Ming Zuo

Chapter 202 Technological Advances

Zuo Menggeng is like a lion king who has been away for a long time.

The first thing he did when he came back was to inspect his territory to see if there was anything wrong.

After seeing the garment factory, look at Zhuangzi, and after looking at the school, look at the refugees from Zunhua.

There were a total of more than [-] refugees, and when they arrived in Linqing, only a little over [-] were left.

Some left the team to go to relatives on the way, and some died of illness or freezing on the way.

Those who survived entered a new life, and quickly found the motivation for life in Linqing.

Having experienced suffering, life and death at the same time, they understand the difficulty of a better life.When the new army recruited, most of them signed up.

It's a pity that only two out of ten of them qualified.

The factory is a place that Zuo Menggeng haunts in his dreams, especially the gun factory and the gun factory.

Not only Zuo Menggeng came, but basically all the officers came.

Weapons have experienced actual combat, what problems need to be rectified, and the army, as the user of actual combat, is the person with the most say.

Tu Yixian, Bi Maokang and other directors and officers of the weapons institute gathered together for exchanges and conclusions.

"The problem with muskets is mainly on the bullets. The glue you use is too strong. Many times after soldiers pull out the bullets, the glue still sticks to the paper shell, making it difficult to pour out the gunpowder."

Asking questions is not messy and everyone asks, but Huang Zongxi summarizes the questions and passes them to the Weapons Institute on behalf of everyone.

Today's meeting, Li Banghua, Huang Daozhou, Dang Huanchun, Qu Shixu and Zhang Jimeng all came to observe.

They obviously want to take the administrative route in the future, but it doesn't have nothing to do with the military.Especially on the road of future expansion, the military and the government must cooperate with each other.

In other words, at any time, those of them who hold pens will also have to hold guns.

However, they are all very novel about the meeting mode of the new army.

After observing it for a while, I discovered the benefits.

First of all, everyone can speak freely and freely, without blocking the way of speech.

Secondly, in the process of communication, everyone's core is just work.Even if there is a quarrel, it is all about the matter and not the person, and there will be no personal attacks.

Finally, this kind of meeting is very efficient. If there is any problem, it will be clearly expressed on the spot, and the priority of problem solving will also be raised.

It's not like the imperial court at all, when the memorial is sent up, only the gods will know when it will be seen by the emperor.

Hearing that the military suggested that the glue affected the shooting efficiency, Bi Maokang immediately asked his assistant to record it.

"After we go back, we will form a dedicated team to see if we can improve the glue."

Zuo Menggeng also spoke.

"Next, our artillery has to be developed to see if we can cover the bore so that the shells can be inserted through the breech breech. The artillery brigade responded that the open bore would cause the cartridge to be ejected by a violent explosion."

Tu Yi refused to agree.

"Currently the cartridge cannot be made into a standard round shape, and the production of the fire cap cannot keep up. If the shell is inserted from the breech block, the ignition method cannot be solved."

He didn't just veto it, it seemed that during the experiment, the Artillery Institute also realized this problem.

"Sir, gentlemen, look, what if we add a folding cover to the barrel?"

Looking at the blueprint drawn by Tu Yixian, everyone studied it and found that this is the best method among the current methods.

In addition to the transformation of the Zuoying Cannon, Zuo Menggeng proposed a new topic.

"This time, there is another problem that has to be solved. Our artillery is too small, and occasionally there is a problem of insufficient range. In addition, when this type of artillery is besieging the city, it can only suppress the city head, but cannot destroy the city wall. I The idea is, we're going to build bigger guns."

The longer and thicker the barrel, the more explosives it can hold, and the longer the natural range.

"With the shells we currently use, no matter how big they are, they can't blow up the city walls."

Zuo Menggeng had already thought of Bi Maokang's reminder.

"My idea is that the large artillery can not only open flower bullets, but also fire solid bullets. This will be very effective for attacking the city wall."

Unless a new generation of gunpowder can be installed, otherwise, warheads made of black powder really have nothing to do with the city walls of this era.

However, solid shells can smash down the city wall.

If it works, use it.Zuo Menggeng didn't think that doing so was a step backwards, everything was based on practical considerations.

Others have no opinion.

As officers, of course they hope to have more powerful artillery available for use.

