Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 324: Ten Thousand Slaves

On the southeastern foot of Mount Wangyang, there is a small fishing village called Shaohuilu. It is so named because the boat people who lived in this village used to make a living by fishing and collecting shells, and then used stoves to burn lime for sale.

Today, the shabby thatched cottages and lime kilns of the small fishing village have disappeared, replaced by a well-planned brick house. This is the famous Bugalao Cannon Foundry in later generations, which was called Wannuhang by the Ming people.

In fact, the Bogalau Cannon Foundry or the Wannuhang Cannon Foundry are just common names among the people. The official name of this cannon factory is the Macau Royal Cannon Foundry. It was built in the third year of the Tianqi reign and belonged to the Portuguese royal family. However, the owner was the Council of Macao residents who elected themselves.

On the morning of the second day after meeting with Macau military leader Don Felipe Robbo, Lin Hai, accompanied by the Portuguese directors and Gongsha, came to Wannuhang. This artillery factory still owed the friend company hundreds of artillery pieces to be delivered.

At the end of the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, Shibi and Miguel were ordered by Lin Hai to go to Haojing to buy ships and cannons. At that time, they ordered more than 100 cannons from Wannuhang at one time.

But in the end, because of the order from the Vice King of Goa, only more than ten guns were delivered on schedule. After the establishment of Huiyou Company, Lin Hai has been active in the waters of Fujian and Zhejiang, and has not sent anyone to Haojing to get guns. Now they are just used to build the defense system of Yulin Port.

Wannuxing was only three miles away from the Inspection Office. Lin Hai got on the luxurious four-wheeled carriage of the Council and arrived at the destination in a cup of tea. In fact, he and Miguel had come here once before setting sail in the fifth year of Tianqi, in order to buy a swivel gun for the Bowang.

After getting off the bus, Lin Hai's first feeling was that this area had changed a lot - the small church and the Ash Stove Fort on Xiwangyang Hill were still the same, but the artillery factory at the foot of the mountain had expanded several times or more.

The head of the artillery factory, Wannu Bugalao, received a notice from the council last night and was waiting at the door in person early in the morning.

After seeing Lin Hai getting off the carriage, Wan Nu, who was dressed in formal attire, stepped forward and introduced himself: "Your Excellency General, welcome, welcome. I am Wan Nu Bugalao, the foundry master of the royal family."

The so-called Wangjia Foundry Master is not an honorary title, but the official position of the person in charge of the Wangjia Cannon Foundry, or simply the factory director.

Gongsha was beside Lin Hai, translating for him, "General Lin, this is Wan Nu, the owner of the artillery shop. He said that your presence is a great honor to our humble shop."

"Tell him not to be so polite and just ask me whether the batch of artillery pieces have been completed now." Lin Hai got straight to the point as usual.

As he spoke, he took a look at the famous Vannu Bugalao. He saw that this 17th-century artillery casting master had high cheekbones, thick beard, and a very eye-catching hooked nose. He actually had a typical Semitic face.

Lin Hai didn't know that Wannu Bugalao was actually a Jew. However, for well-known reasons, his family was forced to convert to Catholicism several generations ago.

Thanks to this, Vannu's grandfather Francisco Bugalo came to the East as a carpenter with the Portuguese fleet. Soon after, he entered the Goa Cannon Foundry and was promoted to foundry master more than ten years later, which meant he entered the upper class of Goa.

Forty years ago, Vannu's father, Peter Baccarat, successfully inherited his grandfather's position. As Peter's second son, Vannu's family craftsmanship was better than his grandfather's, but in the end he was sent to Macau by the Viceroy of Goa.

No one would have expected that in the following twenty years, the Royal Cannon Foundry in Macau would completely overwhelm Goa and become the leader in the artillery industry of the entire Portuguese-Indian Empire. In addition to Portugal's colonies in Asia, this cannon factory was also the main supplier of artillery for most of the maritime forces in the Far East, which was a legend. Even Zheng Zhilong ordered 150 large-caliber red cannons from Wannuhang in one go the year Chongzhen hanged himself. More than ten years later, it was this batch of heavy artillery that destroyed the Dutch Utrecht Castle.

The main reason why Lin Hai came here in person this time was to see how Wannu Bugalao turned decay into magic. After all, the artillery factory he saw three years ago was not small in scale, but the management was very chaotic and the quality of the artillery was not good enough.

At that time, he felt very strange and asked Miguel, only to find out that the person in charge was a Spaniard who didn't know much about the business. But just over a year later, Miguel came back from Macau again and praised the gun factory highly. It was during this period that Wan Nu came to Macau.

"General, the batch of artillery you ordered three years ago has already been manufactured. I'm sorry that I couldn't deliver it on time. To express my apology, you don't need to pay the balance."

As he spoke, Bu Jialao took Lin Hai to see the batch of artillery. The artillery factory had set up a special factory building to store artillery. In addition to the more than 100 artillery pieces that Lin Hai had, there were more than 100 other finished artillery pieces that had not yet been delivered.

Obviously, Wannuxing has many overseas customers, and it is common for overstock to accumulate. There are people in this factory who are responsible for the maintenance of the inventory. Each gun is oiled, the muzzle is plugged with a cap, and there is no rust on the barrel.

"General, we have made special moisture-proof treatments in this factory, and the artillery will be cleaned and oiled regularly, so your more than 100 artillery pieces are still as good as new..."

Wan Nu introduced it to Lin Hai, who nodded frequently. Suddenly, he stopped in front of a large-caliber cast iron cannon about 5 meters long and asked, "Who is this cannon made for?"

"Sorry, we will not disclose any information about our customers." After Wan Nu finished speaking, Gong Sha argued with him for a few words, and finally had no choice but to translate it truthfully.

Seeing this, Lin Hai stopped asking. He didn't care who wanted it. He was just surprised that Wannuxing could make such a large cast iron cannon. It should be noted that the Portuguese didn't know how to cast iron cannons before the Tianqi era. It was the Chinese craftsmen hired by He Liangtao from Foshan who taught them.

The caliber of this gun is estimated to be 36 pounds, and the times of caliber are about 30. The weight of the gun is estimated to be more than 24 kilograms. The Firearms Bureau of Huiyou Company has never made such a large gun. The largest gun it has made before is only kilograms, which is equivalent to the -pound gun in later generations.

"It seems that we are not the only one who combines Chinese and Western cultures..." Lin Hai thought to himself. This Wan Nu is really a capable person. In just two years, he has mastered the Eastern cast iron technology and the Western large bronze cannon technology.

"How much does such a large cannon cost?" Lin Hai suddenly became interested. After all, caliber is the truth in naval battles. A thousand-ton cruiser like the Dingyuan can carry larger caliber cannons on its gun deck.

Unfortunately, no one in the Firearms Bureau had experience in casting cannons over 24 pounds. When the iron mold casting technology was first used to make naval guns, the project team even planned to only try out -pound cannons at first, and then start working on -pound and -pound cannons after gaining experience.

However, Lin Hai couldn't wait to do it step by step. After seeing the plan, he immediately rejected it and insisted on launching three calibers of naval guns at the same time.

Even if I fail, I can still gain the experience of failure. It’s just a matter of spending a little more money. I have money!
But he really didn't dare to think about the 30-jin cannon, after all, he had never used mature clay modeling technology before...

(End of this chapter)