Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 177 Forged Iron Cannon

In the middle reaches of Xindian River, a waterfall cascades down. Snow waves fall into the stream under the cliff, creating waves of smoke. Four water wheels with a diameter of more than two feet are slowly turning in the smoke.

These are the four most powerful water wheels currently available in Huiyou Company. They all adopt an upward-ejection design. They mainly rely on the gravity of water rather than momentum to drive rotation. The efficiency is three times that of the downward-ejection water wheel, but it requires a shovel. bucket to replace the blade.

The current bucket uses two wooden boards to form an obtuse angle. The cross-section is an obtuse triangle without a base. The open side is used to collect water, and then side plates are installed on both sides.

The shape of the bucket is related to the efficiency of the upward-shooting water wheel. It is actually better to use curved iron plates. However, at present, water wheels in the East and West still use wooden buckets. Huiyou Company currently uses mature technologies.

In addition to these four huge upward-shooting water wheels, the Construction Department has also built a number of downward-shooting water wheels not far downstream. This type of water wheel mainly uses the momentum of water and has little requirement for water level drop. Just build a dam in the river to speed up the flow of water on both sides of the dam.

Canals can even be dug manually to divert the river water away from the river channel, and the water can be stored through the cofferdam so that the water level is slightly higher than under the water wheel. In this way, the location of the hydraulic machinery can be selected more flexibly.

The firearms bureau of Huiyou Company is located here. Lin Hai is inspecting the firearms bureau, and the chief and deputy directors of the Construction Department are also accompanying him.

Everyone first walked around the foundry workshop, where there were only some drying clay molds and cores. This process was too lengthy and would not take more than three or four months.

Like the ring kiln, the iron mold cannon casting project has not yet been launched. Lin Hai needs to solve any problems first. After all, manpower and funds are relatively limited now.

In addition to the molds being dried, several furnaces for melting bronze were also being built. These furnaces were to be built so strongly that refractory bricks had to be used in certain parts.

Fortunately, there is refractory clay that can be used for firing refractory bricks next to the Tamsui River, not far upstream of Guandu City. This is the basis of the metallurgical and ceramic industries, and is also a key raw material for the ring kiln project that Lin Hai has always been thinking about. .

"When will the first bronze cannon produced by the company be released?" Lin Hai asked, looking at the molds. At present, the company plans to cast all bronze cannons, because it is much simpler than cast iron cannons, has a high yield rate, and has Conducive to quickly equipping troops.

After all, the navy's fleet and the fortresses in Keelung and Tamsui are all waiting for the cannons to be in place. In order to shorten the equipment time, it is worth spending a little more money.

"It should be around the Spring Festival." Lun Yiyi replied from the side. The company has recently placed a heavier task on the Firearms Bureau, and he has been personally watching on the front line these days.

As for Deputy Director He Liangtao, he is busier than his immediate superior. He is busy building forts at the mouth of the Tamsui River during the day and firing cannons on the Guandu flower boat at night. Today is the first time he has visited the Firearms Bureau in the past two months.

"Well, don't be too quick, quality comes first." Lin Hai nodded when he heard this, and sighed in his heart. He knew that most of these forged cannons would not be able to keep up with the battle with Zheng Zhilong.

"Chief, when will the iron mold cannon project be launched?" He Liangtao asked the question he was most concerned about at the right time. In terms of existing mature technology, he could do no better than the senior craftsmen of the Firearms Bureau. .

So Deputy Director He simply relied on Tamsui to supervise the construction of the fort. In fact, this was completely unnecessary. His value was mainly reflected in the design of the fort, and he did not have to be present to supervise the construction. However, since the mouth of Tamsui River was close to Guandu, Deputy Director He chose to stay there in order to work day and night.

"At least we have to wait until the navy and fortress cannons are ready." Lin Hai told He Liangtao that when the Firearms Bureau was just getting started, it was impossible for him to devote his limited manpower and resources to a research project.

"With the current production capacity of the Firearms Bureau, this will take at least five or six years." He Liangtao was a little disappointed when he heard this. Currently, the old lock fleet is short of hundreds of guns, and the four forts in Tamsui and Keelung are also short of more than 60 guns. Heavy artillery.

"The Firearms Bureau is recruiting people, and our production capacity will be gradually increased." Lin Hai continued, "But with more than 160 heavy cannons, I expect it will take at least two years."

"Two years..." He Liangtao seemed to want to say something, but in the end he still didn't say it.

"Let's go and see the forged iron cannons." Lin Hai said and walked out of the foundry workshop. In fact, the main purpose of his visit this time was not to see the forged heavy cannons, but to see the forged light cannons.

