The production of flintlock rifles requires the improvement of steel technology. Only by mass production of qualified spring steel can the flintlock rifles be produced in batches. To improve steel technology, after the steel output increases, the method of relying on charcoal to make steel will definitely not work. On the one hand, the cost is too high, and on the other hand, it takes a long time. It takes time and effort to make steel after cutting wood and burning it into charcoal before making steel. The output is difficult to increase. Only by building a coking plant, making coke on a large scale, and using coke to make steel can this problem be solved.

At present, charcoal can only be used for iron smelting. Because the quality of steel is related to the carbon content inside the steel, before coke appeared, humans rely on charcoal. However, copper smelting does not require charcoal, as long as the temperature reaches, it is enough, so copper can be smelted with coal.

The large coking plant started construction in Zhenjiang, downstream of Nanjing. Yangzhou is the opposite bank of Zhenjiang. Coal produced in Huainan can be transported directly to Zhenjiang through the canal, and coke is refined in Zhenjiang, and then transported to nearby Nanjing, which is convenient for steelmaking by Nanjing Military Equipment Bureau. However, it takes at least half a year from the start of construction to the start of production of the coking plant. At present, the Nanjing Military Equipment Bureau can only produce coke guns for the time being.

Whether it is a bird gun or a turtle dove gun, it is a combroach gun, and the combroach gun is much slower than a flintlock gun. Moreover, because of the worry that the flint rope is easily thrown to the comrades and ignite the gunpowder on the comrades, the formation of the combroach gun cannot be too dense. Without a too dense formation, it will not only not stop the opponent's cavalry impact, but also the attack of heavy infantry cannot be blocked. This is why the Spanish large square formation cold weapons and the combroach gun are in a ratio of seven to three.

Before the mass production of flintlock rifles, if you want to use firearms to block large-scale attacks from nomadic peoples, in addition to cold weapons, you also need powerful artillery.

Therefore, Zhao Peng decided to follow the path of Napoleon in later generations and develop a powerful artillery.

Before the improvement of steel technology, large-scale casting of copper cannons was the best way to cast copper cannons. The casting time was simple, the barrel wall was thinner and the gun body was light. The only disadvantage was that the raw materials were too expensive.

According to the price of a twelve-pound copper cannon in the 19th century, the price of one dollar was equivalent to 2.7 yuan silver dollars at that time. The cost of a copper cannon was about 1,000 taels of silver, which could be said to be very expensive. But Zhao Peng is not short of silver at present. He took the money from his house search from the north and the silver discarded by Li Zicheng. The two items were added to more than 10 million taels of silver. Four million taels of these silver was stored in the treasury by Zhu Cixuan and regarded it as the expenses of the court. The remaining silver could be cast more than 5,000 12-pound field cannons or more than 9,000 six-pound field cannons.

However, military expenditure cannot be calculated in this way. More than 6 million taels of silver cannot be used to cast cannons, military pay expenses, clothing expenses, and various cold weapons and muskets, and building factories is not worth it?

Zhao Peng, who once thought he was already rich, started to have a headache about money at this time. He simply estimated that he saved some expenses and found a way to make some money. He could still cast about 1,000 six-pound field cannons and 200 twelve-pound field cannons.

The powerful artillery, combined with a large number of cold weapons and a small number of infantrymen using muskets, could fully respond to the attacks of the Qing army from the south. However, while casting the six-pound field cannons and twelve-pound field cannons for their own use, Zhao Peng also ordered the secret export of a batch of four-pound cannons originally used as cavalry cannons to Li Zicheng.

The weight of a four-pound cannon is only more than 300 kilograms, which is much cheaper than a six-pound cannon of more than 500 kilograms and a twelve-pound cannon of more than 1,000 kilograms. The cost of a six-pound cannon of more than 1,000 kilograms is more than 500 taels of silver, while a four-pound cannon of only 300 taels of silver is sold to Li Zicheng. The price of a four-pound cannon of one thousand taels of silver is three times the price, and one cannon cannon cannon of more than 600 taels of silver.

