The Struggle of the Reborn Prince

Chapter 88 No delay

It is said that sharpening a knife is as good as chopping firewood. Since Zhao Tong has made up his mind to build a new type of army, he must equip himself with firearms. The service life of his own is only more than 20 rounds of bullets, and the small revolver with a range of about 30 meters is not enough.

If he was able to do the job, he would have to build muskets and artillery with long range and long service life, and these were all based on the quality of iron, so he went to the smelting plant in the workshop these days when he had nothing to do.

'Every line is like a mountain' Zhao Tao has never been exposed to the smelting of steel. When he was in school, there were only two brief chapters in the textbook. As for the specific operation, it may not be as good as that of a young apprentice in the workshop, but it is not enough to understand it.

Now the only option is to 'put it in the pot'. Since they don't produce iron ore here, the smelter uses pig iron that has been bought back through primary processing, and then smelted again and processed into wrought iron suitable for forging, and finally wrought iron.

Made into various accessories.

Zhao Tao soaked for a few days and finally understood that Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Bi Tan" mentioned the "steel-filling method" to make steel, which is to bundle sponge-like pig iron and soft iron sheets together, seal them with mud, and smelt them in the furnace.

After the two are fused together, they are cooled and forged, and then smelted in a furnace. After several twists and turns, it becomes homogeneous wrought iron. Zhao Tong doesn't have any objections to this. If you want it better, just spend more.

Kung Fu, spend more money. Anyway, I can't make smokeless gunpowder now. I can only use black gunpowder. The speed of bullets fired by black gunpowder is low, and the wrought iron barrel is enough to meet the requirements. Of course, the steel barrel is better, but there is no

That necessity will cause unnecessary waste. Besides, we don't know if we can find tools that can process steel.

The gun barrel is the core of a gun, so Zhao Tong decided to try making a few of them from a good piece of iron. When Zheng Fu, the shopkeeper of the workshop, heard that the prince wanted to create something again, he immediately mobilized the most skilled people in the workshop to form a specialized team.

The team is at your disposal at any time. Now he is also a popular figure in the palace. He is no worse than the big manager in the past. He manages six to seven hundred people under his command and can also create profits of two to three hundred thousand dollars every year. He is the main source of income for the palace.

When Zhao Tong saw these craftsmen making gun barrels according to his requirements, not only did his balls hurt, but his whole body ached. The process was too complicated. First, prepare a cylinder about thirty centimeters long and seven millimeters in diameter.

The steel core of the body is made into a cold bone, and then the wrought iron is heated until it is red hot. The craftsman uses a hammer to knock the hot wrought iron outside the steel core and roll it into an iron pipe. The steel core is continuously pulled out during the process of wrapping the iron.

Cool it with water to prevent the inner steel core and the outer layer of wrought iron from being welded together. Finally, the steel core is pulled out and it becomes a round steel pipe. However, a 30-centimeter steel pipe is too short to be used as a gun barrel. According to Zhao Tao, the minimum

According to the requirements, two such steel pipes need to be welded to become a barrel. Since the barrel is neither seamless nor welded section by section, this kind of barrel can easily explode, but there is no way.

You can make do with it first and choose the one you want.

After knocking out more than ten iron pipes, Zhao Tu took a look and found that apart from the curved and flat ones, there were only eight that were suitable for use. However, the barrel at this time was only a rough embryo and needed to be trimmed. Because the barrel was not

It is straight, and the inside of the barrel is also rough and uneven. You need to use a drill and a file to polish the barrel smooth. The tool used is the most advanced "rotating machine" in the Song Dynasty. This thing is turned entirely by hand. It can't be polished much in a day, and it is stable.

It was so bad that he was shaking so much that the things he made were inconsistent, and the muzzle of the gun looked a bit like an egg. He still endured it, because he was so unlucky that he didn't bring a machine processing factory with him when he traveled through time.

The craftsmen saw that the prince was anxious, so they immediately divided into two shifts and worked day and night. After working hard for twenty days, they finally made five gun barrels. Zhao Tong rewarded several craftsmen and threw the gun barrels away on the way back.

I couldn't see two of them with my own eyes without using a ruler. When I got home, I filled the remaining three with ignition powder and did a destructive test. After a few explosions, luckily all of them were destroyed, but one of them was still alive.

Then Zhao Tong was extremely frustrated. He had just begun his journey to build an army and had suffered such a setback. He was so angry that he didn't even eat lunch. Of course he ate more dinner!

As a special soldier who had gone through brutal training and countless life and death tests, Zhao Tong would never give up. The next day he ordered the smelter to make better forged iron, and he held it in his study for three days, giving full play to his knowledge.

Using the expertise of machinery, he came up with a set of equipment improvement plans. After working for more than ten days, he made a new type of rotary lathe, and changed the forging and grinding operations from manual operation to water wheel driving, which not only improved

It improves the stability of the equipment, saves manpower and improves efficiency.

The experiment again did not disappoint Zhao Tong, and he made five more gun barrels in five days. However, the destructive experiment still caused two welds to crack, and the scrap rate was as high as 40%. If the previous process was added, it would have been

More than half, but at least it was made.

In the days that followed, everyone found that the prince seemed to have had enough troubles and stopped going to the workshop. However, several people in the workshop were very busy. From time to time, they would receive a job and ask them to process a small gadget according to the drawings.

