Great Song Pirate

Chapter 364 Steel Rolling Machine

Ever since Xu Yi returned to Jilong Village from Danshui Village, the craftsmen here could no longer rest. Xu Yi was like a fully wound machine, running around the workshop, and starting from ironworkers and carpenters. A group of skilled craftsmen was mobilized there to follow him and call for him at any time.

After getting the woodworking machinery such as the log machine for making arrow shafts in the bow and crossbow workshop, Xu Yi went back to Ren Bin's cannon casting workshop, where the layout was modified again according to Xu Yi's request, looking at the coppersmiths Sweating like rain, they carried the heavy crucible pot after pot, went back and forth between the molds, and poured the copper juice into the artillery clay model made by Ren Bin and others in the early stage. The degree of pain can be imagined.

Xu Yi immediately summoned manpower to design and manufacture a movable door crane that can be pushed back and forth and a few tipping crucible carts for the Cannon Workshop, so as to replace some of the heavy manual labor of the coppersmiths, and improve the various lifting methods here. Heavy equipment can greatly improve the efficiency of the work here. The coppersmiths and Xu Yi are not very familiar with each other. They only know that he is the leader of the Fubo Army, but they did not expect that their young leader is not too old. However, the ability to do these things is even inferior to craftsmen like them.

After a period of appeasement, these kidnapped coppersmiths had no choice but to face the reality and stayed honestly. Fortunately for them, although the Fubo Army kidnapped them, they did not abuse them. Eat and drink well and serve them well, and no one beats or scolds them easily. They are used as slaves, which comforts these frightened craftsmen, and the Fubo Army also agreed to them As long as they work hard, they will soon bring their relatives to live with them to ensure that they can live without worrying about food and drink. With this guarantee, these craftsmen feel more at ease, and dare not say what they are doing It was in full swing, at least no one showed obvious slowdown, and many craftsmen also thought of many ways to ensure that the objects they cast had as few defects as possible.

Casting cannons is easy to say, but in fact things are not as easy as Xu Yi imagined. Whether the casting of cannons is successful or not depends on the production of molds. Although Xu Yi has proposed to use iron cast cannons, the production of iron casts is also difficult It takes time to carry out, everything is not done overnight, so before the iron form is made, they can only rely on the clay form for casting, and the making of the clay form is very cumbersome. , charcoal powder, forage, etc., and control the water content when mixing the mud, so that it has a low shrinkage rate and suitable air permeability, so as to avoid cracking due to drying and roasting after molding. It must also be meticulous and firm. After the clay mold is molded, it should be gradually dried at room temperature to completely dehydrate it. Otherwise, if the clay mold is not dry, defects such as air bubbles may occur after the copper juice is poured into it. , affecting the quality of the artillery, and it will take at least a month to make a usable clay model.

This is why Xu Yi left Jilongzhai to Danshuizhai for more than a month, and only a few bronze cannons were cast here.Every cannon made of mud can be said to be a unique product in the world. It is absolutely impossible to have two identical cannons. Doing so would be a serious waste of manpower and material resources. With the current manpower and material resources of the Fubo Army , is unable to start mass production of artillery.

After learning about these things, Xu Yi knew that he was still a little impatient, and that Ren Bin had indeed done his best, so he stopped urging them and asked them to continue to cast cannons with clay molds step by step. His attention turned to Tie Zuo.

Qin Huzi and Lei Tong have also summoned some of their iron craftsmen who are proficient in foundry, and began to trial-produce the iron mold for casting cannons. With the previous experience in casting cannons, the casting of iron molds is relatively less difficult. Some, Xu Yi can't help with this matter, he can only stare aside, because he doesn't know what the iron mold for casting the cannon looks like, so he can only move forward by groping, and he has no right to speak in terms of casting Yes, at most I can only talk about the size he wants.

Soaking in the workshop area every day, Xu Yi almost forgot that he is still the big leader of the Fubo Army. He hardly cares about the government affairs everywhere. He only listens to the information gathered in Jilong Village every day to understand To grasp the dynamics of various places, he basically let go of the rest of the things, but concentrated all his energy in the workshop area.

However, after he returned to Jilongzhai, he received a piece of good news from Kong Qingxi. Kong Qingxi claimed that he had completely controlled the outer seas of Guangzhou and subdued Zheng Guang, the biggest local snake. Zheng Guang's troops had already surrendered to the Fubo Army In a few days, all of these new recruits were sent back to Dulong Island for training, so that Xu Yi could rest assured. As for how he subdued this Zheng Guang, Kong Qingxi did not elaborate.

