Zhu Yuanzhang was very confident and could not refrain from using swords and guns, as well as strong bows and crossbows. Only armor and firearms were prohibited among the people.
Firearms were strictly controlled at the beginning, and only the three bureaus directly under the central government were allowed to make them. Later, the firearms produced by the central government were unfit for use, so the firearms casting power was decentralized to the local governments, and the chief secretaries and governors of each province could cast firearms.
By the Zhengde period, the fire guns produced in Guangdong and Sichuan were the most reliable and durable!
If Wang Yuan wanted to make cannons, he had to cooperate with the Chief Secretary or Dusi of Zhejiang. If he made it privately, he would be suspected of treason.
Zhejiang Dusi Military Bureau.
A group of Ming craftsmen are learning how to make cannon molds from Portuguese cannon casters.
The gun mold is the model used to cast the gun barrel. If you want to cast a cannon, 90% of the time is spent on making the gun mold, which can take anywhere from one month to several months.
Wang Yuan called the craftsmen to inquire, and basically clarified the methods of making cannons in the Ming Dynasty and Europe, which were divided into two types: "cannon forging method" and "cannon casting method".
The "cannon forging method" is used to manufacture iron cannons. The techniques in China and the West are exactly the same -
The first cannon forging method: beat wrought iron (usually low carbon steel) into an iron plate and weld it into a cylindrical barrel, or beat the iron plate directly into a barrel and then weld it.
The second cannon forging method: beat the wrought iron into strips and roll the iron strips into a barrel, which is used to make small-caliber iron cannons. For large-caliber iron cannons, the iron bars are rolled out of the inner tube and layered layer by layer.
The layers of reinforced iron rings are like hoops for a barrel (barrel and barrel are the same word in English).
Both of these two cannon forging methods are easy to explode!
Therefore, the "cannon casting method" is now widely used, and casting copper cannons has become the mainstream. However, those with insufficient capital can only cast iron cannons, which is even less reliable than forging iron cannons because a large number of pores will be produced during the casting process.
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As for the technology of drilling gun barrels, we have to wait another two hundred years. During the Zhengde period, neither the East nor the West had the ability to drill holes in iron lumps.
In fact, the shortcoming of iron cannons that are easy to explode was gradually overcome in the late Ming Dynasty, and they did not use various reinforced iron hoops like in the West.
One method is to use an iron core with a copper body, taking advantage of the different melting points of copper and iron to cast bronze on the iron tire. When the copper solidifies, it expands with heat and contracts with cold, compressing the iron tire barrel inside. This kind of gun is more durable than iron cannons and is better than copper.
Guns are cheap.
One is a wrought iron core and pig iron outer wall cannon, which has more obvious advantages than copper-iron cast cannons, is cheaper, and is conducive to mass production.
The cannon-casting technology of the late Ming Dynasty was no longer inferior to that of Europe, and wars were always defeated because of problems with the country. It was difficult to collect taxes with civil servants and military forces, and there were constant party disputes... No matter how good the technology was, it could not be promoted; no matter how good the generals were,
They will also be cheated to death by civil servants; no matter how powerful the civil servants are, it will be difficult for them to display their talents.
In the past, Wang Yuan did not know these cannon-casting techniques.
All he needs to do is know how to make steel in a crucible. Krupp's early steel cannons were cast by making steel in a crucible, which was just a few hundred years ahead of the West!
Wang Yuan saw a Portuguese cannon maker who was using fir wood to make cannon molds, but the work efficiency was pitifully low. By casting cannons like this, by the time the cannons were cast, Wang Yuan would have been summoned by the emperor to fight in the north.
"Call the most skilled coppersmiths in the province!" Wang Yuan immediately ordered.
Coppersmiths came to the Hangzhou War Bureau one after another. Wang Yuan asked: "What method do you use to make large bronzes?"
A coppersmith said: "The lost wax method."
Wang Yuan said: "Then try using the lost wax method to make a gun mold."
The wooden cannon mold that takes several months can be completed in more than a month using the lost wax method. First use beeswax to make a casting model, then fill the clay core with refractory materials, lay it into an outer mold, heat and bake the wax mold to melt,
A gun mold is easily made in this way.
