Steel Dynasty - Chapter 136

[Chapter 136 Iron Mold Cannon]

The next day, King Wei and the mighty fleet left Qingzhou Pier.

Xiao Ming looked at King Wei’s fleet with some envy, wondering when his own Qingzhou City would have such a majestic fleet.

In the shipyard in Qingzhou, his Galenic ships are still under intensive construction. He only hopes that by the end of the year, he will be able to get three Galenic warships as Zhang Liang said.

When the time comes, he will place the artillery on Galen’s ship. In this era of sailing battleships, he will be taking a step into the sea.

But when he thought of artillery, his head suddenly got bigger. The number of artillery needed on this battlefield was also quite large, and it was a heavy burden. From this point of view, training a powerful navy really requires continuous bombardment. Money.

After sending King Wei off, Xiao Ming went directly to the Equipment Department.

At this time, Chen Qi was leading the craftsmen to cast iron molds, and the technology library in his mind was full of artillery casting methods.

Naturally, Xiao Ming would not take the detour that his predecessors had taken. The method he used to cast the cannon this time was the iron mold casting method. This iron mold casting method actually existed in ancient times.

However, it was not until the Qing Dynasty that it was used to cast artillery.

There is actually no technical difficulty in this method, but today’s craftsmen simply cannot think of this method.

All that is rare sometimes is not the technology, but the discovery of technology.

Now Xiao Ming has taught Chen Qi and others the complete iron mold cannon casting technique. For these skilled craftsmen, it is only a matter of time before they master the iron mold cannon casting method.

“Your Highness, we are making clay cannon embryos now.” Chen Qi saw Xiao Ming coming and walked over immediately.

This matter of casting the cannon kept him awake for several days and nights, thinking about the method Xiao Ming taught him day and night.

And artillery, the weapon Xiao Ming talked about, made him even more excited. As Xiao Ming said, if the artillery was built, he, Chen Qi, would be famous in history.

But these days, he has led the craftsmen to try to cast the cannon, only to find that the manufacture of the cannon is not that simple. Now, just this cannon mold has failed several times.

Looking at the failed clay cannon embryos on the ground, Xiao Ming said: “Failed again?”

Chen Qi looked a little tired and ashamed, “Your Highness, this clay cannon embryo always fails to shape at the beginning of the craftsman’s work. , I’m a little more proficient now, I think it’s almost done this time.”

Xiao Ming nodded and looked at the craftsman who was making clay cannon embryos.

This iron-moulded cannon must first be divided into 4-7 sections according to the size of the iron cannon to make a clay cannon. Then the iron-moulded clay mold is made according to the number of clay cannon sections. Each clay molded section is divided into two parts, and the inner surface is rotated with a lathe. Make the surface smooth and regular in shape, then dry it for later use.

A prefabricated handle is placed in the clay mold and is integrated with the iron mold during pouring.

When turning the cast iron mold with a clay mold, first place the muzzle section upside down on a clay flat plate, fill one of the sections with mud, dry it, cover it with the clay flat plate, tighten the mold, and after pouring, you will get the third A piece of iron mold.

Then remove the filling mud and cast another iron mold in the same way. By pouring section by section in this way, a complete set of iron molds can be cast layer by layer.

When the iron cannon is finally cast with an iron mold, the inner surface of the mold is first painted with a paint made of fine rice husk ash and fine sand mud mixed with water, and then a second layer of paint made of very fine coal powder is applied, and then the iron is tightened The mold is heated, the clay core is assembled, and molten iron is poured into it. After solidification, immediately take off the iron mold, and while the gun body is still red hot, remove the burrs and mud core to obtain the finished gun.

However, this time in order to reduce the explosion rate of the artillery, he planned to use a hollow ceramic core instead of a mud core, and fill the hollow ceramic core with water to cool the iron in the barrel.

This is also an indigenous method of barrel cooling technology, which only aims to reduce the chamber explosion rate and produce high-quality iron cannons.

The matter of extorting other vassal kings was left to Zhan Xingchang. Now Xiao Ming devoted himself wholeheartedly to the Equipment Department, and Chen Qi was bound to produce this artillery.

This time when the barbarians went south, a large army was bound to be dispatched. If they wanted to prevent the barbarians from conquering Cangzhou, they could only rely on the city’s fortifications and artillery to surprise the barbarians and make them retreat in panic.

After all, his artillery is not the fire barrel of the Great Chongqing Kingdom. The range of three to four miles is enough to make the barbarians drink a pot.

As Chen Qi said, after the failures in the past few days, the craftsmen have mastered some skills.

However, the artillery has not yet been cast. The artillery casting specifications have been released. Xiao Ming divided the artillery into 6-pound, 9-pound, 12-pound, 18-pound, 24-pound, 32-pound, and 42-pound guns.

The artillery that Xiao Ming forged this time was used to defend the city. Naturally, he had to use heavy artillery, so he used an 18-pound cannon. The 32-pound cannon and the 42-pound cannon were giant cannons. It was not necessary at all. After all, the 18-pound cannon was used. An eight-pounder can be used as a naval gun.

And the higher the poundage, the larger and heavier the gun body, and transportation itself is a problem.

In one day, according to the design standards of the eighteen-pound cannon, the Equipment Department built half of the clay cannon embryo, and the rest could only be continued tomorrow.

As for the clay cannon embryo, it still needs to be cast into an iron mold. In total, it will take at least ten days before the cannon can be cast.

It has been about ten days since we got the news that the barbarians were heading south. It will take about a month to produce the first cannon.

At this time, it is estimated that the time before the barbarians will go south is only about five months. This is just his guess.

If the barbarians went south early, he would be really in trouble.

Because of this, he did not dare to take time off during this period of time. He did not dare to delay after finishing this work. He returned to the palace in the evening and thought about how to granulate gunpowder.

As we all know, the more powerful the gunpowder, the more powerful the artillery.

Nowadays, the gunpowder ratio in Dayu is not very accurate in all aspects, but gunpowder is no longer a secret.

The materials for producing gunpowder are also easy to obtain.

After returning from the Equipment Department, Xiao Ming called Lu Tong over after dinner.

The gunpowder was a chemical matter, so it was naturally left to Lu Tong to handle. Luluo and Aster also came to help. The five of them were in the side hall of the palace, with lanterns lighting up the surroundings.

Xiao Ming had charcoal, saltpeter, sulfur, and a small scale in front of him. While weighing the three things, he told Lu Dao: “Crush these three things into powder. Be careful. This will explode.” .”

Lu Tong’s face turned pale and his hands couldn’t help but tremble. Only after studying chemistry with Xiao Ming did he realize that nothing in this chemistry study could kill someone.

Now Xiao Ming asked him to make something as powerful as gunpowder, which put him under great pressure.

But thinking about the barbarians going south, he gritted his teeth and gritted his teeth. This was the hatred of the country and the family. In order to eliminate the barbarians, he would not only make gunpowder, but also eat them raw.

Seeing Lu Tong gritting his teeth and looking like he couldn’t deal with the gunpowder material, Xiao Ming was afraid. He said: “Be gentle and grind it into powder as finely as possible. Don’t use too much force. You can’t kill me if you want to.”

PS: Two chapters will be released first, and there will be four more chapters tonight.

(End of chapter)