national surname chiming

Chapter 80 It's Good to Make Use of Your Existing Knowledge

Early the next morning, the official workshop in Huanggang County.

Braving the smoky smell of burning charcoal, Shen Shuren personally inspected the place that was originally responsible for making weapons for the state capital.

The person in charge of the workshop is Zhou Tiedan, a 50-year-old craftsman who has been a craftsman for generations.

During Liu Xiyao's occupation of Huangzhou, he and the No. [-] craftsmen under his management were also forced to work for the thieves. After the officers and soldiers came back, they were anxious for a while, but fortunately, Shen Shuren didn't care about it later.

Today the new magistrate came to inspect in person, Zhou Tiedan was of course sincere and apprehensive, he received him very carefully, and brought his disciples to kneel down to welcome him when he saw it from afar.It is also afraid that the magistrate will liquidate which weapons they have built for the thieves in the past year and a half since the thieves.

Shen Shuren had a modest attitude, even though it was the first time he saw these people, he walked up quickly and directly supported Zhou Tiedan:
"Hey, there is no need to be strict about etiquette. The imperial court suppressed thieves and expelled slaves. It was the first battle to fight hard. You are all people who are of great use to the state. In the future, you will continue to work hard under my officials. I will pay you well, except In addition to the court's quota, if you perform well, you will be rewarded privately by this official."

Zhou Tiedan still couldn't believe it, so he took out a booklet anxiously:

"Master Taiwan of Haojiaofu learned that during the year and a half of Huanggang's fall, Thief Liu forced us to build so many weapons. We all know that the heavenly soldiers of the imperial court will be restored one day, so we dare not destroy them even after keeping the accounts. , please forgive me."

Shen Shuren took it, and said directly and openly: "Even Liu Xiyao knows how to use you. Is my knowledge not as good as Liu Xiyao's? The murderer kills with a knife. The crime is the murderer and not the knife. Don't mention this matter in the future."

An understatement of a sentence, but the truth is easy to understand, which warms the hearts of Zhou Tiedan and others.

They quickly led Shen Shuren into the house, and first took a brief look at the blacksmith workshop in the state capital.The workbenches, forging hammers, and furnaces for making knives, guns and arrow clusters of various colors are also in order.

There are also several rooms next to it that are theoretically dedicated to repairing firecrackers. There are simple jigs and equipment for forging iron bars and boring holes.

The signboard at the gate of the yard is written in a serious manner, which means "repair", not "new construction", which can be regarded as respect for the unspoken rules of the imperial court.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, local prefectures were allowed to make their own firearms. After Jingnan, Zhu Di was afraid that other vassal kings would also build armaments, so he banned local firearms.It was not until the Ming Yingzong civil fort change that the Ming Dynasty released the control of "allowing localities to repair the firearms issued by the court by themselves".

At first, it was only the important towns on the nine borders, but in the late Wanli period, thieves and thieves broke out everywhere, and the inland state capitals were gradually released.But the word "repair" has always been bitten to death.

After the local garrisons are worn out, even if new ones are built to fill the gap, it is still a repair to the outside world. As long as the total number does not exceed the imperial quota, there is no prohibition.

Fortunately, it is now the end of Chongzhen's 13th year, and the court's laws must become more and more lax.

Shen Shuren looked at the accounts over the years very carefully, and asked Zhou Tiedan how the previous magistrates dealt with the quota checks above.The last stone in his heart fell to the ground when he learned that there is no one to check it now, and it is all relying on the local government to report voluntarily.

That being the case, starting next year, you can safely and boldly open firearms!

After solving the difficulties at the policy level, Shen Shuren continued to inspect the technical situation.

He walked around the workshop and saw several semi-finished bird gun barrels, which were just round iron rods. Zhou Tiedan also showed him the follow-up process-the firearms in the late Ming Dynasty were still forged Iron rods, and then bore deep holes to process the gun barrel.

Although Shen Shuren didn't have much knowledge in science and engineering, he couldn't help frowning after seeing such a primitive operation. The efficiency of this process must be too low.

Of course, he also knows that military production cannot blindly save trouble, otherwise the quality will not be guaranteed.

For example, the cheapest casting method is definitely not acceptable.The cast material is not dense enough, porosity and sand holes are possible, the surface will be burred and uneven, and the airtightness is insufficient.

If it is a cannon, the wall of the pipe is very thick, and occasionally there are trachoma, which can still withstand it.The barrel of the firecracker is too thin, once the trachoma is blown directly.

"When you make gun barrels, you can only rely on drilling? Have you ever thought of rolling them up with wrought iron sheets, and then reheating and welding to deal with the gaps? I really feel that the gaps are not strong, and you can put a few more on the outside. Iron hoops."

Shen Shuren thought about it, and it seemed that the ancient Western gun-making techniques he had seen in his previous life were made by bending and welding iron sheets.While a welded barrel is definitely less pressure-resistant than a seamless drilled barrel, the machining speed is definitely much faster.

It's a pity that Zhou Tiedan was also at a loss after hearing this.I can only say that I will try to figure out a way to try it, but the strength of the produced pipe cannot be guaranteed.

He still has a lot of practical experience, and patiently explained: "Master Futai, the strength of this gun barrel is not enough, it is definitely not enough to just add iron hoops.

If the iron hoop is too loose, by the time the iron hoop is needed to restrain the expansion force of the gunpowder, the inner tube must have exploded, or at least a seam will have opened.In the end, it will only cause the inner tube and iron hoop to be cracked one after another.