Wang Yuan was afraid that the refractory clay model would not be able to withstand the high temperature of molten steel, so he ordered the craftsmen to add graphite.
The whole process made the Portuguese cannon caster stunned.
The next step is to transport the cannon mold to Shaoxing Iron Works, use the crucible steel-making method to make molten steel, and then directly cast it into a steel cannon.
The world's first real steel cannon was born!
According to the Portuguese name, this is a ship-borne cannon (smoothbore) with a caliber of 17 cm, a total length of 225 cm, and a barrel length of 216 cm. It can fire 12-pound stone bullets or 30-pound iron bullets - at this time in Europe
Artillery has not yet been distinguished by bullet weight.
According to the name of Ming Dynasty, this is a 500-pound cannon.
Why is it more advanced than the Ming Dynasty's artillery?
In addition to the long range, there is also an advantage in the rate of fire. There is a mother gun (main barrel) and five sub-guns (secondary barrels). The sub-guns are equivalent to the medicine chamber of the artillery, and ammunition can be loaded in the sub-guns.
, which is fired from a long mouth that is placed in the abdomen in turn. It is an improved version of early European breech-loading guns.
"This is... a steel cannon?" The Portuguese cannon-casters stood around the cannon in disbelief.
These guys secretly looked at the steel-making furnace, but they couldn't understand it at all. They didn't know that graphite was added to the crucible, and they didn't know that there was a flux. Even if they went back and reported it to the Portuguese Governor, it was impossible to use the crucible to make steel.
The five-hundred-pound steel cannon was already the limit of casting, and more than ten steel-making furnaces in the entire iron plant were used.
Wang Yuan does not plan to move the iron factory to the seaside. What if there is a pirate attack? However, a branch factory can be opened outside Hangzhou to provide molten steel for cannon casting. There is a Qiantang Navy guard there, but generally speaking there is no
questionable.
Pull it out to test the gun and shoot at an elevation angle of 45 degrees. The longest range is more than 1500 meters.
But if it is a naval battle, six to seven hundred meters is the optimal range. If it is too far, the accuracy will be insufficient. Whether it can hit or not depends on luck.
Wang Yuan also asked Portuguese cannon makers to join forces with Chinese coppersmiths and gunsmiths to make small field cannons. The cannon was equipped with wheels and weighed only more than a hundred kilograms. It could fire stone bullets, iron bullets and shotguns, with a range of barely 500 meters.
rice.
Twenty doors were built in one go, and many iron bullets were also cast.
Such mass production of artillery would have been unimaginable in the 16th century. It can only be said that the crucible steelmaking method is an invention beyond the times. It should not have been available for more than two hundred years!
But its technical principle is indeed not complicated. It only needs to solve the problem of heat resistance of the crucible and the problem of flux.
Wang Yuan used Shaoxing civilians to transport artillery to Hangzhou, intending to take a sea ship to land in Tianjin.
If it was any later, Zhu Houzhao would have scolded her because it was already June.
Wang Yuan's position as Governor of Zhejiang was still retained, and all work was handed over to Zhang Cong as his deputy.
Ning Botao, a knight who defected to the governor, and a group of Taihu water bandits, have been integrated into the Qiantang Navy. Wang Yuan got Ning Botao a deputy Qianhu official position, which can be regarded as supervising the governor of Zhejiang Beiwa Man Zheng, so as to avoid being overcrowded.
I was eating my empty pay and wasted my naval training.
The newly arrived chief of Zhejiang Nanguan was beaten by Wang Yuan and continued to withhold wood for the navy to build ships. The iron factory and the Zhejiang Dusi also continued to cooperate with the public and the private sector to cast cannons for the ships that had not yet been built.
The money for military training, shipbuilding, and cannon casting was all misappropriated from the Customs and Excise Department.
When they learned that Governor Wang was about to return to Beijing, the Zhejiang gentry burst into tears, as if they were mourning their heirs, and spontaneously organized to see them off at the port. This scene made the missionary Camilo, who decided to stay in Hangzhou, more deeply realize how much the people loved the Governor.