Su Yonglin followed Qiu Yuan to the cannon casting room and saw the craftsmen forging high-temperature cast iron.
"Who came up with the idea of iron core and copper body?"
Su Yonglin asked Qiu Yuan with interest.
"It's a craftsman named Wang Tietou, who has been dealing with iron for half his life. That's what he said at the time. That's what I thought, and I thought this method might be feasible. After all, copper is used to make money. I'm afraid I won't be able to afford it financially if I come to cast cannons."
"You're very thoughtful, and this is indeed a problem."
Su Yonglin nodded and said: "Don't talk about us. The Southern Dynasties were dying of copper shortages and lost money when they minted money. We may not be able to escape the customs. I thought that we must make some changes anyway, but changes also take time. , It won’t be reversed for a while.”
"So although artillery can be successfully made using copper, I feel that this is not possible and will cause problems."
Qiu Yuan said: "It happened that Wang Tietou proposed this idea, so I just tried to see if I could use iron and copper together to complete the casting of the gun body. If possible, it would be a good idea."
Su Yonglin was silent for a while, thinking about whether there was any help he could provide. After thinking about it, he suddenly thought of an important point like a bolt of lightning passing through his head.
"By the way, when you cast the cannon, remember that the thickness of the cannon body cannot be the same."
"ah?"
Qiu Yuan was a little confused. He blinked and asked, "What do you mean, Your Majesty? I don't understand very well."
"When you cast cannons before, was the thickness of the cannon barrel the same from the muzzle to the breech?"
"Uh...I really haven't noticed this, Tietou! Tietou, come here!"
Qiu Yuan shouted towards the cannon casting workshop, and soon a blacksmith in his thirties with a dark face ran over.
"What's the matter...yo! Your Majesty! People have seen your Majesty!"
Wang Tietou saw Su Yonglin standing next to Qiu Yuan at a glance. He was at a loss to salute Su Yonglin, but Su Yonglin raised his hand to stop him.
"Okay, okay, no need to be polite, the Ming Dynasty didn't pay attention to this."
Su Yonglin asked with a smile: "Tietou, tell me, when we cast the cannon before, was the thickness of the cannon tube the same from the muzzle to the breech?"
Wang Tietou blinked.
"Yeah...isn't that right?"
"Now, one of the problems is right here."
Su Yonglin clapped his hands and said: "You can't do it like this. When casting a cannon, the thickness of the cannon tube should gradually become thicker from the muzzle to the breech. The thickness of the tube at the breech should be the thickest, while the muzzle can be slightly thinner. "
"why is that?"
Qiu Yuan and Wang Tietou looked at Su Yonglin together.
Su Yonglin thought for a while and decided to explain it to them in easy-to-understand terms.
"Think about it, the reason we build cannons is to drive the iron bullets out of the cannon barrel, so that they can fly farther and hit harder than a trebuchet, right?"
"right."
The two nodded.
"Then how do you think the iron bullet and gunpowder work in the gun barrel to make the iron bullet fly out of the gun barrel?"
"Um...it's the gunpowder that explodes in the barrel, and then the iron bomb is blown out, right?"
Wang Tietou gestured with his hand: "If you blow it up, blow yourself up first, and then blow up others. Otherwise, the barrel of the gun will not be blown to pieces. That's what I think."
This guy also explained the feeling of Seven Injury Fist.
However, it's true. The essence of this thing is to blow up yourself first, and then blow up others. You have to be able to withstand the explosion to ensure that the enemy is killed.
So Su Yonglin smiled.
"Yep."
Su Yonglin pointed at Wang Tietou: "Iron bullets and gunpowder must be stuffed into the rear of the cannon. The rear of the cannon is where the gunpowder is ignited and exploded. Think about it, ignite the gunpowder, let the gunpowder explode with a bang, and then push the iron bullet out of the barrel. , so that the iron bullets can fly out.
Where did the gunpowder explode? Right at the rear of the gun, if this place wasn't thick enough, wouldn't the gun barrel be blown right through? Compared with this, other parts of the gun barrel do not need to be so thick. You have failed many experiments before, and I think this is the problem. "
Su Yonglin explained it, and Qiu Yuan and Wang Tietou fell into deep thinking. After thinking for a while, they found that this was really the statement.
