Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 216 Flintlock Rifles Deployed, Iwa Ninja Launch a Surprise Attack!
Dealing with the mission didn't take up too much of Wang Cheng's time.

After seeing Zhu Suzhen off, he led his squad of imperial guards away from Pinghu Port and plunged into the arsenal, the most crucial facility before the battle.

There were three main factories: the Aso Volcano gunpowder factory, which was rich in sulfur; the Yasugi musket factory, which had relatively abundant iron ore and coal resources; and finally, the Tsuchiya bronze cannon factory, located in the site of the largest single copper mine in all of Japan.

It basically covers the entire process of the current military industry. As long as we don't rush into the era of large-scale machine industry, local resources are sufficient for the time being.

These arsenals were all overseen by Lord Longwei, who was most skilled in internal affairs. Each arsenal also had a master craftsman and foreman in charge, who carried out Wang Cheng's will.

"Greetings, Your Highness!"

"Your Highness, you've arrived. This is the iron smelting workshop, and that's the gun barrel production line. Please."

Wang Cheng's first stop was a steel mill and flintlock musket factory about 100 miles from Pinghu Port.

Thick smoke billowed from the iron smelting workshop, and the flames from the opening of the steel blast furnace illuminated his and the craftsmen's faces.

Originally, the smelting technology and firearm casting level here were not significantly different from those of the Great Zhao Dynasty; they were at the same level.

The craftsmen were all hired by the old man at great expense from the Dazhao people. Many of them came from the coastal garrison and had to bring their families to the Donghai Kingdom because they could no longer survive due to the exploitation of the hereditary officials.

Their expertise in traditional blast furnace technology was considered mainstream in the Showa era, but in Wang Cheng's eyes, it was really lacking.

After taking over the steel plant left by his father, he immediately introduced the modern blast furnace ironmaking technology he remembered. With the optimization of his personal secretary, the bookworm, it became even more suitable for the local resources.

The blast furnace standing before them was a vertical steel furnace with a circular cross-section.

Unlike those traditional blast furnaces built with mud bricks that require frequent shutdowns for maintenance, this new type of blast furnace uses steel plates as the furnace shell, with refractory bricks lining the inside.

The blast furnace body is divided into five parts from top to bottom: the throat, the body, the waist, the belly, and the hearth.

The furnace belly is 7.6 meters high, the hearth is 3.6 meters in diameter, and the volume is 480 cubic meters. The designed production capacity is 230 tons per day, and it can continuously produce steel, making its efficiency incomparable to that of the past.

When the first batch of molten steel was produced, the craftsmen here were already amazed by their "omnipotent" prince and sincerely admired him.

The "power of shock" and "feeling of worship" generated by the transformation of "equalizing heaven and earth, wealth can communicate with the gods" alone amount to a full thousand incense and religious coins.

But Wang Cheng was still not satisfied:
"The coal reserves of the Kitakyushu region, which is occupied by the Otomo family, account for 50% of the total coal reserves in Japan. The Hachiman region, which is also in Kitakyushu, also has a lot of iron mines. It is the most important industrial base I envision."

Besides the fact that those two major ports were robbing me of money, this was also a key reason why I had to take over the last two countries as soon as possible.

In fact, compared with the era of large-scale industry, the efficiency of blast furnaces is also quite average.

While studying Zheng He's treasure maps, I discovered that the "Thunder and Fire Pivot" of the Heavenly Craft Treasure Ship is essentially an energy supply system that can use the power of thunder and fire to power the treasure ship.

With a slight modification, it can naturally provide energy to other things as well.

For example, we can go straight to electrometallurgy in one step!

Copper, iron, aluminum, and so on—you can use electricity to heat them all; electric furnace metallurgy is fast and efficient.

Wang Cheng's eyes revealed anticipation:

"In these turbulent years, having steel meant having everything."

Especially for the Tanka people of Wufengqi, a maritime fishing and hunting community, it doesn't matter if they can't grow grain. Their neighbors can store grain while they store steel. They can then invite their neighbors in Yingzhou to eat steel while they themselves eat grain.

It just so happens that the [Five Emperors' Coin Sword] will automatically have the 'Thunderbolt' effect if it engages in too much unethical loan business.

I can try asking the Japanese and the Franks another day. I was immoral, so God will make amends!

At that time, nature's bounty will be virtually inexhaustible, making it even better than a perpetual motion machine. This is the future direction of clean energy research.

Wang Cheng and his group, along with Master Longwei and the factory's master craftsman, followed the semi-finished standard "guns and clubs" produced by the steel mill to the gun factory next door.

The craftsmen here looked at Wang Cheng with the same fervor in their eyes.

"Your Highness, just like the steel mill, our musket factory has also improved its processes according to your instructions."

Previously, when we were finely enlarging and grinding the blank gun barrel, workers would manually use a reamer to slowly cut the inner wall.

At most, they can advance about one inch per day, and it takes nearly a month to make a gun barrel.

Some time ago, the blacksmith from the ground team and the silversmith from the water team collaborated to build a water-powered boring machine based on the blueprints you provided.

Driven by water flow, it works non-stop and can drill through a gun barrel in just one and a half hours, which is 50 times faster than manual work!
Rest assured, the terrain of Kowloon Island is rugged, with a network of rivers and abundant, rapid water flow in the summer, which is more than sufficient to power a hydraulic boring machine.

Even during the dry winter season, we still have plenty of hardworking salt workers who can endure hardship. Having them manually operate the boring machines won't yield much different results.