When he heard that Zhao Peng was going to sell cannons to Li Zicheng, Gao Wencai asked in surprise: "Sell it to Chuangqian artillery? Are you not afraid that they will use these cannons to attack us? Even if Chuangqian cannot attack us, are you not afraid that these cannons will fall into the hands of Jiannu?"

Zhao Peng laughed: "The four-pound cannon is the lightest cannon in our army. Its range and accuracy are far less than that of the six-pound cannon. Even if Jiannu defeated Chuang Ni and got the four-pound cannon, he would not be able to beat our six-pound cannon, right? What's more, we have the more powerful twelve-pound cannons, and the twenty-four-pound and sixty-four-pound mortar cannons are much farther than the four-pound cannons."

Gujiao

The Nanjing New Army Artillery Battalion not only has artillery, but also various data on artillery. When Zhao Peng debugged artillery, he made various data into tables and handed them to reliable people. If the Qing army defeated Li Zicheng and obtained four-pound cannons, the Ming army could not only have six-pound cannons and twelve-pound cannons that could beat the Qing army's four-pound cannons, but also four-pound cannons with caliber cannons.

At Xiaguan Wharf, a group of ships with the banner of Jinyiwei were moored on the river. Under the command of He Xing, a householder of Jinyiwei, the migrant workers shouted labor horns and carried wooden boxes onto the ship one by one.

The fleet had a total of sixteen galleys, and was escorted by one hundred Jinyiwei and one thousand Nanjing New Army soldiers.

After all the goods were brought on the ship, the Jinyiwei ship raised its sails and set sail. The sailors supported the bamboo poles and pushed the boat away from the shore dock and slowly sailed into the middle of the river.

After the sails had enough wind, the sailors in the lower cabin also rowed their oars and sailboats sailed upstream. The sailors in the lower cabin were all slaves, most of them were green camp soldiers captured on the battlefield, and some were captured Eight Banners Army or captured Liu Liangzuo officers. There was a pair of iron rings under their seats, and their feet were tied to the iron rings. They could not leave the seat at all, so they could only sit there and paddle. The fate of slave oarsmen was tragic. They were not only fixed on their seats, but also they could not move on their seats even when they were eating, drinking, and urinating. There was a toilet under the seat of each slave oarsmen. When they were anxious, they scattered in the toilet.

When they are parked on the shore, slave sailors can get a short time to let the air flow, and use this time they can pour the toilet and then clean the toilet.

However, Zhao Peng, who was compassionate, did not capture these green camp soldiers as slaves for life, but had a period of time. Ordinary green camp soldiers had five years of hard labor. After the hard labor period expired, they were then incorporated into military households. Some of them who performed well and obediently could shorten their sentences and receive reduced sentences, and even after the sentence was over, they could be allowed to join the Ming army's warriors.

The slave paddlers are just a temporary measure. According to Zhao Peng's idea, the slave paddlers will eventually be replaced by Kunlun slaves from Kunlun continent. Whether they are Green Camp or Eight Banners, they are all Mongolians like us. As long as they admit that they are Chinese people, they are Chinese people. These people can come in handy in the future global expansion and the war to open up colonies.

Kunlun slaves are different. Strictly speaking, these species with low IQ are not considered humans at all, but can only be considered chimpanzees. The most suitable thing for them is to work under forced whips and hunger, and they also have to strictly limit the fertility rate of Kunlun slaves and control their population.

However, Zhao Peng does not have Kunlun slaves in his hands at present, so he temporarily acts as slave oarsmen with captive soldiers. In the end, all galleys will use Kunlun slave oarsmen. Before the steam engine was invented, Kunlun slave oarsmen was the best ship power.

The fleet was flowing upstream along the Yangtze River, sailing across the Wuchang River, and about to turn into the Han River, the ship was stopped by the Ming army on the river.

"I'm so brave, I dare to intercept our Jinyiwei's ship!" He Xing was furious when he heard that the ship was stopped.

The Ming army on the boat opposite laughed: "Entertainment Uniform Guard? The Jinyiwei is amazing? The ship passed through the territory of our Ningnan Marquis and the general who pacified the thieves, let alone the Jinyiwei, even if the Emperor's ship passes by, you have to pay the bank obediently!"
Chapter completed!