The Military Governor in Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 131 The Great Army's Western Expedition

Lin Heqing watched his daughter's departing figure, a hint of worry in his eyes.

He knew that his daughter had been interacting with the female soldiers in Jia Chen's army these past few days, especially the squad leader Huang Xiuer.

Lin Zhixue mentioned Huang Xiuer and the other female soldiers to him many times.

Although Huang Xiuer and others are mentioned more often, Jia Chen is mentioned from time to time.

He could tell that his daughter had a strong liking for Jia Chen.

He wasn't too surprised by this.

Jia Chen slaughtered the northern barbarians and was a hero in Datong.

In addition, young girls, most of whom would be impressed by such amazing heroic deeds, are young.

If you're just listening, it's nothing.

But he didn't dare to imagine what would happen if his daughter had too much contact with Jia Chen.

If Jia Chen were not yet married, it would be fine, but he already knew that Jia Chen was already married.

Moreover, Jia Chen's wife was even granted an imperial title.

If his daughter were to get involved in such a situation, the best outcome would be for her to become a concubine, which he could not accept.

"I hope I'm overthinking it," Lin Heqing sighed deeply.

He somewhat regretted bringing his daughter to Datong.

After leaving Lin Heqing's side, Jia Chen banished Lin Zhixue's image from his mind.

There are plenty of beautiful women out there; Jia Chen isn't that brainless.

Moreover, his wife, Qin Keqing, was a beauty like a celestial being.

His current focus is still on the development of the Fortress; everything else is secondary.

If you don't have enough strength, you won't even have the ability to protect yourself in the chaos of the future, so what's the point of talking about women?

Five days later, Wang Baisheng finally brought the group of firearms craftsmen from the capital back safely.

Jia Chen personally greeted them.

This deeply moved the craftsmen.

Although some of them were experienced master craftsmen, as artisans, their status and position were not actually high.

In his eyes, Jia Chen, the garrison commander, was a very high-ranking official.

Such high-ranking officials treated them with such courtesy, making all sorts of arrangements and taking care of them when they came to Datong.

My anxiety dissipated considerably.

They originally felt that coming here was almost like being exiled.

Even if things aren't great in the capital, you don't need to worry about safety.

But this is a border town; if things go wrong, we could die at the hands of the northern barbarians.

Later, they learned a lot about Jia Chen's deeds from Wang Baisheng, and after spending the last few days with him, they realized that coming here might be a good choice.

After inquiring, Jia Chen learned that there were a total of 32 firearms craftsmen, including two master craftsmen, one named Fang Deng who was proficient in making muskets and the other named Lou Yidou who was proficient in making cannons.

The two were about the same age, in their fifties, much younger than Lu Dahai.

Jia Chen summoned Lu Dahai, Fang Deng, and Lou Yidou, and the group talked in the room for half a day.

This allowed Jia Chen to learn more about them.

Of course, Fang Deng and Lou Yidou said they needed to familiarize themselves with the environment around Juqiangbao, such as the quality of the refined iron used to manufacture guns and cannons, etc.

Jia Chen instructed Lu Dahai to introduce the two men.

Two days later, Lu Dahai and his two companions came to find Jia Chen.

"Masters, if you have any suggestions or needs, please feel free to ask, and I will try my best to accommodate them," Jia Chen said.

He knew they must have had some ideas these past two days.

"My lord, we were worried that it would be difficult to smelt high-quality iron in Datong, but we never expected that the iron we saw was no less than that of Fujian iron, or even better," Fang Deng exclaimed.

"According to Master Lu, the improvement method was proposed by the master. The master is truly a genius, which is amazing," Lou Yidou said.

The conditions at the Fortified Fortress were much better than they had expected.

They were particularly astonished by the quality of these iron forgings.

They knew that there was a shortage of charcoal in Datong, and that locals used coal as a raw material for iron smelting in order to save money and for convenience, resulting in very poor quality iron.

Unexpectedly, Jia Chen solved this defect.

With the finest iron, they had already achieved more than half the success in manufacturing muskets and cannons.

The two also raised their concerns, such as the fact that the area around the Fortress was too crowded.

Before, it was okay with just Lu Dahai and the others, but now that we've added these newcomers, it's clearly not enough.

Jia Chen said he would resolve the issue.

In fact, Jia Chen had already done this a long time ago.

Jia Chen inquired about the manufacturing processes and production cycles of the muskets and cannons.

He needs to understand their current processes and then make targeted improvements.

Lou Yidou told the truth, saying that the yield rate of cannons was very low. It was considered good if two or three out of ten cannons were successful. In many cases, only one out of ten cannons might be up to standard.

Of course, Lou Yidou also said that since the refined iron at Juqiangbao is better, the success rate should be much higher.

Jia Chen's suggestion was to improve the method of casting cannons.

The traditional cannon-casting process of the Da Hong Dynasty was mostly clay mold casting. The mold was disposable and dried very slowly, resulting in a long production cycle for each cannon. The inner wall of the cannon was rough, and the yield rate was low.

Jia Chen told them that they could use the "iron mold casting method," which involves making an iron mold and coating the inside with fine rice husk ash and coal powder.

Iron molds can be reused repeatedly, which not only greatly improves the efficiency of cannon manufacturing, but also makes the cannon body smoother and the structure more compact, greatly reducing air bubbles and cracks, reducing the risk of barrel explosion and improving safety.

Lou Yidou's eyes lit up after hearing this; he was deeply moved.

However, he told Jia Chen that these things still needed to be tested to be confirmed.

Jia Chen didn't urge Lou Yidou, after all, he was only proposing these advanced concepts and technologies, and it would still be up to Lou Yidou and his team to solve some of the difficulties.

