Please ask me to be the emperor

By the time Zhang Shun received Chen Changzhen's letter, it was only a few days before Xiaonian. Zhang Shun was keenly aware of the business opportunities and quickly ordered Mr. Lu to open the market as soon as possible to sell grain.

It turned out that although Chen Changzhen's attack on the city had not made much progress, it still easily cut off Kangjiazhuang's access to the outside world. In this way, although Kangjiazhuang had mountains of food, it was unable to transport it for sale. Zhang Shun wanted to take this opportunity to make a lot of money.

It's just that although money is good, Zhang Shun has no leisure. It is easy for several women in the family to get together, and naturally there will be intrigues, intrigues, and intrigues.

You make meatball soup today, and I’ll make a lion’s head tomorrow! You are pregnant today, so you can take care of your baby with peace of mind, and your husband will not be able to disturb your purity at night! Today the head of the house bought you a piece of silk to make a coat, and tomorrow you have to buy me five feet of silk to make clothes! Anyway, the noisy Zhang Shun has a big head.

Although Zhang Shun was quite happy with it, he was still worried that Chen Changzhen and the others would not be successful in attacking Kangjiazhuang.

Everything has pros and cons. Since there are not many entrances and exits in Kangjiazhuang, it means that on the one hand it is easy to be besieged, and on the other hand it is not easy to be conquered; since Kangjiazhuang is tightly besieged, it means that the food hoarded by Kangjiazhuang can no longer be Getting it to the market in time to sell it also means that Kangjiazhuang is not afraid of siege and will not be short of food for a while.

Zhang Shun had no choice but to ignore the fact that the new year was approaching, so he simply personally led 500 soldiers, dozens of artillery pieces, 30 to 40 blacksmiths, and the 2,000 to 3,000 kilograms of iron materials that Governor Zhang had recently collected and rushed to Kangjiazhuang.

By the time Zhang Shun arrived at Kangjiazhuang, the second watchtower in Kangjiazhuang had just been destroyed by the rebels.

These fortresses and watchtowers were built with the help of the mountains, making them easy to defend but difficult to attack. It is made of stones from the mountains and is extremely strong. When the Hongyi cannon hits it, it only breaks a small piece of the skin.

Zhang asked by the way: "The priority is to attack the city, but the priority is to attack the heart. Has Changzhi ever tried to persuade him to surrender?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Changzhen responded quickly: "After the rebels demolished the first watchtower, they shot Zhang Shenyan's "Message to the Jinshan Mountain of Kang" and "Message to the People of Kangjiazhuang to Persuade Surrender". As a result, there was no response from the village. I sent soldiers Gao Gao again. Phew, they listed Kang Jinshan’s crimes and claimed, ‘Those who can tie up Kang Jinshan and escape will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver, and those who can decapitate Kang Jinshan will be rewarded with 800 taels of silver’, but there is no answer!”

After Zhang Shun heard this, he knew it was a coincidence, so he had to ask Governor Zhang: "Now that I have brought eight Hongyi cannons and five general cannons, can we capture this village?"

Governor Zhang shook his head when he heard this and said: "This village has been run by several generations and has long been impregnable. The artillery brought by the general cannot be used except for the Hongyi cannon."

"This type of red barbarian cannon was originally used as a defensive musket, and it can also be used in the field to attack the city. However, when it comes to this fortified city, it still lacks firepower. If you want to break this city, you can either cast a heavy red barbarian cannon, load it with more gunpowder, and fire large shells. ; Or cast a flying blunderbuss and use a huge bomb to knock it down from above, avoiding the stone wall and fortified city!"

Zhang Shun thought for a moment and asked: "Now that we only have three to four thousand kilograms of iron, what kind of artillery should be best cast?"

Governor Zhang thought for a moment, shook his head and responded: "There is not enough iron material, so it is not suitable for use. If the Hongyi cannon is to be cast, it will take ten thousand kilograms of iron material!"

