Iron Dynasty

Changan Equipment Division.

Early in the morning, the firearms battalion had already delivered artillery from Qingzhou.

Fang Chengyou circled around the Qingzhou Artillery and began to record the length and thickness of the artillery barrel. His body was still a little sore and weak, which was the trace of yesterday's madness.

After carefully recording every dimension, Fang Chengyou looked serious. Yesterday, the Prince of Zhao also promised him that if the imitation was successful, if he handed over the imitation technology, he could also get 100,000 taels of silver.

Thinking of this, he became more and more serious, money and beauty are what he yearns for.

After carefully recording the size of the cannon, Fang Youcheng said to the craftsmen, Now go to burn the wax water.

When the craftsman got the order, he immediately started to make a fire, and brought out the wax from the warehouse to start smelting.

Fang Chengyou plans to use the lost wax method to imitate the Qingzhou artillery. This method is to suspend the Qingzhou artillery in a pool and pour wax water in the pool.

After the wax water solidifies, the craftsman will cut the solidified wax water to assemble, and a complete mold will come out.

After that, he will fill the wax mold with soil, and finally melt the wax mold, so that a gun mold comes out.

In seven days, Fang Chengyou got a complete clay mold.

As a supervisor, the iron quality of this Qingzhou artillery seems to be much higher than ours, said a craftsman before pouring it.

Zhao Yuanliang had already told him about the blasting of the artillery, so in his opinion, pouring it with molten iron would not work. He also understood that it would be more difficult to blast the blaster with copper for a long time.

So he said, Use copper water instead of molten iron.

Bronze? As a prisoner, this cannon is so heavy, how much copper is enough? said the craftsman.

Fang Chengyou knew that using ordinary molten iron would not work after learning about the blasting. He naturally knew that using copper forged artillery, the price of this copper cannon would be more than ten times the cost of Qingzhou artillery.

But the most important thing at the moment is to imitate the Qingzhou artillery. In this way, he has fulfilled his promise to Xiao Wenxuan and explained to Zhao Yuanliang.

So he said, I say use copper and use copper!

When the craftsman heard this, he had to collect the copper casting and pouring of the entire equipment department.

Fifteen days later, a bronze cannon with the same size and size as the Qingzhou cannon appeared in the equipment department.

Hearing this news, Xiao Wenxuan was overjoyed and ordered the firearms battalion to immediately transport the bronze cannons to the firearms battalion for test firing.

At the same time, some important officials also came to the firearms battalion.

The whole body of this cannon is golden, isn't it all made of copper?

Fiji almost gritted his teeth and said this sentence. This is simply a prodigal. How much does it cost for such a big lump of copper.

When Xiao Wenxuan saw this golden cannon, the joy on his face also disappeared.

This is the artillery imitated by the Equipment Division? It's really atmospheric.

The prince laughed and said, in his eyes, this artillery is too perfect.

Zhao Yuanliang's eyes were bright, and he thought that Fang Chengyou really had some skills. Why didn't he think of using pure copper for casting, but after taking a look at the size of the copper cannon, he couldn't help but feel a pain in his flesh. Compared with the price of the copper cannon, he was still willing to buy Qingzhou's. Cast iron gun.

Test firing. Xiao Wenxuan said coldly, if such expensive artillery couldn't compare to Qingzhou's artillery, he would probably have the heart to kill Fang Chengyou.

With Xiao Ming's order, the gunner loaded gunpowder and ammunition according to the procedure.

With a bang, the cannonball shot out and flew directly into the woods. With a bang, the cannonball hit a tree and fell.

Seeing such a scene, the ministers couldn't help laughing. The power of this artillery was not even worse than that of Qingzhou artillery.

Xiao Wenxuan's face was even more ugly.

The prince and Zhao Yuanliang also showed a little bit of confusion. The appearance of this artillery was no different from the Qingzhou artillery. Why was the power so much worse.

Fang Chengyou was also dumbfounded, and he faltered and didn't know what to say?

Fang Chengyou, what should I say, the imitation seems to have failed. The price of this bronze cannon is more than ten times more expensive than the iron cannon in Qingzhou, and its power is not even one-tenth as powerful. What is the imperial court going to use for such a cannon?

Fang Chengyou was sweating on his forehead, and he said, No, Your Majesty, this shouldn't be the case. This artillery is no different from Qingzhou's artillery. How can it be so small?

You ask me, who will I ask! Xiao Wenxuan said angrily, and now he has no hope of imitating Qingzhou artillery.

Fang Chengyou said at this time: Is it because the iron cannon is more powerful than the bronze cannon? Your Majesty, let the subordinate test it again. This time the subordinate is made of iron?

Xiao Wenxuan was actually a little unwilling. He said, I'll give you one more chance. If it doesn't work, let it go.

Fang Chengyou nodded immediately, and returned to the equipment department in a dejected manner.

Zhao Yuanliang and the prince looked at each other with disappointment.

In the next month, Fang Chengyou began to use iron instead of copper, but he encountered the same problem as Zhao Yuanliang. The iron gun would explode after only a dozen test shots, and dozens of experienced craftsmen were killed.

And the range and power of the artillery are also not comparable to the artillery of Qingzhou.

Why? Why? After another iron cannon exploded, Fang Chengyou looked at the Qingzhou cannon with a heart-wrenching ashes. No matter how he improved the craftsmanship, the power of the cannon was not as good as the Qingzhou cannon.

Overnight, Fang Chengyou seemed to have aged ten years.

As a prisoner, Your Majesty asked Feng Shilang to bring a message, saying don't waste any more money imitating it. A craftsman said cautiously.

At this moment, Fang Chengyou was completely desperate, because Xiao Wenxuan was disappointed in him, which meant that his career would also end here in the future.

And Zhao Yuanliang will not continue to see him, because he has lost the value of being used.

Why? Why? Fang Chengyou muttered to himself as if he was hysterical. He never understood why the identical artillery couldn't compare to Qingzhou's artillery.

The news that the Department of Equipment had failed to imitate the artillery spread among the officials.

Many people who had the idea of ​​imitation were disappointed at the same time, because it would mean that they had to buy artillery from Xiao Ming.

At the same time, Xiao Wenxuan asked the Equipment Division to imitate the artillery quickly spread to Qingzhou.

Before that, Chang'an's artillery had already informed Xiao Ming about the test firing of the bronze cannon.

His Royal Highness, it is said that the bronze cannon imitated by the Chang'an Equipment Division is almost the same as the Qingzhou cannon, why is the power so much worse? Pang Yukun asked puzzled after learning the news.

Speaking of which, Xiao Ming was a bit sweaty. In fact, the bronze cannons imitated by Changan Equipment Division were qualified cannons, because in the early stage, bronze cannons and bronze cannons had always been the mainstream of artillery, until the quality of steel was improved. Cheap cast iron and steel guns appeared, and then bronze and bronze guns were quickly eliminated.

The reason why the power of the bronze cannon is so different this time is not the problem of the artillery itself, but the problem of gunpowder.

According to the information brought back by the artillerymen sent to Chang'an to teach the firearms battalion this time, the gunpowder used by Fang Chengyou was the own gunpowder of the Equipment Division, and the gunpowder of Qingzhou was not used at all.