There is a space for passenger planes in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 167 Great development of ordnance

The combat effectiveness of an army depends first on personnel and secondly on ordnance.

After adjusting the personnel structure of the Fugu army, Lin Feng began to pay attention to the development of ordnance.

It happened that Sitong Ordnance Factory had moved to Fudong Courtyard and was renamed Zhenming Ordnance Factory. Lin Feng also wanted to go and check it out.

The new ordnance factory was built on the edge of the Daqingchuan River in the northernmost part of the Fudong compound, about three miles away from the Governor's Palace in the middle.

Lin Feng came to the entrance of the ordnance factory and saw that a wall had been built to separate the ordnance factory from other areas of the compound.

To the north of the ordnance factory is the Daqingchuan River, which is convenient for water intake and raw material transportation. To the east is the Yellow River, and to the west is a farmland in the compound. Lush crops have grown on it, including experimentally planted high-yield potatoes and corn.

Zhao Zhixin and Fang Zilin were already greeting them at the door. Lin Feng saw them and said, "Zhixin, please introduce them as you walk."

"Okay, sir, the ordnance factory started to move in early March according to your instructions. Now several production workshops have been built, and the craftsmen have just been moved from the cottage in the past few days." Fang Zilin introduced that he was mainly responsible for the relocation work. Catching.

"Has production started to resume?" Lin Feng asked.

"Production has resumed. Please go check it out, sir." Fang Zilin replied.

Lin Feng walked inside. The ordnance factory divided the factory area into four parts with two crisscrossing roads in the middle.

They are the musket workshop, the artillery workshop, the cold weapon workshop and the gunpowder workshop.

A dedicated dock was built in the area near the Daqingchuan River and a raw material storage area was set up.

The entire layout is obviously much more organized and elegant than that of Sitong Village. The site has been expanded by at least three times, and the output will inevitably increase accordingly in the future.

Lin Feng first took a look at the whole situation and found that each workshop had resumed production in an orderly manner. The blacksmith shops lined up in each workshop area are all burning with flames, and the craftsmen are busy making weapons.

Near the middle area of ​​the ordnance factory, five steam engines lined up sprayed water vapor, driving the wheels to build ordnance.

Lin Feng then came to the fire gun production workshop. One by one, the newly made fire guns were already placed on the shelf. He picked up one at random and inspected it. They were all shiny and well-made.

Lin Feng looked at it and asked, "How much is the production now?"

"After moving to Fudong Courtyard, the production space has become much larger. Now it can manufacture 150 electric type I and type II fire guns each month, and the current inventory is 300 pieces." Zhao Zhixinhui reported.

"Very good, the fire gun will be our main weapon in the future, and we must find ways to continue to expand production." Lin Feng explained.

"understand!"

Lin Feng and his party then came to the artillery workshop, which was a newly established manufacturing workshop after moving to the Fudong compound.

As the size of the army expands, artillery will be indispensable whether it is attacking or defending a city in the future.

Therefore, some time ago, Lin Feng had specifically instructed the new ordnance factory to set up a dedicated artillery workshop to develop artillery as soon as possible.

A row of fine steel cast gun barrels has been placed in the workshop, and craftsmen are removing the molds for casting the guns and installing the gun barrels onto the gun mounts.

Lin Feng looked at it and asked: "Zhixin, how about the implementation of the iron mold casting method?"

"Sir, this cannon casting method is much easier to use than the clay mold cannon casting method commonly used by the imperial court. Not only is it faster, but the cannons cast have fewer air holes and their strength is much improved." Zhao Zhixin replied.

"Is there no problem in casting it with fine steel?" Lin Feng then asked.

"There is no problem. We followed the coke steelmaking method taught by the Lord, and the strength of the steel we produced is very good. We test-fired ten rounds, and there were no problems with the barrel.

Moreover, the cost of casting cannons made of fine steel is much cheaper than that of bronze cannons. Especially now that the group's pig iron supply is sufficient, we can cast cannon barrels in large quantities and replace them at any time. "Zhao Zhixin explained in detail.

"When will the first batch of artillery pieces leave the factory?"

"The barrels of the first batch of twenty artillery pieces have been cast, and the gun mounts are being installed now. The aiming scales will be adjusted in the next step. It is estimated that they will be shipped out of the factory in three to five days."

