To the west of Jilong City, a large house was raised on a flat ground called Shiqiling.

The houses are made of tiles burned from good clay as the roof, with solid beams and pillars and solid foundations. Even the walls are made of the strongest rammed earth as raw materials, and there is a layer of bricks on the outside. Such a building cannot be destroyed even if it encounters the most terrifying typhoon in the Pacific Ocean.

"This is a casting workshop, and it is also the largest house in the entire artillery factory. It is supported by forty-two large pillars. The entire workshop is hundreds of feet tall and is over ten feet tall. Mr. Bu Jialao has transported some raw materials and tools for casting artillery and is being installed. The rest will be sent in succession within this month."

A group led by Nie Chen wandered in this huge workshop. Zheng Zhilong acted as an instructor. While walking, he introduced Nie Chen, like a competent tour guide.

Nie Chen observed carefully. With the light from the transparent glazed tiles above his head, he saw that the room was clearly divided into two parts, with two huge pulley cranes in the middle as the center line. The workshops on both sides were piled with a large amount of sand and a large amount of beeswax, as well as many charcoal, solid wood and other materials. On both sides of the house, there were four huge furnaces, and the firewood and coke piled on the roof were connected to each other.

"What does this mean?" Nie Chen asked in confusion: "Why does a workshop have two different sets of equipment?"

"I heard from Mr. Bu Jialao that these are two different casting equipment for different cannons." As if he knew that Nie Chen would ask, Zheng Zhilong replied confidently: "The one on the left is a workshop with sand as the mold, referred to as the sand casting gun method. This method uses sand as the mold tool. The advantage is that it is low cost and simple and practical. The one on the right is a workshop with wax as the mold. The technology used is the lost wax casting gun method. It uses beeswax to model, wrap iron wood outside, and pour copper juice into it can be formed at one time. It is much more convenient and faster than the sand casting method, but the cost is higher, so it is naturally more expensive to cast the cannon."

Nie Chen listened in a daze, and then blurted out for a long time: "How do you know so much?"

"It was taught by Mr. Bu Jialao, and the craftsmen he sent have always been generous in teaching. I learned a little." Zheng Zhilong smiled and touched his head a little disgustingly: "Didn't my brother teach us to read more books and learn more? I'm staying on the island anyway, and I just happened to learn something from them."

He said, pointing to the several foreigners standing beside him. There were five or six of them, most of them Portuguese, and there was also a Dutch prisoner standing in the last position. They were all the cannon casting technicians here.

Nie Chen was surprised to look Zheng Zhilong from head to his feet and praised him repeatedly: "Not bad, you know more about cannon casting now than me. If you work harder, you will be the chief supervisor of Yizhou cannon casting factory in the future!"

"Thank you for your praise, but this skill cannot be learned in a short while. I think Mr. Bu Jialao comes over and says a few words casually, which is very useful. If you want to learn, you still have a lot of things to learn from him." Zheng Zhilong replied modestly.

But Nie Chen suddenly found a problem from this sentence and asked in surprise: "Can you understand the words of the Portuguese red-haired ghost?"

"It's basically OK." Zheng Zhilong replied confidently, with a smile on his lips: "I've been talking to them every day for more than a year. I naturally understand a little. I can also say something like Dutch."

"You are simply a genius!" Nie Chen patted his shoulder vigorously with mixed feelings. He was happy that Zheng Zhilong was indeed the extremely smart language master mentioned in history. As long as he was given time and opportunity, he could say a few words in any language. He was worried that this guy was so capable, where would he put him in the future?

"It's not that my elder brother's way is good. If my elder brother hadn't been ahead, how could I not try my best to catch up?" Zheng Zhilong said, with his chest high: "Yizhou is the place where my elder brother is dedicated to managing. Our roots in the future will be here. We must deal with foreign people for a long time. In order to do good things for my elder brother, I must work hard."

"Yes, yes, everyone has worked hard these days just to build Yizhou better." Shi Daxuan laughed and interrupted. Zheng Zhilong just talked about some professional fields, but he couldn't speak for a long time. He hurriedly said a few words in this loophole: "Not only the brothers Zheng Zhilong are working hard here, but I also drink wind and dew every day on the dock. There are also Chen Zhongji and the others. They are responsible for the gunpowder farm on the other side of the mountain, staying there day and night, eating steamed buns every day, and Zheng Zhibao, who is in charge of the group training. He is not practicing the group trainer, but he is practicing himself together. Others call him to get up early and go to bed late, and he is all night long. If it weren't for those group trainer only practicing twelve days a month, I'm afraid no one will join the group training and listen to it."

"Thank you hard, thank you all for your hard work." Nie Chen said words of condolences and bowed, but his heart smiled like a flower blooming. As the saying goes, a hero and three helpers are indeed correct. If you do these things alone, you can't finish them even if you can do them.