The forging workshop is located next to Xindian River, where forged iron cannons, blunderbuss and armor plates are produced. Currently, the forging hammer is driven by water power, animal power and human power.

Compared with the casting workshop, the forging workshop is much noisier. The sound of forging hammers hitting metal comes and goes. In addition, the shirtless blacksmiths swinging sledgehammers will occasionally howl when exerting force, which echoes throughout the workshop. All are harsh sounds.

In addition, the workshop also exudes a strong smell of sweat. Blacksmithing is a strenuous job and must be done while it is hot without stopping. How else to say "the three most painful things in the world are to grind the iron and grind the tofu"?

Lin Hai endured the harsh noise and pungent smell of sweat and walked into the workshop. In addition to the forging hammers that were forging iron plates, there were also several blacksmiths who were spreading yellow mud on the red-hot iron blocks in the heating furnace.

"What are you doing?" Lin Hai asked puzzledly.

"Before the iron block is taken out for forging, it must be poured with a mixture of yellow mud slurry and grass ash. Then it is taken out and clamped with pliers. It is hit repeatedly for more than a thousand times. After cooling, it is returned to the furnace for heating, and then the yellow mud slurry is poured on it. Repeat the above After seven or eight times of this process, the finished iron plate can be used to cast cannons."

"Then the iron plate is hammered around the mandrel into iron tiles, and four iron tiles are overlapped left and right like bamboo shoot shells to form an iron cylinder. After punching out multiple iron cylinders, the ends are heated red and forged. The entire gun barrel is beaten into shape, and finally the gun barrel must be cold-forged repeatedly, so that the wrought iron cannon can be considered worthy of use.”

"In the process of forging iron tiles into iron cylinders, and iron cylinders into gun barrels, the joints need to be topped with yellow mud containing grass ash. I heard that this is learned from the porcelain industry..."

He Liangtao talked endlessly about making cannons, and Lin Hai roughly understood that it was a forging agent. He actually knew roughly the manufacturing process of forged iron cannons in the Ming Dynasty, but he did not go into such details.

Many seemingly simple technologies actually have many details. People without practical experience can only talk on paper after all. This is why Lin Hai is more cautious about research projects. It is difficult for the company's existing resources to invest in this area. .

"So that's it." Lin Hai felt that he had gained more knowledge, and then asked, "Just forging the iron plate requires hitting it tens of thousands of times. How long does it take to build a cannon?"

He Liangtao pointed to a light cannon whose body was being polished and said: "Take this powerful cannon as an example. It took ten people almost forty days to build it. If you use water-powered forging hammers, it can be even less."

The Great Weiyuan gun is 3 feet inches long and weighs about kilograms. Its size is similar to the -pound regimental gun used by Gustavus II. Of course, the latter is a cast copper cannon, because just like the cast iron cannon, Europe has The technology of forged iron cannons also lagged far behind that of the Ming Dynasty. In fact, in terms of iron smelting, ancient China has been far ahead of the world since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, whether it is pig iron smelting technology, pig iron softening technology or steel making technology.

In terms of wrought iron cannons, Europe actually had its own wrought iron cannons in the late Middle Ages. However, unlike the wrought iron cannons with bamboo shoot shell structures in the Ming Dynasty, European wrought iron cannons had a wooden barrel structure. Simply put, slender iron bars were laid out to form a cylinder. , and then reinforced with a large number of iron hoops.

This kind of iron bar is generally only one to two inches wide, while the iron tiles of Ming Dynasty forged iron cannons are as wide as one foot and four inches, and the layers are wrapped and forged into a whole. In the end, there is basically no trace of forging. , obviously the air tightness and strength are far superior to the wrought iron cannon with wooden barrel structure.

With the popularity of granular gunpowder, the European wooden barrel structure wrought iron cannon was completely unable to withstand the chamber pressure. Coupled with the increasing labor costs, it was eventually eliminated.

For a long time, all European artillery was cast. It was not until later that Sweden came up with leather cannons, which were actually wrought iron cannons with a wooden barrel structure.

Compared with European wrought iron cannons, the performance of Ming dynasty wrought iron cannons is excellent. Compared with the Swedish 3-pound regimental cannon, the Great Weiyuan cannon is lighter in weight and lower in cost, but its bullet weight, charge and range are all higher. powerful.

The Ming army was even accustomed to firing with double charges. This was originally a method used for artillery testing, but it was used by many Ming armies for regular firing. Later scholars conducted a metallographic analysis of existing Ming Dynasty cast iron cannons and found that Its composition is actually mild steel.

Of course, regarding the performance of forged iron cannons and cast copper cannons, there is still some debate among Ming fans and foreign slaves on the Internet in later generations. This mainly depends on whether to accept the military books of the Ming Dynasty and different interpretations of certain historical materials. Generally speaking, Ming fans Our arguments are still more solid.