"Very good. Take the time to install and debug it. The artillery post directly under our Fugu Combat Brigade is still waiting for the equipment to be assembled. I asked Zhou Rui to send people to the factory to participate in the artillery test and master the skills of using it as soon as possible." Lin Feng explained.

"Okay, we will definitely cooperate well." Zhao Zhixin replied. "Sir, this type of artillery has not been named yet, and it is inconvenient to call it at ordinary times. Please name it." Zhao Zhixin asked for instructions.

Lin Feng thought about it for a while and said: "The cannon will make a loud noise, like the thunder god being angry. Why not call it Thor Type 1. If we make improvements in the future, we can call it Thor Type 2 or Type 3."

"Thunder Cannon? This is a good name, both vivid and powerful!" Zhao Zhixin praised.

"You must hurry up and cast this type of artillery. In the future, we will further develop artillery with a longer range. In addition, we must also find ways to improve the mobility of the artillery." Lin Feng explained.

"Understood!" Zhao Zhixin replied.

"How did the steam engine ship test I told you last time go?" Lin Feng changed the topic.

"I just wanted to report to you that a steam engine ship has been installed and parked at the dock. Please come over and check it out," Zhao Zhixin said.

"Okay, let's go take a look." After Lin Feng said that, he walked towards the north dock.

Arriving at the Ordnance Factory Pier, a wooden cargo ship about thirty meters long was leaning there.

Lin Feng walked onto the ship and took a closer look. The rear of the cargo ship had been converted into a power cabin, with an improved steam engine installed and connected to a propeller propulsion system through gears.

"Have you passed the sea trial?" Lin Feng asked.

"It's not there yet. I'm going to test it today." Zhao Zhixin said.

"Then let's get started, just to see what happens after the steam engine starts." Lin Feng ordered.

"Start the steam engine!" Zhao Zhixin ordered.

Kong Bin from the ordnance factory's steam engine team personally lit the fire. As the temperature increased, steam began to emerge, and the piston slowly drove the gears to rotate.

At this time, a boatman on the boat used a bamboo pole to prop up the dock and lifted the bow of the boat away from the dock.

As the propeller continued to rotate, the cargo ship slowly drove away from the dock and continued to accelerate in the river, quickly exceeding the speed of ordinary sail cargo ships.

"Measure the speed!"

"Check the stern connection for leaks!"

……

Zhao Zhixin continuously communicated the content that needed to be tested, and Kong Bin and other team members were also busy making measurements and calculations.

After traveling for about two or three miles on Daqingchuan, a tributary of the Yellow River, the steam engine ship slowed down and turned around, and soon it docked back at the dock.

"Sir, after testing, the steam engine ship sailed normally. Except for a little water seepage at the propeller connection, which needs to be solved, there should be no major problems." Zhao Zhixin reported after summarizing the test results.

"What's the speed of the boat?" Lin Feng asked.

"The downstream flow is about thirty miles per hour, the countercurrent is about twenty miles per hour, and the average is about 25 miles per hour." Zhao Zhixin reported.

"What is the load of this ship? How fast can other similar cargo ships reach?" Lin Feng then asked.

"The load of this ship is about 60,000 kilograms. Other ships of the same type can travel at most twelve or three miles per hour. The steam engine ship is at least twice as fast." Zhao Zhixin had checked the information in advance and was familiar with the situation.

"This speed is enough. It only takes one day to go from Fugu to Jiazhou along the Yellow River. It saves a lot of time than taking the land route. We will try to rebuild a few more steam engines in the future, and the load capacity can be larger." Lin Feng explained.

"Understood, let's transform it as soon as possible." Zhao Zhixin answered.

Lin Feng originally wanted to tell them to study wireless telegraphy, but he studied high school physics in space and felt that it was very difficult to make an oscillator that emits radio waves. As a liberal arts student, he didn't know how to do it for a while. If you understand, you can only give up.

I thought it would be better to develop traditional methods such as ancient homing pigeons to speed up the transmission of information, and also consider using the few walkie-talkies to improve the speed of information transmission.

　Ask for votes, ask for votes, ask for votes, say important things three times.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)