warring states careerist

Chapter 700 The Eve of the Chaos ([-])

"Then why can it only be donkeys and mules instead of cows and horses?"

The people in the coal mine pointed to the strange big iron pot in the distance, still curious.

"Why? There's an air leak. Now those water-driven, pedal-operated knife beds are okay to drill into the barrel of a musket, but you can't do it with such a big thing..."

"Let's put it this way, when our cannons can hit two miles of land after being bored with a knife bed, and can hit a house two miles away with a single shot, I will be able to produce cattle and horses instead of this poor donkey. Sincerely, This statement is not false."

He is not lying, the principle is sometimes quite simple, especially when there is a person who has learned 2000 years of human experience.

But the difficulty lies in such things as materials and precision.

After improvement, the efficiency has been improved and the steam engine can be used on a large scale. Due to the development of military science and technology, there is an urgent need for a boring machine capable of boring cannons. Without a boring machine that can bore cannons, it is impossible to process pistons and cylinders with an accuracy of about two millimeters. This causes air leaks everywhere.

It's not that it can't be used, but that there is no way to promote it on a large scale, and the cost and efficiency are too low.

The divisional military factory in Sishang has already adopted hydraulic and pedal-driven beds, but it is just such things as cutting a screw and opening the barrel.

The principle of the steam engine is very simple. A small model can be made with a file or cast copper, but it cannot be used when it is enlarged, because the piston does not fit the cylinder and causes air leakage.

If the cylinder can be dug out to have a perfect cylindrical bore, then the cannon can basically shoot wherever it is within the range.

The man in the coal mine seemed to understand, so he could only hey and said: "I also look forward to seeing it soon. There is a shortage of people, everywhere there is a shortage of people, who can use machinery, cattle and horses, wind, and water. It is true that machines can be used instead of people, but it is still not enough.”

"I have to prepare dozens of horses and thirty or forty people for pulling carts and draining water. If your machine is really useful, it can save dozens of horses and dozens of people. If it is extended to coal mines, it can save hundreds of people. Thousands of people, right?"

The man from the workshop hummed, and said a little embarrassedly: "This coal-burning mule also needs people. Some switches have to be turned on by people. When to turn on the water and when to turn on the gas... But few people use it. Women I can do it too."

"I can still make some improvements. The giant said, go first, and let the world know that steam and coal can really be used as mules. As for the remaining improvements, let's take it slowly."

"People, if you can save one, it's one. Look at those who run workshops, how jealous are they of people? Those who fled, the government camps have to go one third first; the other third go to cultivate Reclaim wasteland and serve, and the rest can be hired."

"A while ago those people were looking forward to the war. What are you looking forward to? Looking forward to people. Looking at those immovable people in the noble fiefs, I am jealous. Let me tell you, those nobles are just occupying the latrines and not shitting. The same hands are here with us, and we can produce three to five times as much in their hands."

After complaining fiercely, the strange iron lump was also brought over. This is the most primitive coal-using machine, and a large stove pit needs to be erected underneath, and people are needed to switch on and off the cold water. The efficiency they don't know can reach an energy conversion rate of fifteen thousandths.

As long as the population is larger, this thing is really difficult to promote, but now that there is a lack of people everywhere, it is the easiest time to promote.

The population explosion in the later generations, intensive farming, returned to human plowing from cattle plowing and horse plowing; almost inexhaustible manpower, stability became the premise, without strong organizational capabilities to survive the pain of machinery replacing people, there will always be reincarnation.

No matter whether it is sheep eating people or machines replacing people, for the huge population, the pain will be a major event involving the life and death of tens of millions of people, and no one dares to move.

But now, with fewer people and a shortage of people, many of the pains that should be experienced do not need to be endured. Strong organizational power can put people into planned reclamation and development.

Technology is not science, but for some things, technology often goes ahead of science, especially some things that are really not too difficult.

This era belongs to craftsmen who can do it.

And those who study "Tianzhi" hidden in the preface belong to the future.

If you don't know the principles of mechanics, don't understand the principles of mechanics, and don't understand the decomposition of mechanics, you can still make water platoons, windmills, and connecting rods, and even knock out some things that shouldn't belong to this era under the inspiration and guidance.

Even chemistry from scratch, as long as someone understands some principles, as long as they are not afraid of death, they can jump up with a limp.

But jumping up with a limp leg will always fall down. Those who study the mysterious will of heaven hidden in Xiangxu Gaoge are the ones who put wings on them.

It is easy to know but difficult to do, which is very suitable for Sishang, because there is someone who knows in Sishang.

But as for deeds, many of them start from scratch and rely on the prophets to pile up with human life and time.

Materials require thousands of trials, and the people in the factory understand the key to this.

Some things, once the principle is said, can be done now.

For example, alum acid, if you don't know how to make this thing, then Sishang can't have the kind of expensive medicine for heartache that is sold to princes and nobles.

Some things, in principle, may take ten or eight years to figure out a clue.

