A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 91 The Gunpowder Is Out
When Wang Dou was in Jingbianbao, there were only six or seven craftsmen including Li Maosen. workshop work.

Later, in order to make custom-packed paper tube ammunition, in addition to selecting some old and weak men and women from the craftsmen, they also selected some old and weak men and women from the fort to come to help.All in all, including artisans and ordinary workers, there were more than [-] people in the craftsman workshop of Jingbianbao at that time.

After Wang Dou arrived at Shunxiang Fort, most of the workers and craftsmen of Jingbian Fort were transferred to Shunxiang Fort soon.

There were more than [-] artisan households originally in Shun Township Fort’s archives. Apart from those who escaped, there were more than [-] artisans Zhengding, blacksmiths, carpenters, and earth and stone masons. They are all proficient in blacksmithing and woodworking.Except for some of these Shunxiangbao craftsmen who were sent to Koujiagou Iron Works, most of them stayed in Shunxiangbao, and there were about forty people in Zhengding.

However, most of these craftsmen have fathers, brothers, and grandchildren. Together with their families, there are more than 150 skilled and semi-skilled craftsmen in the Shunxiang Fort Craftsman Workshop. Taking more wages and monthly food, the whole family of these craftsmen came together except for the children who couldn't run.

In this way, there are more than 180 craftsmen in Shunxiang Fort after closing the craftsmen from Jingbian Fort.

There are also hundreds of old, weak and women who assemble weapons and armor and distribute custom-made paper tube ammunition.

Most of these craftsmen's skills are passed down from father to son, and the regulations for recruiting apprentices are also very strict. Most of those skilled craftsmen have their own separate positions for the anvil of the furnace box. Except for some key parts, most of the equipment is for their own The disciples and apprentices of the school made it, and they were the last checks.

Wang Dou has strict requirements on the quality of weapons, and Li Maosen has extremely high requirements on the craftsmen. Every weapon that comes out of the oven has a number. If there is a problem, you can easily find the craftsman and the manager .For Li Maosen now, Wang Dou thinks highly of him, and he has related rewards for every batch of weapons he makes. In Shun Township Castle, he is considered a high-income senior technician, and he doesn't want to ruin himself signboard.

When Wang Dou entered Shunxiang Fort Craftsman Workshop, it was tinkling inside, and the craftsmen were working in full swing.There are anvils, hammers, pliers, furnace boxes and other equipment in front of each ironworker.Woodworking equipment is simpler, that is, axes, saws, planes, chisels and so on.

Next to the craftsman's workshop, there is an assembly room for firecrackers. After making several parts of the firecrackers, they are put here for assembly. Here, there are many simple gun beds and other things. Some craftsmen led by Li Maosen Take charge personally.On the other side of the assembly room, there is also the assembly of weapons such as knives, guns and armor. Due to the low technical content, many old, weak and women are already competent for the work.After the finished products are signed by Li Maosen, they are collectively sent to the warehouse.

Next to the assembly room, there is another big room. Here, it is full of old and weak men and women, and only some craftsmen are responsible for patrolling and supervising.

These workers make matchlocks here, which are made of hemp rope or tightly twisted cloth strips, soaked in some kind of solution and dried, so that they can burn slowly during battle.There is also custom-packed ammunition in paper tubes. Some people carefully weigh the gunpowder, put a certain amount of gunpowder and projectiles in it, and then some people pack it, every box of fifty.

Regarding their reward wages, these workers were all working hard, and they didn't even bother to look at Wang Dou when he came in.

When Wang Dou found Li Maosen, this shrewd and thick middle-aged craftsman was wearing a leather skirt and was assembling the firecracker. Gritting his teeth, he screwed a screw into the female thread at the end of the barrel.This screw is screwed into the tail of the gun to hold the breath. If the sergeant wants to clean the inner wall of the gun tube, the screw can also be screwed out.

When Wang Dou called him, he was still looking at the black and thick firecracker in his hand with satisfaction, as if looking at his beloved woman.

Seeing Wang Dou, he hastily greeted him.

In fact, Wang Dou came to see Li Maosen today, apart from seeing if Li Maosen could make [-] firecrackers before the July war, he also had other ideas, such as letting the craftsman workshop make some grenades, mines, and artillery.

According to the historical data that Wang Dou knew, landmines were widely used as early as Ming Dynasty, which is not surprising at all.During the Jiajing period, Zeng Mi, the governor of the three sides, made many landmines in Shaanxi, causing the Mongolians in the border areas to suffer a lot.However, the mine needs to use a steel wheel ignition device, so I don't know if there are such talents in Shunxiang Fort.

There are also hand grenades. With Ming’s technology, making fuzes should not be a problem. However, the power of black powder is relatively small, and the grenade must be large enough to be powerful enough. A grenade weighing seven or eight catties cannot be thrown very far, and it cannot hit the enemy. , the possibility of blowing up your own people is very high, and the field effect is small, but it still has a certain effect in defending the city.

As for artillery, think about it or forget it. Cannon-making requires relatively high technology, and requires a lot of iron and copper materials. I still use more firecrackers now, and use all the resources where I need them most.There are now three bronze cannons on the top of Shunxiangbao, five sets of bronze and iron Francophones, two invincible hands, and two tiger tail cannons, which should be enough to defend the city.

