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The most critical point for the Ming Dynasty to gain a foothold in the Hetao Plain is to have enough food to feed the people here. Therefore, Hong Chengchou was naturally extremely happy for Xu Guangqi's arrival and had been looking forward to it for a long time. The enthusiasm he showed was not only a matter of official position, but also came from the bottom of his heart.

So, in the next few days, the dignified naturalized governor and the Minister of Rites of the Ming Dynasty all focused on farming. Together with the old farmers, they discussed how to plant the crop seeds they brought in the Hetao. These things were particularly touching to the people of Hetao, especially the soldiers who were born as bandits and the victims who migrated from Qin and Jin.

"If our Mizhi County magistrate had the thoughts of these two adults, we wouldn't have gotten up and made trouble in the first place!"

"Yes, if we in Fugu County had half the thoughts of these two adults, we wouldn't follow Wang Jiayin to cause trouble!"

"Our Ming Dynasty still has many good officials!"

"..."

In fact, the people of the Ming Dynasty did not really ask for much. Except for a few people, no one wanted to rebel with their heads as long as they could survive. Because of Emperor Chongzhen's attention, the two senior officials of the Ming Dynasty worked hard, which invisibly condensed the people's cohesion towards the Ming Dynasty in the Hetao area. This was reflected in their specific patrols, training, land reclamation, construction and other matters, and their efficiency was much higher.

Yang Sichang didn't need to worry about farming for the time being. He led his servants to Baotou first to inspect the terrain, coordinate manpower, and prepare to do a big job before the cold winter came.

As for Bu Shitu, Hong Chengchou seemed unwilling to accept anything in return from Ye Bu, but he did not dare to invade the Hetao area on his own. He seemed to be lobbying other tribes, and there was no sign of coming eastward for the time being.

Yang Sichang was not at ease with Bu Shitu, so he sent out all the servants familiar with things on the grassland that his father Yang He had given him. As his envoys, he went to the tribes in the west to listen to the rumors and movements, and implement his suggestions to the emperor. Beat the strategy of differentiation.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen, who was in the capital, was meeting with Bi Maokang, the director of the Arms Bureau. Needless to say, judging from their smiles, we knew something good was going on. Bi Maokang reported with joy: "Your Majesty, I pay close attention to steel forging. At present, I have made more than 300 self-generating fire guns, with an ignition rate of As much as 70% to 80%!”

Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard this. Although there were flintlock muskets at the end of the Ming Dynasty, apart from the factor of exploding the chamber, the misfire rate was also extremely high. This resulted in the Ming Dynasty never promoting flintlock muskets in the army. After discussing with Bi Maokang before, we knew that it was a problem with the ignition device. Now it seems that Bi Maokang pays close attention to quality, and the ignition rate is as high as 70 to 80%, which is considered qualified.

Before he could speak, Bi Maokang reported again: "Based on the idea of ​​assembly line operations mentioned by Your Majesty, I broke down the making of the flintlock gun. Now I am familiar with it. I believe that in the future, the making of a flintlock gun can be It was completed much earlier than before.”

Emperor Chongzhen was not very satisfied when he heard this. It took so long to build more than 300 self-generating fire guns. The efficiency was still slower than he imagined. You know, the Ordnance Bureau also has enough manpower craftsmen available.

With this thought, he stood up and told Bi Maokang: "Let's go, I'll go and have a look myself!"

Bi Maokang knew the emperor's abilities and his past, so he might be able to come up with a fantastic idea and improve his methods. If he were an ordinary Ming Dynasty bureaucrat, he might not welcome the emperor to guide the work in his heart. After all, this is about finding shortcomings, which is a shameful thing. But Bi Maokang was a technical official who was keen on firearms manufacturing. If the emperor could point out improvements in firearms manufacturing, it would be a dream for him. Therefore, when I heard that the emperor wanted to go over and have a look, he was immediately overjoyed. The samples he brought this time were not allowed to be presented to the emperor. He just went directly to the Ordnance Bureau to see them.

Emperor Chongzhen naturally did not arrive with any pretense. Instead, he arrived at the Ordnance Bureau very efficiently as if he were going to the capital camp. He was accompanied by Bi Maokang, who introduced the process procedures and related instructions in detail.

At this time, whether it was the barrel of the Fran machine gun or the gun, most of them were forged. Generally, the weight is determined in advance, and then divided into single-cylinder combined forging and double-layer composite forging according to the weight. However, because the blunderbuss tube is longer, it still needs to be combined with multiple sections. As a result, especially the double-layer composite forged blunderbuss tube that is of better quality and more scientific, naturally consumes more man-hours.

One of the most critical processes that determines the quality of the blunderbuss tube and whether it is easy to explode the barrel is the joining of multiple sections, that is, forging the blunderbuss tube. If the blunderbuss joint is not tightly forged, it will easily burst at the joint. Most of the reasons for the explosion of firearms in the late Ming Dynasty came from this.

The way to test this level is to pour boiling water into the gun tube, and then observe the joint. If there is a leak, reheat and forge the joint. If the quality control is not strict, it is conceivable that a blunderbuss tube that is leaking can not explode? !

However, one of the biggest gains that Emperor Chongzhen gained from visiting the Ordnance Bureau to build fire guns was that he learned the actual operation of drilling the barrel of the gun barrel at this time.

This operation is to hang the blunderbuss tube on the drill frame, and the ink line must be used to hang it accurately without any deviation. The blunderbuss tube is fixed on the upper and lower sides of the wooden frame, and a drill handle with a drill bit is placed above it. A leather strip is tied to the drill handle. The leather strip is pulled manually, and the drill handle is driven by a belt, and then the drill bit is rotated to achieve boring and milling of the inner wall of the blunderbuss tube.

In this way, two people are required to hold the belt to drill, and another person is required to hold the drill root with an iron clamp to allow the drill bit to rotate freely.

Just drill like this, and then drill halfway through, then drill from the other end until it is drilled through. And when drilling through, pay attention to the hanging wire to ensure it is not misaligned. It’s not over yet. After using the short drill, you have to drill again with the long drill. Only after going through so many processes can the barrel of the gun be guaranteed to be straight.

But this is not the end yet. You still need to insert a small file into the chamber and rotate it back and forth to make the inner wall of the barrel smooth. Only then can the barrel be considered complete.

The most time-consuming and labor-intensive part of a fire gun is the making of the gun tube. At this time, it takes a month to build a qualified gun tube, and only skilled workers can achieve this within this time.

After reading the entire process, Emperor Chongzhen immediately felt that the manufacturing of this kind of gun tube not only wastes a lot of manpower, but also takes so much time, and it definitely needs improvement. For people who have traveled through time in later generations, there is a very simple improvement method, which is to use a steam engine to drive a drill to drill the gun tube. This can reduce the number of craftsmen from three to one, and it can drill day and night, very efficiently. Needless to say, improving is natural.