Ming Zuo

The cost of manufacturing a gun barrel made of pure steel is fifteen times that of a wrought iron bronze gun barrel.

In addition to the cost of steel itself being more expensive than wrought iron and bronze, the cost is quite unexpected.

To complete the rifling of a pure steel gun barrel, it takes eleven scrapers.And such a scraper is enough to complete the rifling of five wrought iron and bronze gun barrels.

Xia Jun's artillery barrels are all rifled, so that the shells can be fired farther and more accurately.

But the completion of the rifling is a test of craftsmanship and materials.

The material hardness of the steel gun barrel itself is very high, so the consumption of the scraper is very huge.

After all, with the current technology, the hardness of the scraper is also very limited.

On the contrary, if the same scraper is used to rifle the wrought iron bronze barrel, it will save a lot.

How much does a scraper like this cost?
A full eighty-seven taels of silver.

It takes eleven scrapers to make a gun barrel made of pure steel, and the cost in this regard is really scary.

If it is replaced with a mature iron bronze barrel, it will naturally greatly reduce the financial pressure.

"We have completed calculations. Under the same charge, the range and accuracy of the two barrels are exactly the same, but the manufacturing cost is very different."

Zuo Dai described the actual situation, but the decision-making power was in the hands of Zuo Menggeng and the command.

But how to choose, do you still need to hesitate?

Sun Yuanhua also stood up, increasing his persuasiveness.

"There is feedback from the navy that steel cannons are far less corrosion-resistant than wrought iron and bronze cannons. In just half a year, many of their active cannons need to be replaced."

The artillery used by the navy must not only consider performance and weight, but also an important indicator, that is, the ability to adapt to the environment.

After all, above the sea, the humid air and salty sea water will cause serious corrosion to metals.

Compared with steel, bronze performs better in this respect.

Therefore, after the war ended, the Navy immediately summarized the situation and fed it back to the Naval Weapons Research Institute.

Sun Yuanhua is now the deputy minister of the Armament Department, the director of the Naval Weapons Research Institute, and the rank of lieutenant general.

After these years, he has long liked Xia Guo's working environment, and he has given full play to his strengths.

As a technician and also in the army, he avoided the intrigues and intrigues in the officialdom, and lived a very comfortable life.

His strong love made him burst out with unparalleled subjective initiative, managed the Naval Weapons Research Institute in an orderly manner, and made great contributions to the navy's campaign.

Now all the questions about artillery have been summed up.

Whether it is the army or the navy, including the financial department, the unified response is that steel artillery is too expensive, and it cannot fully adapt to the environment, but it is not as good as bronze artillery.

For this situation, Zuo Menggeng was also helpless.

Of course he knew that steel cannons were the future trend.But the reality has decided that insisting on steel artillery is irresponsible to the country and the army.

"What do you say?"

When he was in trouble, he decided to listen to everyone's opinions.

Although Huang Zongxi didn't care about the research and development of weapons, he still spoke freely.

"Everyone knows that gunpowder is better as a propellant, but the current steel can't bear it. But His Highness has a saying that the times are developing and technology is improving. Who knows when the new steel will meet the standard ?Therefore, the research and development of steel cannons must not stop, the more difficult it is, the more research on new materials is required.”

He looks at problems with a developmental perspective and understands what the future trend will be.

The steel that Xia Guo can produce today has made great progress, and he has understood the importance of alloys, and has explored the properties of many alloys.

Anyone who is engaged in chemical industry asserts that alloy steel suitable for casting gun barrels will definitely be found in the future.

It's just this time, no one can be sure.

It may be years, it may be decades, it may even be hundreds of years.

As a military expert, Zuo Menggeng certainly knew that in order to increase the strength of the gun barrel, it was necessary to add nickel to the steel.

However, with the current level of technology, not to mention refining nickel, even finding nickel is very difficult.

The material problem of the steel gun barrel cannot be solved, which greatly limits the promotion of new military technology.

As the combat commander, Liu Yiyuan decided to proceed from reality.

"Steel cannons represent the future, but bronze cannons represent the present. I think both should be considered, and there should be no bias. In order to meet the needs of national defense and military affairs, bronze cannons should be mass-produced. But for future advantages, steel cannons research cannot stop."

These words were immediately recognized by everyone.

The people present are not short-sighted and cannot see the future direction clearly.But no matter how good the ideal is, practical constraints must always be considered.

Seeing that everyone had unified their opinions, Zuo Menggeng made the final decision.

"That's it. The Armament Department independently set up an artillery research institute to ensure funding and not interrupt the research and development of steel artillery. From today, the entire army will be equipped with bronze artillery."

This decision alone immediately saved more than one-third of Xia Jun's military expenses.

The cabinet and the Ministry of Finance finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the pressure is not so great.

Liu Yiyuan put forward new ideas based on the battlefield situation.

"At present, it is not realistic to use gunpowder as propellant, but it is very effective in making explosives. Especially the grenades used by soldiers can replace the black powder with gunpowder."

Among all explosives, black powder has always been the least powerful.

Even though the burning speed of gunpowder is not suitable for making explosives, it is still much stronger than black powder.

This is also the reason why Xia Jun's shells are filled with gunpowder.

Only the grenades used by Xia Jun have so far been charged with black powder.

However, according to the feedback on the battlefield, the power of such grenades is always weaker.In many cases, it is even difficult to create fragments and perform range damage to the enemy.

If it is replaced with gunpowder, the power will increase a lot. Even if the killing effect of the shrapnel is mediocre, the power of the explosion alone is enough to hurt people.

Zuo Menggeng did not rashly agree, but said to Zuo Dai: "Your equipment department can experiment and see how it works. The most important thing is to ensure safety."

Grenades are powerful weapons that soldiers carry close to their bodies. Once an accident occurs, it will pose a major threat to the lives of soldiers.

Therefore, for such weapons, safety is always the first consideration.

Zuo Dai quickly wrote it down.

If the charge of the grenade is updated, it will inevitably greatly enhance Xia Jun's ability to attack fortifications.