Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 110 The Power of the New Cannon
"The barrel we made this time is two and a half feet long, the muzzle is three and a half inches, and the wall of the barrel is two inches thick." Li Jing explained to the crowd while painting, and finished the lecture after the painting was finished.

Zhao Shuangxi thought for a while and said, "This cannon barrel is simple. We can make a mold out of mud tires first, and then use this mold to make the cannon barrel."

The old craftsman shook his head and said, "You can't use mud tires to make molds, as the mold may be deformed during the process of pouring molten steel. This mold must also be made of steel."

Li Jingjing nodded, looked at the rice in the field and said: "I think these rice should be watered, then, when watering, our punching machine can be used, you use that punching machine to Make this mold, and then use a punching machine to press the barrel after the mold is finished."

Zhao Shuangxi and the others nodded repeatedly when they heard the words.

Li Jing thought for a while and then said: "The tiger crouching gun has a lot of recoil. I guess our gun will not have a small recoil. I think we need to make a base for it so that it will be safe when firing the gun. In addition, we This needs to be made into a bracket, so we can’t just let it lie down and fire the cannon?”

Zhao Shuangxi and the others suddenly laughed.

The old craftsman smiled and said: "Then press out the molds of the bracket and the base together, it will save a lot of effort."

Zhao Shuangxi thought for a while and said, "I think we need to make two auxiliary barrels, otherwise cleaning the barrel would be troublesome."

Li Jingwen was stunned when he heard this, he slapped himself on the head abruptly, and secretly scolded himself for being stupid, wouldn't it be appropriate to use a stamping machine to suppress cannonballs?

As long as the specifications of shell shells and warheads are mastered, there is no problem at all in making a batch of shells.

Li Jing waved his hands and said with a smile: "This time we won't be making secondary barrels, but shell casings."

As he said that, Li Jing drew the appearance of the cannonball. In order to let everyone understand, Li Jing also drew the bullet head and the shell case separately.

"The cannonballs are all sealed, how will they be fired then?" Zhao Shuangxi asked doubtfully.

The old craftsman thought for a while and said, "I'm afraid it's similar to the principle of the sudden fire gun designed by the master."

Li Jingjing nodded and smiled: "Yes, but it is different from a gun. A gun needs to be fired with a trigger. This shell is not needed, just put the shell into the barrel. Well, but in this way, the barrel we just designed also needs to be fired. Change it up. So, let's add a sparking mechanism to the bottom of the barrel that opens."

Then Li Jing drew the ignition device at the bottom of the barrel.

Zhao Shuangxi thought about it after reading it. "Isn't this the trigger of a sudden fire gun?"

Li Jing shook his head and said, "It's the same with the trigger, but this one is fixed. The ignition depends on the cap at the bottom of the shell."

The old craftsman thought for a while and suddenly said: "I understand. Although the ignition device drawn by the master is fixed, it can still be opened, so that after the bullet head of the shell is fired, the shell casing can be ejected from the back. Then put this When the device is closed, the next cannonball can be fired. Gao Ming, this method is really clever."

Li Jing gave the old craftsman a thumbs up. The old man was indeed rich in experience, and he understood the beauty of cannonballs so quickly.

Li Jing smiled and continued: "The key is that we have this."

Speaking of which, Li Jing pointed to the stamping machine under the reservoir, and then continued: "With this machine, we can produce bullets and shell casings, otherwise, how long would it take to make one by hand? Cannonballs? I can't bear to use such cannonballs!"

"Hahaha!" The old craftsman, Zhao Shuangxi and others laughed in unison.

But Li Jing immediately said seriously: "However, our equipment is simple, and the charging and sealing of warheads need to be done manually. In addition, we can only produce when the reservoir is full of water, so you must grasp this time well, and the specifications Make sure it's exactly the same."

Zhao Shuangxi and others knew that the last point Li Jing said was very important. The specifications of the bullet and the shell case must be consistent. If the bullet is small, it will not be airtight if it is not sealed well with the shell case. This will affect the firing distance, and may even fail to fire. Explosion inside the barrel, blasting the chamber is very dangerous.

After thinking for a while, Li Jing continued: "The casings of the shells are made of copper, and the warheads are made of lead. Well, I'll go to Uncle Shen and ask him to draw all the copper coins on the mountain to you."

"Hehe, master, we use money to make shells, so you have to tell the brothers to save money." Zhao Shuangxi laughed.

Li Jing smiled and said, "That's right, so when you do it, you have to pay more attention, so don't waste it."

Zhao Shuangxi and the others nodded seriously.

After talking and laughing with Zhao Shuangxi and others for a while, Li Jing got up and left.

The third day of August in the seventh year of Tianqi.

It has been a whole month since Hongshanling was besieged.

Although the supplies in the mountains are becoming increasingly scarce, Li Jing's mood seems to be getting better and better.

On this day, Shen Zheng saw Li Jing strolling on the mountain again, and finally couldn't help but said: "Nephew, I found that you don't seem to be in a hurry at all. If this continues, aren't you afraid that the brothers will lose their hearts?"

Li Jing smiled and said: "Uncle, it is because of this that I feel relieved, because the hearts of the brothers have not broken up until now."

