Zhao Wei wore a straw raincoat and walked through the streets and alleys with Haiwa.

He found that even though the heavy rain was raining, the Song people in Xinya Mountain were not idle. They were all wearing coarse cloth robes like Zhao Wei and were busy in the rain.

This made Zhao Wei smile bitterly. Xinya Mountain already has the appearance of a town in the Central Plains, but it does not have the slightest sense of fireworks in the lives of the people.

After all, this is a military city after all, and there is a beast in everyone's heart.

When he arrived at the blacksmith's workshop, Zhao Wei stepped in and saw that the craftsman Xu Liang was leading the man to measure one thing bit by bit with a ruler.

Zhao Wei stepped forward and saw that it was his beloved artillery.

Xu Liang also saw Zhao Wei, so he quickly got up and clasped his fists at Zhao Wei, "Your Highness is here, I, Xu Liang, have finally done it!"

"yes!"

Zhao Wei was very excited and patted Xu Liang on the shoulder hard, and his eyes never left the bronze cannon in the middle of the ground for a moment.

"It's finally done!"

That is the most primitive front-loading gun, the smallest size of Zhao Wei has ever seen. It is only three feet long, and the barrel is only more than two feet deep. As for the caliber, it is even more shabby, less than two inches.

However, this is the largest copper cannon that the craftsmen of the Song Dynasty can make at present.

Moreover, although it is so simple that it cannot be simple, it is just a thick bronze tube. However, only these craftsmen know the hardships they experienced in making this tube.

At first, Zhao Wei still only put forward some ideas. Based on the "shock gun" of the Song Dynasty, replace the wooden barrel with copper, make it bigger, then remove the grip and install the cannon seat. Wouldn't it be all alive?

The craftsmen also think so, it’s just casting copper? No matter how lost wax or sand pattern is, it’s not difficult for them. Even the craftsmen boast about how big cannons you want to cast, they can get them!

However, it is not the case in practice, it is really twists and turns.

In fact, the prototype of the first cannon was completed several months ago, much larger than it is now.

Modeling with sand pattern, pouring copper water into a few days.

Zhao Wei couldn't wait to test the gun, but it ended up being exploded.

A large-caliber artillery means an increase in the amount of medicine added, which directly exploded the cannon chamber. A blacksmith who also ignited the fire and died.

There was no way, Xu Liang continued to cast cannons and continued to try.

From reducing the charge amount, to reducing the caliber, thickening the chamber wall, to working hard from the smoothness and smoothness of the barrel.

After two months, although there were successes from time to time, the blow-off situation never stopped. Even if you could get a few shots normally, it would not take long.

This is because the gun body poured with cooked copper is not strong enough. This strength does not mean that it cannot withstand the explosive power of black gunpowder, but that the inner chamber is too soft!!

Xu Liang discovered that every time the chamber exploded, there were one or even several large pits in the inner chamber of the cannon, which were knocked out by the shells!

To put it bluntly, in this era, even if the gun is made, the size of the shell cannot be completely standardized. In order not to be stuck, the shell must always be a circle smaller than the bore and cannot be tightly matched.

In addition, the shells cannot be completely spheres, and they are somewhat irregular.

So when the gunpowder exploded, the shell flew out in the barrel, and it was inevitable that it would hit the barrel, and then rebounded and hit the other side. It lost its accuracy and also caused a great test to the strength of the barrel.

That's a huge force that can throw a shell weighing more than ten or twenty pounds out of two miles. Even if the copper-cast gun barrel is not cracked, it will hit a big pit! Even if the cannon is barely shot out once or twice, the inner chamber will be uneven after about ten rounds and it will be useless. If you continue to fire, it will explode.

Not only did he take the lives of several blacksmiths, Zhao Wei was also disheartened and almost gave up. This thing looked simple, but it was actually too difficult to build.

But Xu Liang didn't do it.

He had seen what the lead balls made from this thing look like. The power is not comparable to other firearms.

If the gunpowder master could make a cannon ball with gunpowder inside, he would never dare to think about the power.

He was a foolish man who believed in his own way. Knowing that with cannons and loaded them on a sea boat, the Song Dynasty would no longer be afraid of the warships of the Yuan army.

So he made a military order with Zhao Wei, and even if he put all of them in, he had to build a cannon for King Ning.

So Xu Liang continued to think hard and tried all the methods.

It can only be said that God pays off. By chance, Xu Liang saw the canoe of Qibucha people at the pier, which was a small boat made of hollowed out of the middle by a whole big tree.

Small is small, but very strong and extremely difficult to damage.

After watching for a long time, Xu Liang slapped his thighs violently, as if he was enlightened.

He shouted wildly: "The sand model doesn't work, you have to dig the cannon chamber!"

After saying that, he ran to the blacksmith's house. A method of casting cannons that was closest to the truth finally emerged in Xu Liang's mind.

In fact, Xu Liang was trapped by traditional craftsmanship before. He instinctively believed that making cannons and casting copper bells must be cast in sand, and he never thought about it elsewhere.

