Datang all-rounder

Chapter 105

As soon as he entered the room, Wang Ke's eyes were immediately attracted by the several weapons placed on the operating table. From the appearance, they were completely comparable to the mortars he saw in later generations.

Wang Ke hurried forward, reaching out to the mortar with trembling hands.Seeing Wang Ke like this, Li Ke asked in amazement: "Brother Wang, what's wrong with you? Why are you like this!"

Wang Ke couldn't hide the excitement in his heart, turned to Li Ke and asked, "When was it made? Where are the shells?"

Li Ke hurriedly pointed to the wooden box in the corner, Wang Ke went over to open the box, took out two from inside, looked at it, and it was no different from the drawing he had drawn before.

Putting it on the operating table, Wang Ke looked at it carefully again, and said to Li Ke: "Call a craftsman in, and let him talk about what's wrong."

Li Ke yelled a few times, and saw two workers in their 40s walking in.One of them is not from the Central Plains at first glance, but looks like someone from the Western Regions.

Wang Ke is a little strange, this is the most secret place in Datang, how could there be people from the Western Regions here?
Wang Ke looked at Li Ke with doubts. Li Ke understood what Wang Ke meant, and explained in a low voice: "This man has been growing up in my Tang Dynasty, and he and his father have made a living by smelting since childhood. I tried a lot of ways to solve the problem of the chamber, but finally I found this person to solve the problem.”

Wang Ke glanced at the man, and asked Li Ke in a low voice: "Have you investigated it? Is it reliable?"

Li Ke nodded and said: "I have investigated. The family members passed away a few years ago. There is a son who served as a soldier in our Datang army. He is the only one in the family. Let him live in it now and cannot go out casually."

Only then did Wang Ke feel relieved, and said to the two workers, "If you have any questions, please talk about them first."

The man from the Western Regions was taken aback, and turned to look at the person who came in with him. The man hurriedly whispered something in the ear of the Western Regions man.

The talent from the Western Regions said to Wang Ke: "My lord, it is like this. If the gun barrel we are making now is made of steel alone, it will explode in a short time. Later we added a layer of copper-based gun barrel inside." Alloy, in this way, although the gun barrel feels like it has two layers, the wall of the barrel is greatly thinner, and the weight is much lighter."

Wang Ke pulled a cannon over and took a closer look. It was exactly as he said. From the outside, it looked like it was made of steel, but it could be clearly seen from the inside that it was made of copper plus other metals. of.

Wang Ke knew that the gun barrels they made in this way, due to the characteristics of copper, reduce the brittleness of steel, and can withstand long-term repeated shooting in use, and in this way, large-scale artillery can also be manufactured up.

Wang Ke looked at the two craftsmen with admiration, and asked again: "This is very good, so what else is there that I don't understand?"

The two craftsmen looked at each other, and it was still the man from the Western Regions who said, "The problem now is not the cannon, but the shell."

Wang Ke picked up the cannonball and looked at it again, but found no problem, and asked in puzzlement, "What's the problem? Doesn't it look like nothing?"

Li Ke said at this time: "Brother Wang, I can't explain it clearly. It's better to go to the experimental field and shoot a few shells, and then you will know everything."

Wang Ke thought about it, this is indeed a good idea, standing here talking for a long time, it is not as intuitive as shooting a few shells on the experimental field.

So He and Li Ke brought the two workers to the experimental field. The two workers quickly installed the gun mount and adjusted the height up and down.

Now Wang Ke was a little surprised. He understood that there is no screw thread yet, so how did they manage to adjust it up and down?

Wang Ke looked up curiously. Not to mention, although there is no screw thread, these workers can think of making the legs of the gun mount retractable, and making grooves on both sides. After the height is adjusted, it is fixed with a pin, so that the gun mount can be easily stowed when marching.

At this time, Wang Ke also began to be impressed by the imagination of these workers, and couldn't help but gave the two workers a thumbs up to express his admiration.

The workers put the shells into the barrel, ignited the fuse, and saw the shells fly out of the barrel.But when it fell to the ground, no shell exploded.

Wang Ke ran over and picked up the shell from the ground. Judging from the part of the shell that was stuck to the soil, he knew that the shell did not land on the ground, so the pressure-type fuze was not touched at all, so it became a bomb. Hit a dud.

Li Ke took the cannonball from Wang Ke's hand, and said slowly: "Brother Wang, I was in a hurry to find you, and I just wanted you to take a look at this. I don't dare to report it to you now, let alone report it. Please come and see the test shooting."

Standing there, Wang Ke's thoughts have long been caught up in the question of the cannonball. Where did it come from?How to solve it?He turned a deaf ear to Li Ke's words and didn't respond at all.

After thinking for a long time, Wang Ke didn't figure it out, and took the cannonball from Li Ke's hand again, and looked at it over and over in his hand.

Finally, Wang Ke found out that something was wrong.At first glance, there are no problems with this cannonball, but upon closer inspection, there are many problems.

First of all, the depressive fuze was not done right. Originally, the fuze was supposed to protrude. The shell I saw just now was not fuzed, so I didn't care.Now that they had put the fuze on, it was almost level with the warhead.

Another most important reason is that the tail fin of this shell, after being shot out of the chamber, should have rotated and flew forward, but now they have made the tail fin connected with the body of the projectile to form a whole , so that during the flight of the shell, the empennage fails to play a role in balancing, and often the moment the shell hits the ground, it cannot be guaranteed that the pressure-fired fuze will hit the ground first.

Wang Ke hurriedly called the two workers to his side, and explained to them the problems he found in detail.

After listening to Wang Ke's words, the worker asked blankly, "How can this tail be rotated?"

Wang Ke was stunned for a moment. It is not difficult to improve the appearance, but to make it rotate, it must have a bearing. When I was thinking about making this weapon, I didn't think so carefully. Now that there is a problem, it is a bit late to think of this problem.

But they have already reached this level, and it is impossible not to continue, so they had to drag two workers, squatted on the ground and started talking again.

After finally explaining the whole structure clearly, Wang Ke saw a hint of embarrassment on the faces of the two workers.

Wang Ke understood that they were thinking that the steel balls in the bearings were not easy to make, but Wang Ke had no choice. Two, if this problem cannot be solved, this weapon cannot be perfected well. If you want to make this weapon successful, you must solve this problem.”

After a long silence, the two workers finally nodded and said: "Let's try again, and do everything we can!"

Wang Ke hurriedly winked immediately and asked him to say something.

Li Ke understood what Wang Ke meant. He wanted to make himself a promise to the two workers, what he would do after they figured out a way to solve the matter.

Li Ke hurriedly stepped forward and said: "You just do it. If you do it well, His Highness will ask for credit for you. If you don't do well, His Highness will bear any responsibility!"

The two hurriedly bowed to Li Ke and said, "Please rest assured, Your Highness, the villain will definitely do his best!"

Li Ke gave some words of encouragement again, which made the two people's blood boil, and they packed up their things immediately, and they wanted to go back and start working.

(End of this chapter)