Luo Zhixue stayed at Daye Industrial Base for three days and inspected all factories including Daye Iron Works, Hantian Arsenal, and Hantian Machinery Factory.
Although the inspection time was long and short, Luo Zhixue visited every factory in the industrial zone.
They also focused on inspecting and hearing about the conditions of three factories: the Large Iron Smelting Plant, the Hantian Arsenal, and the Hantian Machinery Plant.
Luo Zhixue went to see the situation of the large iron smelting plant on the first morning and also gave important instructions.
In the afternoon of that day, Luo Zhixue went to Hantian Machinery Factory for inspection. This machinery factory was quite satisfactory. At present, Hantian Machinery Factory's research and production mainly focus on various types of manufacturing machinery and mechanical equipment required by other factories.
Among them are small mechanical equipment driven directly by manpower, such as manual grinders, drilling machines, etc.
These seemingly human-driven equipment seem very backward and low-end, but in fact these hand-made machines are indispensable tools for precision machining in major industries. The demand is very high, but the machinery factory itself is very interested in this kind of equipment. The demand for such equipment is very large.
Next, there are some medium-sized mechanical equipment that use power storage.
Finally, there is the large-scale mechanical equipment that uses hydraulic power. This type of large-scale equipment is relatively difficult to manufacture and the cost is high, but its effect is just right.
Whether it is iron smelting, mechanical equipment manufacturing, or the terminal military industry, it is an indispensable equipment.
Nowadays, the iron sheets in the armor in the Dachu Empire are processed in large quantities through hydraulic forging machines, drilling machines, grinding machines and other equipment, so that such a huge production capacity can be achieved.
If we only rely on manual work to forge, drill and polish, workers like these would not be able to produce such a large output.
When Luo Zhixue inspected the factory, he made important instructions: while requiring Hantian Machinery Factory to stabilize and increase production, it also needed to take small steps to improve while producing, and strive to continuously update and improve its production. Come out with better machinery.
However, continuous improvement of equipment requires experience and even more time.
Whether it is Hantian Machinery Factory or Xiangyang Machinery Factory, their continuous improvement of products requires progress in material technology on the one hand, and on the other hand it also requires continuous collection of equipment usage and targeted solutions based on actual usage experience. question.
It is worth mentioning that Hantian Machinery Factory has built a relatively large-scale bearing production line.
In the early days, Luo Zhixue gave instructions to develop and manufacture bearings, but the route was wrong at the beginning. Luo Zhixue directly asked craftsmen to build spherical bearings. Later, he found that the raw materials were not good and the processing was not good, so he could not make it.
For a long time, craftsmen have been thinking about how to make better knives for processing...
As a result, the performance of the tool has been greatly improved, but it still cannot meet the manufacturing needs of bearings.
Later, after discovering that this road was temporarily impassable, the craftsmen began to shift direction to cylindrical bearings.
Cylindrical bearings have much lower material requirements, and even bearings made of bronze as raw material can barely be used.
Later, after iron materials began to be used for production, cylindrical bearings were basically able to meet some preliminary needs.
The first application of cylindrical bearings was not the end product carriage, but various mechanical equipment in the machinery factory itself...
Although at first Luo Zhixue was rushing to make the carriage and artillery run faster to get this bearing, in fact the application of bearings in the industry itself is larger and more important.
After the beginning of the use of cylindrical bearings, the performance of various mechanical equipment produced by the two major machinery factories in the Dachu Empire was greatly improved.
After production became redundant, these cylindrical bearings began to be used in carriages.
It can be said that the successful research and development and mass production of cylindrical bearings have greatly promoted the industrial level of the Dachu Empire and greatly improved processing accuracy and processing efficiency.
After visiting Hantian Machinery Factory, Luo Zhixue visited Hantian Arsenal the next day.
The Hantian Arsenal is naturally one of the important factories in the Daye Industrial Base. It can even be said that the reason why the Daye Industrial Base was established and built on such a large scale was to provide the Hantian Arsenal with various Matching.
The arsenal was also directly related to the subsequent military strength of the Chu Empire.
Because of the importance of the Hantian Arsenal and the tight construction tasks, Luo Zhixue directly transferred Ding Gangyi, the supervisor of the Xiangyang Arsenal, to serve as the first supervisor of the Hantian Arsenal.
Ding Gangyi had already proven his ability when he was preparing to set up the Xiangyang Arsenal. He was very good at building factories and organizing production. As for the subsequent normal production and operation of the factory and subsequent research and development, these were not what he was good at. .
For this person, Luo Zhixue also made the best use of his talents. Since Ding Gangyi was very good at building factories, he simply transferred him to Daye to serve as the first supervisor of Hantian Arsenal and preside over the construction and preliminary production of Hantian Arsenal. , strive to build the Hantian Arsenal and put it into production as soon as possible.
