The Han people began to develop ironware during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. By the Western Han Dynasty, ironware had gradually become popular in the north.
During the Western Han Dynasty, there were 51 iron mines in the country, including 12 in Qingzhou.
In the south, there is only one in Jingzhou and Yangzhou. Except for the twelve in Qingzhou, most of the others are distributed in Hebei, Guanzhong and Sichuan.
It's not that there was no iron in the south, but that the main center of rule of the Han Dynasty was in the north.
The south, like Guangzhou, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and south of Hunan in later generations, were basically barbarian lands occupied by ethnic minorities.
Therefore, this resulted in the iron tools becoming the mainstream tools in the north of the Han Dynasty at that time, while the south was still in the bronze, wooden and even stone age.
It was necessary to wait until after the Eastern Jin Dynasty, when the Han people traveled south for the first time, bringing more advanced technology and production tools.
However, although iron is the mainstream in the north, it does not mean that there is a lot of iron in the north.
In fact, due to the technical mining conditions at the time, even though Shandong was rich in iron ore, its mining capabilities were very poor.
Therefore, in history, when Cao Cao was in power in the north, he was still unable to mine iron tools due to war. He once ordered the people to replace wooden weapons and use iron tools mainly for war.
But it also proves from another point that there are indeed many iron ores, coal mines and other mineral deposits in Shandong, and there are also many open-pit mines.
This is also one of the main reasons why Chen Mu chose Qingzhou in the first place.
However, after so many years of open-pit mining in Shandong, the existing surface reserves of iron ore have become less and less, and the number of unexplored iron ore and underground iron ore reserves is hundreds or even thousands of times that of the existing iron ore.
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The backwardness of exploration technology and mining technology means that the minerals are there and cannot be found or mined.
Therefore, despite the joint efforts of the School of Chemistry and the School of Physics, Qingzhou has completed the feat of raising the temperature in the blast furnace to 2,000 degrees, using the redox reaction to refine pig iron, and then adding an appropriate proportion of carbon powder to create steel.
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However, the shortage of raw materials and process technology are still in the primitive stage and have not entered industrialization, making Qingzhou's steel production capacity pitifully small, less than one thousandth of that of any steel company in later generations.
There was already a serious shortage of steel production capacity. In addition, during the war period, everything had to serve the war, which resulted in an urgent shortage of steel for scientific research, creation and invention in the rear.
It not only requires rear-line scientific researchers to step up research and development tasks and manufacture new weapons, but does not provide them with high-quality materials, causing a serious lag in firearms manufacturing and research and development.
Many craftsmen and designers even had their bodies exploded due to material problems, injuring and maiming many people.
At this point, Chen Mu actually blamed himself, because this was a huge debt to them, the scientific researchers at the rear.
But there was nothing that could be done about it. The country was in a period of turmoil, with endless wars, internal instability, backward technological development, and layer upon layer of restrictions, so Chen Mu had no choice.
You can't just conjure raw materials out of thin air.
So after hearing the complaints between Du Kuan and Director Zhang, Chen Mu could only comfort them and tell them that everything would be fine in the future.
As long as they survive this difficult period, the country will not treat them badly.
Fortunately, Du Kuan worked hard, and his father had been reused in the past two years and was now transferred to Guanzhong, replacing Tian Feng who had gone to Bingzhou as the governor of Hedong.
For the sake of his father, Director Zhang evened out some of the steel and finally let him cast the cannon.
This cannon is no different in style from the red cannon of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but its power is unknown.
A group of people came to the school grounds to watch.
Under the command of Du Kuan, the craftsmen pushed the cannon over.
The school ground is located behind the factory. It is a barren wilderness with a small hillside in the distance.
Du Kuan introduced: "Prime Minister, my big gun is engraved with threads, which increases the speed of the bullet. It has a very long range. It can reach as far as eight miles, and usually it is five miles!"
"Five miles?"
Chen Mu thought about it for a moment, which was two kilometers, nodded and said: "Not bad, what ammunition did you use?"
The effective range of the red cannons of the Ming and Qing Dynasties was only between 250 meters and 3 kilometers. After all, neither the firearms nor the shells had rifling at that time, which made the range and accuracy much worse.
Now, after years of research and development, the ratio of gunpowder has reached a perfect ratio, and the power and full combustion of black gunpowder have also achieved the best results.
Coupled with the theoretical knowledge of gun barrel thread rifling proposed by Chen Mu, it gave designers and craftsmen great inspiration.
Du Kuan waved, and the craftsmen came over carrying a large basket of metal balls. He said proudly: "Prime Minister, please see, I am using this kind of big iron ball bullet made of iron. I guarantee that you will be killed if you throw it!"