Lin Hai didn't know which side was more reasonable. He once asked He Liangtao about this issue, and the latter told him that the performance of forged iron cannons was almost better than that of cast copper cannons in all aspects, and the cost was only four times that of cast copper cannons of the same size. One-third, which is basically the same as a cast iron cannon.

Considering that the casting cycle is too long, Lin Hai finally decided to use forged iron cannons for all light cannons. In the future, when there is excess manpower, he can actually produce some cast copper cannons. We will talk about it after actual comparisons.

The production of wrought iron cannons requires much less preliminary work, so this work has been done since the establishment of the Firearms Bureau. Lin Hai asked again: "How many wrought iron light cannons have we produced in total now?"

"There are almost twenty gates. The main reason is that there are a few people." Lun First replied from the side. Currently, most of the blacksmiths are in the War Bureau. There are fewer blacksmiths in the Firearms Bureau, and they also have to forge muskets. barrel.

"Very good." Lin Hai is still very satisfied with this speed. Forged iron cannons are very fast to build. When the number of personnel in the construction department increases, they will soon have a large number of field light artillery.

The Ming army had a very large number of various types of wrought iron light cannons. It was very common for a camp or a city to have hundreds of Weiyuan cannons.

When it comes to light artillery, the wars of the Ming and Qing Dynasties were the real sea of ​​artillery. The number of field light artillery in Europe during the Thirty Years' War was far less than that in the East at the same time. After all, cast copper cannons were too expensive.

This is the reason why heavy matchlock guns are widely adopted in Europe. To some extent, this is to make up for the shortcomings of light artillery. In contrast, the turtle dove gun received a cold reception in the late Ming Dynasty.

The turtle dove gun is actually a Mushtec matchlock gun with a bracket in Europe. It was introduced to the Ming Dynasty in the early years of Chongzhen. This was the period when the Ming Dynasty was most active in absorbing foreign technology, but in the end it was not equipped with a large number of weapons.

"It would be great if the forged iron cannon could weigh more than a thousand pounds." Lin Hai came out of the forging workshop and suddenly sighed.

The biggest problem with forged iron cannons is that they cannot be made larger. This is caused by internal stress. Generally speaking, a forged iron cannon weighing 500 kilograms is considered the largest. Lin Hai has seen this statement in several military books of the Ming Dynasty.

"Actually, it's possible." He Liangtao, who was following behind him, suddenly answered, "As long as we adopt the appropriate technology, it's no problem to make it 1,300 kilograms. Of course, the yield will be lower."

"Seriously?" Lin Hai was shocked when he heard this and stopped immediately. He Liangtao smiled and nodded to him. In fact, "Zhu Rong Zuo Li·Zhu Rong Zhu Li's Theory of Iron Gun" mentioned that the forged iron cannon can weigh one thousand three to four hundred kilograms, but Lin Hai has not read this book.

He then asked: "What is the maximum inner diameter that can be made?"

He Liangtao replied: "The largest one I have made in Haojing is three inches. If it is larger, it can only be cast."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Lin Hai was a little annoyed when he heard this. The inner diameter of three inches is almost a 9-pound gun, which can fully meet the company's navy's requirements for naval guns.

After all, except for the Dingyuan and Bowang, the current warships of the Navy are all old lock ships that are seven to ten feet long. The heavy guns on the ships are mainly 8-pounders or 9-pounders.

For Western plywood ships, this firepower is certainly not enough, but for Ming warships or Eastern pirate ships, the damage capability is completely sufficient.

"The main reason is that the yield rate is a bit low, and the cost may be more expensive than cast copper cannons." He Liangtao replied hesitantly.

This is indeed the reason why he didn't say it before, but when he was in the foundry workshop, he hesitated to speak. In fact, he still didn't want to take this job. After all, this matter had no technical content and was just a matter of experience. He was not very interested.

In addition, it is too far from Guandu. Between the noisy noise and the unpleasant smell of sweat in the forging workshop, as well as the chirping of birds and the scent of makeup on the Guandu flower boat, every man knows how to choose.

"How expensive can it be? Is 200 taels enough for a three-inch inner diameter thousand-pound forged iron cannon?" Lin Hai then asked. He remembered that the cost of a powerful cannon was less than 10 taels.

"No, no, more than a hundred taels is enough." He Liangtao quickly replied.

"If I give you all the blacksmiths and hydraulic forging hammers in the company, and hire some slave workers to help, how many doors can you build in a month and a half?"

"Thirty..." Seeing Lin Hai's unkind expression, He Liangtao quickly changed his words and said, "At least fifty schools. If more slave workers are allocated, there may be even more."

(End of this chapter)