Children, and they are all watched by the two small yellow doors in the inner courtyard. After they are done, they will immediately take away the pictures and send them back. They are not allowed to go out in the middle, and the meals are delivered. The craftsmen understand that the prince is in a hurry.

.

Of course, Zhao Yan asked them to make these things. As a time-traveler who has studied mechanics, he knows that making a gun is by no means easy, especially in this kind of standardized production, where the jigs and measuring tools are all specially made.

The preparation work was tedious and meticulous. Now that he has completed the design work, and with his previous experience in designing and manufacturing agricultural machinery, he sketched out the shape of the gun in his mind, then drew the parts one by one, and after many calculations,

After completing the preliminary design, the craftsmen were asked to make parts one by one and assemble them into a prototype gun. After testing and many modifications, the final shape was finally finalized. When the first qualified prototype gun fired the bullet, Zhao Tong felt that this period of time was better than setting up a mourning hall in front of the palace.

Those days were difficult.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, good news." The time seemed to have shortened during the busy time. It was already April. Zhao Tong had just finished exercising that day, and Huang Jingchen shouted and trotted into his yard.

"Uncle Huang, why did gold ingots fall from the sky? You're running so fast, and you're not afraid of slipping away!" Zhao Tong hurriedly helped him sit down.

"That's almost it!" Huang Jingchen said with a smile, his excitement still not over, "I received news from Beijing this morning that Cai Jing is finally coming back to life, and the emperor hosted a deer-minging banquet for him yesterday!" he said.

Then he handed a note to Zhao Tong.

"Is that boy Cai Jing back?" Zhao Tong asked. Although he knew that Cai Jing would return to the stage this year, he didn't know the specific time.

"I came back. In February, the emperor had already issued an edict, saying that Taishi Cai served as prime minister twice for a total of eight years. He suggested that Shao Shu Xining's new policy should be given preferential treatment for his hard work and outstanding achievements, and he should be allowed to return to Bianjing.

Living in the mansion, he still enjoys the benefits of being a prince, grand master, and retired Duke of Chu. In early March, he sent Rongzhou Defense Envoy Tong Shimin to Hangzhou with an edict to summon Cai Jing back to the capital. He arrived at the beginning of this month." Huang Jingchen replied.

"On the eighth day of April, the Holy Master of Taiqing Tower held a deer-crowing banquet in honor of Cai Jing. He played "Shi Xiaoya Deer-Ming". What do you mean? There is not a single word mentioned about Cai Jing's return to the prime minister. What are you happy about?" Zhao Yu looked at it.

Looking at the note, he asked doubtfully, but Cai Jing returned to Beijing a month ago.

"Your Majesty, you don't understand this!" Huang Jingchen said with a smile, ""Shi Xiaoya Deer Ming" says that in the early Zhou Dynasty, the king of the Zhou Dynasty was banqueting guests, playing the piano, drums and harp to welcome them. Among them were highly respected ministers.

He is a model for a gentleman to imitate. The king toasted his guests with fine wine, and the guests and hosts enjoyed themselves with music. After the emperor came to the throne, he held two deer-minging banquets. The last time was in the first month of the first year of Daguan when Cai Jing was reinstated as the left prime minister. This time it happened that

Just in time for him to come back"

"Oh, that means Cai Jing is about to be reinstated as prime minister!" Zhao Tong nodded. His father was really elegant in doing things. He appointed a prime minister in a roundabout way to make people guess. Maybe he was also embarrassed about going back on his word.

, come up with a song to let everyone understand, and prepare for public opinion.

"Yes, after Cai Jing returned to Beijing, some people in the DPRK were saying that he would definitely return to power and return to power. Now some people have predicted that he will change the method of salt banknotes and start buying old banknotes everywhere. Should we also take action?

Collect more!" Huang Jingchen asked. Now he regrets that he didn't collect more at first and wanted to make up for the loss.

"Don't accept any more. You come to Beijing immediately. As soon as Cai Jing comes to power and changes the salt banknote law, you will immediately exchange all the old banknotes for new banknotes. It's best if you can increase the price. It's okay to pay for it at a low price. But don't do it."

Greedy, you have to be fast, don’t take action with the thing you replaced, just pull it back and wait!” Zhao Tong thought for a while and gave two instructions.

"Okay, I will go and follow the prince's instructions immediately!" Huang Jingchen did not ask any more questions. Now he had great trust in the prince's judgment. He was the one who proposed this matter, and he was the errand boy.

Things did not go as Zhao Yu expected. As soon as Cai Jing came to power, he began to amend the salt banknote law and restore the old system. In order to attract salt merchants to the capital to buy salt banknotes, in addition to restating the various regulations formulated in the past for preferential treatment of salt merchants, he also formulated new regulations.

Among the measures taken, one of the most powerful is to use the ability to recruit salt merchants as the main criterion for performance evaluation of local officials. There will be evaluations on salt administration every quarter and assessment every year. Those who do not implement the new salt law will not be promoted and will have to start from scratch.

Strictly punishing crimes is the twin of today's use of investment promotion as a performance assessment in many places.

The government's good policies, of course, attracted a large number of wealthy salt merchants. They all wanted to make a fortune from it, but they found that they arrived too late. Most of the quotas had already fallen into the hands of those with backing and support. Just as they

When I was extremely frustrated, I found someone selling new salt banknotes. Although the price had been increased, it was still acceptable and profitable, so they immediately rushed to buy it.