Inspired by the canoe, I realized that he had been wrong from the beginning!!

He can cast the cannon into a solid one first.

In this way, you don’t have to worry about the inner chamber deforming when casting, and you can be forged at will.

After the strength requirements are met, use a drill to take out the barrel bore bit by bit. If the drill bore process meets the standards, the barrel bore will be flatter than the casting method.

The advantage of this is that the cannon body is integrated without any flaws, and after being forged, the cooked copper turns into bronze! The strength is far better than before.

But the question is, how can the barrel of the gun taken out be smooth and straight, not only not stuck in the bullet, but also ensure the direction of the barrel of the bullet?

Xu Liang fell into another problem again.

It can be said that there have been days and nights in the past few months. I have tried countless methods, and I don’t know how many barrels have been damaged.

Fortunately, he had previous experience in canoeing, so this time Xu Liang did not look for problems with the cannon, but instead put his time on the drill that was pulling out the cannon chamber.

Finally, a special drilling platform driven by a waterwheel was developed, which can fix the gun body vertically on the platform and use gravity to calibrate the drill bit accuracy.

When Zhao Wei saw the drilling platform built by Xu Liang, he almost fell off his chin.

Because, that can be regarded as the original prototype of later machine tools.

In short, under such difficulties, Xu Liang lived up to his trust and the Song Dynasty artillery was finally released.

An experimental cannon had been made before. After a month and a half, the hundreds of shells were still as solid as before. But now the official version that can be used to board the ship is now available.

Although it is a bit shabby, only one meter long and pitifully small, it can be regarded as a "little cannon". However, it is the limit of the craftsmen of the Song Dynasty, and it is the result of more than a dozen lives.

"It's really not easy!" Zhao Wei sighed,

Xu Liang was also excited, "With this kind of cannon, we will get it when we fight back to the Central Plains, at least I, Xu Liang, and I, will get it!"

"Yes!" Zhao Wei nodded.

The luckiest thing about Zhao Song, or China for five thousand years, is that the luckiest thing about having such a group of the most lovely people. No matter when, the family and country are the most important.

Let Xu Liang take people to rest, and when it clears up, he will come to test the cannon himself.

After leaving the Blacksmith's House, Zhao Wei headed straight to the dock.

It is not enough to have a cannon, and it also requires a ship that carries the cannons. The first experimental ship in Xinyashan Dock was also launched today.

Logically speaking, it took only nine months to settle down in Panama, and even the experimental boat was not so fast. Because the time was too short, even the wood for the shipbuilding could not be prepared.

In fact, this is not the case, because the new ship was modified based on the original blessed ship.

The boatman chose two lucky boats, one large and one small, towed them into the shipyard, and the small boats were used for modification, while the large boats were dismantled directly, using only the ship material.

The modification process is not complicated, so it can be completed in nine months.

The craftsmen dismantled the original hard sail of the lucky ship and installed a new soft sail designed with inspiration from the Black Pearl painted by Zhao Wei.

This new structure, which combines Arabian spinnakers and European sails, cannot make sea boats have faster speeds or even reduce flexibility, but can adapt to more changing wind directions. It can sail even in front of the wind.

In addition to sails, in terms of hull, the boatman widens the hull to make it more stable. In addition, the bottom of the boat is sharper, which increases the draft depth and can better adapt to extreme weather.

After the modification was completed, Zhao Wei named the prototype ship that was somewhat different from each other "Fuxing".

I originally wanted the weather to get better before going into the water to test the voyage, but Haiwa and the boatman disagreed.

In the words of the elder boatmen, they made new ships for such strong winds and waves. They would not have dared to sail along the shallow water of the coast as they did when they came, and they would have to find the island to shore if there were any wind and waves. They would not have been wandering for half a year on the crossing road, which could have been completed in two or three months.

Zhao Wei couldn't turn it around and had to let the Fuxing enter the water in the heavy rain. The old man from the shipyard took the battle himself and disappeared into the raging waves.

Fortunately, the trial sailing of the new ship went very smoothly.

This is due to the ship workers' superb shipbuilding skills and the Song Dynasty's already superb shipbuilding skills.

Next, Zhao Wei seemed to be much more relaxed. While listening to Master Zhang's lectures, he was plundering gold and silver while enjoying a rare leisure.

Everything seems to be moving in a good direction.

The third year of Xiangxing, on the seventh day of November.

In other words, the year after the Song Dynasty settled in America, a major event completely broke the peace of the Song people.

In the early morning, the sea fog had not dissipated. Song Zuo, who was at the Seattle outpost, was receiving the gift from the Toltec hunter. Suddenly, a sudden sound of the horn broke the calm of dawn.

On the sea, four unique hard sailing ships in the east came from the north to break through the fog.

The whistleman was shocked and instinctively shouted, "Enemy attack!!"

Then, the smoke suddenly rose on the beacon tower and spread the information to the south.
Chapter completed!