Chapter 80: It's Good to Make Full Use of Your Existing Knowledge
Early the next morning, the government workshop in Huanggang County.
Chen Shuren braved the smoky smell of burning charcoal and personally inspected the place that was originally responsible for making weapons for the state capital.
The person in charge of the workshop is Zhou Tietan, a fifty-year-old craftsman who has been a craftsman for generations.
When Liu Xiyao occupied Huangzhou, he and the No. 100 craftsmen he managed were also forced to work for the bandits. After the officers and soldiers came back, they were worried for a while. Fortunately, Shen Shuren didn't care about it later.
Today, the new prefect came to inspect in person. Zhou Tiedan was of course very frightened and received him very carefully. When he saw it from a distance, he led his disciples to kneel down to greet them. He was also afraid that the prefect would liquidate the work they had done with the thieves in the past year and a half since they were thieves. What weapons.
Shen Shuren had a humble attitude. Although it was his first time to see these people, he walked up quickly and directly helped Zhou Tiedan:
"Hey, there is no need to be formal. The imperial court suppressed thieves, expelled the slaves, and fought with strong soldiers. You are all people of great use to the country. From now on, just continue to work well under me. I will take advantage of my salary. Except for In addition to the imperial quota, if you perform well, you will be rewarded privately by me."
Zhou Tietan still couldn't believe it, so he anxiously took out a pamphlet:
"Master Haojiao Futai learned that in the year and a half since the fall of Huanggang, the Liu thief forced us to build so many weapons. We all know that the heavenly soldiers of the imperial court will be recovered one day, so we dare not destroy them even if we keep the accounts. , please forgive me Taiyuan."
Chen Shuren took it and said directly and openly: "Even Liu Xiyao knows how to reuse you. Isn't my knowledge not as good as Liu Xiyao's? The murderer kills with a knife. The crime lies with the murderer and not the knife. Don't mention this matter in the future."
It was an understatement, but the truth was easy to understand, which warmed the hearts of Zhou Tiedan and others.
They quickly introduced Chen Shuren into the house, and first took a brief look at the blacksmith's workshop in the capital city. The various workbenches, forging hammers, and furnaces for making swords, guns, and arrows were all in good order.
There are several rooms nearby that are theoretically dedicated to repairing firecrackers. There are simple jigs and equipment for forging iron rods and boring holes.
The sign at the entrance of the courtyard is very serious, it means "repair" rather than "newly built", which can be regarded as respecting the unspoken rules of the imperial court.
The Ming Dynasty initially allowed local state capitals to make their own firearms. After the Jing Rebellion, Zhu Di banned local firearms because he was afraid that other vassal kings would also build armaments. It was not until the Ming Yingzong Tumubao Incident that the Ming Dynasty relaxed the "allowance" The control of "local repair of firearms issued by the imperial court".
At first, it was only open to the important towns of Jiubian. In the late Wanli period, thieves broke out everywhere, and the inland state capitals also gradually opened up. But the word "repair" was always emphasized.
After the local garrison has been worn out, even if new ones are built to fill the gap, it will be regarded as repairs to the outside world. As long as the total number does not exceed the imperial quota, it will not violate the ban.
Fortunately, it is now the end of the Thirteenth Year of Chongzhen, and the court's laws must have become more relaxed.
Shen Shuren looked at the accounts over the years very carefully, and asked Zhou Tiedan how the previous prefects dealt with the verification of quotas from above. When he learned that no one is checking at all now, and it all depends on local voluntary reporting, the last stone in his heart fell. Landed.
In this case, you can start making firearms with confidence and confidence starting next year!
After solving the difficulties at the policy level, Shen Shuren continued to inspect the technical situation.
He walked around the workshop and saw several semi-finished gun barrels, which were just round iron rods. Zhou Tiedan also showed him the follow-up process - firearms in the late Ming Dynasty still relied on solid forging. Iron rods are used, and then the barrel is processed by boring deep holes.
Although Shen Shuren didn't have much knowledge in science and engineering, he couldn't help but frown after seeing such a primitive operation. This process must be too inefficient.
Of course, he also knows that military production cannot blindly save trouble, otherwise the quality will not be guaranteed.
For example, the cheapest casting method will definitely not work. The cast material is not dense enough, and there may be pores and blisters. The surface will also be burred and uneven, and the air tightness is insufficient.
If you are building a cannon, the wall of the tube is very thick, and it can still withstand the occasional blisters. The barrel of the gun is too thin, and if there are blisters, it will explode directly in the chamber.
"When you make gun tubes, do you only rely on drilling holes? Have you never thought of rolling them up with wrought iron sheets, and then reheating and welding to deal with the gaps? I really feel that the gaps are not strong, and you can add a few more on the outside. Iron hoops and iron hoops."
Chen Shuren thought about it, and it seemed that the ancient Western gun-making technology that he had seen in his previous life was made by the iron sheet bending and welding method. Although the barrel with welded seams is definitely worse than the one drilled without seam, the bore pressure is worse, but The processing speed is definitely much faster.
Unfortunately, after Zhou Tietan heard this, he also looked at a loss. He could only say that he would try it out, but the strength of the pipes he made could not be guaranteed.
He had quite a lot of practical experience and explained patiently: "Master Futai, the strength of this gun tube is not enough. Just adding iron hoops will definitely not work.
If the iron hoop is too loose, by the time the iron hoop is needed to restrain the expansion force of the gunpowder, the inner tube will definitely have burst, or at least have cracks. In the end, it will only cause the inner tube and the iron hoop to burst one after another.
If the iron hoop is too tight and can bear the force along with the inner tube, it will not fit in at all during initial processing."
