Cannon

  The Flying Horse, a single-masted schooner built by the British shipwrights, has been launched. The sailors from the British consulate and Macau have also arrived, but the cannons for the ship have not yet been settled. Given that Zheng Kezang had spent most of his share of the profits from last year's sugar and rum on other things, he had to swallow his pride and approach Chen Yonghua.

  "This fief can produce only a little over ten large and small red cannons in one month, but the young master wants twenty at once. How can we provide such a number?" Chen Yonghua shook his head repeatedly as soon as he heard Zheng Kechang's request. "Moreover, the young master is not unaware that this fief has blocked the northern barbarian army on the Wulong River, and a big battle is about to break out. Various military supplies have been ordered to be sent to Fuzhou, including cannons."

  "Only over ten a month?" Zheng Kezang was taken aback, this output is really too high, to know that the data in his memory shows that at the end of the Ming dynasty, Guangdong alone could produce more than 200 large cannons per month, compared to Taiwan's gun production system is rubbish. "How can the number of guns be so low?"

  "The iron workshop of the Ministry of Works produces only about 100,000 catties of refined iron per month. One cannon requires 800 to 1,000 catties, so even if all of it is used to make cannons, how many can be made?" Chen Yonghua shook his head, "It's truly a case of the well-fed not knowing the hunger of the starving." All over Taiwan, iron tools are needed everywhere, and for this reason, they even have to import arrowheads from their sworn enemies, the Dutch. How could all of it possibly be used to make cannons? "Moreover, the process of casting cannons is complex, and one small mistake can result in a useless cannon." If it were anyone else, Chen Yonghua wouldn't need to explain so carefully, but Zheng Kezang was known for his love of miscellaneous learning, so he couldn't just gloss over it. "In this way, naturally the monthly production will be insufficient."

  The problem of refined iron involves the problems of ore and fuel, which Zheng Kezang cannot solve either. However, regarding casting cannons, Zheng Kezang has a lot of information searched from Du Niang, so he volunteered: "I have read Mr. Chuyang's 'Western Magical Machinery', it would be better to let me go to the Ministry of Works' iron smelting workshop to see how it can increase production by several points."

  Chen Yonghua's eyebrows furrowed, Zheng Kezang had previously set his sights on the ironwork workshop, and now he still had some unscrupulous intentions, which made him somewhat disappointed and worried. However, Mr. Chunyang, Sun Yuanhua, was a renowned firearms expert in the great Ming dynasty. If Zheng Kezang had indeed read "First on casting cannons, second on making medicine, third on destiny" from the "Western Magical Machine", it would be greatly beneficial to improve the national defense level of the Ming Zheng regime. For a moment, Chen Yonghua also hesitated.

  However, Chen Yonghua also had his concerns, so he made a decision after a brief moment of contemplation: "If the young master wants to take a look, that's fine. But I need to make three rules with you: first, you cannot interfere with the workshop's personnel matters; second, you cannot move any objects in the workshop; third, you can try casting cannons on your own, but only three times. If it doesn't work out, then you cannot waste materials again. If you agree to these three points, I will issue a written order immediately?"

  The iron industry in Dongning actually synchronized with the development of the entire Ming dynasty's iron industry. Not only did it have the mode of operation where molten iron flowed directly from the blast furnace into the finery forge to produce wrought iron, as described in Song Yingxing's "Heavenly Creations", but also had semi-continuous operation technology that used mud to block the outlet after iron production and then re-smelted with bellows. If no improvements were made to the heat storage chamber of the blast furnace or waste gas utilization, Zheng Kezang actually did not have more suitable technologies for this era to choose from. However, due to Chen Yonghua's orders, Zheng Kezang could not even make such changes.

  Although nothing can be changed, Zheng Kezang is not here to go through the motions. Compared with the pig iron production which is hard to achieve explosive growth even after improving technology due to the limitation of raw materials, how to cast cannons faster, cheaper and better is his ultimate goal for this trip.

  "Is this the mud mold?" Zheng Kezang asked with some doubt, looking at a whole block of mud mold that had already dried and taken shape on one side of the fiery furnace for smelting iron. "Just pour in the molten iron liquid and wait for it to solidify? How can we guarantee that there won't be any sand holes inside?"

  "Master, the molten iron for casting cannons is not directly taken from the blast furnace. The temperature of the freshly smelted iron is usually around 1250°C, which may cause deformation of the mud mold, so it needs to be pre-cooled. During cooling, craftsmen will stir and disperse the air bubbles, which can reduce the appearance of sand holes. Of course, it's impossible to say there are no sand holes at all, it's just a matter of how many. Therefore, trial firing is still necessary after casting."

  Zheng Ke nodded clearly, but soon shook his head in doubt. He nodded because he knew that trial firing could potentially identify some defective products ahead of time, but he shook his head because he was worried that in order to avoid responsibility and increase production, the amount of propellant used during trial firing would be reduced, making it seem like the pass rate was higher, but in reality, they would be useless on the battlefield.

  Zheng Kezang nodded and shook his head, confusing Du Doutu even more. He didn't know what Zheng Kezang was trying to express.

  Du Du had something on his mind and wanted to ask, but he was only a sixth-grade official, how dare he be so presumptuous as to speak to the prince of the vassal state? So he could only pretend not to see him and casually asked: "What kind of cannon does the young master want to build?"

  "Six pounds, no, two-inch long cannon (note: 1 work department meter is approximately equal to 0.33 meters, it should be a four-pound cannon), four-inch short cannon (note: equivalent to twenty-eight pound cannon), three and a half inch long cannon (note: equivalent to twelve pound cannon) each one door." Zheng Kezang used the power granted by Chen Yonghua to the limit, however, three cannons with three calibers, mud molds also need to be made into three, Du Dutu calculated that it would take some time to report on making molds, just as he was about to do so, he saw Zheng Kezang waving his hand. "Mud mold casting cannon, the body of the cannon contains too much sand, which is not conducive to multiple shots, so I will teach you a new method, using iron mold to cast cannon."

