False eunuch in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 39 Technology is Productivity

"Don't get too close, it's dangerous!" Cao Qing saw the group of old craftsmen so excited that he wished he could drill into the furnace to see what happened.

"It's okay. What's the danger? We all eat this kind of food. Who hasn't got a few layers of calluses on this hand? We blacksmiths are heat-resistant, and they can come out whole when thrown into this furnace." Yang Shiliang Said.

"Old Yang, don't make such a joke. You old craftsmen are my treasures. Don't worry about any damage. When the time comes, the steel furnace will produce steel, but no one will give me Go make those novel artifacts." Cao Qing said with a smile.

"Eunuch Cao, don't worry. As long as you hand over the task, Lao Zhou and I will appoint you to complete the errands you assigned." Yang Shiliang said.

Last time, they completed Cao Qing's task, and Cao Qing settled the cash for them.There is no skimping on food, such a good thing has never happened before.

The fire was burning very vigorously, and after several hours, the temperature inside the open hearth slowly increased.The scrap iron and ore inside began to melt slowly.Turn into red molten iron.Some unmelted sintered lumps sank to the bottom.There is more and more molten iron, slowly filling the entire inner chamber, slowly overflowing, and flowing out with the pre-designed steel ladle.

"It's out of steel! It's out of steel!"

The steel mill exploded, and everyone thought it was a little unreliable.But I didn't expect that the molten steel would really come out.

"Hurry up, hurry up! Prepare the mold quickly. Be careful, don't get burned." Although Yang Shiliang is a master craftsman, this is the first time he has seen such a big scene.The scene was a bit chaotic.

Cao Qing also rushed over, "Everyone take their places, don't panic. You can see this kind of scene every day in the future. Hurry up and return to your posts."

When the steel was produced, everyone was very happy.Not enough soon, the use of this batch of steel was taken into consideration by Yang Shiliang and Zhou Bugui.

"Master Cao, what are we going to do with so much good steel produced this time?" Zhou Bugui asked.

"What do you think is good for it?" Cao Qing asked.

"Such a good piece of steel is naturally used to make a peerless sword that cuts iron like mud. In the future, all our warriors in Ming Dynasty will be equipped with a sword that cuts iron like mud, and they will definitely be invincible." Zhou Bugui said.

"Yes, I know how to make a sword. I can make the sharpest and peerless sword." Yang Shiliang said.

"You say that even if a group of sheep are equipped with horns made of the best steel, can they deal with a group of wolves?" Cao Qing asked.

"This, this, I'm afraid I can't." Yang Shiliang didn't understand what Cao Qing meant.

"I'm going to use the steel refined here to make muskets for the guard battalion. The biggest problem with Daming's muskets is that they are easy to explode. In addition, the range is not very far. If our muskets are more powerful, they will be easier to explode. But If we use the refined steel to make muskets, there should be no possibility of explosion." Cao Qing said.

"Lord Cao, you may not know how to make muskets. You only consider the problem of exploding the barrel, but you have not considered the issue of making muskets. If you use fine steel to make muskets, there will be no bursting of the muzzle. But such hard fine steel, we What props do you use to drill the barrel of the gun?" Yang Shiliang said.

"Master Yang is worthy of being a teacher. He saw the problem at a glance. But don't worry. I have thought about these problems a long time ago. In the past two days, I will trouble Master Yang and Master Zhou to make some interesting things with me." Cao Qing said.

Cao Qing had long asked to look for tungsten mines from Jiangxi. After Cao Qing found tungsten mines from dozens of ores, he asked Guo Duxian, a member of the anthology department of the Ministry of Officials, to go to Jiangxi to dig a tungsten mine. Batches of tungsten ore were sent to Kyoto.

Cao Qing has read Ming Dynasty novels, and knows that Guo Duxian went to Jiangxi to serve as governor in the 15th year of Chongzhen.But now it's just a casual job, and it's relatively young, 28 years old.It is also a character that can be wooed.

Of course, if Cao Qing asked Guo Duxian to handle affairs as a eunuch, it would be more difficult.He could only order Guo Duxian to do things under the banner of the emperor.Guo Duxian is also a young and promising official. He was a scholar at the age of 16, a senior scholar at the age of 19, and a Jinshi at the age of 23.Now that he is approaching his thirties, he has been honed in the officialdom for so many years, and his ability to handle affairs is still very strong.After a trip, I searched for dozens of ores.After Cao Qing confirmed the tungsten mine, he went to get dozens of tons of ore and shipped it to Kyoto.

