Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 738 Gunpowder Factory

Thinking this way, Ye Chen said: "Recruit some teenagers aged 14 to 24, work part-time, learn skills while learning characters, and divide them into literacy classes, technical classes and scientific research classes according to the progress. The outstanding ones in the literacy class Students who pass the test in the technical class can be promoted to the scientific research class, so that there will be three levels of training, and students with average qualifications in the literacy class will be sent directly to work in various workshops, and those in the technical class can become Junior craftsmen and those in the scientific research class can directly become senior craftsmen. In addition, some people from the original weapon research department and these master craftsmen can be selected as teachers. These people have more practical experience, so that students will not Too biased theory, more emphasis on hands-on ability."

As Ye Chen walked, he taught Yu Wen how to run a technical school.At the same time, looking all the way, all the craftsmen who passed by knelt down and saluted.Ye Chen nodded and waved his hands to let them get up, and continued to work on himself.

Next, at a distance of five miles from other factories, Ye Chen and others came to the gunpowder branch under the military factory.

Yu Wenhui reported: "Your Majesty, the gunpowder we produced before this war with the Song Dynasty has almost been exhausted. However, the fire salt extracted from the saltpeter is now 370 catties, and it takes less than seven days , the gunpowder factory can make them into granulated gunpowder."

Hearing this, Ye Chen said solemnly: "We faced two or three times more enemies than us this time, and one of the important reasons why we were able to defeat them was due to the contribution of gunpowder. So no matter when, the reserves of gunpowder No less than 20 catties."

Yu Wen solemnly said yes.

Ye Chen continued: "However, you must pay attention to safety during the production of gunpowder. I remember that in Kaifeng, when you produced gunpowder, there were several explosion accidents. The secret recipe I gave you at the beginning included precautions for building a gunpowder workshop. It must be strictly enforced."

Speaking of which, Ye Chen touched the shiny iron pillar in front of the gunpowder factory gate and said: "For example, this iron pillar must be there, and you must touch it before entering the door. As for the reason, I will tell you As I said, it’s best for you to understand, and those who don’t understand must be strictly enforced. If there is a violation, no matter who it is, it must be severely punished.”

It was Jia Xian's first visit to the gunpowder factory, and he heard Ye Chen's seriousness. He couldn't help looking at the iron pillar for a long time, and finally couldn't help asking: "Your Majesty, what's the secret here?"

Ye Chen smiled and didn't answer directly. Instead, he rubbed his clothes on his clothes for a while, then put his hand on the iron pillar, and heard a soft voice.

Jia Xian let out a light snort, and rubbed his hands on his clothes for a while. Then, just as his hands touched the iron pillar, he seemed to be pricked by a thin needle. He tried to touch again, but the feeling was gone.

Ye Chen then said: "Friction on clothes tends to generate a kind of static electricity similar to lightning, and it will explode when it encounters an iron pillar. If it is night, you can definitely see sparks."

Jia Xian looked at his clothes, rubbed them again for a while, stroked the iron pillar, and said in surprise: "The gunpowder workshop cannot see fireworks. I thought that as long as there is no kindling, it will be fine... so it is. Your Majesty knows nothing about me." Waiting for ordinary people to guess."

What Jia Xian said was the truth, in fact, he was also one of the first people who experienced the extraordinary in person.

Ye Chen asked the guards to wait outside, took off his shoes with Jia Xian and Yu Wen, put on a pair of cow ear hemp shoes, and walked into the gunpowder factory whose ground was entirely made of hard loess.

"Your Majesty, according to your instructions, we never put the finished gunpowder in the gunpowder workshop, but store it separately in the arsenal. The distance between the arsenals is more than one hundred feet, and there are earth walls and deep isolation ditches in between. In addition, the final assembly process of the gunpowder pack is also set up separately, and all the processes will not be carried out in one site just to save the shed."

Nowadays, not only Ye Chen attaches great importance to gunpowder, but also generals and soldiers like gunpowder.In fact, the entire Xiangfu country, civil and military officials regard the gunpowder from the gunpowder factory as a treasure of the Xiangfu country. Not to mention that it is used to fight and attack the city. Water conservancy, construction of roads, opening of mountains and plains, etc., can be said to have saved a lot of labor in many civil affairs in Xiangfu Kingdom, greatly improved the progress and efficiency of some things, and thus saved huge costs.

Not long after, Yu Wen brought Ye Chen and Jia Xian to an arsenal where there were more than a dozen finished gunpowder bags.Ye Chen glanced at it, and said, "Why are these gunpowder bags almost all different in size, and the thickness of the cowhide wrapping is also different?"

Yu Wen was a little nervous, because Ye Chen frowned when he said this.

"Your Majesty, this is because these gunpowder bags are made by different craftsmen. They use different rulers, so the length and size are slightly different. As for the thickness of the cowhide package, it is because the thickness of the cowhide itself is different."

