Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

It brought him real economic benefits!

Zhao Yuan asked, "When the government procures raw and wrought iron,"

"You didn't try to drive down the price arbitrarily, did you?"

"No, absolutely not, it's perfectly fair!"

Du Yu quickly swore an oath.

He was afraid of angering Geng Dingchen, who was standing next to him.

They will definitely try to lower the price.

But compared to the Northern Song Dynasty,

The Ming Dynasty's price-cutting measures were much more humane.

They won't drive merchants to their deaths.

They also won't try to lower the price while...

They even deliberately nitpicked.

They kept arguing that there were quality problems with the cast iron and wrought iron.

It is possible to do this.

It was nothing more than rectifying official corruption.

Actually, iron merchants were in a better position.

Gold miners were the ones who suffered the most.

The gold mine owners in Jiaodong,

Forced by the Northern Song court to the point that they would lose money if they didn't engage in smuggling.

That makes it impossible to operate legally and legitimately!

Geng Dingchen said, "Your Highness, rest assured, the purchase price of iron will benefit the state."

"It's only slightly lower than the market price."

Not only lower than the market price,

Moreover, the merchants also have to pay for the shipping.

The products were delivered to the warehouse of the Liguo government.

Du Yu wanted the emperor to stay for dinner.

Zhao Yuan took a quick stroll around.

Many basic questions were asked.

They hurriedly boarded a boat and left.

Du Yu led his men to kneel and see the fleet off as they departed, and remarked with emotion:

"What a wise and sagacious emperor!"

Passing by more than ten private iron smelting plants,

The fleet finally arrived at Liguo Town.

This place is full of official institutions.

The arsenal was also located nearby.

The clanging and banging sounds continued incessantly.

Stove smoke was billowing everywhere.

Zhang Cheng, the manager of the arsenal, also came to pay his respects.

He then took Zhao Yuan to inspect various places.

"That's where they manufacture firearms,"

Zhang Cheng pointed to the northwest and said,

"More than three hundred muskets have been manufactured,"

"Three cannons forged from wrought iron and six cannons cast from pig iron."

"In addition, the emperor presented the 'cannon casting iron mold method',"

"The cannon-casting craftsmen have also mastered it,"

"The cannon barrel can be cast in just a few days."

"but.....".

Chapter 1933 Casting Cannons with Iron Molds

"But what?" Zhao Yuan asked.

Zhang Cheng said, "The cannon barrel is cast from an iron mold."

"Most of them are white cast iron, which is brittle and not tough."

"To prevent the barrel from exploding, the cannon barrel needs to be cast thicker,"

"We also need to use wrought iron to add more iron rings to the cannon barrel."

"That's how you build a cannon,"

"It will take about a month,"

"And it will be extremely huge and bulky."

Zhao Yuan then inquired in detail.

I have a basic understanding of the situation.

The method of casting cannon iron molds emerged in the late Qing Dynasty.

However, its technology existed as early as the Warring States period.

However, it was used to cast the parts of the chariot and the arrowheads.

The advantages are very obvious.

Short casting time

The cannon barrel can be formed in just a few days.

Unlike the clay mold method, it doesn't require drying in the shade for three or four months.

Moreover, the iron mold can be reused repeatedly.

This greatly reduced the cost of casting cannons.

The manufactured cannons were symmetrical and smooth.

Sand holes are extremely rare.

It can improve the stability of artillery.

The disadvantages are even more obvious.

The risk of barrel explosion is very high.

To prevent the barrel from exploding

The gun barrel must be thickened.

The outer iron hoops also need to be reinforced with more layers.

It is difficult to polish after it is cast.

If problems occur during casting

The only option is to scrap it and recast it.

Forcing the production process will greatly increase the risk of a barrel explosion.

That is, it took a little over a month.

Saves a lot of costs

To build a weapon with a weight comparable to a siege cannon.

However, it was a bulky cannon with the power of a field gun.

"Is the iron mold finished?" Zhao Yuan asked.

Zhang Cheng replied, "A usable iron mold."

"It was made into three sets."

Zhao Yuan instructed: "For the next two years, use this method to cast all cannons."

"All the blacksmiths are to be reassigned to making muskets!"

Zhang Cheng said, "With the existing number of iron molds,"

"If there are no mistakes during the casting process,"

"We can guarantee the casting of three cannons within 40 days."

I don't care about all that now.

The problem of bulkiness can be ignored.

They developed more artillery to fight against the Jin people.

We'll figure out a solution for logistics and transportation.

This type of artillery,

It is actually more suitable as a coastal defense gun and a city defense gun!

Coastal defense cannons from the late Qing Dynasty

Almost all of them were this kind of thing.

The gunners brought by Zhao Yuan

He was assigned to carefully inspect the cannons that had already been built.

Musketeers also went to test the muskets produced in Xuzhou.

They returned quickly to report.

They say everything here is good quality.

It is of higher quality than that produced in Sichuan.

This is a perfectly normal result.

At its peak, Liguo Town

There were four thousand iron smelting craftsmen alone.

In addition to miners, blacksmiths, and manual laborers,

The total number of all workers is between ten and twenty thousand.

Every household deals with iron!

Now the quality inspection process has been tightened even further.

Each part has a designated person responsible for it.

The most severe punishment was beheading.

After inspecting the firearms factory,

Zhao Yuan then went to the armor factory.

Zhang Cheng brought over a huge piece of armor plate.

It can already be called a small plate armor, he said:

"This was repeatedly forged with a water hammer,"