If the iron hoop is too tight, it is so tight that it can bear the force with the inner pipe, but it cannot be inserted at all during the initial processing. "

After Shen Shuren listened, he simulated it carefully in his mind. It is considered as a layman who has a lot of worries, and occasionally got something:
"You can try heating the reinforcing iron hoop first until the hole becomes slightly larger, and then put it on the cooled inner coiled pipe. Wait for the outer iron hoop to cool and lock, and it will be bound."

Historically, the French liked to use this kind of technology, but the French used it on the inner and outer two-layer gun barrel material, which is called "self-tightening tube technology".Shen Shuren couldn't let the craftsmen make two layers of pipe walls with the same length, so he could only strengthen a few circles of iron hoops at a few points, which was still a lot inferior to the French products in the late 18th century.

After Zhou Tiedan heard this, he thought about it for a while, and suddenly felt that the magistrate really understood by analogy.

As an old blacksmith, he can vaguely feel the effect of "thermal expansion and cold contraction", but he has never studied physics, so he cannot systematically summarize the usage of these experiences.

When Shen Shuren's scientific summary is combined with his actual combat experience, one plus one is greater than two.

Shen Shuren didn't make things difficult for him, so he asked him to think about it slowly after he went back. It doesn't matter if he doesn't know new techniques for a while.

After a comprehensive inspection, he pointed out another problem: "We don't need to mention the coiled pipe method for the time being, but your drilling method is really not good. Look at the two pipes, the inner hole and the outer hole. The centers of the tubes are not fixed together at all.

How much power the firecracker can exert is determined by the thinnest side of the tube wall.The eccentric error of the drilling is so obvious that one side is thinner and the other side is thicker, and the thicker side is completely wasted.Why can't your drilling machine even reach the level of "Tiangong Kaiwu"? "

As Shen Shuren said, he asked his attendants to bring a book, which was Song Yingxing's "Heavenly Creation of Things" published three years ago.

In fact, there are already records in the Ming Dynasty that there were quite a few advanced processing machine tools at that time.

A lathe with a wooden pole passed down from Europe;

It is also possible to replace the turning tool with a drill bit for boring;
It can also be replaced with a grinding wheel for grinding jade and car beads.

There are also pictures in "Tiangong Kaiwu". The picture corresponding to the drilling machine and boring machine is called "Punching Tuo Tu", and the picture corresponding to the grinding machine for turning beads is called "Zha Tuo Tu".

Shen Shuren hadn't read "Heavenly Creation" in detail before traveling, after all, as a modern person, he didn't bother to read ancient engineering books.

After returning to the Ming Dynasty, when he was tinkering with the flying shuttle loom and other small inventions with Fang Yizhi and Dong Xiaowan last year, he paid a lot of money for "Tiangong Kaiwu" and "Nongzheng Quanshu" in order to brainstorm and inspire.Later, I found that there were some things in these books, so I immersed myself in reading them whenever I had time, and I really found a lot of good things.

Many technologies actually existed in the late Ming Dynasty, but ordinary people and illiterate craftsmen didn't know about them, and scholar-officials didn't bother to spend money to promote them.

Zhou Tiedan read the book presented by Shen Shuren, and after a few glances, his eyes straightened.Exclaiming these few illustrations in the book repeatedly solved some of his doubts for many years and made him suddenly enlightened.

"So I have these things in the Ming Dynasty? Didn't they come from the Frangji and the Hongyi barbarians? The old man has been using those drill rigs that are much rougher all these years, and he has never thought of improving...My lord, this time When and who wrote the book? If I had gotten it a few years earlier... Sigh."

Shen Shuren also has a new understanding of the occlusion of this era:

"This book is in Suzhou. Chongzhen has had it for ten years, that is, three years ago. Why don't you say that your Huangzhou is closed. Forget it, I will pay attention to you in the future. If there are any good things outside, I will communicate with you as soon as possible. Yes or no."

Zhou Tiedan thanked him again and again, saying that he would study hard and improve the drilling machine, grinding machine and lathe, especially the problem of improving the accuracy of the center of the jig.

Shen Shuren didn't press too hard: "Forget it, it seems that whether it is the drilling method or the rolling method, you have to study it for a few months before you have any clues. Don't be busy making gun barrels recently, sharpen the knife. For woodcutters, lay the foundation first, and let the craftsmen understand the principles thoroughly.

In the two months of winter, after you study, let's build some cold weapons for our army first.I want a batch of these new axes, and a kind of spear head with an iron hoop at the bottom. These knives and guns can always be hit, right? "

As he spoke, he took out two sketches that Dong Xiaowan had drawn for him, and spread them directly on the workbench in front of him.

"This kind of bayonet head with an iron hoop is called a bayonet. The iron hoop must be as thick as the diameter of the outer tube of the blunderbuss or Lumi blunderbuss, and it can be directly placed on the head of the blunderbuss, so that the gunner can also have it. It must be able to fight against cavalry and array melee.

If you feel that it is not easy to fix, you can try to use the "rolling tube method plus iron hoop" mode just mentioned, first create a few gun barrels, and then make sure that the bayonet hoop can be clamped with the original iron hoop outside the gun barrel.Anyway, try to lock it as tightly as possible. You can think about the specific mechanism to use, so as to prevent the bayonet head from staying in the enemy's body when the gun is drawn after being stabbed. "

The oldest musket bayonet in history is not even hooped outside the barrel, but directly inserted into the barrel. This is what Shen Shuren only knew when he played Sega's "Empire Total War" RTS game in his previous life——

In the Empire Total War series, the first bayonet technology that was pointed out was the "barrel-inserted bayonet". Yes, the bayonet cannot be pulled out.

Of course, Shen Shuren didn't need to go through all the detours that Europeans took in the early 18th century, so he went up to look for a bayonet with an outer hoop to ensure that he could still fire if he wanted to fire with a bayonet.

(End of this chapter)