open sea

Chapter 160 No.60 Five Iron Changes
The longer the defense, the more Chen Mu felt that the coast of the Ming Dynasty was like a sieve for decades.

There are holes everywhere, which cannot be patched.

When returning to Xiangshan, the ballast stones of the three large ships were all thrown on the beach, and they were full of war trophies, most of which were obtained from Japanese pirates. A, Chen Mu didn't stop him from packing up the war profit, and Zhang Han didn't stop him either.

More property was still left in Guanghaiwei. After Chen Mu asked Zhang Han for instructions, he asked Xinning County to send people to Guangzhou Mansion to allocate the cost of repairing the city wall in the future.

Only the Francophones on the upper floor of Guanghai Weicheng, some good and some bad, Chen Mu was envious of seeing them, but he didn’t dare to move to the boat on his own, so he had to try acting—he didn’t take them, let Shao Tingda take them himself He brought someone to move, and was stopped and reprimanded by Chen Mu who was taking Zhang Han around when he moved outside the city.

If Zhang Han stopped, these cannons would be taken home logically.

It's a pity that Zhang Han didn't stop him. He trained Shao Tingda for a long time, but in the end he could only move Frangji back to the gate tower after suffering a lot, and boarded the boat back to Xiangshan in despair.

"I don't think the governor will let reckless people use guns."

Leaning on the ship's side, the sea breeze blows, and the thin drizzle hits his face with a cool feeling. Chen Mu shook his head, and did not continue to explain to Wei Balang beside him.

He felt that Zhang Han was simply looking at his attitude of leading the troops, no matter what he did, he would not stop him - he is old and mature, who knows what the old governor is thinking in his heart under his indifferent expression.

Maybe he was dismissed without saying a word.

This made Chen Mu anxious for a long time on the way back to Fragrant Hills, and he was relieved only after seeing the shallow gorge between Fragrant Hills and Haojingao.

After getting off the boat, Guan Yuangu had good news.

The old craftsman wanted to share Chen Mu's worries. Seeing that the iron deposits of thousands of households were dwindling, and that thousands of households still needed to make guns and cannons in the face of a war, they visited Foshan in Nanhai County in private, the largest iron smelting distribution center in Guangdong, and negotiated a deal.

"Thousand households, Foshan furnace households have their own promises for the imperial court to purchase and year-end management. When the old man went to Foshan to purchase the iron nails needed for the shipyard, he went to several furnace households that both produced iron and agreed to the imperial court. Iron is exchanged for steel, just waiting for thousands of households to agree." Carpenter Guan raised his eyebrows as he said this, and said, "One hundred catties of wrought iron can be exchanged for one rod of bird gun, and in one month you can exchange seventeen rods with four furnace households."

"I've seen it, they make good iron."

Can I still change it like this?
Chen Mu calculated in his mind, so it would be [-] catties of wrought iron per month, which is quite suitable, "How did Carpenter Guan come up with such an idea? How could they be willing to exchange so much iron for military weapons and make their own weapons?" It’s about the same price as this.”

Some time ago in Haojing, he specifically asked someone to ask about the price of iron in Guangcheng, which is basically the price of iron in Foshan, and the price of a hundred catties of wrought iron is nearly two taels. About the same.

There are cheap and expensive labor costs, and it is hard to add this.

Guan Yuangu smiled with a bit of philistinism in his honesty, and said: "The labor cost in Xiangshan is much cheaper than theirs. Their twenty craftsmen can only drill out twenty gun barrels in one month, and there are still eight or nine gun barrels inside. A crooked root drill can’t be used anymore, and it takes thirty to forty days to produce ten guns, so the cost is naturally much more expensive.”

"We have water hammer in our blunderbuss, so it doesn't take much effort. Others can finish it in three days, and I can finish it in one day; the drilling machine is also connected to the water wheel and drills continuously. One barrel can be produced in seven or eight days, but it may not be possible to make ten. Ten, but if you get thirteen, you will definitely get ten suitable gun barrels."

"The same 30 craftsmen can produce more than 300 pieces in a month, and they only consume more than [-] catties of iron. The rest can be used to make a few guns."

Guan Yuangu always looked embarrassed when talking about the cannon named after himself, and he showed a little embarrassment after speaking, "But they said that their names are engraved on the barrel, and Qianhu thinks it is feasible?"

Chen Mu didn't care about engraving other people's names on the barrel, he cared more about the reality.

Fifteen hundred catties of iron per month, making three or four more cannons, is what Chen Mu values.

Chen Mu nodded: "It's possible, if this can be done, it's certainly possible."

In fact, even if Guan Yuan did not go to Foshan, he still planned to send people to Foshan. The last time he inquired about the price of iron in Guangzhou, he realized that he was guarding Foshan in Nanhai County, which is the largest iron smelting distribution center in Guangzhou.

The biggest advantage of Xiangshan is the significant increase in productivity.

After the construction of the newly built ironworks by the river, both the forging hammer and the sawing wood have fixed power. In the past, Guan Laoer made a wooden gun bed because the accuracy can be further improved, so it is completely cast from molten iron. The gun bed is opposite to the hydraulic drill. Just push and pull the bed frame and replace worn drill bits to continue drilling.

The limited technology cannot rely on hydraulic power to achieve slow automatic drilling effect, and the iron gun bed is relatively heavy, and it also requires a lot of manpower to push it, but it greatly increases the drilling accuracy and reduces the defective rate.

The same reduces costs.

Looking at the big water truck rolling in the iron workshop, Chen Mu's thoughts drifted away, and he asked Guan Yuangu: "Guan Jiang, now you are the head of the Military Weapons Bureau, which governs the iron workshop and the shipyard. Gufang, are you energetic enough?"

It is not difficult for Chen Mu to think of the tragic situation after Guanghaiwei was breached in the flourishing Xiangshan Thousand Households. The two extremes are also the difference between Chen Mu's place and other guards under the sun and the moon. A virtuous circle and a vicious circle .

In fact, if it weren't for Chen Mu's existence, if Xiangshan Qianhu was a full guard, the development might not be as good as this one, but the military households might be able to live a little more out of poverty than they are now.

For a long time before, Chen Mu, like the countless greedy guards in Daming, only distributed a small part of the battle profits to the Banner Army.

The only difference is that Chen Mu used the money to develop the guards, while others used the greedy money to feed themselves.

He was running a Thousand Households Institute, and he did invest in some of it himself, but after the next few battles, Xiangshan Institute became self-sufficient, and now it can actually earn back wrought iron.

In the future, the life of the Banner Army will be easier, with the same effort and more profits.

Guan Yuangu looked distressed, and said: "Qianhu, a piece of armor needs steel, without steel, you can't make a good armor, and there are no skilled craftsmen, I'm afraid..."

"It's not urgent, I have a few things here, look back, I have captured the big guns of the Japanese in this battle, which can be mutually confirmed with the big guns I got from the Franji people last time, if we have steel, You can change the two-legged support of the Franji blunderbuss into a straight stab."

Chen Mu opened his notebook and pointed it for Guan Yuangu to read, while explaining: "It doesn't need to be as heavy as the Franji big blunderbuss, and it can be made like the four-foot-long barrel of the bird blunderbuss, with a slightly larger caliber. The rod gun weighs two or three catties more, add four feet long spurs, connect them under the bird gun with three small steel tenons, and plan out a tight groove for the gun bed, so that the gun bed can be folded up and integrated with the gun bed. Easy to hold."

"There is also the handle of the gun, and the shape has to be slightly changed..."

(End of this chapter)