Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 443: What is the waterwheel used for?
Wang Quangui is no longer the same as before.

Among all craftsmen, blacksmiths can be considered to represent advanced productivity, but advancement does not mean competitiveness. In the past, basically several villages shared one blacksmith, and apart from the imperial court, they could not find much work.

Therefore, in an environment where all the craftsmen in the craftsman camp were divided up by various families, he, a great craftsman, was trembling in fear under the siege of the Tartars because he had no money to rely on others.

But blessing or disaster is hard to determine.

He didn't get the chance to work for a rich family, but caught the eye of "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince".

Afterwards, all armor and weapons of various tribes were purchased by people of his lineage, and their status naturally became somewhat different.

Of course, because of His Majesty's recruitment of craftsmen, Wang Quangui's status will gradually be weakened by the arrival of a large number of craftsmen.

However, by then, the order for Zhu Cilang to build a factory had already fallen on Li Yongmao, and Li Yongmao, a master craftsman who was favored by the emperor, became his right-hand man.

Over the course of more than half a year, yards and workbenches sprang up one after another.

By this time, Wang Quangui had already assisted the Ming Dynasty's department in managing factory affairs as a craftsman, and his status was naturally extraordinary.

According to common sense, at his point he would basically say goodbye to specific affairs, as various circumstances had entangled him and he no longer had the opportunity to do anything himself.

But in the past few days, he did not go to the other compounds for inspection as usual. Instead, he went straight into the A-camp and never came out again.

"Bah!"

"Bah!"

"Crack!"

With a sound of metal clashing, an iron bar about the thickness of a little finger gradually sank into the iron pipe. But when Wang Quangui was concentrating on watching the whole process, he didn't know whether the man swinging the hammer did not grasp the angle well or the iron bar could not withstand the heavy pressure. With a crisp sound, the iron bar broke into two along the edge of the iron pipe.

"Snapped!!"

He slapped the man on the neck and went to the workbench. He then removed the iron pipe from its fixed place, poured out the half iron bar inside, and then pointed it towards the light as if looking through a telescope.

"It seems to be OK. It doesn't seem to be much different from what Your Majesty said."

Through the ray of light, a series of shallow scratches were imprinted in Wang Quangui's eyes. After thinking for a while, he handed the iron pipe to his apprentice.

This is a new type of gun barrel made from the Type A model. As your majesty said, the musket made with it will not only have extremely high accuracy, but will also have a much greater range and power.

It's just that this thing is too time-consuming.

According to the old method, a piece of iron sheet with a thick middle and thin edges is burned red and placed in a semicircular mold and hammered continuously. When it is rolled into a barrel shape, an iron rod is inserted as a support until the two sides of the iron sheet are tightly fitted to form a gun barrel blank.

The following steps are not a big deal, just grinding and polishing. Once the inside of the iron pipe is flat, the processing of the gun barrel is completed.

To make such an object, a skilled worker would only need eight to nine days. Even if the time spent making the spring machine and the wooden handle is added to the time, the total would be no more than thirteen or fourteen days.

Of course, this method does require some skills from the blacksmith.

During the hammering process, attention must be paid not only to the airtightness of the joints, but also to the smoothness of the outside of the barrel. If the joints are not tightly fitted and smooth, it will be very easy for the barrel to explode on the battlefield.

But then again, the Ming army now has certain rules for the amount of gunpowder to load into the guns. Even if the soldiers may become nervous due to the situation on the battlefield, the small wooden barrels have already controlled the amount of gunpowder. Even if the soldiers don't care, it is impossible for the amount of gunpowder to be too much and cause the gun to explode.

In this way, the last weakness of this process is reduced to a negligible level by the fixed charge amount.

According to Wang Quangui's idea, as long as they work at full capacity in the future, there will be no problem producing four to five thousand guns per month. By then, all the Ming army will be equipped with self-propelled muskets. What other way will the Tartars have except to retreat back to the pass?
But the development of things was not what this fifty-year-old craftsman could have predicted.

Just when the Jiazihao was working hard to produce muskets for the imperial guards and Li Chengdong's troops who remained in Nanzhili, His Majesty's imaginative mind found them another task.