"Where, where, thank you for your hard work in the leader (big brother)!"

Everyone was satisfied with such a word of recognition. Following Nie Chen, everyone was very motivated to work. Seeing that the chicken cage was like a day, everyone participated in the fishing village becoming a city, and this honor was hard to buy.

"Are you responsible for the group training?" Nie Chen bowed his hand and asked Zheng Zhibao before he could put it down, "How did he practice?"

"According to the elder brother's instructions, the chicken coop training is drawn from the mouths of the 25-year-olds in the city. Everyone who meets the age conditions must participate unconditionally. Those who deliberately do not come are punished with a serious crime and sentenced to three years of hard labor and sent to the plain house to work, so no one dares not come." Zheng Zhibao replied, with an excited look on his face. He was very accomplished: "Now, the regiment training has 927 regiment training. According to the Ming army system, ten people are a small flag, fifty people are a general flag, and one hundred people are a hundred households. A total of nine hundred households are organized. At one, five, seven, and nine o'clock, the regiment training school grounds are reported, and the training is concentrated for twelve days a month."

"What are you practicing?" Nie Chen was concerned about this.

"It's better to follow the steps given by my elder brother. The first three months are mainly based on formations and formation habits. These soldiers are very stupid. They can't teach one move many times, which makes me angry." This made me laugh with kindness. Zheng Zhibao still said angrily: "But there is no joke in the army. If you join the troupe training, you can't do it. If you can't teach it once, I will teach it twice. If you can't teach it twice, I will do it four times. In short, it's all the time."

"It's very tiring." Nie Chen said.

"It doesn't matter if you can help these crops into the kind of soldiers like the Matsuura family's Xuan Armored Iron Cannon Army, I'll be exhausted!" Zheng Zhibao was very impressed by the small elite army of the Matsuura family, and worked tirelessly to get it out: "In the future, our regiment training will fight against Dutch ghosts, and not practicing hard will harm them."

"This is a good thing. If you don't sweat a little, you will have to bleed when you take it. It's nothing wrong to be strict, it's just that you're tired."

"Haha, I can't be tired." Zheng Zhibao patted his tower-like body: "I still feel much stronger. Brother Shi is free, so practice with me?"

Shi Daxuan slanted his eyes: "Where is your own person who beats your own person? I want to find an opponent and find someone else, I won't do it!"

Anyone with discerning eyes could see that Shi Daxuan was afraid that he would not be embarrassed by the younger generation Zheng Zhibao, so he laughed. Nie Chen took advantage of the laughter of everyone and called Chen Zhongji over: "Go away, take me to the powder field to see."

Chen Zhongji hurriedly led the way. Everyone walked along a newly built loess road and left the gate of the artillery factory. On both sides of the artillery factory, there were iron and timber factories, right next to the artillery factory, separated by a wall, all of which were as open and wide as the roofs, almost filling the flat ground under the Lion Ball Ridge.

The gunpowder farm is located on the other side of the mountain far away from towns and workshops.

Stepping on the dirt road under his feet, Nie Chen noticed that the road had laid a foundation. He used gravel to level a layer in advance and then padded the loess on the top. This kind of road can withstand the crushing of heavy-duty carriages and ox carriages without damage, and it will not be bumpy and difficult to pass in a few months. Even this kind of thing was done very carefully. It seems that Zheng Zhilong was not idle in the chicken cage.

After walking several miles, I finally saw the door of the gunpowder field in a valley.

"It is very difficult to choose a site for gunpowder farms. They must be convenient for transportation and away from towns. They must have water sources and cannot be too remote. Otherwise, it will take more trouble to send the ore and fuel from the mountains to be sent in. We have been in Jilong Mountain for a long time and finally chose this place."

This time Chen Zhongji walked to Nie Chen, but he did not forget to bring Zheng Zhilong into the conversation: "This place can become the final address of the gunpowder field. Boss Zheng played the greatest role. He decided to build the road. Otherwise, no matter how good the conditions in the valley are, if there is no road coming, it would be useless."

Zheng Zhilong laughed and said nothing.

"Let's go." Nie Chen looked up and saw two extremely high cliffs on both sides of the valley. The cliffs were lush and uninhabited. Even if the valley was blown up, it would not cause any damage outside. Nature could solve all the explosion damage in the valley.

On one cliff, there is a rapid stream gurgling and smooth, almost pouring from the top in the form of a waterfall. It has sufficient water sources and extremely superior geographical conditions.

Nie Chen couldn't help but look at Chen Zhongji with admiration. It seemed that it took a lot of effort to find this place.

Entering the valley along the newly paved dirt road, a wall made of wooden fences blocked the way. There was a door on the wall, and there was a hope building on the door. Several young men who looked like a group were standing guard at the door. When they saw the crowd coming from afar, they hurriedly opened the door.