Speaking of Yu Wen, he took their working rulers from several gunpowder craftsmen nearby and handed them to Ye Chen. Ye Chen took them and took a look at them. These tools were all rusty, and they had scales and balances in this era. The requirements for regular calibration and measurement are the same, but they are not implemented. Ye Chen's request to the military factory is to make things out as soon as possible, and make more things out, but he didn't check the process carefully. At this time, he suddenly found that he had overlooked a very important thing. The problem.

For a while, he focused his energy on the army and the people's livelihood, especially on perfecting the various regulations of the army, but ignored similar issues in the military factories.

"During the battle between Sizhai and Dangjin this time, I saw with my own eyes that because the weight of each gunpowder pack is different, the aim must be recalculated every time it is fired. Not to mention time-consuming and labor-intensive, it is easy to cause errors on the battlefield. .”

Sweat rolled down Yu Wen's forehead, because Ye Chen's expression was extremely displeased at this time.

"Your Majesty's lesson is that I guarantee that the gunpowder bags behind must be the same size." Although Yu Wen is Ye Chen's close minister, he is also a cousin of Yu Qingyan who was conferred the title of noble concubine. Strictly speaking, he is a relative of the emperor, but Ye Chen Now the majesty is too great, and he rarely speaks harsh words to his courtiers, so even if he doesn't say anything serious, it is easy to make the courtiers panic.

Ye Chen recalled the armor he had seen before, and found that there was also the problem of measurement confusion, and the size of the armor plates was also different.The nature of the problems on both sides is the same, the armor is slightly better, and it does not need to be operated during combat, it is not uniform enough, and some errors have little effect, but the gunpowder bag is a big problem.

Ye Chen asked all the craftsmen to come closer, and said to Yu Wen and them: "Everyone who can work in the gunpowder factory is the most trustworthy person for me and the court, and the most loyal person for me, and I can't say anything about your craftsmanship. However, things on the battlefield must not be sloppy at all, because the quality of what you make directly determines the survival of soldiers."

Yu Wen led all the craftsmen to kneel down and said, "Your Majesty taught me the lesson."

Ye Chen asked them to stand up, and then said: "There is an old saying that if a craftsman wants to be good at a job, he must first sharpen his weapon! Don't be busy making weapons today, first make sure the size and balance of the equipment used are uniform. Let’s do it in a unified way, and in the next step, all factories, whether they produce weapons, armor, or gunpowder packs, or even the sizes used by the people of our Xiangfu country, must be uniformly balanced and standardized.”

Yu Wen quickly memorized Ye Chen's words firmly, and then bowed and said yes.

...

...

Although it is only the simplest hydraulic machinery, compared with this era, Xiangfu Kingdom's military factory has taken a revolutionary step in the field of mechanical development under Ye Chen's intentional or unintentional guidance.However, the history of mechanical development is doomed to be a history full of setbacks and ups and downs. First, the cost of the original machinery is much higher than the cost of manpower. For example, two oxen are sufficient for the work of water wheel grinding. Sawed into a hill.The second is the pressure of the population. During the Roman Empire, a machine for moving stones was invented. The Roman Emperor angrily denounced this as "taking the bread of the poor."Ye Chen remembered that in a certain dynasty in China's feudal dynasty, it was planned to use sea ships to transport grain, and it was also called "how can the million-dollar Grand Canal provide food and clothing for water workers".

"Strive to study hydraulic machinery, vigorously organize manpower to repair the reservoir." Ye Chen finally gave Yu Wen general instructions when he finished this inspection.

After taking Jia Xian to inspect the two civilian workshops, Ye Chen returned to Xiazhou City with Jia Xian in a carriage that looked ordinary on the outside but had caves inside, surrounded by guards.

"Since the toothbrush, tooth powder, four-wheeled carriage, soap, perfume, etc. produced in the workshop have been suppressed in the Song Dynasty, the business will be directed to other directions, such as Khitan, Dali, Western Regions, etc. In addition, even in the Song Dynasty, you can turn from the dark to the bright, or change your appearance, and continue to make money." Ye Chen is quite troubled about money now, and he inspected the military factory just now because of his instructions and poured tens of thousands of taels of silver into it, so these later With his current status, he couldn't help but say a few words about things that he didn't need to ask.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, Zhou Xin and Feng Gang have already started to do these things. It's just that it is difficult to achieve results in the short term, so the financial aspect is still very tight." Jia Xian, as the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, obviously has a more direct feeling about this point.Although I don't want to embarrass His Majesty the Emperor, I still have to say it.

Ye Chen closed his eyes slightly, and thought about the ways that future generations can use to make money. After a while, his eyes opened, bright as stars, and with a smile.Seeing this, Jia Xian said wittily, "Your Majesty has a good plan?"

Ye Chen nodded and said: "There is a good strategy that kills multiple birds with one stone, but this good strategy can only be implemented after Xu Xuan's Xiangfu Academy is established. Otherwise, it may be too late."

(End of this chapter)