Develop new technology for making muskets.

According to what Your Majesty said, the gun barrel can no longer be forged with iron sheets, but must be made by drilling holes on iron rods. After drilling a channel that can accommodate the entry and exit of bullets, spiral lines must be carved on the wall of the barrel.

To be honest, although Wang Quangui is an old-school craftsman, he is not averse to new techniques and new methods. What's more, everything Your Majesty says is always extremely effective. Even an old craftsman like him is often amazed at Your Majesty's wonderful ideas.

But this time he couldn't help but have some doubts.

Drilling and engraving are not difficult tasks. By adjusting the temperature during steelmaking, you can produce a knife head that can drill through an iron rod.

To put it bluntly, the rest is just a slow process. As long as there is enough time, even if Your Majesty wants to carve a picture inside, Wang Quangui can do it, let alone a spiral line.

But this method is too time-consuming.

It is easy to carve patterns. Just twist a square stick made of tempered steel slightly, and the rest is to slowly hammer it into the barrel with a hammer as before. After this process, even patterns will appear on the inside of the barrel. If you calculate carefully, it does not take much manpower and time.

The key is to drill through the iron rod.

Just like the one in front of you, even though the master craftsman used a hand drill, it still took him about twenty days, and during that time he even had to scrap a few of them because of the wrong angle.

From this perspective, although this method does not require consideration of perfect fit, it is much more time-consuming than the hammering method and is obviously not suitable for equipping the Ming Army with new muskets.

After that I have to talk to the minister in detail.

With this in mind, Wang Quangui's attention returned to reality.

At this time, the iron pipe had returned to the workbench, and the man with the hammer had started hammering again, but this time he was much more careful about both the strength and the angle, obviously having learned from his previous experience.

"Ding!"

"Ding!"

"Ding!"

Another round of knocking sounds was heard, and the newly inserted iron bar pushed the carving knife inside the iron pipe gradually downward. After a cup or two of tea, the thumb-length carving knife fell to the ground from the iron pipe. Wang Quangui bent down and picked it up immediately.

It's a little worn out and can probably only be used seven or eight times.

After carefully examining the carving knife, Wang Quangui picked up the iron pipe again. Then he pointed the pipe mouth towards the light as before, and then he saw four lines covered with iron filings.

After two more passes, it will be almost done, and the only thing left is to make the projectile.

Thinking of this, Wang Quangui couldn't help but have a headache, but before he could react, the sound of footsteps came into his ears.

"Master Wang, have you pulled out the rifling?" He had only heard this voice twice, once when Yingtian was besieged, and once when the factory was just being built. But this did not prevent him from engraving this voice firmly in his heart. When he heard it again, Wang Quangui knelt on the ground without caring about the extremely expensive gun barrel.

"I pay my respects to Your Majesty. Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long, long live the Emperor!"

This roar was different from the usual ones, and by the end Wang Quangui's voice was trembling slightly.

He is a craftsman, and his ancestors have made a living by their skills.

Originally, although it was extremely difficult for these craftsmen to find wives, they could at least rely on their skills to have a few full meals. But since some time ago, the number of times they had full meals became less and less, and the time they went hungry became longer and longer.

During the past twenty years or so, these workers have gradually become tools for making money in the eyes of the managers. Not only are the rewards given by the court deducted at every level, but even if they work for wealthy families, they can only earn a living.

After such a long time, Wang Quangui has long been accustomed to such days and has never had any other thoughts.

After all, ordinary military households could probably find a remote place to make a living by farming, but these craftsmen had no other skills, and if they left this craftsman camp, they would be doomed.

Faced with such a situation, Wang Quangui could only accept it calmly, and at most he would daydream a few times in his spare time.

But God finally opened his eyes.

The invincible Majesty not only drove the Tartars back to Jiangbei, but also gave these craftsmen the light of hope.

"Everyone, get up."

"Hurry up and pack up," Wang Quangui shouted to his disciples behind him in a low voice. He then stood up from the ground. He then suppressed his excitement and said to Zhu Cilang, who was wearing the standard armor of the Ming army, "Your Majesty has just returned victorious. Why don't you rest for two days before calling us over?"

