After finishing the work of recruiting soldiers, Li Zhi started making boring machines.
The boring machine is a machine tool used to process holes in workpieces with holes. It appeared as early as the 15th century and was used to process artillery. The more mature boring machine in modern times was invented by the Englishman Wilkinson in 1774.
, it was originally used to process gun barrels, and was later improved to process steam engine cylinders.
As an industrial designer, Li Zhi certainly knows the principles of boring machines.
Li Zhi has now made bearings, and making a boring machine is a matter of course. Li Zhi makes a manual boring machine. After casting several gears as transmission devices, Li Zhi transmits the rotational force of human rotation to the boring bar. In the bearing
The boring bar that rotates in medium is very stable. The boring bar gradually moves forward while rotating at high speed, which can gradually expand the hole in the workpiece.
Using a boring machine to process holes in the workpiece is much more accurate than using a drill to drill holes, and can boring holes with higher precision.
The boring machine Li Zhi made was used to process rifle barrels. The boring bar Li Zhi used was the best steel he could collect - Su Steel. Although there was no alloy steel, Su Steel was cut after being quenched and tempered.
Wrought iron is no problem.
Li Zhi and ten blacksmiths worked in the blacksmith shop for fifteen days and made the first boring machine of the Ming Dynasty.
After finishing the boring machine, Li Zhi made a special fixing groove for the gun barrel on the boring machine and asked the gunsmith to use the boring machine to boring the barrel. The gunsmiths first used a fine boring bar to boring, and then a coarse boring bar, which took a day.
A gun barrel is bored in a matter of time.
The barrel was bored out and looked good, but Li Zhi was unsure. He asked the gunsmith to test the bored barrel with four times the usual amount of gunpowder. He found that there were no cracks in the barrel after the gunpowder exploded, so there was no problem.
After the test was successful, the gunsmiths gathered around the boring machine and looked around, admiring the General for creating such an exquisite machine. The General must be the reincarnation of Lu Ban, otherwise how could he invent a new thing every once in a while?
If you work with the General, you will have a bright future.
"My lord, you are wise!"
"Your Excellency is truly a fairy-like figure!"
"I have been making muskets for ten years, and I still don't know that I can make barrels like this!"
Hearing the praises of the craftsmen, Li Zhi smiled proudly.
With this boring machine, the manufacturing speed of Minie rifles can be greatly improved. Now the barrel can be bored in one day, and a gunsmith only needs seven days to complete the entire process of producing a Minie rifle. Compared with the previous one-month production
A boring machine can triple the speed of a rifle.
There were no boring machines before, so Li Zhi could only rely on hiring more craftsmen to make rifles. In fact, Li Zhi had already recruited all the gunsmiths in several surrounding counties and counties, and if he hired more gunsmiths, he would go to the capital or Shandong.
The operability and cost of this idea are very unsatisfactory. But with the boring machine, the processing of the gun barrel is much faster, and Li Zhi does not need to continue to expand his team of gunsmiths.
The boring machine was built, and Li Zhi seemed to have seen tens of thousands of Mini rifles piled up in the warehouse.
With more rifles, soldiers can organize more target training and are not afraid of scrapping their guns due to too many target shootings. Because of frequent target training, the mini rifles of the four thousand veterans are almost nearing the end of their service life and need to be equipped with new guns.
In addition, four thousand recruits need a lot of target training, and the number of guns required for training is very large.
The materials used for scrapped guns can be dismantled and recycled, and each component of the gun can be recast separately. This means that remanufacturing scrapped guns does not require much material cost, only labor cost. Boring machines greatly reduce the labor cost of making guns.
. So it doesn’t take much money to scrap the guns and rebuild them.
Li Zhi immediately asked all 500 craftsmen to stop making Minnie rifles and organize them to make boring machines. They wanted to build 100 boring machines within a month. As long as there were 100 boring machines, the 500 craftsmen took turns using the boring machines.
, we can produce more than 2,000 Mini rifles in one month to meet the training needs of 8,000 soldiers.
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In mid-November, the temperature in Tianjin was already very low, and the cold wind was howling. The earthen houses in the north of the city could no longer help the refugees withstand the severe cold, and wind leaked everywhere. Fortunately, the houses for the refugees had been built - Li Zhi in September
The surrounding prefectures and counties recruited 1,500 masons, and the refugees themselves provided labor for the masons. All the new houses of more than 2,000 refugee families were built by mid-November.
The houses of the refugees are covered with tile roofs, which is no problem to prevent rain and wind. However, in order to meet the construction deadline, the bricks of the houses are not plastered with lime. The cement brick walls are exposed and do not look so beautiful. However, the refugees are not so particular. They used to
Most of the people who live in my hometown are mud houses with thatched roofs that leak. I am very happy to live in a house made of bricks and tiles.
In the future, when the refugees have harvested food and become rich, it will not be too late to find someone to apply white lime.
Not only that, the houses built for the refugees are also relatively small. Fifteen hundred masons built a total of 3,200 houses, and three refugees need to share one house. But this is not a big problem: for the poor
The houses built are clustered in small villages, leaving a lot of space between the houses. After the first year has been dealt with, and the second year after the poor have harvested food and earned money, they can move in the reserved space.
Expand the house.
In addition, the refugees lacked quilts and clothing.
Although the refugees carried cotton-padded clothes and quilts when they were plundered by the Tatars, which were the only valuable things for poor families, even if they were plundered by the Tatars and sent to Liaodong, they would still bring cotton-padded clothes and quilts. But according to Fanjiazhuang's standards
Look, the cotton-padded clothes and quilts of these poor people in the Ming Dynasty are very shabby - tattered cotton-padded clothes and quilts shared by several people. It is inevitable to get cold if you rely on such equipment to survive the winter.
Li Zhi didn't want anyone to die of frostbite in his territory, so in October he sent people to surrounding states and counties to buy 6,000 quilts, and ordered 6,000 sets of standard cotton-padded jackets worn by Fanjiazhuang soldiers.
Three words. These things were in place by mid-November. Li Zhi sent them to the poor villages and distributed them to the poor.
These cotton-padded jackets are large, and the poor people can wear whatever they can. Of course, Li Zhi also gave the poor people sewing scissors - if the size of the cotton-padded jackets is too different, he can change the size himself. Women in the Ming Dynasty all knew how to do this.
I know how to sew and alter clothes.
When the farmers heard that the General had distributed winter clothes, they happily received them.
Zheng Hui organized officials to record which household had received several quilts and sets of cotton-padded jackets - these winter equipment Li Zhi did not give to the poor for free. Li Zhi spent 5,000 taels of silver on these quilts and cotton-padded jackets, and asked for them from the farmers.
It was returned to Li Zhi after the rent was collected in the first year. The farmers planted spring wheat in the first year, and it was estimated that each household could earn 23,4 shi of grain. After eating for five people, there would still be 10 shi of grain left over for two.
For ten taels of silver, you can afford some cotton-padded clothes and quilts.
Seeing that the poor people were not well prepared for the winter and that all kinds of expenses were insufficient, Li Zhi was afraid that the farmers would be short of miscellaneous supplies for the winter, so he simply lent five taels of silver to each household, asking them to find whatever they needed from vendors and make an appointment.
When the wheat is harvested next year, the money will be repaid with grain. The farmers gratefully took the money, but they were reluctant to use it and saved it all.
But with money in hand, these poor farmers have something to rely on when they encounter difficulties.
As soon as the farmers were settled, the weather turned cold immediately and winter came.
