Daming pirates

In a work shed, there are two vertical old-fashioned boring machines, which are boring the fixed iron cannon inner bores. There is also a horizontal boring machine that has just been built, and is also experimenting with a new type of boring machine.

The boring operation of the gun chamber is carried out using the power of two oxen.

The steward here is surnamed Qiu, and he is also an old blacksmith. He is probably in his forties, but because he has been engaged in high-temperature and heavy physical labor for a long time, his face looks like he is over sixty years old.

He used to work in the iron yard in Foshan, Guangdong. His skills were quite good and he could also cast cannons. He used to be quite famous in the iron yard in Foshan area. However, because he was a little old, he got sick once and fell ill.

If he couldn't afford it, he was fired by the shopkeeper.

After Blacksmith Qiu fell ill, his family spent all their savings to treat him, and later owed a lot of debt. They finally managed to save their lives, but they were very weak and unable to continue working.

, and one of his sons originally took up his craft and became a blacksmith, but he accidentally had an accident in the iron yard and was killed by a falling frame on the spot.

Blacksmith Qiu's family suddenly fell into trouble. Later, his creditors forced him, his wife, and a young son out of the house. Because he was unable to work, he lived on the streets begging. Later, he was accidentally killed by the Seawolf director who was on business in Guangzhou.

A person from the church found out, so he took the three of them back to Nanyue Island.

Originally, it seemed that Blacksmith Qiu was already half-dead, and no one paid much attention to him. However, after Blacksmith Qiu arrived at Nanyue Island, he received the attention of Blacksmith Zhang, a gunsmith.

Blacksmith Zhang heard that an old blacksmith came to Nanyue Island, so he went to see Blacksmith Qiu when he had nothing to do. After chatting with him, he found that Blacksmith Qiu was very skilled, so he quickly recommended him to Yu Xiaotian.

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After Yu Xiaotian heard about it, he took it very seriously. He quickly went to see Blacksmith Qiu in person, and settled his family. He sent people to serve Blacksmith Qiu with delicious food and drinks, and ordered the medical officer to take care of his body.

This Blacksmith Qiu is considered to have a good fortune. After meeting Yu Xiaotian, after some treatment by the medical officer, plus good food and drink, and sufficient nutrition, his collapsed body miraculously recovered.

Later, he gradually recovered most of his physical strength and became strong again, so he returned to his old profession and went to Nanyue Island Artillery Works to work as a craftsman.

Blacksmith Qiu's skills were quite good, even much better than Blacksmith Lei's. He quickly stood out among the craftsmen and put forward many useful suggestions, so Yu Xiaotian asked him to make cannons on Nanyue Island.

I became a deputy manager, which is actually equivalent to the work of a technical director.

This time Nanyue Island Artillery Works was put into production. Yu Xiaotian saw that Blacksmith Qiu had good skills, good popularity, was older, and was steady in his work, so he first asked him to come over and watch the construction of the factory, and then appointed him to work here.

Stewardship is the position of the factory director.

Blacksmith Qiu survived a desperate situation and was extremely grateful to Hailang and Yu Xiaotian. He worked very hard and now the artillery operation in Tamsui is in full swing.

Today, there are more than 200 craftsmen working in fresh water cannon production. Among them, there are not many formal craftsmen, but there are many apprentices.

Most of these apprentices are slaves purchased by Sea Wolf from land. Some of them are younger men or teenagers, and some of them are selected into the new barracks for training, and enter the navy or war barracks.

, some people were left in factories to serve as various apprentices, and some old and weak people were sent to immigrant villages to become farmers.

These apprentices who are slaves are basically the future industrial workers of Sea Wolf. They will become the mainstay of Sea Wolf's industry in the future. However, most of them are not apprentices now and are still in the factory, learning skills from the masters.

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However, the apprentices here are different from the apprentices of craftsmen on land. They are slaves of Sea Wolf and actually belong to Yu Xiaotian's private property, unlike the apprentices on land who have to work as cattle and horses for their master first.

It takes many years to begin to learn the craft to some extent.

And the craftsmen here dare not use these apprentices like that. Although the apprentices must start with rough work, Yu Xiaotian has strict orders that the craftsmen must teach them their skills, otherwise the future of the craftsmen will be worrying. Here the craftsmen

There is no way out for those who want to cherish their skills without teaching them. They will soon be pushed to the bottom position in the factory. From now on, they can only do menial work and get little pay.

However, for craftsmen who are willing to teach techniques and craftsmanship to their apprentices, Yu Xiaotian ordered them to be given a certain allowance according to the number of apprentices they bring. This will also promote the improvement of the living conditions of the craftsmen, so that they can better

Pass on the skills to these apprentices.