And Ding Gangyi lived up to Luo Zhixue's expectations.
Ding Gangyi followed Luo Zhixue and introduced the Hantian Arsenal ahead: "Now our Hantian Arsenal has completed the first phase of the project, the factory buildings have been completely completed, and most of the equipment has been installed and debugged. It has now entered a small In the large-scale production stage, it is expected to reach the design output within one month.”
"According to your Majesty's decree, the design scale of our Hantian Arsenal is larger than that of the Xiangyang Arsenal. We strive to make the Hantian Arsenal a core arsenal that can support the unification of China between the country and the DPRK!"
"After a month's time, when our first phase of the project is fully put into production, the production capacity is expected to reach 3,000 muskets per month!"
Hearing this, Luo Zhixue showed a satisfied look: "The first issue is three thousand, um, not bad!"
The monthly production of three thousand muskets means that one month's production capacity is enough to arm three thousand musketeers.
At present, among the main divisions of the Dachu Empire Army, there are only about 5,000 musketeers in each division.
In other words, the musket production capacity of the first phase of the Hantian Arsenal is enough to supply the muskets for most of the new main divisions in one month.
It is slightly more than the current musket production capacity of Xiangyang Arsenal.
Ding Gangyi continued: "Our artillery production capacity is not small. During the construction, a considerable part of the resources of the first phase of the project were invested in the construction of the artillery branch. After the first phase of the project is fully put into operation, it is expected that our two The design production capacity of various types of copper-cast field guns such as half-pound to nine-pound field guns is between thirty and forty pieces."
"The specific output depends on the needs of the military. If we need to produce more two-and-a-half-pound field guns, then the total output will be larger. If the urgency of nine-pound field guns is greater, then we will produce nine more field guns. If the number of field artillery pieces is 50,000 pounds, the total output will be correspondingly lower."
"Our armor production capacity can also reach about 4,000 sets, but most of them are half-body armor or simple half-body armor that is relatively cost-effective. For full-body armor, the production capacity is expected to be only about 1,000 sets. If there are more, it will have a greater impact. Total armor production capacity.”
Speaking of this, Ding Gangyi sighed: "In order to achieve such a large production capacity, the Ministry of Industry not only transferred a large number of technical personnel from the Xiangyang Arsenal, but also selected the best from prisoners of war, young refugees, and civilians since last year. More than 10,000 workers have been trained in advance.”
"In this way, production can be organized directly after the completion of the first phase of the project."
"The above is the first phase of production capacity, followed by the second phase of the project and the final phase of the third phase of the project."
"When the third phase of the project is completed, the monthly production capacity of our Hantian Arsenal will reach 6,000 muskets, 50 field guns of various types, and 10,000 sets of armor."
"Others include cold weapons, two-and-a-half-pound cannons, eighteen-pound mortars, forty-eight-pound mortars and other weapons."
"The specific output depends on the production priority at that time, but in general, our production capacity is fully capable of arming one main division a month."
After hearing this, Luo Zhixue nodded: "This production capacity is necessary. Only with this kind of production capacity can we maintain rapid military expansion and fight."
"The newly formed army requires a large amount of new equipment. Daily combat losses also require equipment replenishment. The gradual replacement of equipment by the garrison also requires equipment. Your production tasks are very heavy!"
Luo Zhixue has great expectations for Hantian Arsenal!
Although the first phase of the project has just been completed, the workers are still familiar with production. It is still in the small-scale production stage for the time being, and the output is not as good as that of the Xiangyang Arsenal.
But as early as one month, or as late as one and a half months, the Hantian Arsenal will directly replace the Xiangyang Arsenal and become the most important arsenal in the Chu Empire.
After half a year, probably by the end of this year, the production capacity of Hantian Arsenal will be doubled.
Coupled with the Xiangyang Arsenal, the Chu Empire's musket output by then will be able to reach 10,000 pieces a month, and about 70 field guns of various types.
There are also many other armors, swords, spears and iron cannons.
With such a huge gun production capacity, when the time comes, the army of the Chu Empire will be able to overwhelm the Ming Dynasty with guns and artillery!
It's just that this production capacity seems huge, but whether it can ultimately reach this production capacity depends not only on the factory, but also on the capital.
Today’s arsenals are full of gold-eating beasts!
It doesn't mean that after you set up a factory, you can continuously produce guns. You also have to spend money to pay workers, purchase raw materials, and many other costs.
You even have to pay taxes...
Even if paying taxes is a left-hand matter for the empire's finances, it can still be regarded as the operating cost of the arsenal.
Producing weapons and equipment requires money!
Looking back, if the finances of the Dachu Empire deteriorate and cannot spend so much money to maintain normal production of the arsenal, it will be useless no matter how large the designed production capacity of the Hantian arsenal is...
