Chapter 44 Huang Laowai

"I just ask casually, ask casually!" Ivanov blinked his eyes and ran away again.

Soon, the three of them had already arrived at the gate of the yard. The soldiers in charge of the guards saw that the governor was here in person, so they quickly pushed the door open and sent someone to run in to notify the leader of the workshop Huang Laowai to come out to greet him.

Zhu Bashiyi was anxious and pushed the centurion who was leading the way for him in front of him, striding heavily into the inside. After walking a few steps, Huang Laowai ran out sweating profusely. His dark big hands first wiped his clothes a few times, then knelt on the ground while kowtowing, and said in fear: "Secretary, Xiaguan is incompetent. Please, sir, you will run to such a dirty place yourself, for death, death penalty!"

"It's a big deal! Stop pretending, stand up quickly!" Zhu Bashiyi bent down and pulled Huang Laowai from the ground, "You are not tired, I still feel tired! Haven't you told you a long time ago that you should not kneel down when you see me. I hate this trick, and you don't always treat yourself as an official!"

"Secretary, the lower official has forgotten it. Death crime, death penalty!" Huang Laowei heard it and was so scared that he quickly lie on the ground again. Zhu Bashiyi was a butcher who killed pigs. He held the other party with a slight force on his arm. Then he frowned and scolded loudly: "Stand, don't be like a boneless person. I need a master craftsman, no slave!"

"Oh, yes, yes!" Huang Laowai couldn't kneel down, so he had to respond in a trembling voice. At the same time, his eyes kept sweeping towards Xu Hongsan's face, hoping that the latter would remind himself, what level is this "master craftsman"? Compared with his current position as the chief manager of the workshop, has he been promoted or reduced?

It was the first time that Xu Hongsan heard the term "Master" and could not give him any help. He had to turn his eyes to Zhu Bashiyi under his armpit, suggesting where the governor's real purpose was.

Huang Laowai secretly looked at it, and felt a little confident. He hesitated for a moment and whispered to report: "Report to the Governor, recently, the workshop has been busy building iron thunders, so the matter of drilling holes on the iron rods has been delayed again. So far, only three of them have been drilled out. The inner wall is being polished with sand and stones filled with iron rods. It is estimated that the first finished product will be able to be produced in about ten days!"

"I understand!" Zhu Bashiyi made the barrel by drilling holes on the iron rods, and basically no longer had any hope. So when Huang Laowai said that it was not completed, he didn't feel too upset. He nodded and continued to ask, "Can you refine bronze? That's it."

After thinking about it, he took out the great light order that Mr. Su gave him from his waist pocket and handed it to Huang Laowai, "That's what's the matter!"

How could a blacksmith in this era not know about bronze? Huang Laowai immediately took the Da Guangming Order with both hands and watched carefully at the sun. After a few breaths, he returned it with a smile: "Does the governor want to imitate this bronze medal? Or do you want to cast bells, cauldrons, mirrors, house-guarding money, etc.?"

"Is there any difference?" Zhu Bashiyi was confused when asked and hesitated to ask.

"Of course!" When it comes to copper smelting and ironing, Huang Laowai's mercy was gone, and his curved back was straightened unknowingly. "If the copper is mixed with lead, tin and other things, it can be called bronze. But how to mix it and how much it is mixed is very knowledgeable. If you make a mirror, you have to make it white, and at least half of the tin should be mixed in. If you cast a bell and a cauldron, you have to mix it with half. The bronze produced in this way is actually orange-yellow, which looks not much different from brass, and is much stronger than brass. If you make axle sleeve, it needs to be tough and wear-resistant, and 40% tin and half of lead is best. If you do,"

"If you want to cast a coin, it will be five copper and five lead. It will look good and firm when cast. It will definitely be spent. Most people can't see fake!" Other craftsmen also put down their work and put on their mouths and talked.

In this era, being a copper smith is far more profitable than being a blacksmith, so everyone was memorizing the copper-refining technology. Zhu Bashiyi was very happy when he heard this. He quickly took out the box under his armpit and opened it, and handed the copper pistol inside to Huang Laowai, "If you were asked to cast a musket according to your wish, how long would it take to cast it?!"

"This?" Huang Laowai took the pistol and watched it carefully. It took him a long time to blush and whisper apologize, "Report to the Governor, this is the young man who can't do it, it can't do it so exquisitely. This is made by the military weapon supervisor of the Dadu City. It is all the top craftsmen in the country. They are selected from the craftsmen in the country every few decades. The young man who is not good at learning skills and is not selected!"

"Oh!" Zhu Bashi nodded, not feeling very disappointed. Compared with the military weapon supervisors of the Mongolian Yuan court, his general workshop can only be considered a township enterprise. A township enterprise that has just been established for less than half a year will definitely not be able to compare with a large state-owned enterprise that has existed for decades.

Thinking of this, he smiled and nodded again, and whispered to Huang Laowai, "What if you want you to make a big one? It is not as exquisite as this one, enlarges, magnifies three times, or bigger. He doesn't pursue good looks, but it must be strong. You can't put a little more gunpowder and explode. You can discuss it with a few people, and you have to make it. I will definitely not be stingy with the rewards!"