Xu Yi is of course very happy about this news. In this way, their Fubo Army's power has extended to almost the entire coastal area of ​​China. If they go further south, they will probably go to Hainan Island. There are already seven or eight fleets, including the Japanese plundering fleet under Shuimao, Fang Shu's plundering fleet off the coast of Koryo, Miao Fang's fleet in Bohai Bay, and Diao Bin's plundering fleet off Liangzhe Road. Fleet, Fujian has Wang Feng's fleet, Dulong Island also has Wang Zhi's garrison fleet, and now there is another Kong Qingxi's fleet that can dominate the coast of Guangdong. This is not counting the escort that Lin Xiong owns in Hangzhou. If the fast escort fleet and the dozens of ships in Jilongzhai and Danshuizhai under his current control are added together, even he himself does not know how many ships his Fubo Army has. Estimatedly, it shouldn’t be a problem for them to pull out [-] ships with more than a thousand stones alone!It does not include those smaller fishing boats and cargo ships.

If things go on like this, in another one or two years, China's coastal areas alone may not be able to find a sea force that can compete with them. This situation was three years ago, when Xu Yi just arrived here and sat on Jinhu's side. On the broken ship, I didn't even dare to think about it. If it wasn't for the north, Xu Yi would now have the heart to organize a large-scale fleet and go on a round-the-world cruise!
Thinking of this, Xu Yi felt full of confidence. If it took another year to build a usable infantry, then in this world, he really felt that there was no place in the world where the Fubo Army would not dare to provoke it. !

Seeing that Zhu Cannon Tie Fan couldn't help him much, he once again turned his attention to the armor issue he mentioned earlier. This matter cannot be delayed. It is absolutely impossible for a soldier to have no armor. In this era of cold weapons, the role of armor is no less than that of weapons. For soldiers who go to the battlefield, there is no armor that can protect them. When the army is attacked by thousands of horses, the psychological pressure alone can definitely cause the morale of an army to drop, and if it is serious, it may even cause the army to collapse.

So Xu Yi didn't dare to underestimate this armor problem at all. Now they have large-scale iron workshops, crossbow workshops, cannon casting workshops, gunpowder workshops, boat yards, wood workshops and other workshops. It has already reached the point of self-sufficiency initially, and it can even be called the most high-tech weapon in the world today. Looking at the world, there are really few factions that can compete with the Fubo Army in terms of weapons, even the Great Song Dynasty. Xu Yi doesn't pay much attention to the weapons of the huge military inspector now!But in terms of their current armor and equipment, the Fubo army is far behind.

Taking the current Fubo army's workshop as an example, they only have a workshop on Dulong Island that can make clothing, and this workshop was run by Yingchun at the beginning, that is, there are hundreds of family members on the island dedicated to Fubo army. The upper and lower people sew clothes, sails, etc., which are far away from the workshops for making armor. This problem must be solved as soon as possible, otherwise it will be too late to hold Buddha's feet temporarily.

After thinking about this problem, Xu Yi didn't dare to waste any more time. In the early stage, he and Lei Tong and other craftsmen discussed several armors commonly used by the Song Army, but these armors were complicated to make and required a lot of manpower and material resources to support them. It is precisely the biggest weakness of their Fubo army at present. They said that they already have tens of thousands of immigrants in Dulong Island and Liuqiu Island, but most of these people have to engage in the same important land development, and they also need to invest in construction, coal, Logging and shipbuilding consume a lot of manpower and material resources, and there are not too many people who are really available, and now they need a lot of money to support the development of the two villages on Liuqiu Island. He is rich enough to purchase armor in large quantities. Now his money can only be used to purchase resources that they do not have, such as steel, copper, tin, herbs, food, etc. He will definitely not be able to spend a large amount of money on purchasing armor. matter.

Therefore, the only way Fubo Army can think of at present is to solve this problem by themselves. The armor must be made by themselves, and they cannot use those armors equipped by the Song Army with complicated manufacturing processes, even the paper armor that sounds good. No, it also takes too much time and the process is too complicated, he doesn't have the time.

More than a month ago, he had shared his ideas with Lei Tong and the others, and proposed a cloth bag armor that imitated the steel sheet armor of the later generations. This kind of thing is the easiest to make, and any woman can sew it as long as she has a cloth needle and thread. After the steel sheet is made, it can become an iron armor vest with good defense. This idea has been lingering in his mind. The sewing is not the key to the problem, but the key to the problem is to mass-produce the armor sheet.

For this reason, Xu Yi asked Li Bo to bring some of the armor that could be collected here to his home and display it in a room. There is a set here that was seized from Zhao Tieshan when he captured him. It is commemorative, and it has been kept in the warehouse since then. This time, I don’t know who got all these armors to Jilongzhai, which happened to be a reference for Xu Yi to study armor.

After re-reading these armors, Xu Yi knew that he thought the armor was a bit simpler before. The armor in the cold weapon era needs to defend many positions, instead of a simple bulletproof vest and helmet like later generations. Soldiers on the battlefield defend not only the opponent's bow and arrow, but also the enemy's assassination and slashing, so the protective area of ​​the armor should be as large as possible, not only the chest, abdomen and back need protection, but also the shoulders and neck. Defense is more important, so at the beginning he simply thought that it would be impossible to make an iron vest, so he began to think about it again.