The apprentices are basically slaves and do not need to pay them wages. Sea Wolf is responsible for all their food, clothing, housing and transportation. It is relatively economical. It only gives these apprentices a small allowance every month, so that they can buy as much as they want.

A few personal items.

But the apprentices have no objections to this. On land, they are all bankrupt farmers or ordinary people in the city. They really can't survive. Many of them have prostituted themselves in order to survive.

There is a way to survive, but even so, many people have no chance to find a good way out, and few people can meet a kind-hearted owner who buys them back and treats them well.

Some children will be bought home by some small landowners and used as their adopted children. In fact, they are slaves of the small landowners and farm for them. Some children will be bought back by large families and become slaves. The life will not be very satisfactory at best.

It’s good to have a meal together.

Even if they serve as apprentices to craftsmen on land, they still have no wages. They have to work for the master for free for many years before they can learn some skills. However, after completing their apprenticeship, they cannot leave the craftsman's shop and continue to work for the craftsman for a long time.

For time, I can only get a small amount of wages, which is actually similar to that of a craftsman.

Now they have been bought by Sea Wolf. Although when they were first transported here, they knew that they were bought by pirates. Everyone was frightened, thinking that they would be forced to become thieves and pirates, but when they arrived here

Later, they discovered that this place was much better than they imagined.

Sea Wolf provided them with quite good food, accommodation and clothing so that they could eat well. This alone made them very satisfied. There was also a doctor who checked their health and treated those who were sick, which made them even more satisfied.

It surprised them.

It's just that the rules here at Sea Wolf are a bit too strict. There are rules for eating, drinking, urinating, sleeping, etc., which makes it a bit unbearable for the slaves who are new here. But if you think about it carefully, even if they are bought by others, they will still be the same.

Every household has rules. If you make a mistake, you will be beaten more severely than here. It is common for the head of the house to beat his slave to death. Many times the government does not care, so it is psychologically balanced.

In addition, after they get here, there will be people from Sea Wolf telling them every day about how they have a bright future following Yu Xiaotian, the big boss, how good Sea Wolf is to them, and what their future will be like in the future.

No matter how bright it is, these slaves gradually adapted to the life here.

After Yu Xiaotian walked into the artillery workshop, Blacksmith Qiu heard the sound and rushed over to see him. He led Yu Xiaotian around the entire artillery workshop and told Yu Xiaotian that the work here was basically going on at the moment.

It went relatively smoothly. Nanyue Island transferred a group of old craftsmen, all of them experienced, to take charge of the casting work here. They are all familiar with the work.

Moreover, the method of casting cannons with iron molds is much simpler than that of casting cannons with clay molds. As long as you are careful, you can basically ensure that there will be no problems with the quality.

Finally, Yu Xiaotian went to the finished product warehouse and took a look at the finished products that had been cast here. In the finished product warehouse, there were at least twenty cannons of various types placed.

Among them are the twelve-pound short guns that are now being put into mass production, ordinary twelve-pound howitzers, two twelve-pound long guns, and several three-pound light Franco machine guns that have just been cast.

There is even a whaling cannon that has just been cast and has not yet been used for trial use. Of course, there are also several tiger crouching cannons like the Sea Wolf's own.

But Yu Xiaotian is not concerned about these artillery right now. He is more concerned about a new artillery that he asked the artillery company here to start trial production last year.

The new gun that Yu Xiaotian wants is actually the very famous carronade gun in history. This carroner gun is actually a large-caliber naval gun with an ultra-short barrel. It was once used in large quantities by Western countries, especially the United Kingdom.

The production equipment has arrived on the ship.

The caliber of carronade guns is generally larger, and the gunpowder loaded is not as much as that of naval guns of the same caliber, but the weight of the projectiles is very large. The light ones can reach 24 pounds. Most of them are 32-pound guns, and there are even 48-pound and 6-pound guns.

Fourteen pound heavy carronade gun.

Its main feature is that the barrel is very short. Compared with the caliber, the length of the barrel is only four to eight times the caliber, usually about six times. It is short, thick and fat, and the wall of the gun is relatively thin, so the weight is natural

It is much lighter than a cannon or howitzer of the same caliber.

In addition, when long-barreled naval guns are used on ships, due to the long barrel and heavy gun, reloading will be more troublesome and labor-intensive. However, the Caron gun barrel is very short, so it is much easier to reload.

The reset is also fast, and the firing speed is naturally faster than

Ordinary artillery is faster. Even if a gunner who is not well-trained is used to operate this kind of cannon, he can at least fire once a minute. If the gunner is well-trained, he can fire 1.5 to two shells per minute.

This is very important in naval battles.

(The monthly pass is not enough! Who still has a monthly pass? Can you just keep it? Please!)