Ouyang Xuan Training Institute staff mainly adopt on-site teaching mode. The first stop he arrived at was the newly established artillery foundry to watch the firing of the trial-produced Tiger Crouching Cannon and Mother and Child Cannon - the Franco machine gun. Before going to Qiongzhou to sell salt, Ouyang Xuan had drawn detailed drawings of these two cannons to Li Saner, asking them to try out and imitate them first. At present, prototype cannons have been produced. The location of the test gun was still in a secluded place on the edge of Liuliba Mountain. The two newly built tiger crouching cannons and mother-child cannons were tested separately. In terms of range and explosion effect, the Tiger Crouching Cannon is obviously not as good as the Mother-Child Cannon, but even so, after the loud noise and smoke, the small trees and bushes in the shell scattering area were blown down, and the vegetation not far from the explosion point was also blown down. It was blown up and down. This made everyone applaud, and also made Hu Erchui, who was in charge of casting the cannon, quite proud.
The gun foundry is the core unit of the industrial company. It was expanded from Tiejiang Hu's blacksmith shop. Li Saner is now the director of the factory, and Tiejiang Hu's second son Hu Erchui is the deputy director. Unlike everyone who was beaming with joy, Ouyang Xuan did not cheer. He walked closer to see the effect of the explosion, then returned to the test cannon to observe the two cannons carefully. He also put his hand into the still warm barrel and rubbed it repeatedly. After a while, he first encouraged Hu Erchui and others, and then turned to Li San'er and said: "These two cannons still need to be recast." As soon as these words came out, not only did Li Saner and the craftsmen who made the cannon lose their smiles, but they also made everyone in the research institute next to them puzzled. Especially Du Daquan and other people who had never seen the cannon fired were even more surprised. This power Like a thunderbolt from the sky, Brother Xuan is still not satisfied?
Seeing that everyone was puzzled, Ouyang Xuan asked everyone to stand around the cannon and explained the reason for recasting the cannon: "First of all, although the barrel of this tiger squatting cannon is reinforced with iron rings, its thickness is uneven and the inner and outer walls are rough. It is uneven and even has potholes, and the barrel will inevitably explode under continuous fire, injuring itself. Besides, the biggest problem with the mother-child cannon is that the barrel length is too short and the ratio to the caliber is inappropriate. Also, the fitting gap between the sub-cannon and the main cannon is too large, resulting in a shorter range and less power.” Ouyang Xuan pointed to the parts of the artillery and explained the direction of improvement to everyone.
Artillery barrels are easily produced by casting processes. In addition to improving molds and polishing the inner bore, management methods can also be adopted to improve quality, such as engraving the name of the craftsman on the barrel. As for the ratio of the caliber of the mother and child cannons, it is a scientific issue derived from long-term practice. Ouyang Xuan directly told Li Saner and others that the caliber ratio of the artillery should be between 20 and 30 times. A large fitting gap and insufficient closure of the mother-child cannon will lead to insufficient chamber pressure. This is mainly caused by insufficient manufacturing accuracy. The firing range of this mother-child cannon test is only about two miles, while its prototype Franco machine gun can fire about five miles. After Ouyang Xuan explained the principle in detail, everyone suddenly understood and their admiration for him deepened.
While paying close attention to artillery casting, Ouyang Xuan also visited various major production locations in the industrial and mining industries for on-site investigation. In addition to solving some production problems on site, he also collected many technical problems. He asked Du Daquan to record the problems one by one as the direction of future research. In addition, Ouyang Xuan also sorted out a key list of short-term and long-term research for the institute, listed the main methods and steps, and clearly requested that he work with workers and mining companies to jointly develop production processes. These technologies are It is necessary for the development and growth of the Thunderbolt Army.
The first item of recent research focus is cement firing technology. Cement is used for construction quickly and is extremely strong. Combined with artillery, it will definitely become a fortress that will destroy the Mongolian army. The three main raw materials for cement production are limestone, clay and iron ore, which are all available in the mountains. The production is not difficult and requires only three production processes. The first step is to grind the limestone and clay together into raw meal. In the second step, the raw material is calcined until it is partially or completely melted. This product is called clinker. The third step is to grind and mix clinker with iron powder or iron slag to produce cement.
