Five days later, Zhao Peng received news that a batch of copper ingots sent by the Zheng family from Japan was shipped, so he handed over the task of training the Falcon Action Team to Gong Xiaoda and went to the dock to receive the goods himself. The arrival of this batch of copper ingots was of extremely important significance to Zhao Peng, because he needed a large number of new field guns to build.

"The copper ingots from Japan have been shipped, and they are all at Xiaguan Wharf." Zheng Sen, who was standing on the wharf, saw Zhao Peng coming and hurriedly came forward.

"How much has this batch of goods been?" Zhao Peng asked.

Zheng Sen replied: "This batch of goods costs about 12,000 kilograms."

Zhao Peng immediately ordered the migrant workers who followed him to unload the copper ingots from the ship, load them into the car, and then send them to the artillery factory outside the Jinyi New Army camp, preparing to start construction immediately to cast new artillery.

The melting point of copper is much lower than that of iron. The melting point of copper is about 1,000 degrees, and the melting point of iron is about 1,500 degrees. In order to obtain better steel, the blast furnace needs a higher temperature. To refine high-quality steel, the blast furnace needs to reach more than 1,700 degrees. Therefore, the furnace for refining copper ingots is much less difficult than that of blast furnaces, and the copper training furnace of the casting gun factory is also completed earlier than that of the iron-smelting blast furnace.

Compared with iron cannons, copper has better extension, so the barrel wall of the copper cannon can be made thinner than that of iron cannons. The weight of copper field cannons is lighter than that of iron field cannons, and it is less likely to explode. Moreover, the melting point of copper cannons is low, so it can cast copper cannons with iron molds, which has higher production efficiency. If casting iron cannons with iron molds, there will be a problem of cast iron whitening. In order to solve this problem, internal mold water cooling method is also necessary. Casting copper cannons does not need to be so troublesome.

Casting iron cannons is relatively more troublesome, and first of all, there must be a qualified blast furnace. Zhao Peng planned to produce iron cannons and steel. After his improved blast furnace has a high temperature, he can directly train the iron. Crafted iron can be used to build muskets. The steel obtained when making iron can be used to make spring steel. With spring steel, more advanced flintlock guns can be made.

At present, the twelve-pound red cannons of the Ming Dynasty were iron cannons, with a weight of more than 3,000 kilograms. If it was replaced with a copper cannon, the weight of the cannon could be reduced to 1,200 kilograms. With the gun mount and a cannon cart, the weight of the cannon is no more than 2,000 kilograms; and the current six-pound general cannons of the Ming Dynasty, with a weight of more than 1,000 kilograms of gunboats, and if it was replaced with a copper field cannon, the weight of the cannon body would only be more than 500 kilograms.

The twelve-pound field cannon can not only be used as field cannons, but can also be used to join siege battles. The shells fired by the twelve-pound copper cannons and twelve-pound iron cannons are the same, while the copper cannon is lighter. It can directly pull the cannon carts into the battlefield with horses, that is, it can blast the enemy city during siege battles, and it can also kill and injure a large number of enemy infantry in field battles.

Zhao Peng also planned to cast a twelve-pound howitzer. This kind of cannon can fire flowering shells because of its low chamber pressure. The copper field cannon that also fires twelve-pound shells is a copper cannon with a weight of 1,200 kilograms. The weight of the howitzer is only 450 kilograms, which is reduced by half, but the power of the flowering shells and shrapnel remains unchanged.

Because howitzers are light in weight and short in body tube, they load faster than cannons and use less launching medicine. When firing shrapnel and flowering bullets, they can achieve the same effect as cannons.

The migrant workers loaded the copper ingots unloaded from the boat onto the ox cart and drove the scalpers to the direction of Xuanwu Lake. The ox cart stopped at the gate of a courtyard, and saw the seven big words "Nanjing Military Weapons Bureau of the Ming Dynasty" written on the plaque at the gate. The gate was closed, and the migrant workers stopped the car and took out the signboard on their bodies.

