The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 272 Daming Heavy Industry
It is really cold in the capital during the first month of the year.

Ordinary cotton coats, cotton pants, and cotton shoes are a bit too much for me.

Even if you sit indoors, your hands and feet will be frozen and hurt if you don't warm yourself by the fire.

It was even colder in the Mountain Resort. The dry grass on the north field was frozen like popsicles.

However, it was very hot in the workshop where the artillery barrels were forged.

In order to make the two-foot-long and four or five-inch-thick gun barrel burn red hot, not only a large amount of coal must be added to the furnace, but also air must be blown into it with a bellows.

Wanli walked into the workshop and looked around for a while, and soon he began to sweat.

The craftsmen here were all wearing thin clothes and sweating profusely.

Because they have to be close to the furnace and the red-hot cannon barrels.

It was very troublesome to pull the gun barrel weighing more than 200 kilograms out of the furnace.

Several craftsmen first had to push a special iron cart to the front of the furnace, and then four or five people used thick iron clamps to clamp the gun barrel and pull it onto the cart with force.

After the gun barrel is pulled onto the cart, the cart must be quickly pulled to the forging bed. Then four craftsmen will go up with cylindrical hammer-like plugs and insert them into both sides of the gun barrel. They will then lift the gun barrel into the mold on the forging bed with force before they can start forging.

Wanli stood not far away and watched for a while. It was so hot that he started to take off his heavy coat.

However, he also understood it.

Yongnianbo Wang Wei meant that this process could not be done with a hanging hoist.

Because the gun barrel has to be pulled out of the furnace, moved a certain distance, and then put on the forging machine.

You definitely cannot install a hanging hoist above the stove.

No one knows how much coal is added to this big furnace. The toxic gases produced must be discharged from the chimney, otherwise the craftsmen inside will be poisoned.

Therefore, the top of the big furnace is sealed, and there is a big chimney leading directly to the outside. The furnace door must be closed when the bellows blow air in.

You can't install a hoist on the forging bed, because the forging mold will fall from above, and the hoist will be smashed to pieces if installed on it.

However, there is definitely room for hanging hoists on both sides.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then asked, "Father-in-law, those two columns that were stuffed in at the end were also molds, right?"

Yongnian Earl Wang Wei nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, the surfaces of the two cylinders have also been processed, and are only slightly thinner than the inner bore of the gun barrel."

Wanli gestured again, "I see they're all trying to speed up, getting the red-hot cannon barrels onto the forging bed as quickly as possible. There's a certain temperature requirement, right?"

Yongnianbo Wang Wei nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, the temperature must be controlled well. The barrel cannot be burned in the furnace for too long, otherwise it will easily deform and become useless. The mold in the middle cannot be inserted and it cannot be forged.

This temperature is just enough to burn the entire barrel through. In this case, the time spent transporting the barrel cannot be too long. If it is transported for too long, the barrel will become cold and it will be difficult to forge it.

That would require major changes.

Wanli pointed to the furnace where the cannon barrels were fired and said, "Father-in-law, that furnace needs to be modified. There should be doors on both sides. Also, there should be an iron trough extending from the side near the forging bed to allow the cannon barrels to pass horizontally. As for the length of this trough, you can consider it according to the temperature of the fire."

Uh, change the stove?
They have modified this stove several times.

However, when they were making the changes, they were considering how to heat the barrel to a sufficient temperature and how to prevent the gas from leaking out and fuming people.

They had never considered what Wanli said, and he didn't even know why he had to make such changes.

Upon hearing this, Yongnian Earl Wang Wei cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, I dare to ask why you have made such a change."

Isn't this for the convenience of hanging it?

Wanli explained carefully: "This change is to use hoists at both ends to hang the gun barrel. Didn't you say that it would be difficult to lift if it exceeded 300 or 400 kilograms?
Then just use the hoist. After the barrel is red hot, open the furnace doors on both sides, insert the mold hung on the hoist, and then lift it up so that it is flush with the groove here, and then pull it directly onto the forging bed, right? "

Uh, this.

Do you think the hoist can be pulled back and forth?