"These are all group training. Every day there will be a hundred households responsible for guarding the entire chicken cage, and nine hundred households take turns to go on business trips. This will not delay the farming work too much, and it can also solve the problem of lack of people in the group training." Zheng Zhilong said behind Nie Chen.

"The population is still too small, it would be great if it could double it." Nie Chen deeply realized the severity of population shortage. The number of less than 10,000 people is not enough to provide enough labor. The imminent mining, logging, and land reclamation require people. If the population is insufficient, it is difficult to spread it on a large scale.

"Brother Yan has been traveling across the sea for more than half a month. I believe the next wave of immigration will come soon. Brother, don't be anxious." Zheng Zhilong comforted.

"It's not enough to rely on Yan Siqi alone." Nie Chen suddenly thought of something. Scenes on the Pi Island in Liaodong suddenly flashed in his mind. He had a new solution in an instant: "Don't talk about population first, Chen Zhongji, you continue."

"Yes." Chen Zhongji walked in front and nodded to the Tuan Ding at the door. Several Tuan Dings looked at Nie Chen in the middle timidly. Their first time they saw the owner of the chicken coop, they were a little nervous.

But it was more curious. After all, Nie Chen looked the same size as them, and even a few years younger, so why was he so awesome?

Under the eyes of these group members, Nie Chen and others walked into the valley.

The valley is in the shape of a "Ding". After turning a corner, the true appearance of the gunpowder field is revealed. This is a gourd-shaped flat land in the valley. The stream flows through the edge of the valley bottom. A house is built against the mountain stream.

Next to this house, the most eye-catching water truck was the huge water truck. Nie Chen stared at it for several minutes.

"This is used to power the grinding rods inside. Mr. Bu Jialao said that with hydraulic power, there is no need for livestock, and the livestock can be freed for farming." Knowing what Nie Chen was looking at, Chen Zhongji hurriedly said: "The valley leads to the depths of the forest, and the sulfur mines under preparation, the saltpeter cave and wood cut-off land are inside."

"This kind of planning is indeed convenient." Nie Chen looked left and right. The dirt road under his feet stretched out in the valley, leading to the other side of the valley, and disappeared into the forest: "It's not easy to make power by water trucks. Did the Ming Dynasty have this technology?"

"It seems that there is no Daming. In our hometown, the water truck has always been used to pump water. I have never heard of it as well as pulling a large machine." Chen Zhongji said: "This was all arranged by Mr. Bu Jialao."

Getting a fortune is equivalent to getting a scientist.

Nie Chen sighed with gratitude, thinking that when he comes again next time, should he just tie him up and keep him in a chicken cage as a horse-boy?

But doing this is not worth the cost, just thinking about it as a joke.

Outside the house, there is a large open space, and a shed is built to pile up raw materials collected from the mountains. These materials will be processed before they can be used. There is a large area in the house that is provided to the processing site for these materials.

"Go into the house and take a look."

Bypassing these material processing areas, Nie Chen saw the real gunpowder factory in a circle of thick stone walls.

The workshop is filled with long wooden and stone troughs, which are a bit like a huge drinking trough. According to Chen Zhongji, this is not a drinking trough, but a tool trough for grinding and mashing finished saltpeter and sulfur. The mashed tools are copper rods and pestles. The rods and pestles are as big as beams and pillars, hanging on the beams, weighing hundreds of kilograms one by one. Pulling them must be a physical job.

After the long tank, it is a huge pound used to stir the raw materials. The pound is a bit like the water tank commonly used by the people, but it is dozens of times larger and is placed in the middle of the house like a huge bathtub. There are sixteen such bathtubs, and correspondingly, they are erected on the pound. There are also sixteen mixing rods used to stir the materials in the pound.

These huge stirring rods are as thick as a person's torso. To push them to move, at least a cow is needed. But there are no cows here now. Only some huge gears connect them to some shafts, and the transmission shaft is connected to the waterwheel outside, which forms a complete power chain to fully utilize the hydraulic power.

"Agitation is the most important part. If the agitation is uneven and the force is unstable, not only can high-quality gunpowder blocks be mixed, but it is also easy to cause explosions." Chen Zhongji's voice was a little nervous, as if he had entered here, his nerves were tightened, and his voice was lowered a lot when he spoke: "Mr. Bu Jialao said that the latest gunpowder on the red-haired ghost is now granular, and it can burn quickly in the cannon chamber and the gun chamber, which is much more efficient than the powdered gunpowder used before. To create granular gunpowder, it must be stirred by wet method, which is even more laborious. If it were not for water power, it would be difficult to achieve animal power, so Mr. Bu Jialao was the person who made the most contribution here."
Chapter completed!