Borrow the day to change the day

"Your official has seen something similar at the foot of a fire-breathing mountain." Xu Xiake replied.

Zhong Jinwei was dizzy when he heard this, it turned out that someone did not burn the cement.

Xu Xiake said that he saw it near the volcano, that is for sure, the main ingredients of that kind of natural cement are volcanic ash and lime, which may be found near the volcano.

After he figured it out, he stood up and said: "Master Xu is here today to tell you some knowledge about natural science, so that you can know what books Daming lacks most. I won't bother you, hurry up and ask Xu My lord asks for advice."

When Xu Guangqi and Xu Xiake saw Zhong Jinwei was about to leave, they both stood up and saw him off.

Not long after, Zhong Jinwei appeared in the military battle.The purpose of his coming here is to arrange a comparison exercise between the flintlock gun and the matchlock gun currently in use.

When Fan Jun heard that Marquis Zhongxing was coming, he rushed out to welcome him.

Because of his invention of the flintlock, although he still holds the same position, he has been promoted.Most importantly, Emperor Chongzhen was very satisfied with him and remembered him.

And all of this is actually because of Zhongxing Hou.Therefore, he is very grateful to Zhongxing Hou, and now he is very attentive when he sees Zhong Jinwei.

"How are you getting ready?" Zhong Jinwei asked as soon as he saw Fan Jun.

After Emperor Chongzhen said that he wanted to see the comparative experiment, he sent someone to notify Fan Jun.It has been a few days now, and Xu Xiake's mission to the West has been settled, so he came over to arrange the matter.

"Don't worry, Lord Hou, everything is ready." Fan Jun replied with a smile.

"Okay, how many flintlock guns have you made?" Zhong Jinwei asked as he walked inside under the guidance of Fan Jun.

"There are already 430 six branches, and they can be delivered to Lord Hou later." Fan Jun replied here, and added, "Thanks to Lord Hou's request to the emperor, our family's military battle bureau has now added a lot of skilled craftsmen, the speed of making guns will increase."

"That's good." Zhong Jinwei nodded with satisfaction. This speed is indeed good, at least the flintlock guns used by the new army are enough.

However, the new army still has another important firearm. Zhong Jinwei asked with concern: "How is the progress of the modified Frang machine? Are there any qualified ones that can be used?"

He wondered if he would also look at some kind of improved Frangler in this exercise. Needless to say, the safety should be greatly improved, but he didn't know how the range and power were compared to the old Frangler.

Upon hearing this, Fan Jun replied cautiously: "Master Hou, the weather is pretty good now, and it will dry out in the shade in half a month or so. At that time, we can cast cannons."

When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he immediately stopped, looked at Fan Jun, and asked in surprise: "What, it's been so long and you haven't started casting the cannon yet?"

He thought that casting cannons must be casting cannons, but the pass rate may not be high, so he asked this question.

Because when he inspected the artillery shipped from Portugal during the Battle of Gyeonggi, he already knew that the scrap rate of the artillery was not low.

He really didn't expect that more than half a month had passed, and the casting of the cannon hadn't started yet.

As soon as Fan Jun heard Zhong Jinwei's words, he knew in his heart that he didn't understand the process of casting cannons.

He immediately turned around, stretched out his hand and said, "Master Hou, please go this way, our family will take you to see the casting process."

As soon as Zhong Jinwei heard it, he went in the direction he pointed.Fan Jun followed him and explained to him: "Master Hou, it takes so long to cast a cannon, no matter how skilled the craftsman is, the key lies in the drying of the mold, which is very important."

Zhong Jinwei glanced at him sideways, but didn't speak.

After stepping into a yard, I saw that the yard was full of gazebos, and there were many barrel-shaped clay molds in the pavilions.

Fan Jun quickly took a few steps forward, led Zhong Jinwei into a gazebo, and then introduced: "Now the cast cannon must first make this clay mold, and put it in a ventilated place where the sun does not shine. It takes one month on a sunny day. More than that, if it is rainy and cloudy, it will take longer, probably ranging from two to three months."

After he finished speaking, he saw Zhong Jinwei frowning, with a dissatisfied expression on his face, thinking that Hou Zhongxing didn't know everything, so it was up to our family to point out the serious relationship to him, so as not to think that our family didn't do our best.

So, he straightened his slightly bent upper body, and explained loudly to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Hou may not know that if you are impatient and wait for the clay mold to dry completely before casting cannons, the cannons you cast will be useless." use."

At this time, the craftsmen in the workshop heard the voices in the yard and found that the leader had arrived.Hurry up and put down the work in your hands and come out to meet him.

Fan Jun saw that the people under his command were all standing more than ten steps away to salute, so he said more vigorously: "The clay mold must be dried thoroughly, otherwise, although the outside is dry, the inside is wet, and when it encounters molten metal, moisture will spontaneously form. , the cast artillery has honeycombs, and this kind of cast artillery is extremely easy to explode."

Seeing that their leaders were showing off their professional knowledge to Hou Zhongxing, the craftsmen nodded in agreement.

This is not flattering, because they think their leaders are right.

"And every time a cannon is cast, its clay mold must be broken to take out the cannon. Therefore, every cannon must have a new clay mold. But Lord Hou can rest assured that after half a month, there will be such a With many craftsmen, clay molds can be produced continuously, and artillery can be continuously cast at that time."

Fan Jun still didn't dare to make Hou Zhongxing unhappy, so he comforted Zhong Jinwei again at the end.

Unexpectedly, Zhong Jinwei still frowned and asked: "Since this kind of clay mold takes such a long time and the yield rate is not high, why not try other molds?"

Fan Jun was taken aback when he heard this, what does Hou Zhongxing mean? Could it be that he was dissatisfied with his attitude just now and started to pick a bone?

Thinking of this, his straight body bent a little habitually, and explained to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Hou, this clay mold casting cannon has been done since ancient times, oh, including Westerners. !"

When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he was even more dissatisfied. Why did he only know how to follow the old ways? He immediately accentuated his tone and said dissatisfiedly: "I don't care what happened before, and I don't care what happens to Westerners. The efficiency of this clay mold cannon is so high. Low, and the yield rate is not high, so you don’t want to improve it, or try it in other ways?”

After he finished speaking, he sighed secretly in his heart, Daming has no shortage of intelligent and talented people, but most of them are conservative and don't know how to innovate.

Thinking of this, Zhong Jinwei ignored Fan Jun, walked forward a few steps, and came to those craftsmen and asked: "In addition to clay mold casting, what other casting methods do we have in Ming Dynasty? Think about it again, who can improve casting?" There should be a big reward for the method of cannon."

He was afraid that these craftsmen would take his words of great rewards as a deaf ear, so he continued to explain: "The imperial court will establish an ordnance research institute soon, and anyone who can improve the method of casting cannons can enter the research institute as a researcher."

Now the news of this research institute has spread among the craftsmen, especially the craftsmen on the side of cement and glass, who are trying their best to express themselves, hoping to enter the research institute.

Naturally, the craftsmen in the military battle bureau were no exception. Hearing what Zhong Jinwei said, his eyes immediately turned red.

Seeing this situation, Zhong Jinwei added fire: "You can speak out what you think, it doesn't matter if you say something wrong, but as long as you figure out a way, the future is boundless!"

Fan Jun followed Zhong Jinwei, thinking that Hou Zhongxing was wishful thinking?

But at this moment, a hand was suddenly raised in the group of craftsmen.