Chen Shuren heard this and simulated it carefully in his mind. Even a layman thought about it and finally came up with something:
"You can try heating the reinforced iron hoop first until the hole becomes slightly larger, and then put it on the cooled inner coiled pipe. Wait until the outer ring iron hoop cools and locks, and it will be tight."
Historically, the French loved to use this technology, but the French used it on two layers of inner and outer barrel materials, called the "self-tightening tube technology." Shen Shuren could not let the craftsmen make two layers of tube walls of the same length, so he It can only focus on strengthening a few circles of iron hoops at a few points, which is still a lot inferior to the French products in the late 18th century.
After Zhou Tiedan heard this, he thought about it for a while and suddenly felt that the magistrate was really making an analogy.
As an old blacksmith, he can vaguely feel the effect of "thermal expansion and contraction", but he has never studied physics and cannot systematically summarize the use of these experiences.
When Chen Shuren's scientific summary was combined with his practical experience, one plus one was greater than two.
Shen Shuren didn't embarrass him and asked him to think about it slowly after he went back. It didn't matter if he didn't know the new technology for the time being.
After a comprehensive inspection, he pointed out another problem: "We can not mention the coiling method for the time being, but your drilling method is indeed not very good. Look at the inner and outer holes of these two pipes. The centers of the tubes are not fixed together at all.
How much power a fire gun can exert is determined by the thinnest side of the pipe wall. The eccentricity error of drilling is so obvious, one side is thin and the other is thick, and the thick side is completely wasted. How do you connect this drilling machine? Can't even reach the level of "Tiangong Kaiwu"?"
As Chen Shuren spoke, he asked his entourage to bring a book, which was Song Yingxing's "Tiangong Kaiwu" published three years ago.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty already recorded many processing machine tools that were relatively advanced at the time.
There are lathes for turning wooden poles that came from Europe;
You can also replace the turning tool with a drill bit for boring holes;
It can also be replaced with a grinding wheel for polishing jade and turning beads.
There are also pictures in "Tiangong Kaiwu". The picture corresponding to the drilling machine and boring machine is called "Chong Ming Picture", and the picture corresponding to the grinding machine for turning beads is called "Zhao Miao Picture".
Chen Shuren had never read "Tiangong Kaiwu" in detail before traveling through time. After all, as a modern person, he was too lazy to read ancient engineering technology books.
However, after returning to the Ming Dynasty, when he, Fang Yizhi and Dong Xiaowan were tinkering with flying shuttle looms and other small inventions last year, in order to brainstorm ideas and inspiration, he spent a lot of money to obtain "Tiangong Kaiwu" and "Agricultural Policy Complete Book". Later it was discovered that There is something interesting in these books, so I immersed myself in reading them whenever I had time, and I really discovered a lot of good things.
Many technologies actually existed in the late Ming Dynasty, but ordinary people and illiterate craftsmen didn't know about them, and scholar-officials didn't bother to spend the money to promote them.
Zhou Tiedan looked at the book presented by Shen Shuren. After a few glances, his eyes widened. He exclaimed repeatedly that these illustrations in the book had solved some of his doubts that he had had for many years and made him suddenly enlightened.
"It turns out that our Ming Dynasty already has these things? Aren't they just the Fo Langji and the Hongyi barbarians? I have been using those much thicker drill rigs these years, and I have never thought about improving them... Sir, this is Who wrote the book and when? If I had gotten it a few years earlier...sigh."
Shen Shuren also has a new understanding of the occlusion of this era:
"This book has been in Suzhou ten years since Chongzhen, that is, three years ago. Otherwise, Huangzhou is closed. That's all. I will pay attention to you in the future. If there are any good things outside, I will communicate with you as soon as possible. Whether or not."
Zhou Tietan thanked him repeatedly and said that he would study hard and improve the drilling machine, grinder and lathe, especially the problem of improving the centering accuracy of the fixture.
Chen Shuren did not push too hard: "Well, it seems that whether it is drilling method or pipe rolling method, you have to study it for several months before you can have a clear idea. Don't be busy making gun tubes recently, sharpen the knife. Don’t miss out on chopping wood. Lay the foundation first and let the craftsmen understand the principles thoroughly.
During the two months of winter, while you are studying, you should first build some cold weapons for our army. I want a batch of these new axes, and a spear head with an iron hoop at the bottom. These knives and guns, etc., You can finally fight it, right?"
As he spoke, he took out two sketches that Dong Xiaowan had drawn for him and spread them directly on the workbench in front of him.
"This kind of stabbing head with an iron hoop is called a bayonet. The iron hoop must be as thick as the outer tube diameter of the bird gun or Lumi gun. When the time comes, it can be directly put on the head of the gun tube, so that firearms owners can also have it. Must be able to resist cavalry and close combat in formation.
If you find it difficult to fix, you can try to use the 'rolled tube method and iron hoop' method just mentioned. First make a few blunderbuss tubes, and then make sure the bayonet hoop can be stuck with the original iron hoop outside the blunderbuss tube. Anyway It should be tightened as much as possible, and you decide on the specific mechanism to use, so as to prevent the bayonet head from being left in the enemy's body when the gun is drawn."
The oldest musket bayonet in history is not even hooped outside the barrel, but directly inserted into the barrel. Shen Shuren only knew this after playing Sega's "Empire Total War" RTS game in his previous life - —
In the Empire Total War series, the first bayonet technology highlighted is the "barreled bayonet", which is very cheating. Once the "bayonet" command is given during a battle, no more shots can be fired for the rest of the battle. Once the bayonet is attached, it cannot be removed.
Of course, Chen Shuren did not need to go through all the detours that Europeans took in the early 18th century, so he looked for an external bayonet to ensure that he could still fire after attaching the bayonet.
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