Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 180: I Don’t Know What to Say (1)

After Wang Yunzhong encouraged the generals under his command, he led a group of officers and craftsmen to continue the inspection.Chun Yuzhen said in a low voice: "After the cannon shoots and drills, I have something to discuss with Mr. Zhao." There are too many people here, and it's not a place to talk, so he followed Wang Yunzhong.Just now the gunner was surprised to see that he was familiar with Chun Yuzhen, and seeing that the officer didn't intend to pursue it further, he stopped insisting on making things worse.

Because most of the sergeants on the sidelines had never seen the power of artillery, in order to prevent accidental injury, Wang Yunzhong gave an order to clear the field.Just now the gunner came over and asked Zhao Xingde and Wang Tongdeng to retreat until they reached the position of the ammunition cart behind the cannon position.This time his tone was much weaker, and he looked at Zhao Xingde with a hint of fear in his eyes.

Wang Tongdeng Zunling and Zhao Xingde stepped back a few dozen steps, looked at the gunner's back, and said in a low voice: "The artillery battalion commander has been stationed in the city for many years, and has acquired the habit of a snobbish philistine."

Zhao Xingde laughed and said: "Brother Wang said to stay in Germany, from now on, we are also in the Artillery Battalion."

Not far away, the gunner began to check the barrel for the last time, filling the 'powder' and reloading.In addition to the gunner, there are five gunners standing next to each artillery, and four people are responsible for carrying the ammunition on the ammunition cart.But Zhao Xingde found that the division of labor of the gunners was not very clear, and his movements were a bit hectic.Even so, watching packs of gunpowder and heavy projectiles being filled into the barrel, with the black muzzle pointing straight in and out, still makes people faintly excited.

Seeing the gunners igniting according to the order, all the sergeants unconsciously held their breath.Not knowing if there was a conflict with the gunner just now, Wang Tongdeng muttered in a low voice: "Blow up the firecrackers."

Zhao Xingde smiled slightly, and was about to speak, when suddenly there was an earth-shattering "boom!", and a cannon began to roar, and then, the roar was so loud that it only shook people's ears, as if the ground under their feet trembling.The mountains around the martial arts field echoed, and a cloud of smoke rose from the artillery.

Before the smoke obscured his vision, Zhao Xingde saw that many projectiles directly hit the earth barrier in front of him, pieces of earth and rocks were flying randomly, and two shells 'shot' into the phalanx of grass puppets, directly piercing through the entire phalanx In a row, knocking down the broken grass puppet is like two alleys.There are also some projectiles 'shot' in the grass puppets pretending to be horses, and they are also directly knocked down.

Just when the sergeants behind were shocked by the power of the artillery, the gunners in front were already busy resetting the artillery that was retreated by the shock force of the launch, and the two gunners held the dry and wet cannon brushes one by one to quickly scrub The gunner waiting beside the ammunition cart quickly carried the shells and gunpowder packs forward, while the front gunner punched the gunpowder next to the gun and pushed the gunpowder pack into the gun chamber again Bottom, then reload and ignite.Almost before Zhao Xingde and Wang Tongdeng noticed the passage of time, another round of roaring started.

After firing like this for five rounds, the sound of the earth shaking and the mountains shaking finally stopped, and the sound was still buzzing in my ears.The front of the artillery position was already surrounded by thick black smoke.There was a choking smell of gunpowder in the air. Wang Tongdeng, who was still saying "firecrackers" just now, was staring at the thick smoke in front of him, unable to speak.

After the thick smoke dissipated slightly, two corners of the piled earth barrier had been knocked down, the top collapsed, and most of the flags fell down.All the sergeants were allowed to walk close to the target to watch, only to see that the cavalry and army formed by straw puppets were also severely damaged by the bullets beside the earth barrier.Although the iron bullets are perfectly round, but under the huge momentum and inertia, the rows of wooden stakes are broken all at once, and scattered straws are scattered everywhere. If it is on a real battlefield, it will be bloody and bloody The stump was severed.

It was the first time for many sergeants to witness the power of the artillery, and they looked surprised. Wang Tongdeng said repeatedly: "It's amazing, it's amazing!"

Zhao Xingde was also shocked, he didn't expect the power of Xia Guo's artillery to be so powerful.Except for the projectiles that hit the earth barrier and the army formation, the iron projectiles that did not hit the target flew farther, about two miles away.Zhao Xingde looked down for the scattered craters, guessed its trajectory from the position of the craters, and looked back at the damage it caused along the way, secretly dumbfounded.At this time, someone patted his shoulder, Zhao Xingde looked up, but it was Wang Tongdeng who smiled at him and said: "From now on, we will be in the Artillery Battalion."

After the artillery drill, Chun Yuzhen specially asked his apprentice to take Zhao Xingde to the master craftsman's room, and turned away others, then bowed his head and said: "My benefactor, please allow the villain to pay my respects." Zhao Xingde hurriedly helped him up, Repeatedly said: "Mr. Chunyu is serious, how can this be done?"

Chunyu sighed and said: "If it wasn't for Mr. who came to the rescue, Chunyu Zhen would have become a lonely ghost, his family was ruined, and he would still be ridiculed by the world. If Mr. hadn't given advice and helped each other, how could Chunyu Zhen be where he is today?" "Chunyu Zhen is not what he used to be, as the number one cannon-casting master in the Xia Kingdom, many senior officials in the court also respect him very much, and he speaks more politely than before.But the stubbornness in this person's nature has not changed at all.He insisted on giving a big gift to thank him, but in the end, Zhao Xingde had no choice but to let him bow down and avoid it by himself.

