picked up a treasure. Who would have thought that Xu Gao, a foreigner from the Ministry of Industry, was actually a treasure. If he was not bragging and talking nonsense, then the plan to improve firearms could be discussed with him, and there might be progress.
.
Zhang Yanling wanted to continue chatting with Xu Gaoshen to further verify whether the other party really had this talent. It was very simple. He only needed to tell him some principles of later generations of firearms. As long as Xu Gao could understand and not feel that he
He is talking nonsense. If he can put forward some opinions, it means that he really understands what he is talking about. In that case, Xu Gao is the person he is looking for.
Zhang Yanling actually didn't know that although Xu Gao was not an outstanding person, he was a real craftsman with unique skills. He was not only proficient in woodworking, construction, smelting and forging, but also in various machine spring manufacturing techniques.
The ancestor of the Xu family is Xu Wei, who was a follower of Su Song, a famous inventor in the Song Dynasty. When Su Song made the "Water Transport Ceremony Platform", Xu Wei participated in the whole process and contributed a lot. Xu Wei also became a great craftsman. Later, descendants of the Xu family participated
He participated in the construction of the mechanism for the emperor's mausoleum of the Song Dynasty and built extremely sophisticated anti-theft mechanisms for the emperor's mausoleum. However, it was precisely because of his participation in this matter that the Xu family had to choose to remain anonymous and disappear. Because this kind of thing is extremely confidential.
If someone knows who the designer of the mechanism is, it will cause countless troubles.
By the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Xu family had already lost its reputation and disappeared among all living beings. However, in fact, the family's skills had been passed down secretly. Only in public, the descendants of the Xu family were just ordinary craftsmen who built bridges and paved roads, built ships, and forged iron.
Over the generations, by the time of Xu Gao's generation in the Ming Dynasty, the family's skills had been lost a lot. The Xu family were just ordinary craftsmen among the people, but Xu Gao still learned a lot of skills. It was just that there was no place to put them to use.
When the city tower outside Yongding Gate was built, Xu Gao designed the city gate's 10,000-kilogram stone hinge, and many engineering and technical problems were also solved by Xu Gao. Because of this, the imperial court was aware of Xu Gao's
Because of his ability, he was summoned to the imperial court and entered the Ministry of Works to become a technical official. Otherwise, how could a craftsman become a member of the fifth rank of the Ministry of Works?
"Master Xu, I have a heartfelt request..."
As soon as Zhang Yanling said these words, he heard Huang Si and others shouting outside.
"Master Hou, it's terrible, so many victims have arrived again."
Zhang Yanling stood up in shock, Xu Gao also frowned and stood up and said: "The victims from other city gates must have gotten the news and came here."