"This, this should work!" Huang Laowai didn't dare to make a promise and hesitated. "If you use bronze, it will definitely be less likely to explode than brass. At worst, you can double the wall thickness and set a few more copper hoops on the outside!"

"When smelting copper, add a little zinc into it, don't need too much, just about half a century!" Another young craftsman called Lian Laohei came forward and reminded loudly, "I used to make copper wine pots for wealthy families. If zinc is added, it is stronger than the one without zinc, and it is more beautiful than before!"

"You have a mouth for everything! Go to work? Have you made the leaves of Jia come out today?" Huang Laowai glanced at the young craftsman and scolded him unhappily.

"Not yet!" Lian Laohei shrank his neck so much that he was scared, and quickly lowered his head and walked away.

"Think of him!" Before he could go far, Zhu Bashiyi spoke first and kept the person. "It took too much time to make it alone. This time I have to worry. If one more person is involved, the more power you will have. No matter how many people participate, the first skill will be yours. For the others, you will be given a name according to the effort you have to do, and I will give you a reward at that time!"

"Yes, sir!" Although Huang Laowai was very unhappy, he did not dare to disobey the orders of his governor, so he had to agree and allow Lian Laohei to stay by his side.

Fearing that Huang Laowai continued to work alone, Zhu Bashiyi thought about it and emphasized again, "Take a few more people and put other tasks first. According to different recipes, make several more copper water. Then they are cast into large muskets and put them into gunpowder one by one to experiment. In the end, which one charges more, hits farther, and does not explode. Use which one!"

This is another very ordinary scientific research method in the 21st century. Almost anyone on the street knows it. But for a craftsman like Huang Laowai, who is told by father and son, it is like pushing open a door to a new world. Instantly, the person's eyes shine brightly, "Okay! Just do what the governor said! If you do other things in the future, you will follow the governor's method. Several stalls start construction at the same time. Whoever makes the best and fast will use his method!"

"I don't care how you send them a job in the workshop, but within a month, I hope to see the sample!" Zhu Bashi nodded and decided to add pressure to Huang Laowai, so as to avoid this guy starting to give up when he encountered difficulties, just like he did when he was a gun barrel last time!

"This" Huang Laowai hesitated and responded with a grudge, "Governor, I'm not a small person unwilling to do his best. Yes, there are too many things I have done recently. The big leaf iron armor you seized on the battlefield last time, Su Changshi didn't think there were enough, so he ordered the small person to hurry up and imitate a batch. The iron leaves are all strange and very difficult to fight. A master and two apprentices were busy all day, but they couldn't make a piece of them!"

"That was not knocked out with a hammer!" Ivanov, who had been following Zhu Bashiyi, suddenly interrupted, and then closed his mouth tightly.

"It wasn't knocked out with a hammer? What should I use?" Huang Laowai was shocked and stared at Ivanov, as if he was going to swallow the latter alive.

Ivanov knew that he had missed his mouth, so he quickly turned his face to the side, and waved his hands repeatedly, "I, I don't know either. Anyway, it's definitely not a hit with my hands. If you smash it with your hands, you can't make a set in a month."

"Ivan, tell me all you know!" Zhu Bashiyi originally thought that the kind that the Rakshasa soldier wore was similar to the plate armor in later movies, which was not the blockbuster iron lotus leaf armor. It was a bit too neat, unlike the product that was knocked out with a hammer in a small workshop. He glared at Ivanov and ordered loudly.

"Yes, sir!" Ivanov did not dare to disobey and explained reluctantly, "This kind of armor is knocked out with a water hammer. Do you know the water hammer? It is to build a water truck by the river, let the water truck carry the big hammer, and then smash it down one by one. Each hammer can be at least 500 kilograms deep, burn the iron blocks red and put them in the mold and stuff them under the hammer. A piece of armor can be smashed into a few breaths!"

"What does a water hammer look like? Draw a picture and let them make it face to face!" Zhu Bashiyi found that he had really picked up the treasure, and immediately slapped Ivanov hard and ordered loudly.

"I, I've also seen the city-state of Florence for a few times. I can only draw a rough idea!" Ivanov grinned and responded reluctantly. Seeing Xu Hongsan holding the scabbard in his hand again, he quickly added, "You can draw, but it is not guaranteed that the things you draw will be the same!"

As a person who fused two souls, Zhu Bashiyi immediately understood how to make Ivanov draw more consistent with the original one? He smiled and threw out a big sweet date, "Two gold ingots, half a pound each, the gold ingots of the Great Yuan Dynasty. As long as you can make the water wheel and the water hammer, no matter who made it, one of the gold ingots belongs to you, and the other one will be divided equally for the participants!"

"I'll draw, I'll draw!" Ivanov immediately jumped up with joy, as if he couldn't feel the weight of the iron armor at all. "Sir, I'll stay here today and do a water hammer with them. There is a river here, which makes the upstream river narrower and makes the water flow faster, and will definitely push the water hammer!" (Note 1)

Note 1: The original hydraulic forging hammer appeared in the early 14th century, but it was not yet popularized. It was only widely promoted in Europe after Da Vinci's improvement in the mid-15th century.
Chapter completed!