When he heard that Zhao Xingde had been fighting in the west for three years, Chunyu Zhen asked: "The heavy artillery used to attack the capital of Ross State was cast by me, 'Chunyu Iron Works'. Have you ever seen it?" Zhao Xingde said with a smile: "Miss The battle of Ross, but this giant gun was seen once in Port Hercynian."

Chun Yuzhen nodded and said with a smile: "The siege cannon weighs five thousand catties each, and the materials such as charcoal fire cost more than two thousand guns. The Ordnance Department ordered 100 guns. But only five guns were ordered. Unlike the four-inch guns and the three-inch guns, the Ordnance Department ordered more than [-] of them each." He spoke in a tone and demeanor, as if the accountant was reporting to the proprietor, knowing everything.

Zhao Xingde was surprised and said: "With such a huge profit, why doesn't the Ordnance Department make it by itself?"

Chun Yuzhen explained: "If the Ordnance Department made it by itself, each cannon would have to be paid to apprentices, and craftsmen and apprentices would have to be recruited again. After all, it would be better to order from us." He paused and said in a deep voice. Said: "Only reducing the weight of various types of artillery, the Ordnance Department rewarded more than three thousand catties of gold. These are all Mr. Zhao deserves. The villain invested some of the rewards in the blacksmith shop, and most of them were replaced by Fu Haixing Even my blacksmith shop should be easier to be in the name of Mr. " When Zhao Xingde was in Chang'an, he gave a lot of money to help him, which was more than enough to buy the blacksmith shop.Chun Yuzhen was grateful, and said that the blacksmith's shop should be counted under Zhao Xingde's name.After years of thinking, this blacksmith's shop is considered to be Mr. Zhao's, and he just manages it properly and proves the method of casting cannons in iron molds.He tried hard to find Zhao Xingde, but the idea never faded, so he brought it up when he saw Zhao Xingde.

Zhao Xingde saw that his face was serious, he didn't seem to be joking, he was moved, stood up and waved his hands and said, "How can Mr. Chunyu's business be handed over to others. Mr. Zhao knows his faith, and Mr. Zhao really can't do it." Yan accepts it."

The two pushed back and forth, and in the end Zhao Xingde had no choice but to take [-]% of the bounty, but Chunyuzhen's ancestral iron shop insisted on not accepting it.Zhao Xingde insisted that this cannon-casting technique was actually created by Chun Yuzhen, and that he only helped a little.Chun Yuzhen had no choice but to give up, but he still insisted that he still had to pay Zhao Xingde [-]% of the apprentice's money for every cannon he made.

While Chunyuzhen was speaking, he was about to go home to get the contract, Zhao Xingde couldn't help being dumbfounded, and asked, "Could it be that Brother Chunyu has been putting money in Fuhai Bank all the time, and never thought of doing business for profit?"

Chunyuzhen was taken aback, and said in a deep voice: "The money belongs to Mr. Zhao. I dare not use it except for what the iron shop needs." I don’t quite understand the arts and other industries. The investment in cannon casting doesn’t require a lot of money.” Speaking of this, he couldn’t help laughing self-deprecatingly. Put in more.But in the past, only a few failed attempts at casting cannons were enough to 'pull' him into a desperate situation.

At this time, artillery had not yet become popular in the world, and after the Ordnance Department ordered this batch of artillery, it may be a long time before adding new artillery.Therefore, there is no need to expand the scale of the Cannon Foundry.However, Zhao Xingde felt that besides casting cannons, there are still some skills that can be pondered. He pondered and said: "The advantage of cannons lies in the strength of the cannon body and the sharpness of the gunpowder. Now Chunyu Workshop Cannon-casting skills are already at the top of the list, so we might as well increase the trial production of explosive gunpowder. After the power of gunpowder increases, the requirements for the gun body will be higher, so the Ordnance Department will have to re-order new gunpowder. The body of the cannon. The two cause and effect each other, and the power of the cannon is getting bigger and bigger."

Chun Yuzhen nodded in agreement and said, "Sir, it's a good idea, it's just a trial production of gunpowder, and it won't cost so much money for a while." Still insist on handing over the Jiaozi contract to Zhao De.He thought to himself, this Zhao De's knowledge is indeed much farther than ordinary people.Originally, even if he paid attention to gunpowder, it was just to make it better match the artillery he made, but he didn't think about it further.However, the scale of gunpowder manufacturing and experimentation in this era is far inferior to that of later generations, and it is even more impossible to consume hundreds of thousands of coins for experiments alone.

Zhao Xingde said: "Although the trial production of gunpowder is not expensive, but in Chunyu's old business, iron smelting can be regarded as costly?"

Chun Yuzhen was taken aback for a moment, and asked, "Did you mean to open mines and smelt iron, sir?"

Zhao Xingde nodded and said, "That's right." His thinking was that although Chun Yuzhen insisted on returning the money to him, he was really ashamed to take away tens of thousands of money.It's better to turn it into capital, show off your strengths, and partner with Chun Yuzhen to make a living in mining and smelting iron.Judging from the current situation, this person is a very good partner because of his integrity.

Chun Yuzhen frowned and said, "It costs a lot to open mines and smelt iron, but the competition among workshops in various places is a little bit more intense. In my dynasty, the most powerful army, in Hezhong, Guanzhong, Shuzhong and other places, as long as there are good mines, they can either be used by others, or they can be sold at a price." It’s so rare that you won’t make any money if you bid for it.” His family’s ancestral blacksmith shop bought iron ingots for use instead of opening a mine to smelt iron, but he still knows a thing or two about this kind of market.

Zhao Xingde said with a smile, "I just want to open an iron factory in Guanzhong." His words revealed great confidence, and Chun Yuzhen was also infected.