Yongnianbo Wang Wei carefully reminded: "Your Majesty, the hoist is used to lift heavy objects, and it must be fixed on the iron frame. The iron frame is very heavy and it is not easy to install wheels. Moreover, it will be heavier after the gun barrel is hung on it. After the wheels are installed, it cannot be pulled back and forth, otherwise the wheels will sink into the ground." Why did you think of installing wheels on the iron frame?

Wanli shook his head repeatedly and said, "I don't mean to install wheels on the iron frame that fixes the hoist, I mean to fix the hoist on an iron pulley that can be pulled back and forth.

The iron frame is very heavy, and even heavier with the gun barrel hoisted on it. It's certainly difficult to push. However, with two hoists hanging on both ends, even if the gun barrel weighs 500 kilograms, the weight of the hoist at one end, the mold, and half the gun barrel is only a little over 300 kilograms. It should be easy to pull, right?"

The hoist is fixed on the iron pulley?

Yongnianbo subconsciously looked up and immediately asked, "Your Majesty, what is that iron pulley sliding back and forth on? Is it on the beam? I'm afraid this beam can't hold it up?"

Then you must sit on a special stand.

Wanli shook his head slightly, then pointed to the forging machine and explained in detail: "We need to make a special frame for the iron pulley of the hoist.

The two ends of the frame are door-shaped, just like the frame of the forging machine, with a support frame fixed to the ground underneath. Then two steel beams are cast to connect the two door-shaped frames, and a horizontal beam is cast in the middle specifically for the sliding of the iron pulley.

As for the shape of the crossbeam, that depends on the shape of your iron pulley. As long as you can make this set of things, it should be no problem to pull the barrel of a thousand pounds back and forth."

What he said was a bit like the gantry crane of later generations, but it was not driven by a motor, and lifting the gun barrel up and down and pulling it back and forth were all done by manpower.

Upon hearing this, Yongnian Earl Wang Wei pondered it carefully, then couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Your Majesty, how big would the two frames have to be? The crossbeam would have to be about a foot square. It's so long, it must weigh over a thousand pounds."

Wanli couldn't help but ask: "What's the matter? Can't such a heavy beam be cast?"

Yongnian Earl Wang Wei shook his head repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, that's not what I meant. We can also cast things weighing thousands or even tens of thousands of kilograms. We just need to use clay molds and reinforce them with iron plates.

The key is that this rack is too heavy. One rack would probably take thousands of pounds of tempered steel. And that's not even one. If you're hanging it at both ends, you'd need a large rack like this on each side. The two racks combined would weigh tens of thousands of pounds of tempered steel."

How come you are as stingy as someone who runs a private workshop?
Do we lack this little bit of tempered steel?
What we lack is heavy artillery weighing 500 kilograms or even 1,000 kilograms!

Wanli shook his head slowly, then said solemnly: "Father-in-law, do you know what a great country is?

A great power must first be strong and big. If it is only big but not strong, it will perish sooner or later.

So what does it rely on to be so powerful?

If we want to be strong, we must rely not only on an army of hundreds of thousands or even millions, but also on weapons and equipment that are better than others.

Now our artillery is inferior to those of the European barbarians in both power and range. This is not acceptable.

We must create artillery with greater power and longer range.

So, you don't have to think about the cost, just think about how to make it.

A great country needs heavy industry. A few thousand or tens of thousands of catties is nothing. If necessary, we can produce things weighing tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of catties."

Can something weighing millions of pounds be created in this world?
Of course you can.

Let’s not talk about anything else, just talk about artillery.

The heaviest Gustav cannon in history weighs more than 1,000 tons, which is more than 2 million kilograms!

Upon hearing this, Yongnian Earl Wang Wei thought about it carefully, then nodded excitedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. As a great nation like the Ming Dynasty, we must have heavy industry. Thousands or tens of thousands of catties are nothing. We will find a way to make things weighing tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of catties."

now it's right.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded with relief, and then asked, "Is there no problem here? Are there any other problems elsewhere?"

Uh, this.

If a sliding hoist is made, most of the problems will indeed be solved. However, there are still some places where a hoist cannot be used.

Yongnianbo Wang Wei said rather embarrassedly, "Also, there are still some problems with machining the inner and outer walls of the barrel."

Don't be afraid of problems.

Wanli waved his hand without hesitation and said, "Come on, take me to see it."

(End of this chapter)