Cao Qing went to Guo Duxian to see his second daughter, Guo Chunzhen, who had a great future. She was only eleven or twelve years old, and she was already famous.This ancient young genius gave Cao Qing a small blow to the traverser.

Smelting tungsten ore is not much more troublesome than making steel.However, it is not difficult for Cao Qing, a wild man.

Not long after, a batch of tungsten steel tools were produced.Cao Qing didn't plan to use manpower to make the barrels. The place he chose was rich in water resources, so it was natural to use water power to drill the barrels.However, it is not an easy task to install a simple lathe for the drill barrel.After all, the conditions here are simple. Fortunately, a batch of the most sophisticated measuring tools of this era has been produced before.It makes the installation of the lathe a little easier.In addition to having two of the most powerful craftsmen of this era, Cao Qing installed more than a dozen hydraulic lathes in one go, specially for drilling gun barrels.

Cao Qing is not going to make old-fashioned front-loading guns, but is going to make breech-loading guns directly. The production of ** is not difficult for Cao Qing.Cao Qing, who used to be an underground arms manufacturer, is naturally familiar with the production of these prohibited items.The breech-loading gun is a big killer that can really determine the outcome of the battlefield.In this era, except for Cao Qing, no one can copy it at all.

However, it is simply impossible for Cao Qing to complete this huge and complicated system by himself.Watson must rely on these handicraft elites of this era, and Cao Qing wants to train them to be the best workers of this era.

Taking advantage of the money in hand, Cao Qing secretly adopted a group of clever orphans from the refugees while building and training the army.Young children are more malleable.Cao Qing did it himself and taught them some things.If they can't teach them some scientific principles, at least they can learn how to make some important things.Cao Qing needs a group of loyal helpers who can stand the test.

The shape of those steel rods cast with molten steel is naturally difficult to reach the regularity of the steel rods produced by the steel mills of later generations.But this is not a big problem.After being polished by hydraulic equipment, it immediately turned into golden steel rods.

Cao Qing personally demonstrated how to process standard steel pipes for Yang Shiliang and others.

As the machine creaked, the drill bit slowly penetrated into the steel pipe, and the steel wires slowly grew out of the steel pipe.Cao Qing's self-made water gun continuously sprays water into the steel pipe.To reduce the temperature of the drill bit.This water gun took Cao Qing a lot of thought.First, a large wooden barrel was installed on the roof, and then water was brought in from the dam with a bamboo stream, and then a long iron pipe was made with a lot of effort to lead the water down, but there was not even a switch, and when it was not needed , the water flows directly into the ditch.

This steel pipe drills very fast.An hour later, it has been drilled from beginning to end.After finishing, Cao Qing took down the steel pipe.Looked inside and out, a little rough.However, under such conditions, it is very difficult to achieve this step.

"Eunuch Cao, can you show the villain?" Yang Shiliang asked.

Cao Qing handed the steel pipe in his hand to Yang Shiliang, "Old Yang, take a look, how does this drill with steel pipe?"

Yang Shiliang held it in his hand and looked at it carefully: "It's unbelievable. It's a miracle that such a beautiful gun barrel can be drilled out in such a short time. Although the workmanship of this gun barrel is a bit rough, it is better than the handmade car. It's more refined. The inner wall is also very uniform. With a little processing, it can be used as a gun barrel."

"Lao Yang, I'll take a look too." Zhou Bugui snatched the steel pipe from Yang Shiliang's hand.

"Why are you in a hurry? This steel pipe can't fly?" Yang Shiliang said.

"Didn't I want to see Eunuch Cao's craftsmanship?" Zhou Bugui laughed.

"Usually it takes at least half a month for us to drill a gun barrel. An ordinary craftsman can drill one out of a month. Now it only took an hour for this gun barrel. In a day, at least a dozen can be drilled." There are more than 100 lathes in one day. Eunuch Cao is really very human.” Zhou Bugui said.

"Everyone is absurd." Cao Qing said.

These craftsmen were all excited when they saw this scene.They did not expect that craftsmen could create such amazing things.

"Everyone! Now the steelmaking plant has just started. There are still many things waiting for you to do. I, Cao Qing, can't do anything alone. I need the help of everyone present. As long as everyone follows my requirements, And if it is done well, I, Cao Qing, will not treat everyone badly in the future." Cao Qing said.

Yang Shiliang was the first to stand up: "But according to Eunuch Cao's order!"

"But according to Eunuch Cao's orders!" Everyone said in unison.

Cao Qing smiled wryly in his heart: When will this eunuch's hat be so big?The three sisters of the Xing family, what a good girl, but they just can't eat it.

(End of this chapter)