"Li Cheng? I remember your name is Hu Yuancheng, why did you change your name to Li Cheng?" Yunxi originally planned to observe him for a while and then ask him how he was in Ming Dynasty these days, but when he heard him calling himself Li Cheng, he couldn't help but ask.
"Your Majesty, although the father of the Cao Min claimed to be after Emperor Shun among the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, this was just an excuse made by his father to usurp the throne. Although the ancestors of the Cao Min did come from the Central Plains, and it was true that their original surname was Hu, the surname in the world was There are so many Hu people, and the genealogy of my family in the Central Plains has long been lost. How can I call myself the queen of Emperor Shun? So the common people changed their surnames back to their original surnames." Li Cheng said.
In addition, there was another reason why he changed his surname back to Li: to express to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty that his family had forgotten the military encounter with the Ming Dynasty and to express his surrender to the Ming Dynasty.
Of course Yunxi understood his second meaning, and his expression immediately softened a lot: "That's fine, you can rest assured in the Ming Dynasty, I will not discriminate against you." He then asked: "Do you know where your ancestors are? If you are willing to return to your hometown, I will allow it."
"Your Majesty, the Caomin people don't know. The ancestors of the Caomin people were in Guangxi before coming to Annan, but they are not natives of Guangxi. They probably moved from the north, but where they moved from has been difficult to verify because the genealogy is lost."
"Besides, even if the Cao people and tribesmen still know where their ancestors came from, since His Majesty has arranged for the Cao people to live in Tianchang County and the suburbs of Beijing, wouldn't it cost the Ming Dynasty money if the Cao people and others moved to other places? How can this be done?" Li Cheng said again.
"I remember that most of your people moved to Tianchang County, and less than twenty households were left in Wudewei. But they still make a living by farming. Are your people still used to it?" Yunxi asked again.
"Why are you not used to it? My family lived in Thanh Hoa, Annan before my father became rich. They were said to be landowners, but the children of the family also had to work in the fields on weekdays, so it has been easier in the past thirty years. So although the young children are not very agile, , it’s not bad." Li Cheng said.
Yunxi knew that of course he was lying. Two of Hu Jiyou's aunts were married to the then king of Annan as concubines. Although their family's official position in the court was not high at that time, they were not in need of anyone in the family. He went to work in the fields. But Yunxi was still very happy when he said this.
After asking about the situation at home, Yunxi exchanged a few words with him, coughed, and said: "A few days ago, someone recommended you to be an official in the Shangzhiwei, saying that you are good at making firearms and commanding firearms troops to fight. It just so happened that I also I am very interested in firearms, so I called you into the palace to talk with you."
Li Cheng understood that this was the end of his political test, and to test his own practical ability, he immediately became more alert, rationalized his thoughts, and said: "Your Majesty, I do have some knowledge about making firearms. Experience.”
"Your Majesty, although I, Annan, have been casting a large number of artillery and firecrackers since my late father heard about His Royal Highness King Min using cannons to fight in Myanmar, but before that, I had heard about General Fu Youde Fu and His Majesty the King of Guizhou Ning attacking Yunnan. He had used cannons and firecrackers when he was a child, so he was very interested in developing firearms when he was a child. He often used copper and iron to cast firecrackers in private. Over time, ordinary people had some experience in making firearms." He then talked about casting firearms by himself. method used.
First, make some special wooden molds to use as supports. After completion, create a blank positive mold. First use straw ropes to wrap the shape of the cannon on the supports, and then use mud mixed with clay and water to paste on the blank.
On the male mold. When all the putty is completely dry, apply a layer of wax on the outside of the blank male mold so that its surface will become smooth. The gun tail is a machined wooden mold, which is fixed to the blank male mold with nails.
superior.
After the positive mold is completed, it is used to make the mold for the cannon. The mold is made by applying putty mixed with different soils such as clay and water on the positive mold. After the mold is completely dry, take out the positive mold by cutting off the head and tail of the mold.
Open, take out the support of the inner core of the male mold, and pull out the wrapped straw rope. Because the surface of the male mold is coated with a layer of wax, it is easier to remove. The mold for the gun tail is made separately.
Then the core is made, which is made of clay attached to the iron bar, usually in the shape of a cylinder. The core is loaded into the main mold, with a core brace made of iron and clay for the muzzle of the mold installed at the end of the main mold.
The created ring will hold the core in place.
The separately made breech negative mold and gun body casting mold were reassembled, the mold was baked to make it completely solid, and finally the mold was buried entirely with the muzzle facing up in a filled and compacted earth pit next to the furnace.
The next step is to pour molten iron and molten copper. After the casting is completed, the mold and the cannon will be dug out from the mud pit twelve hours later. After the cannon body has completely cooled down, the mold will be smashed and the remaining ash on the cannon body will be cleaned.
.At this point, a cannon is cast.
"However, the bore of the cannon needs to be bored later, which means that the light in the bore can be reflected. But although boring can make the bore of the cannon more tidy, it cannot make the bore of the cannon as smooth as a chipped steel plate.
There will still be uneven places. And the polishing is very difficult, even for the most skilled craftsmen, it is difficult to complete it quickly."
"And among them, casting the clay mold is the most important. The clay mold must be dried thoroughly. Otherwise, although the outside is dry, the inside is moist. When the copper and iron melt into water, moisture will be generated, and the cast artillery will have honeycombs. When it is fired,
Cannons are easy to burst and hurt people. When ordinary people were casting cannons in Annan, several cannons exploded because of this. It often takes a month to dry the clay molds, and if it rains, snows, and is cold, it takes two to three months."
"Your Majesty, the common people have not communicated with the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty about the method of casting cannons, and they do not know whether the current method of casting cannons in the Ming Dynasty is better or worse than the method of casting cannons of the ministers. If it is better than the method of casting cannons of the grassroots people,
I don’t know if the art of forging cannons made by ordinary people can be of any use." Li Cheng said, then he lowered his hands and stood in wait.
After he said this, his original intention was to wait for Yunxi to call the craftsmen who cast the cannons of the Ming Dynasty or ask him to go to the place where the cannons were cast to discuss with the craftsmen to find out whether the cannons he cast were good or bad. But for a long time, he didn't know.
Hearing a voice coming from in front of me, I couldn't help but become curious: 'What is your Majesty thinking about right now?'
Little did he know that Yunxi was a little surprised at this time. Because he wanted to summon Li Cheng, he learned about the current method of casting cannons in the Ming Dynasty in advance. He knew that the method Li Cheng said was not much different from the current method of the Ming Dynasty.
The cannon was cast using clay molds, but the details were optimized, such as the reinforcement ribs used when casting the clay molds. This will improve the Ming Dynasty's cannon casting technology.
‘The old saying that when three people travel together, one must have my teacher, it seems true. Even if it is a small country, it may not have anything worth learning from the Ming Dynasty.’ Yunxi thought.