They all know the power of the gunpowder explosion. If the iron pipe where the gunpowder explodes is not thick enough, doesn't it really mean that it cannot withstand the force of the gunpowder explosion? Wouldn't it be blown to pieces?
When Wang Tietou thought about it, he really felt enlightened.
"His Majesty is still awesome! Otherwise, you can say that your Majesty can be the emperor!"
He smiled, looking silly.
Just when Qiu Yuan was about to scold him for talking nonsense, Su Yonglin raised his hand to stop Qiu Yuan.
"Then I've given you a direction for this problem. You should follow this direction to solve the problem. The thickness of the current gun barrel is obviously not enough. To make it thicker, the breech should be the thickest. From the breech to the muzzle, you can Gradually it becomes thinner.”
"I understand, I understand. If you say this, we will understand. Hahaha. If this happens, maybe we can really succeed!"
Wang Tietou said as he jumped and ran towards the workshop.
"Wang Tietou, this is so unruly. He always speaks out of his mouth without thinking at all!"
Qiu Yuan complained a little about his inappropriate behavior in front of Su Yonglin, but Su Yonglin didn't care.
"He's not a courtier. Why should he pay attention to so many red tapes? What a cannon maker wants is to cast the cannon well. Everything else is useless. He can say whatever he wants. How can he bring down the sky?"
"Your Majesty, if this test is successful, can we no longer use copper-cast cannons?"
Qiu Yuan looked at Su Yonglin.
"It's not necessary to be so strict. It's okay to use it appropriately. However, even if we have enough copper, I don't recommend casting cannons entirely out of copper. Copper is not easy to explode, but it is easy to soften. The more times you fire the cannon, the more likely it will be. , if the temperature is not cooled down in time, the gun body will be easily deformed, and the danger is not small."
Su Yonglin smiled and shook his head: "So we must use iron, we can't do without it, but under the current situation, we don't seem to have good iron that can withstand the intensity of the explosion.
Even if I use my method, it's hard to say whether it will be successful. I'm afraid I can only hit it once or twice. If I hit it too much, it will still explode. The quality of the iron is not good. What should I do? "
After saying this, Su Yonglin's face was full of distress. He was troubled by the fact that he was not a practitioner in the steel industry and had not mastered the technology in this area, so that he could not help in any way.
"This... Your Majesty, to tell you the truth, the iron that can be used to cast cannons is already of the highest quality. If this iron is used to make weapons, it will definitely be called a magic weapon, and it will definitely be used by the army to equip it. They were unanimous in their praise.”
Qiu Yuan is very confident in the work he is responsible for.
Su Yonglin was noncommittal.
"But the problem has obviously not been solved. I think there are many reasons. The most important thing is that the temperature during iron smelting is not enough... Nowadays, iron smelting mainly uses the steel filling method, right?"
Qiu Yuan nodded.
"Yes, it's basically still the method of pouring steel, but a lot of improvements have been made, at least it's much better than before."
"But no matter how you improve it, it is still the steel-filling method. I read Shen Kuo's Mengxi Essays before, and I read that Shen Kuo thought that the steel-filling method was insufficient. He said that after two or three refinings, the pig iron will mature by itself and it will still be soft iron. It seems, Shen Kuo doesn’t think the steel filling method is perfect.”
Su Yonglin looked at Qiu Yuan.
Qiu Yuan frowned.
"Then your Majesty thinks that I should continue to improve the steel filling method?"
Su Yonglin nodded.
"In the past, there was no demand, so we could just live with it. Now we need to bring powerful artillery to the world to contribute to the Ming Dynasty's army sweeping the world. This is a very urgent matter. If the steel-filling method cannot smelt usable iron, just To improve.
Once improved, the smelted iron can be used not only to cast cannons, but also to cast sharper swords, guns, and swords, and to cast stronger shields and armors. This is a good thing in many aspects, and it is of great significance for the Ming Dynasty to sweep the world. It's important, Qiu Yuan, a piece of iron can change so many things. "
Qiu Yuan took a deep breath.
"I know what your majesty said, and I will do my best to refine qualified iron for your majesty!"
