I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 228 Hollow Cast Cannon
Nanjing.

Ordnance Bureau, Artillery Workshop.

Zhu Yijiong, the imperial commander, came in person and was observing the production process of the gun mold.

Surrounded by fully armed soldiers of the imperial camp, there is no blind spot for protection in all directions.

Even in the streets outside the workshop, there are many ordinary people disguised as Jin Yiwei spies, who are responsible for checking for deficiencies and identifying suspicious persons.

Just yesterday, Zhu Yijiong had just completed the regular state affairs meeting and finalized the expansion of the new army and the reserve force.

As a result, in the evening, news came from the Ordnance Bureau that the new artillery casting technology had been conquered.

This excited Zhu Yijiong. If it hadn't been late at that time, he would have come over last night to see for himself.

Watching the casting in front of me, I started to add water to the hollow mold.

Zhu Yijiong was dazzled and couldn't understand it at all.

Just don’t understand!
After all, this is a cannon-casting technology that would only appear more than 100 years later. It was discovered by an American named Rodman during the American Civil War.

Now, it was due to a strange combination of circumstances. Under the stimulation of Zhu Yijiong's high pressure and heavy rewards, the craftsmen of the Ordnance Bureau discovered it first.

The main reason is that this hollow cannon casting method is not difficult in the first place. Its essence is to cast the cannon around the core and then cool it with running water.

This was a preliminary hardening of the inside of the barrel, a logical development from earlier experiments with sleeve guns.

As the outer metal of the barrel cools, it shrinks inward, continuing to pressurize the hardened inner layer.In this way, the explosive force of the propellant is absorbed by the entire thick metal layer around the barrel, rather than expanding outward layer by layer.

According to tests, the effectiveness of the cannon produced by the hollow casting method is at least ten times better than that of the traditional clay mold cannon, or even higher.

Zhu Yijiong only listened to the explanation once, and then made a special trip to the shooting range to watch the artillery test firing, and immediately asked: "Who created this method?"

Li Wenbao, the Director of Ordnance who was in charge of accompanying him, quickly replied: "To tell you your Majesty, this method was created by Huang Wu, the craftsman of the Ordnance Bureau. Oh, this Huang Wu was the one who made the explosive ammunition before."

After saying that, he whispered to a craftsman: "Why are you still standing there? You haven't even kowtowed to your Majesty yet."

"The humble minister Huang Wu comes to see Your Majesty!"

Huang Wu quickly ran out of the crowd, saluted and knelt down to Zhu Yijiong.

He has an official status, the same official status he was given last time for making explosives, starting from the seventh rank, one level lower than the county magistrate.

Zhu Yijiong instantly remembered this person. Speaking of which, Zhu Yijiong had appointed this guy's rank as a seventh-rank official, otherwise there would have been a lot of quarrels with the cabinet.

"Haha, it turns out to be Huang Qing! He is really talented."

Zhu Yijiong recalled a little, then suddenly smiled and said: "In this case, I can't wait any longer, so I will make Huang Qing my Viscount of the Ming Dynasty, and I will give it to you for three generations and then reduce the rank to be hereditary."

In just a few words, a viscount and three generations of reduced hereditary rank were given, and the reward was given in an understatement.

Viscount, like baron, is a title that has existed since ancient times.

For example, the title of the King of Chu during the Zhou Dynasty was Chu Zi from the beginning.

However, the Qian Ming Dynasty was abolished because it had not been established for a long time, and the Qing Dynasty restored it.

Zhu Yijiong is naturally no exception. After all, Gonghou Bosan is too big to be given away to seal him.

The son and the man were just right, but in order to reflect the rarity and nobility of the duke, Zhu Yijiong also set rules so that his civil servants and generals could work harder.

The titles below the count are not titled, and some are scattered or listed, but they will also be recorded in the book.

At this time, it would be appropriate to give Huang Wu, who invented the hollow cannon casting method, the title of Viscount Sanjue.

After all, the highest person in the entire Ming Dynasty is currently the Marquis (not counting Huang Dian's Duke), which is less than one hand, and the rest of the uncles add up to less than a hundred.

Huang Wu can be promoted to Viscount, which is actually very high, at least on par with many military generals with great military exploits.

And, again, it’s not too much of an exaggeration.

Because Huang Wu had successively invented two new technologies, the explosive shells and the hollow cannon casting method, he was granted the special title by the emperor.

If anyone is dissatisfied... well!No one dared to dissent.

Jun Wuxiyan, if you don’t accept it, where will your Majesty’s face go?
This is the benefit of the founding emperor.

Seeing that Huang Wu was still in a daze, Li Wenbao quickly reminded him a second time: "Why are you still dazed? Thank you!"

"I thank you for your kindness! Long live your majesty!" Huang Wu came back to his senses, and immediately looked excited. Without caring about the occasion, he immediately gave Zhu Yijiong a prosperous salute.

"Huang Qing's body is flat."

Zhu Yijiong raised his hand and did not refuse.

As he spoke, he seemed to ask inadvertently: "Huang Qing is such a talented person, who is your father?"

Huang Wu had no doubts at all and said quickly: "Thanks to His Majesty's great blessing, my father Huang Sancai now also has a job as an apprentice in the Ordnance Bureau."