After listening to Wang Dou's words, Li Maosen pondered for a while, and said: "My lord, as long as the iron materials can keep up, and then stop making knives and spears and other equipment, two hundred firecrackers and forty iron armors will be made every month. There is nothing wrong with vice."

The new type of bird gun is much easier to make than the old bird gun. A craftsman can make a gun tube in about half a month.In April, as the Koujiagou Iron Works produced nearly 30 jin of iron materials, Li Maosen led a group of craftsmen to forge one hundred firecrackers and more than [-] pairs of armor.

It is almost May now, from May to July, two months, if he concentrates on making firecracker armor, for Li Maosen, there are now more than 180 craftsmen in Shun Township Castle, and more than 100 ordinary workers, The task requested by Wang Dou can still be completed.He's just worried about ingredients.

If five catties of wrought iron are refined into one catty of refined iron, one firecracker requires seven catties of refined iron, one hundred firecrackers requires four thousand catties of wrought iron, and two hundred firecrackers equals eight thousand catties.There is also iron armor. A pair of iron armor requires more than 30 catties of refined iron. Wang Dou requires forty pairs of iron armor to be made every month, and more than 6000 catties of wrought iron are needed in one month.

Calculated in this way, two hundred firecrackers and forty pairs of iron armor are made in a month, and more than 4000 catties of wrought iron and more than seven tons of iron are needed every month.It is nothing in later generations, but in Daming, this is an extremely huge number.I'm afraid that in the entire Bao'an State Guard, there is not so much iron material removed from the top every year.

Does the Koujiagou Iron Works have this production capacity now?
Wang Dou pondered for a while, indeed, with a monthly output of ten thousand catties of iron, Shun Township Fort has already admired the production capacity of Koujiagou Iron Works.If we want to expand production to [-] catties per month, we have to continue to increase manpower. I believe that under the crowd tactics, there is still a way for Koujiagou Iron Works to produce [-] catties of wrought iron a day.

Just this manpower, where does it come from?Shun Xiangbao's current manpower has been used to its limit.

The Koujiagou Iron Works used to employ manpower from Huiyaobao and several nearby forts. Except for some skilled iron-making craftsmen, there were more than 200 men working, and the rest were stout women. It is escorting, transporting coal in or iron materials out with a wheelbarrow every day.

Not long ago, Wang Dou sent more than 100 men from new military households to the Koujiagou Iron Works, bringing the number of local miners to more than 300.

These miners are using some simple tools for mining, such as hammers and axes, and there are no later generations of machinery, so the amount of mining is quite small.At this time, Daming already knew how to use gunpowder to blast the mines to open mines, but where did Wang Dou get so much gunpowder?Just let the miners use hammers and axes to chisel the stone vigorously every day.

Calculated by smelting one ton of pig iron from two tons of iron ore, and turning the pig iron into wrought iron that is easy to forge, the Koujiagou Iron Works needs to produce [-] catties of wrought iron a day, and at least several thousand catties of iron ore are needed every day stone.The work of the miners is very tiring, and it is impossible to work every day. They work in different shifts and dig with hammers every day. The amount of mining is so large that the manpower is really tight.

Moreover, the production of more iron will require more coal, and the manpower required to transport the coal will also increase, which again requires manpower.

There is no manpower left in Shun Township Fort.

Seeing Wang Dou pondering, Li Maosen said: "My lord, in fact, you don't have to use iron materials to make armor. You can make cotton armor and leather armor, and it can also be resistant to arrows."

Cotton armor can indeed effectively protect firearms. When Eight Banners soldiers made cotton armor, they soaked cotton and beat it repeatedly to make very thin cotton sheets. Iron sheets are placed between layers of cotton cloth, and copper nails are used to fix the inside and outside, and the cotton armor is made.

This kind of armor has a very good defensive effect on firearms, and it can also protect against cold in winter.

Compared with iron materials, cotton is also more common in the north of Daming, and its price is lower than that of iron.However, Wang Dou considered that there are wars everywhere now, and the supply of raw materials such as cotton cloth is unstable. He is controlled by others, and the Koujiagou Iron Factory is next to Shunxiang Fort. , the same is true for leather armor.

Besides, the Qing soldiers mostly used bows and arrows, and iron armor was more protective against bows and arrows than cotton armor.

Just use the firecracker armor, Wang Dou made up his mind, he said to Li Maosen: "Carpenter Li, don't worry about the iron material, I will find a way, you just take the craftsmen to forge the firecracker armor." .”

Seeing that Wang Dou had said this, Li Maosen respectfully accepted his orders.

To what Wang Dou said just now that he wanted to make some grenades and landmines, etc., Li Maosen thought for a while, cupped his fists and saluted and said: "My lord, please forgive me for being blunt, the mines are all flashy, and the effect of killing the enemy is small, and it will waste what would otherwise be worthless." There is a lot of iron gunpowder, and I suggest that all the iron materials be used to make firecracker armor."

Finally, he revealed another piece of news to Wang Dou, the gunpowder stock in the craftsman workshop is running out, please think of a way.

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Old White Bull:
I went out to do some errands during the day, and only wrote one chapter, and the second chapter was put in the evening.

(End of this chapter)