Please ask me to be the emperor

Many people take it for granted that by the end of the Ming Dynasty, Chinese artillery technology was lagging behind because of the introduction of Hongyi artillery from the west. In fact, this is not the case. In the late Ming Dynasty, China lagged behind the West in artillery design technology. In terms of artillery casting technology, China's advanced iron casting technology was actually superior to Western artillery casting technology.

At that time, in Western society, except for Britain which had iron cannon casting technology, other European countries all cast bronze cannons. Copper in China during this period was money. "Da Ming Huidian" records that during the Jiajing period, "Tongbao money was six million yuan, and the combined use of two-fire brass was 47,272 jins, and water tin was 4,728 taels."

In other words, one kilogram of brass can be cast into about 127 Tongbao coins, which is similar to the large-caliber Napoleon bronze cannon, which is about one thousand kilograms made in the Ming Dynasty, which is equivalent to 127,000 coins in the Ming Dynasty. According to the price of iron in the late Ming Dynasty, a pound of wrought iron cost about 0.16 silver, which was about 10 cents when converted into copper coins. If you switch to pig iron, it will be even lower, only a few cents per pound. If the brass of these cannons is converted into pig iron cannons, about forty or fifty Hongyi cannons can be cast. The cost-effectiveness can be imagined.

After Zhang Shun asked about the price difference, he could imagine which material to choose for the cannon. However, the selection of iron materials is also different. In the Ming Dynasty, there were four types of iron materials: raw iron, pig iron, wrought iron (i.e. refined iron) and steel.

The so-called raw iron is crude pig iron that is initially refined and can be used as pig iron after being smelted again. As for the difference between pig iron and wrought iron, it is different from the definition of later generations. The pig iron in the Ming Dynasty was called pig iron if it had not been "fried"; it was called wrought iron if it had been "fried". As for steel, traditional craftsmen call medium-to-high carbon steel that has fewer impurities and can be quenched "steel". Only a very small amount can be produced for key parts such as blades and gun tips, and they are not considered for the time being. Mild steel and wrought iron are more generally referred to as "wrought iron".

If you think about this definition carefully, you will find a problem. In ancient times, the definition of pig iron and wrought iron was based on the process, not the carbon content as in later generations, so sometimes there will be problems that later generations cannot understand. For example, cannons from the early Ming Dynasty were metallographically analyzed and found to be cast steel cannons. Most of these artillery pieces come from the Shanxi area, which is enough to illustrate Shanxi's superb iron-making technology and casting technology.

Of course, our protagonist Zhang Shun does not know these situations yet, and only has a rough understanding of the classification of iron materials. According to Zhang Shun's idea, he wanted to use high-quality iron materials to cast the cannon, so he proposed to use "refined iron" to cast the cannon.

This statement made Liu Gang laugh and said: "My lord, I don't know something. This fine iron can only be forged, not cast. If you want to cast it, you have to use pig iron."

"Why can't it be cast?" Zhang Shun asked strangely.

"It is difficult to melt and melt. Even if it is barely boiled into porridge, it cannot be poured." Liu Gang explained.

Come on, it turns out the temperature is not enough. Zhang Shun understood this, but he had no choice but to settle for the next best thing and prepare to cast pig iron cannons. But Zhang Shun had no choice but to make it look like this. He had never seen the Hongyi Cannon, nor the Franchise, or the Crouching Tiger Cannon. If there were any real objects that he could imitate, he had to design it himself.

At first, Zhang Shun thought things simply. Based on the rough impression of later generations, he drew a hollow cylinder with a thin front and a thick back. The diameter was about the size of a fist. The front wall was two fingers thick and the back wall was three fingers thick. Let Liu Gang be in charge of casting.

When Liu Gang asked about its length, Zhang Shun himself did not know. According to later image data, he casually said a figure of "five feet". This is about six to seven hundred kilograms. According to their crucible iron-making method, it can almost use up the crucible iron produced by the furnace slowly. Fortunately, there are iron-making places everywhere in Runcheng, not far from here.

Therefore, Zhang Shun simply applied to "Purple Gold Liang" to leave Douzhuang, Qinshui County and return to Runcheng to make cannons. "Purple Gold Liang" readily agreed. Then, Zhang took the team back to Runcheng by the way, plundered several thousand kilograms of crucible iron, built a furnace, and began to melt the iron.

The mold of the artillery was made by several young men selected by Liu Gang. Originally, Zhang Shun proposed to use iron molds to cast the cannon based on the "iron mold cannon casting technology", but Liu Gang gave him an iron mold. This iron fan is an iron mold. Liu Gang told him: "Our iron fan can only be used to cast plow mirrors here in Yangcheng. The iron cast in this way is hard and brittle. If it is used to cast cannons, it will break into iron with one shot. Scumbag."

Zhang Shun was speechless when he heard this. He didn't know that later history textbooks were so deceptive, so he simply let Liu Gang figure out his own solution. Based on his many years of iron-making experience, Liu Gang first cut wood into a cylindrical shape, then wrapped it in sand and slowly made the barrel mold.

Then use wood to make a solid cannon, put it upside down into the dug hole, and wrap it with sand to make a cannon scope. After the outer cannon frame is dry, take out the wooden cannon inside and insert the prepared cannon barrel frame into it. Because the back wall of the artillery needed to be cast, it needed to be freed up and could not support the gun breech. Liu Gang thought for a moment and forged the rear wall of the artillery, put it directly into the lower end of the artillery mold, and then put it into the gun breech. It was complete.

After the molten iron was completely melted, Liu Gang ordered the molten iron to be poured into the scope, the artillery was poured from the muzzle position, and then covered with a special mud cover to prevent the artillery muzzle from becoming brittle. Then, everyone waited for another three or four days before opening the cover.

The muzzle of the direct artillery has turned into dark cast iron. Zhang was so happy that he dug the cannon out of the soil. He saw that the cannon was almost up to the man's chin, dark and smooth.

Zhang Shun was in a daze for a moment: How could he be hoisted up from the pit without a handle?

Fortunately, manpower was not valuable in this era. Zhang Shun asked the craftsmen and soldiers to wrap the rope around him several times and finally pulled him out of the mud pit. So, Zhang Shun excitedly asked someone to load the prepared gunpowder into the cannon, and then put a cast iron shell into it.

And then, everyone, you look at me and I look at you at a loss: where does this start igniting?

There was no other way, so everyone had to work together to tip the cannon down, pour out the gunpowder and shells from the barrel, and then find a craftsman to drill an ignition hole at the back end of the cannon.

This time everything was finally ready and all we needed was Dongfeng. After everyone installed the medicine, they were ready to find someone to release it and see the results. At this time, Zhang Shun volunteered to stand up, which shocked the craftsman Liu Gang and others as well as Zhang Shun's subordinates. They all stopped and said: "This artillery is the easiest to explode. No one knows the result until the gun is fired. Lord." How can we take risks easily?"

If you pass by, don’t miss it, please collect it!