Become a feudal king from today

"Everyone loves you, what you said is true to my heart!"

Zhao Heng's brows relaxed and a smile appeared on his face. read

He forgot about it for a while.

Moreover, Dou Wei and other powerful people's tone of voice changed, which gave him more confidence.

So he said: "My decision has been made, there is no need to discuss it further."

Temuta's face darkened, and the word "artillery" hurt his heart.

He went to see the ministers again and found that the other ministers nodded and seemed to agree with Liang Kai's statement.

This time the intimidation failed.

"In this case, this means war, let's wait and see." After that, he turned and exited the hall.

Zhao Heng's heart skipped a beat. Now he could only rely on King Yan's artillery.

If the artillery still couldn't stop Beidi's invasion, he would have no choice but...

After all, this is also for the safety of millions of people in Dasong.

Waving his hand, he ordered Liang Cheng to announce the dismissal of the court.

At this time, Liang Kai said again: "Your Majesty, Beidi is facing a great enemy. I think we should not give King Yan the right to open the sea. Otherwise, it will be even more difficult for the pirates to invade the northern border."

"What Liang Shangshu said is absolutely true," Dou Wei said loudly.

Han Zheng, Wang Zi'an and others came out to echo.

"It's just that King Yan asked for the right to sea trade. If he refused, how could he sincerely send the artillery?" Zhao Heng frowned.

Liang Kai smiled and said, "To be honest with the Emperor, my Liang family was fortunate enough to master the art of artillery casting not long ago."

"What!" Zhao Heng almost stood up from his chair.

Then his face darkened, Liang Kai said not long ago, it may have been a long time ago.

These powerful people actually deceived him like this.

"King Yan knows that our Liang family has artillery, so he will not cherish it. He tells him that as long as he hands over the casting method, we will persuade the merchants from various states and not embarrass him in business. With the wisdom of King Yan, he will definitely not refuse to agree. "Liang Kai continued.

Zhao Heng narrowed his eyes.

Just now he was tempted to send King Yan as a hostage in exchange for peace.

This is to praise An Tai so that he can sit on the throne.

Since he refuted the request of the Beidi envoy, King Yan naturally became an important royal force to balance the powerful clans.

He said: "I can refuse King Yan on the matter of sea trade, but it is not appropriate to ask King Yan to hand over the casting method. Beidi's craftsmanship is rampant. If it is accidentally leaked and Beidi gets it, won't I have no advantage anymore?" ”

After pondering for a while, he continued: "But I will order him not to refuse you to buy his artillery. As for business matters, you should not make things difficult for him."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Liang Kai quickly bowed and replied, his face full of joy.

His purpose was basically achieved.

King Yan ignored them regarding sea trade, and King Yan could not refuse them regarding artillery.

Although it is a pity that I can't get the method of casting a cannon.

But he knew that King Yan would never hand over such a secret.

As for business matters, King Yan was originally in control.

If King Yan does not sell them artillery, they will not allow King Yan's goods to travel freely.

After settling the matter, Zhao Heng seemed very tired and waved his hand to signal the court to disperse.

…

Yancheng.

Bing Zhan Division.

Zhao Xu was talking to Wang Ying about the artillery casting.

He sent the zhezi. Since he promised to send artillery to the capital, he had to do it, otherwise it would be the crime of deceiving the emperor.

"It's different?" Wang Ying confirmed.

"Yes, the artillery given to them is different from that used by the royal family." Zhao Xu smiled mysteriously.

Wang Ying was confused, "How to make it different?"

"Make white iron cannons and gray iron cannons."

In front of the blast furnace, craftsmen are busy, some are transporting ore, and some are pulling blowers to blow hot air into the blast furnace.

When Zhao Xu further explained how to produce iron cannons, Wang Ying was quite depressed.

Because he couldn't understand it more and more.

"Look, this is called knowing what is happening and not knowing why." Zhao Xu said.

Wang Ying's face was full of shame. Before he met King Yan, he was still very narcissistic.

I always feel that there are few crafts in this world that I know well.

Now, he only felt that in front of King Yan, he was just an ignorant child.

"What His Highness said is that your subordinates must listen carefully to His Highness's lectures." Wang Ying said.

"Pfft." Wang Chong couldn't help laughing when he saw that his father was just like him when he made mistakes in King Yan.

Wang Ying heard this and glared at him, "What? Do you know the difference between the white iron cannon and the gray iron cannon?"

"I don't understand." Wang Chong shrugged his head.

Zhao Xu smiled.

Now there is Liu Fu in government affairs and Chang Wei in military affairs.

