please make me king

Chapter 54
Because the Hongyi cannon came from the West, many people take it for granted that by the end of the Ming Dynasty, Chinese artillery technology was backward.In fact, in the late Ming Dynasty, what China lagged behind the West was artillery design technology, and in artillery casting technology, because of China's advanced cast iron technology, it was superior to Western artillery casting technology.

At that time, in Western society, except Britain, which had iron cannon casting technology, other European countries were all bronze cannons.Copper in China during this period was money. "Da Ming Hui Dian" records that during the Jiajing period, "Tongbao coins are six million Wen, and the two-fire brass is [-] catties, and water and tin are [-] taels."

That is to say, a catty of brass can almost cast about [-] Tongbao coins, similar to the large-caliber Napoleon bronze cannon, which is almost close to about [-] catties made in the Ming Dynasty, which is equivalent to [-] coins in the Ming Dynasty.According to the price of iron at the end of the Ming Dynasty, a catty of wrought iron was only about [-] silver coins, which was about ten yuan when converted into copper coins.If it is replaced by pig iron, it will be even lower, and it is only a few pennies a catty.If the brass of these cast cannons is converted into pig iron cast cannons, about forty or fifty Hongyi cannons can be cast, and the cost performance can be imagined.

After Zhang Shun asked about the price difference, he could imagine which material to choose to cast the cannon.However, the selection of iron materials is also different.In the Ming Dynasty, iron materials were often divided into four types: raw iron, pig iron, wrought iron (that is, refined iron) and steel.

The so-called barren iron is the crude pig iron that has been initially extracted, and can be used as pig iron after being smelted again.As for the difference between pig iron and wrought iron, it is different from the definition of later generations.The pig iron in the Ming Dynasty was called pig iron if it had not been "fried"; it was called wrought iron if it had been "fried".As for steel, traditional craftsmen call medium-high carbon steel with less impurities and can be quenched as "steel". Only a very small number can be produced for key parts such as blades and spear points, which will not be considered for the time being.Low carbon steel and wrought iron are more generally referred to as "wrought iron".

If you think about this definition carefully, you will find a problem. The ancient definition of pig iron and wrought iron is based on the process, not the carbon content as in later generations, so sometimes there will be problems that later generations cannot understand.For example, the cannons in the early Ming Dynasty were found to be cast steel cannons after metallographic analysis by later generations.Most of these cannons come from Shanxi, which is enough to explain Shanxi's superb ironmaking technology and casting technology.

Of course, our protagonist Zhang Shun doesn't know these things yet, but only has a rough understanding of the classification of iron materials.According to Zhang Shun's idea, try to use high-quality iron materials to cast cannons, so he proposed to use "fine iron" to cast cannons.

This made Liu Gang laugh, and said: "Your Majesty does not know that this fine iron can only be forged, not forged. If you want to forge, you must cast iron."

"Why can't it be cast?" Zhang Shun asked strangely.

"It's hard to melt, even if it's barely boiled into porridge, it can't be poured." Liu Gang explained.

Come on, it turns out that the temperature is not enough.Zhang Shun understood this, but he had no choice but to settle for the next best thing and prepare to cast a pig iron cannon.But Zhang Shun had no choice but to cast it into what it would look like.He had never seen Hongyi Cannon, Franji, Tiger Crouching Cannon, etc., so he had no choice but to design it himself.

At the beginning, Zhang Shun thought things were simple. Based on the rough impression of later generations, he drew a hollow cylinder with a thin front and a thick back. Let Liu Gang be in charge of casting.

Liu Gang asked about its length, but Zhang Shun didn't know it himself. According to the video data of later generations, he casually said a number of "five feet".This is about six to seven hundred kilograms. According to their crucible iron smelting method, they can almost use up the crucible iron produced by one furnace slowly. Fortunately, Runcheng, not far from here, is full of iron smelting places.

Therefore, Zhang Shun simply applied to "Zijin Liang" to leave Dou Village in Qinshui County and return to build cannons near Runcheng, and "Zijin Liang" readily agreed.Then, Zhang Shun led the team back to Runcheng, searched for thousands of catties of iron in the crucible, built a furnace, and began to melt the iron.

The mold for the cannon was made by a few lads selected by Liu Gang. Originally, Zhang Shun proposed to cast the cannon with iron molds according to the "iron mold casting technique", but Liu Gang took out an iron mold for him.This iron mold is an iron mold. Liu Gang told him: "Our iron mold can only cast plow mirrors here in our Yangcheng. The iron cast in this way is hard and brittle. If it is cast for a cannon, it may be broken into iron in one shot It's scum."

Zhang Shun was speechless, and he didn't know that the history textbooks of later generations were so deceitful, so he simply let Liu Gang figure out a solution by himself.Based on his many years of experience in ironmaking, Liu Gang first cut wood into a cylindrical shape, then wrapped it in sand, and slowly made it into a cannon bore.

Then make a solid cannon out of wood, put it upside down into the dug hole, and wrap it in sand to make a cannon model.After the outer cannon is dry, take out the wooden cannon inside and insert the finished cannon into it.Because the rear wall of the cannon needs to be cast and needs to be vacant and cannot support the barrel, Liu Gang thought about it and forged the rear wall of the cannon, directly put it into the lower end of the artillery mold, and then put it into the barrel, and it was completed.

After the molten iron was melted, Liu Gang ordered the molten iron to be poured into the range, poured the cannon from the muzzle position, and then covered it with a special mud cover to prevent the muzzle of the cannon from becoming brittle.Then, everyone waited for another three or four days before opening the cover.

The muzzle of the direct artillery has turned into black cast iron.Zhang Shun was so happy that he dug the cannon out of the soil, and saw that the cannon almost reached the man's chin, black and smooth.

Zhang Shun was in a daze for a moment: How could he hang it up from the pit without any handles?

Fortunately, manpower is not valuable in this era, so Zhang Shun asked the craftsmen and soldiers to wrap the rope a few more times, and dragged it out of the mud pit.So, Zhang Shun excitedly asked people to put the prepared gunpowder into the cannon, and put in a cast iron cannonball.

And then, everyone, look at me and I see you at a loss: where does this start to ignite?
There was no choice but to work together to put down the supported cannon, pour out the gunpowder and shells in the barrel, and then find a craftsman to drill the ignition hole at the rear end of the cannon.

This time, everything is finally ready and it is only due to Dongfeng. After everyone packed the medicine, they are going to find someone to release it to see the result.At this time, Zhang Shun volunteered to stand up, but he surprised the craftsman Liu Gang and Zhang Shun's subordinates, and stopped them all: "This cannon is the easiest to explode, and no one knows what the result will be before firing the cannon. My lord!" How can you take risks so easily."

　Pass by, don't miss it, please collect it!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)