The armor of the Song Army is all made by craftsmen with various iron sheets by hand, and then worn with iron wire or leather strips. Nearly two thousand pieces of iron sheets are needed, and the weight is as high as 45 to [-] kilograms. The weight is heavier, which is simply unbearable for ordinary people, and it takes too much time to make the armor of the Song Army. It takes almost half a year to make a good set of armor. No matter what Xu Yi thinks, he feels that he cannot afford the time and manpower. In the end, I can only find a way on the nail plate.

Xu Yi locked himself in the room and spent two days writing and drawing, drew some blueprints, and asked Tang Youcheng to find a few craftsmen, and spent two days making a wooden sculpture according to his blueprints. Scaled down the model, and then placed it in the room and fiddled with it.

Xu Yi didn't tell Li Bo and the others what he was doing. He just kept fiddling with his model and asked Cuiyu to knead some dough for him. From time to time, he stuffed it into the model machine and rolled it with the upper rollers to press the noodles. During this period, he adjusted the machine from time to time, or remade some places, until he was satisfied. The carpenters who cooperated with him did not dare to ask more questions, but continued to carry out this strange machine according to his requirements. Modification, Xu Yi's yard has become a small wood workshop in a few days, and there are piles of wood or dismantled and discarded parts everywhere.

No one objected to him doing this, anyway, this is his home, Yingchun and the others all know that he will never do some boring things, let him torment wantonly, just to see what he can come up with this time Things, Li Bo and Daniel accompany him every day, but they just don’t understand what he’s going to do this time, but it can be seen that his dough is getting better and better. This wooden machine The operation is getting smoother and smoother, so I am very surprised, the lord is not going to get a noodle rolling machine out!In this way, it seems that there will be more opportunities to eat noodles in the future!

After being busy for several days, Xu Yi asked Li Bo to act as the power to shake the handle of the machine. Following Li Bo's movement, the rollers on the strange machine began to rotate. Xu Yi put a long strip of noodles The block is filled into the rollers from the front end, so the thick noodles are output from the other end as a uniform sheet of noodles rolled by the rollers, and then sent to the next pair of rollers for continuous rolling. Xu Yi clapped his hands and smiled and said, "It's finally done! Hurry up and call me Lei Tong and Qin Huzi! I'll show them my latest invention!"

Of course, Li Bo and the others knew that Xu Yi's making of this thing was definitely not for making noodles. When he heard that it was called Lei Tong and Qin Huzi, Daniel immediately rushed out, and the two were found after a while.

Lei Tong and Qin Huzi are still busy making cannon iron models these days. They haven't seen Xu Yi visit their iron works for a few days, and they both feel that there is something wrong. Today, they heard that Xu Yi was looking for them, so they put it down immediately For the matter at hand, he ran over with Daniel.

As soon as the two of them entered the yard, they saw this strange machine. They immediately thought in their minds that this could not be another murderous weapon invented by Xu Yi!If so, then this thing is a bit too complicated!

Seeing the two of them approaching, Xu Yi shouted excitedly to them: "Come and see my new invention, Li Bo, you still need to turn that handle, and use more force!"

Li Bo immediately shook the handle, and Xu Yi stuffed the kneaded thick noodles into the machine until the noodles became dough pieces, then asked Lei Tong and Qin Huzi with a playful smile, "Look at the machine I made. ?”

Both Lei Tong and Qin Huzi couldn't laugh or cry. They were dizzy from being busy with Tie Zuo for the past two days, but Xu Yi pulled them to watch the noodle press he made, but he didn't want to touch his face, so Both of them laughed dryly, and it was Lei Tongshi who finally said, "Not bad! Not bad! This noodle press is not bad! It can actually press the dough into such a thin sheet, hehe! But I think if the master wants to eat noodles , there is no need to make such a guy, just let someone make it for you? Isn’t it a bit overkill to make this thing?”

After hearing Lei Tong's compliment, Xu Yi almost fell to the ground on the spot!Holding his "noodle rolling machine", he yelled at the two guys: "Did you really not understand, or are you pretending to be confused?"

Li Bo turned his back to prevent Xu Yi from seeing his expression, but he probably laughed out loud. He hadn't mentioned this noodle rolling machine for so many days, but in the end, Mr. Lei did. Qin Huzi still He shook his head to express his incomprehension, but refused to speak. After hearing what Xu Yi said, Lei Tong seemed to think that this machine might not be as simple as just pressing dough, so he hurriedly asked: "Isn't the master making this thing out to press noodles?" Is it for the film?"

Xu Yi had black tendons on his forehead. He dared to work so hard for so many days, but what he produced was really a noodle rolling machine in the eyes of everyone!

"Forget it! I can't blame you. I'd better tell you the truth. This machine is not a thing for pressing dough sheets, but a scaled model. This machine is a steel rolling machine that I specially made for you. After the strips are put in from here, they are rolled into steel sheets, which saves you a lot of manpower. With this, we can make armors in large quantities. You don't need to build those iron sheets bit by bit. Now you You should know what this thing is for!" Xu Yi patted the "noodle rolling machine" and said to them.

(I checked not only the woodworking machinery, but also the rolling mill! Hehe!)

(End of this chapter)