Fang Deng explained the manufacturing of the musket. The biggest difficulty was in the barrel manufacturing. A skilled barrel driller could drill three inches a day on average, and it would take 20 to 30 days to complete a barrel.

Including subsequent assembly and other processes, the production cycle for a single musket can take two to three months while ensuring quality.

These are similar to what Jia Chen knew.

Jia Chen plans to use a water-powered drill press to solve the gun barrel problem. By using water power, the drill bit can rotate continuously for 24 hours, and generally a gun barrel can be completed in three days.

Moreover, compared to manual methods, water power is controllable and can be kept consistent, making the inner wall of the barrel smoother, reducing resistance, and increasing the power and accuracy of the shotgun.

Jia Chen also introduced the concept of an assembly line, where iron smelting, forging, hydraulic drilling, internal wall filing, and woodworking assembly are all completed by craftsmen from different trades working together.

A fine musket that originally took two or three months to manufacture can now be completed in about half a month with the help of mechanization and water power.

These are all Jia Chen's deductions; the specifics will depend on Fang Deng and the others to try them out.

Jia Chen had already chosen a location for the water-powered drilling machine, and the main workshops there were almost finished.

Ma Du led Jia Chen and the others to a riverbank.

"Sir, as per your request, we have dug a canal here to bring water to this reservoir. This area was originally a depression, so everyone continued to dig deeper and larger," Ma Du said, pointing to a wide lake in front of him.

This was discovered by him and his team.

He didn't quite understand why Jia Chen wanted him to dig this up.

However, he didn't dare to ask too many questions; he just did whatever Jia Chen told him to do.

Later, he discovered that Jia Chen had demarcated a restricted area not far below the reservoir, dug trenches, and built walls, turning it into a small fortified village.

There are guards inside and outside the city, and entry is not permitted without permission.

They built some waterwheels, houses, and the like inside.

I don't know what to do.

The reservoir is located at a higher elevation than Xiaotunbao, a location Jia Chen specifically chose.

To develop a water-powered drilling machine, the potential energy of water must be converted into kinetic energy.

The reservoir ensures a stable and controllable water source, which guarantees that the drill bit can maintain a stable rotational speed and force.

This will be Jia Chen's future arsenal.

The workshops in the fortified city need to be moved here, such as the iron forging workshop.

Since it is an arsenal, it is naturally of paramount importance and needs to be guarded by troops.

Actually, this has already been tested here; it wasn't a water drill, but a water hammer.

Using water power to drive the hammer, refined iron can be hammered continuously to manufacture tiger squat cannons.

The effect is very obvious.

Lu Dahai and his team had limited capabilities and were unable to forge other cannons, so they spent their time making some modifications to the Tiger Crouching Cannon.

The current Tiger Crouching Cannon is of better quality, lighter in weight, has a longer range, and is more powerful.

Jia Chen named this new fortress "Fire Fortress".

Because this place produces all kinds of firearms, from muskets to cannons in the future.

In addition, various forging processes are required here, and there are various furnaces that burn all day long, so the word "fire" is very apt.

To ensure the safety of the Fire Fortress, Jia Chen specially dispatched three hundred men to guard it, with Jia Mao in charge. There were also a large number of Tiger Crouching Cannons on the city wall, making its defensive capabilities no less than those of the Qianqian Mountain Mound.

This place is ten miles away from Juqiangbao. If anything happens, Juqiangbao can immediately provide reinforcements.

Fang Deng and Lou Yidou were very satisfied with the facilities at Fire Fortress. They never dreamed that Jia Chen could create such amazing equipment. One piece of equipment was more effective than dozens or hundreds of people.

With these, they were more confident in manufacturing muskets and cannons.

According to Jia Chen, muskets must be manufactured as soon as possible. As for cannons, there are enough tiger-squatting cannons now, and Lu Dahai and the others can also manufacture them.

Therefore, Lou Yidou's main task for the next period of time was to manufacture the Franconian cannon.

Jia Chen never expected to immediately deploy something like a large general's cannon or a Hongyi cannon.

These are still very difficult.

Another issue is the high cost, which he currently cannot afford.

These massive cannons were used either to defend important cities or to bombard them.

For Jia Chen, none of these are needed for the time being.

Therefore, there is no need to manufacture it at present.

However, not manufacturing them doesn't mean Jia Chen has given up. He will still have Lou Yidou try to manufacture one or two using his improved techniques to see the results.

Given his current capabilities, the Franco cannon is both necessary and the most suitable option.

The Franco cannon was used by Jia Chen to increase long-range lethality. Its solid shot had an effective lethality of up to one mile, and it could also fire grapeshot, although at a shorter range.

This is crucial for Jia Chen's construction of a multi-pronged attack network.

First, bombard with breech-loading cannons; at about 100 paces, use muskets; at about 60 paces, use tiger-squatting cannons; and at 30 paces, use three-eyed muskets.

However, as the number of the first three types of firearms increases, especially the number of muskets, Jia Chen will gradually phase out the three-barreled gun.

The breech-loading cannon was mounted on a sports car and could be used as a field gun.

Of course, they can also be mounted on the city walls as the main firepower for defending the city.

Fang Deng and his men quickly got to work on firearms manufacturing, and Jia Chen's biggest worry was relieved.

Given a little time, the number of arquebuses and breech-loading cannons will soon increase, and my strength will be greatly enhanced.

Time flew by and it was already mid-April when Zhao Zheng rushed in.

"My lord, something terrible has happened! Lindan Khan has mobilized the entire tribe!" Zhao Zheng reported loudly.

Upon hearing this, Jia Chen's expression changed: "They're heading south again? Is their main destination Xuanfu Town or Datong Town?"

"No, no, no, my lord, Ligdan Khan plans to lead a large army on a western expedition," Zhao Zheng hurriedly said.