He had more time to focus on the Military Division.

After all, knowledge from the present is his real wealth.

These wealth will be realized in the War and War Division, and will bring huge wealth and security to Yanzhou.

"The cross section of iron has two colors, one is silvery white and the other is gray, do you understand?"

"This humble official understands." Wang Ying replied, "Before Your Highness started making iron in the blast furnace, the iron produced in Yanzhou was white when it cooled. This kind of iron is hard but brittle."

"Your Highness, wouldn't it be easy for a cannon made of this kind of iron to explode?" Wang Chong looked doubtful.

"This is sold to powerful people so that it can be easily exploded." Zhao Xu said.

He hasn't told the two of them what these two types of artillery are used for.

When Wang Ying and Wang Chong heard this, they said oh and showed a smile like "Your Highness, you are really bad."

"It's just that now that we use the blast furnace, the iron we refine is all gray? If we want to make white iron cannons, don't we have to use the old method to make iron? This is a bit too troublesome." Wang Ying continued.

Zhao Xu smiled, "This doesn't just require blowing air into the hot blast furnace when making iron."

In fact, the main difference between gray iron and white iron is the silicon content in the molten iron.

If the silicon content in the molten iron is greater than 4%, the iron that comes out must be gray iron.

This kind of iron is very flexible and suitable for artillery.

Whether the silicon content in molten iron can reach 4% depends on the smelting temperature.

As long as the temperature of the blast furnace exceeds 1,500 degrees, the silicon in the material will form crystalline silicon under chemical reactions and merge into the molten iron. When the iron solidifies, it will change the crystallization form of the carbon in the iron.

Below this temperature, iron can still melt, but silicon can only exist mostly in the form of compounds, so the iron parts will turn into white iron after cooling.

It was precisely because of such complex principles that he was so confident that powerful people could not imitate his artillery.

Even the quality of white iron varies, and they cannot catch up with Yanzhou's smelting level.

In contemporary times, the Qing Dynasty did not understand this before and after the Opium War, so it was never able to build gray iron cannons comparable to those of the great powers.

At the same time, there is also a key technical point here.

White iron cannon cannot be chambered.

Because it is too brittle, it will break when drilled.

In the mid-19th century, high-quality artillery was basically made of cast iron with holes drilled directly, and at least one side of the bore had to be cut.

In this way, the inner wall of the artillery will be smooth and the shells can be fired farther, even to more than ten kilometers.

This is why in the Battle of Dagukou in the Qing Dynasty, the British army could directly bombard Dagukou with warships at sea.

As for the artillery that has not been bore-cut, the inner wall is flawed and slightly uneven.

Although it is not visible in general, the cannonball will encounter resistance when it exits the barrel, reducing the power of the range.

Nowadays, the steel cannons made in Yanzhou have not been bore-cut, so the advantages are only a low chamber explosion rate and the blessing of granular gunpowder.

But basically, the effective killing range is only 1,500 meters, and the maximum range is more than 2,000 meters.

It would be perfect if I could do the chambering again.

The maximum range of his artillery can definitely equal the best artillery of the 19th century.

But in this case, you have to master the bore cutting technology.

The most basic bore cutting technology has two difficulties, one is power and the other is tool.

This tool does not mean a machete, but various drill bits used to process metal on a lathe.

In terms of power, the original boring machines used hydraulic power, which was no problem.

All that's left is to make the knives.

In the mid-19th century, knives were basically made of high-carbon steel, which is also called tool steel.

As we all know, steel wires are soft and hard.

So this is equivalent to using hard steel to drill soft steel.

Of course, the ideal tool is carbide steel, such as tungsten steel.

But at the current level of Yanzhou, it is really difficult to achieve it, and it is also a waste of time.

High carbon steel is much easier. There is no need to add additional alloys. Just make a special pot of high carbon steel.

For him, he just wants usability, not quality.

It's a waste of a few more tools.

"Is it enough to turn off the air-heated furnace?" Wang Ying and Wang Chong were even more surprised, "Your Highness, what is the reason for this?"

"I can't explain it all in a short while. When I have time, I will explain it to you in detail." Zhao Xu said.

The two nodded, feeling scratchy in their hearts.

They really couldn't figure out how King Yan knew such strange knowledge.

But from the bottom of their hearts, they are full of yearning for this knowledge.

I really want to master the "technology" he calls like King Yan.

After talking about the two artillery pieces, Zhao Xu took a blueprint from Xu Lie's hand.

"Master Wang, I'll leave the artillery matter to you." Zhao Xu said.

Then, he said to Wang Chong: "I have an important task for you."