Chapter 64: Forging Martial Equipment

  After sending off Leng Yifei, Deng Zixuan led Shang Hu and 100 other members back to Shanghai City. He then appointed Shang Hu as the captain of the Rose Mountain Villa guard team, under Chen Jintang's command. Deng Zixuan decided to spend this year at Rose Mountain Villa, focusing on manufacturing weapons, with all conditions now in place. Just before departing, he received a message from his brother that their mother had suddenly fallen ill. Returning home to visit his mother, he did not expect her to pass away just a few days later.

  After finishing her mother's funeral, she entered April. Since her mother had passed away, Xiaohong and her daughter didn't need to stay at home anymore. At this time, her brother Zide was secretly helped by Deng Zixuan and had become the largest tea merchant in Shanghai. Deng Zixuan picked up Xiaohong and her daughter to his mansion in the city, as Yuanyi needed to take care of business in the city, Deng Zixuan decided to go to Rose Garden Villa himself.

  In the living room, Wan'er and Xiaohong sat down. I'm going to Rose Manor, you two stay behind. Wan'er has to take care of business, such as the match factory, the wholesale market, the glass factory, and the soap factory, so she needs to stay in the city. Xiaohong, you're in charge of household chores, this will help alleviate some of Wan'er's worries. When I'm at Rose Manor, don't disturb me unless it's an emergency.

  With the business being so large, it was necessary to have someone understand the situation. Under Deng Zixuan's intention, Wanyu had already fully understood all the details of the transactions. Deng Zixuan found that Wanyu had a great talent for business and handed over all the accounts to her management. Wanyu didn't need to go to the factory, she just sat at home understanding the operating conditions, and someone would come regularly to report on the profit status. Deng Zixuan was in the middle of instructing when he saw the butler walk in from outside.

  Do you have something to do? The steward said carefully. After a while, Deng Zixuan received three strangers in the living room. One of them, a man in his thirties, stepped forward and bowed: Master is above, please accept my respects! Then this big man took out a waist card. Are you from the Wan River Sect? Deng Zixuan asked. Yes, this is a letter from Master Wan to you!

  Deng Zixuan finished reading the letter and said with joy: "You two are fireworks masters?" The shopkeeper said, "We two are engaged in making fireworks and firecrackers. My name is Hui Shan, and his name is Zhao Ming. We are brothers from Henan Province's Yu Prefecture." Two other men in their thirties greeted them. "Please sit down, Masters. How many years have you been in this line of work?" One of the sturdy men replied, "To be honest, we started as apprentices at 15 and have been doing this for 25 years."

  It seems that the two masters are experts in this field, I want to know if you can make firecrackers? Zhao Ming replied: Boss, making firecrackers is no problem, it's much simpler than making fireworks. What kind of firecracker do you want us to make, we'll make whatever kind you want! Guaranteed to satisfy the boss. Deng Zixuan heard with great joy: The firecracker I want is a different kind of firecracker, one that you two have never seen before! The two were perplexed upon hearing this.

  Next, Deng Zixuan took the two fireworks masters to Rose Manor. He personally sent the two masters to the machinery factory and handed them over to Wang Tiechui, made some arrangements and then came to Yuren Academy. Seeing that Deng Zixuan was wearing mourning clothes on his arm, Chen Jintang was shocked: "Could it be that your mother has passed away?" Yes! She's gone! Why didn't you tell me? How can I, as a sworn son, be at ease?! Chen Jintang was in a great hurry.

  Elder Chen! I don't want to make a fuss, these are extraordinary times and the big matter takes precedence. I understand your feelings, on the 37th day we'll go together to pay our respects to Mother. Chen Jintang panted heavily, his face revealing an expression of pain. Alright Elder Chen, birth, aging, illness, death - no one can escape them, don't be too distressed.

  Deng Zixuan changed the subject: Leng Yifei has arrived in Guangxi, and everything is going smoothly along the way. Master, the second batch of students have been sent to Jinshan Island, and the third and fourth batches are currently studying and training. I heard that Bai Sheng did a great job with Huangpu Academy. Yes, next year Huangpu Academy will recruit its second batch of students, and Bai Sheng will lead the first batch of students to Hainan Island to formally establish the civilian corps! Great, it seems that day is not far away!

  Seeing Chen Jintang's joyful appearance, Deng Zixuan continued: Don't be in a hurry, this year I want to build up our military strength, I want to manufacture guns, cannons and ammunition. Chen Jintang widened his eyes and asked: Is this for real, my lord? Of course it is, currently our conditions are ripe, we must establish our own arsenal. Chen Jintang was overjoyed and said: My lord, to be honest, I have been holding back for a long time, wanting to ask you about this.

  Deng Zixuan seemed to remember something and said: I heard that the kid who is familiar with Sun Tzu's Art of War has arrived, where is he? I haven't seen him. After this kid arrived, his confidence was hit. Especially after seeing our training and military outline, he was shocked. Now he and the second batch of students are staying on Jinshan Island, this kid is a good material to be polished. Chen Jintang seems to like Song Fei very much.

  It's clear that Song Fei has taken a liking to your culinary skills, and from now on will be staying by your side. We not only need to attract talent widely but also make the best use of their abilities and let them play their roles. Tomorrow I'll be moving into the factory dormitory, and maybe won't leave for the whole year. Master, you should take care of yourself and not overwork. Brother Chen! Don't worry, my body is fine, there's no problem at all.

  Inside the factory, the steam engines and motors were deafening. Deng Zixuan led 10 disciples to visit the factory with Wang Tiedou accompanying them. Boss, now we have six steam engines, steam engines are truly powerful, I feel like I'm in a dream, often afraid of waking up, everything will turn into nothingness. Manager Wang, your dream may never wake up, and it will never wake up forever! What a great feeling! I'd be happy to stay in the dream forever.

