After waiting for another two days, Huang Dagen and Dong Hu set off for Chongqing Mansion. On the one hand, it was because the previous expedition was very physically demanding. Even though Dong Hu was very physically strong, he needed to rest for two days before setting off. He and the other two people accompanying him were not able to walk far yet; on the other hand, it was also to prepare sufficient preparations. Prepare. Since the journey lasted more than 200 miles and the newly discovered trails were difficult to navigate, in addition to bringing self-defense weapons and climbing ropes, the most I brought was food. Ouyang Xuan thought about it again and again, and asked Lu Dezhi to select some high-quality wild mink skins in the village and let Huang Dagen take them with him. The official government of the Southern Song Dynasty was corrupt from top to bottom, and "bad money eliminated good money". His experience during this period made him understand that if he did not adapt to the rules here, it would be even more difficult to survive and develop. In fact, Ouyang Xuan hated corrupt officials very much, but he had no choice but to bribe Pan Tongzhi. In order to achieve great things and save more people from the upcoming Mongolian massacre, he is willing to accept the criticism of his reputation being stained.
Another piece of preparation before departure was unexpected. It turned out that when Yang Xiucai wrote the letter of report of merit and asked Yu Zhu to sign it, he refused. According to Ouyang Xuan's instructions, Yang Xiucai attributed the first victory over the bandits and the instigation of a fight between the Mongolian army and the bandits to Yu Zhu. After all, Yu Zhu was still the leader of the official army, and Ouyang Xuan was only his deputy. That’s all. Yu Zhu, who was on the hospital bed, was so angry that he almost couldn't speak after listening to Yang Xiucai read the letter. He scolded Yang Xiucai for writing randomly and refused to listen to Yang Xiucai's explanation that this was what Ouyang Xuan meant. When Ouyang Xuan arrived after hearing the news, he was still angry and cursed Yang Xiucai as a traitor. After Ouyang Xuan repeatedly explained, Yu Zhucai said angrily: "Brother Xuan, it's all your fault! Yu was seriously ill and lying on his back, and he was only alive thanks to the care of his brothers. How can he have the dignity to claim credit? Brother Xuan, you have led the brothers through life and death and fought bloody battles, and you should be the first to do so. If you refuse, you may be heartbroken." In response to Yu Zhu's heartfelt words, Ouyang Xuan was silent for a long time, and then asked Yang Xiucai to rewrite the letter according to Yu Zhu's words. From the depths of Ouyang Xuan's heart, he did not want to seize power and take credit. He was originally just an ordinary person who wanted to lie down. But he knew that if the original historical course of this troubled era were followed, how tragic the disaster would be for the land of China! In order to fight against the Mongols, he needed to gain power to change the course of history so that the people of the Southern Song Dynasty would no longer be massacred.
Preventing the Wanjiaping bandits from attacking is Liuliba's top priority at the moment. Huang Dagen and Dong Hu are away on business, so Ouyang Xuan puts Cao Ergou in charge of the guard temporarily. In addition to strengthening the security and reconnaissance of the cottage, Cao Ergou is also responsible for the training team. Now the two hundred militia members of the training team are stepping up military training, and their work is busy and trivial. Fortunately, Shi Zhongshu, the deputy captain of the teaching team, was very capable and shared a lot of tasks for Cao Ergou. Even so, Cao Ergou was still very busy.
Ouyang Xuan was also very busy. He goes to various industrial and mining camps every day to coordinate and discuss issues in the construction process in a timely manner. During this period, everyone's enthusiasm was high, and various construction projects were progressing rapidly. Two new blacksmith shops and a steel-making earth furnace have been built. The wood workshop, pottery workshop and charcoal-burning kiln are about to be completed. The coal mine and pottery-burning kiln are about to be completed. The construction of coke kilns and lime kilns is also progressing smoothly. The fastest progress was made in the mining of iron ore, fire saltpeter, and sulfur ore. Since Ouyang Xuan prioritized the mining of these three minerals, he prioritized the allocation of related resources. Because of the use of newly developed gunpowder for blasting, the mining efficiency of ore has increased by more than ten times compared with manual excavation. During the inspection tour of the industrial and mining camps, Ouyang Xuan also frequently raised safety requirements for Chen Hu and Li Zhonggong, asking that while expanding the production scale, production safety and quality should not be neglected because of the deadline. Industrial and mining industries were technological in ancient times. It is a very advanced industry and there is no need to rush its development, otherwise it will be wasteful to haste.
