Li Zhi was unable to produce artillery for the time being, and artillery casting technology was a difficulty. But the manufacturing technology of rifles, or Minie rifles, was not difficult. As long as Li Zhi drew the design, Ming craftsmen who made muskets could imitate it.
The parts of the flintlock bolt can be made by craftsmen according to the drawings and then assembled. The only new thing is a manual broaching machine. But this kind of broaching machine does not require high precision. Li Zhi only needs to draw the design and draw it, and the blacksmiths of the Ming Dynasty will
It can be made.
There were no craftsmen in Fanjiazhuang who knew how to make bird guns. Li Zhi returned to Tianjin Acropolis and found five craftsmen who knew how to make bird guns, and asked them to make bird guns for him first.
Craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty had a hereditary status and were affiliated to the Ministry of Industry. They were divided into two categories: shift craftsmen and resident craftsmen. In the early Ming Dynasty, it was stipulated that shift craftsmen must take turns to serve in the official crafts workshop every one or five years, and each shift lasted an average of three months.
Resident craftsmen were required to serve in official handicraft workshops for ten days a month. However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the craftsman household system collapsed, and craftsmen only had to pay silver to be exempted from military service. Each shift craftsman paid four "shift craftsmen's silver" per year.
The money is five cents, and the craftsman who lives there must pay one cent of silver per month.
After paying the money, the craftsman is free and can hire as many as he likes. For example, Li Zhi can hire any craftsman from Tianjin Wei City at will. Li Zhi used to be a blacksmith hired by flying shuttles, and there are several craftsmen.
The five craftsmen that Li Zhi found were all living craftsmen. They paid the craftsman's money every month and made a living by forging iron in the acropolis. As for the work of making weapons for officials, they occasionally did it, but they never worked as officials.
I had received silver in my hands. At this time, I heard that hundreds of households in Fanjiazhuang asked them to make muskets. The five of them thought it was another transaction without money and were reluctant. After Li Zhi learned about the situation, he gave each of the five people money.
Five taels of silver for materials and wages made the five of them stunned for a while, then they stopped talking and started making muskets.
Li Zhi was familiar with all aspects of the situation in Fanjiazhuang. At the same time, he rode to Acropolis from time to time to see the progress of the craftsmen.
The first thing to make when making a gun is the barrel: the craftsmen each found a few pieces of wrought iron and beat them into sheets. They heated the wrought iron sheets red, placed a circular steel bar in the middle, and placed them in a steel semicircle.
The wrought iron piece is hammered into the shape of a gun barrel by repeatedly turning and hammering it in the shaped groove, and then welding the gap with iron powder and borax, and hammering repeatedly until the weld is firm. After the barrel is roughly formed, the craftsman puts the barrel in place.
Drill a hole in a drilling tool, apply oil on the drill bit, replace it with a larger drill bit bit by bit, and plan away the unevenness inside the barrel bit by bit until a smooth bore is drilled into the barrel.
This drilling process is the most time-consuming. It takes a craftsman more than ten days to drill out a qualified barrel. Once the barrel is ready, most of the gun manufacturing is completed, and the rest of the gun stock is also finished.
is simple.
Li Zhi waited for the five craftsmen to finish drilling the gun barrel, and then asked them to stop the process.
"How do you prevent the blunderbuss from exploding?"
The craftsman named Boss Wang is the most skilled among the five and is considered the leader. He said: "Master Guan Dui, according to the rules, after the barrel is finished, we must put ordinary **** in the barrel.
**Four times the amount of gunpowder is used to explode once. If the barrel of the gun does not crack after the explosion, the barrel will be used! Barrels with cracks will be treated as scrap! After this step of inspection, the finished bird gun will not
There are fried boring machines.”
After a pause, Boss Wang continued: "However, these days, the superiors are withholding materials. The barrel is not made of enough materials. There must be cracks under the test of four times the gunpowder. But there is no way, the materials are insufficient! It is an unqualified bird gun.
I handed it in too. No one has done this critical inspection in these years."
Boss Wang told the reason why the firearms system was corrupted in the late Ming Dynasty and no one dared to use muskets. In fact, there was another reason that Boss Wang didn't mention, which was that the government deducted or even refused to pay wages for making firearms for the government. The craftsmen took other jobs in order to support their families.
The work that makes money can only be done hastily and perfunctorily.
The corruption of officials in the late Ming Dynasty has reached a hopeless level. The quality of the weapons produced in such an environment can be imagined. It is no wonder that the Ming Dynasty's army collapsed when it encountered the Tatars.
Li Zhi nodded, making sure that there were no technical problems with the five craftsmen, and then asked: "How have you been living these years?"
Boss Wang was stunned, not knowing why Li Zhi suddenly asked this question, Na Na said: "To be honest with you, the five of us lived a very miserable life. We built weapons for the government, but the government withheld money to buy materials.
Not to mention, the wages that have been owed for several years have not yet been paid. Nowadays, the war is in chaos and all industries are depressed. I can’t get many orders from blacksmiths outside. It’s difficult to support myself just sitting around with my hands down every day.”
Li Zhi nodded and said: "You are skilled people. From now on, you will do things for me. I will give you three to two months of money every month. In addition, I will provide you with three meals a day, and every meal will include meat and meat. Why?"
Sample?"
When the five people heard Li Zhi's words, their faces were full of disbelief. After hesitating for a long time, Boss Wang asked: "Sir, what do you want us to do with such a high monthly payment?"
"I want you to build me a new rifle. This kind of gun does not require a match rope and can hit targets three hundred paces away."
Hearing Li Zhi's words, the five blacksmiths were even more surprised. Boss Wang said: "Sir, I've heard of blunderbuss that don't use a match rope, but I've never heard of a rifle that can hit a target three hundred steps away.
!Did you make a mistake, my lord?"
Li Zhi smiled and said: "It's not that I'm wrong, it's that you are ignorant! I have the drawings of this kind of rifle here. You can make it as long as you follow my drawings."
"But I'll start with my ugly words. The manufacturing method of my rifle is absolutely confidential. Once you take my monthly money, you are not allowed to leave my influence, let alone teach the manufacturing method of this rifle to others."
After a pause, Li Zhi said sternly: "Once the secret is leaked, I, Li Zhi, will never let you go to any end of the world."
After listening to Li Zhi's warning, the five craftsmen shrank their necks, but replied with some joy: "Your Excellency gives such a high monthly payment, even if we go through mountains of swords and seas of fire, we won't leak the secret at all."
Li Zhi nodded, waved and said: "Okay, you will hire people to move from today on, and move all your stove tools to Fanjiazhuang. I will prepare a house for you in Fanjiazhuang, and give each of you ten taels of moving silver."
"
After Li Zhi said this, he asked his servants to distribute moving money to the five craftsmen. Why do you need so much silver to move? The craftsmen received ten taels of silver, and they went to move happily.
Hiring large and small oxcarts, within a few days, the five craftsmen moved all their belongings to Fanjiazhuang.
Li Zhi inspected the new home of the craftsmen, and then took out the design drawings of the flintlock bolt machine and the manual rifling broaching machine from his sleeves. The five blacksmiths looked at Li Zhi's drawings, thought about it for a while, and then figured out the fusilicon design.
The structure of the gun immediately shocked everyone, and they looked at Li Zhi with a little more respect.
The five blacksmiths also figured out how to use the rifling broaching machine, but they didn't understand the function of the rifling.
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Thanks to book friend 160903144413271 for the reward.