Zhang Shun couldn't help but feel a headache after hearing this. Although Lushi also had a lot of iron mines, iron smelting was not as developed as Yangcheng. Even if he had enough iron material in front of him, the cavity would explode due to uneven quality.

What should I do if I wait for someone to smelt it from scratch and I don't have enough time?

At this time, Liu Gang, the leader of the blacksmiths, suddenly said: "General, I have something to say, I don't know whether to say it or not!"

When Zhang Shunzheng was at his wits' end, what unreasonable reasoning was there? He quickly said: "But it doesn't matter, if it is useful, I should be rewarded!"

Liu Gang bowed after hearing this, and then said: "I have seen all the cannons in your lord's hands. Except for the 'golden cannon' worth thousands of gold, the rest are just cast iron and wrought iron."

"In my humble opinion, although the Second General's cannon has some flaws in shape, it is forged from wrought iron. It is light in weight and has a large charge, so there is no risk of exploding the chamber. On the contrary, the cast iron Hongyi cannon is made of cast iron. It’s extremely heavy, but it can’t hold a large amount of explosives.”

"I have been smelting this stubborn iron since I was a child. Since ancient times, wrought iron consumes labor but saves materials. Casting iron consumes materials but saves work. Why doesn't the general use wrought iron to forge this red barbarian cannon? Using this to attack the city will be unfavorable."

Zhang Shun was stunned when he heard this. Most of the fragmentary information he obtained in his previous life was about forging cannons, and he had never heard of cannon forging. Could it be that this Hongyi cannon can also be forged?

Zhang Shun quickly asked Governor Zhang for advice on the matter. Governor Zhang has been making firearms for the Jiliao border army for many years, and he is well aware of the pros and cons. Hearing this, he quickly explained: "We Chinese are good at smelting iron, and we have never had the two methods of forging and casting since ancient times."

"When Taizu of the Ming Dynasty founded the country, firearms were first in use. They were cast from copper and iron to sharpen their weapons. A hundred years later, firearms gradually became more popular. However, the price of copper was high and the iron was brittle. So wrought iron was used as cannon and it was always used by the border troops."

"Among them, the tiger squatting cannon used by Qi Nantang, the generals, second generals, third generals and the Western-style French guns used by the frontier army were all forged by this method. Until recent years, when Western cannons were introduced to China again, they were mostly made of copper and veneer. Forged, we will follow this plan and even cast the Hongyi cannon."

"Now speaking, it is not necessarily impossible to forge this cannon. But since ancient times, I have only heard of forging light trots, but I have never heard of forging Hongyi cannons that are heavy and heavy. Because the wrought iron is all made by manpower, if it is heavy and big , it is beyond human power, so it is difficult to do this.”

Zhang Shun smacked his lips when he heard this, finally understanding what was going on. It turns out that the quality of forged wrought iron cannons is indeed better than that of cast iron. However, the wrought iron is time-consuming and manpower is limited, so large pieces of wrought iron cannot be forged.

This matter will be difficult to handle. Now that the new year is approaching, if we cannot attack this village in time, it will not be enough to deter other people who covet it.

However, if you want to attack this village quickly, you either need to collect a large amount of iron in time, or you need craftsmen to slowly forge wrought iron cannons. But no matter which method, it still requires enough time, but what I am most in short supply is time.

In this way, Zhang Shun thought about it for a day or two, but he couldn't figure it out. He had no choice but to lead Wukong and Lin Jinyi out of the camp to relax for a while.

After walking slowly for a while, Zhang Shun walked to a river. He wanted to make up his mind and stick to it. Even if he spent the New Year outside Kangjiazhuang, he would still build this fort.

At this moment, Zhang Shun suddenly heard a squeaking sound. He looked up and saw a wooden house in front of him. Next to the house stood a huge wooden machine, which was composed of water wheels, connecting shafts and other wooden components.

Author Kavin, there is only one update today, please understand!