Chapter 60 Casting Cannon

After the great success of the fishing expedition, the food crisis was partially solved. After all, one to two thousand kilograms of fish were harvested at one time. Zhang Xuan also improved his food, from wild vegetable soup to wild vegetable fish soup. Although it was a little bland.

, the taste is not that good. But it is still much better than pure wild vegetables.

However, when it comes to the problem of light food, there is not enough salt in the rebel army. Zhang Xuan can only limit its use. Only when fighting, will he add more salt. At other times, he can only eat light food.

The food problem was partially solved. The Zhang Zhi, Wu brothers, and Wang Jincai, together with a group of civilians, made special preparations and turned all the nearby rivers, large and small, upside down. Let's see how many fish were caught. The food problem is temporarily

After the matter was resolved, Zhang Xuan's work was back on track.

He has not forgotten that these are not peaceful times. The problems he faces are not just the problem of food. Just a few dozen miles north of Linying is Xuzhou, which is occupied by the army. In troubled times, the most important thing is force.&1t

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Zhang Xuan finally had time to do what he had always wanted to do, which was to make cannons.

Even without mentioning the limitations of the trebuchet itself, the trebuchet itself is something that has been eliminated by history. History has proven that firearms will dominate the future era. Therefore, Zhang Xuan is preparing to cast a large number of firearms. As for what kind of firearms to cast, Zhang Xuan has no choice but to cast them.

After thinking for a while, I finally decided to cast a cannon, to be precise, a small cannon.

This is not only a process issue, but also a practical requirement.

The craftsmanship difficulty of muskets is actually far greater than that of artillery, and large artillery is inconvenient to move. It cannot cooperate with the rebels running around. The only options available are small cannons with one or two kilograms of live ammunition and weighing around a hundred kilograms.

Of course, Zhang Xuan also asked the soldiers. As for the lower-level soldiers and generals, they clearly supported artillery between small artillery and muskets. They did not like muskets, so Zhang Xuan could only do as they did.&1t;i>&1t;/i

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Zhang Xuan first watched the craftsman's camp build an artillery piece.

What Zhang Xuan saw was that almost the entire process of making handicrafts requires making a clay mold first, and then drying it in the shade for more than ten days. Zhang Xuan simply couldn't bear this time. To be honest, Zhang Xuan himself didn't know how he could make it in the future.

How long did he have to stay in Yingxian, one month, two months, or even less than a month? How could he have time? He had to wait for more than ten days for the clay mold, and then the clay mold could only be used once.

No, the efficiency is too low.

Zhang Xuan refused to let him make the clay mold at all, and said: "Is there no other way to speed up the process, such as using an iron mold?"

"It's not impossible to use iron molds." Blacksmith Wang hesitated for a while and said, "Little old man, I think that if you use iron molds, the artillery is not as good as clay molds."

Zhang Xuan said: "Why?"

Blacksmith Wang couldn't explain it, he just had a feeling.&1t;i>&1t;/i>

Zhang Xuan said: "It doesn't matter. The first thing we have to solve is whether there are any problems. As for other problems, we can discuss them later. However, one thing must be explained. The cannon I cast must not explode."

"Yes." Blacksmith Wang said.

Zhang Xuan took a breath and thought of something, and said: "By the way, have you removed the big bronze bell on the Bell and Drum Tower?"

Blacksmith Wang said: "It has been taken down. General, do you mean to use this copper to cast a cannon?"

Zhang Xuan said: "I remember that cannons made of copper seem to be much easier to use than cannons made of iron. In this case, use these coppers if they can be used."

Blacksmith Wang thought for a while and said: "In this case, sir, you can rest assured. I will wrap the iron core with a copper tire, so that the artillery will not be easy to explode."

Zhang Xuan didn't understand these technical details, so he didn't care about it. He said directly: "I have something to say first. All forged artillery must have the craftsman's name engraved on it. If the barrel is exploded, I will investigate the craftsman's name."

, no one can escape, don’t blame me for being disrespectful when the time comes.”&1t;i>&1t;/i>

Blacksmith Wang was sweating slightly and said, "I understand, little one."