  Two men walked into the forging workshop, laughing and chatting. The bright red forgings were taken out of the furnace and placed on a platform that looked like a gate. Several strong men operated the machine, the steam engine started working and drove the belt, and then a large iron block-like object fell down and hit the bright red forgings. Master, this forging press is too easy to use! If we used a big hammer, it would take four people to forge this piece for an entire morning. Now, with just two people operating it, it only takes one hour. Seeing Wang Tie's joyful expression, Deng Zixuan nodded repeatedly.

  Walking into the processing workshop, two steam engines drove more than a dozen machine tools to run quickly, and dozens of young men were busy processing parts on the machine tools. These workers were all trained in the machinery factory, Deng Qiang introduced fluently, and also came forward to demonstrate personally. The other five apprentices did not fall behind, and they demonstrated the operation of the machine tools one after another. Seeing his apprentices operating the machine tools skillfully, Deng Zixuan was very happy.

  After visiting the factory for a whole morning and having lunch, Deng Zixuan gathered his disciples in a classroom and said: From today on, I will work with you all in the factory to manufacture our own weapons. The current conditions are already met, and after theoretical and practical training, you have also acquired the ability to develop weapons. Now, let me assign tasks! Seeing the excited expressions on his disciples' faces, Deng Zixuan felt that his efforts had finally paid off.

  Deng Qiang, Deng Shan! Come! You two are in charge of firearms. In the past two years, you have both put in a lot of effort and accumulated some experience with firearms. Yes, sir! I will do my best not to disappoint your expectations!

  Deng Bing, Deng Wu! Come! You two have shown great interest in bullets and shells. Assist Deng Ba and Deng Hua in developing new ammunition! Yes! I understand!

  Deng Jun, Deng Min! Come! In the past two years, you two have studied artillery with great diligence and can even offer your own insights. I have decided to entrust you both with the task of manufacturing cannons. Sir! We must create cannons that surpass those of foreigners.

  Deng Zixuan turned around and drew a rifle on the blackboard, saying: Deng Qiang, Deng Shan! Come here! The two stood up. You two observe this rifle, what's different about it? Sir! This rifle has an additional triangular shape under the barrel, and the barrel seems to be shorter in proportion. Deng Qiang replied.

  You have observed very carefully, which shows that you are familiar with the structure of firearms. Next, on the basis of foreign firearms, we will manufacture a brand new rifle. The barrel is 600mm, the length of the rifle is 1100mm, and the caliber of the bullet is 7.92mm, with a full metal jacket. This triangular part at the bottom of the chamber is the magazine, which should adopt a double-row magazine with an internal spring, loading 5 rounds of ammunition at a time. The bolt still uses the right side horizontal rear pull type. My requirement is that after the magazine is installed, it must be connected to the safety lock. You can load bullets in the chamber or remove the magazine for loading or replacement.

  Sir, once this rifle is introduced, the single combat capability of soldiers will be greatly enhanced! Deng Qiang thought of combat. That's right, manufacturing a new rifle is for this purpose. It's very difficult to manufacture a new-style rifle, so we need to experiment repeatedly. Currently, Deng Ba and Deng Hua have made some research and progress on smokeless gunpowder, after the introduction of the new rifle, we will use smokeless gunpowder bullets, next about smokeless gunpowder...

  Deng Zixuan then lectured on the manufacture of new-style artillery and shells, putting forward basic requirements and developing new-style shells. Rifles must be manufactured this year and mass-produced. Artillery and shells must be manufactured by the end of next year and mass-produced, and two years is a must to finalize the type. Finally, Deng Zixuan said: The left-wheel pistol is relatively easy to imitate, Deng Qiang and Deng Shan first make the left-wheel pistol, and accumulate experience from it. During this period, you start working on it first, and we will discuss together if there are things that are not understood. Although Deng Zixuan understands its principles, he is also an outsider when it comes to manufacturing.

  Next, Deng Zixuan entered a room. The shopkeeper came and said, "The firecrackers you asked us to make are ready!" Hui Shan greeted first. Shopkeeper, I'll try pulling a few for you to see! Zhao Ming said, taking up a firecracker with both hands and giving it a pull. All that was heard was a faint "pa" sound, but in front of them appeared a burst of shredded paper. Shopkeeper, the noise isn't big because there's less gunpowder packed in. If you need more powerful ones, we can pack more gunpowder.

  Deng Zixuan picked up the pull-string firework and pulled it three times in a row, feeling very satisfied: Not bad; the pull-string firework is made very skillfully, I'm extremely satisfied. To be honest, I didn't ask you to manufacture pull-string fireworks, next step I require that when the pull-string firework doesn't make a sound but instead produces sparks to ignite the fuse, can you do it?

  "Shopkeeper, we've never done it before, let's give it a try!" Zhao Ming looked somewhat perplexed. "Shopkeeper, this isn't difficult, but to grasp the dosage requires repeated experimentation?" "No rush, if you two succeed, I'll reward you with 5 taels of silver!" The two heard this and their faces lit up with joyful expressions.

  Master Wang, make a batch of these according to the blueprint. Deng Zixuan handed the blueprint to Wang Tiechui. Master, it's okay to use pig iron to make sand molds, what do you want this thing for? Wang Tiechui was puzzled. Don't ask about this, just hurry up and produce them. Deng Zixuan smiled mysteriously.

  It's not hard to see that Deng Zixuan is going to make hand grenades, this kind of infantry weapon can play a crucial role in defensive and offensive battles. In making military equipment, Deng Zixuan will not forget the hand grenade. Two months later, the left-handed revolver was replicated, and Deng Zixuan personally tested the gun.