The Sun and the Lion

Outside the city wall of Tabriz, there is a large group of buildings standing on what was originally a wasteland. It is surrounded by a wall made of bricks and is airtight. The soldiers patrolling at the door and around are enough to protect the wall. the secret within.

This is the workshop that Ibrahim planned to build. It was completed before Ibrahim's class, allowing Italian gunsmiths and nearly a hundred firearms apprentices to settle in.

In addition to various workshops for the manufacture of firearms and gunpowder, there are warehouses, mosques, dormitories, canteens and bazaars within the walls. It is like a small community centered on the factory.

Large trucks came in and out, transporting raw materials and consumer goods into the wall. Apprentices poured out of the factory, wearing thick work clothes to help unload these goods.

"Send these to the warehouse first and let the financial officer register them before getting them to the factory! Don't be smart like last time."

Under the command of the master, they loaded the copper, tin, iron, saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal, etc. on the cart into different carts.

After completing the process, the copper, tin and charcoal are sent to the largest factory building, where several furnaces are set up. They first lit the charcoal and heated it with a bellows. After heating for a period of time, several workers shoveled the copper ingots into the crucible. In addition to the copper ingots bought from the market, the purchasing staff also tried to find ways to obtain them at low prices. Got some broken copper.

All metals put into the furnace must be kept dry. The moisture of wet metal blocks will quickly turn into water vapor after being put into the furnace, leading to a serious production accident such as furnace rupture.

Giovanni, the chief engineer responsible for commanding and supervising production, repeatedly emphasized all omissions that might cause various production accidents during the preparation stage of materials. He will never forget how those Venetians kicked him out of the arsenal.

For this reason, he also wrote down many management regulations of the Venetian Arsenal from memory, hoping to manage the firearms workshop accordingly.

After the copper in the crucible melts to a liquid state, the workers shovel the tin into the crucible and mix it with the ocean of brass. Before smelting, the copper and tin used have been roughly divided according to proportions, and workers only need to pour all the metal from this batch into the furnace.

After all the metal was put into the crucible, several workers gathered around the crucible with long-handled ladles to fish out the floating debris from the hot molten metal. This is a dangerous job, especially after tin is added, toxic gases will be produced in the crucible.

In addition to these workers and engineers responsible for production, there were also several clergy present. After all, casting is a dangerous job. Their responsibility is to pray to God on behalf of the workers when smelting metal, so as to reduce the psychological burden of everyone present. .

At this time, Giovanni's servant entered the workshop and whispered a few words to the chief engineer who was observing the metal in each crucible with several other gunsmiths. He immediately showed a surprised look, and after explaining a few words to his subordinates, he walked out of the workshop with his servants.

It was Ibrahim who was waiting for Giovanni at the gate. He had just finished a meeting with various viziers and came here lightly packed after hearing that the firearms workshop outside the city was officially completed and started production.

"Your Majesty." Giovanni trotted over and bowed.

"I heard that the first batch of artillery was going to be manufactured here soon, so I came over to take a look out of curiosity." Ibrahim got off his horse, explained his purpose to Giovanni, and motioned for him to lead the way.

"Your Majesty, casting work is very dangerous..."

Ibrahim straightened his clothes and said, "Just think of me as a tourist coming in to visit. Just watch me from a distance."

Seeing this, Giovanni had no choice but to take Ibrahim to the workshop and arrange for him to sit with the clergy present.

As soon as he entered the workshop, Ibrahim felt the temperature rise suddenly. He took off his outermost fur coat, and the two guards on the side stepped forward to help and kept it for his master.

In sharp contrast to Ibrahim, in order to protect themselves in the dangerous working environment, the workers each wore thick felt protective clothing, especially their arms and faces, which were specially protected. But with the technical conditions at the end of the 15th century, these so-called protections only provided them with psychological comfort. And because they were so tightly wrapped in the hot environment, after every job—to use a literary expression—the sweat they shed would pool into the ocean.

Foundry workers divided into several groups continued to add charcoal to the furnace and continued to blow air to increase the temperature, while several clerics beside Ibrahim continued to chant prayers.

After waiting for a long time, several gunsmiths thought that the bronze at this time could be used for casting, and they loudly ordered the workers to prepare to pour bronze into the mold.

The iron hook opened the mouth of the furnace, and the bronze in the crucible was poured into the clay pipe connected to the mold. The light it emits can illuminate the faces of people within a hundred steps. At the moment when the bronze flowed out, everyone involuntarily prayed to the Lord. Several foundry workers took over the long wooden poles brought by the workers. They were responsible for observing the bronze flowing on the clay pipes and trying their best to pop the bubbles in them.

Following Giovanni's guidance, Ibrahim saw the clay mold buried in the sand, with only the reserved holes exposed. Bronze will flow into the hole along the pipe and fill the gap between the two layers of molds. After the bronze is cooled and formed, the mold is broken and removed. The gun body is then polished and the gun is completed.

Despite the ugly appearance of those clay molds, Giovanni and other cannon casters spent a lot of effort on these apprentices in order to fire a sufficient number of qualified molds.

After firing the mold, they dug a pit large enough to accommodate it and covered the entire mold with wet sand to slow down the cooling of the bronze and prevent it from cracking in the process.

After visiting the casting process of the bronze cannon, Ibrahim expressed that he wanted to visit the manufacturing process of the breech-loading swivel gun and matchlock gun.

Compared with the time-consuming and labor-intensive casting of bronze cannons, manufacturing breech-mounted swivel guns and matchlock guns takes relatively less time and cost. The craftsmen here have basically mastered the production process, whether it is making sub-guns and mother-guns or making This is true for both the barrel and the bolt.

Then, in order to mobilize the enthusiasm of the craftsmen, Ibrahim said that he would establish a fair reward system and distribute cash to the best-performing apprentices on the spot.

Before leaving, Giovanni thrust the management regulations he had drafted into Ibrahim's hands: "Your Majesty, please read this document carefully. It will play a decisive role in the firearms manufacturing that you value. ."