nanming man

Chapter 144 Weapon Workshop
In May, outside the city of Runing, with the first batch of craftsmen from Guanzhong being sent into the workshop, the weapon workshop finally started to operate.

Long before the craftsmen arrived, Gao Yihuan had entrusted Ma Yuanwai to buy a batch of refined iron and copper ingots from Anqing Mansion in South Zhili, and also bought coal from Liu Heizi to build a warehouse for storage.

Among these materials, charcoal is relatively easy to obtain. Liu Heizi changed his previous petty attitude and organized nearly ten thousand people to mine it.Refined iron and copper ingots are strategic materials, but they are relatively difficult to obtain. However, Gao Yihuan and Liu Liangzuo colluded, and with the help of the officers and soldiers, it was not too difficult to transport them.

The second brother's territory is not large, and there are not many resources in the territory, so he can only rely on heavy bribes to open up business channels and buy them from other places.

With the materials stored in the warehouse, after the craftsmen arrive, they can start working directly, shortening the preparation time of the workshop.

Second Brother Gao planned a large area in the south of Runing City, near the Ru River, as a weapon workshop.Except for a small number of buildings in the workshop, most of them are brick buildings with red bricks and red tiles. The kiln craftsmen transferred from Luyi built a wheel kiln in Runing, and then fired bricks for construction.

Generally speaking, most ordinary people can only use blue bricks and blue tiles, and the height and regulations are restricted, but Gao Yihuan has not paid attention to this for the time being.

Outside the workshop is a section of red brick wall, more than two feet high, and the buildings inside the wall are also very tall. From a distance, it looks like a palace, and it looks extraordinarily ostentatious, but there are a few large chimneys standing inside , Black smoke is often emitted, which makes people look a little bit inconsistent.

At this time, Gao Yihuan was wearing a robe, with his hands behind his back, walking in the workshop, with a large group of people behind him.The second elder brother stopped by the busy craftsman from time to time, asking questions, pointing, and sometimes standing silently. A group of people watched a craftsman work, which made the craftsman very nervous and almost had an accident.

"Foreman Wang, how is the situation in the workshop now?" Gao Yihuan walked and asked the old man Wang who was kidnapped from Shangqiu beside him.

"General, according to the general's wishes, this old man divided the new craftsmen into three groups, respectively making weapons, casting guns, and making armor." Old man Wang smiled attentively, "Now the three groups They've all started working."

Second brother Gao is currently working in the cold weapon workshop, where dozens of bare-chested men are sweating profusely and wielding sledgehammers, hitting red-hot iron blocks with "jingling".The workshop is full of ready-made seedling knives, hooks, sickles, gun heads, and other cold weapons.

"Well, not bad." Second Brother Gao looked around and waved, "Come on, take me to the firearms workshop."

Now everyone came to another red brick room. There were also sixty or seventy craftsmen inside, but it was much quieter than the cold weapon workshop. Only half of the staff were beating and beating, and most of them were polishing the inner wall of the gun barrel.

Gao Yihuan walked into the workshop, and a craftsman in charge immediately greeted him, "Chen Huiting, the villain, see the general."

"Chen Qijian, you're still used to coming here." Gao Yihuan picked up a firecracker casually, and asked while looking at it.

Chen Huiting was the head of a craftsman who passed through Guanzhong. He hurriedly said: "The general provided us with food and drink, settled our family members, and paid wages. The craftsmen are very grateful to the general."

"How is it better than at Dushi Sun's place?" Gao Yihuan picked up the gun and looked at it carefully. The black fine iron barrel, the inner wall is very smooth and straight, the hardwood gun bed and the curved bracket are not only beautiful, but also feel good in the hand.

Chen Huiting was taken aback when he heard his question. Gao Yihuan looked at the fire gun, and seeing that he was silent, he couldn't help holding the gun in his hand and staring at him.

Chen Huiting was taken aback by this, his back was covered in sweat, and he quickly bowed to salute, with an apologetic smile on his face, "The general is fine, the general is fine~"

"Don't force it~" Gao Yihuan couldn't help saying something when he saw him flustered and heard his tone.

Chen Huiting shook his head again and again, "It's not forced at all, the general is really kind."

Gao Yi laughed happily, "Don't be nervous, I just want to ask, what are some things I didn't do well, not as good as Governor Sun, so I can improve as soon as possible to satisfy you."

The more Chen Huiting listened, the more frightened he became, his head shook like a rattle, "We are all satisfied, there is nothing wrong with it."

Hearing what he said, Gao Yihuan's face became serious. "Since I have done my job well, then you have to fulfill my request well, and it must be better than what you did with Governor Sun."

"Ah~" Chen Huiting was taken aback when he heard that.