While inspecting the iron mine, he learned from the guards in charge of the labor camp that the prisoners in the labor camp worked hard, so he asked a few people to inquire about the situation in detail. From the mouths of the reform-through-labor prisoners, he learned that the bandits in Wanjiaping were like a slave society with a strict hierarchy, and all property belonged to the leader Xiong Ben. Except for the bandit leader and Xiong Ben's soldiers who can enjoy a good life, the rest of the bandits also have to work. Most of the bandits can only get enough to eat all day long. As for those among the bandits who are too weak to fight, life is even more miserable. They cannot eat enough on weekdays and have to be beaten and scolded at any time. These reform-through-labor prisoners work in the mines. In addition to the high intensity of labor and lack of freedom, their diet is similar to that of bandits, and they can occasionally eat meat. And I heard that if you work too hard, your sentence can be reduced, so of course you are very motivated.
Among various construction sites and mines, the places Ouyang Xuan visited most were the newly built steelmaking blast furnaces and blacksmith shops. In fact, during the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a similar modern blast furnace for steelmaking in the Jiangnan area. The construction of this simple-structured blast furnace only required refractory bricks, pig iron and charcoal to refine steel. Its construction and operation are It's actually not that difficult. Of course, this kind of indigenous steelmaking technology is still a high-precision technology in this era, and there are not many places to master it. Ouyang Xuan also spent a lot of time and energy on it. Of course, he spent more time in the blacksmith shop than in the steel-making furnace. After forging a batch of spears and folding shields in the blacksmith shop, Ouyang Xuan requested that in addition to casting grenade shells, the next step would be to prepare iron cannons.
In fact, Ouyang Xuan also knew that under the current metallurgical level, casting copper cannons first was the best choice, because copper had a low melting point, good ductility, easy casting and difficulty in exploding the chamber. However, the lack of copper material forced him to cast iron cannons. Since the territory of the Song and Song Dynasties was much smaller than that of the Han and Tang dynasties, the copper resources within the territory were insufficient, and the copper mined was not even enough for official copper coins. Sichuan is particularly short of copper mines, and the nearest large-scale copper mine is far away in Yunnan—now Dali. Because of the extreme shortage of copper coins, the imperial court authorized Chuanxia No. 4 Road to cast iron coins for circulation. It was precisely because the heavy iron coins were not suitable for the development of a developed commodity economy that Sichuan gave birth to the world's earliest paper currency - Jiaozi. As for whether the iron cannon would explode, Ouyang Xuan wasn't too worried. After all, the militia guerrillas during the Anti-Japanese War also used pine trees as cannons. Of course, he also took measures in advance to prevent the artillery from exploding. The first is to refine the iron into steel and thicken the tube wall during casting; the second is to add a few iron hoops to the outside of the barrel to increase the firmness; the third is to reduce the amount of charge, although this will weaken the range and power, It will be insufficient for bombarding strong fortresses, but it is sufficient for bombarding soft targets such as human bodies. Even if the bandits wear iron armor, they cannot withstand a single artillery bombardment.
Ouyang Xuan spent the past few days in the blacksmith shop, guiding Li Saner to make two cannon molds, one large and one small. He planned to cast the trial muzzle-loading cannon after the first furnace of molten steel came out. Ouyang Xuan hesitated for a long time whether to cast a front-loading cannon or a more advanced breech-loading cannon. Compared with front-loaded guns, although breech-loaded guns are easy to load and have a fast rate of fire, they are relatively difficult to cast. If the sealing is not solved well, the chamber pressure will be insufficient and the power will be much less than that of front-loaded guns. Defending Liuliba is currently the top priority. Ouyang thought over and over again and decided to start simple step by step and cast low-tech breech-loading cannons first. Later, when the bandits are defeated and ready to develop outside the mountains, more advanced breech-loading cannons such as the Folan machine will be forged.