'Huang Sancai?Sure enough, isn't it..." A trace of disappointment appeared on Zhu Yijiong's face, but she was quickly relieved.

This is normal, not to mention that Huang Luzhuang is from Yangzhou, so there is no way he is here in Fujian.

Moreover, Huang Luzhuang's awesomeness is mainly reflected in the boasts in marketing accounts and various novels. The real Huang Luzhuang may really like to do novel things, but he is definitely not that powerful.

Furthermore, there are very few descriptions of Huang Luzhuang in the history books. It is certain that this person existed, but it is unknown whether he had any descendants.

Even if there is a descendant, it can be seen from the few words of later generations that this descendant will definitely not inherit Huang Luzhuang's inventive ideas.

But it doesn’t matter, in this era, the most indispensable thing is talents.

It’s not like he has to look for a few specific figures. For example, Yang Gong, the “number one general in the pseudo-Ming Dynasty” he currently has, is not well-known in the history books.

The only description is that he is brave, courageous and persevering.

A certain boss named Yan once said: "As long as you use the right people, you can accomplish great things."

"Okay, nothing happens. Huang Qing can go down and do some work! I'll take a look around again."

After dismissing Huang Wu casually, Zhu Yijiong led the team to continue inspecting the artillery workshop.

The hollow cannon casting method is a breakthrough invention. Although it still cannot solve the problem of chamber explosion, it can greatly delay the explosion time of the red cannon.

In the past, it might explode ten times, but now it takes at least a hundred shots, or even more, to explode.

In addition to the hollow cannon casting method, the Ordnance Bureau also developed the sand mold and iron mold cannon casting methods that Zhu Yijiong mentioned earlier.

After all, these two are not advanced craftsmanship in nature. Zhu Yijiong has raised the possibility again. As long as he keeps researching and tinkering, he can always figure it out.

The original clay-moulded cannon was too troublesome and unsafe. The main reason why the gun exploded was due to the essential flaw of the clay-moulded cannon.

It would be much better to replace it with a sand mold, but similarly, although the sand mold can avoid many problems of the clay mold, the cannon can be cast faster.

But in the event of an accident, the arm, like a sand mold, absorbs too much water, and the mold often explodes directly.The kind that involves people, cannons, and models, is even more dangerous.

It can be said that the danger of firing the cannon is left in the cannon-casting stage.

The other iron mold cannon casting is the safest. You only need to cast an iron mold and it can be recycled. The cost of mold making is greatly reduced. There is no need to wait for the mold to dry like a clay mold, which greatly improves production efficiency.

Moreover, iron cannons cast with iron molds have less water vapor, so they have fewer blisters and are as smooth as copper cannons. This can also improve the stability of the cannon to a certain extent and reduce the possibility of the barrel exploding.

The most important iron mold casting cannon has the lowest cost and the least financial pressure.

One labor is paid for and hundreds of labors are made.

But again, iron-moulded cannons have the biggest disadvantages.

From the perspective of metal casting and metallography, the heat dissipation of the iron mold is too fast, causing the liquid pig iron to condense too quickly when cooling. The cementite in the molten iron has no time to precipitate (the graphite has no time to proceed) and the graphite has solidified. .

Therefore, cementite in iron mainly exists in the form of iron carbide, which is white iron.

Compared with gray iron, white iron has higher hardness and brittleness, making it difficult to sharpen, which reduces the performance of the artillery.

The gun body is often easily cracked during use, and the risk of the barrel exploding is higher. The problem can only be solved by thickening the gun wall. The result is that the gun is very bulky and difficult to move.

In summary, iron molds and sand molds each have their own merits.

After Zhu Yijiong read it, he thought carefully, discussed it repeatedly with the Ordnance Bureau, and finally made the decision to mass-produce small-scale land combat shotguns (mortars) cast in iron molds.

Conventional standard cannons are cast in sand molds, and the final hollow cannon casting method is specially used to cast red cannons.

In this way, the three methods are used together to perfectly integrate the resources of the Ordnance Bureau.

In addition to the cannon casting method, the Ordnance Bureau's plate armor has also begun to enter mass production.

At Zhu Yijiong's request, the Ordnance Bureau's plate armor was divided into three types during the mass production stage: full-body armor, half-body armor, and breastplate.

Plate armor certainly can't stop a large-caliber matchlock gun, but I don't have a so-called large-caliber matchlock gun in the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, plate armor will be invincible in front of the Qing army for at least a few years.

What to do in a few years?
At that time, if the Ming army had either almost bulldozed the puppet Qing Dynasty, or the overall situation had been decided, it would no longer matter whether there was plate armor or not.

According to the predetermined distribution, the full body armor is for the vanguard battalion troops, the half body armor is for the regular sword and shield troops, and the final chest armor is temporarily allocated to the fire gunners and grenadiers.

However, this breastplate was mainly prepared by Zhu Yijiong for future dragoons.

You know, the French still retain their cuirass dragoons.

Just wait for the Marwar horses from India to arrive, be bred and assembled in batches, and the Ming army will have its own cavalry, and then it can officially start.

In this era of land, after all, the world is still dominated by cavalry and artillery.

(End of this chapter)