However, Gao Yihuan picked up the firecracker and asked, "What are the difficulties in the production of this Lumi blunderbuss now? How many can be produced in a month?"

Before Chen Huiting understood the meaning of Gao Yihuan's words, he hurriedly replied, "General, the barrels used to make bird guns must be made of fine iron. Usually, only ten catties of crude iron can be smelted to produce one catty. The refined iron in the warehouse is not pure One, we need to smelt it again, only the barrel made of the best refined iron can be strong and durable, and it will not burst when shooting.”

Gao Yihuan nodded. In the Ming Dynasty, firecrackers had a high probability of exploding, because the raw materials were not strictly controlled. Corrupt officials used ordinary iron ingots instead of refined iron, cutting corners and materials, so the firecrackers were easily damaged.

Gao Yihuan has a little understanding of this. He obtained several batches of firecrackers one after another. Some were captured by the Chuang army when the official army in Zhuxian Town was defeated, some were obtained from the Zuo army in an ambush in Yancheng, and some were left behind by Sun Chuanting after the defeat in Nanyang.Among these firecrackers, the quality of the Zuojun firecrackers was the worst, followed by the firecrackers used by the official army in Zhuxian Town, and the best firecrackers used by Sun Chuanting's Qin army.

Gao Yihuan heard that Sun Chuanting used severe punishments and harsh laws to manage military weapons, manage places, and kill decisively in Guanzhong. It seems that it is indeed useful.

"Well, the control of raw materials must be strict. You can smelt the refined iron in the warehouse again. It's okay to spend a little more time." Gao Yihuan nodded slightly, and then continued: "Go on."

"General, the most important thing in the casting of firecrackers is the barrel." Chen Huiting looked up at Gao Yihuan, then quickly lowered his head, as if Brother Gao looked terrifying, his voice became softer, "When making the barrel , we roll refined iron into two iron pipes, one big and one small, and use the big one to pack the small one. We hammer them to make the two stick tightly together, and then polish the inner wall to be smooth and straight. But this drilling gun is very precise. You can only drill about an inch per day, so each person can make a bird gun for about a month~”

Chen Huiji was a little afraid to look at Gao Yihuan after he finished speaking, but the second brother also understood after he finished speaking. This fellow started to say that refined iron was needed, and then he said that big bags are small, and in the end it was to tell him that every craftsman It takes a month to make one gun.

Brother Gao's face darkened when he heard this, but he couldn't complain, after all, he just nodded in approval just now, so it's not good to turn his face immediately.Besides, if you want to make a qualified and good gun, you must do it this way, otherwise it will easily explode, so it's better not to make it.

Thinking of this, Second Brother Gao's expression softened a little, knowing that not only should this matter not be rushed, but he also told them not to worry, and to make more efforts.

"Well, okay, just build it like this, pay attention to every step, and there must be no mistakes." Gao Yihuan said in a deep voice.

Chen Huiting was ready to be scolded, he couldn't help being stunned when he heard the words, he looked up at Gao Yihuan in surprise, he was about to speak, but Gao Yihuan waved his hand, and then said: "If you make guns according to what you said, there will be problems with the guns, My punishment for you will be more severe than that of Governor Sun, do you understand?"

Chen Huiting shuddered, and hurriedly saluted: "The villain understands."

Gao Yihuan nodded slightly, thought for a while, and then suddenly said: "Let me give you a suggestion, see if you can subdivide the craftsmen in the workshop, those who smelt refined iron will specialize in smelting refined iron, and those who cast gun shafts will specialize in casting For gun shafts, those who grind and drill guns specialize in drilling guns. In this way, some processes require fewer people, and you can arrange more people to drill guns. And each craftsman only does one thing, and he will become more and more proficient at it. .What do you think?"

After hearing this, Chen Huiting was stunned again. He was a little shocked. He felt that doing so would definitely improve efficiency. However, each craftsman has his own skills. They used to make a gun by one person, but now several people make one, and something went wrong. How to calculate, whether they are willing to hand over their skills to others, it is difficult for Chen Huiting to sort out these things for a while.

"This is something you should think about slowly. After three days, come to the government office and talk to me in detail." Gao Yihuan looked at him, waved his hand, let him digest it first, and then asked: "Has the cannon been cast yet?"

"Reporting to the general, the mold has been rushed out, but the finished artillery will not come out until at least next month."

Gao Yihuan nodded after listening, "Take me to take a look first."

At the same time, everyone inspected the cannon casting and armor making. Gao Yihuan stayed in the workshop for a day and returned to the government office after dark. Zhao Zhuzi greeted him in front of the government office, "Second brother, Yicheng is back from Shandong!"

(End of this chapter)