However, casting cannons is a delicate job. Even if you make an iron mold first, it is an unpleasant job. Blacksmith Wang is also thinking about the method of casting cannons with iron cores and copper tires. After all, the quantity of copper materials is limited, even if Zhang Xuan is tough

After demolishing the Bell and Drum Towers, Zhang Xuan only had less than 5,000 kilograms of copper in his hands. How to make better use of these copper materials is a difficult problem.

Zhang Xuan only visited the craftsman camp every day to understand the progress of the cannon-making process.

Other things came one after another. In the remaining days, winter was approaching. One day and one night passed, ice formed on the ground and on the river, and smoked fish were hung everywhere in the city.

There are enough fish reserves, and the water is beautiful

It was just a river, not a sea, and the fish catch from the river gradually decreased. Zhang Xuan stopped fishing from all the water and began to prepare another thing for the winter, which was firewood.&1t;i>&1t;/

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If there is not enough heating in winter, people will freeze to death.

Large amounts of firewood are prepared every day, filling the streets and alleys. This is the only year in several years that the people of Linying have enough food and clothing.

Of course, Zhang Xuan had no intention of raising idle people. The city was now a large collective. No manpower or material resources could be wasted. Zhang Xuan reorganized the city defense and started a new plan. He brought Zhang Zhi to

Outside the city, I saw a few people digging dirt, pointing straight down.

"General, what is this?" Zhang asked.

Zhang Xuan said: "I will let people experiment on how to dig wells faster. These people are all experienced people found from all over the army."

"General, do you want to dig more wells in Linying?" Zhang Zhi said.

"Yes." Zhang Xuan said: "There is almost no harvest this year. It must not be like this next year. Otherwise, we will not have another Yingshui to dig. We must prepare early. I want to promote the well digging technology, but I don't believe it.

, dig tens of thousands of wells, and still survive dry weather.”&1t;i>&1t;/i>

Zhang Xuan dug wells to fight drought, all because of the memories of later generations. When he was a child, people used water from canals to irrigate the fields. But when he grew up, almost everyone used well water to irrigate the fields. Almost every family had a well.

Well. But based on Zhang Xuan's current investigation in Linying, he is sure that there are only 300 wells in Linying County. Most of them are in population gathering areas, villages and cities. They are acceptable for human consumption. If you want to use the wells,

Watering the ground is impossible.

"Of course, it's freezing now." Zhang Xuan said, "I don't plan to break ground at this time. However, after spring, I will prepare to repair the water conservancy. Digging wells will only be one of them.

It's up to the elder brother. I don't understand water conservancy matters. I would like to ask the elder brother to survey the area near the county seat in the past few days to see where construction can start. It may be possible to start construction after spring."

"General." Zhang Zhi said: "How long do you think you can stay in Linying for so much time? Even if Linying starts digging in the spring, the results will only be after autumn. General, I really think you can stay in Linying for such a long time."

Time?"&1t;i>&1t;/i>

Zhang Xuan said: "I won't be able to stay for long. If Cao Ying's transfer orders come now and let me leave Linying, I won't be surprised at all. However, in life, you have to do something. Henan is also a rural area. How much can I do?

, just do it to a certain extent. Anyway, some things have to be done. If I do it, the Chinese people will finally gain something, so why bother asking me to be here?"

Zhang Zhi was shocked all over.

He had been an official who was close to the people, so he naturally knew how difficult it was to get things done in the Ming Dynasty. However, any water conservancy project was bound to be influenced by the gentry and large households. They all competed to build land in their own fields, and the government's labor

, I always push if I can, there are more than a thousand of them in the world

County magistrates, I dare not say that each of them has fewer resources than Zhang Xuan. But what Zhang Xuan wanted to do with his dilapidated Linying was to benefit the people, dig wells and build water conservancy to fight drought. And he was able to do it, which is very impressive.

But my thoughts were higher than those of local officials.

Zhang Zhi knew very well that despite the abnormal climate in the Ming Dynasty in the past few decades, if it were not for the lack of water conservancy repairs and the fact that the governments at all levels did not have much real power and could not even maintain the previous water conservancy projects, things would not have reached this point.

"What would happen if he conquered the world?" Zhang Zhi thought in his mind.
Chapter completed!