Steel Dynasty - Chapter 273

[Chapter 273 Failed imitation?]

Changan Equipment Division.

Early in the morning, the firearms battalion had delivered artillery from Qingzhou.

Fang Chengyou circled around the Qingzhou artillery and began to record the length and thickness of the artillery barrel. His body was still a little sore from yesterday’s madness.

Fang Chengyou looked serious as he carefully recorded every dimension. Yesterday, Prince Zhao promised him that if he successfully forged the counterfeit, he would get one hundred thousand taels of silver if he handed over the counterfeiting technology.

Thinking of this, he became more and more serious. Money and beauty were what he yearned for.

After carefully recording the dimensions of the cannon, Fang Youcheng said to the craftsman: “Now go and boil the wax water.”

After receiving the order, the craftsman immediately started to light a fire, moved the wax from the warehouse and began to smelt it.

Fang Chengyou plans to use the lost wax method to imitate the Qingzhou artillery. This method is to suspend the Qingzhou artillery in a pool and pour wax water in the pool.

After the wax solidifies, the craftsman will cut and assemble the solidified wax, and then a complete mold will come out.

After that, he will fill the wax mold with soil, and finally melt the wax mold, and a cannon mold will come out.

In seven days, Fang Chengyou obtained a complete clay mold.

“Supervisor, the iron quality of this Qingzhou cannon seems to be much higher than ours.” Before pouring, a craftsman said.

Zhao Yuanliang had already told him about the explosion of the barrel of the artillery, so in his opinion, pouring it with molten iron was not feasible. He had been casting the barrel for a long time and he also understood that using copper was less likely to cause the barrel to explode.

So he said: “Use molten copper, not molten iron.”

“Copper? Supervisor, this cannon is so heavy, how much copper is enough?” said the craftsman.

After Fang Chengyou learned about the explosion, he knew that using ordinary molten iron would not work. He naturally knew to use copper to cast the artillery. The price of this copper cannon would be more than ten times the cost of the Qingzhou artillery.

But the most important thing right now is to imitate the Qingzhou artillery. In this way, he has fulfilled his promise to Xiao Wenxuan and has an explanation to Zhao Yuanliang.

So he said: “I said to use copper, use copper!”

Hearing this, the craftsman had to collect the copper smelting and pouring from the entire equipment department.

Fifteen days later, a bronze cannon roughly the same size as the Qingzhou cannon appeared in the Equipment Department.

After learning the news, Xiao Wenxuan was overjoyed and ordered the firearms camp to immediately transport the bronze cannon to the firearms camp for test firing.

At the same time some important officials also arrived at the firearms camp.

“This cannon is all golden. Isn’t it all made of copper?”

Fiji almost said this through gritted teeth. This is simply a prodigal. How much does such a big pile of copper cost?

When Xiao Wenxuan saw this golden cannon, the joy on his face disappeared.

“Is this the artillery imitated by the Equipment Department? It’s really grand.”

The prince said with a smile. In his eyes, this artillery was so perfect.

Zhao Yuanliang’s eyes were bright and he thought that Fang Chengyou was really capable. Why didn’t he think of using pure copper to cast it? However, after taking a look at the size of the bronze cannon, he couldn’t help but feel a pain in his heart. Compared with the price of the bronze cannon, he was still willing to buy it from Qingzhou. Cast iron cannon.

“Test firing.” Xiao Wenxuan said coldly. If such an expensive artillery was not as good as Qingzhou’s artillery, he would probably be tempted to kill Fang Chengyou.

After receiving Xiao Ming’s order, the gunner loaded gunpowder and ammunition according to the procedures.

With a “boom”, the cannonball was shot out and flew directly into the woods. With a “boom”, the cannonball hit a tree and fell down.

Seeing such a scene, all the ministers couldn’t help but burst into laughter. The power of this artillery was not even close to that of the Qingzhou artillery.

Xiao Wenxuan’s face became even more ugly.

The prince and Zhao Yuanliang were also puzzled. The artillery looked no different from the Qingzhou artillery, so why was its power so different?

Fang Chengyou was also dumbfounded, hesitating and didn’t know what to say?

“Fang Chengyou, what should I say? It seems that the imitation has failed. The price of this bronze cannon is more than ten times more expensive than the iron cannon in Qingzhou, and its power is only one-tenth as powerful. What use does the court have for such a cannon?

Fang Chengyou said with sweat on his forehead: “No, Your Majesty, this shouldn’t be the case. This artillery is no different from Qingzhou’s artillery. How can it be so powerful?” “Ask me, who should I ask?

“

Xiao Wenxuan was angry! Said, now he completely gave up hope on imitating Qingzhou artillery.

Fang Chengyou said at this time: “Is it because the iron cannon is more powerful than the copper cannon? Your Majesty, let me test it again. This time, I will use iron to cast it?”

Xiao Wenxuan was actually a little unwilling. He said: “I’ll give it to you again. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll give it up.”

Fang Chengyou nodded immediately and returned to the Equipment Department dejectedly.

Zhao Yuanliang and the prince looked at each other with disappointed expressions.

In the next month, Fang Chengyou began to change copper to iron, but he encountered the same problem as Zhao Yuanliang. The iron cannon would explode after just a dozen test shots, and dozens of experienced craftsmen were killed.

Moreover, the range and power of the artillery are also inferior to Qingzhou’s artillery.

“Why? Why?” After another iron cannon exploded, Fang Chengyou looked at the Qingzhou artillery with despair. No matter how he improved the craftsmanship, the power of this artillery was not as good as the Qingzhou artillery.

Overnight, Fang Chengyou seemed to have aged more than ten years.

“Supervisor, Your Majesty asked Feng Shilang to bring a message, saying not to waste any more money on counterfeiting.” A craftsman said cautiously.

At this moment, Fang Chengyou was completely desperate, because Xiao Wenxuan was disappointed in him, which meant that his career would also end here.

And Zhao Yuanliang will not continue to see him, because he has lost the value of being used.

“Why? Why?” Fang Chengyou muttered to himself as if he was hysterical. He still didn’t understand why the identical artillery was not as good as Qingzhou’s artillery.

The Equipment Division’s imitation of the artillery failed, and the news spread like wildfire among officials.

Many people who had the idea of imitation were disappointed at the same time, because this would mean that they had to buy artillery from Xiao Ming.

At the same time, the news that Xiao Wenxuan asked the Equipment Department to imitate artillery quickly spread to Qingzhou.

Before that, Chang’an’s artillery had told Xiao Ming about the test firing of the copper cannon.

“Your Highness, it is said that the bronze cannon imitated by the Chang’an Equipment Department is almost the same as the Qingzhou artillery. Why is the power so different?” Pang Yukun asked in confusion after learning the news.

Speaking of which, Xiao Ming sweated. In fact, the bronze cannons copied by the Chang’an Equipment Department this time were qualified artillery, because in the early days, copper cannons and bronze cannons were the mainstream artillery until the quality of steel was improved. Cheap cast iron cannons and steel cannons appeared, and then copper cannons and bronze cannons were quickly eliminated.

The reason why the power of the copper cannon is so different this time is not a problem with the cannon itself, but a problem with the gunpowder.

According to the news brought back by the artillerymen sent to Chang’an to teach the firearms battalion, the gunpowder used by Fang Chengyou was the gunpowder of the Equipment Department, and no gunpowder from Qingzhou was used at all.

(End of chapter)