  Du Du stared at Zheng Kezang with a look of shock and confusion: "Young Master, what is this iron fan? I've never heard of it before."

  Iron mold, Du did not know that this is another time and space after about one hundred and fifty years later appeared in the technology, at that time "has clever ideas" Zhejiang Jiaxing County county lieutenant Gong Zhenlin after the outbreak of the Opium War responsible for hosting Ningbo area casting cannon, due to the tight construction period can not use mud mold method, Gong Zhenlin after meditation and hard thinking, sleepless nights, several experiments later created a new process.

  Regarding the origin of this craft, Zheng Kezang couldn't say much, only instructing his counterpart to follow the steps he had explained: first, make molds according to the inner and outer diameters of the large cannon; then apply two layers of slurry to one side of the mold where the iron liquid would be poured, with the first layer being made from fine rice husk ash and fine sand mud in Gong Zhenlin's original plan, but Zheng Kezang used burnt gypsum instead, and the second layer was made from high-quality coal powder mixed with water; then combine the two molds, bind them tightly with iron hoops, and heat them up; next, continue to shape the cannon section by section; finally, pour in the molten metal liquid; after pouring enough liquid, let it cool down and solidify, then remove the iron mold according to the order of the molds, like peeling off a bamboo shell, gradually revealing the cannon body, and then remove the gypsum that had solidified inside the barrel, with no large burrs left in the bore and no large air bubble marks on the outer wall.

  Although Du Dutu disagreed with this, facing the powerful Zheng Kecang, he had no choice but to nod and follow suit.

  However, after the first six-pound long cannon was cast, Du Dourong surprisingly didn't change his expression and personally ran to Zheng Kezang's face to sing praises: "Great Master, this is divine! This cannon, this cannon?"

  Although the words were not fully expressed, Zheng Kezang was very clear that compared with traditional mud mold casting cannons, iron mold casting cannons had simpler craftsmanship and were easier to replicate. They were not restricted by the cooling and drying time of the mud mold, which could shorten the manufacturing cycle and reduce production costs. Although it still couldn't completely solve the problem of sand holes, it could greatly reduce the amount of sand in the cannon body, thereby improving the quality of the cast cannons.

  Compared to the extremely excited Du Zongting, Zheng Kezang was very calm. He knew that even if they adopted the iron mold manufacturing method, the Qing army's artillery would still not be able to threaten British warships in the Opium War. Therefore, he must make further improvements to the performance of the artillery to meet future challenges.

  Since it was an improvement, Zheng Kecang did not expect to reach the sky in one step. Therefore, he began to experiment with the internal mold water cooling method on the basis of the iron mold from the second door cannon. To adopt the internal mold water cooling method, a double-layered iron mold must be made, so that water can be poured into the inner layer for cooling the internal mold, thereby producing stress and causing the barrel to self-tighten.

  "This is to say, the young master has come up with an incredible secret method again." Listening to Du Dou's report, Chen Yonghua sat in his chair with some astonishment. Of course, he still didn't understand the subtleties of the internal mold cooling method, but just the iron mold casting method alone was enough to double the monthly production of cannons in the Dongning Army Department. "You've done a good job on this matter, but such techniques are related to the life and death of our province, and must not be allowed to flow into the mainland lightly. Do you understand?"

  Du Dutu left Chen Yonghua's signing room with a worried heart, thinking that if he could get Chen Yonghua's personal reception and praise, his future would naturally be boundless. But what if the method of making iron cannons was leaked out? Not to mention one's own career and life, it's likely that the whole family would also be implicated.

  After Du Dutu's withdrawal, Chen Yonghua also fell into deep thought. Zheng Kecang's talent in miscellaneous studies made him curious, and he had some worries about the future of this young master. However, Yang Xian's words that miscellaneous studies are more useful than morality in a chaotic world still echoed in his ears. Moreover, Zheng Kecang's vision in military strategy also amazed him. Would having such a young master as the successor of Dongning be beneficial or harmful to Taiwan's future?

  Chen Yonghua had a premonition that he would once again face the most difficult choice, just like when he refused Zhu Cheng's arrangement for him to take over as Zhu Jin's master.

  "It's easy to learn, and next it's up to you to create the firing table for this cannon." Zheng Kezang was completely unaware of Chen Yonghua and Du Dousi's worries, and at this moment he gave such an order to Yi Silao, who had been a gunner in the French army, a deserter who had wandered all over the world, and a teacher of artillery tactics for children.

  As one of the greatest gains of Zheng Kezang's faction in Macau, Yi Shilao subconsciously touched his reddened wine nose: "The tool that Your Highness promised before, if it doesn't exist, then this shooting table can't be made."

  "Don't worry, you draw out the style of the thing, like wet and dry brushes that can be made, I'll arrange for someone to make it for you. If it can't be made, I'll definitely think of a way to help you buy it, but first we need to make do with what we have and overcome this difficulty."

  "What does overcome mean?"

  "Overcoming means having conditions to go up, no conditions also have to go up?"

  "No, no," Yī Shī Láo hastily shook his head. "Your Highness, you can't be like this?"

  Of course, Yi Shi Labour eventually succumbed to the white silver thrown by Zheng Kezang, but there were still many things for Zheng Kezang to overcome, such as fixing the gunpowder, purifying the gunpowder and changing the three-base ratio, etc., so Zheng Kezang actually had a lot more to do.