Chen Mu went over and took a look. It was a large round iron ball with no lead on it. He knew it was a solid bullet, so he shook his head and said, "I'm afraid this kind of bullet won't work."
Du Kuan was surprised and asked: "Why?"
Chen Mu smiled and said: "If a round-center bullet like yours is scaled down dozens of times and placed on a musket, it can still kill someone. So why does it have to be magnified so many times to become a musket and kill a person? What's the difference between that and a catapult?
The difference? The cost is hundreds and thousands of times higher than that of a catapult!"
Du Kuan's originally smug face turned green all of a sudden. He had never thought about this problem himself. Although the cannon's range and power were certainly stronger than that of a catapult, its lethality was to some extent not as good as that of a catapult.
Because the ammunition of the catapult is stone, the stone will break easily when hit, and the fragments can still kill the enemy. The cost is countless times less than the steel cannon, so what is the use of this cannon?
In an instant, Du Kuan felt that he had no hope for life, and said dejectedly: "It seems that I have thought too much. I have wasted countless steel in my humble position. I am willing to take the blame and resign!"
"Forehead......"
At this time, Director Zhang hesitated and said: "Prime Minister, although my uncle's design is a bit unrealistic, he is a talented person with great ideas, or..."
"I didn't say it was unrealistic, I just said there was something wrong with the design of the ammunition."
Chen Mu laughed and said: "Actually, I think that in the final development of firearms, gunpowder will no longer be loaded into the gun, but gunpowder will be loaded inside the bullet, and then triggered by the firing pin. This can perfectly solve many problems. Such as bullet loading, firing speed
Wait. This thing of yours cannot be called a big gun, but a cannon!"
"gun?"
Everyone was surprised.
Chen Mu nodded: "Du Kuan's design idea is right, but the bullets should not be solid bullets, otherwise it is better to use catapults. The purpose of solid bullets may be to bombard the city gates, but in real battlefield fighting, you have to use catapults."
bomb!"
"Large grenade!"
Du Kuan's eyes suddenly lit up. After the emergence of gunpowder, grenades were designed very quickly. However, the lethality was not ideal. The explosion at close range would only injure the enemy at most. If the enemy used a shield, the lethality would be close to nothing.
It is not as cost-effective and efficient as bows and arrows.
Therefore, even though the firearms manufacturing workshops have worked hard over the years, due to various factors such as low steel production capacity, backward technology, and craftsmanship, firearms have been unable to be mass-produced and unable to replace cold weapons as the main combat weapon of the imperial court.
After all, the steel output of the Ming Dynasty was more than ten times that of the Han Dynasty today, with annual output reaching 200,000-300,000 tons in the middle and late Ming Dynasties, and their firearms and equipment were only a thousand cannons and tens of thousands of muskets.
Moreover, due to various reasons such as explosive chamber, range, accuracy, moisture in the gunpowder, slow loading speed, etc., the musketeers are not willing to use this kind of thing.
Nowadays, Dahan's steel production is only 20,000 tons per year, most of which are used in weapons and equipment. Most of the iron tools used in daily life are left over from the previous iron tools, or pig iron is temporarily used. Even the firearms workshop can only use pig iron.
Firearms are made of very poor quality.
It's just that Chen Mu has issued a death order, and no matter how hard it is, he has to support the firearms workshop. Otherwise, according to the opinions of many senior officials, firearms are actually less effective than swords and arrows, and it is better to discard them directly.
Under such extremely difficult conditions, the firearms workshop was still able to produce some good things, which really made Chen Mu's eyes light up and admired the ancient people's unconstrained ideas.
Now that the cannon has been designed, it is natural to study explosive shells, just like the famous artillery shells in the history of our army in later generations-the heartless cannon.
Du Kuan received encouragement from Chen Mu and was full of energy.
The cannon was quickly covered for him.
Due to the mature glass craftsmanship, the cannon also had a sight mounted on it.
He had conducted many experiments and very skillfully calibrated the direction of the muzzle, adjusted the position with the sight, and then fired.
"boom!"
A violent noise was heard, and a cannonball was shot out, crossing a gorgeous arc in the air, and then landed heavily on a hillside three kilometers away, making another huge noise.
Chen Mu saw that Du Kuan had previously aimed at a small tree, but the shell landed on a protruding rock next to it, which was why the sound of landing was so loud.
"Prime Minister, I didn't adjust well this time."
Du Kuan was slightly embarrassed.
His accurate shooting range was only about two kilometers, but this time to show off, he raised the muzzle and adjusted the shooting range. It was farther, but the accuracy was a little worse.