The second immediate focus is on improving steelmaking furnace technology. The focus is on improving the blowing equipment. The existing equipment is a manual sheepskin bellows, which has a small air output and requires a lot of manpower. The next step is to consider using hydraulically driven blast equipment and blowing in heated air, which will increase the temperature of the furnace and make the quality of the steel produced better. At the same time, we also need to experiment with using fluorite as a solvent for blast furnace steelmaking. Currently, Liuliba uses limestone as a solvent. In order to solve the problem of "knowing it but not knowing why", Ouyang Xuan also wrote detailed instructions under the relevant list. For example, he wrote the function in the solvent entry: Limestone can make impurities in molten iron adhere to it, forming Oxidized slag is easy to clean and is conducive to the purity of molten iron; fluorspar is a flux, which lowers the melting point when added to the furnace, shortens the smelting time, and removes impurities in the steel.
The third item of recent focus is the development of musket barrels. The most difficult part to manufacture among the various parts of the musket is the seemingly simple barrel. The main reason is that the barrel cannot be cast like a cannon, but can only be produced by rolling, cutting and extrusion methods. However, the barrel rolling method is hand-made, and the production efficiency is extremely low. A skilled craftsman cannot make a few barrels in a month, and the barrels produced are of different sizes. The cutting method requires a machine tool, that is, drilling a straight hole in the barrel blank, then inserting a turning tool, and pulling out the rifling bit by bit. Although this production method is still slow, it is much faster than the rolling tube method. Due to the rifling, the accuracy of the bullet is also high. As for the extrusion method, which requires an extrusion device in addition to a machine tool, there are currently no research conditions. Therefore, Ouyang Xuan's idea is to first use the simplest rolling method to produce a small number of barrels, and then use the cutting method to mass-produce barrels.
The first long-term research focus is the large-scale production of sulfuric acid and nitric acid technology. There are many raw materials for making sulfuric acid. In addition to sulfur mines in the mountains, sulfur dioxide gas can also be collected from iron ore and coal. After mixing with excess air and water vapor, it is passed into a corrosion-resistant lead chamber to turn into dilute sulfuric acid. There are no lead mines in the mountains now, but large ceramic jars can be used instead of lead chambers. As for nitric acid because it contains fire salt ore, we only need to figure out the production process and technology according to the method written by Ouyang Xuan.
The second long-term research focus is the production of caustic soda. Caustic soda is also very simple to make, just heat sodium sulfate, charcoal, and limestone in a furnace. The reaction between sodium sulfate and charcoal in the furnace produces sodium sulfide and carbon monoxide. Then sodium sulfide reacts with limestone to produce sodium carbonate and calcium sulfide. After purification, caustic soda (sodium carbonate) can be obtained. While writing this item, Ouyang Xuan told Du Daquan, who was standing next to him, that the underground plains outside the mountains contained extremely rich sodium sulfate minerals, which made Du Daquan look puzzled. But when Ouyang Xuan told him another name for sodium sulfate, Du Daquan suddenly realized: "Yes, Yixing Township, not far from Hengyuan, produces this Glauber's Salt. It is also a traditional Chinese medicine and the price is extremely cheap."
The third long-term research focus is gunpowder improvement. Compared to modern gunpowder, the explosive power of black powder is much smaller. After purchasing cotton cloth in Qiongzhou and regenerating sulfuric acid and nitric acid, modern gunpowders such as smokeless gunpowder and nitroglycerin can be developed. In addition, the improvement of grenade and shell triggering technology is inseparable from the production of mercury fulminate. This is also a technology that the research institute needs to learn and pay attention to.
The fourth long-term research focus is very important but has nothing to do with industry and mining, but is related to engineering companies. This is the construction of bastions. In the future, the Pili Army's artillery will definitely be imitated and plagiarized after it shows its power. How to prevent other people's artillery attacks requires defensive means in addition to preventing technology leaks. The bastion equipped with artillery is the best defense against artillery attacks. Ouyang Xuan couldn't remember the specific structure of the bastion. He could only draw a simple schematic diagram with an explanation of the principles, and let the engineering company gradually improve it based on actual conditions.
Industry specializing in surgery. Although Ouyang Xuan is proficient in chemical knowledge, due to his occupation, he has also dabbled in knowledge such as mining and gun manufacturing, but most of them have only half-knowledge and only know the direction and general content. The knowledge he taught still needs constant testing before modern science and technology can be transplanted into the late Southern Song Dynasty. However, he has so many affairs that he cannot do everything personally. He must work together to bring out the enthusiasm and intelligence of everyone. For this reason, the improvement of the scientific research incentive mechanism is very important. important. At the military and political meeting, Ouyang Xuan also put forward suggestions for promoting scientific research. In addition to actively discovering and introducing talents, the main purpose is to reward those who have made achievements in research, and important contributors are regarded as military merits. There must be brave men under heavy rewards, and it also applies to the field of technical research.