Speaking of which, Li Jing sighed and said, "At first, I thought it would be good for everyone to persist for ten and a half months, but I didn't expect that it's been a month, and the brothers can still be the same as before. Uncle, you must know that if a person gets used to it A good life, but a bad life will not be so good, I don’t want the brothers on the mountain to be like this, if they have to suffer, they have to suffer, otherwise, they will forget their roots.”

Shen Zheng shook his head and smiled wryly: "Now I find that I can't figure out what you are thinking more and more. You haven't done anything for so many days, do you just want to see if the brothers can live a hard life?"

Li Jingjing nodded and smiled: "That's true. Think about it. Sun Meng is one of us, and Liu Hong is also half of us. With them outside, the officers and soldiers can't trap us at all. Of course, the people in the test mountain Brother is just one aspect, the main reason is that I don't want to expose the identities of Sun Meng and Liu Hong prematurely."

"Then what are you going to do? Do you want to continue to wait?" Shen Zheng asked.

Li Jing shook his head and said, "Don't wait any longer, Uncle, I'll take you to see something."

"What?" Shen Zhengqi asked.

"Hehe, do you still remember that half a month ago I asked you to give Zhao Shuangxi some copper coins?" Li Jing laughed.

Shen Zheng nodded and said, "I'm still wondering, why did you ask me to get so much copper coins for Zhao Shuangxi?"

Li Jing smiled and said, "I'll show you what these copper coins are for now."

Full of doubts, Shen Zheng followed Li Jing to the side of Laohuling Reservoir.

Seeing Li Jing and Shen Zheng approaching, Zhao Shuangxi hurriedly brought the craftsman to greet them.

Li Jing waved his hands and smiled, "Shuangxi, show Uncle Shen the guy you got out."

Zhao Shuangxi hurriedly said: "Okay, Master Shen, come with me."

After finishing speaking, Zhao Shuangxi led the way and led Li Jing and Shen Zheng along the reservoir to the front of a row of houses.

Then Zhao Shuangxi pushed aside a room casually, stretched out his hand and signaled: "Master Shen, please take a look."

Shen Zheng looked in the direction of Zhao Shuangxi's finger, and saw a row of yellow things piled up on the floor of the room.

"What is this?" Shen Zhengqi asked.

Li Jing smiled and said: "This is a cannonball, Double Happiness, you take one out, then go and get the cannon over, let Uncle Shen see it."

Zhao Shuangxi nodded, went in and carried one out, then called two of his subordinates to the next room to bring out a cannon.

"Is this a cannon?" Shen Zheng asked in surprise, "Why is it different from the tiger crouching cannon we seized?"

Zhao Shuangxi smiled and said: "This is the real artillery. Compared with this, the Tiger Crouching Cannon is not even scum."

"So powerful?" Shen Zheng asked doubtfully.

"Hehe, when we were testing the cannon a few days ago, you didn't hear any movement? This cannon went out, good guy! Such a big area was completely flattened!" Zhao Shuangxi said while gesticulating.

Li Jing pointed at Zhao Shuangxi and shook his head, "Uncle, don't listen to his nonsense, it's not that powerful, it's only within a range of about three feet, it's not as powerful as a mine."

"Can it be the same? How many explosives are in the mine? How much explosive is in it? But the mine is not as good as this one. Not to mention this one can be hit in any direction and height, which is much more practical than the mine." Zhao said. Shuangxi said somewhat unconvinced.

"Have you tried it? Why didn't you call me when you tried it?" Shen Zheng said dissatisfied.

Li Jing smiled and said, "Can you not try it? How will you know if it works if you don't try it? I didn't tell you when I tried it a few days ago because I was afraid it would fail. I want to surprise you after it succeeds."

"Hurry up, let me have a look." Shen Zheng said anxiously.

Li Jingjing nodded and signaled Zhao Shuangxi to put the cannon on the mount to open Shen Zheng's horizons.

Zhao Shuangxi led people to a secluded place, mounted the cannon, pointed to the hillside in front of him and said, "Master Shen, the voice is a bit loud, cover your ears."

Shen Zheng nodded, and covered his ears as he said.

Zhao Shuangxi held a cannonball in his arms and put it in along the barrel, only to hear a bang, and saw the cannonball fly far away and land on the mountainside in front, and then there was a loud bang, the cannonball exploded, hitting a nearby The little tree was blown up and flew out.

Seeing the scene in front of him, Shen Zheng was so shocked that he couldn't even close his mouth.

After a while, he said: "So powerful? How far is it for a mile?"

Li Jing shook his head and said, "It's not that far, but it's not too far away."

Zhao Shuangxi smiled and said: "Actually, when it was first made, it was not as easy to use as it is now, and the shells couldn't be shot out. Later, after many improvements were made, the shells were shot out. But we found that the distance of the shells was too short. , So I started to increase the weight of the gunpowder again, and experimented bit by bit, and only then did I find the optimal amount of gunpowder.”

Li Jing pointed to Zhao Shuangxi and the others and said with a smile: "Uncle, Shuangxi and the others have done a great job this time. They finally figured out a way to make the shells of the shells eject automatically. I don't even know how they came up with this way."

Shen Zheng hurriedly looked down, and sure enough, there was a bullet casing under the barrel.

(End of this chapter)