In order to strictly prevent the detailed work of the Qing Dynasty or the thief army, these migrant workers responsible for transporting goods were strictly reviewed by the Jinyiwei. Everyone who passed the review sent a wooden waist sign with a name, household registration and other information on the waist sign. The files kept inside the Jinyiwei also include each person's hand-painted portraits, signed handwriting and pressed handprints.

The Jinyiwei at the door stopped the car and checked the wooden waist sign on the migrant workers' bodies. While checking the waist sign, the Jinyiwei in the wooden post also took out the file book, compared the portrait of each person, and checked it correctly, the Jinyiwei checked the goods on the car and opened the door to let the car go.

Zhao Peng and Zheng Sen followed the convoy and rode to the gate. The Jinyiwei at the door checked the waist signs of the two, then opened the gate and let the two enter.

Gu Shu

After entering the artillery factory of the Military Bureau, migrant workers unloaded the copper ingots from their cars and put them into the warehouse. The materials warehouse was filled with tin ingots, lead blocks and other items. These were the raw materials for casting artillery. After the copper ingots arrived, they could start construction and casting artillery.

Zhao Peng took Zheng Sen to a copper training furnace. Wang Xin, who was busy making iron molds, quickly stood up and bowed respectfully to Zhao Peng: "Brother, the iron mold you want is almost finished, and you can cast a cannon tomorrow morning."

"Do you have all the molds I want?" Zhao Peng asked.

"It's all," Wang Xin said, pointing to the latest iron mold, "This is a sixty-four-pound sky-rushing gun mold, that is a twelve-pound field gun mold, this is a twelve-pound howitzer mold, the six-pound field gun mold over there, and the twenty-four-pound sky-rushing gun mold over there, and that is a four-pound cavalry gun mold over there."

At first, Zhao Peng considered the unified caliber, with only three caliber artillery, namely, twelve-pound cannon, six-pound cannon and sixty-four-pound mortar cannon. The unified caliber can reduce logistical pressure. But later, considering the need for a lighter cavalry artillery, two types of artillery were added, 24-pound cannon and four-pound cavalry cannon were added.

The two caliber artillery added are all affiliated with the Flying Cavalry Artillery Battalion among the cavalry. According to Zhao Peng's vision, the cavalry will be divided into three types: heavy cavalry, dragon cavalry and flying cavalry artillery. Although Zhao Peng does not have a powerful cavalry yet, forming a cavalry has always been his dream after coming to this era.

Before the emergence of machine guns, cavalry was the king of the battlefield. If a country does not have a powerful cavalry, an army dominated by infantry can only defend its territory, but cannot expand its territory.

The next morning, Zhao Peng rushed to the artillery factory, and Zheng Sen also came from the city.

"Let's fire!" Wang Xin ordered.

Coal was added to the combustion chamber under the copper smelting furnace. After igniting the fire, a raging fire broke out in the combustion chamber. The craftsmen put them into the furnace room at a ratio of 85% of copper, 14% of tin, and 1% of lead. Close the upper furnace door, and a craftsman shook his hand-crank blower to feed fresh air into the combustion chamber.

At the same time, several craftsmen evenly applied a layer of wood ash on the inner walls of several pieces of molds, and then combined the molds with bolts to form a complete casting gun mold. As long as the mixture of copper, tin and lead is melted and then guided in.

After a while, the copper in the furnace room melted, and the mixture of brass, tin and lead turned into white-hot copper water.

The craftsman turned off the fire, and several apprentices pulled the pulley set, pulled up the copper training furnace, aimed it at a mouthful of the mold, and poured the hot copper water into the mold.

After the mold cooled down, I unscrewed the bolts and opened the mold. A yellow-orange bronze cannon body appeared inside. The bronze ware that had just been cast was copper-yellow. The reason why the bronze ware seen in later generations was blue because it was a long time ago that the bronze ware turned blue. The bronze that had just been released was copper-yellow.

This is the most commonly used six-pound field gun in infantry in the future. The gun body weighs more than 500 kilograms, and the total weight of the cannon after the gun mount and the cannon carriage is about 800.
Chapter completed!