I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 214: Cannon Casting
Zhu Houxuan supported Zhu Houzhao in establishing a new army because three years later would be Zhu Houzhao's most glorious moment in history - the Battle of Yingzhou.

At the same time, this time point was also a big test for Zhu Houxuan. Because of the name of the Ming Royal Group, he could mobilize more resources, but at the same time he would gradually damage the interests of the feudal rentier class.

These people will gradually focus their attention on the Ming Royal Group and begin to try to eradicate this outlier that makes them feel uncomfortable. Three years is a time node.

Therefore, Zhu Houxuan had to help Zhu Houzhao achieve better results in the Battle of Yingzhou and constantly strengthen Zhu Houzhao's prestige and achievements. Only in this way could Zhu Houzhao protect the Ming royal group from wind and rain and suppress the feudal rentier class.

A lot of the work Zhu Houxuan is doing now is to achieve this goal.

Although he supported Zhu Houzhao's military actions, it was impossible for him to provide unlimited support.

The various industries owned by the Ming Royal Group are very profitable, because the group also has two money-eating beasts: research and development and education, which are the key to promoting social development.

The next day, Zhu Houxuan left the capital as soon as he got up. Although the slogan of establishing the General Armament Department and the General Staff Department was loud, these two institutions were still empty shells and had a long way to go.
Zhu Hou couldn't take care of the affairs of the General Staff, but he had to push forward the affairs of the General Armament Department quickly.
After he left Beijing, he went straight to Tangshan. At that time, the Tangshan Iron and Steel Plant had already taken shape, with blast furnaces and open-hearth furnaces rising from the ground. After several months of experiments, the masters of the Tangshan Iron and Steel Plant successfully found a way to make steel using the iron ore near Tangshan. Now many open-hearth furnaces have begun to produce steel. Although the success rate is not very high, it is already a good start.
The weapon that Zhu Houxuan was most concerned about was the god of war - cannon!
This time he brought with him the best craftsmen from the Arsenal.

In fact, firearms manufacturing technology was not a secret in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very confident. He not only did not ban swords and guns, but also did not ban strong bows and crossbows. He only banned armor and firearms among the people.

Firearms were strictly controlled at the beginning, and only the three bureaus directly under the central government were allowed to forge them. Later, the firearms produced by the central government were unusable, so the right to forge firearms was decentralized to the local governments, and the provincial governors and the provincial governors were allowed to forge firearms.

By the Zhengde period, the muskets produced in Guangdong and Sichuan were the most reliable and durable!

Zhu Houxuan led the craftsmen to the steel plant. After Zhu Houxuan took over the craftsmen from the Military Equipment Bureau, their lives changed dramatically.

They had always respected and been close to Zhu Houxun, the blacksmith prince who had a great reputation in forging, and Zhu Houxun's preferential treatment of them made them extremely loyal.

As soon as they arrived at the steel plant, they were amazed by its scale and products.

Zhu Houxuan did not give them time to marvel, and directly called them to a meeting with the steel workers from Daye Steel Plant. There was also a group of Portuguese cannon casting craftsmen attending the meeting. These were specially found by Zhu Houxuan at the Wu family in Guangzhou. They had been fed with silver by Zhu Houxuan.
The craftsmen present were very open-minded and shared their experiences in making artillery.

Zhu Houxuan also gradually sorted out the current methods of making cannons, which are divided into two types: "forging cannon method" and "casting cannon method".
The "forging method" is used to make iron cannons:
Wrought iron (usually low carbon steel) is beaten into iron plates and welded into cylindrical gun barrels, or the iron plates are directly hammered into gun barrels and then welded.

This method of forging cannons is prone to explosion!
Therefore, the "casting method" is now widely used, and casting copper cannons has become the mainstream. However, if the capital is insufficient, iron cannons can only be cast, which is even less reliable than forged iron cannons because a large number of pores will be produced during the casting process.

As for the technology of drilling cannon barrels, it took another two hundred years. During the Zhengde period, neither the East nor the West had the ability to drill holes in iron tubes. In fact, the disadvantage of iron cannons being prone to bursting had been gradually overcome by the end of the Ming Dynasty, and unlike the West, various iron hoops were used to reinforce them.

One method is to use an iron core and a copper body, and use the different melting points of copper and iron to cast bronze on the iron base. When the copper solidifies, it expands and contracts, pressing the iron barrel tightly. This kind of cannon is more durable than an iron cannon and cheaper than a copper cannon.

One is a cannon with a wrought iron core and a cast iron outer wall. Its advantages are more obvious than the copper-iron alloy cannon, and it is cheaper and easier to mass produce.

The cannon casting technology of the late Ming Dynasty was no less than that of Europe. The reason why the country always lost wars was because of problems. The country controlled the military with civil officials, tax collection was difficult, and there were constant party struggles. No matter how good the technology was, it could not be promoted; no matter how good the general was, he would be killed by the civil officials; no matter how powerful the civil officials were, they could not display their talents.

Zhu Houxuan did not know any of the above-mentioned cannon-casting techniques. To be more precise, there was no need to go through so much trouble. He could now use an open-hearth furnace to make steel. The temperature of the steelmaking furnace met the standard, so he could use the molten steel to cast steel cannons!
So the workers in the steel plant began to learn how to make cannon molds, which are models used to cast gun barrels. If you want to cast a cannon, 90% of the time is spent on making the cannon mold, which takes from one month to several months.

After much discussion, the cannon mold was finally made using the lost wax method. First, beeswax was used to make a casting model, and then refractory materials were used to fill the clay core and form the outer mold. After heating and baking, the wax mold melted, and a cannon mold was made in just one month.

The steel plant has profound experience in refractory materials, and Zhu Houxuan is not afraid that the gun mold will not be able to withstand the high temperature of the molten steel.

Transport the cannon mold to the open hearth furnace, open the furnace door, release the molten steel, and directly cast it into a steel cannon.

The world's first true steel cannon was born!

As the Portuguese called it, this is a ship-borne cannon (smoothbore), with a caliber of 17 cm, a total length of 225 cm, and a chamber length of 216 cm. It can fire 12-pound stone bullets or 30-pound iron bullets.

According to the Ming Dynasty's name, this is a 500-jin cannon.

It is more advanced than all the artillery currently available in the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to its long range, it also has the advantage of speed of fire. It has a main gun barrel and five secondary gun barrels. The secondary gun barrels are equivalent to the chamber of the cannon. Ammunition can be loaded into the secondary gun barrels and then placed in the long mouth of the abdomen for firing. It is an improved version of the early European breech-loading guns.

Yes, this is the famous Portuguese cannon. The new army will be pulled out to fight the Mongols in the field, not to attack the city, so the rate of fire is more important than the range.

Pull it out to test the gun, firing at a 45-degree elevation angle, with the maximum range exceeding 1200 meters.

The optimal shooting range is six to seven hundred meters. If it is too far, the accuracy will be insufficient and whether you can hit the target depends entirely on luck.

The 500-jin gun is easy to transport after being loaded onto a gun carriage, and can also be used in the field with the army.
However, Zhu Houxuan still ordered the trial production of some lighter cannons.
(End of this chapter)