Chen Mu smiled and said: "It doesn't matter. Solid bullets really require precision. If they are shells, it will be fine."
Du Kuan perked up and said, "Prime Minister, don't worry, I will definitely develop a blooming bomb as soon as possible."
"Um."
Chen Mu nodded and said: "Your research and development is very valuable, keep up the hard work, Director Zhang."
"The humble job is here."
Director Zhang came over quickly.
Chen Mu said: "I will send a letter to Han Jianye and ask him to recruit civilian workers to vigorously mine the current open-pit iron mines. You will also expand production and smelt more steel at full capacity. Try to support the firearms workshop.
R&D work.”
Director Zhang wondered: "But I heard that the open-pit mines of many mines are close to exhaustion. Underground mining is very difficult. Will it lead to a complete interruption of the source of minerals?"
Chen Mu pondered for a moment and said: "I have also learned about the problems of mining. The underground mining tunnel structure, drainage, lighting, and ventilation are all problems. In this way, we will first carry out shallow mining, and the maximum depth is thirty feet underground. The mine structure
The problem is designed by the School of Physics and reliable mechanical support is developed. Ma Jun, can it be done?"
After years of calculations, the School of Physics has made some achievements in mechanics.
Ma Jun said: "I...I'll try."
"As for the drainage issue."
Chen Mu thought for a while and said: "Use a steam engine to extract it. Now that the rubber has arrived, I will send a fleet to the south as soon as possible to plant it. At the same time, all the existing rubber will be used to make water pumps. Ma Jun will also be responsible for this matter.
"
"yes."
Ma Jun nodded again.
"If there are lighting and ventilation issues, shallow mining should not be a big problem. The internal structure of the mine should be excavated on an inclined plane, with more holes and more torches. It should not be a problem."
Chen Mu gave the final instructions.
In later generations, mines were dug hundreds or even thousands of meters underground.
But the mining technology of the ancients was at best open-pit mining, and it would be difficult to dig even twenty meters underground.
In an era without electricity, machinery, and professional technology, even if a well was dug, the depth was basically more than ten meters and less than twenty meters, and rarely more than twenty meters, let alone mining?
It’s just that if you encounter difficulties now, you have to solve them.
Historically, the invention of the steam engine was actually for pumping water from mines. It was not until Watt improved the steam engine that it became the main force of the Industrial Revolution.
Nowadays, rubber is available, but steel production capacity cannot keep up. No more steam engines can be built, and no railways can be laid.
So let’s just use the steam engine we have on hand to mine first.
In this way, when the iron ore production is high, rubber trees are planted in the south, and new rubber comes, new steam engines will be continuously produced, and then other mines will be mined.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! This repeated operation is like money begetting money. Steam engines beget steam engines, and one day the country's steel production will be increased.
After giving the instructions, Chen Mu inspected the muskets produced by the firearms workshop.
He quickly gave some reference answers to questions that received responses from designers and craftsmen.
For example, with the front-loading design, the loading speed of bullets is too slow.
Then use mini bombs.
Also, sometimes the impact may fail, so you can increase the success rate by applying phosphorus powder.
As for problems such as overheating of the barrel and explosion of the barrel, it is all due to the poor quality of the iron. As long as the barrel is made of steel pipes, the explosion of the gunpowder will not cause explosion of the barrel at all.
After all, there were bronze cannons in the early stage, and there were heartless cannons made of oil barrels in the later period. Even bronze and oil barrels can withstand it, so why can't steel?
After inspecting the weapons manufacturing factory, Chen Mu went to Taishan Academy for research. Research work like this was essential.
Take a look at the current progress of the School of Chemistry and the progress of the School of Physics to understand the current academic level.
If you encounter academic problems, he can help solve them with his ability.
I didn’t know until I went there.
There were quite a few academic problems, and Chen Mu naturally couldn't answer them all. He could only ask them to compile them into a book when they encountered them, and either disseminate them to the whole academy to brainstorm, or wait until he had time to deal with them in the future.
Finally, there is medical school.
The progress of penicillin may be said to be available or not.
Because Hua Tuo, Zhang Ji and others had cultivated initial penicillin particles, but the efficacy was very poor, only one thousandth of normal penicillin.
But even so, it is an amazing achievement. Chen Mu encouraged them to continue working hard and find new purification methods.
By April of the fourth year of Emperor Zhangwu of the Han Dynasty, he had already stayed in Qingzhou for more than a month.
The guidance on scientific research direction is almost over, and it is time to set off back to Luoyang.
After bidding farewell to his wife, children and family, Chen Mu embarked on a journey again.