Wang Cheng knew they had done a very good job under the current conditions, and nodded approvingly.

"Great! The bonus is doubled, and everyone will get a 16th-month salary at the end of this year!"

This immediately drew deafening cheers from the craftsmen:

"Long live the Prince! Long live the Prince!"

In their excitement, who cared about overstepping their bounds? After all, most of the vassal states were internally emperors but vassals of the Great Zhao, so they were already being quite modest.

Moreover, in Wang Cheng's Donghai Kingdom, these craftsmen were no longer of lowly status, but were now highly respected technical experts.

Many of them experienced for the first time what it means to be an upright person here!
Not to mention the generous benefits, with incentives already paid for sixteen months. Even veteran craftsmen who used to work for the Ministry of Works had never experienced such generous treatment.
The motto hanging on the wall, "Science and technology and extraordinary skills are the primary productive forces," is truly heartwarming.

Of course, there are both incentive and punishment systems.

Every musket produced on the assembly line has a code representing the work group, which can be traced back to the craftsman at each stage by comparing production records.

If the musket malfunctions, there will be no hesitation in deducting performance bonuses.

Xu Youde, the "Gongyang Confucian," and Peng Wujiu, the "Scalpel Merchant," who were accompanying him, listened silently the whole time. It was as if they were seeing this unassuming lord for the first time, and their eyes were shining brightly.

Looking at Wang Cheng's back, one can't help but wish to venerate him as "the god who controls steel and war".

If Wang Cheng weren't not a living deity of the highest rank, this intense worship alone would have been enough to transform into fanatical faith.

Wang Cheng held a flintlock pistol that had just come off the assembly line, played with it for a while, and then gave the order:

"Summon the factory protection team."

"As ordered!"

Before long, hundreds of elite soldiers stationed at the gun factory assembled in neat rows at the firing range.

As flintlock muskets rolled off the production line, the process of quietly re-equipping elite troops with them also began simultaneously.

These factory protection team members are all core members of Wang Cheng's direct subordinates in Chifeng Banner. Being close to the source, they were the first to enjoy the front-line equipment.

"Attention, all personnel! Shooting drill, using linear tactics, three-stage firing, target 100 meters away. Start timing!"

At Wang Cheng's command, the musketeers, who had already lined up, quickly took out cylindrical pre-loaded paper cartridges from their ammunition pouches at their waists.

Bit open the top of the cartridge case, stand the hammer upright, open the powder chamber, pour in a small amount of gunpowder, then close the flint and steel and shut the powder chamber.

Then, all the remaining gunpowder inside the paper cartridge case was poured into the chamber, and the paper cartridge case and a lead bullet were then inserted into the chamber together. The paper case provided excellent airtightness for the bullet.

Finally, use a scouring pad to push the ammunition to the bottom.

This is precisely the standard operating procedure that every soldier is required to develop muscle memory for in "Linear Tactics" (Volume 1: Land Warfare Musketeer Tactics).

It is divided into twelve steps and more than twenty actions.

Most soldiers can complete it within 15 to 20 seconds.

After loading, the soldier needs to take three steps before firing:
Ready: The muzzle is pointing straight ahead, the right hand is on the buttstock neck, and the right thumb is on the trigger; Aiming: The gun is resting on the shoulder, and the aim is close to the face;
Finally, fire: pull the trigger and launch the projectile.

"Fire!"

boom!boom!boom!boom!boom!
At the commander's order, flames burst forth and smoke billowed.

The three-stage attack, a torrent of scorching metal, blasted the target, which was a hundred meters away, into a haystack, leaving it riddled with holes and splinters.

Its range significantly exceeded that of the "arquebuses" commonly equipped by the daimyo of Yingzhou.

This is because Wang Cheng also made improvements to the black powder formula.

Based on the parameters when black powder was developed to its peak, the ratio of nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal in the propellant was optimized to 78:8:14.

Instead of the common belief that it is sulfur, nitrates, and charcoal.

Although it is the same type of gunpowder used in other households, the effects of different proportions are vastly different.

Ordinary musketeers need to be within 50 meters to be more confident in hitting the target and ensuring lethality, but they can push that distance to 90 meters!
Immediately afterwards, Wang Cheng, holding the "Linear Tactics" (Volume 1: Land Warfare Musketeer Tactics) from the five secret military manuals, launched the "Jinghai Training Techniques".

In reality, it's a "line-up shooting tactic" where soldiers are arranged in tight formations.
"The formation is called the 'One-Character Long Snake Formation,' where hundreds or thousands of people act as one. During battle, they are commanded by war drums, and no one will retreat a single step."

It also gains the enhancement of the formation, merging the yang energy of hundreds of people into one, automatically activating the projectiles to suppress all kinds of ghosts and evil spirits, and increasing the firing rate from three to five rounds per minute.

During this period, many junior officers have begun to study the five books of "Secret Scrolls of Military Strategy" with Wang Cheng.

With them in command, the soldiers are sufficient to serve as the most basic steel torrent.

After inspecting the musket factory and offering some words of encouragement, Wang Cheng was about to head to the more important artillery factory when a sudden thought struck him. He then took out his royal seal, the "Treasure of the Prince of Jinghai."

I sensed it:
"Huh? It seems some little rats have infiltrated the vicinity of the arsenal."

Yes. The ninja group of the Otomo family, I think it's called the Iwa Ninja Group?

We underestimated this opponent; they've already mastered infiltration operations behind enemy lines.

(End of this chapter)