Bi Maokang raised the last question.

"Is the large artillery mounted from the rear or from the front?"

Zuo Menggeng did not draw conclusions lightly, but asked for advice: "What do you think of Dongjiao Gong?"

Bi Maokang is very firm.

"In terms of our current technology, large artillery must use the front loading mode."

Since pretense is not allowed, Zuo Menggeng followed suit, and his focus was on other things.

"Can large artillery use steel casting?"

Bi Maokang gave an unexpected answer.

"This kind of artillery can use steel, but it cannot be cast. It must be made by cold forging."

Zuo Menggeng was quite surprised.

"Dongjiao Gong knows the art of cold forging?"

In his impression, cold forging seems to be a weapon-making technique that will only be used in later generations.

Bi Maokang is proud of himself.

"The old man has nothing to do. He discussed a lot with Priest Deng Yuhan and learned the art of cold forging from him."

The weapon cold forging technology of this era is not exactly the same as that of later generations, but it can be regarded as the initial version of the technology of later generations.

What Zuo Menggeng didn't know was that the gunsmiths who were taken to Liaodong by the Dongjiang rebels soon mastered the cold forging artillery technique they learned from Western priests, and it turned out to be cheap for later gold.

Not only that, Bi Maokang, as a technical fanatic, also told Zuo Menggeng a piece of good news.

"The old man is currently researching whether the cold forging technique can be used to manufacture gun barrels. If it is successful, the quality of the gun barrels of our army will be even higher in the future."

Cold forging is the method of making gun barrels in later generations. Although the muskets of the New Army are made of wrought iron, the barrels made by cold forging are better than cast ones, with much less air bubbles.

Tu Yixian also knew that Zuo Menggeng was very busy, so he simply asked any questions.

"Sensei, if we want to build large-scale artillery, we need a new factory area. But at present, the land for our weapons factory is gone, and the military department needs to re-plan."

Zuo Menggeng had already thought about it when he decided to cast a large cannon.

"There is no land available in Linqing. After a while, let's open a factory in a new place."

His eyes turned to the Yimeng mountain area in the south.

There is a vast territory, sparsely populated, and weak imperial rule.When you win there, you can build any factory you want, and you can build it as big as you want.

Zuo Menggeng went to inspect the gunpowder factory again.

There is nothing to say about the black powder department, except for more manpower, there will be no changes.

Because of his shot, Black Powder reached its peak many years in advance, without any room for improvement.

The mercury fulminate factory area has also increased a large number of manpower, and today's output is five times that of when the rear camp started.

"I have refined the factory area, and at the same time moved the final assembly area to the west, which is completely separated from here, and it is also safer."

Zuo Dai took up his new position and started to work with high efficiency.

The production of mercury fulminate is extremely dangerous, so not only are all departments far away from residential areas, military barracks, and factory areas, but also the several departments within are also far apart.

Zuo Dai is also adhering to Zuo Menggeng's thought, everything is for safety considerations.

But when it comes to safety, something scary happened.

When Zuo Dai was reporting to Zuo Menggeng, there was a sudden commotion in front of him, and then he saw a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth running wildly with a ignited torch in his hand.

Behind him, there are dozens of people chasing wildly, rushing all the way here.

Someone actually lit an open flame in the mercury fulminate factory area, and Zuo Dai's face turned pale with fright.

"Guards, take him down. Attendant, please go first, it's dangerous here."

Zuo Menggeng shook his head, unmoved.

It is of course dangerous to open a fire in the mercury fulminate factory area, but the location where they are located is an open area within a hundred meters.Even if this person throws the torch around, it is impossible to ignite the mercury fulminate.

Zuo Menggeng was very curious, why did this person dare to do this?

While thinking about it, the guards rushed up, stopped the young man head-on, subdued him with punches and kicks, and extinguished the fire.

When the man was beaten, he was not afraid, and kept yelling.

"My anger... my anger..."

It was only then that Zuo Menggeng noticed that he was holding a bulging skin bag in his other hand, and he didn't know what it was.

The people behind also caught up, obviously they were the managers of the factory area.

Without further ado, he came up and gave him a big slap.

"Chen Shuangjin, you are crazy! Didn't I tell you that naked flames are not allowed in the factory?"

(End of this chapter)