"Okay, we're not going to walk back here by boat, let's see how you pull the rifling first."

As he spoke, Zhu Cilang stretched out his hand, and Wang Quangui then handed the gun barrel to his majesty with great respect, and then he placed it in front of him.

"Yes, it is indeed good. If we use this thing to make a musket, we can have the upper hand even if we encounter Westerners."

It was obvious that Zhu Cilang was a little excited after seeing his arrangements come into reality, but Wang Quangui was struggling in his heart.

He naturally planned to tell Li Yongmao about this time-consuming and laborious process, and Li Yongmao would convey it to His Majesty word for word.

But there is still a gap in between, and when he really faced the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he couldn't help but back off.

This is not Wang Quangui’s fault.

A year ago, craftsmen like them were just like animals. Not to mention talking to the emperor in person, even the officials in the Ministry of Works would never speak a word to them.

At this moment, His Majesty was obviously very happy about this thing, and it would be really difficult for him to get into trouble at this time.

just
"Your Majesty, I have something to report!"

After hesitating for several times, Wang Quangui's timidity was ultimately no match for his gratitude to his benefactor.

He didn't know what "treat them as a great man and repay them as a great man" meant, but he knew that the emperor who allowed him to eat his fill was truly kind to them. If he didn't dare to report the truth, then this laborious method would surely be used by the factory.

It would not matter how much waste there was at that time. If the Ming army was really defeated because of this, wouldn't he become an ungrateful sinner who would be punished by heaven and earth?

"Oh? What's the matter with you?"

"Your Majesty, this gun barrel is made according to a new method. Not only is it very expensive, but it also takes much longer than the hammering method. So... so I ask Your Majesty to wait until it is perfect before making any plans!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Quangui felt as if all his strength had been drained from him. If he hadn't had some thoughts to support him, he would not have been able to keep his body steady. But to his surprise, the Majesty was clearly in front of him, but the expected scolding and punishment did not come. After three or two breaths, he heard a voice that was obviously doubtful.

"That's it?"

Faced with his own Majesty's indifference, Wang Quangui somehow got up some courage from somewhere. But when he was about to report the differences in detail, the voice followed up with another sentence.

"If you have something to say, just say it. Don't kneel down at every turn."

Hearing this, Wang Quangui was still nervous but could only stand up tremblingly. Then the Majesty's voice came again.

"Have you finished building all the waterwheels that I asked you to build?"

confusion.

Wang Quangui was in a state of confusion.

He mustered up his courage to point out the drawbacks of this method in front of His Majesty, but His Majesty not only ignored it, but also changed the subject.

Seeing this situation, he was unable to react. If he had not personally supervised the entire process of building the waterwheel, he would probably have said a few words about it.

"They've all been built. There are forty-six in total."

"Is there any way of putting a hand drill on a waterwheel?"

"Then why not? If one waterwheel can drive seven or eight hand drills, forty-six waterwheels will mean more than three hundred craftsmen working day and night. If that's still not enough, why not build more waterwheels?"

When Wang Quangui heard the words, he couldn't help but be stunned.

As a man who had worked in the craftsman camp for most of his life, he knew that the waterwheel could be driven day and night.

However, water wheels are mostly used for pounding rice and he had never thought that they could be used here. After the idea went through his mind for several times, he finally understood His Majesty's foresight.

"Your Majesty, you built the factory here just for the waterwheel?"

Seeing that the old craftsman seemed to have seen the light, Zhu Cilang was not complacent at all. After he calmed down, he continued, "Before, time was tight, and I didn't explain it to you in detail. This factory is not your previous workshop. First, everything inside must be standardized, and second, water power and animal power must be used to the greatest extent possible."

"I understand!"

Having said this, the old craftsman Wang Quangui understood His Majesty's intention. Then all kinds of thoughts kept appearing in his mind, but before he could sort them out one by one, His Majesty's voice came again.

"Are there any prospects for the kind of projectiles I mentioned?"

"Forgive me, Your Majesty. I have only made a few molds and have not yet decided which one to use."

"And the steam engine?"

(End of this chapter)