Another example is alum acid. The largest alum acid workshop in Sishang uses lead chambers, but the lead is too soft.If the lead chamber is too small, it will be inefficient, and if it is too large, it will be easily deformed, so what should I do?Add a wooden frame around the outside, paste it with grass mud, put a wooden frame on it, and hang the lead roof...

Another example is the leaf spring that sounds very simple. The principle is too simple. It stores power elastically and strikes the flint. However, it has taken ten years to make a leaf spring that is sufficiently elastic.

…………

The so-called "next door" by the man who installed the original coal-burning machine was full of voices.

A few people carefully fished out a bent leaf spring from the molten lead water with pliers, as if it was a piece of fragile porcelain, and seven or eight people looked at this small thing that might only be as long as a finger.

As the grumbling man next to the coal mine said, it has been ten years since the leaf spring project was established.

The reward of a hundred gold is for the outside world to rake grass and beat rabbits, hoping that some craftsmen will accidentally get it out and use it.

Internally, it is divided into several groups and tried in various ways.

As the man said, all available quenching methods were used.

It was not until I tried to use "lead", which has a melting point higher than the boiling point of oil, but much lower than that of bronze, to melt the lead and try to quench it, that I finally made a breakthrough.

The attempts of the previous few days seemed to be effective, and this time it was a repeated experiment.

First, wrought iron is forged into carburized steel, and then quickly quenched with water. After quenching, lead is melted in a crucible.

Then put the leaf spring quenched in water into the lead water, wait for the lead water to solidify, then melt the lead, squeeze it out with pliers, and let it cool naturally.

They don't understand the specific principles.

As for the means, the Hundred and Ten people spent ten years trying countless times the means of quenching, which has a melting point lower than the iron-making temperature.

I don't know how much expensive castor oil and sesame oil cost.

I don't know how many weird things have been added to the water used for quenching.

Just a few days ago, a seemingly qualified leaf spring was finally tested.

Those who are in charge of this matter today, those who have changed from young boys to middle-aged people, are all gathered here, waiting for the result for a while.

The front of the cooled small leaf spring was tied with a silk thread, and the experimental craftsman carefully added weights underneath.

When the weight of ten catties was pressed on it, the leaf spring that entrusted the painstaking efforts of more than a hundred people for ten years was still holding on, and the crowd had already let out excited shouts.

"Fifteen catties! Fifteen catties is enough! As long as you can bear fifteen catties, you can rub the flint and make the fire rate about [-]%."

"Hold on!"

The craftsmen who had been fighting for ten years shouted in unison, as if the leaf spring could hear their calls.

The craftsman in charge of adding the weight was covered with sweat on his forehead, and put another one-jin weight on it, then cut the silk thread short, and flicked it straight.

Tie the silk thread again, and repeat the original movement, many people's hearts seemed to jump into their throats.

Twelve catties.

Thirteen catties.

Fifteen catties.

Eighteen catties...

When the last piece of weight was put on, the moment the cut silk thread was straightened again, there were bursts of whistling in the room.

"It's done!"

"It's done!"

"Fuck the matchlock! No more!"

A craftsman with gray hair suddenly knelt on the ground and began to cry.

When his son was serving in the army, he died in the accident of gunpowder burning caused by the matchlock. It was just a very common accident, so normal that such an incident would be reported seven or eight times a year.

And the former young man who had been in charge of making leaf springs after learning something systematically from following suit stretched out his hand to caress this small leaf spring.

He was sure that his child had never been touched so carefully when he was born.

More than a hundred people, ten years of painstaking efforts, is such a small leaf spring.

He bent the leaf spring with all his strength and pointed it at his leg, then let go suddenly, his leg was thrashed by the huge elastic force, but he laughed out loud.

No one thought he was stupid, and no one thought there was anything wrong with laughing and crying.

For nearly ten years, all of these people's lives revolved around this little leaf spring, and it took them ten years to give birth to a child in only ten months.

In their eyes, this small leaf spring is the military medal on the chest of the soldiers, the principles in the books written by Mr. Xiang Xu, the Mohism founded by Zi Mozi, and the world entrusted by Duke Zhou...

That is something that people will still remember many years later, and it is also their greatest pride and achievement so far in their life.

The child who used to study is now middle-aged, but now, he is relieved.

It took him ten years of youth to finally pay off the gift that his husband gave him back then.

After the person in charge laughed, he didn't talk about the significance of this matter for the benefit of the world, because there was no need to talk about it.

He held up the leaf spring, but said some very life-like words.

"Go buy a bunch of firecrackers! Let's celebrate."

"Go directly to the Du branch and get the hundred gold!"

"Shut up for one month!"

"Send someone, hurry up, go to the city to buy theater tickets, go to the best wine shop, get drunk tonight, and go to the theater later in the evening! The number of tickets is bought together according to the number of wives and sons. Tonight's banquet, also Take your wife and belt with you! Pay the bill directly, and pay it back after receiving the money."

boom……

The crowd immediately burst into spontaneous applause, and when even two people hurried outside, the sound of roaring firecrackers resounded throughout the entire factory.

(End of this chapter)